Bravisimo…..Imagine the terror on the other side of the glass and the stories being told on roof tops and phone wires *Phew* that was a close one fellas!
The birds here seem to have an emergency broadcast system for cats-it travels down half the street when a cat is spotted! So funny. The Chickadees esp. get into the spirit.
I love that look of surprise… and embarrassment… cats get when caught doing something like this.
Like they fell for that dang, irresistible primal urge again. And, oh yeah, that’s right, there’s glass there… just like the three million other times I’ve done this before and there was always glass there. Oops.
My younger cats do this, too. (Shadow, who’s 13, is not into movement.) We also have a bird feeder just outside the window, for cat entertainment purposes. (We have a second story apartment, so they don’t get any closer than that.)
Why do they chatter, I wonder: doesn’t it give it away to the bird that a predator is in the vicinity? Is it just fury and powerlessness?
My cat was always extremely aware of glass panes–after her first encounter with one, that is. Until she was three months old, she lived in our holiday house, where the windows were either completely open or (being the house in a Mediterranean island) covered with wooden panes. Immediately on arriving in our city apartment, she run to the window in a frantic bid for freedom, took a terrific leap, and was shockingly (for her) repelled back into the room. I haven’t seen her try again, but she used to trap flies against the window glass and frame.
My cat traps flies also. I have blinds, so she never has an opportunity to jump at clear glass. My hunch is that she would love it, and would try over and over to get the birds!
I read the look over her shoulder more like this: “It’s true, I AM fascinating, but don’t you have something else you’re supposed to be doing? *&^%$ amateur paparazzo!”
We’re all amused by the way the cat watches the birds and makes hopeless leaps at them. I hope there’s nobody (or N-b-dy) out there who’s equally amused by the way we watch the cat.
@Andrew: The way we watch the cat – and discuss it on the internet – is a form of worship.
I’m pretty sure there’s N-b-dy out there who worships us as much.
Wow, look at that. Instantaneous! But then my first effort to post this follow-up failed. Maybe I was doing the links wrong. Here goes again:
Ok, so I wanted to add to the conversation on women writers. Jennifer Weiner had an amusing rant on the subject last week, which also gives a nice mention to Fun Home. Weiner is an Ivy Leaguer who writes wry fiction; she reminds me a lot of Tom Perrotta but for some reason she’s “chick lit” where he’s “literary.”
I am amazed that bird was just hanging there having a nibble in the first place! What with a cat and a human (with a strange metal eye) right on the other side of the glass. At his little cottage my dad was forced to build a bizarre gallows like structure (its really creepy) to hang his feeders from as the birds won’t come if the feeders are next to the glass. In the summer he takes it down and the deck is for humans again but if I go to see him in the winter the view from the kitchen looks like Tyburn.
For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry (excerpt, Jubilate Agno)
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having consider’d God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day’s work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord’s watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he’s a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord’s poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually–Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master’s bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God’s light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.
Thank you, Mame! That poem is so perfect. My friend the Queer Theory Professor showed it to me recently, andI was very surprised that I’d reached such an advanced age without ever having known about it.
CHRISTOPHER SMART’S CAT POEM –MUCH SHORTER AND SET TO MUSIC
Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, or Festival Cantata, was written for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of St. Matthew’s Church in Northampton. It was commissioned by the former Vicar, the Very Reverend Walter Hussey. The piece was first performed on September 21, 1943.
The text for the cantata is excerpted from a poem entitled “Jubilate Agno”, by Christopher Smart. The eighteenth century poet was in an insane asylum when he wrote it, and although there is a delightful sense of madness in the poem, the religious character of the work is the most striking. The manuscript is not complete, and the fragments of it were not found until 1939. Their discoverer, William Stead, published them under the name “Rejoice in the Lamb.” Britten chose ten of the most celebratory and religious sections to set to music.
The piece is scored for male choir, organ, percussion, and four soloists.
THE VOCAL–USUALLY A SOPRANO (THE CAT PRAYER)
For I will consider my cat Geoffry: for he is the servant of the living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East, he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For he knows that God is his Saviour, for God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For I am possessed of a cat, surpassing in beauty, for whom I take occasion to bless Almighty God.
I, too, have reached quite an advanced age (42) without ever having seen/heard that beautiful poem! I hope Jeoffry was able to offer some comfort in the insane asylum.
I can always be depended upon to take things down a cultural notch. In that vein, here’s “Ode To Spot,” from Star Trek: The Next Generation – a paean to a pet expressed as only an android (the character Data) can:
Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued by your sub-vocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents,
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.
Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array;
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.
