Olivia the Huntress: Your waggling fingertips do not stand a chance!
Sad News
This past Sunday night, a massive fire broke out at a convention of trans* women in Delhi. At least fifteen people were killed, and over thirty-six were injured. I haven't seen a lot of details in the press, but NPR reported that an electrical short may have caused the fire.
NPR also quoted a witness who said it took the local fire brigade an hour to arrive.
My heartfelt condolences to everybody affected by this horrible tragedy.
I think it goes without saying (but here I go!) that gender non-conforming people around the world are seriously oppressed. In the case of hijra and other Indian trans* people, I imagine they might have held their gathering in a more opulent, less deadly venue had that been an option.
Uppity
[Trigger warning for racism; misogyny.]
As you may have heard, over the weekend, First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden made an appearance at a NASCAR event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where they were serving as grand marshals to promote their Joining Forces initiative on behalf of veterans and military families—and during the event, they were booed.
The booing incident itself was bad enough, reflective of an unusual lack of the respect typically afforded the holders of the First- and Second Lady offices, irrespective of their individual politics. But yesterday, the odious Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves to defend the booing and justify it by explaining that NASCAR fans, i.e. Real AmericansTM, understand that First Lady Michelle Obama is "uppity."
Citing the 2008 incident where then-Sen. Obama was secretly recorded at a fundraiser describing small town Pennsylvanians in hard economic times as getting "bitter" and "cling(ing) to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," Limbaugh said "people that go to NASCAR races are the very people her husband called bitter clingers."Emphasis mine.
Limbaugh also said "we don't like being told what to eat; we don't like being told how much to exercise; we don't like being told what we've got to drive; we don't like wasting money; we don't like our economy being bankrupted. We don't like 14% unemployment. The question is, what the hell is there to cheer for when Miss Obama and Ms. Biden show up?"
The host then took it one step further. "I'll tell you something else," he said. "We don't like paying millions of dollars for Mrs. Obama's vacations. The NASCAR crowd doesn't quite understand why when the husband and the wife are going to the same place, the first lady has to take her own Boeing 757 with family and kids and hangers-on four hours earlier than her husband, who will be on his 747. NASCAR people understand that's a little bit of a waste. They understand it's a little bit of uppity-ism."
It was promptly, and rightly, noted by a number of people that "uppity" is a racially loaded term, used by white people to describe people of color, especially black people, who don't "know their place."
Conservative pundits/bloggers/apologists of various vocation are, as per usual, attempting to rip the word from its evident roots in order to claim it's not a racist sentiment. Suffice it to say, we're not going to debate that in this space. It is unequivocally a racially loaded term with a racist history, and only white privilege and/or a bullshit agenda could allow anyone to argue otherwise.
I want to note that, in addition to being a racially loaded term, "uppity" is also a misogynist dog whistle, used against women of all colors to indicate that we don't "know our place." Limbaugh, progenitor of the charming portmanteau "feminazis," was certainly playing not just to his listeners' nasty opinions about the Obamas as "uppity blacks," but their prejudices against "uppity women" who think they've got business at a manly event like NASCAR.
It isn't just that First Lady Obama was being demeaned as a black person; it's that she was being demeaned as a black woman.
Is that important? Of course it is. Just as it's important to understand that women of color cannot wrench pieces of their intersectional identity apart, tearing their race from their womanhood, it's important to understand the way that marginalizing narratives also work on multiple levels against women with intersectional identities.
Shaker Gourmet: Thanksgiving 2011
Yes, yes it is: the annual (American) Thanksgiving post! Going to do something slightly different this year and I hope you all will help out. While I normally post a big recipe post, this year I think it would be great if everyone would be willing share their favorite recipe to make/take for this (or any other) holiday.
If you're stuck looking for something new to make or take this year (or really, for whenever), hopefully you'll find something great in comments here!
That said, here is one of my staples for Thanksgiving:
I've made this for the past several years, after a friend gave it to me, and it's delicious.Ginger Apricot Cranberry Sauce
* 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
* 2 tbsp. finely grated ginger
* 16 oz. fresh cranberries
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 1 cup orange juice
* 1/2 cup apricot preserves
In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter. Add ginger and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add crans, sugar, oj and preserves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until crans burst and sauce thickens, about 20 mins. Transfer to bowl and serve warm.
