"I wouldn't be an American, if it wasn't for TEXAS" -George Strait

Cowboy boots, cowboy hats, horses, longhorns, southern belles, southern gentlemen, cowboys, and cowgirls- everything is bigger and better in Texas. Texans are notoriously filled with state-pride. Being from Texas is a privilege and it is a part of those lucky enough to live there, forever. It will always be our "home on the range" and nowhere else is like it. We will always be "strictly home creature[s]" stubbornly and "invariably point[ing] [ourselves] South (Dobie, 438)." Our state flag is easily recognized as we fly it high with spirited joy. Texas, unlike other states, is a brand, a way of life, and a community. We all gleam with pride when a celebrity, artist, athlete, or singer is from Texas. There are many symbols and landmarks that bring us together as Texans. These have lasted many years and are deeply engrained in Texas history. "The Texas longhorn made more history than any other breed of cattle the civilized world has [ever] known (Dobie, 433)." They represent a bond between Texans that can't be broken, loosened, or modified. That sense of community is best represented in the Texas Longhorn. 

The longhorn is not only famous for being a proud part of Texas history, but also because of what he represents. Longhorns were fitted to survive. "A wild, tough, sturdy, long-horned breed (Dromgook, 425)," they proudly exhibit courage to stand their ground and defend their freedom. Texans stereotypically (and realistically in my humble opinion) embody such qualities and attitudes as the longhorn. We too take solace in our superior abilities, and stubbornly protect our liberty. To us, the longhorn represents "courage, fighting ability, nerve, lust of combat, efficiency in deadly encounters, and the holy spirit of never-say-die (The Alcalde, 451)." We are steadfast in our ways, and care for our own as family. We lead with "spirit of freedom (Dobie, 458)", not follow, until we get where we plan to go. Like "the longhorns of the brush, instead of being modified by men, [we] brent men to their own ways (Dobie, 449)." As law of the wild indicates; Texas is our natural home on the range. 

Bevo

Coexist

Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism, and Islam all have at least one major thing in common: “compassion is considered in all the major religious traditions as among the greatest of virtues (Wikipedia, 319).” Religion illustrates and guides an ideal way to live life compassionately, and because of this all religious people should be able to coexist peacefully. Some religions consider all life, human and non, to be sacred and thus required of compassion, others create a hierarchy of importance usually placing humans on top by “creating a dominantly human-forced morality (Janism and Ecology, 324).” Compassion for others not only benefits others, but also benefits the benefactor as well.

             Western religions traditionally focus more on a singular deity and the lives of humans. Eastern religions have a different focus, a complete respect for all forms of life. For example, in Hinduism, one of the “foremost sentiments is the sanctity of the cow (Hinduism and the Surabhi cow, 342).” Western religions may shirk at this, especially carnivorous people, but the reasoning is sound. We are all earthlings. Eastern religions is much less speciesist and much more compassionate towards “lesser beings.” 

Scavenger hunt of scavengers

In the museum, only animal remains and pictures are displayed.  The relationship between the animals and homo sapiens is distinct. The animals are kept solitarily behind safety glass, clearly separated from the human observers. It further shows the exploitation of animals by humans, this time, in terms of research historically and scientifically. Also, we don't know how these creature were collected; if they were already dead, or if they were killed for museum purposes (excluding dinosaurs of course). The locations/floors designated for the different animals is determined by habitats. It doesn't seem speciesist because it presents the community of all the animals (except humans) that occupy a certain area of land in a particular climate.

On the first floor, in the paleontology and geology section, the Cotton Tail Rabbit (Sylvilagus) skeleton caught my eye. It was a completely reconstructed animal which was very intricate due to the animal's naturally small stature. These remains were found in Bexas County, Texas, and is a composite Pleistocene. As my power animal, I feel that these displayed remains are acceptable for viewing purposes. The rabbit is not an endangered species, and the bones were collected post-mortem. I think that homo-sapiens should learn from animals as we learn from them.

On the second floor, I chose the picture of the American White Pelican. The American White Pelicans are common winter residents of the Texas coast. This bird, with its pouch turned inside out against its chest, is resting on a pier in Galveston County. It resides alongside Great Blue Herons, my power animal of course. As my power animal, I feel that this picture shows the pride that us birds love to show off. I think that photographs of animals are a non-intrusive way to studying these beautiful creatures. Being a fellow bird, in a similar environment, I would be happy to pose for as many pictures as possible for people to awe at my beauty.

