The More You Know

Ladies, This Week Is National Unmarried And Single Americans Week

Did you guys know that it’s National Unmarried And Single Americans Week? We didn’t either. And (this is awkward) we didn’t get you anything!

National Unmarried and Single Americans Week, as you can read on their webpage, is the brain child of the Ohio Buckeyes Singles Council, which sure sounds like a group of Americans who could not be tied down to save their lives to me. It falls on the third week of September each year, running from September 16 – September 22nd in 2012. The website offers even more storied history:

A commemorative week known as “National Singles Week” was started by the Buckeye Singles Council in Ohio about 20 years ago. When that organization folded, the promotion of National Singles Week was taken over for a few years by Janet Jacobsen, coordinator of the what then existed as the National Singles Press Association.

National Singles Week (the third full week in September) has been listed on many promotional calendars. Two online greeting card companies have created cards for the occasion. A few years ago, the Washington Post published a story about National Singles Week, as did a few other newspapers.

But despite these modest forms of publicity, National Singles Week was virtually a secret until 2001 when the American Association for Single People (formerly the membership division of Unmarried America) took out ads in newspapers and ran commercials on radio stations. We encouraged newspaper feature editors to use this week as an opportunity to publish stories about single and unmarried people in their communities, and to interview our book author members who have formed a Speaker’s Bureau for this occasion. Unfortunately, these efforts were overshadowed by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. As a result, the public relations work did not create the desired results.

Whoa. Is there nothing that 9/11 didn’t irrevocably alter? New Yorkers are forgiven for not being aware of the holiday, as no state officials have deigned to make an official proclamation, but New Jersey denizens have no excuse. Irrepressible bachelor and state governor James McGreevy, as well as heartbreaker and free spirit Gwendolyn A. Faison, the mayor of Camden, NJ, both issued official proclamations in 2002 and 2003.

Since it’s Friday, we’ve already wasted 5 days of potential singlehood-celebrating mayhem. But worry not — there’s still this evening and all of Saturday to send relationship-ruining text messages, speak now instead of forever holding your peace at weddings, and tell everyone that you’d like to keep this whole thing casual because you need your space. Let’s raaaaaage!

TAGS: Holidays | Singles

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