And another yummy one:
You can dust the top of the marshmallows with cinnamon before putting in oven, too.Roasted Yam Casserole
* 3 medium jewel yams
* 1/4 cup orange juice
* 2 TB melted butter
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 2 TB brown sugar
* 2 cups mini marshmallows
Heat oven to 350. Roast yams in oven for one hour. Let cool. Peel off skin.
Mash yams in 8x8 casserole dish or deep-dish pie plate. Put in all other ingredients and mash them all together (or mix, with spoon if you'd rather). Smooth out top. Bake (at 350) for 15 minutes. Take out of oven and put marshmallows on top. Put back in oven until marshmallows are puffed and slightly toasted (only takes a couple minutes). Serve warm!
Pie tip: Crush up gingerbread cookies to use as a crumb crust with pumpkin pies or cheesecakes. If you have a food processor, this is soooo easy.
Ideas from previous years:
Thanksgiving 2010: Cocktail Weenies, Herb-Scented Roast Turkey, Apple-Onion Stuffin' Muffins, Sweet Potato Casserole, Toffee Apple Pie.
Thanksgiving 2009: Jellied Cranberry Sauce, Spinach Madeline, Pumpkin-Apple Streusel Cake.
Thanksgiving 2008: Good Eats Roast Turkey, Basic French Bread, Sweet Potato Balls.
Thanksgiving 2007: Bruschetta, Brie Mashed Potatoes, gravy & gravy tips, Old Fashioned Dinner Rolls, Herb Bread & Dipping Oil, Bavarian Apple Torte.
For a non-pumpkin, non-apple, super easy dessert: Peanut Butter Pie.
Why Aren't There More Women in Gaming?
(TW for sexual violence)
Ha, fooled you, I'm only sorta gonna answer that.
Actually, what I want to do is post the text of an e-mail I just sent to my gaming group, which is largely men of a similar age to me - in their 40s. I enjoy our game sessions, and we've even formed the intent to make a game company together, as we're all designers, and see if we can get some of our better designs published. We even focus on cooperative-style games, or what we call semi-coop (one player v the rest).
I've addressed the e-mail to my best friend in the group, someone I've camped with, watched many movies and TV with, a good friend. I'll let the e-mail outline the problem I've been having (TW for rape mention, trigger process description):
$MY_FRIEND, one thing I've been thinking about, and I think I need to bring up.We'll see whether it has an effect.
One reason I've been reluctant to spend more time in the group environment is that it's really unsafe for me, emotionally. There are a few members - $TALL_GUY, notably, but $DRINK_SPILLY_GUY too, among others - who regularly drop rape jokes or comments into discussions.
These comments put me in a bit of a fugue state sometimes - I'm triggered into remembering the numerous people who have sexually assaulted me (and I'm talking, I can't count 'em on one hand). I disappear inside, I feel terror, I break out in sweat, I can't think straight or make decisions or function well.
I'm writing you privately, because I want to ask your help in bringing it up to the others. I know from experience that bringing this up to a group of men is, itself, a seriously triggering thing for me, but I can't let it go anymore, or I can't be part of the group (or the game collective). I also know from experience that if I don't have at least one male ally willing to speak up on the topic, I'll get shouted down, told to go make a sandwich, to stop harshing their buzz, stop "censoring" them, stop being oversensitive, learn to take a joke. Please don't tell me it wouldn't happen: this is the experience of someone with a long, LONG history of trying to ask this of largely-male gamer groups.
Do you think you could help me raise the issue? Or maybe bring it up when I'm not there, like tonight (I have theatre commitments)?
I'm not asking them to be perfect overnight, but it'd be really hard for me to work long-term with people who feel the need to keep using these kinds of comment. And believe me, it's not just me. I've caught the looks, the glances, the hurt face, on others as well at various events. This is an important issue to me, and to anyone who cares for or is a survivor.
Thanks for considering. By the way, I have noticed that you NEVER do this, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.
