In 1995, at the end of my freshman year in college, I started studying karate. From the moment I started taking karate I was borderline obsessed. I was doing karate most days of the week for several hours at a time. All of my friends and social life revolved around karate. After a karate workout I felt like I was on top of the world. No matter what stresses were going on in my life I always felt better after karate. I've was lucky to find a karate school in my style in every place I lived for 10 years. During this time there were brief periods when I didn't study karate but once I got settled in that was usually the first thing that I looked for.
That all changed when I moved to Syracuse in 2005. Not only are there no karate schools in my style here but most of the schools in this area are contract schools. Contract schools guarantee you a black belt in a certain amount of time as long as you pay a certain amount of money. These schools generally have multiple locations with a large focus on children and lots of TV commercials. I have no desire to attend a contract school. I have been lucky that all the schools that I have attended were traditional schools. Not everyone progressed at the same rate. No one was given a rank just for showing up. You worked hard and earned your rank.
I tried three different martial arts schools during my first 4 years here. The first was a contract school that didn't train very hard. The second was a group of martial artists from different backgrounds who weren't following any set regiment and whose lack of organization and discipline drove me crazy. The last school was the most promising because it was in my style. Unfortunately it was a 90 minute drive from my house and they focused on sparring much more than on karate. It had been 4 years since I practiced with a formal group in my style by the time I tried the last school. I was so out of practice that I felt like I had to relearn everything that I once taught other people. If I was going to have to relearn things I might as well start fresh with a new style.
Then zumba came into my life and I wasn't so focused on karate. I love teaching zumba and think I will branch out into teaching other fitness classes now that I have my group exercise certification. But as much as I love zumba it has not filled the void left by martial arts. I still miss martial arts and the high it gives me. Sometimes I feel like a fraud when people that have known me for a long time want to talk about karate. Because I'm the black belt, the karate chick, the asskicker. At least that's who they know me as. But I haven't been that girl in a long time.
So I walked into this place in the mall a couple weeks ago that I had passed a million times and written off as a contract school. But after checking out their website and talking to the instructors it was clear that it wasn't a contract school at all. I was hooked after the first workout. I feel like I'm walking taller and feeling more like my authentic self after just a couple of weeks. The way that I interact with people. The way I look at things is different as a martial artist. I don't know if I will be able to achieve the same level of success that I did with my other style but that's not the standard that I'm holding myself to. Just having martial arts in my life makes me feel like my authentic self. Like a better me and I like that.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Seperate Schools for Special Kids
A couple years ago I watched a documentary about a gay-friendly public high school in New York City. I thought the documentary was fantastic. You felt for these poor kids who had been bullied at their previous school because they didn't fit the cultural norms for their gender. Only about 60% of the kids featured in the documentary were gay/bisexual/transgender. The other kids were straight but were bullied so severely in public schools that they didn't feel safe there. Last week there was an article in Time Magazine about a similar school in Milwaukee and schools like it popping up all over the country. Some people argue that special schools weren't needed twenty years ago and they weren't needed now. They argue that by separating kids from bullies you are sheltering them from what they will have to deal with once they enter the real world. Others argue that tax dollars shouldn't be used for a public school that caters to a section of the community that not everyone supports due to moral/religious conflicts. I can understand arguments for and against these schools but I think they are an unfortunate necessity right now.
I am 35 years old. I attended private school through 6th grade and public school for the rest of my education. Like most kids I was bullied but not to an excessive amount. There were times when I was a bully to other people but not to excess. I never felt like I wasn't safe going to school. I did witness kids being severely bullied. There was Derrick, the black boy who was very clearly gay and deaf. He wore a huge hearing aid and talked funny and that was just too much for some kids to take. In high school the bullying was pretty bad. Kids would mock his speech and his mannerisms. They threw his stuff on the floor and kicked it around the halls. At first Derrick would cry and yell when they did these things but after a few weeks he just tried to ignore them. Derrick was a really funny kid and had a really unique sense of fashion that drew people to him. Pretty soon Derrick was a popular kid with a large circle of friends. The bullying never stopped but it became less severe when he stopped reacting. It seems that the fun of bullying comes from making the other person cry/yell/fight back. When people stop giving the bully the attention they need, they find someone else to bully who will.
