From the Washington Postwe hear about a cat named Max who has become a fixture on the Carleton campus of Vermont State University. So much so that he has earned a Ph.D.
Click to read:
Max the cat has ridden on students’ backpacks, taken campus tours, and more than once crashed a psychology class at Vermont State University’s Castleton campus.
The 5-year-old tabby is even listed on the university’s staff directory, where he has his own email address.
So it seemed like an obvious next step when the university awarded him an honorary doctorate in “literature,” making him an official part of the graduating class of 2024, as well as a staff member. Max wears many hats, said Rob Franklin, a photographer and social media manager for Vermont State University.
Last spring, Franklin had just started working at the university when he noticed that the cat was everywhere and that he was being treated like a celebrity.
“I was talking to a colleague outside Woodruff Hall, the main building on campus, when I noticed this cat wandering around and everyone was saying hello to him,” Franklin said.
“I asked, ‘What’s up with the cat?’ and was told he came to campus every day to socialize, then students would take him home after dark,” she said.
Max lives down the street from the main campus entrance with Ashley Dow and her family, but rarely spends time at the home, Dow said.
Since she started letting Max out at the age of one, he would immediately head to the college campus and enjoy the attention of the students.
“He usually comes to me in the morning around 8 o’clock, when I go to work, and he’ll be home in time for dinner, or one of the students will pick him up and drop him off,” said Dow, a special education teacher.
… Max had been touring the campus and its 4,000 undergraduates for four years, the same amount of time it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree, he said.
“We don’t award doctoral degrees here, but I thought it would be fun to give Max one,” Franklin said, noting that Vermont Public Radio covered the story.
He had a diploma made with corny cat puns, then posted it on Instagram ahead of the university’s May 18 graduation ceremony. The photo in the post showed Max wearing a cat-shaped graduation cap.
“With a resounding buzz of approval from the faculty, the Vermont State Cat-leges Board of Trustees has awarded Max Dow the prestigious title of Litter Box Doctor, complete with all the catnip, cat tree, and litter box responsibilities that come with it,” the diploma reads.
Now you’ll have to call him “Dr. Max”! Here’s a screenshot of his graduation from the video below, featuring Max and his staff:
A one minute video from Channel 10. What a fantastic cat!
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The NYT has an article about a new book about Louis Wain (1860-1939), the famous cat artist who supposedly went insane and whose cat drawings became increasingly bizarre as his sanity waned. Here’s a group of his images, Not in chronological order, but the most bizarre ones date back to the end of his life. (He spent the last 15 years in a psychiatric hospital.)
And the piece about the book, titled Catland: Louis Wain and the great cat mania. Click on the title to read:
An excerpt from Reich’s review:
To explore this mystery, and further complicate it, comes “Catland,” by writer and critic Kathryn Hughes. The title is both literal and metaphorical, a nod to the intertwined worlds the book explores: the fictional place invented by Victorian cat illustrator Louis Wain and the lived-in landscape we continue to inhabit some 150 years later.
“Catland” is, in essence, an exploration of a rapidly modernizing, post-Industrial Revolution Britain, where everything was changing, including cats, who went “from anonymous background furniture to individual actors.” In short order, cats lost their “weasel faces and patched tails” while their faces and eyes became rounder. (While Hughes points to the rapid genetic change possible given cats’ reproductive behaviors, it is not entirely clear whether cats actually looked this way or were simply portrayed as such by artists.)
. . . The art of commercial artist and illustrator Louis Wain evolved alongside this emerging feline paradise, and his cats also became rounder in face and higher in status, until, eventually, their society became as strange and complex as their owners’. At the height of their popularity, Wain’s cats were everywhere, doing everything from selling soap and boots in advertisements to being patriots on postcards to riding bicycles and arguing with spouses in newspapers and magazines.
Unfortunately, Wain’s business acumen was virtually nonexistent. His fortunes, like those of cats and cat lovers of his era, had significant ups and downs. (His worsening mental illness didn’t help his financial affairs, but it didn’t seem to hinder his productivity or creativity, either.)
