Thanks for all the good wishes, friends.  Prairiecowboy asked if vets know how to help sick bunnies.  Yes.  At least our vet does.  He specializes in "exotic pets," including rabbits.  And if you've got a sick monkey, he can help you with that too. 

Rabbits have two primary skills: eating and pooping.  Penny was doing neither when I took him to the vet yesterday.  Turns out he has a systemic infection and has been losing blood in his urine and has a mass of stuff stuck in his belly because his digestive system shut down.  He was in pain and looked most woebegone.

Under the good doctor's care Penny has resumed pooping and will hopefully be eating by tomorrow.  Then he can come home from the bunny hospital. 

Extra carrots with green tops for all of you!

 

Those of you who enjoy bacon for breakfast may not want to read Martha Grimes’ lastest book, Dakota.  Part novel, part animal rights manifesto, the book takes up the story of Andi Oliver, a character we first met in Biting the Moon.  Andi, an ethereal young woman of about 20, remembers nothing of her life before she woke up in a Santa Fe motel room two years ago.  She makes up stories about her past and goes about her business saving the animals of the world.

 

In Dakota, Andi gets a job at a factory hog farm.  The graphic descriptions of conditions there and the treatment of the pigs might well put you right off your ham sandwich.  Grimes lays on the horror so thick it slows down the story.  “I get it, Martha,” I muttered.  “What happens next?”

 

What makes Andi interesting is that her lack of memories gives her a child-like view of the world, without the usual conceptions about the relative importance of humans.  She feels the pain of every suffering beast so keenly that her insistence on being around them seems nearly sacrificial.  In fact the whole book is so rife with symbolism it ought to weigh hundreds of pounds.  It was exhausting to read. 

 

To add to my sad story load for the week, today I took my daughter to see an exhibit by World Vision about AIDS in Africa. 

 

Wow. 

 

It’s an elaborate and creative set-up, not so much an exhibit as an experience.  You play the part of an African child and, guided by an audio narrative, walk through the child’s village and life.  There are four children, each with their own path.  Tigger went through a second time to experience a different child.

 

It was moving and powerful, and I highly recommend it.  The exhibit is traveling around the country.  Check the web site to see if it’s coming to your town.

 

Fair warning: World Vision is a Christian organization and the narrative has a strongly religious element to it.  In the story I followed, a young girl’s mother has AIDS and is very sick for months, leaving the girl and her sister alone on the streets.  Later the mom comes back in much better health.  The narrative credits her newfound Christian faith for her improvement, with only a brief mention of the anti-retroviral medication she’s taking.  (In fact, friends, the drugs work for heathens too.)  So it raised my hackles a little, but given the good being done by organizations like World Vision, I’m letting it pass.  And the exhibit is very cool.  Go see it if you get a chance.

 

 

• Barack Obama, after winning the North Carolina primary with (as usual) over 90% of the black vote, while Clinton took (as usual) 60% of the white vote, declared it a “victory over the politics of division.”
• Hillary Clinton appears to believe she can win the nomination.
• The Obamass-kissing punditocracy is again sounding the funeral dirge for Clinton, a proven strategy for galvanizing her supporters, increasing her poll numbers, and bringing in campaign donations.
• Meanwhile, John McCain pandered to the right by promising to follow George W’s lead in appointing rabid right-wing, Roe-v-Wade-overturning justices to the Supreme Court, thereby instantly losing millions of Clinton supporters who were going to vote for him just to spite Obama.  Way to do your part for Democratic Party unity, John!
• That Austrian guy who locked his daughter in the basement and raped her for 24 years says the media coverage of his case has been unfairly one-sided, and also he’s “not a monster” because after all, he could’ve killed her and the seven children he impregnated her with.  I’m going to have to disagree with him, I think.
• The number of agents who have offered to represent my work currently = 0.  Nevertheless, much like Rupert (from Survivor a few seasons ago) and HRC herself, I never give up, I never give in, I never back down.  I WILL find a publisher.