FEBRUARY 2023

PRAXIS NEWS
Saint Valentine's Day

What’s inside:

DAY OF THE LOVERS OR VALENTINE'S DAY

THE LEGEND OF ST VALENTÍN

LUNAR NEW YEAR

IS MARRIAGE BECOMING OLD-FASHIONED?

THE ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE.

10 THINGS TO HELP PREPARE FOR THE START OF

CLASSES

VIRTUAL POWER PLANT

CLIMATE CHANGE: INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY

THAT REMOVES CO2 – REPORT

VALENTINE'S DAY
FEBRUARY 2023

PRAXIS NEWS
Saint Valentine's Day

DAY OF THE
LOVERS OR
VALENTINE'S DAY
BY: FABRIZIO SERRATO

The day of lovers or Valentine's Day is

celebrated every February 14, when love
takes center stage and romantic scenes
take place in all corners of the planet.
Lovers give gifts to their partners and
propose to their loved ones and social
networks are flooded with phrases of love
and also memes about Valentine's Day,
some of them very imaginative and funny.

Why is Valentine's Day celebrated?

And it is not just any saint, but one
Despite the commercial fame of this
who revealed himself to power at the
celebration, the origin of Valentine's Day
time and suffered the consequences
comes from remote times. Keep reading
for it.
and we will tell you why Valentine's Day is
celebrated, on what dates it is celebrated
In Rome on the third century, Emperor
in different parts of the world, and the
Claudius II decided to prohibit
customs associated with this important
marriages of young people, considering
day in the world calendar.
that singles without families were
better soldiers since they did not have
The true story of Valentine's Day
sentimental ties or partner ties. Nor
It is a religious festival since it is known by
should we ignore the fact that at this
the name of a saint.
time Christianity was banned in Rome.
FEBRUARY 2023

A priest named Valentine considered

that this was a mistake and decided to
THE LEGEND OF
skip the order and secretly marry all the ST VALENTÍN
young lovers who wanted to. When the BY: ANGY MARTINEZ
emperor found out about this act of
rebellion, he sentenced the priest Where did Valentine's Day originate from?
Valentine to death on February 14, 270. The history of the holiday—and the story
of its patron saint—is shrouded in mystery.
Valentine is the patron saint of lovers We do know that February has long been
and that is why Valentine's Day is celebrated as a month of romance, and
celebrated every year on February 14. that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it
today, contains vestiges of both Christian
Famous Phrases About Lovers and ancient Roman tradition. But who was
• "One is in love when he realizes that Saint Valentine, and how did he become
another person is unique" (Jorge Luis associated with this ancient rite?
Borges).
• "In a kiss, you will know everything
that I have kept quiet" (Pablo Neruda).
• "He who has known only her woman
and has loved her, he knows more
about women than he who has known a
thousand" (Leo Tolstoy).
• "Offering friendship to the one who
asks for love is like giving bread to the
one who dies of thirst" (The Art of
Loving-Ovid).
• "Love is knowing how to say I love you
without speaking" (Víctor Hugo).

While some believe that Valentine’s Day is

celebrated in the middle of February to
commemorate the anniversary of
Valentine’s death or burial—which
probably occurred around A.D. 270—
others claim that the Christian church may
have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast
day in the middle of February in an effort
to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of
Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of
February, or February 15, Lupercalia was
FEBRUARY 2023

a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus,

the Roman god of agriculture, as well as
LUNAR NEW YEAR
to the Roman founders Romulus and
BY: XIMENA ALFONSO
Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the

