Decatur Arts Alliance - The Book As Art v.13: Mixed Messages

Valentine’s Day. The classroom was buzzing with excitement as students raced past dropping the carefully selected Valentines into cut slots in the box tops. Everyone returned to their seats, carrying their full boxes. She opened her box, turned the contents out onto her desk and began sorting: friend, friend, friend, pencil, friend, friend, friend, wait…

At the bottom of the pile lay a card with a small chocolate heart taped to the front. She flipped it over and, written in blue pen, were the words, “I Like You.” They exchanged glances across the room. But there were no cards, no “I Like You” notes all week. 

Weeks later, she found another small chocolate heart secreted among the books in her desk that day, but this time there was no “I Like You” note attached. 

Memorial Day. Everyone huddled in the shade of trees trying to escape the stifling heat. There were no…