I wonder what would have happened to Derrick if the bullying didn't ease up over time. If multiple times a day, every day through 4 years of high school he was severely bullied how long would he have lasted? If Facebook and Twitter were around and people could continue to harass him online outside of school. If text messages were sent to his phone non-stop telling him what an awful person he was and how people wished he were dead. Would Derrick have been one of the kids who took his own life or dropped out of school rather than continue to deal with the bullying? The only special schools that I knew about in our area were for kids with special needs (autism, down syndrome, etc.) and a lot of those kids eventually integrated into the mainstream public schools. His single mom wasn't going to home school him. She couldn't afford to send him to a private school (where he would have likely been bullied). I don't know if I would have been able to make it through 4 years of this sort of bullying.
When you're a teenager everything is very dramatic and seems much worse than it is. Once you become an adult, you look back at how things that seemed like such a big deal when you were a kid weren't at all. Your boyfriend breaking up with you wasn't the end of the world. You weren't going to die because that $5 box of hair dye turned your hair orange. There were bigger things in life to deal with and you were amused at how dramatic you once were. But when you're 15 you don't know that things will be better when you're 30. All you know is that every day life if horrible and there doesn't appear to be any relief in site. So maybe you give up because you just don't have the strength to fight any more. Because no matter what you do, they won't leave you alone.
What's wrong with sheltering these kids until they reach college or the work force? With providing them with an environment where they can learn and express themselves with no fear of bullying? Once they reach college or the work force, sure there will be people that don't like them but there will also be people who are just like them and can help them cope or who don't care because they are busy living their lives. I don't have any children but I pay a school tax. I would rather not pay a tax bill that doesn't benefit me in any way but I recognize that kids going to school and getting an education benefits society as a whole. My taxes pay for food stamps for kids who don't have the money to eat, for people who can't find jobs, for public housing, and hundreds of other programs that don't have anything to do with me. Why shouldn't they pay to keep another kid from taking his own life at 13? I don't care what any one's religious/moral beliefs are, no one should miss out on an education or die because they don't live their life exactly like someone else wants them to. I hope one day society progresses to the point that these schools aren't necessary but until then I expect more of these schools to pop up.
I am 35 years old. I attended private school through 6th grade and public school for the rest of my education. Like most kids I was bullied but not to an excessive amount. There were times when I was a bully to other people but not to excess. I never felt like I wasn't safe going to school. I did witness kids being severely bullied. There was Derrick, the black boy who was very clearly gay and deaf. He wore a huge hearing aid and talked funny and that was just too much for some kids to take. In high school the bullying was pretty bad. Kids would mock his speech and his mannerisms. They threw his stuff on the floor and kicked it around the halls. At first Derrick would cry and yell when they did these things but after a few weeks he just tried to ignore them. Derrick was a really funny kid and had a really unique sense of fashion that drew people to him. Pretty soon Derrick was a popular kid with a large circle of friends. The bullying never stopped but it became less severe when he stopped reacting. It seems that the fun of bullying comes from making the other person cry/yell/fight back. When people stop giving the bully the attention they need, they find someone else to bully who will.
I wonder what would have happened to Derrick if the bullying didn't ease up over time. If multiple times a day, every day through 4 years of high school he was severely bullied how long would he have lasted? If Facebook and Twitter were around and people could continue to harass him online outside of school. If text messages were sent to his phone non-stop telling him what an awful person he was and how people wished he were dead. Would Derrick have been one of the kids who took his own life or dropped out of school rather than continue to deal with the bullying? The only special schools that I knew about in our area were for kids with special needs (autism, down syndrome, etc.) and a lot of those kids eventually integrated into the mainstream public schools. His single mom wasn't going to home school him. She couldn't afford to send him to a private school (where he would have likely been bullied). I don't know if I would have been able to make it through 4 years of this sort of bullying.
When you're a teenager everything is very dramatic and seems much worse than it is. Once you become an adult, you look back at how things that seemed like such a big deal when you were a kid weren't at all. Your boyfriend breaking up with you wasn't the end of the world. You weren't going to die because that $5 box of hair dye turned your hair orange. There were bigger things in life to deal with and you were amused at how dramatic you once were. But when you're 15 you don't know that things will be better when you're 30. All you know is that every day life if horrible and there doesn't appear to be any relief in site. So maybe you give up because you just don't have the strength to fight any more. Because no matter what you do, they won't leave you alone.