On the third floor, in Oakland Woodlands and Prairies, I chose the Rock Squirrel (scientifically known as the Spermophilus variegatus). It is a large, moderately bushy-tailed ground squirrel; upperparts mottled grayish brown, the hind back and rump more brownish (head or head and upper back blackish in some parts of the state); tail mixed buff and brown, edged with white; underparts buffy white or pinkish buff. Squirrels are very common in Texas, especially the rock squirrel. As my power animal, I feel that this stuffed version is insulting to the species. There is no life in the eyes of the animal, no spirit. I do not think this is the way nature intended us to view this wonderfully curious creature. We don't stuff humans so we can observe them after they die, why doesn't this squirrel receive the same courtesy?

On the fourth floor I chose one of the preserved toads in the reptiles and amphibians of Texas area: the Gulf Coast Toad (scientifically known as Bufo valliceps). This toad is found in Louisiana, Texas, and eastern Mexico. This toad is one of the largest ones on display, yet still confined to a tiny jar. As G.B. Heron, I feel sorry for this creature. Even though I often enjoy these tasty treats as special meals, I would rather it be in my belly than in this jar. I think that it is distasteful to the memory of the frog. A rendering or a photography would suffice just fine.

Peaceable Kingdom

Through the Looking Glass

Tuggin' on my heart strings

Tuggles, a beautiful grey calico, wants nothing more than to play and be loved on constantly. Pawing at the glass, she sits, patiently waiting, looking at all who walk past. As soon as you make eye contact with this pretty kitty your heart will belong to her. She has deep blue eyes and sits tall waiting for someone to enter her area. Tuggles will instantly make you feel welcome to come in and love on her. After you introduce yourself to her, letting her smell your hand, she takes an immediate liking to you. She will come brush against your legs begging for you to bend down. As soon as you lean down to pet her, all reservations go to the wind as she embraces your touch. Oh boy, does she love to purr! Her soft fur and loving demeanor makes for the perfect cuddle companion. Once in your lap, you will never want this genuine beauty to leave.

Tuggles!

Tuggles is such a curious cat, always leaping before she looks often to everyone’s amusement. She is outgoing and very friendly. She shares her cage with three other cats and gets along with them swimmingly. She is the youngest, only a year old, and most active of the cats living with her, and she knows not to bother the older ones too often. Still, she ventures around the small room, playing with inanimate objects and other cats as they allow. This stunning feline has a true heart of gold. She is undoubtedly the happiest when in the presence of people. She greets everyone without judgment or fear eager to get to know them. Her fun loving personality is attractive to all who pass, I guarantee Tuggles will tug on your heartstrings!

I wish we knew her story of how she got to Austin Pets Alive. If only she could communicate to us how she is feeling or how she is doing. She seems to be doing just fine, but could be better with the help of a companion. I wonder what her life was like before she got here, if she had an owner or if she grew up with her family. I wonder if someone found her or if someone left her. I wonder if she suffered a trauma and if so how she keeps such a seemingly peppy outlook. I wonder how long she has been waiting. All these things I wondered about made me begin to imagine what her life was like before. This is my version of Tuggles story through her eyes:

A year ago I was living in a dark place with my mother, brothers, and sisters. We ate out of a big green box when it was dark outside. We would climb into it, and there would be many foods to choose from. Mother said to be careful to not eat things that aren’t food. Once I ate something that mother called a diaper and I got really sick. Then I understood what she warned us about. I was much pickier after that day. Mother told me that we prowl at night, like wild cats, so that “they” wouldn’t catch us. Regardless of that precaution, sometimes we came across “them”— the two-legged creatures. Some of them made clicking sounds to us and extended their arms towards us. Mother said to not go near them because they are evil. Every time she saw a two-legged she told us the story about how they took Papa. I can’t remember just how many times I heard that story. Still, I didn’t really understand why “they” were evil. I don’t know why, but I longed to be held by those creatures. It’s something deep inside their eyes when they looked at me as I looked yearningly back at them. Against mother’s advice, I wanted them to catch me. I always scampered away slower than the others because, oddly enough, I was not afraid. I mean, I wasn’t afraid of most of them.

After a while, I got bigger. I got fatter from the food in the big green box. I was half-the size of mother. It was getting hotter outside, and the dark place we called home kept us cool. One day, a two-legged ran fast and hard towards me. I looked in its eyes and this creature showed no comfort. I saw what mother warned us to fear. Everyone ran away, but I was still eating deep in the box. Suddenly, I felt two strange paws latch onto me and pull me out, up, and away from the food and away from my family. Squinting in the sunlight, I tried to smell the creature. As I leaned to press my cool wet nose against the creature’s furless body, it dropped me. I looked up in confusion and it started yelling at me and shoved me aside with one of its two long legs. I saw no love in its eyes. I tried to retreat back to my home, the cave where the rain collected for us to drink, but the unusual paws picked me up once more and dangled me by the skin of my neck. It held me away from its body, as far as the paw could stretch. Soon enough, we reached a strange looking thing with circles on the bottom instead of feet. It was an oddly shaped box, one I had seen many times before whizzing past our home. A few of them had almost crushed me in the past. Mother told us to always fear the box on four circles. I tried to scramble away, but the creature shoved me into a small box inside the box on four circles. This box was nothing like the food one; it was small and cramped with no food inside. Then everything went black.

