Valentine's Day (aka Saint Valentine's Day, Feast of St. Valentine [1]) is celebrated annually on February 14th [2].
This celebration of going from Lust to Love like the Go Go's, it originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world [3, 4].
Cupid is Mara and Kama
There are a number of martyrdom stories associated with various Saint Valentines connected to February 14th [5], including an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century [6, 7].
According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer [8]. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: Tradition maintains that Saint Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry by the Roman emperor [7]. An 18th-century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer's daughter a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell before his execution [9].
Will consumers buy cheap cards?
The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14th [10, 11]. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries, when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring.
In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion for couples to express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").
Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid [who acts like the India god Kama, Greek Eros and Aphrodite, Roman Venus, and Buddhist Mara].
No sex please. We're Ameboids 'n Gatchularians
In the 19th century, handmade cards gave way to mass-produced greetings [12] thanks to capitalism. In Italy, Saint Valentine's keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart" as well as to children to ward off epileptic fits (called Saint Valentine's Malady) [13], which could be thought of as an overwrought lover's obsessive mania, like St. Vitus' Dance. More
I plan to downward dog it all the way to Down Town Los Angeles then rollerskate back home.
'Arroyo Fest' draws thousands to South Pasadena
(KCAL News) Oct. 29, 2023: Thousands of people are strolling, scootering, or cycling on the freeway [that becomes Arroyo Parkway into Pasadena] as part of "Arroyo Fest" in South Pasadena. Tina Patel reports.
The inaugural Arroyo Fest on Arroyo Seco Parkway held in 2003 (Joan Dooley/Charles Lee)
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Next time, inspired by South Park, the buttbike
REVIEW: It was amazing, running onto a freeway I had driven all my life and had almost died on once in an almost-crash (when I was about to let go of the wheel, give up, and cover my face for the impact) but then things inexplicably went back to normal. Thanks, Kwan Yin, Mary, Mother Goddess! So imagine running onto it -- as thousands are walking, riding, and strolling across lanes.
It's much smaller than it looks at 55 MPH and faster. The concrete and asphalt thoroughfare is the oldest in the West, perhaps the oldest in the country, maybe even the world. It's the first "freeway." Well, there are those Maya roadways under jungle cover in Belize, recently discovered using LiDAR, as we reported. There were families, pro joggers, EVs, bicyclists in too tight shorts and cleats, guys aboard loud contraptions like the makeshift Bike Band Flotilla (who are sure to be playing the 2023 Doo Dah Parade), lots of dogs, and plenty of roller skates. Where was the host of Off-Ramp or Ira Glass? This American Life would have had a field day with interviews.
We yoga stretched along the median separating speeding bicyclists from those out to savor the day, trying not to photobomb all the cellphone cameras, over the river (the Aroyo Seco or "Dry Gulch" into and out of Pasadena) toward the distant DTLA. It feels like LA is mostly flat, but we're in the hills and canyons, ravines and the second valley of this megalopolis. Then the fuzz put the kibosh on our fun and cleared the roadway, along with very nice civilian ambassadors, so that by noon, it was all a dream on a strange day in LA when the beaches are warmer than the inland cities. It's always the other way around, with traffic choked into Santa Monica for the ocean breeze. It was so clear that from the right vantage point, the Pacific was visible, as it is on clear days.
Pasadena is gearing up for a historic and festive event on Sunday, Oct. 29th, when the Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the 110 Freeway, will close to vehicle traffic and open to people walking, biking, or any form of active transportation, for six hours.
The fun event, called ArroyoFest 2023, marks the 20th anniversary of the first time that the parkway was transformed into a car-free zone for biking, walking, and exploring.
If one is into running, sign up and arrive early for the “Run the 110” event, a chip-timed 10K point-to-point run. It starts promptly at 7:00 am at the north end of the route in South Pasadena. Runners need to arrive at the starting line by 6:30 or 6:45 am.
ArroyoFest is not just a street festival, but a community movement that aims to reconnect people with the natural and urban landscapes of the Arroyo Seco corridor.
The event was first held in 2003, seven years before the popular cicLAvia series began in Los Angeles.
Prof. Robert Gottlieb, founder of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at (Obama's local alma mater) Occidental College and the Henry R. Luce Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies, relates how ArroyoFest was inspired by multiple factors.
One was the interest in re-envisioning the LA River and the Arroyo Seco Stream as natural and cultural assets, the LA County Bike Coalition’s bike ride along the LA River program, Dennis Crowley’s idea to bike on the Pasadena freeway, and the desire to promote biking and walking as part of a transportation and livability agenda.
