BlogOfParadox

Archive for the ‘general’ Category

Our friend and Capoeira instructor, Officer Ivory Harris, is with the Jackson Police Department, 3rd Precinct.  His apartment caught fire several days ago through a faulty electrical outlet and he lost everything, including his beloved Teacup Chihuahua,  BeeGee.  Officer Harris not only protects the City of Jackson but he donates his time and energy to teach the art of Capoeira to others as well as troubled youth.  We would like to rally some support for this great public servant in the donation of funds.  Officer Harris lost clothes, furniture, and his laptop computer; everything except some important paperwork secured in a corner closet in a fire box.

You are also invited to attend a Capoeira Roda in honor of Ivory Harris on October 3, 2009 at 4035 B North State Street!  Look for the Balloons.  Parking in the rear of the house or about 3 blocks down at the corner of Meadowbrook and State Street.  Event starts at 5:00 p.m. until.  Bring Food, Drinks and your checkbook!

Please send your donation to:

Officer Ivory Harris Fire Fund
c/o Renee Dean
P. O. Box 12833
Jackson, MS 39236
601 624-6542

On May 2nd, I turn thirty-six. I’m not upset or mopey about it. Honestly, it feels more like turning twelve because ZOMG, we are getting two, count ‘em, two wall-kitties for my birthday.

KITTIES!!! are by far one of the cooler birthday presents I’ve received, but to be honest, I’m not so big on stuff these days. I’m trying to pare down, scale back and simplify my life; stuff holds me back. I’d much rather have your company for birthday weekend festivities.

If you are the sort of person who would normally get me a present, please instead consider donating to In Defense of Animals’ PROJECT HOPE, the organization who helped us in the aftermath of WallCat rescue. Hope Sanctuary is an animal sanctuary located in rural Mississippi. Doll Stanley and her staff/volunteers have doggedly worked to rescue abused and neglected animals in Mississippi and all over the Deep South for sixteen years. LeeAnn Leonard is one of the foster/rescue volunteers with Project Hope, and the foster human to the WallCats and their surrogate mama, Hemi. If it wasn’t for LeeAnn and IDA, this story might not have such a happy ending. I’m not 100% behind IDA’s mission, but Project Hope is a great cause in a state that could use five more sanctuaries.

Here’s a link to IDA’s program-specific donation page. There’s a dropdown menu for “Project or Campaign”: please select PROJECT HOPE.

If you’re more visually inclined, please enlarge the image below.

Of course, you could always adopt Hemi or Wall-Kitty Zeta, which would be a gift for everyone!

Hemi is a gorgeous shorthaired, polydactyl blue-grey MILA (Mom I’d Like to Adopt). She was rescued via In Defense of Animals, and soon gave birth to a single kitten, Junior. Hemi must’ve had a larger family in mind because she accepted each and every wallcat as her own, and has been fiercely protective of her litter. If you love Hemingway cats and are interested in an adult cat with a touch of old Hollywood beauty, Hemi would be an excellent choice.  Her IDA adoption fees ($75) will cover her shots and her spaying.

Junior is about 7-10 days behind the Wallcats, but he’s bigger by far than any of the others. He’s a polydactyl black-n-white emo kid with a fierce white goatee and fingerless gloves. His head is football-shaped, even Stewie Griffin-ish, and he has striking white whiskers in every direction. He and Puff will be heading to their forever home in mid-May.

Sad Ending to Zeta’s story:read more

Zeta was a beautiful calico with a sweet disposition and a thoroughly endearing habit of sucking on a foot to fall asleep. She was fond of sleeping in impossible, hilarious positions, even with her mouth wide open. We’re told Zeta was more of a cuddle-kitty than a rambunctious adventurer, and that definitely goes along with my personal experience with her (she crawled onto my chest and dozed off immediately). Zeta passed away on April 26.

Both of these kids’ll come home with us on my birthday, officially Best Caturday in History.

