Here we are quickly approaching another Valentine’s Day and you’re (we’re) still single. So what do you do? Grab a glass of wine or a beer and start swiping through a see of endless faces, most of which you may have gone to high school with or have passed one another like ships in the night at some bar. Ding! You rack up a match or so, shoot a couple messages (maybe), chat for a bit before getting quickly bored and rinse and repeat the entire process usually with no more prospects than before you began.
Modern “Dating” Sucks
Why do we continuously subject ourselves to the stress and time commitment of dating/hookup apps when our usual results are unsatisfactory and most the people we match with don’t pass the “Snapchat test?” Many of us will readily admit that we are fatigued by the lack of people who are not looking seriously for connection online, but then we turn around ourselves and swipe out of boredom or when there’s a slight chill in the night that our weighted blanket can’t assuage.
Ask yourself: Are you over spending more time wondering if someone will return your message or if it you’ll actually ever come into contact with people who want to do more than swap a few messages? Don’t you deserve more than a “hey” or “sup?” I mean, it took them like a week to respond so surely something more creative could’ve come across your inbox, right?
Since I released my article on the state of accessibility of the LGBT community in September of 2018, I have been spending time thinking about how I could help create solutions to problems that lead to lack of diversity: weakened or non-existent hubs of communication that are accessible or attractive to all kinds of people and a need for more programming within our region that presents a variety of options to people with different interests and with the recognition that this applies to more than just the LGBT community. So you could imagine how over the moon I was when Beaux Hayes of Parish Taceaux approached me about a collaboration for a speed dating event.
Introducing Love and Laughter
On the surface, a speed dating event in concept is just a way to meet a lot of single potentials in person in a short amount of time, I’ll give you that. But for the team putting on Love and Laughter, it’s much more than that. The goal is not just to get everyone in a room with other people who are excited about the prospect of finding someone they might be interested in getting to know better, but also about helping people rediscover how fun it can actually be having meaningful face to face conversations with others. We spend so much time running down the basics, the “what do you do for work?,” or “what are your hobbies?” Where do we make space to ask questions that will tell us more about the way someone thinks or who they might be? This is that opportunity.
Many of us (including me) find ourselves dreading Valentine’s Day, but I can’t help but as myself why can’t we take it back for what it is meant to be – a celebration of love, respect, and connection. Come out, mingle, meet a new friend or discover something amazing about someone around you that you didn’t know before and then end (or continue?) your night with our comedy show hosted by Jeremy “Scooby” Houston. Sure, putting yourself out there can be terrifying, it’s never going to be anything less than but come surround yourself with people who want nothing more than to embrace you and help you find that new friend (or potential partner) that you’ve been looking for.
Love and Laughter is on February 14th, 6 pm – 10 pm at artspace Shreveport (710 Texas Street)! Gay, straight, whatever you are welcome to sign up to speed date at bit.ly/lovenlaughter. If you already have a partner you can buy tickets to the mixer and comedy show for both of you by calling artspace at (318) 673-6535! This event is a first step in creating the kind of community we all deserve and is one piece of a bigger puzzle. Come find where you fit in.