Trying to figure out where I was, I began to meow, calling out for my mother, my brothers, and my sisters. Meowing, and meowing, and meowing. Mother where are you? Mother where am I? I felt a sharp smack on the box I was inside of. The hit kind of hurt, and it scared me, so I meowed louder, which was followed by more harsh blows. My ears began to ring. I longed to go back to my home with my family and my freedom. I began scratching furiously at the box in desperation. I’m scared, I thought, but actually I was terrified. In response to my cries and whole-heated attempt to escape, the box (with me inside) was pushed from where it put us to somewhere below. My stomach dropped in midair until I was once again on solid ground. The floor was still slightly moving and humming. Out of sheer exhaustion, everything went black once more as I closed my eyes and dreamed of the good ol’ days with my mother, brothers, and sisters, wondering why I ever wanted to be caught.

    After what seemed like days had passed, my box was opened. I squinted into the light that seemed brighter than the sun. The light seemed so close to me. There was a two-legged looking at me lovingly. It had long hair and spoke sweetly to me and I wasn’t as afraid anymore. She stroked me and cooed in my direction. I was just starting to warm up to the two-leggeds again when a different set of paws took me out of the box. Next thing I knew, I was being poked and prodded by sharp objects. Immediately I began to panic, meowing frantically for help. What were the two-leggeds doing to me? Where are the others? Quickly thereafter the longhaired two-legged returned to calm me and pet me. She looked deep into my eyes and told me that now I was safe. Safe? Safely away from my family and my home and everything I knew. She then placed me in a smallish room with glass on three sides. There I met my new roommates, all three of them.

    I have only been here for a few weeks, but I am already lonely. The two-leggeds have stopped playing with me as often and I haven’t seen the nice longhaired creature that helped me when I first got here. Two-leggeds pass the window all day long. Some look at me, some don’t. Some are brave enough to open the door and enter into our temporary home. At least I hope it is temporary. Yesterday Bunko, one of my roommates, was taken away by a longhaired two-legged who was very short and close to the ground. It picked Bunko up and held him close until Bunko began to purr. That is the first time I heard him happy since I got here. Since that day, every day I stare at the glass waiting for a two-legged to save me too. I see them watching me through the glass. I’m watching them too.

                Tuggles touched me in a special way as we shared a sort of unspoken connection. I did not want to leave her. "I had forgotten the depth of feeling one could see in [animal's] eyes."[i] I wanted to take her home, but my residency wouldn’t allow it. This project, first introduced at the beginning of the semester, is a main reason I decided to take this class. The idea of visiting an animal in the community and helping it get adopted was not only immediately appealing, but also potentially morally satisfying. The curriculum at UT largely ignores the heart and focuses mainly on the head. "We're thinking too much about educating the mind, and forgetting about the heart and soul.”[ii] Thus, I embraced this rare opportunity to utilize both my head and my heart with open arms.

My main worry was that I would want to adopt all of the animals and never want to leave. I feared that I would fall in love with these adorable helpless creatures, but I decided it was worth the potential heartbreak even if I could not save them all. Even if I could save only a few, it would be valuable because "love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart."[iii]  I yearned to help this wonderfully compassionate organization, but I mainly yearned to help the many animals find caring homes. So, I started telling everyone I knew about APA hoping that, in turn, that they would tell everyone they knew. Dreaming, that by word of mouth people’s awareness would be heightened and animals would be saved. I thought that by shattering people’s ignorance that their apathy would also dissipate and be replaced with compassion. I was met with futile resistance, as many people did not want to know and did not want to care. It was then that I was reminded, "apathy [often] prevails over caring."[iv] Apathy is easily achieved through conditioned indifference, lacking interest or concern to make denial easier later. So that in hindsight we can guiltlessly ask ourselves, "how could we have let that happen?"[v]

            This quest for feeling is hindered by fear. Such an intense and selfish fear of vulnerability trumped much compassion. The excuses for maintaining apathy seem foolish and cowardly. People rationalize their choice of not utilizing their feelings because "knowledge [can be] so overwhelming," and it might be "futile to care" when in actuality they are simply afraid and caught up in the "war against compassion."[vi]  I thought if I could spread the information that sympathy would be contagious, and then people would tune in to their sympathetic imagination. Sympathetic imagination is the ability of a person to penetrate the barrier which space puts between him and his object, and, by actually entering into the object, so to speak, to secure a momentary but complete identification with it. It is crucial to care about other creatures, even if it does not affect one’s personal life directly by doing so because "compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.”[vii] It is a work in progress, but I feel that it is a step in the right direction. It has been said, "no good thing can be done by any man alone.”[viii] This project created a group of us dedicated to making a change. This class, with "our [newly] heightened consciousness"[ix] can continue to make the world a better place for all its inhabitants.

