Sending Hugs & Kisses

Yesterday my world was forever changed. The concept of sending mixed messages was elevated to a new level when a friend dispelled my misbelief that x’s were hugs and that o’s were kisses. Yes, all the times I thought I was sending hugs with the symbolic seal of an x, I was really sending kisses and vise versa with o's. I could only blush as I looked back to all of the mixed signals I have sent through the years. As thoughts of unwanted kisses drifted through my mind, a quest to find out the story behind simple seal was ignited. The two theories I found most interesting are below.

"One theory holds that the X stands for a kiss because it originally
represented a highly stylized picture of two mouths touching -- X.
Furthermore, in early times illiterates often signed documents with a
St. Andrew's cross of X and kissed that X to show their good faith (as
they did with any cross or the Bible, which reinforced the
association). But these explanations may be folk etymology, as may the
story that mathematically the X is a 'multiplier' -- in this case of
love and delight."

From the 'Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins' by Robert
Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997). "

"How did X's and O's come to represent hugs and kisses? The common
custom of placing X's on envelopes, notes and at the bottom of letters
to mean kisses dates back to Medeival ages, when a cross was drawn on
documents or letters to mean sincerity and honesty. A kiss was then
placed upon the cross, by the signer as a display of their of their
sworn oath. It was also used in early Christian history as much of a
display of the same. Since most of the common people were unable to
read or write, the 'X' was placed on documents, and a kiss placed upon
it as a show of their sincerity, gradually, as it was used so often,
the cross was hurried drawn and often resembled an 'X'. The 'O' is of
North American descent, no one really seems to know how it was
started. It has been said that when arriving to the US, Jewish
immigrants would use an 'O' on documents, not using the sign of the
cross, and shop keepers would often use an 'O' when signing documents,
in place of an 'X'. Perhaps now it is used as the 'O' being rounded
represents arms encircling another, as in an embrace."

Romantic Trivia and Love Lore
http://intimatexpressiongifts.com/trivialovelore.html

follow the path of your blood

* and have they found them?
* no. but they are looking for them everywhere.
* they'll find them
* sh-h-h!
* what?
* they seem to be coming closer on all the roads at once.
* when the moon comes out, they'll see them.
* they ought to let them go.
* the world is wide. everybody can live in it.
* but they'll kill them.

* you have to follow your passion. they did right to run away.
* they were deceiving themselves but at the last blood was stronger.
* blood!
* you have to follow the path of your blood
* the blood that sees the light of day is drunk up by the earth.
* what of it? better dead with the blood drained away than alive with it rotting.

___________________a converation between three woodsmen about two lovers who have chosen their passion
___________________from Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

CONFERENCE MANIFESTO

BREAK-OUT SESSIONS

AWARD CEREMONY