Writer's Block: Interspecies Communication

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What a weird question. I mean, it's an animal. It's not intentionally trying to hurt your feelings if it doesn't want to be petted or snuggled... it just doesn't want to be messed with.

Chelsie's a snot sometimes, but she's a dog. I'm not saying that animals don't have emotions, but I think that their motives and drives are a Hel of a lot different, and simpler, than humans. If anything, it's easier for a person to hurt an animal's feelings. I just hurt Chelsie's feelings because she's pushing my hand off the mouse & closing my keyboard tray, telling me it's bedtime, and I shoved her away. So she gives me the most butt-hurt look in the world & walks away w/her head and tail down. It's very pathetic - but if I was an alpha dog and I shoulder-checked and snapped at her, she'd have the same reaction.

White People & Coyotes

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I'm conflicted... I don't know if I should use my shiny new asshat icon or the coyote one... I mean, yes, I do mention coyotes, but I'm kind of putting on a racial ass-hat. For now, I'm leaving it Coyote until the votes are in, lol.

I troll okcupid on occasion, mainly for the quizzes, and sometimes in vain hope of finding a single bi woman... but anyway, this guy messaged me & asked, "what is it with u white people and ur shit about coyotes?". I looked at his profile, which was just incredibly informative - he had posted a conversation he had with another person where he called her retarded & he mentioned his gun about 5 times. So I messaged him back that I didn't feel good about sharing my personal connection to Coyote with him, especially because he came off as though he had already made up his mind about 'us white people and coyotes', and I let him know that I had formed some strong opinions of my own about him based on his profile. He responded back with wit and grace... "Blow me". Yeah, what a great guy! I love meeting people like this on the internet. I thanked him for proving my preconceived opinions correct & he responded with even more charm, "cock to you l8tr". I didn't even try to get the last word in, I just hid him from sight. Gotta love global thermonuclear ignore, hah.

So anyway, I started thinking about 'us white people and coyotes', and determined that it's not really white people who have a thing about coyotes... it's white Americans. Much like coyotes, us white Americans can thrive and grow in the most unlikely of places. We seem to be comfortable in any environment, and we can eke out an existence on hardscrabble and dust. And just like coyotes, no matter where we go, us white Americans are completely unwelcome.

We can even be doing something good for the unlikely area we call home, like providing jobs, paying taxes, spending money in local businesses... and we're still unwanted. And, just like coyotes, it seems sometimes like there's a bounty on our heads. We're also sort of gawky, awkward and uncomfortable among our own kind, and this gets magnified when we're outside our element... like a coyote on a subway train. At least coyotes are native Americans. For us white Americans, it doesn't matter how long we live in America, or if we were born here, or if our parents were born here, we'll never truly be natives.