“So that led to some discussions with a number of groups about maybe really expanding this agenda of biking and building out ways to put biking and walking in front of the transportation agenda and livability agenda,” Prof. Gottlieb said.
“That led to this idea of doing the bike ride on the freeway and a walk on the freeway. We approached Occidental, and when Caltrans and the Highway Patrol and some of the other agencies that would need to sign off on such an event were approached, they initially really dismissed it as implausible.
“They thought it was almost a joke.”
The transportation agencies were worried about how car owners would oppose closing down the freeway for something like a bike ride, Prof. Gottlieb said. But eventually, with Occidental College stepping in, the skepticism was at least modestly reduced.
Prof. Gottlieb said the planning for the first Arroyo Fest took a challenging two years. He said that they used an inside and outside strategy, involving community groups, elected officials, and leading figures from Los Angeles, South Pasadena, and Pasadena, to persuade them to approve the event.
Prof. Gottlieb’s group also developed a traffic plan, got insurance, and expanded the agenda to include the history and vision of the Arroyo Seco corridor. Finally, the agencies gave the event the go-signal. More
Happy Brain: How to Overcome Our Neural Predispositions to Suffering | Dr. Amit Sood, MD | TEDxUNI
(TEDx Talks) May 11, 2015. Twenty years ago, Mayo Clinic Professor of Medicine Amit Sood, MD, came to the U.S. thinking he was coming to the Disneyland of the world.
He expected everyone in the USA to be very happy all the time. Boy, was he in for a surprise. What he saw surprised and shocked him.
Donuts: This man is out to kill us.
In this funny, fast-moving, and deeply insightful talk, Dr. Sood shares his journey over two decades and across two continents, finding a way to help us outsmart our neural predispositions to suffering.
In the process, he takes us on a back-stage tour of the human brain and outlines the gist of a structured program he is taking globally to decrease stress and improve focus, resilience, and happiness.
ABOUT: Professor Dr. Amit Sood, MD, is the director of the Mayo Clinic's Complementary and Integrative Medicine program. He is the author of The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living and The Mayo Clinic Guide to Happiness. He is one of the most sought-after speakers at Mayo. He has received several NIH and foundation awards to test and implement integrative and mind-body approaches within medicine. Dr. Sood received the 2010 Distinguished Service Award, the 2010 Innovator of the Year Award, and the 2013 Outstanding Physician Award from Mayo Clinic.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx.
Emotional laws are the answer for better relationships: Diana Wais, Greece
(TEDx Talks) Nuclear physics, astronomy, and molecular biology truly lack complexity when they are juxtaposed to one word: relationships.
I'm not defensive! You are! Leave me alone!
Interpersonal relationships represent probably the most complicated ideas that have troubled the human mind.
Whether it's aristocracy, models, professional athletes, or everyday couples, they all face the same difficulty of making their relationships work.
Diana Wais talks about how "we are all the same" and how we respond with criticism when we feel threatened by words.
However, it is important to "respond to the other person's need with empathy," she insists.
It is difficult to understand when we are being emotional and irrational. Her most valid point is that, as individuals, we need to conquer the unconscious emotions and understand that essentially, we are all fighting the same internal fight.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection with a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.*
Lummis Day, MAC, and ISLA present a free screening of the documentary Delores.
Dolores Huerta (doloreshuerta.org) is among the most important, though least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding one of the first farm workers' unions with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized.
Dolores is a movie about Huerta, who tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the 20th century. She continues the fight to this day, at age 87.
With intimate and unprecedented access to this intensely private mother of 11, the film reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change. Directed by Peter Bratt.
(DN!) Great US civil rights leader, co-founder of Nat'l Farm Workers Assn.
Followed by panel Q&A with union organizer and California Senate candidate Maria Elena Durazo and Chicana historian Ana Elizabeth Rosas led by Chicano/Latino arts advocate Tomas Benitez
Co-sponsored by: KPFK.org (90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara), Highland Park Independent Film Festival (HPIFF), Institute for the Study of Los Angeles, Occidental College, Occidental College Media Arts & Culture Department.
Lummis Day 2018
The final 2018 Viva Poetry Workshop with Lori Bedikian will take place on the last day of Lummis Day, June 3rd, at El Alisal (aka The Lummis Home).
The Lummis Day/ISLA Viva Poetry Series is made possible by Ahmanson Charitable Community Trust with additional support from the Arts and Urban Experience Initiative, which is generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
We learn how to build new habits by rerouting the electricity in our brains to flow down new pathways, making it even easier to trigger these happy chemicals and increase feelings of satisfaction when we need them most.
Filled with dozens of exercises that help reprogram the brain, Habits of a Happy Brain shows how to live a happier, healthier life!
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