Single or not, students in the Ralston High School Book Club found something fun to do on Valentine's Day that had nothing to do with love.
The typical tokens of affection such as boxes of chocolate, flowers and sentimental cards were missing at the second annual Anti-Valentine's Day Party designed to offer RHS students an alternative to drippy romance.
There were no candy hearts with expressions like I'm 4 U, Mine, or LUV. Instead, cookies and a cake decorated with cancelled hearts were the centerpiece and the romantic movie selected for the occasion was "The Blair Witch Project."
Cupid's arrows were not aimed at the students hearts (in fact, the party's invitations featured a cherub who had fallen out of the sky in a crumpled heap), rather, club members opted to experience the thrill and excitement of the horror film to satisfy their hunger for something different.
The Book Club, sponsored by RHS media specialist Jonatha Basye, meets weekly in the media center and focuses primarily on reading books, but students do get together for other social activities during the school year.
"Most of the kids who come to book club truly love reading and sharing those stories with their peers," Basye said.
When asked what prompted the idea of an anti-Valentine's party, Basye said that students are always looking for reasons to get together and since many couples had something to do on Feb. 14, why not get together and have some other kind of fun?
The student sentiment matched that of their club sponsor.
Upwards of 15 students attended the event held at Ralston's Baright Public Library with the assistance of Youth Services Librarian, Melanie Scholtz; and Children's Librarian, Dee Huff who rolled up their sleeves and went to work making the students feel at home.
"It's been a wonderful experience working with Melanie and Dee," said Basye, talking about the growing relationship between the high school and community libraries.
Basye identified the important role the Baright librarians play by making the library a place where students feel welcome.
With a stack of parent permission forms in hand, Basye and the library staff got the party started and for a while, it seemed the only thing resembling passion or love was the students reaction to the boxes of pizza provided by the Book Club.
That is until Sasa Tomasevic and Evelynne Harrison showed up. A large white teddy bear holding a red satin heart sat on their table confirming that the point of the event wasn't to shun those involved in a relationship.
Evelynne described the night as "almost a first date" because of time constraints surrounding school, work and other activities.
"Even though we've been dating for a while, we're both really busy, and this sounded like something fun we could do together on Valentine's Day," she said.
Asked if it being an anti-Valentine party made them apprehensive about what the night had in store, they both agreed that they came because they wanted to spend time together with friends.
Another group of students revealed that all young people aren't as unrestrained when the love bug bites as society portrays.
Several students were involved in dating relationships, but for reasons of their own opted to attend the party without their significant others.
Ironically, when asked what members of the group were reading several recounted the details of a novel written by Jennifer E. Smith called "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight."
The story, written in the tradition of a romance novel, is about a young couple that falls in love on a flight from New York to London.
And though several were reading such stories of love, the resounding highlight of the evening was watching "The Blair Witch Project," recounting the tale of three film school students who travel to Maryland to make a video documentary of a local urban legend about a spectre haunting some local woods called the Blair Witch.
The movie won the club's vote over such saccharine-sweet, sappy favorites as "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," "The Shining" and "My Bloody Valentine."
Last year they watched the 1968 cult zombie film, "Night of the Living Dead."
Most of the club members said they chose to attend because they wanted to try something new, and though love and passion weren't the flavor of the day, neither was callousness or cynicism.
As a social event, the evening seemed to be a positive experience.
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