I’m still deciding. I love books and love writing and recently started my very own literary magazine. Except now no one will submit to it. It’s funny—I know print media is losing the media battle, and I want to have my own magazine and possibly small press. I watched that program on independent bookstores on PBS…and it made me want to start an independent bookstore. Do I have a martyr complex or something? I even have lots of time to write now and I don’t write. Arrgh! I did always want to start my own t-shirt company…I love snarky slogans and cool designs. Is that before or after the novel, the lit mag, or the bookstore? Sigh…

I agree. It seems like most of the world is more focused on the trivial and tangible—and even when it’s not trivial and tangible they make it so, while acting as if it’s as important as…well, other things. One of my other loves is poetry. I don’t claim to be an expert, but most people don’t know how to discuss it, and even if they were willing to learn more…most don’t want to. Then when you meet supposedly serious poetry students, they insist upon taking rigid positions that they will defend to death without opportunity to explore and learn about other sorts of poets, poems that broke the mold, etc. Give me intelligent conversation, with the intent of learning and not convincing, over a debate any day. You’re introducing me to all sorts of places and animals (something you don’t do often, I am honored), which I love. I’m not having to defend anything! Despite this, I don’t really object to people having political arguments. It just astonishes me how quickly they can go into the gutter, especially on here. Either in terms of ground staked or language used. And then that affords absolutely no chance of anyone listening, no one takes it seriously. Plus, the best process is not often a partisan one. Both sides tend to go to excess, and if they would only listen to each other…ha. It’s worse because all of the threads are currently on controversial topics…AC/SP. But you make an even better point. Given that the subject is fairly unimportant to those who are the topic of conversation, why get so serious to the point of rants and threats and…phew. But congrats on having such an illustrious goddaughter! The closest I could get on Google to a first-hand article about Galdikas was a biographer…I think her book was called Follow (something), very disheartened because Galdikas was dismissive of her, but dealing with the actual orangs energized her to continue. I also found that the Orangutan Foundation still offers week-long tours, which I’m sure must grate on Galdikas not just for personality reasons, but if she does serious research, it must be annoying to have to explain it to people periodically. But hopefully those that take the tour are passionate and well-informed, and in any case she should at least be gracious to visitors. And coworkers. I mean, they all care about the same thing, right? Her book got published later than Goodall’s and Fossey’s, and anyway I noticed during my orang project everyone loved the capuchins, loved the gorillas, skipped the orangs. I’m still interested in reading her book, bias aside. I think it’s a lot of things—the environment is so harsh, both her and Fossey built their research and their sights from the ground up, plus they saw the destruction of the habitat and creatures they loved. Authors get sad and angry about the state of the publishing industry. Plus, I have this suspicion that illustrious women have to be a bit of a b—— to get things done, either real or perceived. The difference is in how classily you exercise that power. Eleanor Roosevelt had a lot of detractors, but is still thought of as the ultimate in first ladies. A friend of mine this summer and I were standing next to an okapi enclosure and it started reaching for the branches above our heads with its very looong tongue. My friend, promptly reached up and broke a twig off to feed it as I looked around hoping no one would see. The okapis routinely eat part of the landscaping—I think it’s there for that purpose. I googled Enderby Island and found something I thought you would enjoy if you haven’t seen it already, an artist who painted pictures of the Rata forest. http://mceown.artistsnetwork.com/CategoryView,category,Antarctica%20Week…. It looks beautiful. He mentioned the Hooker seals as being a little aggressive on the page. It’s sad about the disease that wiped out part of the population, though. I guess that’s part of an island—unique beautiful, very vulnerable species. I also found this while replying to another poster and thought of you. I didn’t know anything about blue lizards until now, and now I find out they’re extremely rare and endangered. Great. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0307-blue_anole.html. I’m hoping the salt-water crocs were not an unduly unpleasant surprise for you…

Call me horrible, but my favorite part was the caption explaining it took four days to find a lizard to photograph and it got eaten by a basilisk after just two shots. It was sadly ironic. In some ways, it reminded me of this thread. But I digress. Glad you enjoyed it!

