Longwood Crushes on Facebook. Enough said. If you are unaware of this Facebook page, it is dedicated to the crushers who wish to romantically write about the ones they admire or the ones they see around campus but might not know the name of. Here, people are free to express their true feelings about the far away attraction they might have to the people they pass by every day.
This Facebook page is called “Longwood Crushes” and it is anonymous with many (if not all) of its Longwood “crush” messages distributed out as they come in. If you “like” the page, you’ll be sure to see the updated “crushes” as they pop up and flood your News Feed on the daily.
One post from Jan. 17 reads, "To the guy I saw at the gym on Monday in the yellow cut off shirt. I see you all the time and we always make eye contact. I think you're absolutely gorgeous and wish you would say more to me besides ‘are you done with that.’” Another from Jan. 15 reads, "There was a girl in [D-Hall] last night with a big group of girls around 6 or so and you had a sweatshirt with one of the [Victoria’s Secret] weiner dogs I think and you were absolutely gorgeous! I caught you [looking] at me once or twice too. I would love to know who you are. (Sitting closest to the window)"
Each message to “so and so, here,” or “so and so-they saw- there,” varies in different ways, and of different “crush” styles. There is a pretty good variety of writers who either establish who their crush is (if they do know their identity), directly or simply express the time and place they were suddenly taken aback by the crushee’s beauty.
While writing openly about a person the crusher admirers, using their full name, is cute and sweet, in my opinion, the ones that begin with “to the girl … ” and “to the guy …” are always the most intriguing to read. It shows that someone can appreciate and acknowledge you from afar. Also, there is the anticipation, not only for the crush and the anonymous writer, but also for the rest of the readers of the Longwood Crushes page who see the message post. They begin to think and consider who they are when they walk around campus, passing by various people who might also, like them, read and post on the page.
Posts that acknowledge someone they adore with their name directly call attention to that person. Most often they are followed by many “likes” and tags with comments, a bold move on the part of the crusher. Then, there are the more relatable ones (if you “like” the page, you know exactly what I mean), the funny posts that seem to just cheer up any and everyone who will read the post on their News Feed.
A post from Feb. 3 reads, "The last afternoon I spent with you felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. I hope she doesn't know I'm cheating on her with you, but we both know that she'll take me back if she finds out. When I graduate I can finally break up with that b---- Homework so we can be together. I love you, Naps." A post from Jan. 16 reads, "Two words. Forever alone."
Then, there are the more serious posts that are just bluntly being put out there, either about the community’s feelings on admiration or about how more people should be brave and do something about it, instead of hiding behind a screen, writing their feelings of “admiration from afar.” On Jan. 17, there was a post that read, "All of us at Longwood are ignoring those who admire us and admiring those who ignore us."
Whether you honestly enjoy reading the various Longwood crush posts in healthy doses or desperately wish to one day see your name, don’t worry. Maybe you do not see someone on campus looking at you, quite truthfully because you aren’t looking at them, and maybe you do not hear the cute forms of these Crushers posts because it isn’t done behind the computer screen, but from a person’s words to one another. Maybe you do not see how admirable and important you can be because it isn’t made aware to you through small Facebook pages like Longwood Crushes.
Longwood Crushes is not made to make the students around campus desperately cling to a feeling of wanting to be admired, but to call attention to the little things throughout our day that are made special by the people we may know or may not know who brighten our day or our hearts just a fraction and remind us of how much we might mean to someone. And that, my friends, is a crush.
