Protesting The Circus

Well, we did it, and didn't even get spit on. We met up with about 50 protesters who were polite and kind, not putting the circus-goers on the defensive. Aside from the circus issue itself we found that the other participants were very much on the same page as we are in regards to the role human domination plays in the destruction of our planet generally and to animals specifically. It was so refreshing to hang out with like-minded people!

I wore my "I am not amused when elephants are abused" T-shirt but it was so cold and windy I never opened my jacket. :-(

The venue was the Timer Warner Cable Arena (whatever happened to non-commercial names for buildings?) which is located on Trade Street in downtown Charlotte.

Across the street was the Charlotte City Transit Station and it was kind of fun for me, as I stood there with my sign, to watch the buses come and go. Charlotte has some Green Hybrid buses and the regular buses are somehow rigged up with 'clean exhaust'. I'm not sure what that means but we drove behind one and it's true; there was no stinky diesel fume cloud bellowing out the back. Charlotte may not be San Francisco but it's quite progressive.

On one side was Charlotte's Light Rail, I guess the modern version of Chicago's "L" - elevated trains. They run very smoothly and quietly.

Above us the Bank of America building towered; it has cool architecture on top.

Down on the ground, however, there was some work to do!

Some of the signs were from PeTA. The signs with photos of baby elephants being abused during training were definitely the ones most people looked at the longest. It's true that one picture is worth a thousand words. If I say 'baby elephants are beaten with bull hooks' it doesn't have the same horror factor as actually seeing that being done to a cute baby elephant with it's little tufts of baby hair sticking straight up just like a human baby. That's why I think people who eat meat, wear leather/fur, or use animals in some way should actually have to SEE what happens. It's not fair to hide behind ignorance.

Some people made their own signs, like the girl on the right. The guy with the sign on a stick made a sign that said, "Beat the clowns, not the animals!" I'm not sure that would be my message but it made Saeed and me laugh more than once. Saeed actually spoke to him later and told him that sounded like something you'd hear on Seinfeld; the guy laughed but I'm not sure if he was just being polite.

I'll have to check the local news to see if the guy with the camera put the protest in the newspaper or on TV.

Initially Saeed felt less than enthusiastic about participating in this protest. We had a lengthy discussion about whether protests have any effect on issues on our way up in the car. We protested against the war in Iraq before Bush did it anyway, so I think he felt discouraged. He admitted that he had a defeatist attitude as I reminded him that causes take a LONG time to bear fruit, bringing up the struggle for civil rights and women's rights as examples. As the day progressed he saw that it was the children, in particular the girls, who were very interested in the plight of the circus animals. He admitted that it was important to keep whittling way at the message. The guy in camo who says it's his God-given right to shoot any animal he wants is not our target audience; that kind of person will probably never be convinced. His daughter, however, maybe one day... Afterall, I too once ate meat and went to the circus.

In the transit station was a Burger King. After the morning session was over we went in for a veggie burger and some warm R & R. Saeed is never happier than when he's in an eatery reading the paper! We recharged our batteries and went back out later for the afternoon session. It was a bit warmer by then but still windy, so when we got home we were both tired and ready to rest our hoofies. We're glad we went and would do it again.

Our Retirement Plans

Most people talk about traveling when they retire, but Saeed and I want to buy some property so we can create an animal sanctuary of some sort, small scale of course. It may turn out to be just a dream, but sometimes people actually make their dreams some true. Imagine if we had our personal vet nearby...

So when I bumped into this video I thought... that could be us! The lady lives in a nice warm area of the country that never gets these 20 degree days we keep getting, so I don't think we could exactly replicate what she's doing, but it shows that it's possible to make a life according to your heart's desire. Add a few goats, a donkey, a few egg-laying hens (separate from the kitties!), and you have Sanctuary Modaresi. :-)

Protesting The Circus

Saeed and I just signed up to protest the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus that's coming to Charlotte on January 29th. Contrary to what they say and what they'd like you to think, they have been caught on tape many, many times abusing animals (badly) in the process of managing and training them. Elephants are smart, emotional creatures with family units very similar to ours, but they are beaten and abused as a means of coercion. It's disgusting.