Oh, you bet I’m serious ;)! I’m extremely rare and going extinct, too. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0307-blue_anole.html

Your tales made me jealous…well, not so much being surrounded by hippos and odd winding shapes in the sand. Those you can cherish and tell to people who go wide-eyed and get too nervous to laugh, like me. I would like to have those experiences, but I’m much too content to stay home and write. Going to Borneo did sound attractive. I have nothing against insects, but if you thought they were alarmingly large, then I’ll defer to your judgment. Have you seen wild okapis? That’s what I thought of when you mentioned the wildebeest. Okapis are the ultimate mismatched animal to me. Obviously since they didn’t discover them until the early 1900s and I think I may have heard were the source of “unicorn legends”, they must be difficult to find. And of course the Congo is so messed up politically. But (again from my zoo experiences, no Congo journeys for me) they seem adorably trusting. But I am most jealous of your encounter with the three female saints of primate research. I think Dian Fossey in particular was so single-minded that she would have preferred to be back with the gorillas. I can’t decide whether I admire her or not. I noticed going through Gorillas of the Mist that her appealing writing style diminished with her growing anger to the point where it was almost painful to read not even because of what was happening to the gorilla pop. I still don’t know much about Galikidas. I would have liked to investigate her more for my project but I ran out of my time, my presentation almost ended up being too long anyway, and I was mostly focused on my findings with the animals I observed. But can you recommend a good book on Galikidas? Didn’t get to relate my favorite orang story, if you don’t mind. There was a 50+ female in one of the groups I was observing who I became particularly fond of. The whole point of my study was to try to increase their activity levels, and there were younger orangs who were less active. One day she decided she was going to climb a tree. There were two possible ways she could have done this—just climbed from the bottom up, or a little further down there was a rock outcropping that would have boosted her up a bit. She’s looking at the bottom of the tree, started reaching for it, and I swear then she just sort of looked like, “yeah, I’m too old to do that,” so she shuffled over to the rocks, climbed up on them and into the tree and sat there looking very satisfied. Since I’ve seen the zoo side of the equation for a few years, I think zoos try to do the best job they can. Often keeping animals is an inexact science. There’s so little we know about them in the wild, and when you have to deal with different climates and a human’s conception of what would be a good exhibit not always translating, zoos do face challenges. Does that mean they should give up? No, but they should be realistic. I agree with your point about space especially with elephants. The reason why male elephants are rarely kept in zoos is because zoos are afraid they won’t be able to control them in breeding season. I rarely see any animal play with enrichment—about the most sucessful cases are the primates and dolphin training. At the same time, we need zoos to act as conservation stewards. They’ve made great strides since the old days of metal cages and even the not-so-old days of feeding polar bears marshmallows. I do know that keepers and zoo personnel really do care about their animals primarily. Mistakes they make are due to lack of knowledge, not lack of effort. However, I’m disappointed to see zoos growing more commerical. Pretty soon they’re going to look like Six Flags rather than a combination of Six Flags and a museum. And that then makes me wonder if the animals are going to be used more for entertainment (in a passive sense, hopefully), than for education. Zoos can’t lose sight of education, on all fronts. I still love zoos, but I hope they stay true to their mission and improve. On a similar subject, this may sound a bit conspiracy theorist, but sometimes I wonder if what people don’t understand about the animal/human connection is by design. In the worst case, it makes them easier to exploit. I’ve never been fond of the “we are the stewards of the earth” argument for stopping global warming because it gives us license to say, “we’re more intelligent than species whose habits we destroy”, etc. We should stop global warming, because dammit, we live here too, and we’re all connected. Any zoo would love you as a docent but carry on writing and adventuring. And political office? Very nice. I’ve been spending way too much time looking at the AC/SP threads. Oy! If your posts are anything like your political career in terms of grace and intelligence..it would be monumentally insulting to compare them to you. Thank YOU for sharing.

I love your idea…I love libraries, but having recently done some in-depth research on literary censorship, I have a feeling the libraries in more conservative districts would be in for a tough time. Just sayin’. And people tend to stick to preconceived notions. You can lead a diehard any political anything to books, but you can’t make them read. People ban books they haven’t even read because characters take the Lord’s name in Vain. But I so wish we lived in a world where we could adopt your policy with success.