Luperci, an order of Roman priests,
would gather at a sacred cave where the
infants Romulus and Remus, the
founders of Rome, were believed to
have been cared for by a she-wolf or
lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat,
for fertility, and a dog, for purification.
They would then strip the goat’s hide
into strips, dip them into the sacrificial
blood and take to the streets, gently
slapping both women and crop fields
with the goat hide. Far from being
fearful, Roman women welcomed the
touch of the hides because it was
believed to make them more fertile in
the coming year. Later in the day,
according to legend, all the young
women in the city would place their
names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors
would each choose a name and become
paired for the year with his chosen
woman. These matches often ended in
marriage.
The lunar calendar is based on the cycles
of the moon, so the date of the Lunar New
Year is different each year. However, it is
usually in January or February. As well as
being celebrated in China, Lunar New Year
is also an important festival in many other
places, including Vietnam, Singapore, and
Korea. Each year is named after one of 12
animals. A traditional story explains how
this came to be. One day, the Emperor
decided to race for all the animals in the
country. Unfortunately, only 12 animals
managed to get to the race. The Emperor
rewarded them by naming the 12 years of
the lunar calendar after them. The first to
finish was the rat, so the first year is
named after him. The other eleven, in
order, were the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon,
snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster,
dog, and pig.
FEBRUARY 2023
A family celebration
Different places celebrate in slightly
different ways, but Lunar New Year is
very much a family celebration
wherever it takes place. The younger
generation greets their parents and
grandparents with good wishes for the
year ahead and shows their respect for
the older generation. In Korea, this is
called Sebae. The young people kneel
on the ground and bow deeply. Older
members of the family give younger
ones cash presents, traditionally in
small packets. Red packets are used in
China and Vietnam, as red is a lucky
color. Nowadays, many people send
money electronically too. It is lucky to
send money in certain amounts, for
example using the number eight, which
in Chinese sounds like the word
‘prosper’.
Traditional food
Traditional foods which are eaten at
Lunar New Year often have another
meaning. For example, in China, many
people eat fish dishes because the
Chinese word for ‘fish’ sounds similar to
‘surplus’, meaning you will have plenty.
In Korea, people serve a special soup.
Thin pieces of rice cake are boiled in a
clear soup with slices of beef and
vegetables. The rice cake pieces are
round and may represent coins and
money. It is said that eating this soup at
New Year's makes you one year older.
People joke that if you have two bowls
of soup, you’ll be two years older!
Traditional Vietnamese food is square
rice cake, wrapped in leaves. It’s stuffed
with pork and vegetables and takes
many hours to prepare, so many people
buy the cake instead of making it.
Other traditions
There are many other Lunar New Year
traditions. For example, in Vietnam,
people believe that the first person to
enter their home in the New Year will
decide their fortune for the year ahead.
They are careful to invite someone kind,
well-behaved, and successful. In Korea,
families often play traditional board
games together, such as yunnori. In this
game, teams take turns throwing four
specially shaped sticks into the air. They
move around the board depending on
how the sticks fall.
In China, many people have
firecrackers, which burn and make a
loud bang. They watch street
performances, where acrobatic dancers
dress up as a lion or a dragon. They
dance, accompanied by music and
drums. People celebrate Lunar New
Year in many different ways, but all the
celebrations are about wishing everyone
the very best for the year ahead.
FEBRUARY 2023

IS MARRIAGE BECOMING OLD-FASHIONED?

More and more Americans think that marriage is out-of-date. According to a survey,
40% of over 2,500 people asked said that marriage was a thing of the past and does
not work in our society anymore. When the same survey was conducted thirty years
ago, only 11% of Americans thought that marriage was old-fashioned. Marriage is still
important but not as important as it once was. Of the people asked most of the
marriage’s supporters were seniors, 65 and older. Groups that thought marriage was
obsolete included blacks and high-school graduates, as well as people from
lower-income groups.

Data collected in America has shown that people marry less, and when they do, they
marry at a higher age. On average, women are 26 years old and men 28. For the first
time in over fifty years, there are more unmarried people than married ones in the
age group between 25 and 34. Many Americans think that having children is one of
the reasons for marriage. But people get married for other reasons too. For the past
centuries, people married because they could survive better economically. They
shared their money and had children who looked after them when they got old. Men
went to work while women cared for the children and did the cooking.

Today more and more couples get married simply because they love each other.
Financial stability no longer seems important anymore. Young people are more
serious about marriage because they often witness their parents separating. More and
more couples are living together without getting married 29 percent of children under
18 live with parents who are divorced or have never married at all.

