Valentine's Day or Not?

I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. Since I don't believe in the archaic and somewhat unhealthy obsession our culture propagates, created by businesses, with fantasy concepts of romantic love. Valentine's Day was and is an artificial holiday exploiting sentiments about romantic love that began as a way for wives of aristocracy to cover their infidelities involving the knights who served their husbands. The idea and symbolism of the knight in shining armor, the saving of the damsel in distress, and the giving of cards and flowers as tokens of love and courtship dates back to the Medieval era. These symbols and gestures, along with the idea of chivalry were created to conceal affection and affairs in discretion and covert symbols. Over the many years so many stories, fairytales, Disney, and many others have constantly embedded this into our cultural identity and ideology about love. Various elements, of course, were added or tweaked by many sources including: jewelers, florists, greeting cards makers, and confectioners or chocolateers, and restaurants. For all of these businesses their motivation is clear, to make money. Real love should never require a holiday. Valentine's Day is not really about romance or love, but about businesses exploiting cultural indoctrination and misconceptions.

So, instead, I celebrate a real legitimate holiday. On the 14th of February in 1912 the US congress officially admitted the territory of Arizona into the union. Today I celebrate Arizona Statehood Day.

Arizona Statehood Day. The flag of the State of Arizona.

© 2015, Joshua Michail

What Is Celebrated On 14th February?

            So many people today will be celebrating a special day. Every year on the 14^th of February we observe this special day. It is so sweet that they'd show so much love, cuddling together, sharing unforgettable moments. Champagne and flowers are excellent treats for this holiday, or really any time. Around the globe people are getting together today to celebrate, but they're celebrating a very special day in Arizona. Today we are celebrating the anniversary of when Arizona became the 48^th state in the United States. This year happens to be the 100^th anniversary. 

A view of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix at sunset with a storm moving in.
(I did not take this picture, I found it on the web.)

            Arizona was part of the New Mexico territory. But then it was split into two territories, Arizona and New Mexico. On 6^th January 1912 New Mexico was admitted to the Union as the 47^th State. Following that, a month later on 14^th February 1912 Arizona was, likewise, admitted to the Union. These two states, along with southern Nevada (Las Vegas), make up the Southwest region of the United States. I often make the distinction, since so many people seem to not know, and I take some offense at the false association, that the Southwest, Arizona, is not part of the “South”. We are not like Alabama, or Missouri. Arizona was not a state when the Confederacy fought to keep slavery during the American Civil War. So Arizona has no history of slavery, unlike the south. Nor is Arizona like Texas. Texas is not part of the Southwest, it is just Texas, or it is a part of the South. California is not part of the Southwest, it is very different in culture and history. California is “west-coast”, culturally and geographically. Utah, northern Nevada and Colorado are just the “west”. They're also culturally, historically and geographically different. Arizona was one of the first states to recognize the right of women to vote. Our state is the home of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Grand Canyon.

            We also have one of the best preserved meteorite impact sites, Meteor Crater. Our two largest universities, Arizona State University in Tempe, near the capitol Phoenix, and University of Arizona in Tucson, are both among NASA's most involved and productive partners. Both ASU and UofA continue to work extensively with NASA on research programs, including providing areas to test devices because of similarity to Mars' terrain. ASU has the largest enrollment of all universities in the US, with 72,254 students in 2011. Of all the states, Arizona has the largest amount of land area that is Native American Reservation lands. The largest number of people who speak a Native American language are in Arizona. More than 85,000 people speak Navajo and 10,400 people speak Apache. We have the sixth most populated city in the United States, our state capitol Phoenix has about 1.5 million people. Seventy percent of the land in Arizona is owned or controlled by the US federal government. Our state is the 33^rd most densely populated, but has the 16^th largest population of the 50 states and is the 6^th largest state in land area.

            To wrap up this little essay, we have a unique culture. There are many Native American archeological sites, abandoned mining camps, a few ghost towns and Spanish Missions dating back to the mid 1500s. Mesquite and Pecan trees grow naturally here, and Mesquite is the wood of choice for barbeque. Chipotle is a variety of Jalapeno pepper that is ripened to a purple color and then dried with smoke. Indeed, Pecan nuts, Mesquite smoke and Chipotle chilies are true flavors of the Southwest, and especially Arizona. Our cultural influences are Native American, specifically Apache, Navajo and Pima, along with Spanish and Anglo-American. So today, Arizona's Centennial, is special to me because it's my state, where I grew up and have lived nearly all of my life.

copyright 2012, Joshua Michail