For those of you who only read my blog, I owe you a story. Until then, allow me to sum up: a crazy feral  mamacat climbed 10′ UP along our HVAC duct to bear kittens in our attic. The space would’ve been ideal kittennest, save for the steep drop-off that allowed tiny kittens to fall down into the loadbearing walls in our house. All five were rescued; four on Sunday, one on Wednesday. Our walls are tewtally ghetto-fabulous right now, but what matters most is this story has a happy ending. All these kittens are thriving with a surrogate mama, and all but one (a wee loudmouth dilute tortie/calico, who will come back to her original home) will be available for adoption.

Someone’s already called dibs on the wee Siamese one with a raccoon tail, but there’s a wee tortie/calico (who sucks her/his foot to go to sleep), a grey tabby (first out of the wall, brave explorer) and a brown tabby (so handsome!!) They’re all ridiculously cute.

LeeAnn (who works with In Defense of Animals’ Mississippi program PROJECT HOPE) says that if you choose to adopt a Wallcat, Junior (the black and white) or Hemi (mamacat) via IDA, your donation covers your cat’s spay/neuter, their first round of shots, AND helps needy animals in Mississippi. That’s a crazy deal

Adoption fees via IDA are

• $75 for one beloved cutiepie
• $100 for two (don’t you want two? You know you want two!!)

You can contact me at wallcats@birdofparadox.com for more information.

You can check out Project Hope’s blog to see what they do, but warning: there are some really sad cases.

Wallcats from Matthew Glover on Vimeo.

I’ve not been talkative of late. I’ve had some introspective-thinky incidents, and a great deal of work to do. When I get bogged down like this, I generally retreat into a carefully constructed hole of meaningless diversion. It’s not pretty, but it’s the truth.

This time, it’s different. There’s so much effort and thought that goes into planning an Anusara-style class, and that work keeps you grounded and completely, uncomfortably, unflinchingly involved in the guts of living. We theme our classes; not only physically, but emotionally. It’s like theatre without the comforting veneer of character. If your heart’s not in your theme, if you’re not engaged with the material, you come across as full of shit. No one wants to be called on their bullshit when they’re surrounded by a bunch of buff people who know how to bend themselves (and YOU) in terrible configurations.

So the practice keeps me focused and present, even when I’d rather be staring at YouTube or cleaning the tile with a toothbrush. The teaching digs more deeply than the practice, and while my physical progress is best measured in micrometers, I feel like I’m making some serious head&heart-way.

I know Mister Jack Jackity Jack Jack Attack (once and future) Fattycat is feeling a bit more like himself: he managed to jump from the kitchen floor to the countertop, and was thoroughly scouring the last place he saw me with cheese.

We sat together and watched Obama make his “Presumptive Nominee” speech in MN, and my old man purred loudly.  It doesn’t surprise me: as a personable skinny Tuxedo cat with big ears and a funny name, they have a more than a bit in common.

“The point of marriage is not to create a quick commonality by tearing down all boundaries; on the contrary, a good marriage is one in which each partner appoints the other to be the guardian of his solitude, and thus they show each other the greatest possible trust. A merging of two people is an impossibility, and where it seems to exist, it is a hemming-in, a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties of their fullest freedom and development. But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky.”

- Rainer Maria Rilke

I wrote this more than two months before it was “due,” but it required some editing after this weekend.

It’s been three years since we were married, and about six since we started dating, or whatever it was we thought we were doing.  I have a husband who is often quite introspective, and often distractedly hyper-focused, but loves hugely. I am so full-heartedly grateful to have this wonderful partner, who grows with me and respects the things that nourish me.  I am so glad to have this man who keeps my crazy at bay with all of his reason, sensibility and compassion. I am so darned lucky to have someone who can make me laugh embarrassingly loudly at semi-inappropriate times; because one day when I am ancient and do not care at all what people think, I will still be laughing. I am so lucky to have a partner who has wholeheartedly embraced the furry clan I brought into our marriage, and doubly lucky to have married someone willing to medicate such a fearsome, toothsome beast as old man Jack (The Anniversary Miracle!)

You’re an inspiring, brilliant, thoughtful and loving man, and you make me strive to be a better person.

Happy Anniversary, one day late.