Long nose
Silly clothes
No paws
Useless claws
Harsh cry
False eye
Talk, talk
Monkey walk
No fur
No purr
Face pale
No tail
Rotten planners
No manners
Big bragger
Just swagger
Lives in cell
Bad smell
Self admire
Big liar
Unjust
Can’t trust
Friend untrue
M-A-N that’s YOU.
— Paul Gallico
One of my favorite books is “‘The Silent Meow’, A Manual for Kittens, Strays, and Homeless Cats, Translated from the Feline and Edited by Paul Gallico, with Picture Story by
Suzanne Szasz”. (There’s a bit of dated stereotyping of women in the ‘Women’ section of the chapter on “People”, but it may be a bit tongue-in-cheek.
There is a charming version of “For I will consider my cat Jeoffrey: illustrated by Emily Arnold MCcully (Athenuem, New York, 1984). I happily found a copy somewhere here in San Francisco (unfortunately before I started keeping notes on such sources in my library list; may have been the Book Bay of the SFPL). Alas none seem to be available through ABE.com, my favorite source for used books, or through the dreaded Amazon (which has another edition, edited by Martin Leman).
Hey, C. That’s a very excellent idea which I’ve actually been trying to implement for some time. I’m hoping we’ll get it together soon—thanks for the heads up.
I’m trying to decipher this Lesbian Lifestyle blog Award thing that Maggie and JudyBusy have mentioned. I can’t quite do it, but feel free to go to this link and nominate this blog in the culture/entertainment category. And Maggie’s blog in the Feminism/political category!
I was going to point out (sorry Ginjoint) that “nomenclature” and “nature” don’t feel like they rhyme as I always say the “cla” in the first word like the ‘cla’ in “clatter” and the ‘na’ in “nature” as in a horse’s neigh. I’d like to say why this doesn’t work, but my knowledge of poetry doesn’t stretch to why apart from a feeling, but I’m too scared of all the English grads on this blog to even attempt to do so!
Cripes! I’m a dyke to watch out for! What a lovley way of putting it Ellen O.
But Alison and C, I think you are totally right, this blog(or Alison led chatroom masquerading as a blog)is not and has not ever really been a DTWOF blog, its a blog of Alison’ artistc practice (and cat/local wildlife/clearout progress reports etc etc), something that would be a great compliment to a website which represents the whole of Alison’s work, in name as well as content. I don’t see this as changing anything to do with the blog (it doesn’t need to loose its name) but I think there is a fair case for re-thinking the context. Do it Alison, its yours!
I really think you should leave the name alone. If new folks show up who are fans of non-DTWOF stuff, then maybe they will quickly become fans of DTWOF stuff.
Shouldn’t Clarice be firing e-mails off to President Peach (“Barack” is, among other things, “peach” in Hungarian) saying — we trusted you not to hide behind raison d’état in dissimulating the Bush administration’s torture of “combatants”? Or has disgust with this been aroused only in Britons so far, to whose courts lawyers speaking for the purportedly different Department of Justice have denied evidence on a British resident’s treatment in Guantanamo?
Benyam Mohamed is, just barely, a British “resident.” A native of Ethiopia, he was denied asylum in Britain but still allowed to stay, but then left of his own accord to Afghanistan and Pakistan. What he did while there is up for debate. Of course, he deserves a trial. By “denying evidence” are you referring to the blacked-out letters sent to Obama?
I too am disappointed with Obama’s decision to continue extraordinary rendition, but I’m not quite with you yet, Alex.
I agree with Ginjoint…Rachal Maddow did a clip on this on her show earlier this week. I really wish Obama would ditch the extraordinary rendition, but don’t put him in the same boat with Bush!
A British court, wishing to release to the public details of B-M-‘s mis-treatment (sounding rather like torture), was blocked from doing so when our Home Secretary said: “Justice Department lawyers tell us that If you tattle they won’t share intelligence information.” Whereupon the Home Secretary pled force majeure to the court: If you embarrass us, and our US allies…BAD THINGS may happen.
**sigh**
One had rather thought that the Obama D-of-J would say, You’re not embarrassing us, but our predecessors. Tell the truth and shame the devil. But…not. See
Oh Alex, you know I love you. Thanks for the article and editorial.
First, I’m finding it mighty hard to believe that the U.S. would really, truly, actually stop sharing intelligence over this, or even let it damage our relationship with our strongest ally. I honestly can’t figure out, from my reading, how much truth there is to that threat.
