Kinship

Thanks for all the comments in recent days folks. I love hearing back from those of you who are reading and I enjoy each comment.

There does seem to be a little confusion about the kind of knitting destruction my cat has caused. She does not merely play with finished knitted objects. Oh no. She usually takes the ball of yarn connected to the work in progress and bats it around the living room. Occasionally, she will pick up the yarn ball in her fierce little teeth and trot around with it, displaying her prowess as a huntress and dragging my hand-dyed, lace-weight or luxury fiber all over the house. Beast.

I think she just likes attention. She has a great little homing beacon that must tell her when I'm busy with something else, cuing her to find the most difficult place to be and defend it with plaintive mewing. When I was putting together the quilt top, she slept on top of the parts I was piecing together, or on the chair at my desk. She follows me around the kitchen when I cook, sitting up on her haunches to bat at my legs and whine. If I'm trying to knit, she wants to be in my lap. If I'm reading in bed, she curls up on top of my book and purrs insolently.

A two year old human couldn't possibly be as difficult as this cat.

I would also like to say, on a completely separate note, that I love the Midwest the way I love my brother. It is the love born of kinship. My brother and I come from the same people and the same background and whatever has gone into his making has gone into mine as well. We have known each other his whole life and are inextricably connected. I might poke fun and point out the endearing quirks, but I know that those things make him who he is and they are therefore at least a little part of me too. I may grow exasperated at little irritations. But Lord help the mister (or missus) who seeks to find fault with him, because he's a part of who I am and I'm a part of who he is too.

Thus do I feel about the Midwest, as well. I lived there during all my formative years. The people who live there are my great big extended family. And when people give me attitude about "Typical Midwesterners" I usually get punchy. Not everyone everywhere is exactly the same and I resent the implication that Midwesterners are backwards or overweight or close-minded or any of the things I hear so often from people who think that being from a Coastal Metropolis makes them inherently more virtuous than other people. I especially dislike how often "Midwestern" is spat with disdain in political discussions. And I do not apologize for taking comments like, "I was really surprised by the lack of diversity, acceptance, etc. [in Ohio]. I hear people say that the midwesterners are friendly and open, but this was far from my experience," just a wee bit personally.

High school psych class (in a Midwestern school) taught me that it is human nature to form mental distinctions- to separate Them from Us. No doubt some observations about Them are bound to be unflattering compared to Us, but Thumper taught me that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Easier said than done. Still, I choose to post things on the wide wide internet that I feel are positive, or constructive, or at least funny and not openly hostile.

That being said I will depart from my pacifict ways to issue this warning: if you choose to mess with the Midwest, the Midwest may mess back.