---

[i] Walker, Alice Am I Blue? (San Diego: HBJ, 1988) 4.

[ii] Saunders, Marshall Beautiful Joe (Philadelphia: Charles H. Banes, 1893) 168.

[iii] Irving, Washington

[iv] Adams, Carol J. The Feminist Care Tradition in Animal Ethics “The War on Compassion” (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007) 33.

[v] Ibid. 31

[vi] Ibid. 31-33

[vii] Schopenhauer, Arthur

[viii] Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1961)

[ix] Speigel, Marjorie The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery 2^nd edition (New York: Mirror Books, 1996) 13.

---------

With: 2123 

Without: 1963

"Love Conquers All" -Virgil

"The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking (Kesey, 296)."

Humans, since creation, have been curious beings. Always looking for the means and the meaning of things. Temptations galore. It's the reason Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and it is why our paradise is lost. Still, we search for meaning in life every minute of every hour of every day. Trying to make our life purposeful to the world. We figure we must have been put here for a reason and thus have a reason for our lives. Hoping one day we can return to the once known "paradise on earth (Martel, 309) and we "shall free the earth from never-ceasing fear (Virgil,278)."

In our reading for today, we read an excerpt from The Life of Pi. It had a new fresh perspective that I am not very used to hearing. When talking about Hinduism in Chapter 17, Martel writes, "First wonder goes deepest; wonder after that fits in the impression made by the first. I owe to Hinduism the original landscape of my religious imagination, those towns and rivers, battlefields and forests, holy mountains and deep seas where gods, saints, villains, and ordinary people rub shoulders, and in doing so, define who and why we are (316)." In our endless search for meaning, we inevitably must run into one another to help each other out. It reminds me of how I felt when I got hit by a UPS truck in high school. For a second there I really thought that was it. My life was over. That night I wrote this about the experience, and as I cannot relate that closely to Hinduism, it reminded me of that sense of mystery and search for life.

I enter into the narrow tunnel of stillness a day after narrowly escaping the tunnel of death. This place where you can’t even blink or they can’t get a magnetic picture of the damages. The clicking of the machine sounds like “Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt” over and over again until the buzzing interrupts and vibrates my body. I lie motionless, my limbs locked into place looking up at the lights and the inside of the tunnel just two inches away from my face. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Sean, the MRI technician, reminds me that I am halfway done. Can’t stop now.

            The scene keeps replaying over and over again in my head like a DVD stuck on repeat. I was just driving to run some errands. Just another day. Singing along to The Format with my friend.

            My neck is stiff, so is my back, and I feel bruises obviously from the seat belt. And even though I know I couldn’t have done anything differently, and I don’t have regrets, I feel at fault. And I don’t want to feel sorry for myself, but I feel damaged. And I just want my life to get back on track, and to look outside to see my four-month-old car gleaming in the driveway. But that’s not reality.

            A split second altered my outlook on life.

            She looked over at me while we were driving down Tanglewood Blvd and screamed, “TRACY!”, and as I turned to my left, I saw a brown blur with glaring headlights before I felt the impact on my legs, arms, head, and body. My world was spinning; I couldn’t feel any pain because worrying about her was my only priority. I somehow managed to put the car into park and attempted to kick my door open, but that was not possible. The impact had jammed it, and my old way of seeing life jammed as well. I leapt into the back seat scraping my knees on tinted glass as I climbed out the other side of the car through the door that still worked. I let her out, then collapsed onto the grass, for the first time letting myself have a taste of the impact I had just experienced.

            Everyone was asking me questions. I was crying and shaking and shrieking and questioning and lying face down on the grass. I was scared. I was unreachable, untouchable, but I needed help. I called my mom and frantically told her I had just gotten into a horrible accident, but my throat wouldn’t allow my mouth to speak the streets I was nearest to. I chokingly handed my phone to the witness for him to help me. My first step of dependency and trust of a total stranger. But there was no time, no choice. My brain had checked out from my body.

            Once again my expression turned to stone as I returned to autopilot. I got off of the ground and took my phone back from the man and called 911. I saw the UPS lady crying while she was sitting on the grass on the other side of this person’s yard. I walked over to her and ask for her insurance papers. I had to take care of this situation. She took away my dependence. She stole the attention. This hysterical woman handed me her phone to talk to her boss. He tells me where the papers are. I got them. The UPS lady told me she has never been in a collision before, I told her I hadn’t either. She told me that she was sorry, that she didn’t see the stop sign, that she didn’t mean to. I told her that is why it is called an accident.

