Animated gifs, they’re all the rage. Alas, I was lazy and in a hurry and only used four frames for this one, so it’s a bit choppy. But still, animated Stephen! Times two!

The props go to Columbia University Press, which kindly sent me a copy of Creaturely Poetics: Animality and Vulnerability in Literature and Film by Anat Pick, a senior lecturer in film and program leader for film and video: theory and practice at the University of East London. From the book’s back cover:

Exploring the “logic of flesh” and the use of the body to mark species identity, Anat Pick reimagines a poetics that begins with the vulnerability of bodies, not the omnipotence of thought. Pick proposes a “creaturely” approach based on the shared embodiedness of humans and animals and a postsecular perspective on human-animal relations. She turns to literature, film, and other cultural texts, challenging the familiar inventory of the human: consciousness, language, morality, and dignity. Elaborating on such themes as witnessing, commemoration, and collective memory, Pick identifies the animal within all humans, emphasizing the corporeal and its issues of power and freedom. Through her poetics of the creaturely, powerlessness is the point at which aesthetic and ethical thinking must begin.

This looks like an interesting read for those concerned with how portrayals of nonhumans in pop culture – literature, film, television – both reflect and inform societal attitudes and ethics towards our fellow sentient beings. (In other words, me!) If you’d like to learn more, check out the book’s listing on Columbia University Press.

I tried my best to snap a photo of Peedee and/or O-Ren with Creaturely Poetics – mock reading it, or some such other cutesy silliness – but neither was feeling very cooperative. (Too hot!)

That’s okay, though; truth be told, I wasn’t trying that hard anyway. (TOO HOT! Seriously, have I mentioned how hot it’s been lately? We’re looking at a week of 90 degree weather with 70%+ humidity. Ick!)

Probably now is a good time to mention that I recently updated my policy re: gifts for review? Between the books I’ve received through Library Thing’s Early Reviewer program and my various blogs, I’ve fallen woefully behind on reviews. (And just as I’d almost caught up!) While all vegan goods (including topical books) will be rewarded with an on-blog shout out, I can’t guarantee reviews of unsolicited items. If in doubt, contact me first. (Hint: edible vegan nomz and clothing are especially welcome and likely to be reviewed quickly, since they’re much more easily consumed than literature. I especially love pizza and ice cream. I’m also totally into hosting contests and giveaways. THINK ABOUT IT!)

That said, my motto when it comes to books is this:

Unhelpful advice frog says: “Hugs stack of unread books beside bed. BUY MORE BOOKS.”
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Hey, I’m only human! Weak and undisciplined and uncharacteristically optimistic when it comes to my ability to read all the 3,000+ books I own and continue to accumulate!

And so this week I also ordered and received a copy of The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities, edited by Ching-In Chen, Jai Dulani and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (2011) and published by South End Press. Given my interest in sexism and misogyny as it relates to animal rights and activism – and recent allegations of sexual assault and partner abuse from within the animal advocacy community (see, e.g., Peter Young and Nick Cooney*) – this seems a timely anthology indeed.

Here’s a brief synopsis from the publisher’s website:

The extent of the violence affecting our communities is staggering. Nearly one in three women in the United States will experience intimate violence in her lifetime. And while intimate violence affects relationships across the sexuality and gender spectrums, the likelihood of isolation and irreparable harm, including death, is even greater within LGBTQI communities. To effectively resist violence out there—in the prison system, on militarized borders, or during other clear encounters with “the system”—we must challenge how it is reproduced right where we live. It’s one thing when the perpetrator is the police, the state, or someone we don’t know. It’s quite another when that person is someone we call friend, lover, mentor, trusted ally.

Based on the popular zine that had reviewers and fans alike demanding more, The Revolution Starts at Home finally breaks the dangerous silence surrounding the “open secret” of intimate violence—by and toward caretakers, in romantic partnerships, and in friendships—within social justice movements. This watershed collection compiles stories and strategies from survivors and their allies, documenting a decade of community accountability work and delving into the nitty-gritty of creating safety from abuse without relying on the prison industrial complex.

Fearless, tough-minded, and ultimately loving, The Revolution Starts at Home offers potentially life-saving alternatives for creating survivor safety while building a movement where no one is left behind.

