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The Daily Tar Heel

Faculty Also Join in Romantic Antics

Journalism Professors Rhonda Gibson and Joe Bob Hester plan to mark the occasion by leaving town.

UNC faculty members enjoy spending quality time with their significant others on Valentine's Day and scoff at the notion that only young people can enjoy the holiday.

But most agree that the holiday improves with age because the quality of love gets better.

"Valentine's Day gets better as you get older because you know what love is about," said UNC journalism Professor Rhonda Gibson.

Gibson said she and her husband, Joe Bob Hester, also a journalism professor at UNC, plan to celebrate Valentine's Day by going away for the weekend. She chose to keep the trip's location a secret.

Gibson praised the opportunity to work with a spouse. "If you get along it's a good thing," she said.

She added that being married makes Valentine's Day better because it eliminates some of the worries common among young people. "It's great being married on Valentine's Day," she said.

She also said that while some people think of romance as a young thing, mature love is better.

Gibson added that she does not have any suggestions as to what faculty members could do for Valentine's Day because she just moved to Durham.

But UNC journalism Professor Chuck Stone said the holiday is broad enough to include different types of love other than romantic.

He said he has sent Valentine's Day cards to his mother throughout his life, including from India, where he lived for two years in the 1950s.

This year Stone plans to celebrate with his wife. "I give my wife red roses," he said. "She doesn't eat candy, but I take her out to dinner if she wants."

He added that he does not need a holiday to embrace his love for his wife. "(You) should celebrate love all year round," Stone said, adding that he gives his wife yellow roses at least once a month.

Stone also criticized the increasing commercialism associated with Valentine's Day.

"It's much more commercial now," he said. "Stores start putting out cards after the first of the year."

Stone emphasized the importance of celebrating Valentine's Day through actions rather than gifts.

"If a faculty member doesn't celebrate it, it means he is getting senile," he said jokingly, adding that professors should show appreciation for someone, be it a child, a wife or even a student.

And Stone said people should remember that love, as well as Valentine's Day, is universal. "It transcends age," he said. "Put it this way -- it's really for the young at heart."

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