Today is Valentine’s Day, so I figured I’d pull from the legendary SubscribeStar archives to let the unsubscribed masses bask in my dubious wisdom (which can be yours seven days a week for just $1 a month).
Dr. Girlfriend and I are enjoying a steak dinner tonight. We’re looking forward to it after a busy week. Let’s just hope I’ve gotten her some flowers—gulp!
With that, here is 24 February 2024’s “In Praise of Valentine’s Day“:
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A couple of weeks ago Americans celebrated Valentine’s Day. Wednesday, 14 February 2024 was the feast day for Saint Valentine, the patron saint of engaged couples, happy marriages, beekeepers, love, and even the mentally ill. Perhaps that last one is a commentary on how love can—sometimes literally—drive us crazy.
It’s become something of a trend to denigrate Valentine’s Day as a commercial cash grab, a blatant invention of the candy and floral companies to boost their bottom line in the doldrums between Christmas and Halloween. That’s true, of course, but that’s just the modern iteration of Valentine’s Day. It’s worth looking at the deeper roots of the holiday to appreciate it.
Another trend is to decry Valentine’s Day as some kind of attack on the single and their emotional fragility. I’ve been single on more Valentine’s Days than not, but it never bothered me to see explosive expressions of love. Red and pink hearts never drove home my own singleness, or made me feel bad for not having a girlfriend. Thus, we have “Singles Awareness Day” and “Galentine’s Day”—even “Palentine’s Day.” I’m not opposed to cutesy nomenclature, per se, and people having a bit of self-aware fun, but there is a certain anti-Valentinian undercurrent to it all. And isn’t being anti-Valentine’s Day the same as being anti-love?
Well, that’s a false dichotomy on my part, but I do think we have a serious anti-romance problem.
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Audre Myers is perhaps my most Anglophilic contributor, probably even more Anglophilic than Ponty, and he’s actually from England!
As such, it was only a matter of time before she graced us with a delightful, tea-and-crumpety BBC dramady about rediscovering lost love in old age.
There’s something befuddlingly adorable and quintessentially English about two stodgy geezers falling in love. Perhaps it’s the notion that we can always recapture some sliver of our misspent youths when in the throes of being in love. Nothing quite so takes us back to the possibilities (and follies) of youth quite like tumbling head-over-heels for someone else, especially when they tumble into you, willingly and excitedly.
Two fogies canoodling also gives us some hope that it’s not too late for us after all—gulp!
With that, here is Audre’s review of Last Tango in Halifax:
While scribbling away on some blog posts last week, I had a pleasant surprise: a new poetry submission care of Son of Sonnet! It’s a work about the undeniable passion shared between men and women.
Regular readers know that I am an unalloyed fan of Son’s poetry, and I encourage each of my readers to consider a subscription to his Locals page. It’s the best way to support his work directly, and I know that appreciates every subscriber. Son is also very responsive to feedback and comments, so it makes for a lively community.
I’ve really been beating this drum lately—we need to support creators on our side of this great culture war. The Left creates crap culture, but they support it and produce a lot of it; what they lack in quality they make up for with financial support and total media saturation.
But I digress. Your generous subscriptions to my SubscribeStar page have made it possible to patronize Son’s work. As a community of artists, readers, and pundits, we should work together as much as possible to cultivate and support one another’s talents. I can’t pay Son much—yet—but I’m able to offer him something for his talents because of your generosity.
For a sample of Son’s work on this blog, check out The Gemini Sonnets; you can read all six here: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6.
You can also read Son of Sonnet’s poetry on his Telegram channel, on Gab, on Minds, and, of course, on Locals.
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day! As such, I thought I’d take a look back at some of the more romantic posts of yesteryear (and yesterweek) to commemorate this season of love:
Happy Sunday—and Valentine’s Day!
—TPP
Other Lazy Sunday Installments:
Well, it’s not quite Valentine’s Day yet, but I thought it would be worth looking back to 2020’s Valentine’s Day post, which was mostly a collection of various blog posts and reflections on the holiday.
I’m still wondering how Jay Nordlinger gets to travel the world writing pithy little observations about violin concertos and the like. How do I position myself to take his place when he finally retires or kicks the bucket? Who else is going to critique all those free concerts in Vienna?
But I digress. The Season of Love is upon us, and I suspect restaurants will be packed this weekend with lovers canoodling over their cannoli (or, in the case of the high number of breakups on Valentine’s Day than average, crying into their kishka). Sounds like another weekend of frozen pizza and spaghetti for yours portly.
So, here’s some great stuff from better writers to celebrate your Valentine’s Day Weekend. It’s 14 February 2020’s “Phone it in Friday VI: Valentine’s Day“:
Sweet Murphy Girl and I are heading back to the vet’s office this afternoon to get her skin examined. She had some really painful looking welts and pimples on her underside that required an antibiotic and some special medicated shampoo to clear up. Fortunately, her painfully long nails were trimmed (under sedation) during her last vet visit, and that has dramatically improved her quality of life.
When I got Murphy, she also had a bit of a flea problem. The shampoo, along with a strong dose of flea and tick medicine, took care of that no problem. I also nuked the house with a bug bomb while we went away for a long weekend, so any lingering critters should have been gassed out of existence. So far, I haven’t seen any new unwanted visitors.
As far as I can tell, the antibiotic has done the trick, and she is looking much better. Hopefully the skilled eye of the veterinarian will confirm what I hope I am seeing. I’m not sure what caused the welts on her underbelly, but I suspect the fleas played a role.
If Murphy receives a clean bill of health from the vet today, then I will able to adopt her from The Bull Terrier Rescue Mission.
Happy Valentine’s Day, readers! Don’t try going out to eat tonight—it’s going to be a mad house. Sensible couples will probably wait and dine out on a less sexy night, like Tuesday, or pick up Taco Bell.
We’re in the midst of a glorious four-day “Winter Break.” The great thing about teaching is all the bogus holidays. Valentine’s Day and President’s Day just happen to bookend the weekend, so why not turn it into a slightly-extended holiday?
In the spirit of Jay Nordlinger, today’s post is going to be a series of barely-related reflections, as well as some links to the stuff you should read or watch. Speaking of Nordlinger, how do I land a gig getting paid to write about classical music in exotic parts of the world?
But I digress. Here are some reflections on this Day of Love:
The Portly Politico 