Cait
But I wanted to raise it as a larger issue, inspired by the mention in today's Occupy Round-Up of the articles about Occupy's "woman problem" (TW rape, sexism, bullying), because I want to be able to enjoy my games in emotional safety with my friends. And I can't do that, if those "friends" will be casually sending me into a fugue six times a night.
I'll post an update with the response when I have one. If you're a man and a gamer, consider standing up for your fellow gamers who are women like this. Don't wait for a possibly-traumatized person to have to bring it up for themselves.
It's an area where we need men as allies, because the kind of men who do this don't listen to women. They don't consider our voices or needs important.
And yes, of course some men are sexually assaulted too, so this only has a broader application, but we know from experience that men who've been assaulted are often even more reluctant than women who've been assaulted, because of the societal construction of masculinity in opposition to femininity, so bringing this up helps them too.
The Walking Thread
"One thing you need to know about me, Shane, is that I cannot keep secrets."
Is anyone else beginning to suspect that the writers of The Walking Dead are engaging in an experiment to see if it's possible to write a zombie show that makes its viewers feel as if their braaaaaaaaaaaains are slowly being devoured by zombies? Or is that just me?
Anyway!
Despite the fact that this week's episode inconceivably advanced the plot (such as it is) even less than this season's customary two-inch pace, there is a lot to talk about!
And I will talk about it ALL below the fold (on most browsers), so be warned that spoilers lurch undeadly hereunder...
First, let us start with the elephant in the oven: Lori is pregnant and she doesn't know what to do! She sends Glenn for some "morning after pills" to terminate the pregnancy. Whoooooooops that is not how Plan B works. (Little pills labeled "Morning After Pill" is also not what Plan B looks like.) Plan B prevents fertilization within 72 of unprotected PIV sex. What Lori would need is RU-486, which wouldn't be sitting around a pharmacy.
Of course, getting the medical basics of reproductive choice totally fucking wrong is hardly the biggest problem with this episode EVEN THOUGH THAT IS A VERY BIG PROBLEM. Even Glenn pointedly lecturing Lori on not making "this choice" on her own and Maggie sneeringly referring to Plan B as "abortion pills" are not the biggest problems with this episode EVEN THOUGH THOSE ARE VERY BIG PROBLEMS.
The biggest problem with this episode is that every single character treats abortion as axiomatically A Terrible, Regrettable, Horrible Choice, and insists to Lori that they know she REALLY wants this baby and should totes have it, irrespective of the zombiepocalypse engulfing the planet.
There is literally not one character who voices the eminently reasonable opinion, "Well, yes, abortion is an option worth considering, given that it will be difficult to flee from murderous zombies while you are nine months pregnant and/or carrying an infant, and given that pregnancy and childbirth can carry with them significant medical risks, even in the best of circumstances, like available hospitals staffed with trained medical personnel and a reliable source of food and clean water and a lack of murderous zombies—which is to say nothing of the fact that Alan Alda will make you SMOTHER YOUR CHICKENBABY when its wailing alerts every murderous zombie within a 10-mile radius to our whereabouts."
Every piece of readily available literature on abortion-seeking women has found that self-preservation (i.e. one's own health and ability to survive), ability to care for existing children, and ability to care for potential child are of prime concern to women contemplating termination. But none of that even makes the discussion on The Walking Dead. Nope—Lori waxes philosophical to Dale about wells of joyful memories, and never voices a modicum of concern for her capacity to provide sustenance (beyond a reservoir of happiness) to her potential child. Nor does she express any worry about her own health and safety.
And neither does anyone else: Everyone seems to feel just fine about risking Lori's life on behalf of a baby.
All of which ultimately combined into a swirling morass of gross anti-choice bullshit.
It's the anti-choice bullshit that's getting a lot of attention (and deservedly so), but I also want to note another bit of stupendous fail: During Dale's conversation with Hershel about the zombies in the barn (lulz), Hershel argues that the zombies are just sick people, and, in defense of his keeping them alive, asserts that "paranoid schizophrenics are dangerous, but we don't murder them."
Yiiiiiiiiiiiikes.
People with paranoid schizophrenia are not, as a rule, dangerous. And the majority of people with paranoid schizophrenia who are dangerous are dangerous to themselves, not to other people. People with advanced paranoid schizophrenia are, like anyone else with severe mental illness, more likely to be victimized by violence than perpetrate it.
