Valentine’s Day

Author Amelia Klem Osterud, a tattooed academic librarian from Wisconsin and one cool lady.

Valentine’s Day is cheesy. I was given a large (I mean, LARGE) red bear by a Valentine’s Day date about 7 years ago. I was 20 at the time.  Unfortunately, I had given away all of my stuffed animals by junior high, so a red stuffed bear with a shiny heart on its tummy kind of made me sick in mine. Not only did the date insist I accept the bear when I tried to give it back to him with a “Oh, no, you shouldn’t have,” he also had a very small car, so the bear sat on my lap driving to and from dinner that night. I could barely see around the monstrosity of fluff as he sped down the freeway. I would have preferred to tie it to the roof of the car…

That was a bad Valentine’s Day.

Luckily, there are other options than large red stuffed bears to give your date. May I recommend one, as a scarred February 14 victim of 7 years ago?

Give her a book. Give her a book that she really wants to read. Give her a book she would buy for herself. Something she would LOVE. Give her this book:

We at Fulcrum LOVE this book. We would buy this book for ourselves. It is beautiful, informative, it will make you appreciate the birth of a counterculture and all your tattooed friends even more. And, it is about women. Wonderful, strong, gutsy, fun women of yore. Women love this stuff. And you will have a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Trust me, don’t buy the bear : ).