What's wrong with sheltering these kids until they reach college or the work force? With providing them with an environment where they can learn and express themselves with no fear of bullying? Once they reach college or the work force, sure there will be people that don't like them but there will also be people who are just like them and can help them cope or who don't care because they are busy living their lives. I don't have any children but I pay a school tax. I would rather not pay a tax bill that doesn't benefit me in any way but I recognize that kids going to school and getting an education benefits society as a whole. My taxes pay for food stamps for kids who don't have the money to eat, for people who can't find jobs, for public housing, and hundreds of other programs that don't have anything to do with me. Why shouldn't they pay to keep another kid from taking his own life at 13? I don't care what any one's religious/moral beliefs are, no one should miss out on an education or die because they don't live their life exactly like someone else wants them to. I hope one day society progresses to the point that these schools aren't necessary but until then I expect more of these schools to pop up.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Am I Still in High School?
Recently I added Zumba Toning and Aqua Zumba to my Zumba certifications. I was excited when the local YMCA accepted my application to be an instructor there for these two specialties. Today I attended my first meeting as a Y employee. All fitness instructors are required to attend monthly meetings to discuss concerns, safety and any other hot topics. I was very excited about meeting my new peers.
When I walked into the room everyone turned around a looked at me but no one said hi. I smiled and said hi and introduced myself. One person responded to me and then went back to looking out the window. No one else said anything. Granted, I was a couple minutes early so there were only 4 people in the room when I walked in but isn't that even more reason to be friendly? When the other 12 instructors showed up no one said anything to me. It was clear that they already had their cliques established and were not open to expanding their social circles.
I think what disappointed me the most was that the fitness director didn't take it upon herself to introduce me to the group. She didn't respond when I walked in the room. She saw me sitting by myself while people chatted and didn't do anything to include me. I sat through the presentation and participated when it was necessary but when it was over I just got up and walked out the door. At the end of the meeting everyone went back to their cliques and started chatting again so there was no reason for me to sit there are get excluded any longer. It was so frustrating.
I have been the new kid/the odd man out before and it really sucks. When I am in those situations, I go out of my way to speak to new people. As a fitness instructor I love bringing people out of their shells and challenging them to do things they never thought they could do. I'll admit there is a little bit of acting involved in being a good fitness instructor (no one is happy or on all the time but you can't dish your problems and life frustrations out to your class) but I genuinely want to make sure the people in my class have a great experience. No matter how bad I was feeling when I walked in the door, I always feel good at the end of great class. I couldn't imagine any of my new peers fitting this description. These people seemed to lack the basic social skills to make it through a job interview, let alone act as a leader and inspire people as a fitness instructor.
I had heard bad things from other friends who worked at the Y and then quit. But all the complaints that I heard were about the people who worked there, not the people who worked out there. I knew I wasn't going to come in there and make 15 new best friends but this was much worse than I was expecting. I am going to focus on giving great classes and making my students feel comfortable. I left all this cliquey drama behind in high school. I don't have the energy to go through it again.
Inevitably, after a month or so some of the people who never spoke to me will be my friends because that always happens over time. I am open to making friends but I won't be able to forget the awful first impression that they made. I will make sure that I go out of my way to be nice to new instructors if I am ever put in that position. Who knows, maybe some of my personality will rub off on some of these kids! Either way, I'm still excited about my new classes and having new students. Those are the ones that matter.
When I walked into the room everyone turned around a looked at me but no one said hi. I smiled and said hi and introduced myself. One person responded to me and then went back to looking out the window. No one else said anything. Granted, I was a couple minutes early so there were only 4 people in the room when I walked in but isn't that even more reason to be friendly? When the other 12 instructors showed up no one said anything to me. It was clear that they already had their cliques established and were not open to expanding their social circles.
I think what disappointed me the most was that the fitness director didn't take it upon herself to introduce me to the group. She didn't respond when I walked in the room. She saw me sitting by myself while people chatted and didn't do anything to include me. I sat through the presentation and participated when it was necessary but when it was over I just got up and walked out the door. At the end of the meeting everyone went back to their cliques and started chatting again so there was no reason for me to sit there are get excluded any longer. It was so frustrating.