Which kind of brings me to my next point – I just don’t know enough here. I’m stunned by Obama’s decision regarding extraordinary rendition, because it’s antithetical to his stated beliefs and positions. So antithetical that it makes me wonder what he knows that we don’t. But that doesn’t matter, does it? There’s no “good enough” reason for torture or sneaky extradition techniques.
My head hurts. But I still can’t put Obama anywhere near Bush. (Right here is where I had hoped to put a link to a clip showing Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona, when Nicolas Cage kidnaps one of the quints for her. She looks at the baby and sobs, “I lo-o-ove him so-o-o mu-u-uch!” But the only link I can find shows much more than just that one line. Oh, alright, here it is: http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=1nqP3p5IBx8 The line I’m talking about is at 8:00. THAT is how I feel about Obama.)
On a different note, the Reader, Chicago’s alt-weekly, has an article about how many alt-weekly papers are dropping their comics in a desperate bid to save money to survive. Lynda Barry and Matt Groening are quoted.
Re: comics getting the ax – our local weekly paper, City Pages, just dumped Tom Tomorrow’s fantastic “This Modern World” strip. Sad! If they dump Dan Savage I’ll have no reason to pick it up anymore…
re:DTWOF site: I’m in the not-broke-don’t-fix-it camp. Maybe you could, however, get the alisonbechedl.com domain name, and then point it (via code that the user doesn’t even see) to DTWOF. So users will go to alsion… but arrive here. Nifty.
Allison is accompanying us through separation from our beloved characters!!! First the “hyatus”, then the change of the blog name. Oh well, we lose something important, we gain a lot: the blog remains, she (hopefully) continues to write/draws books so we can share in her new creative adventures, and there is also a good feeling with the awareness of her going on with her life and creativity.
So definitely (tears-stained) thumbs up for a new http://www.alisonbechdel.com, but please PLEASE keep a link with dykestowatchoutfor.com, so we (and all others) may still reach you (and this community) through your work.
Which reminds me: websites are costly–are we still contributing? I remember Alison offering to give contributions back pro-quota, when she went on sabbatical, then a short debate followed, but can’t for the life of me remember how it happened. I would like to contribute: find that it is a service to an on-line community (of which I feel part), and that there is a lot of creativity and work involved.
I know this is Alison’s decision, and it certainly won’t stop me from reading/posting, but if you want to know more about an author what do you do? I would google ’em. Guess what the first option is when one googles AB? Yep, this site. I’m still in the “it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” camp.
Oh, and I would be happy to join the “let’s make donations” camp also. Since reading/posting on this blog I have received some of the coolest things, including my autographed copy of TEDTWOF, which I consider priceless.
y’know, Ginjoint, that scene from Raising Arizona, which I know very well (it’s one of my favorite movies), has a certain irony to it: Ed is going wild over a baby she doesn’t know at all. I’d suggest that’s also what you’re doing with regard to Obama. That sort of Cult of Personality (reference the great Living Colour song) isn’t exactly a sign of interest in democracy or making informed decisions. Remember, this isn’t a baby you’re talking about, he’s a war criminal: Obama didn’t wait a week after he took office before he started killing innocent people.
If you’re going to make excuses for Obama because he must know things you don’t (and I’m relieved to see you drawing back from that precipice, but it says something that it was your first reaction), then you’re going to have to make the very same excuses for Bush. I mean, okay, Bush wasn’t perfect, but he was the only president we had, and he had access to all kinds of intelligence and information that we proles didn’t, and I’m sure his virtues outweigh his defects. If we wait until a perfect president comes along, we’ll wait forever, so quit picking on Bush, ok? I never saw liberals even thinking of cutting him such slack, and it wasn’t because they knew better, but because he wasn’t their boy. Once they got an icon of their own in the Oval Office, they’d talk just like the Republicans. (I must say, though, I’ve been gratified to see just how many liberals and progressives have done no such thing, going after Obama right away. As they should.)
I’m not equating Obama with Bush — yet. He seems to be doing his best to catch up with him, though. (It took Bush’s first term and then some to catch up with Clinton, so give Obama time! The first hundred days aren’t over yet.) The threats against Iran, the support for Israel’s aggression, more murders in Pakistan this weekend, the refusal even to investigate the Bush gang for their crimes — the video clip *I’ve* been looking for is the “I Told You So” song from Will and Grace. It’s not like any of this is a surprise, really, because Obama made his positions clear enough during his campaign.
Duncan, I included the clip to Raising Arizona as a sort of poke at my own feelings about Obama. Because, damn, I’m capable of discernment like that. Throughout the campaign, I would do Ed’s “I loooove hiiim soo muuuuuch!” whenever Obama said anything remotely intelligent, which yes, I still do find a balm after the last eight years of the intellectual vacuum we’ve all been enduring. It was a kind of in-joke to myself, on myself and on the cult of personality to which you allude.