Hop on over there for additional info, including a TOC and author bios. The volume also has its very own tumblr, and of course is being covered on the INCITE! blog as well.

The zine on which the book is based – The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Partner Abuse in Activist Communities (2009) – is available for download (for free!) @ INCITE! Also, if you haven’t yet read Why Misogynists Make Great Informants: How Gender Violence on the Left Enables State Violence in Radical Movements – written by Courtney Desiree Morris and originally published in make/shift magazine’s Spring/Summer 2010 issue – please do so now. I highly recommend it.

I’ve added both Creaturely Poetics and The Revolution Starts at Home to my list of recommended reading (anthrozoology and intersections, respectively) – which I continue to update, albeit sporadically. If you have a suggestion, I’m all eyes!

Finally, if the half-assed manner in which I’ve pulled off this week’s furkid friday is any indication, this is most likely the series’ finale. I’m just not that into it. Or rather, I’m not into blogging just to blog. No fun! I’d rather wait until I have something worth saying, you know? Even if it only comes once every two months.

Besides, I’m thinking about starting a private, personal blog (DIARY! THERE I SAID IT! BUT IT WILL NOT BE PINK!) where these gratuitous dog pics would be more at home. What do you think? Do any of you still journal? It seems so quaint in the age of twitter and facebook and tumblr; why bother writing if you’re not going to release your every through out into the world in expectation of immediate feedback, hopefully in the form of unadulterated adoration from your peers?

Holy crap do I feel old. Also: hungry. Dinner time, methinks. Happy Friday, y’all!

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* ETA: I’ve no desire to argue the merits of either case in this here space; I’m simply naming each as a recent example of partner abuse allegations, as well as the dizzying, woman-hating clusterfuck that inevitably arises when such accusations are leveled against men.** Any man, really, but particularly men who are wealthy, powerful, and/or well-respected within/idolized by their communities. On a non-AR related note, see e.g. Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

** This is not to suggest that men are never the victims and women, the victimizers. Or that all violence is opposite-sex. Apologism and victim-blaming may vary.

Actually, some days they spend hours this way, scoping out one another from their respective sides of the dog/cat boundary line. Lemmy knows enough to stay away from Jayne when there’s not an insurmountable obstacle preventing her from mauling him – but from his side of the glass, he becomes quite the provocateur: taking swipes at her, rolling around playfully (and occasionally right off the desk he uses for a perch), yawning and showing off his kitten belly and general lack of fear. And all she can do is quiver! High comedy, I tell you what. The two should star in a buddy film together.

Shane: Hey, come look at this! See Lemmy’s new favorite spot? [In the closet, sandwiched into my old monitor stand.]
Me: OMG, that’s ADORABLE! Did you get a picture? You have to take a picture!
Shane: [pause] I’m not gonna be one of those people who shares cat pictures online.
Me: What! I’m one of those people!
Shane: ….
Me: Well, I’m taking a picture then.

I bet he’ll share this post on Facebook.

Ditto: mom, who’s similarly flailing at a new DSLR camera, which will vastly improve the quality of her food and furkid photos. Yeah, ’cause clearly it’s the camera – and only the camera – that’s to blame!

Epilogue: Don’t worry, mom to the rescue! Rennie’s frustrated nomz syndrome is no more.

Scenes of compassion, consideration and love from my own life.
Counterclockwise, from top-left: the family of geese who shared “my” pond last year,
and who have returned again this season (no goslings yet though!);
my sister Michelle and brother Mike cuddle and comfort our canine sibling Shadow
shortly after surgery to repair her shattered back leg;
Ralphie and I share a moment during a sentimental visit to
our old neighborhood in Fairport, NY; and
a mother cow licks her baby clean.
Sadly, both were the property of our former landlords, and are most likely ground beef by now. It was a privilege to live next to such lovely creatures – but one constantly clouded by sadness and despair, given their near-certain fate. The knowing can be painful; but the not knowing is far, far worse. Go vegan, for you and for them.
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One does not need to be human to feel the deep-seated instinct to protect her babies, to seek the warmth of one’s mother. When animal advocates point out the obvious – that mothers and their babies suffer profoundly when they are separated, that harming one’s baby causes emotional trauma to the mother – we are accused of anthropomorphizing. We are portrayed as having centers as squishy as marshmallows, as having naive, sentimental, childish minds. In fact, it is a cold biological imperative, not just an emotional one, that drives a mother to want to nurture and protect her young: entire species would be wiped out if not for a mother’s instinct to defend her babies. I think, though, that it’s highly arrogant and self-serving to presume that humans alone have an emotional stake in their babies’ livelihoods. [...]

