V-Day… ah, l’amour artificiel…
Like other institutionalized holidays, Valentine’s Day seems to cause unnecessary stress and artificially imposed pressure to perform acts of affection. As I walked around downtown San Francisco, it seemed especially evident as I passed dozens of head-scratching, stressed-out men desparately scurrying around for last-minute gifts. Pobrecitos!
But as the sun went down, the requisite angst gave way to a most cathartic experience: hundreds of pillow-touting people congregated at Justin Herman Plaza, armed for a thrilling pillow fight. It was enough to make me happy with glee. I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate just how much you care for your loved ones — oh, and perfect strangers too — by bashing them soundly on the rear! And then there’s the sheer joy of experiencing the ruckus created by flying pillows and countless feathers, interspersed with witty commentary by a man carrying a megaphone (“Bloggers: this is not a spectactor sport!”), camera flashes from photographers and really bad techno pumped by local high school kids…
It’s just one of many reasons why I love San Francisco.
“…as I passed dozens of head-scratching, stressed-out men desparately scurrying around for last-minute gifts.”
Great description, that’s exactly how I tried to describe the phenomena to my girlfriend from rome except I added an anecdotal tidbit about a man I saw wandering through a busy street with a bundle of flowers as if possessed by a haitian witchdoctor. Despite my attempt to build up the holiday for her all I got from her was a pat of the foot ha. I guess you just have to see it to believe it.