Consideration of Valentine’s Day conjures up a cavalcade of cliched images. Couples dining by candlelight, heart-shaped boxes of candy, bouquets of red roses. Federico Newson, former Chicago resident and community organizer, is tired of such associations. Viewing Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to focus other aspects of love, like peace, Hewson started The Valentine’s Peace Project (TVPP), an international participation campaign which encourages the exchange of peace messages among strangers. TVPP involves printing a peace message (or writing your own) from the TVPP Web site (valentinepeaceproject.org), rolling it into a scroll, wrapping it around a flower and giving it to a stranger. “I like to think of it as a peace valentine,” explains Nancy Andria, TVPP’s Chicago coordinator. Participation, however, doesn’t have to be so exact. Any focus on peace is encouraged. “Anyone interested in participating can visit our Web site for ideas on creating their own event.” Hewson and Andria both hope that small, locally focused action will create big change. “War gets too much attention,” says Andria. “We’d like to get people to start thinking about peace.”
