Has love become a transactional affair or do we still pine for old-fashioned declarations of love? In the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, over one million people will visit poets.org in search of the perfect way to express love and devotion to their friends and lovers. Even in these days of electronic intimacy, a “text” does not seem to carry the same kudos as a handwritten love note. Historically, perhaps no human experience is more represented in art and literature than that of love, but will the e-mail ever replace the love letter and will recipients take the trouble to save them for decades to come? Image: [Giuseppe Imperato/Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/ueros/ "")
From the time he was cast in the role of Jaquot in the musical Carnival at Aurora West High School, **Johnny Lee Davenport** has recognized and been driven by the power of theatre. Since then, he has appeared in more than 200 professional productions throughout the United States, Canada, and Ireland. The focus of his stage career became more specific when, in 1988, he was selected to represent The Chicago Associates of the Stratford Festival of Canada and joined the Young Company, performing in King Lear, Oedipus, The Critic, and Twelfth Night. This experience ignited his passion for classical theatre, and as a result, he began “chasing Shakespeare.” In 1989, he trained at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., and became a company member. He continues to perform with the company today.
Curt DiCamillo is American Ancestors’ Curator of Fine Art. An internationally recognized authority on the British country house, he has written, lectured, and taught in the U.S. and abroad on British history and architecture. He is the author of "A British Country House Alphabet: A Historical and Pictorial Journey".
Moira Wiegel is a writer and a junior fellow at Harvard. She received her Ph.D. from Yale in 2017. Her first book is called \_Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating.\_