I have been the new kid/the odd man out before and it really sucks. When I am in those situations, I go out of my way to speak to new people. As a fitness instructor I love bringing people out of their shells and challenging them to do things they never thought they could do. I'll admit there is a little bit of acting involved in being a good fitness instructor (no one is happy or on all the time but you can't dish your problems and life frustrations out to your class) but I genuinely want to make sure the people in my class have a great experience. No matter how bad I was feeling when I walked in the door, I always feel good at the end of great class. I couldn't imagine any of my new peers fitting this description. These people seemed to lack the basic social skills to make it through a job interview, let alone act as a leader and inspire people as a fitness instructor.
I had heard bad things from other friends who worked at the Y and then quit. But all the complaints that I heard were about the people who worked there, not the people who worked out there. I knew I wasn't going to come in there and make 15 new best friends but this was much worse than I was expecting. I am going to focus on giving great classes and making my students feel comfortable. I left all this cliquey drama behind in high school. I don't have the energy to go through it again.
Inevitably, after a month or so some of the people who never spoke to me will be my friends because that always happens over time. I am open to making friends but I won't be able to forget the awful first impression that they made. I will make sure that I go out of my way to be nice to new instructors if I am ever put in that position. Who knows, maybe some of my personality will rub off on some of these kids! Either way, I'm still excited about my new classes and having new students. Those are the ones that matter.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Birthday Restraint
I just celebrated my 35th birthday. As always, my husband and I went out to dinner at a popular chain restaurant that serves obscene portions of yummy, bad-for-you food. In preparation for this night, I was very careful with what I ate all day. I ate lighter than normal. I made sure I didn't load up on carbs. I ate lots of fruits and veggies and mini-meals throughout the day. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of room for all that food I knew I was going to eat.
I was able to eat a lot of food that night without completely gorging myself. In the past I have made myself physically ill by eating too much. I am happy to say that I didn't get to that point. I didn't eat light by any means and definitely made myself a little uncomfortable with fullness but it passed quickly. I also brought home enough leftovers for a couple of reasonably sized lunches.
The big question is why can't I exercise this level of restraint every day? Why can't I spend all day being careful so I don't have to beat myself up if I have two tacos for dinner or a bowl of ice cream for dessert. The anticipation of a splurge meal gave me more incentive to eat right than anything has in a long time. I didn't feel hungry or like I was punishing myself.
When I was on NutriSystem, I was careful to follow the plan throughout the day and at night I ate dinner with my husband. He was not on NutriSystem so it was a regular dinner. I tried to eat smaller servings at dinner but it was not an on program meal. I lost 15 pounds doing this.
I am down 20 lbs from my highest weight but I probably have another 20 to go before I'm healthy. I am at the weight where I always seem to plateau and then spike back up. I have been this weight multiple times over the past few years but never for very long. I am going to do my best to push myself through this wall that I keep hitting and find a new low in my weight loss journey.
I'm hoping my next birthday finds me in an even healthier place.
I was able to eat a lot of food that night without completely gorging myself. In the past I have made myself physically ill by eating too much. I am happy to say that I didn't get to that point. I didn't eat light by any means and definitely made myself a little uncomfortable with fullness but it passed quickly. I also brought home enough leftovers for a couple of reasonably sized lunches.
The big question is why can't I exercise this level of restraint every day? Why can't I spend all day being careful so I don't have to beat myself up if I have two tacos for dinner or a bowl of ice cream for dessert. The anticipation of a splurge meal gave me more incentive to eat right than anything has in a long time. I didn't feel hungry or like I was punishing myself.
When I was on NutriSystem, I was careful to follow the plan throughout the day and at night I ate dinner with my husband. He was not on NutriSystem so it was a regular dinner. I tried to eat smaller servings at dinner but it was not an on program meal. I lost 15 pounds doing this.
I am down 20 lbs from my highest weight but I probably have another 20 to go before I'm healthy. I am at the weight where I always seem to plateau and then spike back up. I have been this weight multiple times over the past few years but never for very long. I am going to do my best to push myself through this wall that I keep hitting and find a new low in my weight loss journey.
