There are different Valentine’s Day traditions for almost every culture. The Romans would hold a lottery on February 15th where the winner would get to choose a woman. The Welsh carve spoons with symbolic shapes to give to their true loves. During the Middle Ages, young men and women pulled the names of their Valentines out of a hat and pin the names to their sleeves. This is where the saying “wearing your heart on your sleeve” originates.

Even the birds fall in love and choose their mates on February 14th.

However, one of the most popular and longest lasting traditions is writing a letter to Juliet in Verona for love advice. Each letter begs for a reply from Juliet to help them make decisions about their love lives.

However, Juliet is not who replies to the thousands of letters left to her.

     People have been obsessed with Juliet since the 1800s. However, it wasn’t until 1937 that anyone received a reply from the beloved Juliet. This is where Ettore Solimani comes in.

     In 1937 Ettore Solimani became the custodian of Juliet’s tomb. During Solimani’s time, he answered hundreds of Letters to Juliet. Solimani signed most of his letters ‘Juliet’s Secretary’. Even though most of Solimani’s advice wasn’t very empathetic to his writer, the Letters to Juliet still poured in.

“Fans of Juliet look up to her; she did everything possible to hold on to her true love and didn’t let anyone stop her. This is the type of courage of Juliet’s eager writers hope to gain by writing her a letter.” Said Julie Johnson, a frequent writer to Juliet.

     After Solimani retired in 1958, Professor Beltramini, took over, followed by several other local secretaries.

     It was not until the late 1980s that Guilio Tamassia, who confesses a lifelong love for Juliet, set up the Club di Giulietta, or the Juliet Club.

The Juliet Club is a group of 15 ‘Juliet’s Secretaries’. These volunteers spend hours replying to the thousands of letters about love that arrive for Juliet.

“Being able to maintain an 80 year tradition and give people hope in love is the more rewarding then any paying job,” says a Juliet Secretary.

Most would think that Juliet’s Secretaries would only be women; however the job is also a pastime for a full-blooded Italian man.

“The only problem is now all my men friends want to talk to me about their love problems!” says one Italian male correspondent.

In the new age of technology, Juliet even has her own email account, which is also overflowing. However, no matter how Juliet fans send their letters, everyone receives a reply.

“Though if a letter’s written in a difficult language — like Vietnamese or Polish — it might take us longer to translate it and write back. So while everyone gets a response, sometimes they have to wait a few weeks,” says a Juliet translator.

To give back to Juliet’s loyal writers, every year on St. Valentine’s Day, the Juliet Club awards the Dear Juliet Prize to the most beautiful letter sent to Juliet. The prize, of course, is a week or two stay in Verona.

     While thousands will write to Juliet, only the bravest go to Verona to stand on Juliet’s balcony and leave their letter on the dark tunnel leading to Casa di Giulietta or Juliet’s House. 

These love struck tourist and Shakespeare fanatics take the trip to Verona to prove that the influence of Romeo and Juliet’s love still reaches all over the world.

     “Juliet is a symbol of love,” Marchi quotes in USA Today. “Once you start, it’s difficult to stop because it’s so interesting. It gives you an intimate view of people’s feelings. It is good to see that in the heart we are all the same, despite different countries, different cultures.”

There are thousands of things that these writers could be doing on Valentine’s Day. They could be visiting with loved ones, at home watching a romantic movie, or eating Valentine’s Day chocolate. However, those who visit Verona find themselves on an adventure for true love that very few ever regret.

At night, when the moon is full and shines down on Juliet’s balcony, tourists can still imagine Juliet calling out for her true love.

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”

     Dance has always been recognized as an art form, a celebration of life, movement and artistic expression.  In this day and age, it often takes a backseat to popular sports and games, such as football, basketball and soccer.  However, the exclusion of dance from the generally accepted list of traditional sports has been a debate between dancers and other athletes for some time.  Why are dancers, with their rigorous physical training and quest for perfection in execution and technique, not considered to be of the same caliber as other athletes?  Who are others to say that dancers cannot be considered true athletes as well as artists?  Why is dance not recognized both as an art and a sport?

     According to The Farlex Dictionary, the word ‘sport’ is defined as “physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively”.  Dance meets these requirements exactly; it is very physically demanding and requires precision in technique, strength, agility, flexibility and stamina.  Competitions are common among young people and professionals alike, at regional, national and international levels.  There is certainly a quest to be the best.

     Dancers face an increased risk for injury just as in other sports.  In addition to being incredibly physically straining, dancing often results in sore, pulled muscles, sprained ankles, hyper extensions, back, knee and hip problems, damaged feet and other painful injuries.  These problems are generally treated as ‘sports injuries’ by sports medicine doctors in the same way that an injured soccer player may be dealt with.

