 |
| Self Portrait (1875-77) |
 |
| Still Life (1890-94) |
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
The Secret Garden
"The spell was broken. My uncle learned to laugh, and I learned to cry. The secret garden is always open now. Open, and awake, and alive. If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden."
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Twinkle in Her Eyes
As I gazed intently into her eyes, in disbelief, I realized that she only stood before me in pursuit of the hunt - to prey on my misfortunes, searching to fulfill the voracious appetite of her greedy heart. And I succumbed, as stupid as an injured doe walking straight into a hungry lion's den. Not only did I succumb, but I wept. I wept. I wept hot tears that burned the tender flesh upon my cheeks, that charred deep, hideous scars along the long, empty corridors of my withering heart. As I collapsed to the earth, I clutched the folds of her skirt, burying my throbbing skull deep into its ruffles, like an abscessed wound thriving on healthy flesh.No, I had not expected her to mend the shattered pieces of my heart with the needle and thread of her compassion, for her heart is far too cold for that. No, I simply wanted to feel the warmth of her body against mine, for I had no where else to go, no where else to hide.
But she pulled back, retreating , stumbling past the exposed, rotting chords of the ancient piano, nearly fainting upon the bitter hardwood from great fear that my pitiful vulnerability would indeed expose her own. She steadied herself upon the nearest chair, turning towards me once again. The great oceans of my eyes pleaded with the cold, black pupils of her eyes to open to me. But she did not yield. She stared back coldly.
I always thought that in the end, family would be my saving grace, but as I collected my belongings that had scattered across the ground and rose upon my shaky feet, I realized that my family had indeed helped me in quite a different way. Through all of these moments that I have spent with my family, through all of these years, I have always made the same mistake of being too dependent, too needy. Each time I opened my heart, the bitter tastes of rejection and apathy would fill my heart with tar. As they expressed their problems and troubles to me, wanting nothing more than a mute set of ears, the forced ingestion would choke me, burying my emotions deeper and deeper into the pit of my being.
As I closed the door behind me, bitter tears trembling from my lashes, I walked out into the fog, resolving never to return again. I must not linger on the hope that one day, maybe even far in the future, those who I love most will open their hearts to me....I must not let my heart linger, for as unchanging their hearts are, the world is ever-changing. I have been lost far too long.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
"Extinction Close-Up: Madagascar" - TIME Magazine
TIME's Bryan Walsh reports on the amazing wildlife of Madagascar and the struggles its animals face against extinction.
"How Animals Learn Language" - TIME Magazine
TIME science writer Jeffrey Kluger visits the Great Ape Trust to meet a remarkable Bonobo ape named Kanzi.
"Paying for Petting Time in Japan's Cat Cafes" - TIME Magazine
In Osaka, Japan, where many apartment dwellers aren't allowed to keep pets, cat fanciers spend time with their favorite felines at the Cats' Time Cafe.
"Kitty Prozac: Can Synthetic Pheromones Calm Your Pet?" - TIME Magazine
 |
| A pheromone collar helped Sammy, a former street fighter, chill out. |
 |
| Feliway plug-in diffusers ($48) signal to cats that territory is safe and secure.. |
 |
| Sentry Good Behavior collars ($12-$15) mimic a soothing nursing pheromone. |
Sara, a former shelter cat, has been luxuriating in my home for nine years. She's always been gentle yet skittish, the proverbial scaredy-cat. But after Sammy—a high-spirited (read: aggressive) 5-year-old rescued by the ASPCA—moved in with us two months ago, it was all-out feline war. Sara hissed, Sammy pounced, and I couldn't get much sleep. Desperate to end the territorial battle before my apartment got destroyed—or, worse, marked with urine—I decided to consult my fabulous (but fabulously expensive) veterinarian. I left her office with two pheromone collars, a handful of pheromone diffusers and the ardent hope that the chemical compounds would bring peace to the Sachs household.
I'm not the only pet owner who has sought such relief. According to veterinary experts, behavioral problems are one of the leading reasons that animals are given away or euthanized. With the number of pet cats in the U.S. soaring 18% in the past decade, to 86 million, and with 56% of owners taking in more than one cat, it's no wonder that so many vets are prescribing low doses of fluoxetine (generic Prozac) to calm ruffled felines.
It's also no wonder that companies are racing to market more-natural alternatives. Scientists have known for a good half-century that animals communicate via pheromones—a word that stems from the Greek pherein (to carry) and hormone—to do everything from trigger alarm to soothe their offspring. In the past decade, synthetic versions of these chemicals have been making their way into consumer products. D.A.P. (dog-appeasing pheromone) sprays and collars mimic a puppy-pleasing compound emitted by canine mammary glands. And there are plenty of colognes and body washes that purport to use human pheromones to help attract a mate, although most experts agree that these people-centric products are effective only as marketing gimmicks.
But research indicates that synthetic feline pheromones really do have a calming effect on cats—like a kitty Prozac but without the pill. Numerous studies, in journals such as Veterinary Record and Applied Animal Behaviour Science, have found that Ceva Animal Health's Feliway pheromone sprays and diffusers help reduce stress-related behaviors such as urine marking, vertical scratching and aggression.
Over the past year, more than a million cat-owning households have used pheromone products, which have no effect on humans or other noncat species. Ceva's Feliway diffusers, which look a little like plug-in air fresheners, have been available for more than a decade. Flea-collar maker Sergeant's started selling Sentry Good Behavior pheromone collars in April 2009. Both are cheaper than a vet visit. The diffusers cost $48, while the collars sell for $12 to $15. Results can be seen quickly, typically within a few days. The drawback: these products may need to be replaced after 30 days, so long-term use can get pricey.
Although each of the two manufacturers uses a different patented pheromone, there is no catfighting between them. To the contrary, says Larry Nouvel, a chemist who helped develop the Sergeant's collars, "I'd recommend that you use both." The collars mimic a soothing pheromone that mother cats emit while nursing, and Ceva's diffusers and sprays use a synthetic version of a facial pheromone—which cats leave behind when they rub their cheeks on furniture or people—that signals that the territory is safe and secure.
Many veterinarians have embraced synthetic pheromones, recommending them for use at home as well as in cat carriers. The success of these products has cut down on expensive sessions with animal behaviorists. "We're seeing far less of the common behavior problems such as urine spraying than we saw 10 or 15 years ago," says Gary Landsberg, a leading veterinary behaviorist in Toronto. Instead, he adds, "we're seeing much more difficult, pathologically anxious, phobic or compulsive animals." In those cases, he often recommends pheromones, along with psychotropic medication and behavior therapy.
I put a diffuser in an electrical socket in each room of my apartment. Then I put collars on my squirmy pets, who initially resisted but quickly got used to them. No prescription is needed, and there are no side effects. But as Kyle Creech, a veterinarian at Ceva, noted, "For behavior, there's not a magic pill or a magic shot that will solve all your problems."
He was right. I would love to say my cats snuggled up together, transformed by laboratory science. Alas, that's not the case. Although Sara was a lot calmer, looking positively beatific at times, she still cowered under the bed when Sammy approached. He was also calmer but was still too aggressive to just let Sara be. As the brawling continued, I realized that not even pheromones could make this particular duo harmonize. I didn't think psychotropics would resolve their differences, nor did I want to permanently sequester them in different rooms. So instead of buying another month's supply of pheromones, I took Sammy back to the ASPCA. It's a no-kill shelter, but I still cried the whole way home. Too bad I don't believe in cat whisperers.
Source:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)