So we're going to do it; we've signed up with the Charlotte Animal Welfare Meetup Group to hang out on a street corner with signs, and probably hand out literature. Although I feel so strongly about protecting animals it's kind of scary to 'put yourself out there'. I know people will be ugly. But my girls did it in college and other people do it all the time. I just need to put my big girl pants on and do it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was quoted as saying, "Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way."

All Before Noon

I look forward to Saturday mornings more than anything because I don't have to set my alarm for 5 AM. Yet, when we get up early to go to the Farmer's Market I love it once I actually pull myself out of my cozy, warm, flannel-sheeted bed that's full of kitties and another warm human. The day before me is full of possibility and I feel like I have a head start. I believe this qualifies me as a morning person.

The sun was just coming up as we left for the market.

This man was one of the few vendors at the market yesterday. Normally in the winter months the market opens every other weekend, but this year there were several vendors who were willing to come the imbetween Saturdays for a "mini-market". We talked with him about his chickens and learned that he is one of the original farmers (he and another guy) that began the Matthews Farmers Market 20 years ago. It was cold, in the twenties yesterday, so he didn't even have to keep his eggs in the cooler.

Despite the temperature (I love cold weather even still) I went for a walk. Our neighborhood is full of hawks and owls. I had a stare down on Friday with an owl in our backyard and saw this hawk on my walk. They are so beautiful and majestic and I love them, but I try not to think about who they're eating.

The rest of the day was grocery shopping and laundry. Today I'm doing some cooking for the week and finishing the laundry but everything stops at 2 pm for the Bears game. Saeed has a bet with Gabriel (who took the Packers, that traitor) and M & K are certainly going to be watching it too.

I'll be wearing my Bears shirt which I purchased a couple of years ago.

Book Club Indian Style

Last night we finally had our meeting to discuss For Ganesh, Remover Of Obstacles that had been iced out last week. After a flurry of emails we decided to eat at an Indian restaurant to have our discussion which is good and bad - good for my taste buds but a bit more challenging to stay on task. Due to its location we chose Copper, an Indian fusion restaurant in the Dillworth (older, affluent) section of Charlotte. It was very nice and our waiter, when he kept hearing us discuss things Indian, began to linger near our table and eventually joined in the conversation from time to time.

I was the host of this book and did my research well on the issues, locations, and historical facts surrounding the story and its characters. I was able to contact the author via FaceBook (gotta love the internet) and Sujoya gave me so much personal information that made the discussion that much more meaningful since this story is semi-autobiographical.

Her mother, Krishna, which is a traditionally male name, was 'accidently' accepted into Princeton in the 1950's which was closed to females at that time. She came from a strict Brahmin family in Mangalore who really just wanted her to get married to continue and preserve their particular sect of the Brahmin line. She, instead, learned Bharatanayam, a classical Indian dance, and was so good she received scholarships to go to university first in India, next the The London School of Economics, and then the fateful accidental term at Princeton (they did let her stay but wouldn't let her graduate - they transferred her credits to another university and let her graduate from there!)

What a great story, and I liked the way Sujoya interspersed Krishna's early life with her modern life, both of which were told by her daughter Sushila. Sujoya wrote me that her mother only had two regrets about the book: 1) that she used Krishna's real name, but Sujoya explained that she had to use it as it was so crucial to the explanation for how she got into Princeton, and 2) that the character that was Krishna's father back home in India was written as a bit of a tyrant, when actually was a pretty nice guy. I guess that's where the semi in semi-autobiographical comes; Sujoya admitted that she had to exaggerate some things to make the novel work.

I loved it. Five stars.

Gotta Love Those Crazy Cats

It's a good thing Frosty doesn't do this to me - I'd have a broken neck! Love those little white hoofies and the ever moving tail.

