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I Love Hank: Esther Day 2010

2010-08-03 · John · watch on YouTube · Personal life · reflection essay

For Esther Day 2010, which a private person asked to be about family and love, John argues through 'freedom fries' that the words we use for feelings matter, tells Hank he loves him, and asks Nerdfighters to say 'I love you' to someone.

What is said

00:00:00 — Esther Day: Nerdfighter a private person's 16th birthday and John's promise to make videos on whatever she chooses

  • ★★★ John says it is Monday, August 2, 2010 (August 3 in Australia), so in Australia it is Nerdfighter a private person's 16th birthday, a.k.a. Esther Day. — 00:00:00 · Australia
  • ★★★ John says that when he met a private person in Boston, he promised her that on her birthday, forever, the brothers would make videos about whatever she wanted. — 00:00:00 · Boston, Vlogbrothers > «I promised her that on her birthday, in perpetuity, we would make videos about whatever she wanted»
  • ★★ The description points to a private person's own vlog and asks viewers to wish her a happy birthday and to make someone they love aware of that love today. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — a private person picks family and love; the 'Freedom Fries' at a local restaurant, the 2003 Congress renaming, and Juliet's 'a rose by any other name'

  • ★★★ a private person told John she wants Esther Day to be about family and love. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John jokes that showing Hank love should be enough without talking about it, but because it is Esther Day they will talk about family and love. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★ A restaurant near John's house, Hotcakes Emporium Pancake House Restaurant (he nicknames it 'Heifer'), still sells 'Freedom Fries' that look and taste like French fries. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John recalls that in 2003 some members of the US Congress, angry that France saw no link between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, renamed French fries and French toast 'Freedom' in the congressional cafeteria. — 00:00:58 · United States Congress, France
  • ★ John says French fries are not actually French but Belgian, and are very bad for you. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John asks whether a freedom fry is a French fry; Juliet's 'a rose by any other name' says names don't matter, but that worldview did not end well for Romeo and Juliet. (playful) — 00:01:27

00:01:56 — Words for feelings matter: freedom fries are not French fries, and showing love is not the same as saying 'I love you' to your brother

  • ★★★ John argues the words we use to describe what we feel matter: a French fry is a delicious if carcinogenic food, a freedom fry a stupid political statement. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ John says all American political parties now admit the US was wrong and the French were right, so maybe Americans should quietly go back to saying French fries. (hedged) — 00:01:56 · France
  • ★★★ John's hypothetical: saying you like your brother and showing love (thousands planting trees for his birthday) is not the same as telling him you love him, which John thinks a private person wants. (playful) (hedged) — 00:02:26 · Hank Green

00:02:55 — Who is it hard to say 'I love you' to; John tells Hank he loves him, sets Hank's makeup-tutorial punishment, and asks Nerdfighters to tell someone they love them; sign-off

  • ★★ John suggests that maybe this is the day to think about whom you love but find it hard to say 'I love you' to: not a romantic interest, but family or platonic friends, which he finds even harder. (hedged) — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ John tells Hank that he loves him. — 00:02:55 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John sets Hank's punishment: a makeup tutorial in the style of YouTube makeup tutorials, deadline September 1. — 00:02:55 · Hank Green, Punishment, YouTube
  • ★★★ John asks Nerdfighters to join a private person and him in telling someone they love that they love them today. — 00:02:55 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John invites viewers, if feeling exhibitionistic, to say in the comments who it is hard for them to say 'I love you' to. — 00:02:55

Humor (significant)

  • John repeats the restaurant's very long name, Hotcakes Emporium Pancake House Restaurant, then abbreviates it. — 00:00:29 > «Let's just shorten it to Heifer.»
  • Saying France shouldn't want to be associated with French fries, John imagines a nation called heroin whose drug we angrily rename 'Freedom'. — 00:00:58 > «The nation of would probably be like, thank you.»
  • John cites Juliet's 'a rose by any other name' as the view that names don't matter. — 00:01:27 > «But, spoiler alert, it's worth noting that that worldview does not actually spell success for Romeo and Juliet.»
  • Hypothetically, instead of saying he loves his brother, someone might show it by having thousands of people plant tens of thousands of trees for his birthday. — 00:02:26 > «I don't know what the thing is.»

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