Blast From the Past: “Will our Love Life Bud?" by Debbie Dolcetti
NEIRAD enilno edition
DHS students in 2010 may not get the reference to the then-risqué show “Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman!” in this month’s “Blast form the Past” from our Neirad archives, but they will certainly identify with a fundraising effort that links love and flowers.
Students in the Bicentennial year livened up Valentine’s Day with a carnation sale. The lucky recipients received a flower (or flowers for the hot girls!) that was delivered to their classroom on Feb. 14. Not sure if we want to rev up this tradition. Isn’t it kind of a drag lugging around wilted carnations and wouldn’t students feel compelled to send one to themselves or risk looking like a lovelorn loser?
Will our Love Life Bud?
by Debbie Dolcetti
Is your love life in the doldrums? Do you know the Friday nighttelevision schedule by heart? Do you spend Saturday nights listening to you Janis Ian records? Is an evening of "Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman!" your idea of excitement? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you should have sent a carnation to that special someone with whom you were dying to have a fling.
This year, DHS's tradition of commemorating St. Valentine's Day with Carnation-Day will be carried on by the sophomore class, customary sponsors of the event. Although they have an in-school monopoly on the flower market, the sophomores have set the cost of the blossoms at $0.75, a price even the tightest Romeos and Juliets will probably find affordable.
The flowers, most of which will be pink, will be distributed during homeroom period on February 11, the last school day before Valentine's Day. Though messages are optional, history shows that most carnations are accompanied by a telegram bearing some fond words from the sender. These telegrams may carry anything from a traditional "With love" to a more suggestive "Voules-vous...(avoir cette fleur)?" Incredible as it may seem, some messages do get saucier than the latter.
It has been rumored that in addition to being able to send a healthy flower to all of his friends, a student this year also has the opportunity to send wilted flowers to his least favorite people. A Neirad investigation has proven this rumor to be invalid. Co-chairpersons of the event, Marisa Shanstrom and Cathy Sholtz, have not arranged for the delivery of any droopy buds.
Getting a carnation does do miracles for one's ego. Upon receiving a flower, a sad-faced girl turns into a glassy eyed maiden who dances down the corridors with her scrawny bouquet while humming "Melody of Love," and young males, laden with blossoms, are reassured of their popularity.
The best thing about receiving a carnation on Carnation Day is the feeling you get when holding that flower. You know that someone somewhere cares. Perhaps your carnation won't signal the start of a new, wild romance. Maybe all your carnation means is that somebody in this world wants you to spend Friday nights with him or her rather than with the T.V. set --again.
