Featured Articles
Talking to The Animals
by Skye Moody
Liv Fun: Vol 4 – Issue 1
Mystery novelist Bill Fitzhugh keeps chickens in his Los Angeles backyard. Each hen has a name: Aunt Ray, Watermelon, Woody, etc. Occasionally, Fitzhugh posts a “Chicken Report” on Facebook, narrating his videotaped visits to the henhouse and lush grassy pecking yard. Responsive to his gentle commands — Fitzhugh addresses the chickens in an adult tone of voice, in human language — the hens scamper to greet him, stepping eagerly forward for special treats like handfed grape leaves or an affectionate feather ruffle. You might say Fitzhugh’s hens live a dog’s life, and in some ways that would be a fair statement.
My mother’s pet dog, Barney, a pampered wire-haired dachshund, enjoys watching television. When the image of a dog, cat or cow appears on the screen, Barney barks viciously at it. When the screen animal fails to respond, Barney races to the rear of the television and tries to climb inside. I have no explanation for his trying to enter via the back of the television (herding instinct?) instead of executing a frontal attack at the screen, but Barney evidently recognizes screen images and imagines them as real creatures trespassing on his territory.
Aristotle’s Great Chain of Being ordered all forms of existence descending from God to angels to humans, with all other extant forms categorized below humans. In this Ladder of Life, animals were generally treated as non-sentient beings lacking the ability to feel, think, reason, imagine or experience subjectively. Most animals led lives of misery and brutal deaths.
By the 19th century, an upsurge in keeping domesticated pets promoted new attitudes toward animals: Pet owners began observing similarities in animals and humans. Similarity generates empathy, and many pet owners adopted gentler handling of their domesticated creatures, extending kindlier treatment even to their farm livestock. Hunting and herding dogs especially demonstrated intelligence and were often pampered, kept by the hearth instead of in the barn. Still, few believed that animals possessed rational thoughts or emotional lives, let alone imaginations, and certainly not immortal souls.
Liv Fun
by Leisure Care
Spring 2015
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Three Mind Tricks to Ease Your Pain
by Elana Zaiman
Our imagination all too often takes us to places we don’t want to go: “My daughter didn’t call when she said she was going to call. She must have been in a car accident.” “My friend’s headache won’t go away. She must have a brain tumor.” “My feet are in constant pain. The pain will never end.”
Talking to The Animals
by Skye MoodyMystery novelist Bill Fitzhugh keeps chickens in his Los Angeles backyard. Each hen has a name: Aunt Ray, Watermelon, Woody, etc. Occasionally, Fitzhugh posts a “Chicken Report” on Facebook, narrating his videotaped visits to the henhouse and lush grassy pecking yard.
The Ego / Health Connection Exposed
by Thomas Orton
I was exhausted. I couldn’t help cutting corners. And where there were no corners, I cut whatever was there. This fatigue, a symptom of my Parkinson’s, had saddled me with a repertoire of some bad but necessary habits. By bed time every night, I was so tired I pulled off my jeans and shorts at the same time, not bothering to separate them before dropping them in a heap on the floor.