It's what's on the inside that counts.

I went to Pacific Palisades Elementary this afternoon to collect more data for my master's project. Pacific Palisades is the kind of place that makes you wonder if bad things ever happen there. Green-covered mountains are contrasted by bright flowers, manicured lawns, and yes, even picket fences. Beautiful parents pick up beautiful children from school in luxury minivans and SUVs. When I first arrived, I thought it must have been a field trip day because all the kids were wearing red shirts. Then I remembered it was Valentine's Day. Parents, also clad in pink and red, milled around, helping their kids carry valentines and that one extra cupcake from the class party. When I was in elementary school, we made receptacles for our valentines from either shoe boxes or brown lunch bags. These kids had valentines boxes on the scale of their parents' SUVs.


My favorite elementary school valentine was a Snoopy card from my 4th grade "boyfriend" Logan. The inside, inscribed with heavy pencil lead, read, "I still like you." Be still my beating heart! We had become boyfriend and girlfriend after an exchange of letters written on wide-ruled notebook paper which had been mounted on colored construction paper. I recall a consistent exchange of hand drawn pictures of horses during our courtship. The last time I saw Logan he was in law school, and, if I had to say, probably a Republican. I'm pretty sure the same fate befell my college boyfriend too, but he never drew me pictures of horses.