Americans today are becoming more liberal in defining what a family is. Most of them
think that an unmarried couple living together with a child is a family and over 60%
said that homosexual couples that have adopted a child are also a family.
FEBRUARY 2023
THE ST.
VALENTINE’S DAY
MASSACRE.
BY: KARLEY GONZALEZ
Four men dressed as police officers enter
gangster Bugs Moran’s headquarters on
North Clark Street in Chicago, line seven of
Moran’s henchmen against a wall, and
shoot them to death. The St. Valentine’s
Day Massacre, as it is now called, was the
culmination of a gang war between arch
rivals Al Capone and Bugs Moran.
George “Bugs” Moran was a career criminal
who ran the North Side gang in Chicago
during the bootlegging era of the 1920s.
He fought bitterly with “Scarface” Al
Capone for control of smuggling and
trafficking operations in the Windy City.
Throughout the 1920s, both survived
several attempted murders. On one
notorious occasion, Moran and his
associates drove six cars past a hotel in
Cicero, Illinois, where Capone and his
associates were having lunch and
showered the building with more than
1,000 bullets.
A $50,000 bounty on Capone’s head was
the final straw for the gangster. He
ordered that Moran’s gang be destroyed.
On February 14, a delivery of bootleg
whiskey was expected at Moran’s
headquarters. But Moran was late and
happened to see police officers entering
his establishment. Moran waited outside,
thinking that his gunmen inside were
being arrested in a raid. However, the
disguised assassins were actually killing
the seven men inside.
The murdered men included Moran’s best
killers, Frank and Pete Gusenberg.
Reportedly Frank was still alive when real
officers appeared on the scene. When
asked who had shot him, the mortally
wounded Gusenberg kept his code of
silence, responding, “No one, nobody shot
me.” The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
actually proved to be the last
confrontation for both Capone and Moran.
Capone was jailed in 1931 and Moran lost
so many important men that he could no
longer control his territory.
On the seventh anniversary of the
massacre, Jack McGurn, one of the
Valentine’s Day hitmen, was killed in a
crowded bowling alley with a burst of
machine-gun fire. McGurn’s killer remains
unidentified, but was likely Moran, though
he was never charged with the murder.
Moran was relegated to small-time
robberies until he was sent to jail in 1946.
He died in Leavenworth Federal Prison in
1957 of lung cancer.
FEBRUARY 2023

10 THINGS TO HELP PREPARE FOR THE

START OF CLASSES
BY: DAVID MORA

You’ve done the orientation, mastered the move-in, and you’ve already met some
people around your hall. Now, how do you get ready for that first day of class? It’s not
quite the same as the first day of elementary school, and there are skills you’ll have to
learn in order to be ready for that first lecture. Here’s ten things that will help you
prepare for the start of classes:

1. Get ready to say hello.

When you get into class, you’ll be surrounded by strangers. Those students sitting
quietly before the professors get into the room are actually experiencing the same
first-class-anxiety you are. Realizing this makes the whole process much easier. When
you get into your seat, don’t be afraid to say hello to whoever you sit next to. You’ll
be seeing these people all semester, and the awkward silence only builds up over
time. Get to know someone you sit next to and avoid that!

2. Bring your gear.

Don’t be that guy that comes to class unprepared. You’ve probably already thought
about bringing a pencil, but what about the extras? Pens, a pencil sharpener, and
highlighters are useful to put in your backpack. An organized notebook or binder with
enough notebook paper to last the whole class makes life easier. In certain classes, a
calculator with proper functions is a must. No, using your phone with a few graphing
calculator capabilities isn’t the same.

3. Don’t skip breakfast.

Rolling out of bed and going straight to class can be a mistake. With an empty
stomach from skipping breakfast or lunch before your next lecture, you’re susceptible
to falling asleep, letting your mind wander, or generally being miserable. Avoid this by
planning out time to eat. You’ll feel better, and your classroom performance will
reflect that. Note that, for some, “feeling better” can mean drinking as much coffee as
humanly possible before you sit down at your seat. But also, make sure you don’t
drink too much or you may be incredibly fidgety and unable to focus on what the
professor is saying.
FEBRUARY 2023

4. Take any opportunity for practice or review.

When you’re preparing for classes, train yourself to listen for phrases like “come to
my office hours,” or “I’ll look over any rough drafts you have.” This is a professor’s
secret language for saying that they don’t want you to fail. If you want to know how
the tests will look, go to these review sessions. Plus, the extra effort won’t go
unnoticed. Being more than just a name on the attendance sheet will help out in the
future.

5. Syllabus Week isn’t a guarantee.

You’ll often hear the first week of classes referred to as “Syllabus Week,” meaning
that classes won’t go over more than the class syllabus. This is pretty common, but
it’s not a certainty. Some professors use the first class to go over important class
procedures, or even the first chapter of the course (those are the worst). Be ready for
this by bringing your gear to the first class. You might not need it, but you’ll be ready
just in case.