            I wanted to be angry with her. I wanted to yell and scream and ask her why she couldn’t have been more careful. I was mad at fate, yet I was lucky. For the first time I walked to the driver’s side of the car to see the damage done. My stomach dropped, yet I remained composed. The driver’s door and back door on the driver’s side were damaged beyond repair, the back window had been shattered, rearview mirror lay on the opposite side of the street, glass splintered the sidewalk, I am lucky to be alive.

            The movie ‘Crash’ (screenwriter Paul Haggis) ended with a line I will never forget: “It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.”

If she was lonely, I wish she would have just said so.

Biblical Fantasies

"Eden" in Paradise Lost by John Milton

In Paradise Lost, rather than attempting to explain the merely human aspects of hubris or conversion, Milton addresses the chief source of our fallen nature and seeks to justify the ways of God to man. In terms of man in relation to animals, animals were described in some of the stories to be complete herbivores. "In those days there was no drought, and leaves and flowers and fruit grew on the same tree, and we ate nothing at all except leaves and flowers and grass and fruit and bark." (Kipling, 264). I thought that was interesting, and don't ever remember that in the story The Jungle Book. I guess I really just remember the Disneyfied cartoo version.

Michaelangelo's Creation of Adam

 It is common knowledge that the story of creation is highly discussed and debated. We are influenced by our religion, society, and other people to believe one way or the other. The readings for today explore different angles of the story of creation. These popular readings are well engrained in our society, and reading them again brought up some new thoughts I didn’t have before my awareness was heightened due to this class. The common element throughout the stories is that there was a sort of creator or being that created the universe, and that man rules over other beings. Even though animals were created first, according to such stories, man consistently ruled superior. It may be argued otherwise because animals were created before man, but it was more like a trial and error until the creator created human beings. "I read that G-d made man, and he made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them he made a day of rest...He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me (Sewell, 149)." Still, man is dominant as "G-d created man is his own image" (Genesis, 224).

Equine lovers

Equine Love <3

"I read that G-d made man, and he made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them he made a day of rest...He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me (Sewell, 149)."


"My master knew very little about horses, but he treated me well, and I should have had a good and easy place but for circumstances of which he was ignorant (Sewell, 121)."The master-horse relationships that Black Beauty had and encountered were varied, especially between the ignorant master and the knowledgeable one. For example, one non ignorant man says, "Every man's right and every beast's right (Sewell, 152)." By saying this he is leveling the playing field. There is not such a hierarchy between non-ignorant gentlemen and their horses, "but it seems to me that the innocent always suffer (Sewell, 181)." Jerry, one of Black Beauty's masters says this to the governor after one of his other horses, Captain, was hurt by a drunk driver. It seems that the masters who understood their horses always made insightful comments and were depicted deeply and fully whereas the cruel and ignorant masters were depicted as evil and one dimensional. I thought this to be very interesting that these were Black Beauty's observations, and how within the touch of a hand he could tell the type of person that might be. Black Beauty was very grateful for gentlemen because, as Jerry said,"if a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without (Sewell, 153)."

Ignorance and Apathy go hand in hand

Black Beauty blog

The edition I had as a child

Initially, I thought I had remembered reading this story and remembered it as a really happy fairy-tale... Now, reading it again, it is actually quite sad. It makes me feel guilty for how we have trained our pet dogs in the past. Not that we were cruel to them, but we (as a family) had a pretty short temper towards our loving pets. I forgot the great deal of loss they suffered and were still suffering, from the loss of their family to the loss of their liberty. Like Black Beauty said, "What more could I want? Why, Liberty! (Sewell, 24)." I didn't think to give the puppy the same amount of patience and respect that I would to a person suffering such great losses. I reacted differently to the animals actions, I simply did not understand. I thought that obedience was sort of innately ingrained in domesticated animals, and that if they acted up they were doing so out of a sense of defiance not out of self defense or fear.
Never thinking to blame myself for confusing my pet, always faulting the animal, "[I] did not wish to be too hard, and I am glad [to] see it was only ignorance (Sewell, 75)."

 We never physically abused our dogs, and never will, but I am sure they were quite confused with some of the odd methods we were taught by a dog trainer, and especially by our inconsistency. Also, as odd as this sounds, it often slipped my mind that the dog was still an animal, and a young one at that, so clearly it would have animalistic tendencies (that we, in fact, have as well). Just as explained in Black Beauty, there is a sort of discrepancy of understanding between some masters and their animals, "Spirited horses, when not exercised, are often called skittish, when it is only play; and some grooms will punish them (Sewell, 25)." Just like those horses, we often misread or misunderstand the intent of the animals compared to our preconceived notions.

