Day 9. Again.

I prefer the company of animals more than the company of humans. Certainly, a wild animal is cruel. But to be merciless is the privilege of civilized humans.

Sigmund Freud.

I messed up the AP Gov. quiz again. Last week I included the question but forgot the corresponding table. This week I included the data but forgot to write the actual question. From now on it would probably save time to just make all of my quizzes 100 percent multiple choice and not include any questions at all. Students simply choose whatever answer they think might be right. No questions takes away the stigma of failing. Anything above a fifty percent would be a statistical win.

AICE Global Perspectives Cybersecurity (Why am I allowed to teach this? This seems wrong.) Whatever. AICE Global Perspectives (I'm going to call it law, because that's really what it is and it doesn't make me feel like an imposter.) Wrote a paper about animals being cruelly torn apart. They took a beautiful children's story and added the imagery of abandonment and violence, loss and grief, and for some reason the cold statistics of animal attacks in a small town where one child is ostracized for his imagination. (Actually this sounds somewhat like my childhood. At least the ostracization part.) Then they read these horrible stories out loud. I hope none of them are baby sitters. I imagine a lot of small kids staying awake all night to avoid the inevitable nightmares.

It was during this class that I received a directive from the school that forbade me from feeding the cats on campus. Apparently it's attracting other cats (I suspect they are just reproducing, but I'm no biology teacher.) It was also mentioned that this practice is also attracting "other" animals. During the Ice Age Weston was a vast savannah (the grassland, not the monstrosity of a gated community known only for it's Halloween excesses and an enthusiastic HOA.) Weston was the home of pre-historic camels and giant sloths. Giant armadillos, dire-wolves, bison and even wild horses called this region home. If feeding the cats on campus somehow brings back this menagerie of of mega-fauna I personally would not be upset. I would love to look out the window of my classroom while herds of bison roam peacefully, sharing a bowl of cat food with our school cats. How amazing would it be to see a giant sloth, curled up on the hood of a car in the teacher's parking lot?

However none of this will come to pass. The cats are not to be fed, and so I suspect they will simply become weaker and weaker until they are carried off by hawks and dropped into school properties that are more welcoming. I believe this is how cats migrate. The beautiful dance of bird, feline symbiosis. (Again, I am no biology teacher.) I would like to believe this is the future of Cypress Bay cats, flying high above South Florida, wearing tiny cat goggles and looking for a place where they are welcome. Alas it is not here.