Animals
Serena, my non-cuddly cat, is definitely mellowing in old age. For years she growled and threatened the laptop computer if she paid any attention to it at all, and it was a rare day when she tolerated any petting or cuddling. It wasn't that she avoided being close to me, although I encouraged her to avoid being close to other humans. She approached me, sometimes sat on or beside me, sometimes encouraged a quick stroke or a light massage or even a family snuggle session with kittens. She made a very clear distinction between practical touch and touch that seemed to express a motherly, presumably a dominant, sort of affection. As an only kitten Serena had had all her needs for motherly attention met; as an adult cat she seemed to know that queens don't want to be mothered by their subjects. So if I petted her in the way most cats like, she'd slap, grab, or nip--as gently as she could, never trying to hurt me although sometimes she did--and make a peculiar little chirp I heard as "Gurk!" It seemed to be her word for "If you want to be friends, let's have a good fast game." She hadn't had all her needs for racing and chasing met. So I'd throw or dangle something she could chase, or chase her a few yards around the house. That was her love language. And, from having rejected so many cuddles, she figured out that she could use an occasional cuddly moment as a reward or encouragement; I could tell when she was doing that, and marvelled at her being clever enough to think of it.
But last winter, when she was ill enough to want to lie beside me for hours...it's been as if she resolved to show affection more readily, as humans sometimes do when one has been very ill. I've encouraged her to spend more time indoors, now that she's old enough to sleep as long as a human does or longer. She's encouraged me by spending more of that time curled up on my lap, just like a normal cat who likes to cuddle. She also spends time curled up on top of furniture from which she can look down on everyone, and curled up beside her daughter Silver (who has decided she actually wants to spend nights indoors if the nights are at all chilly).
I've asked Serena whether she wanted to participate in the Petfinder photo contests, as her great-aunt Heather did. She doesn't. She's come to tolerate the laptop computer, perhaps because the Queen Cat reflected in it was ill when she was and she's recognized that it's her own reflection. But she's not really looked at it. I've wondered whether, like some humans who've grown up in primitive conditions, she doesn't recognize flat images as having anything to do with real things, or whether she sees her reflection even when I see the image on the screen.
Apparently it's been the latter. This evening, for the first time, I saw her actually watching a video.
This is the first video Serena's ever watched.
"That's not what's expected of you, Serena," I said. "Raccoons are dangerous unless you've adopted them very young, and even then they can turn on you when they grow big enough."
Serena looked at me as if to say "Don't underestimate me, human. I am Serena Ni Burr Mac Irene Ni Candice Ni Bisquit Ni Polly Ni Patchnose, and none of my known ancestors was a cat you'd meet every day. I can do all kinds of things a normal cat can't do." She has nonverbally said this before, and it's true.
I wish the video had shown whether the raccoon loved and respected its foster mother when it grew up, the way Silver does. I've never heard of a raccoon that did.
Movies
Somebody's tried to remake Animal Farm as an animated cartoon movie, only more palatable to Socialists, trying to replace George Orwell's original insight into why socialism failed in Russia with a focus on a caricature of Elon Musk. A call to action has gone out: Don't allow this effort to make money. Make sure children read the real book first, then tell them there are better movies to watch first until this one's free to watch on YouTube.
Politics
Rant but no links for a story that is just so ugly that no reasonable person wants to read any more of it than we've already read:
Does Candace Owens look "crazy" to you? Me neither. Are she and Erika Kirk seriously making death threats to each other, or imagining them? Very doubtful. Is someone telling her, or paying her, or blackmailing her, to publicize a feud with Mrs. Kirk because celebrities can't afford to have any natural feelings anyway and viewers love a good catfight? Very, very likely. Is this a bad idea? Is it coming straight from the Evil Principle? What is possessing Owens to follow it? I'm not sure I want to know.
