ProfTalks spread the love on Monday night as students revealed their own definitions and stories of the concept.

The presenters shared their experiences and ideas of affection in Rowan’s Owl’s Nest, and more specifically how love is not just about the Valentine’s Day type.

Joseph Miller, the third speaker of the night, was the only speaker who got political.

“Since I am an engineering major, and the overall topic was love, I decided to talk about politics,” he said. 

Miller realized how love and solidarity can be used in a political conversation, leading him to address how conservatives and liberals are “in a loveless relationship.” He urged the need for people to listen to each other and respect one another’s opinions, and encouraged listeners to spend Valentine’s Day talking to someone who disagrees with them.

The other speakers focused on the importance of self-love.

“I wanted [love] so desperately that I’d do anything, say anything and be anyone in order to get it,” – Sydnee Gould

“Having a significant other isn’t the thing that should define you, as strongly as I had been allowing it to,” said Sydnee Gould, the first speaker of the night.

“The hard thing about love is that I wanted it so desperately that I’d do anything, say anything and be anyone in order to get it…the hardest part about love is loving yourself,” she continued. “I am tired of living 15 years in the future. Not everyone has to be an applicant for the husband position, and I have no idea where any of this is headed, and I’m alright with that.”

Steffy Gonzalez, the second speaker of the night, explained how she had planned to meet the love of her life at age 19, be married by 21, own a house by 23 and start having kids at 25. The 23-year-old, who is not yet married nor in ownership of a home, reflected on her plan as “the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life.”

“Love means something to me now that I didn’t think it was going to mean to me when I was 17 and I made this great, wonderful life plan,” she said.  

Gould and Gonzalez each stressed the importance of living in the moment and realized that life may take a different path and not be what was initially planned.

“This has been about finding love in places and people that I might not have recognized,” said Gonzalez.

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