6. Make your entrance and exit quietly.

If you’re preparing for your first day in a college classroom, you need to know the
most precious of all unwritten college rules: don’t make a big deal when you enter or
exit the classroom. You’re an adult now. You’re not special for coming in late or
leaving early, and there’s no need to get embarrassed about it. If you must get up
from your seat during the lecture, do it quickly without bothering others. While you’re
out, be thankful that you didn’t have to ask for a hall pass.

7. Avoid bringing loud food to class.

Preparation for class has to include this piece of social etiquette. In theory, having
your snacks with you in class would make taking notes that much more fun. In reality,
it makes you the person that brings a symphony of crinkling plastic to class. Loudly
slurping from a can or going all out on a burrito when you’re sitting elbow-to-elbow
with your classmates is not a good look for you. Also, don’t bring food to the first
class. Some professors are very offended by students who eat in class, others don’t
care at all. So make sure you ask your professor while going over the syllabus if there
isn’t a food policy stated on it. Don’t be afraid to ask; I can there are students who will
be grateful that you did.

8. Take your laptop to the back.

Class preparation means planning ahead. Many classes today welcome laptops as
note-taking tools, but you need to have the sense to sit in the back with it. When the
classroom is oriented with the student desks facing the professors board, sitting up
front with your bright laptop screen can turn your desktop into a community viewing
experience. If you’re being honest with yourself, you’re bound to wander off into
Facebook territory in class during the semester. Avoid the shame of all your
classmates seeing you watch endless videos on mute by sitting in the back with your
computer.
FEBRUARY 2023

Remember that professor’s have different policies on laptop use. Some welcome it or
even encourage it, while some may kick you out of class if they even see a laptop in
your bag. This is again, an example of something that should be covered on the
syllabus or asked about while going through the syllabus. In a college lecture, it’s easy
to get left behind if you let your confusion sit in silence. If you’re serious about
preparing for the first day of classes, you should rethink your question policy.

Get ready for the moments when you get lost and remember those point to bring up
at a logical point in the lecture. Usually, the professor will stop in between slides and
ask if everyone is on board. That isn’t just for fun, he actually wants some questions. If
you’re not comfortable with speaking in front of a crowd, think about bringing some
note cards or sticky notes to write your questions on. Bring them up at the end or
class, or, better yet, go to the professor’s office hours for an extended help session.
This should catch the confusion before it piles up too high.

9. Ask questions.
Pay attention to your classmates’ questions as well. They may ask one of yours, or
they may ask one you haven’t even thought about asking.

10. On the board means on the test.

Finally, train yourself to recognize the words written largely on the bright projector
screen or whiteboard. Professors not-so-subtly writing, highlighting, or underlining
words means those words mean something to them. Not in a “this was a part of my
childhood” way, but in a “I’m going to ask a exam question about this” way. First
classes are all about getting to know how a professor teaches and learning their clues
to what’s important. Assuming what is on the board will be on the test is a solid way
to start your semester off right.

