{"id":218002,"date":"2017-02-13T14:44:44","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T19:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=218002"},"modified":"2024-02-08T10:47:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T15:47:25","slug":"valentines-schmalentines-stories-of-love-for-10-cents-or-a-postcard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/valentines-schmalentines-stories-of-love-for-10-cents-or-a-postcard\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentines, Schmalentines! Stories of love, for 10 cents or a postcard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"man
Karl Smith writes “10-cent Stories” on his vintage Underwood typewriter for the crowd that the Memorial Art Gallery’s “Valentine Schmalentine” event. (University photo \/ Meg Colombo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Karl Smith is a biochemistry and biophysics Ph.D candidate at the University. The Pittsburgh native also has an unusual hobby\u2014typing stories (and charging a mere 10 cents) for strangers on his 90-year-old Underwood typewriter.<\/p>\n

Smith started this project in September 2013 and has appeared at the Charlotte Pier, the Rochester Public Market, the Strong Museum of Play, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and the Memorial Art Gallery, among others. He reached a milestone February 4, surpassing 1,000 stories during an appearance at the Rochester Museum and Science Center.<\/p>\n

The night before, he was a guest at the Memorial Art Gallery\u2019s “Valentine #Schmalentine”<\/strong><\/a> event and wrote several stories. Here are some of his favorites, paired with vintage Valentine cards from various River Campus Libraries collections.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"two
(River Campus Libraries \/ World War I Postcard Collection)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Valentine’s Day Events<\/h3>\n

Valentine’s Day Multilingual Speed Dating<\/a><\/strong>
\nDouglass Commons
\nTuesday, February 14, 12 noon – 3 p.m.
\nCome out and meet others from a different culture. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free and hosted by the Language Center and the Paul J. Burgett Intercultural Center.<\/p>\n

Design-Your-Own Valentine Card<\/a><\/strong>
\nRush Rhees Library Lam Square
\nTuesday, February 14, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
\nGet creative and design your own valentine card.<\/p>\n

Making Valentines: #ToImmigrantsWithLove<\/a><\/strong>
\nWilson Commons
\nThursday, February 15, 2-10 p.m.
\nWrite cards, letters, posts, and videos to show love and support for our immigrant community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Fox and the Hedgehog
\n<\/strong>Written for a man with spiky hair and his girlfriend.<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fox was loud. He dressed loud, he sang loud, he moved through the forest as if every living creature contained within it wished nothing more than to hear his every word. When others spoke, he pretended to listen, but really he was only waiting for his turn to speak again. He was, in a word, a boor.<\/p>\n

The hedgehog was quiet. She dressed quiet, she sang only to herself, and then only in a hum, she assumed that she was an imposition on every creature that had to interact with her. She always apologized to her little breakfast of bugs before she ate, and sometimes after, too.<\/p>\n

When the forest was captured by an evil queen, and all the critters made to kneel uncomfortably before her, the resistance that formed in the shadows of the great Elm and Oak trees drew from everyone. It took the quiet, it took the loud, it took the fox, and it took the hedgehog. And of all the unnatural things that happened to restore the forest to sovereignty, it was little remarked that the fox learned how to be quiet during the raids from the little hedgehog, and little remarked that the hedgehog learned how to roar fear into the hearts of the enemy from the fox. But the two who did remark on that, that is, the fox and the hedgehog, thought it a wonderfully strange thing indeed. And out of all that strangeness and all the evil of that year, together they found something loud and quiet both, something that filled both of them up and gave them hope.<\/p>\n

Love and Free Will
\n<\/strong>Written for a thoughtful man I keep running into.<\/em><\/p>\n

They\u2019d met at the library. Gilbert was checking out a book of astrology and divination, while Lillian was returning a collection of choose your own adventure books. Afterwards, Gilbert would claim that he had been drawn to her by the hand of fate, while Lillian would say that she liked his tie, but the end result was two minutes of cutely awkward conversation and a promise to get coffee the next day.<\/p>\n

At the end of the first date, they knew it would never work. Lillian believed in free will, while Gilbert did not, and the two of them felt deep in their bones that that was too wide a philosophical gap for even love to bridge. They went their separate ways.<\/p>\n

\"vintage
(River Campus Libraries \/ Word War I Postcard Collection)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But somehow they continued to run into each other. At the bistro, at the kite-flying fair, at the yearly Shakespeare for Mermaids festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow strange,\u201d said Lillian, after they bumped into each other the third time in one day, \u201cit almost feels like we\u2019re fated to be together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a hunch I might find you here,\u201d said Gilbert, \u201cso that\u2019s why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think maybe we should give it another try?\u201d said Lillian.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure it\u2019s meant to be, but I do want to give it a try,\u201d Gilbert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay,\u201d said Lillian.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay,\u201d said Gilbert.<\/p>\n

And together they were very happy.<\/p>\n

\"text
(River Campus Libraries \/ Robert F. Metzdorf Collection)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n

The Cyclops and the Archeologist
\n<\/strong>Written for two friends who were particularly proud of the name \u201cEsmerelda.\u201d<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oliver had stolen Esmerelda from the archeological dig she had been working on deep within the Amazon jungle, but once the two of them had gotten over an introduction that Esmerelda still considered rather rude they were quite happy together. Oliver was a giant cyclops, and Esmerelda had a doctorate in archeology from the URochester, but despite their differences they found ways to entertain each other. Esmerelda liked describing what having depth perception was like to Oliver, and Oliver liked showing off how many whole cows he could swallow at once.<\/p>\n

The two of them might have been happy together in the jungle for a long time, except that on one fall day, when the sky was grey and the air was chill, Oliver sat on Esmerelda and skewooshed her to death.<\/p>\n

\n

Learn more: Karl Smith’s 10-Cent Stories Project<\/p>\n