Having said that, Duncan, get the FUCK off my back. Who the goddamn motherfuck are you, a male, to come to an ostensibly lesbian and feminist blog and condescendingly lecture me like that?! Fuck you, Duncan, and fuck your arrogant, patriarchal, smug little speech. It seems you think yourself some sort of clear-headed guy who’s one of only the rare few to be able to see beyond Obama’s curtain, and I’m just some deluded, ditzy broad who needs her eyes opened. Oh Duncan, what would we womenfolk simply do without dudes like you to inform us of the Real Truth? It’s not like I can, y’know, comprehend multiple facets of a situation, or a person, without your help.
C’mere, you little cocksucker. Closer. I DO NOT NEED YET ANOTHER OVERWEENING, PRESUMPTUOUS PRICK LECTURING ME ON THE “NAIVETE” OF MY WAYS. Especially on a queer, progressive, woman-oriented blog like this. Take your disdainful shit to the Drudge Report, where you’ll feel right at home.
so quit picking on Bush, ok?
Oh, did you hear that? You didn’t? Oh, that was the word “NO” coming out of my mouth so fast you couldn’t even hear it.
I have been born and raised in Chicago, a city capable of making even the strongest optimist a cynic when it comes to politicians. I am not some ingenuous little waif in need of Duncan’s warnings of blind faith. STEP. OFF.
am i the only one reading this blog who finds it slightly distasteful that people take amusement from a dumb creature tricked into smashing its nose onto a pane of glass? and being filmed the meanwhile?
i await the backlash of self-proclaimed ailurophiles with bated breath….
67 Responses to “got it”
Wowsa! That was quite a leap,Dr.W. Impressed that you allowed Alison to commemorate this auspicious occasion. My cat’s off to you!
A watched cat does leap?
Is there a screen there? And is it full of claw-marks like ours?
She was just being coy before that moment. Notice how she looked over her shoulder at you? She knows she’s adorable.
Bravisimo…..Imagine the terror on the other side of the glass and the stories being told on roof tops and phone wires *Phew* that was a close one fellas!
I love the look over her shoulder at you, almost as if…*gasp*…checking for approval. She loves you.
Ginjoint, was she checking for approval or making sure the shot got taken right? Like, was it her good side and did the light show her fur well?
“Stories being told”…hahaha!
The birds here seem to have an emergency broadcast system for cats-it travels down half the street when a cat is spotted! So funny. The Chickadees esp. get into the spirit.
I love that look of surprise… and embarrassment… cats get when caught doing something like this.
Like they fell for that dang, irresistible primal urge again. And, oh yeah, that’s right, there’s glass there… just like the three million other times I’ve done this before and there was always glass there. Oops.
I’m watching this at the cafe, so no sound (except for the Doors, playing overhead). Did the Dr. chatter before leaping?
No, the Doctor doesn’t do that odd-chattering-thing-while- looking-at-birds-through-the-window that every other cat I’ve known has done.
@Ginjoint: That gaze said — “Let’s forget that this embarrassing EPIC FAIL ever happened, ‘k?”
As I watched the Doctor make the leap, I couldn’t repress my outcry, “THAT’s my girl!” Don’t know if I was talking to the dr, or to you, AB.
Boy, you’re really persistent!
My younger cats do this, too. (Shadow, who’s 13, is not into movement.) We also have a bird feeder just outside the window, for cat entertainment purposes. (We have a second story apartment, so they don’t get any closer than that.)
By George (Georgia?),I think she’s got it!
WOW! Both the leap and the video!
Why do they chatter, I wonder: doesn’t it give it away to the bird that a predator is in the vicinity? Is it just fury and powerlessness?
My cat was always extremely aware of glass panes–after her first encounter with one, that is. Until she was three months old, she lived in our holiday house, where the windows were either completely open or (being the house in a Mediterranean island) covered with wooden panes. Immediately on arriving in our city apartment, she run to the window in a frantic bid for freedom, took a terrific leap, and was shockingly (for her) repelled back into the room. I haven’t seen her try again, but she used to trap flies against the window glass and frame.
My cat traps flies also. I have blinds, so she never has an opportunity to jump at clear glass. My hunch is that she would love it, and would try over and over to get the birds!
The chatter is simply rehearsing the killing bite, whereby feline predator sinks fangs into the neck of her prey.
My eldest cat Domino eats the insects he traps, giving him the middle name of Mothbreath.
