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From: Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
In the eastern states the Indians used to do controlled burns, to create
more clearings rich in fodder, and to encourage younger, more deer-friendly
plants in the understory. Also gave them a clearer shot. The woods, all the
way to the tall-grass prairie, was a vast managed hunting park. In the
treeless west, especially before the Spanish brought horses, a band of
Indians would stampede a herd of buffalo off a cliff. Hey, there were a
lot of mouths to feed.
Yes, and incredibly wasteful too, those stampeded herds off
the cliffs, and it's thought too, isn't it? that many of the giant
mammals of the 'new world', the 'giant sloth' etc. were driven
to extinction by human predation?
"In book and movie Bambi is about as male as you can get, yet boys are never
named Bambi. How come?"
You're asking me? haha. Well, one could go the Leslie Fieldler
route of literary criticism (No! In Thunder) and say that perhaps
Bambi wasn't "as male as you can get," there's that thing
with Thumper for instance and his long fluttering eyelashes
and Bambi is timorous to the point of being avoidant with
the young Feline (and what about her name while we're at it?),
or the route of cultural perplexities, in which case perhaps
it's just like the change that made people dress boy babies
in pink and girls in blue in the early part of the 20th century,
and then what happened? what shifted the paradigm? beats
me! I'm still trying to decide whether to have turkey or venison
or giant sloth for Thanksgiving.
Not entirely serious,
Rebecca
Rebecca Seiferle
www.thedrunkenboat.com
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