I'm hoping my next birthday finds me in an even healthier place.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Zumba Convention 2011
I have written about how Zumba has changed my life and helped me find myself. http://onehappybitch.blogspot.com/2010/09/zumba.html
In 90 minutes I will head to the airport and fly to my first zumba convention. Then I will spend the next 5 days with 6000 people who love zumba as much as I do. I am excited about making new friends and learning new things that I can bring back to my classes. But I am also very nervous. There are a few things that I need to keep in mind to make sure that I have a good time:
1. Do not play a role. It is never a conscious thing but I have a tendency to "act out" when I meet new people. I am an obnoxious, outgoing person but sometimes it can be over the top. I don't want to establish myself as the crazy one right off the bat and then spend the rest of the weekend living up to that. Plus, I'm going to turn a lot of people off if I get out of hand.
2. Do not compare yourself to other people. This is the hardest one for me. There will always be someone who is prettier, funnier, thinner, a better dancer, etc. than I am. That doesn't mean that I am none of those things. That doesn't mean that people are looking at me and saying "Oh, she's not as pretty/funny/etc. as this person". I need to get out of my own head and just relax. I have lost 20 lbs since I started teaching zumba 7 months ago. I wear more fitted clothes and sometimes I genuinely love the way I look in the mirror. I can't let the anxiety of a large group of people take that away from me.
3. Don't let rude/obnoxious people ruin my time. This is not high school. I don't have to hang out with people that get on my nerves. I do not have to gossip about someone who is obviously not making a great impression.
4. Also part of the not high school thing- don't give in to peer pressure. There is always a tendency for hard drinking and partying and overall ridiculous behavior at these sorts of things. It happens at my corporate functions for my day job so I know it will happen here! I'm not going to be partying until 2 am just so the youngest/party animal people think I'm cool. I want to meet people that I have things in common with. I want to make friends and not just crazy YouTube videos.
5. Make sure I have some me time. I worry that my friends that I am traveling with might be a little clingy out of nervousness and suffocate me if they don't loosen up once we get there. I am staying by myself in a different hotel than people I know. I need to make sure I take the time to write, meditate, walk, and do other non-zumba things that keep me sane. There will be mostly women at this convention and I have a tendency to tire of women very quickly if I'm not careful. I need to set myself up to be as successful at being me as possible!
I will try to blog once a day and write in my journal. I am very excited about this weekend. I hope this is the first of many zumba conventions and other events that will take me out of my comfort zone (in a good way).
In 90 minutes I will head to the airport and fly to my first zumba convention. Then I will spend the next 5 days with 6000 people who love zumba as much as I do. I am excited about making new friends and learning new things that I can bring back to my classes. But I am also very nervous. There are a few things that I need to keep in mind to make sure that I have a good time:
1. Do not play a role. It is never a conscious thing but I have a tendency to "act out" when I meet new people. I am an obnoxious, outgoing person but sometimes it can be over the top. I don't want to establish myself as the crazy one right off the bat and then spend the rest of the weekend living up to that. Plus, I'm going to turn a lot of people off if I get out of hand.
2. Do not compare yourself to other people. This is the hardest one for me. There will always be someone who is prettier, funnier, thinner, a better dancer, etc. than I am. That doesn't mean that I am none of those things. That doesn't mean that people are looking at me and saying "Oh, she's not as pretty/funny/etc. as this person". I need to get out of my own head and just relax. I have lost 20 lbs since I started teaching zumba 7 months ago. I wear more fitted clothes and sometimes I genuinely love the way I look in the mirror. I can't let the anxiety of a large group of people take that away from me.
3. Don't let rude/obnoxious people ruin my time. This is not high school. I don't have to hang out with people that get on my nerves. I do not have to gossip about someone who is obviously not making a great impression.
4. Also part of the not high school thing- don't give in to peer pressure. There is always a tendency for hard drinking and partying and overall ridiculous behavior at these sorts of things. It happens at my corporate functions for my day job so I know it will happen here! I'm not going to be partying until 2 am just so the youngest/party animal people think I'm cool. I want to meet people that I have things in common with. I want to make friends and not just crazy YouTube videos.
5. Make sure I have some me time. I worry that my friends that I am traveling with might be a little clingy out of nervousness and suffocate me if they don't loosen up once we get there. I am staying by myself in a different hotel than people I know. I need to make sure I take the time to write, meditate, walk, and do other non-zumba things that keep me sane. There will be mostly women at this convention and I have a tendency to tire of women very quickly if I'm not careful. I need to set myself up to be as successful at being me as possible!
