ALOT of singles have been looking for love in all the wrong piaces. But they may find love at a

NEWS photo Terry Peters

dating conference being held today at the Plaza of Nations in Vancouver.

‘hocolate is choc full of history

“P?D.MAKE a thousand trips to
his lips, if I were a bee, because
he’s sweeter than chocolate candy
.to me,’’ crooned Billie Holiday.

-..Chocolate.: The Aztecs used it
as money. At the court of
Montezuma in seventh-century

Mexico, 10 nibs (roasted whole.

cocoa beans) would buy a rabbit;
100 nibs would buy a slave.

‘Chocolate. The Spanish women
of the New World were madly
addicted to it. When the bishop

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By Layne Christensen
News Reporter

banned consumption of a frothy
chocolate beverage during mass,
the women took their reverence to
another church.

Soon after, the bishop was
found dead — poisoned by a
tainted cup of cocoa.

Chocolate. Clergy in 17th cen-

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tury France tried to ban its use,
charging the delectable substance
was ‘“‘the damnable agent of
necromancers and sorcerers.’’

Somewhere along the way the
rich and creamy, sinfully delicious
stuff became associated with the
patron saint of lovers, St. Valen-
tine. Blame it on folklore.

Since its discovery by the
Aztecs, cocoa has enjoyed a repu-
tation as an aphrodisiac.

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land

TODAY BEING Valentine’s Day, many couples will be
waking up to breakfast in bed and gifts of chocolates and

flowers.

But for others, Valentine’s Day
is not so special, especially if they
do not have a significant other to
share the special day with.

Rich Gosse of California knows
this only too well. He was having
a difficult time finding someone
Now he is billed as
America’s foremost expert on the
art of dating.

Today Gosse, who founded
American Singles, will attempt to
introduce single people looking
for relationships to others at a
“singles expo”? being held at the
Plaza of Nations in downtown
Vancouver.

Gosse says his expo, the first
time he has held it in Vancouver,
will attract a significant number
of singles from the North Shore.

The name of his expo is ‘‘Look-
ing For Love In All The Right
Places.”’

“This is going to be the largest
gathering of singles in B.C. The
promoters are hoping to get
10,000 people. Be:

“This is a great time for it since
it’s the Valentine’s weekend. No-
body wants to be alone on Valen-
tine’s weekend,”’ said Gosse.

Gosse has written several books
on the art of dating, which has
now become a full-time job for
the San Rafael, Cal., resident.

“I used to be a Catholic school
teacher. I didn’t have a clue as to
how to meet women. I wasn’t into
the bar scene, and all the women I
worked with were nuns, and you

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By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

couldn’t really date your students,
since they were 11 years old,’’ said
Gosse.

He then organized a social club
at a church he used to go to which
proved to be a huge success.
Others told him he should be set-
ting up singles on a full-time
basis.

“This has been a labor of love
for me,’’ said Gosse.

Gosse said that this is the best
time to be single and that it is all
right to be single.

Most marriages, he says, are
not working. Gosse says most
married couples tend to be ‘couch
potatoes and do not know how to
communicate.”’

He adds that studies have
shown that unmarried women live
longer and -healthier lives than
married women while the reverse
is true for men.

American Singles, a non-profit
group, is promoting 1993 as the
year of the single.

Gosse said the singles expo he is
putting on today was sparked by a
deriand for it from Vancouverites
who visited a similar event he
hosted in Seattle.

Gosse and American Singles
were recently featured in a front-
page story in the Wall Street

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