The use of this pernicious trope might have been understandable (which is not to be confused with acceptable) if it were evident that Hershel was making the comparison only because he's an ignorant dipshit with stupid ideas about everything. But that was not how Hershel was cast in the scene: He was presenting what we were meant to view as a compassionate argument from an ill-informed but well-meaning doctor whose medical expertise magically cured a boy of a life-threatening gunshot wound in two days.
There was a lot of serious narrative fail in this episode. And, even apart from the above-mentioned problems, I thought the episode stunk. I'm really feeling the void of Frank Darabont and his masterful storytelling skills at this point. It really isn't the same show without him. Too bad.
Occupy Everywhere & Economic News Round-Up
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) supporters witness an arrest of one of their fellow at Zuccotti Park decorated with Christmas lights, in New York, November 21, 2011. OWS said 32,500 gathered last week to mark the anti-capitalist movement's two-month anniversary at Foley Square in lower Manhattan before many marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. [Getty Images]Here's some of what I've been reading this morning...
Tina Dupuy has an interesting piece in The Atlantic about the gender disparity at Occupy encampments. See also Echidne's take on Dupuy's piece.
Gallup finds that US support for the Occupy Movement remains unchanged from a month ago at about 25% in favor, about 20% opposed, and about 55% conflicted or indifferent. Respondents, however, are now slightly more critical of "the way the protests are being conducted."
In Supercommittee Failure news...
Greg Sargent plainly (and correctly) states that "both sides" are not equally to blame for the breakdown in negotiations: "This is the primary difference in a nutshell: The Dem offer involved both sides making roughly equivalent concessions; the GOP offer didn't. The main GOP concession—the additional revenues—would have come in exchange for Dems giving ground on two major fronts: On cuts to entitlements, and on making the Bush tax cuts permanent. Putting aside whether the supercommittee failure matters at all, it's plainly true that one side was willing to concede far more than the other to make a deal possible. And anyone who pretends otherwise is just part of the problem."
And because our political system is irrevocably broken, both parties will look to exploit that failure for political gain: "[W]ith the [Bush tax cuts] due to expire at the end of 2012 and their fate left unresolved by the supercommittee, both parties are already positioning themselves to exploit the issue for maximum electoral advantage. President Obama, who campaigned on repealing the breaks for the wealthy, angered his base last year when he agreed to extend all the tax cuts beyond their original expiration, at the end of 2010. This time, the president has vowed to veto any effort to extend the tax breaks on upper-income Americans. ... Republicans vying to challenge Obama argue the tax cuts should be made permanent, not just for the wealthy but for middle-income Americans as well. And GOP strategists say the White House's position makes the president vulnerable to charges that he would impose what many Republicans are already calling the 'biggest tax increase in American history' if reelected."
Aside from political gamespersonship, what now? "Failure by the committee, evenly split between six Democrats and six Republicans from the House and Senate, sets in motion an alternative timetable for $1.2 trillion in spending reductions starting in January 2013. Leaders on both sides of the aisle are unhappy with the nature of the fallback plan, which cuts evenly from domestic and defense programs." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tries to hang the president with the responsibility for preventing the cuts: "Now it falls on the president to ensure that the defense cuts he insisted upon do not undermine national security." President Obama hangs the responsibility on Congress: "The only way these spending cuts will not take place is if Congress gets back to work and agrees on a balanced plan to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. That's exactly what they need to do. That's the job they promised to do. And they've still got a year to figure it out."
The only thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on anymore is that it's not their fault and it's definitely the OTHER party's responsibility to fix everything.
In related news, trying to prove he is NOT BORING and can be, in fact, just as loathsomely incendiary and irresponsible as all the best Republicans, Mitt Romney [trigger warning for violent rhetoric] described the automatic defense spending cuts initiated by the supercommittee's failure would be "like holding a gun to your own head."
In other US domestic economic news...
Reuters: Third-quarter growth revised down to 2.0 percent.
Forbes: The Top 0.1% of the nation earn half of all capital gains.
CNN Money: Next congressional battle: Payroll taxes.
Reuters: MF Global trustee doubles estimates of shortfall: Says shortfall could be about $1.2 billion.