I will try to blog once a day and write in my journal. I am very excited about this weekend. I hope this is the first of many zumba conventions and other events that will take me out of my comfort zone (in a good way).
Monday, July 4, 2011
Fireworks and Zoos
Every year at this time I find myself being the grinch of summer. There are endless invites to fireworks displays and events at the zoo and I always decline. I do not see holding wild animals in captivity or generating air pollution as acceptable ways to honor nature or celebrate our nation's independence.
Every year my mother always bought the giant fireworks variety pack from our local store. In Virginia they have what many refer to as the "good fireworks". These are the fireworks that people cross state lines to buy. These fireworks can also cause significant injury if they malfunction or someone gets too close. My brother and our friends would sit in the driveway while my mom would set off our own private fireworks display. All of our neighbors did the same thing. The next morning our cul-de-sac looked like a war zone with burn marks and used fireworks everywhere.
When I was 15, I went to Washington D.C. to see the fireworks display on the national mall with my friend Laura and her family. We watched the parade (I'm pretty sure this is when I started hating parades too but that's a different blog), had a picnic and then waited for the fireworks. This was the biggest fireworks display I had every seen. Patriotic music blared in time to the fireworks making it quite an impressive production. There were American flags, "God Bless the USA" spelled out and even a giant bald eagle all with the reflective backdrop of the Potomac River. It really was quite beautiful. Throughout the entire display I noticed the giant pink cloud of smoke that was forming. Before the smoke from one firework dissipated, another firework would go off and add to the cloud. By the end of the display the sky was an unnatural shade of pink. The cloud seemed to cover the entire city. It was disgusting.
On the drive home I thought about all the fireworks displays taking place in driveways and in major cities. I thought of the millions of pink clouds that were forming all over the country on Independence Day. I wondered how the pollution generated by fireworks affected the environment. How many days would it take for that pink cloud to go away? Once the pink cloud disappeared were there secondary effects that we couldn't see? There were no more fireworks for me after that.
My anti-zoo position took longer to form. I am an animal lover. I have always been fascinated by all animals (even the ones that scare me). I had a membership to the World Wildlife Fund since I was a little kid. We went to visit their headquarters in northern Virginia every year on a school field trip. They told us all about the animals that they had saved and the sanctuaries that had been set up for endangered and injured animals. For a long time I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian because I wanted to save animals for a living.
We also had an annual field trip to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. I grew up in the time of Ling Ling and Sing Sing, the famous pandas from China. People from all over the world came to the zoo to see the pandas. When they had a baby there was a live camera feed so the world could experience the miracle together. I was very fond of all bears. My bedroom was full of stuffed polar and panda bears and koalas purchased from the national zoo. I also loved penguins, giraffes and animals whose names I couldn't pronounce. Animals from countries and climates that were beyond my imagination.
As I got older, National Geographic, PBS and Animal Planet added to my love of animals with tons of great articles, documentaries and shows about animals. A lot of negative stories started to come through about animals abused while in captivity. About the tactics that some trappers used to catch animals. About the life of an animal in the circus or at the zoo. I don't think there was one defining event that ended my love affair with zoos. It just slowly built up over time and now I can't stand them.
It seemed like when I was younger there were a lot of zoos that acted as animal sanctuaries. If there was an animal that was injured in the wild it would live in captivity until it was nursed back to health. The public got a chance to see this animal up close while it healed. If the animal could be integrated back into the wild, it would be released as soon as it was healthy. But if that animal could never live a successful life in the wild because of its interaction with humans, then they would create an environmental that was as close to its natural habitat as possible.
Panda bears are not native to Washington D.C. Neither are penguins, polar bears, ocelots or most of the animals you will find at the zoo. The 400-1000 square foot enclosures that they have created for these animals to replicate the hundreds of acres of forest/ocean they are accustomed to is a joke. It would be like a human being's entire existence being scaled down to a 1 bedroom apartment.
There are real animal sanctuaries that exist and do fabulous work. But there don't seem to be school buses of children going to visit those. There continue to be stories of animals being put down for being to "wild" with their captors. Of animals abused into performing tricks. Of shortened life spans caused but the unnatural captive life. There always stories about the negative effects of holding wild animals in captivity but they rarely get a lot of traction.