I read the look over her shoulder more like this: “It’s true, I AM fascinating, but don’t you have something else you’re supposed to be doing? *&^%$ amateur paparazzo!”
We’re all amused by the way the cat watches the birds and makes hopeless leaps at them. I hope there’s nobody (or N-b-dy) out there who’s equally amused by the way we watch the cat.
Test post (three other efforts this week from two different machines/browsers have failed. Want to test before I redo my content)
@Andrew: The way we watch the cat – and discuss it on the internet – is a form of worship.
I’m pretty sure there’s N-b-dy out there who worships us as much.
Wow, look at that. Instantaneous! But then my first effort to post this follow-up failed. Maybe I was doing the links wrong. Here goes again:
Ok, so I wanted to add to the conversation on women writers. Jennifer Weiner had an amusing rant on the subject last week, which also gives a nice mention to Fun Home. Weiner is an Ivy Leaguer who writes wry fiction; she reminds me a lot of Tom Perrotta but for some reason she’s “chick lit” where he’s “literary.”
http://jenniferweiner.blogspot.com/2009/02/dear-brian-tierney-i-never-thought-id.html
While we’re on the subject, this other rant is more analytical, on the sexism in the publishing industry.
http://jenniferweiner.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-was-watching-30-rock-where.html
Happy monday,
rebecca
The chattering (or, as I call it, Kitty Morse Code) is also a way of expressing frustration at something the cat cannot get to or reach.
Cats (Lions etc. too) will also “yawn” as a sign to others that they are not pleased, or they want other cats to back off-sort of an Alpha gesture.
My cat sadly has taken to killing dragonflies – even with their super-sight they have fallen prey to Renny’s swift paw.
Poor Bird, he probably had the feathers scared off of him (or her).
I am amazed that bird was just hanging there having a nibble in the first place! What with a cat and a human (with a strange metal eye) right on the other side of the glass. At his little cottage my dad was forced to build a bizarre gallows like structure (its really creepy) to hang his feeders from as the birds won’t come if the feeders are next to the glass. In the summer he takes it down and the deck is for humans again but if I go to see him in the winter the view from the kitchen looks like Tyburn.
For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry (excerpt, Jubilate Agno)
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having consider’d God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day’s work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord’s watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he’s a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord’s poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually–Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master’s bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God’s light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.
Christopher Smart
yikes. i forgot that poem was so long….well, likely, the cat people knew that….especially on this blog.
Thank you, Mame! That poem is so perfect. My friend the Queer Theory Professor showed it to me recently, andI was very surprised that I’d reached such an advanced age without ever having known about it.
Wonderful poem! I didn’t know it either.
Beautiful indeed. It adds to the confusion, though, as to who is the most divine: cat or human?
Opposite message from an opposite literary fringe:
SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
(by Ethel Pochocki)
We obtain everything from God according to
the measure of our confidence – St. Theresa
my cat sits before
the closed door
willing it open
(beyond Xanadu)
she has assessed
that the knob is too high
the click too firm
for her maneuver
so she waits on God
she does not storm Heaven
with whining novena.
grovel in praise,
kiss the hem of my garment,
promise to love
Brother Mouse
forever
she sits and waits,
eyes boring holes
through the door
in silent insistent
certainty
that I will
open
it
CHRISTOPHER SMART’S CAT POEM –MUCH SHORTER AND SET TO MUSIC
Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, or Festival Cantata, was written for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of St. Matthew’s Church in Northampton. It was commissioned by the former Vicar, the Very Reverend Walter Hussey. The piece was first performed on September 21, 1943.
The text for the cantata is excerpted from a poem entitled “Jubilate Agno”, by Christopher Smart. The eighteenth century poet was in an insane asylum when he wrote it, and although there is a delightful sense of madness in the poem, the religious character of the work is the most striking. The manuscript is not complete, and the fragments of it were not found until 1939. Their discoverer, William Stead, published them under the name “Rejoice in the Lamb.” Britten chose ten of the most celebratory and religious sections to set to music.
The piece is scored for male choir, organ, percussion, and four soloists.
THE VOCAL–USUALLY A SOPRANO (THE CAT PRAYER)
For I will consider my cat Geoffry: for he is the servant of the living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East, he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For he knows that God is his Saviour, for God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For I am possessed of a cat, surpassing in beauty, for whom I take occasion to bless Almighty God.
I, too, have reached quite an advanced age (42) without ever having seen/heard that beautiful poem! I hope Jeoffry was able to offer some comfort in the insane asylum.