Chicks, Pussies, and Bitches

 When did it become socially acceptable to refer to women as animalistic? When did female dogs begin to describe mean girls? What made chicks suddenly refer to 'hot babes'? When did bunnies lose their innocence to Playboy? When did a kitten turn into a part of the female anatomy? It appears that women and animals are inextricably linked, so it only makes sense that women are more involved in animal liberation. We have explored many different kinds of oppression, between species, amongst species, and such, but we have not explored the gender difference as much. Luke, in Gender and the Exploitation of Animals, explores this comparison more thoroughly. The oppressed have a tendency to stick together and help each other out of sympathy or "the natural empathetic barrier between species (Luke, 181)." Women, being the more innately caring half of the male-female dichotomy, are more likely to sympathize as are their matriarchal tendency. Historically, women are the ones mainly helping other groups who are oppressed participating in many different liberation movements.

 

The sympathetic connection between species can also be viewed as "the crossing of borders between [human] and animal (Derrida, 209)." Women are exploited just as animals are; often objectified for their sexuality. There is a negative correlation between boys who abuse their animals turning into men abusing their spouses. Many ad campaigns, like PETA's, use women as an animal representative, as a fellow earthling, illustrating a hope to end exploitation of animals. Women are characteristically, and realistically often more caring to animals and more devoted to their cause...so then why is a dog still known as a "man's best friend?"

Lesson Plan

1st: Quiz

2nd: Meditation HERE

3rd: Lesson plan (below)

I. What is Racism?

II. Racism and Speciesism

         -Dolphin asked: What is the difference?

-Whitney: Can it be a choice? Being devoted to helping oppressed people, Does that automatically make her prioritize people over animals? Does it need to be both? Or is it acceptable to devote time to one group over the other?

-Nate: “Speciesism is far more harmful because it can be applied across a range of organisms,”

-Meg: “But why are these comparisons important and what could be the problem with the comparisons?” Racism and Speciesism permanently intertwined.

-L. Panther: Racism and Speciesism are indistinguishable from one another

-Miles: “I think there are objective differences in the mental abilities of humans and other animals which can justify different standards of treatment (unlike the rationale behind racism).” Are the readings relevant to current society?

III. Were the slaves treated like cattle or are the cattle treated like slaves?

-Laurel: “Why should it be immediately insulting to be compared to an animal?

-Mariah: Agrees with above (anecdote), how we can change the stereotype and view it as special and not odd…

-Chris: 2 kinds of suffering (emotional and physical), how do the masters get power? How do they keep it?

IV. Ways to change this/ fix it and why people don’t want to?

-Nate proposed: If everyone would spend one day with an animal that sympathy would be contagious. Is sympathy contagious?

-Also, What do we owe our totem animals in return for what they have done for us?

-Meg: Insight into oppression and how to combat it

-Dana: Will we ever win the battle for animal rights? What are the necessary steps to abolish the murder, consumption and abuse of animals? How is the struggle for animal rights similar to the struggle to end human slavery? Will animals ever be given the chance to be respected as individuals? (How do we know when we have accomplished this task?) What will change people’s minds?

         -Brianne: The current situation cannot continue, but how can it be fixed?

-Sarah W: “Why didn’t more people raise questions about slavery? Didn’t they know it was inherently wrong? She pinpoints the problem as a lack of education, and increased education will reduce the lack of empathy.

-Mariah: Idea of self-empowerment, sticks and stones… Solution to the problemà positive and effective communication, breaking the silence.

V. Racism and correlation to plant and/or meat eaters

VI. Pets

-Eric: focus on dogs, disagreed with Speigel because “not all owners are bad owners just like not all parents are bad parents. She leaves out the possibility of positive reinforcement. We created them so it is our job to take care of them, it would be cruel to release them in the wild to defend themselves.

In Class:

Problems in current society:

Ways to fix it:

Why some don’t want to:

The chicken or the egg

Who came first? The chicken? The egg? The same question can be asked of slavery, were "the slaves treated like cattle (Speigel, 159)," or are the cattle treated like slaves? Before this class, I would not have spent a minute to think about this question. I had become hardened to the abuse of animals because I saw it so often and it was easier to stifle my feelings against it. "I had forgotten the depth of feeling one could see in [animal's] eyes (Walker, 169)."