Happy Birthday Albert Schweitzer

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. ~ Albert Schweitzer 

Albert Schweitzer is another of my heroes who has "lighted the flame" within me. Born on January 14, 1875, Schweitzer was many things but for me most admirable was his philosophy termed "Reverence for Life." He won the Nobel Peace Prize for this philosophy which he practiced on both humans and animals. He spent most of his life serving the poor in Africa as a medical doctor and worked for better treatment of animals. He was a vegetarian, quite a feat in those days without any tofu-pups or veggie-grillers to fall back on. In addition to quote #3 on my wall to the right, here are a few quotes attributed to Dr. Schweitzer:

• "Do something wonderful, people may imitate it."
• "Therefore search and see if there is not some place where you may invest your humanity."
• "There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
• "Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate."
• "A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives."
• "Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."

Family Christmas Part 2

(I'm still singing Veggie Tales; have been all day)

It all started out innocently enough with me taking pictures of Kai...

... when someone said, "Let me do it Nama!" He got us both in the picture most of the time!

I think his finger was over the light sensor.

So with the camera back in my hands I managed to capture "Kill Baba" in progress. Reminds me of the Zombie video Gabriel and Brendan made when Cyrus was little.

It was like watching "The Wild Kingdom". Poor Saeed.

As you can see he survived the attack of the Baba Killers.

Actually Cyrus might have started out playing kind of rough but I think at the end he was just trying to kiss his little "baby Tai" (Kai.) I wonder if Kai knows how lucky he is to have such a gentle, loving brother:

I remember when I was a child beginning to feel a bit house bound if the weather kept us inside for more than a day. So Cyrus and I took a walk in the neighborhood to go see our neighbor's tree with the big ornaments hanging on it.

Gabriel got home Friday evening. It was such a joy to watch the boys react to Gabriel's arrival. We'd been waiting for him for DAYS and it was such a sweet reunion. He gave everyone hugs and then sat on the floor with his sons:

Finally, on New Year's Eve, we celebrated Christmas.Obi loved all the presents.

Everyone is watching with amusement what Hamaseh is doing...

... which is opening many little wrapped packets that enclosed nothing more than small slips of paper with something written on them. Eventually she got to the bottom where the actual present was. Gee, I wonder who would have done THAT to our guest?...

... none other, and boy did he enjoy it!

Gabriel got his very own bottle of sparkling pear juice, although at the stroke of midnight we all shared a second bottle.

Tita got an Eckhart Tolle calendar.

Cyrus learns how to find the edge of the wrapping paper.

Shirin made Tita a framed collage of nephew pictures. Cyrus felt he had to explain each one to her.

Hamaseh and Tita both got (from different people) "The Hunger Games" to read. That's good; they'll be able to compare notes!

Kai preferred our coffee table to any presents. I guess when you're teething anything cold to bite down on is a relief.

Man that was good, I want more!

Ahhhhhh....

After eating my coffee table he sang us the most beautiful song:

The gang... my gang... I feel so fortunate, and so grateful.

What better than to celebrate 1-1-11 with a game of Catan! Hamaseh is listening to the rules.

I think Gabriel won this game.

At some point that day we opened stockings. Hamaseh is saying that she's never had her own stocking before, one with her name on it.

The wet head empties her stocking the quick way.

I don't know what Tita's eating but Cyrus has a Larabar. Yum.

Shirin immediately goes for the puzzle...

... and Gabriel for the Cracker Jack.

Nice pic of Gabriel.

Shirin helps Cyrus open his pouch of snakes.

Snakes, frogs, and lizards everywhere.

Last year Gabriel put a bow on Cyrus' back. This year he put a sticky note that said, "Cyrus".

While all the commotion was going on Frosty calmly rested his head on the heart pillow. He loves that pillow.

Obi and Tippy cuddled safely on the back of the couch.

Like father like son...

... like mother.

Tita lovin' on her nephew.

So here we go again. I've never had my picture taken so much. Thank you Cyrus!

Now Cyrus mimicking my poses.

The Persian straight face.

I promise he was having a good time... no, really.

The next day was just a low key hangin' out kind of day. Cyrus and Baba played with the dump truck, loading and unloading clementines from one part of the kitchen to the other.

Kai was checking out Chappu at the food bowl

I'm not sure which parent took something away from him at the table but Cyrus came over to where Kai and I were playing and he told me he was so sad. It made me so sad too, his cute little food smeared face so sad, but he didn't stay sad long.


Kai seems to like his new duck:

Miss ya'll.