Darts & Laurels - February 17, 2017

As the rush of Valentine’s Day week ends, bouquets of dead flowers start to show up in trash cans, and those little helium balloons are starting to take up space. Perhaps you stocked up on chocolates, or you’re going through the large box you were given. Either way, the one holiday to look forward to in February (unless you’re really enthusiastic about Presidents Day) has passed, and now there’s only Spring Break to look forward to. That is, unless, you have grabbed a copy of our dear newspaper and flipped open to this week’s …

Darts & Laurels

So what’s the only thing better than discounted buy-one-get-one chocolate this week? It’s Girl Scout Cookie season in the 352. That’s right folks, after your biweekly grocery trip, be sure to swing by one of the booths and purchase your favorite cookie: Thin Mints, Samoas and Trefoils galore! If four dollars seems a bit pricey for happiness, just remember that not only are you buying cookies, but you’re also giving to an organization focused on empowering young girls. The Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. have been under fire from more traditional organizations for allegedly teaching girls an information-based, sex-education curriculum instead of abstinence-only, and for welcoming transgender girls into their ranks. We don’t know about you, but we’d buy some cookies if it’s for inclusion, education and empowerment. So a laurel to the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. for their delicious cookies and their dedication to promoting compassion, courage and confidence in young ladies.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer messed up the name of a foreign leader earlier this week. Now, we understand that foreign names can sometimes be hard, especially when you’re not particularly known for being welcoming and courteous, but the name he messed up was Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, a country which is arguably the closest in demographics, culture and lifestyle to the U.S. Spicer called the Canadian prime minister “Joe Trudeau,” which could be worse, but it was also not a very hard name to mess up in the first place. Twitter was quick to make jokes about Trudeau’s alter ego. Some defended Spicer, saying he merely fumbled, but we’d like to argue that as White House press secretary, not fumbling in front of the press is in your job description. We throw a dart to Sean Spicer, who either needs to work on remembering simple names or take a public speaking class.

Speaking of Twitter, the hashtag #DisabledAndCute started trending last Sunday when 25-year-old Keah Brown tweeted pictures of herself with the hashtag. This sparked tweets from others in the disabled community, celebrating their diversity and giving them a chance to shine in an internet sphere that is usually preoccupied with Kardashians and Jenners. Usually, when disabled people are trending in the media, it’s for what Brown calls “inspiration porn,” in which they are seen as “only being as valuable as what (one) can achieve or make able-bodied people feel about themselves.” The hashtag exploded in popularity, and members from all across the disabled community posted pictures, loving themselves for who they are. We give a laurel to Keah Brown, the hashtag and Twitter for sparking a movement of acceptance for people otherwise exiled from mainstream media.

Now, dear readers, for an issue close to our hearts: Valentine’s Day. We get it; love is in the air and you feel the need to express it. But is all the flare worth it? The cheesy Hallmark cards, the pressure of the “perfect Valentine’s date” and the guilty calls to mom and grandma that — let’s be real — you know you should be making anyway? Love isn’t love if you wait for a lone day in February to show it off. And so we give this overly commercialized, superficial holiday a dart. Roses may be red, and violets may blue, but if you wait until Valentine’s Day to treat your boo, you’re a schmuck. As our tweeter-in-chief would say, “Sad!”