     In the summer of 2010, the Gatorade foundation officially recognized dancers as athletes.  Lauren Froderman, winner of season 7 of popular professional dance competition TV show So You Think You Can Dance, was featured as Gatorade’s first dancer athlete in her own print campaign.  This tradition was continued with season 8’s winner, Melanie Moore, who had her own Gatorade ad as well.

     Most importantly, dancers are equally as dedicated to their passion as other athletes are to theirs.  Mastering technique and training take years to accomplish.  Although there is never really a way to reach perfection, dancers are always learning from each other and strive to improve, just as other sports players do.

     Dance is a sport and an art, and dancers are both athletes and artists.  Much is expected of those who dance, for they must have precision, strength, dedication and, most importantly, immense love for what they do.  In fact, they even do it in tutus with buns on their heads, ribbons on their feet and smiles on their faces.

     The long-time tradition of Penny Wars has a new name this year: Dollar Wars. Due to Student Council’s “lack of patience in counting pennies”, they have replaced the role of pennies with dollars. Four jugs, one for each class, will be set up in Haggar where students will place dollar bills in their class jug and larger bills in other classes’ jugs. The larger bills nullify the one dollar bills during the counting session at the end of the week, making it harder for classes to win the war except by being very generous to other classes. This change will help raise more money for girls in Kenya to go to school. It takes around $300 to send a girl to school for one year, and hopefully, we will raise enough money to send several girls.

     Student Council is also changing the way students will express their appreciation for teachers. They will hang up a banner in the teacher lounge area with an individual message from different students for each teacher. They will also create a video featuring students talking about how much they appreciate each of their teachers. Of course, a favorite for all students is the traditional “when they were babies” poster which will be hung up in Main Hall for students to guess which baby picture belongs to which teacher.

     The traditional covering up of bathroom mirrors in honor of Self-Affirmation Day is gone. Instead, girls reported to their advisory where they were given class- colored- coded signs.  On the sign, they wrote adjectives or phrases which described them.  Attaching cords around the signs to make necklaces, students stood in a circle and discussed these self-descriptions.  Then, the signs were put in the middle tables, where girls drew an upside down sign and tried to remember which of their classmates had created this way to describe herself.

     “I wore my sign all day long, said freshman Larissa S., “It drew so many comments.”

     Crazy sock day is now crazy sock and tie day. Girls will wear ties snatched from their father, brothers, or boyfriends to school over their uniform.

     One tradition that has survived, however, is the Dodge Ball Tournament. At the Friday PM Assembly, students will fill the gym bleachers to watch other students and teachers alike throw dodge balls at each other with the goal of becoming this year’s champion. This fun competition will be a great way to end the week—the whole school together bonding over the amusement of watching people getting bombarded with dodge balls.

Several ideas have come to mind, including touch control for all technology, voice recognition, and mobile payments as they become more mainstream. However, none of these are as popular as the much anticipated flexible screen expected in 2012. During the past week the company Nokia debuted a handheld gadget that allows the bending and twisting of the screen for zooming and scrolling. Sprint, another company, is also expected to debut their versions of flexible screens and tablets within the same year.

Benefits are obvious, considering that the screen would be more durable. It would also mark the start of a revolution in a new kind of mobile technology. What kind of revolution exactly? A revolution like no other, since flexible screens lead to advances in the field of foldable screens. One day soon your computer or phone could fold up and fit in your pocket. Not to mention the fact that these flexible screens also have an environmental impact and they could replace paper entirely.

The flexible telephone screen in itself is an invention people would have never imagined only a few years ago; this invention has the capacity to change the world. The more compact a gadget is, the more uses it has in a world full of endless electronic devices. The possibilities that branch from a flexible tablet or phone are boundless.

“I love being able to cheer and clap and welcome our troops home. They have been fighting for our freedom and they deserve a big welcome back party,” Lucy says when commenting on her experiences at the  airport. “It’s so exciting when there will be that one guy who comes running through the tunnel of people all excited to see us and be back home.”

Lucy is not the only one who enjoys volunteering her time to the United Service Organization (USO). Since June 14, 2004, USO Dallas-Fort Work has been working to serve the military community. They have become one of only two U.S. airport locations with accommodations for the Army’s Rest and Recuperation program.

The organization exists to serve personnel in all military branches and to make their travel back to their families more comfortable. Since it’s beginning, USO has greeted more than 835,000 troops as they passed through the DFW airport on their way home. To be greeted by 50-75 people cheering and clapping is intimidating, but it is truly appreciated by the returning troops.