One also doesn’t need to be a mother to be deeply driven to protect another. Long before I ever had a baby, I felt the same kind of adrenaline surge when someone intentionally whipped a hard rubber ball at my dog as I would have if he had done that same thing years later to my son. I chased that guy down the beach, screaming at him, and he ran away as if his life depended on it. Maybe it did. I’m a non-violent person, but you don’t mess with the ones I love.

For Mother’s Day, I propose that we honor this natural drive within all of us to protect the ones we love, the ones who depend on our consideration, by not consuming the products of exploitation and cruelty. This common thread of wanting our babies to thrive is natural and noble, a key part of our essential being. Whether we are men or women, children or adults, human or hen, that universal mother is in all of us. Let’s celebrate without exploiting another innocent mother who had not only the autonomy of her body but also her babies stolen from her for our appetites. Let’s connect to that profound mothering spirit that links us together. She wants her babies to be well and protected from harm. I think we can understand.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone.

….with extra special hugs and kisses (and a few odd few bitter tears) to Miss Kaylee, of course.*

* Usually I stick with the status-neutral “Ms.,” but Kaylee prefers “Miss.” It makes her feel young, yo!

** The quote is excerpted from The Universal Mother… by Marla Rose, the one and only Vegan Feminist Agitator. Read and share, please and thanks.

I mean holy Ceiling Cat, Rennie must have her nose cocked at a 15-20 degree angle here! You can practically see an invisible pair of fingers twisting it to the side.

I didn’t manage to photograph an equally impressive example for Peedee yesterday, but this one gives you an idea:

That little pink strip running down the middle of his nose? It should be perfectly vertical. His poo sensors must be kicking in, for it to be all off-kilter like that.

That is all.

GRRRRRRRR!!!!!

He’s a grumpy old fart, just like mom!

Photo: In the midst of one of his digging expeditions, Ralphie the wiener dog tears into the earth with his bare teeth, trying to move the dirt Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! He does this even when the soil is rocky – and sometimes to actual rocks and boulders. (Come to think of it, it’s rather amazing that he’s only cracked one toofie in his 13 years!) Just one of many reasons why he requires a babysitter on such outings.

P.S. For more microbloggy goodness – since microblogging seems to be all I’m capable of these days – visit me on tumblr @ I Blame the Kyriarchy. Also, come on down to fuck yeah vegan pizza and fuck yeah vegan ice cream and share your nomz. (I’m all about pizza and ice cream these days. Also: dogs and young adult fiction. My life in seven words.)

And more pictures of Ralphie: of all five dogs, the 13-year-old, one-eyed wiener dog proved hardest to catch on camera. Go figure.

Ralphie butt, on the move!
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Not very macro, but here’s a decent look at Ralphie’s missing eye.
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Ralphie shoulder, complete with extra skin rolls!
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Peedee nose! (That pink strip, how I love it!)
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Peedee snout! (He’s got a big honker, just like his mom!)
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Peedee ears! (Like huge, fuzzy pink satellite dishes!)
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Peedee tail! (Looks a little obscene to me.)
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Rennie (has got the shoulders of a linebacker!)
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Rennie eye!
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Rennie tail!
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Kaylee head! (Noming on grass and insects.)
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Kaylee ear! (So soft and velvety!)
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Kaylee belly! (Spotted like a cow’s!)
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More Kaylee belly! (So round and saggy!)
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Kaylee behind! (Peek-a-boo!)
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Kaylee wiggle butt! (See how she sachets that thing?)
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Kaylee nub!
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Kaylee body! (Shaped like a piggy!)
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“Bitch, please.” Kaylee’s look of annoyance. (Not that I blame her; I spent more time chasing her around than all of the other dogs combined. Her body, it’s just so weird and misshapen!)
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Jayne eye!
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Jayne, playing shy! (Our perpetual puppy!)
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Jayne face!
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Jayne shoots me the stink-eye. THE END, says she.
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* Clearly, “macro” is loosely interpreted here. WHATEVAH, I DO WHAT I WANT!