Throughout this class, the readings, and Earthlings, the same ideas keep resurfacing when I digest these texts and ideas. People allow bad things to happen for two reasons, one: they are too cowardice to actually feel something in response to bad things happening around them, or two: they do so in fear because they would rather oppression continue as long as it does not happen to them. The second option is illustrated by a quote from an ex-ranch hand, in a personal interview with Speigel in A Deathly Comparison, "Sure, we used to throw 'em on the ground and cut their balls off with a pen-knife... And that's not all; at the same time we'd brand 'em and cut off their horns. And you know what? It didnt bther me... I never felt anything for them (Speigel, 149)." Initially, I rebuked the comparison between the Jews in the Holocaust and the treatment of animals today because, as a Jew, I "fe[lt] that it [was] insulting to compare the suffering of non-human animals to that of humans (Speigel, 148)," but looking back now, as G.B. Heron, my mind has somewhat shifted. 

We can help one another, all earthlings alike.

My new distinction is not between human animals and non-human animals, but rather the oppressors and the oppressed because "pain is pain, whether it be inflicted on man or beast (Dr. Humphrey Primatt, 1776)." I accept some of the disturbing similarities between that of the human and non-human experience such as their shared experience of pain, loss of family, loss of personal choice, constant fear, terrible living conditions, oppression, and "inability to establish personal security or safety (Speigel, 153)." Their is no loyalty of the slave master to the slave for their long hours and service to them. They get no rewards. But there is a way to fix this, to spread information and force people to face such things they try to avoid...to see things feelingly.

Reading The Dreaded Comparison by Marjorie Spiegel, made me feel helpless then frustrated then inquisitive then doubtful then a bit hopeful. I found hope in the chance we have to use "our [newly] heightened consciousness (Speigel, 147)." With this, we "shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free (UT Tower)." Speigel also mentions steps we, as a society and as individuals, must take in order to fix the tyranny. For example, "Advances towards releasing animals from our domination and control of their lives will also serve to lessen the oppression of blacks and others who suffer under the weight of someone else's power (Speigel, 151)."

Furthermore if we accept the "philosophy of universal respect for others' lives, treating anyone--human or non-human-- in a cruel manner beings to be unthinkable (Speigel, 151)." Another mention of hopeful change is illustrated in the section about animal testing, "Many firms have again begun manufacturing products from natural, nontoxic ingredients, and do not test their products on animals (Speigel, 160)." Also, we could prevent much animal testing by lawfully instilling a "mandatory or established system for sharing protocols or experiment results, [in order to prevent] vast duplication of [similar] research (Speigel, 162)."

Great Blue Heron

Lake Conroe

After meditating and listening to the sounds four times, I finally got the same power animal twice. Thus, I decided that it was a sign that I did find my totem animal. My fascination with flying and swimming has always characterized my daydreams, and when playing the game “would you rather” I could never decide whether I would want to be a bird or a fish. In this case, it is a way to sort of beat the system. I grew up seeing the Great blue herons in lake Conroe. My grandparents had a house on the lake and we used to wake up early to watch them hunt. When I think of them it warms my heart with childhood memories. After doing further research on the Great Blue Heron, I realized that it suits me even better than I had originally thought!

The Great Blue Heron has the best of both worlds, the sky and the sea. They can explore depths as well as heights. They are great opportunists, feeding on a wide range of small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles when possible, but their normal diet consists of small fish. Individuals usually forage while standing in water, but will also feed in fields or drop from the air, or a perch, into water. As large wading birds, Great Blue Herons are able to feed in deeper waters, and thus are able to harvest from niche areas not open to most other heron species. They have a great sense of site fidelity as they are inclined to renest in the same area year after year. They also upgrade and reuse old nests, constantly bettering their environment. 

"Animal totems, like the tiger, come from the Other Side
to protect us while we are away from Home"-Sylvia Browne

I feel that animal and human spirits intertwine as we are all earthlings. Maybe we were an animal in our past life or maybe we might be in the future. "Power animals, rather than being associated with a family or a group, are specific and personal for each individual (Farmer, 397)." I feel like I have a special affinity to the Great Blue Heron, as I feel connected to birds. I don't really know what it is that I find so fascinating, maybe something about the way they glide, maybe something about their freedom. The Heron is to me as the Tower is to Bill Moyers, they both act as constants, never changing in an ever-changing world. "And for [Moyers] to return from the atmosphere of a vagrant sojourner, which is what journalism is, you go from place to place, restless, homeless, this is the earth to which [he] always returns." 

Black Elk Speaks

"Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking". 

Black Elk 

Before reading this, I had not heard about the story of Black Elk, or very much about Native Americans in general. My basic understanding was that the white people came and bullied the Natives, taking advantage of their generosity and kindness. In school, rarely are we presented with stories from the other point of view. We have been taught at a young age that Columbus was a great man and extraordinary explorer, but the details of how he actually treated the Native Americans remains purposely shadowed.