The first week of classes can be a scary time, but following these tips can lighten the
anxiety. If you stay focused and calm, you’ll succeed. After class, go get some food
with your friends or try something new. You can also check out Cru on your campus
(check out cru.org for more details) and grow together spiritually. Now get prepared
for class!
 FEBRUARY 2023
VIRTUAL POWER
PLANT
Companies including GM, Ford, and
Google say that they want to work
together to scale up the use of virtual
power plants (VPPs).
People describe virtual power plants as a
cleaner and greener way to avoid
blackouts, and they could be one solution
to a looming global energy crisis. VPPs are
pools of decentralized energy resources
such as electric vehicles or electric heaters
controlled by smart thermostats. With
customers’ permission, VPPs will use
advanced software to react to electricity
shortages when they switch off
unnecessary energy consumption of
resources. For example, they will switch
thousands of electrical vehicles from
charge to discharge mode or prompt
electrical heaters to lower their output.
VPPS have already improved grid reliability
in places like Germany and Australia.
Thanks to new or enlarged tax incentives
for sustainable energy efforts, experts
expect explosive growth in the United
States, as well.
Difficult words: scale up (To increase
something), looming (About to happen
soon and causing worry), incentive (a thing
that motivates someone to do something).
CLIMATE CHANGE:
INVEST IN
TECHNOLOGY
THAT REMOVES
CO2 – REPORT
BY: JUAN CARLOS PEÑA
Technology to remove the planet-warming
greenhouse gas CO2 from our atmosphere
must be urgently ramped up, leading
climate experts say in a new report.
Scientists say big cuts in CO2 emissions
won't be enough to limit global warming.
And nature alone will not remove enough
of it from the air. CO2 is the most
important gas warming the planet, and is
emitted when fossil fuels such as gas and
oil are burnt. "To limit warming to 2C or
lower, we need to accelerate emissions
reductions. But the findings of this report
are clear: we also need to increase carbon
removal too," says lead author Dr Steve
Smith from Oxford University. "Many new
methods are emerging with potential."
There's consensus among scientists that the
world is warming primarily because
emissions of CO2 (estimated at 33 billion
tonnes in 2021) far exceed the amount that
is being removed (this report suggests two
billion tonnes a year).
 FEBRUARY 2023
Until emissions and removals are balanced
- so called "net-zero" global temperatures
are predicted to rise. But getting there
won't be easy. The latest UN climate
reports say to fully achieve "net zero" there
will need to be some CO2 removal, so
called "negative emissions", to compensate
for sectors that can't easily decarbonise.
Currently almost all of the world's CO2
removal occurs through natural processes.
That's primarily plants and trees taking in
CO2 from the air, and the soil absorbing
and storing it. But there are limits to how
much nature can do. For example, how
much more of the world can realistically be
given over to forests? Some optimistic
scenarios suggest that natural CO2 removal
could be doubled by 2050, but that's still
only about 4 billion tonnes of CO2 a year.
Technological solutions?
This new report titled "The State of Carbon
Dioxide Removal" says that to restrict and
reduce global temperatures in the future
there needs to be investment in developing
technological solutions now. The methods
it cites are all fairly new, and at different
stages of development and deployment.
Put together they currently only make up a
tiny fraction of the worlds CO2 removal.
One, known as BECCS, involves
incorporating CO2 capture into biomass-
based electricity-generation, in which
organic matter such as crops and wood
pellets are burned to produce power. Other
options include: huge facilities where the
carbon is extracted from the air before
being stored in the ground; the use of
specially treated charcoal (biochar) that
locks in carbon; and "enhanced rock
weathering" - loosely based on the carbon
removal that occurs with natural erosion.
Biochar is a specially produced type of
charcoal that locks in carbon and can be
used as a fertiliser.
The use of CO2 removal technologies is not
without its critics. Some campaigners doubt
that they can be cost effective and fear that
they can be an excuse to defer and delay
the transition away from fossil fuel use. This
report stresses that removing CO2 should
not be seen as a "silver bullet" to tackle
climate change but that meeting the UN's
climate goals will require technology as well
as nature to reduce greenhouse gas levels.
That all assumes that global CO2 emissions
from burning fossil fuels will, as pledged at
numerous climate summits, fall rapidly. So
far yearly emissions have yet to start a
downward trend.
FEBRUARY 2023

VALENTINE'S DAY
Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14, and although it is not a holiday, it is
given a lot of importance and many people like to do it. Shortly after Christmas and
New Year's Day are over, stores are filled with Valentine's Day decorations, greeting
cards, flowers, and gifts. Hearts abound, both in commercial establishments and in
schools. Everyone is getting ready to celebrate February 14.

Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, Valentine’s Day may
have taken its name from a priest who was martyred about 270 CE by the Roman
emperor Claudius II Gothicus. Other accounts hold that it was St. Valentine of Terni, a
bishop, for whom the holiday was named, though has an ability that the two saints
were actually one person.

The holiday has expanded to expressions of affection among relatives and friends.
Many schoolchildren exchange valentines with one another on this day. In schools,
children write and hand out greeting cards called Valentine cards, as well as heart-
shaped candies. They also make crafts for their parents. On Valentine's Day, you see
people walking down the street with flowers, balloons, and chocolates, which they
have received or will give to someone else. Restaurants have special dinners for
couples on Valentine's Day, and romantic movies are often shown in theaters.

Valentine's Day Activities

If you have young children, you can have a small Valentine's Day party, where they
make paper crafts-the Valentines-to exchange with each other. If they are teenagers,
they will probably want to attend a party for this special day. With your partner,
instead of going to a restaurant, which will probably be full of people, you can make a
getaway to spend the night alone in a hotel, enjoying being together. If you don't
have a partner Celebrate Valentine's Day with friends, and remember that it is not
only a day for love but for friendship and deep relationships. If you are a single mom,
celebrate the love between you and your children. What is greater love there than
that?