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Oh, no, I'm sorry, I never saw my dog again after that first time we left her out in the country, when I saw her take off running and knew that she would come back. The next morning I woke up and went to school as usual and then wondered for days and days why she never came back. For she came back during the night while us kids were sleeping and many times, from these trips where she was leftout in the country, from the animal control people from whom she escaped, but the last time she came back the animal control people came and retrieved her again, and from that she never came back. And I didn't know anything about this until months later, when my mother confessed how my dog had come back over and over again and how guilty she felt about it, hoping I guess that I'd forgive her, which I've never been able to do. Because basically I knew that the reason my dog Sam didn't come back was because she was dead and it's one thing to forgive whatever has been done to oneself, another to forgive the death of some other living being, so it's just a sad ending, I'm sorry, Rebecca ---- Original message ---- >Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 20:04:28 +0100 >From: Anny Ballardini <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: "Power"/too late to be a snap, oh well >To: [log in to unmask] > >What a story Rebecca! >And so she came back again and at that point you could keep her, or? Please >say : Yes! > >Anny > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Rebecca Seiferle" <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 6:40 PM >Subject: Re: "Power"/too late to be a snap, oh well > > >> Traps: sentimentality, or what I did--a kind of >> >>hardassed tone with somewhat extraneous material that doesn't get at >> >>what I began to get at only midway through, the action itself minus >> >>set-ups, etc. >> >> Well, I kept thinking about this traps of sentimentality and how true it >is with >> dog stories, and perhaps your question who hasn't been owned by a dog? >I've >> always had dogs and feel sometimes attended by an absence in now not >having >> one, but this issue of sentimentality reminds me of this dog that I had >when I >> was a kid. She showed up at our door one day, a black and white collie, >the >> oldfashioned type with the broader muzzle, not the pencilpoint muzzle that >was >> introduced by interbreeding with greyhounds, and I named her Sam. She was >> incredibly smart; the sort of dog that would hear me walking home from >school >> a half mile away and would want to be let out to come racing to meet me. >She >> wasn't spayed and eventually had five puppies which we gave away, though >in >> about three months, the people who had adopted one of them brought him >> back. As usual, in a couple of months, my father decided to move and since >my >> parents were broke all the time, they decided they couldn't afford to have >her >> spayed and that if we took her with us, there'd be more puppies, and how >to >> find a place to rent etc? the usual implacable logic of the adultworld, so >they >> decided 'the best thing' would be to take her out into the surrounding >> countryside, many sheep farms etc, and leave her and the puppy out at some >> farmer's house where some kindly sheepherder would take her in. So we were >all >> miserably loaded in the car and drove for some fifty miles into the >countryside >> and when my parents saw a hopeful looking farmhouse, they let her and the >> puppy out. I remember looking out the rear window of the car and knowing >that >> she would come back, for she wasn't following the car, she had turned and >was >> flying like an arrow across the Wyoming scrub brush flatness as if she >knew >> where she was going, and wondering for days afterwards why she hadn't, >that >> something must have happened along that flight back. It was only later >that my >> mother told me that Sam had come back, after we'd gone to sleep, and that >my >> father had driven her 40 miles out in the opposite direction and she'd >come >> back. During the night he made three trips into the surrounding >countryside, >> each trip becoming shorter as he lost faith in the idea of such a thing >working, >> and she came back. So since it was approaching morning and I was likely to >> wake up and see her there, they called the animal control people who came >and >> picked her up. Though they had also picked up another dog and somehow >> during that stop, my dog escaped from the car and came back again. I