Black Elk’s story consists of three parts: part autobiography, part spiritual revelation, and part tribal history. He emphasizes that his own life story is also the story of his tribe indicating the communal nature of the Native American experience.  Black Elk thinks of himself almost entirely in the context of his tribe or band, and he embodies the values of his people. Seeing himself as an instrument of a higher power, Black Elk emphasizes that the power of the vision manifested itself through him since, "no good thing can be done by any man alone (Neihardt, 359)."Black Elk's narrative continues to recount the increasing dislocation of the Sioux as the U.S. Government annexed more and more Indian territory and established Indian agencies and reservations. At the same time, Black Elk's vision perplexes him because circumstances do not seem to allow him to fulfill it.

Peace Pipe (one of the gifts from the 6 grandfathers)

Black Elk views the world's interconnectedness as natural and obvious. He doesn't put anything on a pedestal over other things simply because of species. "Is not the sky a father and the earth a mother, and are not all living things with feet or wings or roots their children (Reinhardt, 359)?" To him, one earthling's life is just as crucial as another's. He shares his vision with his fellow earthlings, taking it upon himself to embrace the power put upon him. "From them you shall have power...from them who have awakened all the beings of the earth with roots and legs and wings (Reinhard, 364)." Black Elk was given a cup of water to make live the greening day, a bow and arrow to destroy, a sacred peace pipe, and a sacred stick, and the nation's hoop.

Totem Animals

His relationship to Homo-Sapiens, bison, horses, and birds are all very important and varied. He seems closest spiritually to horses, bison, and geese, but the eagle eventually resonates the most. The spotted eagle became his totem animal, renaming him "Eagle Wing Stretches (Reinhardt, 363)." Historically, Native Americans are nomadic, following the herds of bison to survive. Thus, bison is crucial for their lifestyle, in terms of food, clothing, and symbolically as well. "I know now what this meant, that the bison were the gift of a good spirit and were our strength, but we should lose them, and from the same good spirit we must find another strength (Reinhardt, 386)."

I can't wait to meditate to find my totem animal! I took some random online quizzes... I doubt their accuracy.

Using animals unethically... MEAN

Utilizing animals for research as insight into human behaviors is debatably helpful and unquestionably unethical. But as every great scientist discovered, “the road to benefits is often paved with harms (Gluck, 78).” Testing animals for harmful potential side effects on humans is silly because their body composition reacts differently than humans do. Ethically, “animals matter because their pain matters (Gluck, 79).” Many people chose to turn a blind eye to such research endeavors because as I have stressed in previous blogs, it is easier for people to plead ignorance than to actually feel something. This way, society can take comfort in continuing on with their lives worry free of the oppressed.

Honestly, I can understand why some people react in this way. For example, many cosmetic brands test their products on a variety of animals before exposing them to human specimen. It is easier for us to sacrifice lab rats than actual human beings, but why? Why does this societal constructed hierarchy appeasing our innate ethical concerns? Why do “humans view themselves as the elite species on the planet (Titus, 132)?” Animals have a life, they can feel, and thus they deserve similar consideration and sympathies as we share with other human beings. On the other hand, we also use humans deemed less valuable as research lab rats too. The Nazis used the Jews. The slave owners used the slaves. The powerful consistently take advantage of their power position to put others in harms way before subjecting oneself to such dangers. 

Personality test result

Your Type is ENFJ
Extraverted	Intuitive	Feeling	Judging
Strength of the preferences %
89	75	25	44

As an extravert, my ideal classroom environment would involve lots of interaction through class discussions and other activities. I learn the best working things out because I am action oriented. Through experiential learning, Bump has capitalized on my best learning environment. 

As an intuitive person, I thrive in environments that allow me the freedom to figure out original ways to solve problems. I do well with self-instruction paired with the opportunity to make my own choices in the classroom. Through leadership opportunities in the classroom, as well as creative based projects and blog freedom, Bump has sufficed these needs too! This class is ideal for my feeling side because it requires making a personal connection with classroom material and classmates (and Bump) alike. It is easy to see the relationship between the material and real life as they are one in the same. Lastly, for my judging side, I strive off of order and consistency. I love schedules and knowing deadlines in advance. Bump is true to his word, returning assignments when he promises, and keeping to the daily schedule. In retrospect, the classroom environment is clearly suitable to my ENFJ personality.

Other famous ENFJs

Bump, being an ISFJ, has a different ideal learning environment. As a teacher, he takes into account all the different types of personalities in the class and caters to them as much as possible. He allows time for reflection and independent thinking for the introverts in the class, as well as discussion for the extraverts. Extra credit opportunities allow for introverts to work independently to earn points. Bump, as a sensing type, caters to the five senses type of learning. Also incorporated in his experiential approach.