Valentine’s Day always has had a special place in the lives of college students because most of us still haven’t gotten over our mushy attitudes about love held over from high school.

Testaments to youth’s obsession with love can be found in the past, and at NIU, in Northern Star’s of yesteryear. Some are funny, some touching, some bizarre. So, yes, these glimpses into the past could make you laugh, cringe or even cry.

One of the eternal questions surrounding Valentine’s Day is where to take that special someone.

Movies have always been a popular choice. In 1931, for 25 cents students could attend a showing of the steamily titled “Passion Flower” at the Egyptian Theatre, starring Charles Bickford and Zasu Pitts.

Almost three decades later, the Egyptian Theatre showed a double feature of “How to Make a Monster” and “Teenage Caveman.” An ad for the movies guaranteed them to “scare the living yell out of you!” Undoubtedly, the double feature also had the added benefit of allowing students to grab each other in fright.

Lovers with a taste for gore in 1981 could see “My Bloody Valentine” at Atko Canton Cinemas, or take in a late-night showing of the truly twisted “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Those interested in more (or less) interaction on a date could attend a dance. A precede for the Valentine Formal of Feb. 10, 1940 stated, “music will be furnished by Gay Claridge and his orchestra. This group of swingsters… is considered one of the most versatile and promising of the coming top-notch dance orchestras. This dance is the first big opportunity for the feminine element to take advantage of the leap year privilege.”

The question of what to give their true loves has also plagued 20th century NIU students.

Baked goods seems to have been a favorite. Goodyear’s Bakery advertised in 1931 that it was “a clean, attractive store selling wholesome, tasty food at reasonable prices with prompt, cheerful service.” Don’t hold the adjectives.

In 1981, Spudnuts Donuts offered a free donut hole with every donut purchased. The gift for the person who has everything. “Give a little something different to that special valentine,” the ad read.

Flowers have also been popular. The Valentine’s ad in 1959 for Glidden Greenhouse featured a drawing of a puppy with tears running down its cheeks. “Don’t leave her broken hearted, send her flowers for Valentine’s Day,” it read.

An ad for Honey Girl in 1971 stated that “Valentine Gifts are the best way to say I love you,” and suggested a gift of hot pants, a pantsuit or pair of culottes.

Or if students could not find the inspiration or funds for an expensive gift, they could always give a pack of smokes, an item which seemed especially popular with students in the early 1950s. An ad for Chesterfields Cigarettes in 1950 took up 2/3 of the back page of The Northern Star.

“At colleges and universities throughout the country Chesterfield is the largest-selling cigarette,” the ad read. A picture of Bing Crosby thumping a cigarette on the pack appeared with the caption, “Smoke MY cigarette.”

Special Valentine’s Day classified ads also reveal the attitudes about love that influenced society at the time. In 1971, some were particularly Age of Aquarius:

“Slunia: our life is uncertain as our love is uncertain, for the two are one.”

“Tim, we’ve only just begun—all my love, Pattie.”

“Lavern, Flower Child hopes the elephant of love steps on your toes. The Blooming Idiot.”

A personal ad in 1950 was more to the point: “i vant women!!! Signed, The Russian Lover, E. Basler.”

And what would Valentine’s Day be without poetry? Through the ages, sometimes touching, sometimes unusual verse has found its way onto the pages of NIU’s student paper.

In 1900, when the student newspaper was simply called The Northern Illinois, it published a poem entitled “Valentine for Luncheon Man,” proving that complaints about college food are ageless:

Dear, dearer, dearest luncheon man,

Come, come as soon as e’er you can!

We’re looking early, looking late;

For you in emptiness we wait…

We tire of cake that weighs a ton,

We sick of prunes—and only one _

We weary of thin, dried-apple pie,

Of bits of steak too tough to fry…

Take pity on us, let us dine;

Come be our famine valentine.

About 30 years later, in 1928, the paper published a touching poem entitled “A Bashful Lover.”

I am bashful, so they say,

Yet there’s one thing I’ll do today _

A valentine all red and white

I’ll send to you all wrapped up tight.

Then no one can guess

And no one will know;

Who it is that loves you so.

Some things about Valentine’s Day never change.