Forgive me, I live in Illinois, am liberally liberal and love RC Cola and Moon Pies. There are more constructive things to say. Can’t stand a knock on RC.

Oh my god, the end! Wooh! Had to sneak a peak when it got over 1,000, and this is what I have learned: Ann Coulter starts sounding borderline amusing this late at night on a thread filled with worse. Once again, the problem with this is, it’s easy for people to take you seriously…

Thanks Merrell. I’ve noticed a lot of similar comments from others (even on different threads), and if no one minds, I am going to re-post something I wrote on another Coulter thread here. “Oh no, not her again…between her and Sarah Palin this site is going to go down the tubes. Divisiveness is getting us nowhere. We can all turn off the TV if we do not agree with the programming. I’m not sure what a refusal to comment on AC/SP stories would mean. Certainly if enough spurious positive claims about her appear and go unsupported, they should be answered. And just because we don’t agree with or like something doesn’t mean we should ignore it. Both AC and SP were in the news recently, so it does make sense to cover them, and I appreciate the coverage in a news sense, but whenever their names pop up, it just feels like a cheap attempt at…well, it just feels cheap. Not speaking up when you don’t agree with something is a dangerous practice. This is how society’s evils grow. Ignorance is not always bliss. But in the future I will not respond to coverage on this site of AC and SP, because I consider it gratuitious. I am already fairly sure I do not support either of them, but should I feel compelled to change my opinion, there are other sources I can find. I did learn a lot from these threads, some things enlightening, other things disheartening, especially as related to human nature. I love this website and will continue to post on other threads, including political ones. But these topics don’t need my input. I urge you to think about the issues I have raised and take similar action. If you feel you must speak up and defend your viewpoint, I applaud you and support your decision. But I think one sends a much greater message about what you think about AC/SP by not giving them the time of day. They may become famous because of supporters, but they become infamous, near superstars because of conflict, which of course only inflames their supporters. (I know posting this message at all may seem hypocritical but I have to make my initial point some way, don’t I?)

Sorry, my post to you was very long. But I enjoyed yours :)

If I can break away from the fifth graders, I will definitely peruse the book. If I don’t get a chance to next week, I’m often in the area, so I’ll check it out eventually and try to remember good armor stories for you! I do love the zoo and I’ll be sad if I don’t get a chance to return. The economy’s gotten to them, too and they’re cutting some positions. I don’t end up working with animals in my zoo job, which is only during the summer, anyway, but when I was a volunteer I was in this two-year program that gave us a lot of behind the scenes tours, which is how I’ve acquired a few animal stories. Yours, as they take place in the natural setting, win. That’s also how I acquired my love for orangutans—in the second year of this program you had the opportunity do a scientific research study with a zoo mentor. Mine took me on a walk and stopped right in front of the orangutans. Kind of by default I ended up with them. I ended up observing them on weekends and since not many people came to the zoo in winter often it was just me and them. Sometimes I would talk to them, and there were several times they did things I felt…it’s hard to explain. I was reading keeper logs and as part of their enrichment, which is animal entertainment, so to speak, they gave the orangutans mirrors and televison. Those are such human things, and I can’t recall reading their reactions, but it just made me smile. Then there was the time the gibbons who also shared the exhibit began their morning screaming ritual, usually around 11 or so. There was a burlap bag (also for enrichment) in the orangutan exhibit, and the male orangutan, after putting up with this screaming which sounds eerily like an amplified ambulance for about five minutes just up and put the bag over his head. And there’s more where that came from. There’s so much in their actions we can identify with. This is true of all primates but the orangutan always gets short shrift. You hear about Goodall and Fossey but never about Galikidas. Sorry, that was a tangent! I was just agreeing with you. Not only is there that connection, but in nature we find a lot of similar patterns or inspiring stories, things we can relate to. Not to anthropomorphosize (sp?) or anything, but for instance, the lizard who can’t bite when its frills are up. Doesn’t that just sound like a metaphor? The photos I saw of them probably did not convey the full effect as only a few looked annoyed and most looked Elizabethan. But I’m glad they do not bite when their frills are up because otherwise it seems to me after a twenty mile journey you would have had a lot more problems to deal with than muscle exhaustion. Though you hope he would have been too happy to get back to the tree…And the most I can say about the penguins is that they must know you were a good swimmer…somehow. Perhaps they are males who want some extra help getting fish. Ironically, as part of my zoo job I recently dressed up in a penguin costume—it was a tad too big. I just saw a PBS program about Antartica. It was absolutely beautiful, so I’m sure your daughter is enjoying herself. I would go but I have enough trouble dealing with the thought that it’s supposed to be 0 next week. Thanks for taking time to share! Have you ever thought about, in addition to your other adventures, becoming a zoo volunteer? Most don’t end up working with animals, but zoo guests could definitely benefit from you sharing your knowledge and experience. I’m not sure where you’re located, but I think most zoos have volunteer programs. Then you could always be close to nature when you’re not right next to it! Best, Blue Lizard.