I can always be depended upon to take things down a cultural notch. In that vein, here’s “Ode To Spot,” from Star Trek: The Next Generation – a paean to a pet expressed as only an android (the character Data) can:
Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued by your sub-vocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents,
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.
Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array;
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.
Another message from another perspective:
MAN
Long nose
Silly clothes
No paws
Useless claws
Harsh cry
False eye
Talk, talk
Monkey walk
No fur
No purr
Face pale
No tail
Rotten planners
No manners
Big bragger
Just swagger
Lives in cell
Bad smell
Self admire
Big liar
Unjust
Can’t trust
Friend untrue
M-A-N that’s YOU.
— Paul Gallico
One of my favorite books is “‘The Silent Meow’, A Manual for Kittens, Strays, and Homeless Cats, Translated from the Feline and Edited by Paul Gallico, with Picture Story by
Suzanne Szasz”. (There’s a bit of dated stereotyping of women in the ‘Women’ section of the chapter on “People”, but it may be a bit tongue-in-cheek.
A welcome reference to Gallico. I will go look for it (and take the stereotyping of women on the chin.)
He counteracts the powers of darkness indeed. What a lovely poem. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
There is a charming version of “For I will consider my cat Jeoffrey: illustrated by Emily Arnold MCcully (Athenuem, New York, 1984). I happily found a copy somewhere here in San Francisco (unfortunately before I started keeping notes on such sources in my library list; may have been the Book Bay of the SFPL). Alas none seem to be available through ABE.com, my favorite source for used books, or through the dreaded Amazon (which has another edition, edited by Martin Leman).
*Apopros of nothing alert*
Should this site become AlisonBechdel.com or some varient now that:
1) The strip is on “hiatus”
2) Bechdel has been noted for non-DTWOF works?
*alert off*
Should this name of this site change? No. We readers are now the Dykes to Watch Out For. (Although many of us are honorary.)
Hey, C. That’s a very excellent idea which I’ve actually been trying to implement for some time. I’m hoping we’ll get it together soon—thanks for the heads up.
Oh! Hey, Ellen.
Well, that’s a good point too.
Maybe the blog could be called DTWOF, but the home page will be alisonbechdel.com?
I don’t know.
I’m trying to decipher this Lesbian Lifestyle blog Award thing that Maggie and JudyBusy have mentioned. I can’t quite do it, but feel free to go to this link and nominate this blog in the culture/entertainment category. And Maggie’s blog in the Feminism/political category!
Professionally, yes, a “real” web page makes sense at this point. AlisonBechdel.com. Yeah.
Maybe call this “TBFKADTWOF (The Blog formerly known as DTWOF)”
So, here’s a question I’ve pondered for a long time, and now the circumstances seem right for asking it:
Does living up to your artistic promise, and being recognized for that talent, create happiness?
The New Year ends by the early one, Setsubun ends, too and March 3 is
Hinamatsuri.
Various dieting?beauty, healthy is written in this blog.
I was going to point out (sorry Ginjoint) that “nomenclature” and “nature” don’t feel like they rhyme as I always say the “cla” in the first word like the ‘cla’ in “clatter” and the ‘na’ in “nature” as in a horse’s neigh. I’d like to say why this doesn’t work, but my knowledge of poetry doesn’t stretch to why apart from a feeling, but I’m too scared of all the English grads on this blog to even attempt to do so!
Fab pomes tho!
Cripes! I’m a dyke to watch out for! What a lovley way of putting it Ellen O.
But Alison and C, I think you are totally right, this blog(or Alison led chatroom masquerading as a blog)is not and has not ever really been a DTWOF blog, its a blog of Alison’ artistc practice (and cat/local wildlife/clearout progress reports etc etc), something that would be a great compliment to a website which represents the whole of Alison’s work, in name as well as content. I don’t see this as changing anything to do with the blog (it doesn’t need to loose its name) but I think there is a fair case for re-thinking the context. Do it Alison, its yours!
I really think you should leave the name alone. If new folks show up who are fans of non-DTWOF stuff, then maybe they will quickly become fans of DTWOF stuff.
Oh, and all the poetry is awesome, as are cats 🙂
honorary members – love it:
Sparrow: bi-dyke
Stuart: male/hetero-dyke
Raffi: spawn of dykes
JR: I’m-my-own-person uncategorizable child-(non)dyke
others?
**semi-hijack**
Shouldn’t Clarice be firing e-mails off to President Peach (“Barack” is, among other things, “peach” in Hungarian) saying — we trusted you not to hide behind raison d’état in dissimulating the Bush administration’s torture of “combatants”? Or has disgust with this been aroused only in Britons so far, to whose courts lawyers speaking for the purportedly different Department of Justice have denied evidence on a British resident’s treatment in Guantanamo?