With over 400 employees and 135 centers, USO is making a difference to the men serving the country; just in the states alone 736,550 hours have been put into making sure the troops understand what they mean to the citizens.

Every weekend the international terminals are filled to capacity with church groups, office groups, school children, and volunteers who just want to show their appreciation for our troops. No matter whether the flight is coming in at seven in the morning or four in the afternoon there are always people there.

The non-profit organization has welcomed over one million new members,  but this year due to the ending of the war,  the DFW location is being discontinued. The government is pulling troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and soon the DFW USO will not exist.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do on my weekends without USO,” Lucy says. “It’s become a huge part of my life and to know that I can’t go and show the troops how proud I am of them is just heart breaking. Please, I urge everyone to go while you still can to support the young men and women who have been fighting for our freedom for years.”

     Leading the internet revolution, Facebook will soon be hosting their second annual Hacker’s Cup. Open to all coders anywhere, participants are pitted against each other in five rounds of programming challenges. This competition kicked off January 20^th with a 72 hour qualification round. Then, the competitors will be thinned out in three more online rounds. Finalists will be flown down to Facebook Headquarters located in Menlo Park, Calif. for their final round in March.

     One winner out of over 10,000 other participants will receive a $5,000 cash prize. Last year, almost 12,000 programmers attempted to win the Hacker’s Cup. Last year’s winner was none other than a Google employee from Russia, Petr Mitrichev. During the competition, Mitrichev wore his Google employee badge with pride. However, this competition is more than fun and games. They are a way to find gifted programmers, a scarce resource that the industry cannot get enough of. Google also hosts its own programming contest named the Code Jam which Mitrichev won in 2006.

     In a blog posts announcing and opening up this year’s competition, Facebook says, “Hacking is core to how we build at Facebook”. And they welcome hackers even outside their own company. This August, the online social site launched a “bug bounty” security initiative, which called out to outsiders, asking them to send details of any Facebook security vulnerabilities. A finder’s fee of at least $500 is offered to anybody who can find security loopholes. “Whether we’re building a prototype for a major product like Timeline at a Hackathon, creating a smarter search algorithm, or tearing down walls at our new headquarters, we’re always hacking to find better ways to solve problems.”

      Last year’s graduating class was unanimous in telling the seniors to not hold back in school involvement when they reach college.

      “Don’t be afraid to branch out and try new things,” said Courtney B.

       The girls also gave current seniors advice for the academic side of college. They assured the seniors that college academics are quite different from those in high school, but that the adjustment is definitely doable.

       ”Really get to know your professors,” said Rachel H.

       When several girls asked about classes, jobs, and majors, the 2011 graduates told the seniors to choose their undergrad major because they enjoy it, not because of the possibility of a lucrative career.

       ”You will be successful at something you are happy doing, rather than something that just might make you money,” said Kelly C.

       Seniors also asked for advice on how to stay healthy and fit during college, especially freshman year. This is a concern for many, especially for those who are not planning to play a sport in college.

       “Take as many PE classes as you can, it’s a great way to stay fit and make friends,” said Courtney.

       Other girls asked about the possibility of homesickness, and how to deal with it. The 2011 panel were very responsive about this, saying that missing one’s family and one’s home is inevitable, and it can be hard to get used to the change.

       “I was still really caught up in high school, but you can’t be afraid of change; it’s inevitable,” said Mackenzie M.

       Things got better for last year’s graduates once they embraced the change.

       “You realize that that’s where you life is now and that’s where your home is now,” said Rachel N.

      But while looking forward to college is surely exciting as well as nerve-wracking, the graduates reminded this year’s seniors to make sure to have fun for the rest of their time at Ursuline.

A comfortable air of fun and friendship prevailed in the Journalism Room Friday, Jan. 20 as the Bear Facts staff hosted and interviewed the 12 visiting students from partner school Collegio Santa Ursula in Lima, Peru.

The girls ranging in age from 14-16, are staying with host Ursuline families during their three week  visit  where they are attending classes, doing a service project, sightseeing around  the metroplex, and generally just being introduced to Ursuline Dallas.

While Bear Facts reporters interviewed each girl individually, a group interview preceded this.  Immediately the visitors described their school day in Lima, which runs from 7:40 a.m.-2:55 p.m.  as being very different.  “We don’t have time for electives like this journalism class,” several responded.  Stating that they had eight- 45 minute-classes a day with two breaks, the Peruvians also lamented the fact that they could not carry or use laptops. 

As many of our visitors have told us, a highlight of visiting Dallas is the shopping.  Stories  of visits with their host families to NorthPark Mall dotted the interview.   A love of shopping was definitely a similarity.   A  big difference between the cultures they cited , however, was the way Peruvians and Texans eat.

