BitterSweetHeart

I will carry you here in my heart. You remind me, that come what may, I know the way. I am Moana. I am Moana of Motului. Aboard my boat, I will sail across the sea.

photos by bhuminan piyathasanan in new zealand and tasmania

Dik dik.

Brown hyena and spotted hyena.

moana: large bad crab

What a privilege it was to matter to you. — Beau Taplin.

Such a versatile word

I get it. Zoos have a history and an outdated image that we have to get away from. Institutions like the AZA are making sure that zoos are held to a standard of preservation, not exploitation. Zoos have become islands of preservation for species whose native habitats are no longer supporting them. We would love to see the gorillas live peacefully in the wild of their native habitat untouched by human war, greed, disease and pollution. But this is not the reality we live in. The aforementioned factors have decimated the populations and are the reason they are endangered. And it’s not just gorillas, we are in the 6th great extinction wave, the previous ones were caused by large natural disasters (meteors) or by major changes to the environment (production of oxygen when photosynthesis began to take off). The 6th is caused by humans. Plain and simple. Extinction rates are 1000 times baseline and it is no coincidence. So get the conversation and Conservation started!

I actually have so much love for dogs

2/22 - Day 2: Favorite Scene  → House Sorting (AVPM)

I have deduced 2 things from this whole experience: 1. men are ridiculous 2. I wish I had thrown more than one tampon

I had honestly forgotten about that until just now.

one time, in the middle of my freshman year, I was sitting in the band hall talking to a bunch of friends before school. let me preface this story by saying they were all guys (one of the hazards of being in the saxophone section–guys outnumbered the girls 6:1). Anyway, I dug around in my backpack for a tampon and slipped it into the sleeve of my sweater and was about to excuse myself to the restroom (which, if anybody has been paying attention, they would’ve known what was going on, because I’ve never been exactly subtle about things like this) but one of the guys kind of guffaws and goes “what’s in your sleeve? a tampon?” and I guess the way he rolled the word off his tongue like it was some kind of insult really bothered me, so I just pulled the brand new, still wrapped tampon out of my sleeve and went “you guessed it” and popped him across the cheek with it. I walked away to the restroom, vaguely aware of the strangled noises and sounds of disbelief and horror coming from the group of guys. They were all paying attention enough to know that I was digging in my bag for a tampon or pad, but apparently, the sight of the thing was too much for them. That group of guys couldn’t look me in the eyes for a few weeks, all because of a wrapped tampon

A lot of the guys just leave their meters back in their tool boxes, which are in the gang box, which is usually some hike away from the actual work. So, “can I borrow your meter?” is something I hear a lot. And the response is always, “sure.” They always emit a high-pitched scream (somewhat similar to the tone emitted by the meter when voltage is present) when the tampons fall out when they take out the meter. “WHAT ARE *THOSE* DOING IN THERE?!!” I’ll pick one up and do my best Groucho Marx imitation (with the tampon as cigar): “Whaddya think they’re doing in there, sweetheart?” (wiggling eyebrows, “cigar” tapping). Their reaction is adorable. In almost thirty years of doing this work, I’ve yet to get a blase–“oops, didn’t mean to drop your tampons” response.

all the girls were laughing their asses off. the boys didn't’ live that down for the rest of the year.