Every year the Syracuse zoo has an event called Brew At the Zoo. This is a time for adults to come out and get drunk and walk through the zoo and look at the animals. The Syracuse zoo has received a lot of bad press during the 6 years that I have lived here because of the untimely death of a lot of young animals. Poor management seems to be the cause of these tragedies but the publication of that information does not seem to affect the popularity of this and other events. I have been invited by friends and declined with as little political rhetoric as I could muster.
Yesterday fireworks started in my neighborhood at 2 pm and continued well after midnight. Tonight there will be giant fireworks displays at all of the local high school and parks. I will have my radio cranked to drown out the sound of all the explosions and turn my chair away from the window so I don't have to watch the pink cloud form.
Every year my mother always bought the giant fireworks variety pack from our local store. In Virginia they have what many refer to as the "good fireworks". These are the fireworks that people cross state lines to buy. These fireworks can also cause significant injury if they malfunction or someone gets too close. My brother and our friends would sit in the driveway while my mom would set off our own private fireworks display. All of our neighbors did the same thing. The next morning our cul-de-sac looked like a war zone with burn marks and used fireworks everywhere.
When I was 15, I went to Washington D.C. to see the fireworks display on the national mall with my friend Laura and her family. We watched the parade (I'm pretty sure this is when I started hating parades too but that's a different blog), had a picnic and then waited for the fireworks. This was the biggest fireworks display I had every seen. Patriotic music blared in time to the fireworks making it quite an impressive production. There were American flags, "God Bless the USA" spelled out and even a giant bald eagle all with the reflective backdrop of the Potomac River. It really was quite beautiful. Throughout the entire display I noticed the giant pink cloud of smoke that was forming. Before the smoke from one firework dissipated, another firework would go off and add to the cloud. By the end of the display the sky was an unnatural shade of pink. The cloud seemed to cover the entire city. It was disgusting.
On the drive home I thought about all the fireworks displays taking place in driveways and in major cities. I thought of the millions of pink clouds that were forming all over the country on Independence Day. I wondered how the pollution generated by fireworks affected the environment. How many days would it take for that pink cloud to go away? Once the pink cloud disappeared were there secondary effects that we couldn't see? There were no more fireworks for me after that.
My anti-zoo position took longer to form. I am an animal lover. I have always been fascinated by all animals (even the ones that scare me). I had a membership to the World Wildlife Fund since I was a little kid. We went to visit their headquarters in northern Virginia every year on a school field trip. They told us all about the animals that they had saved and the sanctuaries that had been set up for endangered and injured animals. For a long time I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian because I wanted to save animals for a living.
We also had an annual field trip to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. I grew up in the time of Ling Ling and Sing Sing, the famous pandas from China. People from all over the world came to the zoo to see the pandas. When they had a baby there was a live camera feed so the world could experience the miracle together. I was very fond of all bears. My bedroom was full of stuffed polar and panda bears and koalas purchased from the national zoo. I also loved penguins, giraffes and animals whose names I couldn't pronounce. Animals from countries and climates that were beyond my imagination.
As I got older, National Geographic, PBS and Animal Planet added to my love of animals with tons of great articles, documentaries and shows about animals. A lot of negative stories started to come through about animals abused while in captivity. About the tactics that some trappers used to catch animals. About the life of an animal in the circus or at the zoo. I don't think there was one defining event that ended my love affair with zoos. It just slowly built up over time and now I can't stand them.
It seemed like when I was younger there were a lot of zoos that acted as animal sanctuaries. If there was an animal that was injured in the wild it would live in captivity until it was nursed back to health. The public got a chance to see this animal up close while it healed. If the animal could be integrated back into the wild, it would be released as soon as it was healthy. But if that animal could never live a successful life in the wild because of its interaction with humans, then they would create an environmental that was as close to its natural habitat as possible.
Panda bears are not native to Washington D.C. Neither are penguins, polar bears, ocelots or most of the animals you will find at the zoo. The 400-1000 square foot enclosures that they have created for these animals to replicate the hundreds of acres of forest/ocean they are accustomed to is a joke. It would be like a human being's entire existence being scaled down to a 1 bedroom apartment.
