When I started this project I was just the crazy cat lady
who planned on doing a project for the crazy cat lovers of the world. Why?
Because crazy cat people should have a voice in the social dialogue that
goes beyond the idea of the crazy old lady on “The Simpsons” throwing cats at
all of the kids. Cat lovers are people
who clean littler boxes and snuggle in front of the television late at night
with a warm furry body and the lull of a soft purr.
Some cat lovers are crazy but than again some cat haters are
crazy. One’s sanity does not determine
why one loves cats. Rather it is that
unspoken connection that some people have with their cats. Instead of seeing this little animal around
the house as some annoying creature, the animal takes on a depth of
personality. Cats don’t stay as nameless
blobs to a cat lover. A cat lover takes
the time to get to know who their cat is and what makes that cat special.
By understanding their animal and meeting the animal’s needs
a magical thing happens to cat lovers: the cat gives back. That cat comes to them when they are sad and
sits on their head. The cat snuggles up
late at night or greets the human happily in the morning. What was once a relationship between man and
beast turns more into a relationship amongst friends.
A cat lover stops long enough to see the world, as others
don’t. They understand that their place
in the world is not all high and mighty to the point where they are better than
this furry little allergy maker. They
have a spot in their home and life to share it with an animal.
This bond is not only about cats. When my little dog died after seven years and
I realized the cat bond goes beyond cats.
When she went missing I announced it on Facebook and other social
media. My neighbors and friends dropped
what they were doing to help me look or spread the word. Many people interrupted their lives to help
me find a seven-pound fluffy little dog.
When I announced that she had passed many of those friends stopped by my
home, hugged me in stores, and one even brought by flowers. My husband who had never owned an animal
before cried as he buried her in the back yard.
The animal lovers understood that this was a loss. The non-animal lovers probably thought I was
crazy. No one died after all, at least
no one human. Someone special did die
and even though she didn’t wear clothing or speak English she was special and
an integral part of my life.
The Kamikaze Project is an ode to these special
animals. It focuses on Henry, my cat
that I adopted last year. I picked him
as a subject because he was almost killed in the shelter. He was abandoned as a kitten in the shelter’s
drop box and marked for death when I adopted him. I picked him up as a gentle kitten and he was
perfect. A warm little body that purred
and snuggled in my arms as if he was begging me to not let him go. I didn’t plan on taking him home that day but
I couldn’t leave him there. Since
adopting Henry I realized he was a very different individual animal. He acted affectionate and psychotic in the
same breath.
I wanted to try and figure out what the world is like
through his eyes. This is not new for
cat lovers. ICanHazCheesburger is all
about this. It is worth over $30 million
dollars. It is popular because humans
see pictures of cats and place captions about what the cat is thinking. LOL Cat videos and several other forms of
media do likewise things. It is all
about the cat lovers need to humanize their cats.
In this goal to humanize their cats we have created IPad games
and cat music. Some people dress up
their cats while others will send them to cat spas. This project answers the question in a
multi-faceted way. I choose to
digitalize it in order to reflect different genres of communication that are
increasingly found in this modern world.
I could have written a book but than only the professor would have
probably seen it. Through being on
mediums such as YouTube and Blogspot the project can reach other people. For me multigenre is in part meant to start a
dialogue and to have a dialogue people have to see it. Because this project has been online for a
month over 100 people have viewed various parts.
In this sense the project comes full circle. I started by trying to delve into the world
and mind of one cat. From that point the
project went on to look at relationships between humans and cats in various
ways. Because of the different genres
and mediums touched other people have been able to delve into this world that
Henry started and I’ve learned and understood better how other people’s relationship
with their cats is both varied and similar.
By this with one cat, a lense of society can be seen.
In loving memory of Mackenzie 12/06 to 11/21
She wasn't a cat but she was still Kewl!
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