CNN Money: Gingrich: CBO a 'reactionary socialist institution'.
And in Eurozone news, The Guardian's live coverage is here. Also: The head of the Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner, warns that "the global economy is at risk of a deflationary spiral as the private sector and governments seek to pay off their debts at the same time." Huzzah for austerity!
Quote of the Day
"The family is the bedrock of our society; unless we protect it with the institution of marriage, our country will fall."—Professor of Epic Dipfuckery and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, waxing apocalyptic about same-sex marriage again.
I continue to love (where "love" = loathe with the fiery passion of 10,000 suns) conservatives' insistence on talking about "families" and "same-sex marriage" as if those are mutually exclusive concept.
Whoooooooooooooooops you are gross and stupid and wrong.
Seriously, GOP?
Barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrf: Gingrich at top of pack for first time in CNN polling.
Only the Republican Party could consider nominating a guy who said, during one of the most catastrophic periods of unemployment in the nation's history, "I'm tired of finding new ways to help people who aren't working; I want to find ways to help people who are working."
Which is still one of the least objectionable things Newt Gingrich has ever said or done.
Yiiiiiiiiiikes, GOP. Yikes.
Egypt Open Thread
Earlier today, Egypt's cabinet resigned en masse amidst continued clashes in Tahrir Square between protesters and police. As many as two dozen people have been killed by the Egyptian army, and many more have reportedly been injured by rubber bullets and the excessive use of teargas.
Below, links to some of what I've been reading this afternoon. Please use comments for discussion and sharing of additional news items.
The Guardian—Tahrir Square Violence Enters a Third Day: In Pictures.
New York Times—Egypt's Civilian Government Submits Offer to Resign.
Agence France-Presse—Egypt's Government Abruptly Resigns as Deadly Clashes Rock Tahrir Square.
CNN—Egypt's Cabinet Resigns Amid Protests, Violence.
Whoooooooops You Are Hugging a Rapist
[Trigger warning for rape culture; Polanski stuff.]
This is the worst thing I have seen all day. It's a picture of actress Kate Winslet hugging and kissing director Roman Polanski at the premiere of their new movie, God of Carnage, about which I wrote previously here.
It's not fair to hold women to a higher standard of principled intolerance of rape culture, and I really try not to do that, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it less comprehensible to me when women literally embrace an admitted rapist of other women.
And Winslet is, in truth, a particular disappointment to me because she has, in the past, been so vocal about issues surrounding body image, weight, and the industry tricks used to synthetically perfectify famous women. It's tough to see a woman who is so clever and outspoken on the artifice of beauty designed to make people feel awful about their bodies be so profoundly indifferent to a rape culture designed to facilitate the abuse of those same bodies.
That is my thoughtful, measured, intellectual response to looking at that picture. And this is my unthoughtful, visceral, lip-curling response to looking at that picture: You're gross, Kate Winslet. Yuck.
An Observation
This has been the most beautiful fall I can remember. Even the barren trees look particularly stunning against the silver skies this year. Weather to make one want to be outside. Lovely.
Pushing "Personhood"
The defeat in Mississippi hasn't deterred the PersonhoodUSA people. As I mentioned before, they have plans for every state and they're working to get on ballots across the country:
Personhood USA, the Colorado-based anti-abortion group that led the Mississippi initiative, is working to get the measure on 2012 ballots in California, Florida, Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon, among other states. Similar voter initiatives in Colorado failed in 2008 and 2010.However, the "personhood" issue isn't just coming that way. It's also being considered by legislators.
Alabama State Sen. Phil Williams, a Republican, is pushing legislation for a similar constitutional amendment. In June, Williams pre-filed a personhood bill to be considered during the 2012 session, according to the Senate's website. The bill seeks to define persons "to include all humans from moment of fertilization and implantation into the womb." Earlier versions of the Alabama bill failed to advance.And:
ATLANTA — Two Georgia lawmakers are considering Legislation similar to the "personhood" referendum rejected by voters in Mississippi last week.There was "personhood" legislation intro'd into the US House in January, HR 374 "Life At Conception Act", but it is stalled in committee.
Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, and Rep. Rick Crawford, D-Cedartown, have both supported similar Legislation previously declaring that life begins at fertilization and seeks to ban abortion. Loudermilk says he is looking at re-introducing the bill with modified language omitting references to fertilization and cloning — words that proved problematic in the failed Mississippi ballot issue.
Now, the Personhood USA people are holding a press conference today to announce their new strategy of bothering people who are grocery shopping in Colorado (and, if it works, everywhere else):
The group will hold a news conference today on the west steps of the state Capitol to unveil the renewed effort. [...]They've also re-written their legislation:
Organizers said Saturday they are banking on broad grassroots support, with volunteers circulating petitions at grocery stores, and a new game plan.
The new version of the measure "will protect every child, no matter their size, level of development, gender, age or race," said Jennifer Mason, spokeswoman for Personhood USA.Extra information, eh? I guess we shall see later today what the latest effort in extreme bullshittery looks like.
New language "will explain again that every human being is a person from their earliest moments," Mason said. "And it will include some extra information that hopefully will prohibit lies of our opponents. . . . It will be a departure from what we've done before."
This new angle of attack against women being recognized as rights-bearing persons is not letting up. They may not win on the ballots but that's not the whole point for them, either. It's about conversation (as one of the GA legislators said). It's about trying to change the conversation and having it insidiously seep into collective thinking that "fertilized eggs are people" (and that "women are actual people with rights" are lies) so that eventually, maybe, they will get to win via ballots or legislation.
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by melons.
Recommended Reading:
Fannie: [TW for sexual violence] Missing Gender Narratives Regarding Penn State
Mannion: This Is the Best of All Possible Worlds—Keep That in Mind While You're Enjoying Your Cat Food Supper
Echidne: [TW for misogyny; gender essentialism] Woman the Shopper. Man the Scientist. A Funny Sci-Fi Story.
Travis: Latinos, African Americans Twice as Likely as Whites to Have Been Affected by the Housing Crisis
Vanessa: [TW for rape culture] The New York Times on the Reporting of Rape
Pam: [TW for homophobia] Eye-Opening Profile of the Granddaughter of Anti-Gay Wesboro Baptist Church's Fred Phelps
Alan: National Geographic Photo Contest 2011
Mustang Bobby: Quote of the Day
TDW: Kickass Cover of the Day
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
The Shelter Pet Project
Beagle, sitting in the living room of a home, 'speaking' in male voiceover as white woman walks around in background collecting scattered dog toys and putting them in basket: So, I'm kinda new here, but I've noticed a trend. My human does this funny thing where she goes around and gets all my toys, and then she hides them in that basket by the door. Y'know, but it's always the same basket, and it's always in the same place! [Chuckles.] And then she acts so surprised when I find them, but, y'know, she's putting them in the same basket! Again! It's like, hello! That's where you put it last time! You are the WORST at hide and go seek!The Humane Society of the United States, in conjunction with Maddie's Fund and the Ad Council, has launched a public service campaign called The Shelter Pet Project to encourage people to adopt a shelter pet (or a pet at a rescue) instead of buying one. Since the project launched in 2009, the percentage of pets in US homes that were adopted from animal shelters and rescue groups has increased from 27% to 29%, and euthanasia has decreased by 10% from 3 million to 2.7 million.
Text Onscreen: A Person Is the Best Thing to Happen to a Shelter Pet. Be That Person. Adopt. theshelterpetproject.org
The second phase of the campaign is being rolled out now, including a series of new ads (like the one above), and The Shelter Pet Project could really use the support of people interested in animal rescue to help raise awareness.
In addition to writing about the campaign to spread the word, you can: Like the Shelter Pet Project on Facebook, follow the Shelter Pet Project on Twitter, and share your shelter pet's story here.
"Choosing to adopt is game-changing for you and life-saving for an animal. Pets end up in shelters through no fault of their own—they are often victims of circumstance. If enough people in our nation choose adoption, we can eliminate the euthanasia of healthy and treatable pets in our country."—Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States.
Please feel welcome and encouraged to leave pictures of your shelter or rescue pet in comments.
[Related Reading: Sophie Comes to Shakes Manor; Dudley Comes to Shakes Manor; Zelda Comes to Shakes Manor.]