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
**end semi-hijack**
I also like cats.
Benyam Mohamed is, just barely, a British “resident.” A native of Ethiopia, he was denied asylum in Britain but still allowed to stay, but then left of his own accord to Afghanistan and Pakistan. What he did while there is up for debate. Of course, he deserves a trial. By “denying evidence” are you referring to the blacked-out letters sent to Obama?
I too am disappointed with Obama’s decision to continue extraordinary rendition, but I’m not quite with you yet, Alex.
I agree with Ginjoint…Rachal Maddow did a clip on this on her show earlier this week. I really wish Obama would ditch the extraordinary rendition, but don’t put him in the same boat with Bush!
@ksbel6 / ginjoint – oh dear. I admire you both so much that to find myself being lorgnetted is…un-nerving. But ONWARD.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article5666484.ece
A British court, wishing to release to the public details of B-M-‘s mis-treatment (sounding rather like torture), was blocked from doing so when our Home Secretary said: “Justice Department lawyers tell us that If you tattle they won’t share intelligence information.” Whereupon the Home Secretary pled force majeure to the court: If you embarrass us, and our US allies…BAD THINGS may happen.
**sigh**
One had rather thought that the Obama D-of-J would say, You’re not embarrassing us, but our predecessors. Tell the truth and shame the devil. But…not. See
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/opinion/11wed2.html
for something from your side of the pond, found just now (ta, Google!).
No; not in the same boat with Bush, not quite yet. But.
Oh Alex, you know I love you. Thanks for the article and editorial.
First, I’m finding it mighty hard to believe that the U.S. would really, truly, actually stop sharing intelligence over this, or even let it damage our relationship with our strongest ally. I honestly can’t figure out, from my reading, how much truth there is to that threat.
Which kind of brings me to my next point – I just don’t know enough here. I’m stunned by Obama’s decision regarding extraordinary rendition, because it’s antithetical to his stated beliefs and positions. So antithetical that it makes me wonder what he knows that we don’t. But that doesn’t matter, does it? There’s no “good enough” reason for torture or sneaky extradition techniques.
My head hurts. But I still can’t put Obama anywhere near Bush. (Right here is where I had hoped to put a link to a clip showing Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona, when Nicolas Cage kidnaps one of the quints for her. She looks at the baby and sobs, “I lo-o-ove him so-o-o mu-u-uch!” But the only link I can find shows much more than just that one line. Oh, alright, here it is: http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=1nqP3p5IBx8 The line I’m talking about is at 8:00. THAT is how I feel about Obama.)
On a different note, the Reader, Chicago’s alt-weekly, has an article about how many alt-weekly papers are dropping their comics in a desperate bid to save money to survive. Lynda Barry and Matt Groening are quoted.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/hottype/090212/
Yeah, I’m aware of the irony of me linking to an article regarding how the web is killing newspapers. (The Reader is free in print or web form, FWIW.)
Hi All,
Re: comics getting the ax – our local weekly paper, City Pages, just dumped Tom Tomorrow’s fantastic “This Modern World” strip. Sad! If they dump Dan Savage I’ll have no reason to pick it up anymore…
re:DTWOF site: I’m in the not-broke-don’t-fix-it camp. Maybe you could, however, get the alisonbechedl.com domain name, and then point it (via code that the user doesn’t even see) to DTWOF. So users will go to alsion… but arrive here. Nifty.
J.
I imagine that I’m a dyke to watch out for when I lurk or participate in this conversation, so I’d be for keeping the DTWOF blog title.
Alex, Ginjoint, ksbel6, thanks for the links and your reflections. I was also surprised.
DTWOF.com did not make the Lezzie shortlist…
Oh, and dykestowatchoutfor.alisonbechedel.com, anyone?
j.b.t., you can catch Tom Tomorrow on Salon.com every week.
Allison is accompanying us through separation from our beloved characters!!! First the “hyatus”, then the change of the blog name. Oh well, we lose something important, we gain a lot: the blog remains, she (hopefully) continues to write/draws books so we can share in her new creative adventures, and there is also a good feeling with the awareness of her going on with her life and creativity.
So definitely (tears-stained) thumbs up for a new http://www.alisonbechdel.com, but please PLEASE keep a link with dykestowatchoutfor.com, so we (and all others) may still reach you (and this community) through your work.