I think if I were Owens I'd use the "raging postpartum hormones" excuse, loathsome and sexist and racist though it is, and take a year off public speaking, pay what the judge orders in the inevitable lawsuit, and spend the next ten years being a full-time mother. The times offer Owens a valid way to maintain publicity momentum while being a full-time mother. She can do her show about mothering, homeschooling, family law--we need a good show with that focus!--and leave the serious controversies alone. She should do that, for her child's sake. She should make her show something her child can watch, something families with children that age can watch. If there's been a young lady, since Dale Evans' or maybe early Anita Bryant's time, who could make the transition from "hottie" to "Mom" and keep her male audience, Owens is the one. She shouldn't waste that talent.
I think it's possible that Owens wants to show the older people on what now passes for the "conservative" side of the aisle that she's as brave as we are--although it's been shown that her cruel accusations against the widow Kirk, at least, are not the display of heroic bravery she seems to want people to think they are. The catfights may be staged and scripted; both women may be getting the same pay from the same false ally, with the extreme brunette being (inevitably) cast as the vicious aggressor against the willing-to-try-to-pass-for-a-blonde (gag me with a cliche, but it is pleasant to observe that some White male viewers think Owens is the more appealing of the two; bleached black hair is acquiring its own stereotype). But Owens has taunted foreign governments and evil corporations and the "Deep State" Establishment generally. Fine. She's brave. She's a warrior. So this web site's official message for her is:
You may be as brave as Trump or Kennedy or Gabbard, Candace Owens. Message received. Now please show the courage to stop letting your fortitude be used against you and against the whole "conservative," or at least anti-tyranny, movement. Your faith tradition has historically said that once a woman gives birth her vocation, for the next twenty years, is primarily to BE A MOTHER and not endanger her children. Not endangering her children includes not endangering herself, not depriving those children of a mother by inviting anyone to stalk, harass, assassinate, kidnap, injure, or just neutralize by discrediting, their mother.
Stay home more, Candace Owens. Play the "America's Sweetheart" role that God gave you the face to play so well. We know you're not the sweet (naive) youthful (baby-face) teenaged girl you look like, by now, so for everyone's sake, please try to act like the mother that little girl grows up to be on your show. Let the world see you developing the brains to match your nerve. You can help other people expose wrongdoing behind the scenes while, on camera, you talk about maintaining patience with young children. That takes fortitude too.
Sad News Story
Trump will clown for attention (see below) and his fans love it, so I don't care how much of a self-parody he wants to be, but the Reiner patricide story isn't funny and should not be used for comedy material. This blog has a good Christian comment on the story:
Silly News Stories
Trump commissioned a lot of solid plaques summarizing his view of each past President's accomplishments, and has hung them up on the White House walls. The waste of the taxpayers' time and money was a drop in the bucket but it'll give the Ds something to kick and scream about for the next three years, before the plaques disappear...Spencer predicts that the next D in the White House will throw the plaques out. I'll go further. I expect the next R will do that, too. Let the past Presidents' names and faces speak for themselves to those who have read their full biographies.
Meanwhile another young Black woman, whose career has not required her to show intelligence, demands that fans beg her to come back from Saudi Arabia where she's so popular now. This web site recommends begging the Saudis to keep her. Convert her to Islam by any means necessary. She's probably tired of a career where her wardrobe options are required to fit into one of two looks, stripper or hooker, and ready to spend the rest of her life discovering the freedom of throwing a big black sheet over her head, having her big fashion concern being limited to making sure the gauze eye panel stays reasonably close to her eyes. She'd probably like the security of being married to an oilman, enough to try to form a lesbian relationship with his senior wife while he's out chasing a junior wife after her figure adjusts to not having to be seen. Her voice never was exactly a national treasure and she may even appreciate not being exposed to music and tempted to try to sing any more; listening to men chant prayers and scriptures may be just what she likes. Keep her, Saudis, please! We have better singers. By dozens!
No comments:
Post a Comment