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Galentine's Day: Friendship Bracelets

Celebrate Your Friendships

Location

On Campus : Women's Center, Commons 004

Date & Time

February 13, 2018, 11:30 am1:30 pm

Description

February 14th, Valentine’s Day is about romance. 
February 13th, Galentine’s Day is about celebrating your friends. ♥

In the spirit of Leslie Knope, join us in the Women's Center for snacks, conversations, and making friendship bracelets!

Beginning at 11:30am, Women's Center staff will lead a small discussion followed by a friendship bracelet activity and group discussion. Following the discussion and if supplies remain, others dropping in over the 2 hours span are welcomed to make their own friendship bracelets for the remainder of the time. 


What is Galentine's Day You Ask?
Only the best day of the year! 

Like many other holidays celebrated in our country, Valentine’s Day seems to also fall into the trap of Hallmark commercialism, and in this case, heteronormativity. You see this everywhere– in advertisements, media, and storefronts. The narrative is often focused on romantic relationships focused on men, who are often expected to get their significant other (usually a woman) gifts like flowers, chocolates, teddy bears — you know the deal.

The heteronormative nature of Valentine’s Day can be incredibly limiting and isolating for other couples who may not identify similarly. Of course, in terms of gifts buying things for your partner as a token of appreciation (or because you freakin’ love them!) is not a negative thing, and it doesn’t have to be labeled as being sucked into commercialism. If you like the flowers, chocolates, etc- go for it! While romantic relationships of all kinds are great- it would be awesome to have an alternative, for example, for the people who are not in romantic relationships!

This is where Galentine’s Day (a concept from the T.V show “Parks & Rec”) comes in. In the show, Galentine’s Day is celebrated February 13th and centers on female friendships. It’s a day where we get to spend time with our “gal”s and appreciate them for being in our lives! In the show, Leslie throws an annual Galentine’s Day party for her friends. In the episode, they all meet at a restaurant and Leslie “gives them all a gift bag with a bouquet of hand-crocheted flower pens, a mosaic portrait of each of them made from the crushed bottles of their favorite diet soda, and a personalized 5,000 word essay of why they’re all so awesome”