There are real animal sanctuaries that exist and do fabulous work. But there don't seem to be school buses of children going to visit those. There continue to be stories of animals being put down for being to "wild" with their captors. Of animals abused into performing tricks. Of shortened life spans caused but the unnatural captive life. There always stories about the negative effects of holding wild animals in captivity but they rarely get a lot of traction.
Every year the Syracuse zoo has an event called Brew At the Zoo. This is a time for adults to come out and get drunk and walk through the zoo and look at the animals. The Syracuse zoo has received a lot of bad press during the 6 years that I have lived here because of the untimely death of a lot of young animals. Poor management seems to be the cause of these tragedies but the publication of that information does not seem to affect the popularity of this and other events. I have been invited by friends and declined with as little political rhetoric as I could muster.
Yesterday fireworks started in my neighborhood at 2 pm and continued well after midnight. Tonight there will be giant fireworks displays at all of the local high school and parks. I will have my radio cranked to drown out the sound of all the explosions and turn my chair away from the window so I don't have to watch the pink cloud form.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Country Dogs and Outdoor Cats
I'm so sick of people being ignorant, lazy pet owners and then writing it off to having an outdoor pet or living in the country. Most of the people who I have encountered who use these excuses should not own pets. They should have fish or wall art. All they want is something that looks pretty and that they can show off to their friends but they don't want to provide any of the love, training or stability that a pet needs and a real pet owner provides.
One of my coworkers lives in a ritzy neighborhood where everyone has a couple acres of land. He drives a BMW and has a lawn service take care of his yard. His wife works part time. He has two college age children who do not live at home. He has a young lab mix who lives outside. He keeps him chained up under the porch when they aren't home and let's him run lose at night. His dog is often found at his neighbors house or somewhere else in the neighborhood. I asked him if he walked the dog and he said the dog is terrible on the leash and drags him everywhere. Imagine that, a dog that doesn't get any exercise or socialization and gets to run free without supervision doesn't walk well on a leash. Then I asked him what he does in the winter (here in upstate NY we get 140-200" of snow and the temperatures go well below zero). He said the dog has a doghouse on the porch to keep him warm. He can't being the dog in the house because the dog is too hyper and gets into everything and besides he likes being outside and doesn't want to come into the house; he's a country dog. Unfortunately, I'm sure this dog will eventually hurt some one's child or pet, or worse yet, get hit by a car. The dog will be written off as untrainable and my co-worker will get another dog (this isn't his first dog), never thinking that the dogs behavioral problems or short life had anything to do with the poor job him and his family did of raising the dog.
My husband's aunt recently told us that her neighbor's dog killed a small child in the neighborhood. She said "that's the price of living in the country" and went on to the next topic as if she were talking about they weather. She lives in a rural area outside of a college town. While I would consider this area to be the country, most of the people who live there are college professors and other high-level professionals who do not live a "country life". People's dogs and cats run around the roads all the time and definitely do not get any training or socialization. It is difficult to differentiate between strays and pets since they are all treated with the same level of indifference. Food and water are left outside. Pets are rarely brought into the house and usually have short, difficult lives. I do not enjoy going to her house. I feel like I am watching some bad after school special put together by the ASPCA. I feel completely helpless and sad every time we visit her. I am surrounded by animals that are in need that I cannot help and ignorant people that I cannot change.
In my suburban neighborhood I see more loose dogs and cats than leashed/contained ones. I do not live in the country. I have friends that live in downtown Syracuse who complain about the $2000+ they have spent on injuries to their "outdoor cat". When I asked why they had an outdoor cat in the city I was told that the wife grew up in suburban California (once again not the country) and that every one's cats were outdoor cats. I give up.
If people blatantly neglected their children as much as they do their pets it would be a national crisis. There would be public service announcements and campaigns to end the neglect. But because it seems to have become fashionable to have pets as an accessory. To have your dog sit in your purse during the 4 hours that you're at the bowling alley. To have him sitting in the car in the parking lot while you spend hours shopping. Because that's what the dog wants; because he wants to be with you all the time. I have heard of animal rescue groups that do not allow these sort of people to adopt dogs. Unfortunately there will never be a shortage of pet store puppy mills for these people to get an expendable pet. This is not a problem that will end in my life time, if ever, and that is depressing.
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