Overheard at the end of Michele Norris’s interview with Jeffrey Eugenides on last night’s All Things Considered:
MN: Happy Valentine’s Day to you.
JE: Thanks for having me.
MN: I was going to ask you if you’re doing anything special for Valentine’s Day, but your someone special might be listening.
JE: I’ll tell you, one of the first things my wife and I decided when we got together was that we would never celebrate Valentine’s Day.
MN: What?
JE: One of the first things that made me fall in love with her was our mutual antipathy to Valentine’s Day.
MN: Wait a minute — an author who puts together a collection of love stories has total antipathy for Valentine’s Day?
JE: Oh yeah. Don’t you think it’s the cheapening and commodification of something rare that we’d all like to celebrate in private and on our own time?
MN: I personally like flowers and chocolate.
JE: Well, your special person, I hope, is listening.
I have always come down on Eugenides’ side of this argument. Fortunately, my “special person” does too.
Post Revisions:
- December 12, 2008 @ 10:47:29 [Current Revision] by Scott Rosenberg
- February 14, 2008 @ 12:32:25 by Scott Rosenberg