Which reminds me: websites are costly–are we still contributing? I remember Alison offering to give contributions back pro-quota, when she went on sabbatical, then a short debate followed, but can’t for the life of me remember how it happened. I would like to contribute: find that it is a service to an on-line community (of which I feel part), and that there is a lot of creativity and work involved.
ooops, sorry, I inadvertently created a link, and I don’t know how to undo it.
I know this is Alison’s decision, and it certainly won’t stop me from reading/posting, but if you want to know more about an author what do you do? I would google ’em. Guess what the first option is when one googles AB? Yep, this site. I’m still in the “it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” camp.
Oh, and I would be happy to join the “let’s make donations” camp also. Since reading/posting on this blog I have received some of the coolest things, including my autographed copy of TEDTWOF, which I consider priceless.
y’know, Ginjoint, that scene from Raising Arizona, which I know very well (it’s one of my favorite movies), has a certain irony to it: Ed is going wild over a baby she doesn’t know at all. I’d suggest that’s also what you’re doing with regard to Obama. That sort of Cult of Personality (reference the great Living Colour song) isn’t exactly a sign of interest in democracy or making informed decisions. Remember, this isn’t a baby you’re talking about, he’s a war criminal: Obama didn’t wait a week after he took office before he started killing innocent people.
If you’re going to make excuses for Obama because he must know things you don’t (and I’m relieved to see you drawing back from that precipice, but it says something that it was your first reaction), then you’re going to have to make the very same excuses for Bush. I mean, okay, Bush wasn’t perfect, but he was the only president we had, and he had access to all kinds of intelligence and information that we proles didn’t, and I’m sure his virtues outweigh his defects. If we wait until a perfect president comes along, we’ll wait forever, so quit picking on Bush, ok? I never saw liberals even thinking of cutting him such slack, and it wasn’t because they knew better, but because he wasn’t their boy. Once they got an icon of their own in the Oval Office, they’d talk just like the Republicans. (I must say, though, I’ve been gratified to see just how many liberals and progressives have done no such thing, going after Obama right away. As they should.)
I’m not equating Obama with Bush — yet. He seems to be doing his best to catch up with him, though. (It took Bush’s first term and then some to catch up with Clinton, so give Obama time! The first hundred days aren’t over yet.) The threats against Iran, the support for Israel’s aggression, more murders in Pakistan this weekend, the refusal even to investigate the Bush gang for their crimes — the video clip *I’ve* been looking for is the “I Told You So” song from Will and Grace. It’s not like any of this is a surprise, really, because Obama made his positions clear enough during his campaign.
Duncan, I included the clip to Raising Arizona as a sort of poke at my own feelings about Obama. Because, damn, I’m capable of discernment like that. Throughout the campaign, I would do Ed’s “I loooove hiiim soo muuuuuch!” whenever Obama said anything remotely intelligent, which yes, I still do find a balm after the last eight years of the intellectual vacuum we’ve all been enduring. It was a kind of in-joke to myself, on myself and on the cult of personality to which you allude.
Having said that, Duncan, get the FUCK off my back. Who the goddamn motherfuck are you, a male, to come to an ostensibly lesbian and feminist blog and condescendingly lecture me like that?! Fuck you, Duncan, and fuck your arrogant, patriarchal, smug little speech. It seems you think yourself some sort of clear-headed guy who’s one of only the rare few to be able to see beyond Obama’s curtain, and I’m just some deluded, ditzy broad who needs her eyes opened. Oh Duncan, what would we womenfolk simply do without dudes like you to inform us of the Real Truth? It’s not like I can, y’know, comprehend multiple facets of a situation, or a person, without your help.
C’mere, you little cocksucker. Closer. I DO NOT NEED YET ANOTHER OVERWEENING, PRESUMPTUOUS PRICK LECTURING ME ON THE “NAIVETE” OF MY WAYS. Especially on a queer, progressive, woman-oriented blog like this. Take your disdainful shit to the Drudge Report, where you’ll feel right at home.
so quit picking on Bush, ok?
Oh, did you hear that? You didn’t? Oh, that was the word “NO” coming out of my mouth so fast you couldn’t even hear it.
I have been born and raised in Chicago, a city capable of making even the strongest optimist a cynic when it comes to politicians. I am not some ingenuous little waif in need of Duncan’s warnings of blind faith. STEP. OFF.
Dr. Winnicott? any relation to DW Winnicott? Developmental Psych?
am i the only one reading this blog who finds it slightly distasteful that people take amusement from a dumb creature tricked into smashing its nose onto a pane of glass? and being filmed the meanwhile?
i await the backlash of self-proclaimed ailurophiles with bated breath….
“Ailurophiles?” Wow! I guess I have to count myself in that camp… 🙂 Love the new word.