How much did the new cat aesthetic actually influence Wain? Despite the author’s claims to the contrary, his work seems more a reflection of the zeitgeist than a propellant, seen through his increasingly eccentric perspective.
Indeed, “Catland” is populated by other characters who, by the author’s account, were at least as deeply involved in shaping the emerging world of cats. There’s Harrison Weir, who organized the first Crystal Palace cat show in 1871 and “started the modern cat thing,” and the vicar’s daughter Frances Simpson, who had a huge influence on cat culture. In addition to her involvement in breeding, showing, and judging, she became an authority whose feline-adjacent endorsements, pronouncements, and opinions appeared in countless publications and a column called “Practical Pussyology” (a lost Prince B-side if ever there was one).
…The more sensitive should brace themselves: Stories of animal cruelty, violence, and hoarding abound, a difficult but necessary context. (Hughes does not bring us to the present moment, but the astute reader, especially one with experience in cat rescue, TNR, and animal welfare, will find many parallels to our own moment.)
Likewise, those looking for a straightforward biography may be initially disappointed, but cat lovers, and even the cat-neutral, are encouraged to put their faith in Hughes. “Catland” is a delight. This is a story told by someone whose knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for his subject are matched by obvious pleasure and warm, expressive writing.
In Louis Wain’s late cat illustrations, his favourite subjects were freed from their constrained Edwardian interiors, scampering through imaginary and, in some cases, kaleidoscopic, almost psychedelic landscapes, liberated from their very forms. Perhaps Wain was truly both of his time and ahead of his time. Either way, it’s easy to see how much has changed, and strangely, how little.
It costs $25.59 in hardcover (Amazon link above) and would make a great Christmas gift for cat lovers with a penchant for the bizarre. Here’s the cover:
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From SK-popa website, we learn of the passing of a beloved cat I never knew existed. I can’t copy most of the text, so I’ve included some screenshots and tweets below. Click the title to read:
Screenshot of the text:
“I am devastated to share that Cala has passed away. I adopted Cala thinking she was young and full of life ahead of her, however, Cala had become ill and was not recovering.”
Here is the video explaining his disappearance:
@cala_ed_elizabeth Cala will live forever thanks to all of you 🧡🐱 #RIPCala #igomeow #catsoftiktok #cattok #orangecatbehavior
♬ Night problems – Petit Biscuit
Cala’s popularity:
A tribute from The Kifeness:
. . . and some comments on Instagram from Cala lovers (her Instagram page is here):
“I wonder if he was meowing so much because he felt his time was coming or because he was in pain,” @pomkckase said.
“Her meow seemed to come from a place of experience. She was a wise old cat,” @woldprospect said.
“She will forever be my favorite singer,” said @edanmore_.
The cat’s official Instagram page, under the username cala_and_elizabeth, had amassed over 500K followers. Other online comments read:
“She will always be remembered, her beautiful voice will live on forever. Sending you all so much love right now,” said @louietheraccoon.
“This is the kind of news that truly breaks my heart. Sending love to his family,” @uriel.calderone wrote on Instagram.
Several Instagram users also attached gifs of people crying. Others shared loving tributes, which read:
“Thank you so much for the legacy you have left in my heart,” @dougggdimmadome said.
“You finally crossed that bridge, kitty,” @mikejamesb3 said online.
Rest in peace Cala:
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Lagniappe from a news site (click to read and see a one-minute video:
Can AI tell when your cat is in pain? Japanese app CatsMe! says it can. Tokyo resident Mayumi Kitakata, worried about her 14-year-old cat Chi, turned to CatsMe! in March to help her decide when to go to the vet. Buzz60’s Maria Mercedes Galuppo tells the story.
The video will tell you that the app uses facial expressions related to pain to give an idea if the cat is in pain. It doesn’t use pain itself, but something related to pain, so I’m a little skeptical. If it worked, vets all over the world would be using it.
thanks to: Divy, Karl, Winnie
#Caturdays #Feline #Trifecta #College #Cat #Doctorate #Years #Book #Catland #Viral #Internet #Cat #Cala #Dies #Lagniappe
Image Source : whyevolutionistrue.com