We choose the winners of the Alibi’s sixth annual Valentine’s Card Contest

The giving of valentines is a carefully nuanced act, one we learn in kindergarten. Valentines, no matter how small or seemingly simplistic, convey a world of implication and sentiment. Matching a valentine's message to its recipient is key, lest you alienate a potential love or invite affection from an unwanted corner—best illustrated by “The Simpsons” episode wherein Lisa's valentine to Ralph, featuring a train and the words “I choo-choo-choose you,” causes poor, paste-eating Ralphie to believe that he's been, well, cho-cho-chosen.

Courtesey of the Gender Offenders

Her panties are red

her boxers are blue

my boyfriend's a drag king

my girlfriend is, too.

Male-female, in love or out—in a space where it's OK to twist your gender, it's OK to bend Valentine's Day.

Not everyone worships the hearts-and-candy holiday. Santa Fe's Gender Offenders knows this. The troupe, unwilling to chain itself to any particular definition, aptly named 2009’s V-Day show (un)Lucky in Love. "We want to appeal to everyone," says KiKi DeLovely, "those who are jaded and not so into Valentine's Day and those who are super-in-love and hopeful."

Cora Reed

Author and performer reflects on the movement today

Vivienne VaVoom has received Google news alerts about burlesque for five years. She used to get pinged maybe once a week, tops. "Now I get it once a day, and there's at least five or six things in it."

Punish the deed, not the breed

All the barking about dangerous pit bulls got Kassie Brown hot under the collar.