2008 Woodie Awards
L~O~V~E
Flowers aren't the only things that blossom this Spring
Allison Poehlman, Staff Writer
Issue date: 5/17/06 Section: Student Life
To love or not to love, according to Webser's Student Dictionary, is a great liking/respect for someone. How simple it sounds. With a definition like Webster's, love should be fairly easy to understand. The weather is beautiful, the sun is out, people are smiling and "love" is in the air.
Sonoma State students walk around campus in their spring attire, which usually means more skin and less clothing. Yee-haw! Cutting classes becomes more tempting and a drive out to the beach or a trip to the city for a Giants game sounds perfect. That special someone whom you have a "great liking for" is sitting next to you enjoying your company and thinking about how much they respect you.
Reality check. Are we talking about love? That is not exactly the way college students think. Love may go way beyond a great liking and respect for someone. Sonoma State junior, Elysia Sahagian, believes that "love is indefinable" which may be true in many ways. The definition of love is different for each individual, and now that spring is here, the love buds are blooming.
College students always seem to be looking for love or lust, which ever it may be. There's something about the attention and affection of another person that gets students' blood flowing. According to Lawrence Keleman, author of "Life is for Love," love creates greater self-esteem, higher aspirations in life, decreases stress levels, and aids in school work. No wonder everyone is looking for love.
Love is a subject and action that is presented to us daily in newspapers, television shows, advertisements, internet sites, and magazines. They all have a specific idea of what love is or what love should be, how to love or how not to love, when to love and when not to love, or who to love and who not to love.
Kristina Smith, a Sonoma State junior, believes that, "being in love with someone means that they are a part of you and they have a part of your heart…they are your soul mate."
But how do you know if they're your soul mate? Where do all the answers come from? Lovecalculator.com can calculate the probability of a successful relationship between two people, simply by entering names. Go figure. Cosmopolitan.com has a whole section on love and sex. They basically tell you how to love. Television shows, like The Bachelor and The Bachlorette on ABC, exaggerate love. The Press Democrat has a personals section if you're looking for love. Every other song on the radio is about love and every other person on the street is in love.
It surrounds us daily and the media affects our personal feelings or definitions of this ambiguous word. In the craze of everyday life, simplistic love is taken over by chaotic adoration. Perhaps Webster's definition is exactly what love is all about.
Sonoma State students walk around campus in their spring attire, which usually means more skin and less clothing. Yee-haw! Cutting classes becomes more tempting and a drive out to the beach or a trip to the city for a Giants game sounds perfect. That special someone whom you have a "great liking for" is sitting next to you enjoying your company and thinking about how much they respect you.
Reality check. Are we talking about love? That is not exactly the way college students think. Love may go way beyond a great liking and respect for someone. Sonoma State junior, Elysia Sahagian, believes that "love is indefinable" which may be true in many ways. The definition of love is different for each individual, and now that spring is here, the love buds are blooming.
College students always seem to be looking for love or lust, which ever it may be. There's something about the attention and affection of another person that gets students' blood flowing. According to Lawrence Keleman, author of "Life is for Love," love creates greater self-esteem, higher aspirations in life, decreases stress levels, and aids in school work. No wonder everyone is looking for love.
Love is a subject and action that is presented to us daily in newspapers, television shows, advertisements, internet sites, and magazines. They all have a specific idea of what love is or what love should be, how to love or how not to love, when to love and when not to love, or who to love and who not to love.
Kristina Smith, a Sonoma State junior, believes that, "being in love with someone means that they are a part of you and they have a part of your heart…they are your soul mate."
But how do you know if they're your soul mate? Where do all the answers come from? Lovecalculator.com can calculate the probability of a successful relationship between two people, simply by entering names. Go figure. Cosmopolitan.com has a whole section on love and sex. They basically tell you how to love. Television shows, like The Bachelor and The Bachlorette on ABC, exaggerate love. The Press Democrat has a personals section if you're looking for love. Every other song on the radio is about love and every other person on the street is in love.
It surrounds us daily and the media affects our personal feelings or definitions of this ambiguous word. In the craze of everyday life, simplistic love is taken over by chaotic adoration. Perhaps Webster's definition is exactly what love is all about.