W hat’s love got to do with it? Well, maybe everything. But then again, what do we know? Many philosophers, way smarter than we are, have posited that love is an illusion. And while we may follow a misguided belief that it can be possessed and caged like a songbird, can love even be described in words? “Deep Thought” (otherwise known as Google) has many answers to the meaning of love, including one site that posted, “Real, true love is unconditional. All other ‘kinds’ of love are not really love.” Hmmm? In our age of individualism, this seems like a daunting dogma.

But, if the Dalai Lama can show his unconditional love to everyone, even rapists and murders, maybe we can start with one person. Though we cannot position ourselves as any kind of experts on the meaning of love, we did try to put down some lines that describe what it means to us. However, the editorial staff seemed twisted on the subject. Some wrote long poems, while others broke out in song. Another committed herself to an 80-page dissertation and has been missing ever since. The challenging task triggered an existential mayhem in the office, and we had to turn to the only source the editorial staff at UP could agree on: music and lyrics. Even this common ground seemed rocky, and the outcome had to be subjected to the editorial sledgehammer, cutting it down to three different perspectives:

“Love is like oxygen/You get too much, you get too high/Not enough and your gonna die/Love gets you high/Love is like oxygen” Love is Like Oxygen— Sweet “

When you talk to me/When you're moaning sweet and low/When you’re touching me/And my feelings start to show/That’s the time, I feel like making love to you/That’s the time, I feel like making dreams come true” Feel Like Making Love to You— Roberta Flack

“You know I ain't the type to walk around with matchin’ shirts/If relationship is effort I will match your work/I wanna be the one to make you happiest, it hurts you the most/They say the end is near, it's important that we close...to the most, high/Regardless of what happen on him, let's rely” The Light —Common

What became clear through this little exercise was that the essence of love is something both spiritual and physical. Love and sex are relentlessly intertwined. Both are an integral part of the human condition. We live. We love. We have sex. Save for a handful of society, these acts, to a great degree, are inescapable. Of course, there are extreme ends of the spectrum. Love can be expressed through sex, but sex can also be removed from love completely, and reduced to what is referred to as the “chips funga” phenomenon—taking home a girl/guy as easily as one would a packet of fries. It even inspired a song. There is also the side of love that remains purely spiritual—intimate and intense, yet still celibate. In this issue, we embrace both sides of the spectrum and everything in between.

We give you the sexy side of love and the loving side of sex. We provide you with a review of a sex toy, a former monk’s reflections on intimacy, and the search for love at the densely-packed Gypsy’s to the more practical approach of speed dating. We also venture into the dark side of love and sex. We investigate why sexual offences often go unpunished, and tell you why it is more crucial than ever to get yourself tested if we want to achieve an AIDS-free generation. We hope it will be an interesting read that will help you reflect on what love/sex means to you.