Culture
These Strangers Just Really Want to Give You a Valentine
And they’re hoping you won’t yell at them for stopping you in the street.
Erika Anderson has always loved Valentine’s Day cards. One year as a kid in Kalamazoo, Michigan, she missed her bus stop because she was so engrossed in the cards she’d received from her classmates; she ended up at the bus depot, sobbing and alone. But that’s been no deterrent—now a New York City resident of five years, she’s on a mission to spread Valentine’s wishes to total strangers, and she’s assembled an “Army of Lovers” to help her do so.
“I just think we live in an age of alienation,” Anderson tells CityLab. “In cities, in particular, it always feels like a really odd contrast to be surrounded by so many people—thousands, millions—and yet why aren’t we connecting with each other?”