have, >> once or twice, tried to write about this but have never managed it, but, >yes, I am >> still owned by that dog, >> >> Best, >> >> Rebecca >> >> ---- Original message ---- >> >Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:17:19 -0500 >> >From: Rebecca Seiferle <[log in to unmask]> >> >Subject: Re: "Power"/too late to be a snap, oh well >> >To: [log in to unmask] >> > >> >>I wish the beginning worked as well as the end. It was about a very >> >>strange, "defining" moment and it is very hard to describe the interplay >> >>between human and animal because all the thinking for the animal is >> >>assumed by the human. Traps: sentimentality, or what I did--a kind of >> >>hardassed tone with somewhat extraneous material that doesn't get at >> >>what I began to get at only midway through, the action itself minus >> >>set-ups, etc. >> > >> >Yes, Ken, I think it does seem a "very strange 'defining' moment', that's >there, >> >and perhaps the trouble with the beginning is the staging, where you >start out >> >from a rather distanced view "Grant this" and then zero in, incremently. >You >> >could try something like this, >> > >> >Chain your intellect to the fencepost and let it bare its teeth at Old >Yeller >> >or So Dear To My Heart. Know you are wearing a neck chain and your teeth >will >> >not >> >reach. >> > >> >This is a dog story, but the dog is not shaggy, he combines Rottweiler, >> >Shepherd, and jerk, >> >which means there are no apologies here save to the insulted and the >injured. >> > >> >Grant this: He is the woman's dog, but I have lately adopted him to the >heart. >> >He is not an Ours because when it comes to this dog there is no Us. >> > >> >A kind of interweaving, instead of the view moving in upon the 'action' >by >> >marked delineations, and I hope you don't mind the suggestion! And I >wouldn't >> >worry about the line being from Meister Eckhardt via some Landinsky; >since >> it's >> >that sort of line, perhaps because as you say Landinsky is the sort of >> 'translator >> >who makes everyone sound like himself' it sounds like a line from anyone, >as >> in >> >the sense, of those medieval morality plays, "Everyman". >> > >> >best, >> > >> >Rebecca >> > >> > >> >>I wish the beginning worked as well as the end. It was about a very >> >>strange, "defining" moment and it is very hard to describe the interplay >> >>between human and animal because all the thinking for the animal is >> >>assumed by the human. Traps: sentimentality, or what I did--a kind of >> >>hardassed tone with somewhat extraneous material that doesn't get at >> >>what I began to get at only midway through, the action itself minus >> >>set-ups, etc. >> > >> > >> >---- Original message ---- >> >>Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:01:34 -0500 >> >>From: Ken Wolman <[log in to unmask]> >> >>Subject: Re: "Power"/too late to be a snap, oh well >> >>To: [log in to unmask] >> >> >> >>Rebecca Seiferle wrote: >> >> >> >>>I like your snap, Ken, so honest to so many not always pleasant >> >>>intersecting realities and agree with Andrew about the fine turn of the >end, >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> >>>>What is wrong with him, I sometimes wonder? He does not thrive on >> >>>>anger. He is forgiving. He is not human. >> >>>>Love does that. >> >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>a real questioning of being, >> >>> >> >>>best, >> >>> >> >>>Rebecca >> >>> >> >>> >> >>I wish the beginning worked as well as the end. It was about a very >> >>strange, "defining" moment and it is very hard to describe the interplay >> >>between human and animal because all the thinking for the animal is >> >>assumed by the human. Traps: sentimentality, or what I did--a kind of >> >>hardassed tone with somewhat extraneous material that doesn't get at >> >>what I began to get at only midway through, the action itself minus >> >>set-ups, etc. >> >> >> >>"Love Does That." I hate to admit this, but I stole the words from a >> >>poem about an overburdened donkey fed by a passer-by; I think it was >> >>written by Master Eckhard filtered through a guy named Daniel Ladinsky, >> >>who I've seen condemned as (gasp) New Age and, worse, as a translator >> >>who makes everyone sound like himself. I wish I could find the original >> >>poem which I remember as a sweet, simple look at the kind of >> >>communication I tried to describe. >> >> >> >>ken >> >> >> >>-- >> >>Kenneth Wolman >> >>Proposal Development Department >> >>Room SW334 >> >>Sarnoff Corporation >> >>609-734-2538 >>