My internet didn’t give me good picture quality, but from what I could see it looked absolutely amazing! I clicked on one of the multi-colored rat suits, called Samurat, lovely, and it said it was made with brass and copper. Forgive my ignorance, but I wonder how he got the vibrant colors. I’m also curious if they’re wearable—with those materials—perhaps? Joan, check the link out if you haven’t already. Thanks, Merrell! Reminds me of the Nutcracker…all the mice soldiers or something.

When I was a kid my parents acquired for me a homemade suit of armor. It was always a great Halloween costume, and since it was aluminum, not half as uncomfortably heavy as a real one. I used to make the action figures in a medieval land I created armor and swords out of tinfoil. For Christmas a few years back my mom got me a decorative, but still pretty strong sword. I have a friend also who is into making chain maille jewelry. I think what the medieval craftsmen were able to do with their limited technology was amazingly beautiful, obviously in a different sense from most art. I can’t decide whether I am jealous of those who got to wear it or thankful I didn’t! Despite this, I don’t know as much about armor as I would like. I know when I was younger I knew the names of all the parts, and during my presentation I realized I had spelled it “amour”. Ha ha. I would be very interesting in reading that book about your uncle’s collection. I might end up going to the Art Institute next week…my mom asked if I’d help chaperone her class, and even if I’m too busy making sure the kids aren’t destroying American Gothic to look for the book I’ll be sure to suggest they check out the armor and weapons. They’re fifth graders…the boys will love it. Do you know what the book is called? I just figured with so much armor there had to be some good stories involving it. We’ll see… Blue Lizard is actually an anagram of my name, and I found the picture on Google. It’s the bluest lizard I’ve ever seen—I’ve seen lizards that were supposedly blue and…not so much compared to this one. I’m more of an orangutan fan myself. I volunteered and now work at a zoo, though, so I could appreciate a lizard story. Fire away! I gather from your posts that you have lots of fabulous adventures. Your penguin attraction sounds interesting. You don’t happen to have a thing for black and white clothes, or eat a lot of fish? Go swimming in the ocean? At the zoo I once got to touch a penguin that had been raised by humans, but I’m sure it would have rather been swimming. The keeper told us they got a bit nervous with humans around, as opposed to the giraffes who tried to eat someone’s cell phone.

I haven’t been there in a while, but that’s one of my favorite parts of the whole Art Institute! How fascinating that you’re connected with it…I’m very jealous. I always wanted a real sword…I should take up fencing. But anyway, do you have any good stories about how your uncle acquired the armor?

You’re talking about Danny Davis as the person who turned it down first. Yeah, I don’t really think I’m for a special election either (I agree that it should stay Dem), but if the Leg had taken it up, we might not have this end of the mess. Blago justified his appointment because they didn’t vote for a special election. It seems like there should have been some decision to take the matter out of Blago’s hands entirely. You can never quite count on de facto agreements because of people like Burris, who interestingly I heard was saying that the governor’s criminal attorney contacted him about the seat…?! Thought there was another “de facto agreement” not to appoint anyone.