“Our big meal is at noon, and we just have a sandwich or something like that for our evening meal,” Camila R. said. 

Shared with their American counterparts is a devotion to Facebook and other forms of social media.  The girls also spoke of learning German, the primary world language at their school because the school was founded by Ursulines from Germany.      

“Interviewing the group was fun,” said Cecilia L.‘12, on line editor for the Bear Facts.  “We are getting right to work on an online segment which features some fun facts about each of our guests.”  These facts and a few pictures should be posted the first part of next week.  

All students saw a spirited performance by Spirit of Uganda, the performing arm of Empower African Children, a non-profit organization which has successfully partnered with Africa’s vulnerable children over the last 15 years.  Maddie B. ’15 said the performance was the best she had ever seen.

“Their performance was amazing,” said Rachel E.’13.  “The performers are so talented and excited to be up on the stage.  They must feel so proud to be representing their home,” she added.

Another highlight was hearing speaker Sarah Culberson, author of A Princess Found and the bi-racial daughter of a West Virginian woman and an African tribal chief from Sierra Leone.  Ms. Culberson, adopted by white parents when just a baby, spoke of her search to find her biological father (her biological mother is deceased).  The search led her to Sierra Leone and the realization of her desire to help the people of this war torn country which later welcomed her as their long-lost daughter.

“Sarah taught me to always go after what I want in life.  Even if people tell you no, that your dream is stupid or that you can’t accomplish it, go for it anyway and don’t care about what other people think,” said Tuesday W. ’15 when commenting on what she learned from  the speaker’s determination to significantly aid Sierra Leone.

A recess period, honoring UA’s relationship with South America, featured free time for yoga, salsa dancing, photo exhibits, student travel information and a chalk drawing for the UA Community Mural, “Local & Global, What I Love,” in the FFC Courtyard.

Also included during “recess” was a book signing by Ms. Culberson and a Global Market where girls could buy African jewelry, Uwezo Shoes and rugs handmade by Sudanese Refugees along with soap and origami boxes.

“I bought a beautiful multicolored bead bracelet.  I also bought some of that amazing smelling soap,” Christina P. ’15 said.

Bead for Life, who provided the majority of jewelry for sale,  is  a non-profit which promotes sale of jewelry and soaps made by African women in hopes of leading themselves and their families out of poverty . Soap Hope, a manufacturer of scented soaps and other bath and beauty products also sold, invests 100% of its profits every year into anti-poverty non-profits. These organizations use the funds to issue business loans to women in poverty, training them how to start and run their own small businesses.

Additionally, girls chose to attend a  presentation from a variety of opportunities.   Clairemarie B. ’15 enjoyed hearing the delegation who went to Wimbledon describe their trip

“They were able to describe their trip effectively without leaving out important details or including any boring details,” she said. Olivia A. ‘13 is planning to pull out the salsa routine she learned at the session she attended at future school dances.

Currently, two delegations of students are visiting Ursuline from sister schools in Chile and Peru.  Each presented a session.  “I attended the presentation by the delegation from Peru in the morning,” said Courtney N. ’14.  “The girls spoke great English and gave a lot of good information, ” she said.  Katy C. ’14 said she really enjoyed both delegations’ presentations.

“It was cool to learn about girls’ lives in other countries, and really made me want to travel,” she said.

Other students’ spoke of the harsher realities encountered during presentations.  “Seeing all the devastation in Uganda, makes me want to go and help there.  By the end of the day, I really wanted to go on a mission trip to Uganda,” said Christina P. ’15.

“The workshops were life changing; they made me feel like a jerk because I have so much and these innocent children have nothing.  It really inspired me to help,” said Maddie B. ‘15

Toward this end, Rachel E. ’13 praised the Soap Hope presentation.  “The speaker told us that when we are deciding what we want to do with our future, we should all work toward solving a big issue because each of us can do something,” she said.  She also found his explanation of micro financing to be quite interesting.

Ultimately, all girls kept returning to the Spirit of Uganda group and its impact on the day.  “The Spirit of Uganda was fantastic,” summed up Katy C. ’14.  “They have so much love for dancing and hope for their future and education.  These kids have lived hard lives, and it’s amazing that they have been able to recover from that and become amazing performers.  I was inspired by these children and young adults, and definitely want to see them again,” she said.

Global Celebration Day alternates each year with Global Issues Day.  Ms. Cecilia Nipp, Dean of Diversity and Global Education and the coordinator of this event, said,” I am thrilled with the enthusiasm that our students displayed and am encouraged by all the positive feedback about our presenters and special guests.  It was a marvelous day, and we are already looking forward to Global Issues Day next year.”