In cold weather, we try and give the animals great or alfalfa vitamin hits to boost their energy and help them stay warm. There is a lot of snow and ice on the ground, there is no foraging, little warmth from the sun. Maria gathers the sheep to her, then the donkeys, it is always a beautiful thing to see the connection she has with our animals.
I had one of the nicest and most memorable evenings of my life tonight, Maria and I and George Forss and Donna Wynbrandt went to the Round House Cafe at dusk to hang our joint photo show – “Looking At Our World,” the photographic perspectives of George and me. Maria acted as the show’s curator, she and George and Donna figured out where the photos would go and she skittered around like a monkey hanging the pictures up, dragging a ladder around, moving benches and chairs and tables.
How lucky, I am, to have a partner like that, so competent, easy to work with and creative. Agile, too. George said a dozen times we would not have survived the night without her. Everybody pretty much ignored me, so I was free to follow George around with my video camera, and I shot a nine minute video that focused mostly on George and revealed the depth of his personality, experience and genius. He was in a great mood tonight, and he talked about his encounters with Jackqueline Kennedy Onassis, David Douglas Duncan, Pete Seeger and his boat the “Clearwater” and described how he took some of his most famous shots.
We were all thrilled with the end results, our different styles meshed perfectly, George was touchingly solicitous of my photos, worried about making sure all of mine got up (all but one did). I love George, he is a rare human being, an authentic genius and a great friend and I think was able to capture the feel of putting an art show together – he and Maria and Donna worked wonderfully together.
George was in his element, he knows art and photography as well as anyone, and Maria is extraordinary competent at pulling a show together, you can see in the movie how well the two sparked off of one another. George and I are easy enough together now that he was not shy in front of the camera. This is the George Forss I have come to know and love. It was a special night for me, I am so happy to see my photos up alongside of George’s, a big moment for my photography. The reception is February 20, at the Round House, 1 Washington Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. All of my photos, matted and framed, are priced at $200.
Come and see this little movie, a window into a special night in my life, and a chance to get to know a remarkable man, a brilliant artist and a generous and loving friend. I watched these two all night and thought what a lucky man I am to have a wife like this and a friend like this.
I got a lengthy message yesterday from Kathy, a long-time reader of the blog from California, who was uncomfortable with my writings about the carriage horses of New York, she said she loves my work, has read all of my books, but disagrees with me about the horses and could no longer read the blog if I was going to continue to write about the horses and since I was clearly becoming an “activist,” a dread word in America, next to being a socialist perhaps. This was a sad thing, she wrote.
I thought it didn’t need to be a sad thing, it was not a tragedy to leave my blog and go read someone else’s, Americans are learning every day on cable news to hate people they disagree with and to avoid any kind of opinions they don’t like or approve of. People on the “left” do it, people on the “right” do it, this is a spreading virus in the land of the free and the brave, the birthplace of democracy and protected speech. If she doesn’t like my blog or my opinions, she should, of course, go elsewhere and I wish her nothing but happiness and peace. This is by now a very familiar ritual for me, people letting me know they can no longer abide me if I disagree with them. I can’t say it is hurting me or the blog, bedlamfarm.com is soaring.
Writing online, publishing a blog that draws nearly 200,000 visitors a month, one of the things I spend much time on these days is handling disagreement. My policy is quite clear – disagreement is welcome, hostility, propaganda, personal attacks, the challenging of other people’s motives is forbidden. My Facebook pages are safe zones, I consider them my online home, I expect people to treat me the same way they would if they were sitting in my living room, and I expect them to treat others that way also.
I monitor the pages once or twice a day – this is not an obligation I can hand off to anyone else. If I see overt hostility, I ban the offender instantly and without warning. Sometimes I have to tone down posts, messaging people and asking them to be civil, to simply state their positions and not engage in personal arguments, the sort-of-one-on-one spiraling that rarely leads to enlightenment. This shocks many people, some are just not able to do it. When I send messages like this, the angry posters are not surprisingly angry and offended. They are, after all, angry posters. They unfailingly accuse of me of stifling dissent, of disliking anyone who disagrees, of personal attacks on them, they usually storm off in a huff and go somewhere else to be angry. And good riddance to them. Once in a while, they apologize and return, they are welcome back, mostly they vanish, not to be heard from again. I think they go off to Angry Land, where they can sent hostile texts and e-mails to other angry people day and night.
Social media lends itself to obsessive arguing, people trade messages back and forth for hours. I don’t permit people to argue directly with one another. I often resent the time it takes to police my Internet communications, there seems to be an endless supply of angry people, and I realize over time many of them have simply forgotten or never learned how to disagree in a civil way. Many just don’t know what I’m talking about, they would much rather huff and puff than listen or learn, or even talk. I try to see them as human beings, to be civil, I don’t always succeed, but mostly I do.
I have to tell people that it is my blog, I am paying for it, and I have the right to say what I wish. People frequently respond by suggesting I am too weak-minded or susceptible to brainwashing to understand what the correct position is. There are links and propaganda blogs to substantiate and argue every conceivable position in the world.
I choose to focus instead on the many – and growing – number of thoughtful and intelligent posts, many agreeing with me, many not. People are sick of the hostility online, they are willing to fight for something better, to form a community around ideas and conversation.
I am not used to agreement in my life, it is not necessary for me. But my boundaries in this new world are clear: if people disagree with me or others on my website and social media pages, they will do so in a civil and respectful way. I take responsibility for the words I write and for the safety and respect accorded the good people who read my blog and my books. I owe it to them to manage disagreements in a civil way. I owe it to myself as well, the Internet has been turned into a cesspool by violent and angry people, this site is part of a broad effort to take real conversation back.
In the coming days and weeks I will be writing more about the carriage park horses, it is an important issue for animal lovers anywhere, it is an important issue for me. I don’t have an exact breakdown but I know many people disagree with my feelings about it. That is okay with me, I have no trouble standing in my truth as I see it. People who question my motives or the motives of other people, or who think me too weak-minded to make up my own mind ought not be wasting their time here. There are plenty of blogs out there that will make them happy.
In the meantime, I have become sadly skilled and experienced at dealing with disagreement. I am a master of the “ban” button, it gives me the greatest pleasure to boot nasty people off of my website and send them back into Angry Land, they are citizens of a hostile universe. Everyone of them I kick off is an affirmation of freedom and dignity.
Call it a communications with animals lecture and lesson.
There are two days to go before the funding period for my Kickstarter Project “Talking to Animals” ends, and several of my backers have suggested adding one new and final reward in the short time left – a visit to Bedlam Farm for those pledging $250 or more. We do plan to have two Open Houses on the farm this year, one in June, the other in October, so people can visit the farm for free. But in the context of the “Talking To Animals” project I wanted to offer backers a private tour as well, a chance for them to meet the animals who will be featured and photographed in the project.
I would like to show people what I mean by communicating with animals, share what I have learned – call it a communicating with animals lesson. I’ll demonstrate how I have trained my dogs – Red, Lenore and the now famous Frieda, introduce people to Simon and Lulu and Fanny, and talk about my “Talking To Animals” project. I would welcome input and feedback from visitors, this is already an interactive and collaborative project – all the backers will be listed in the book’s acknowledgements, people who pledge $80 or more will receive a signed copy of the “Talking To Animals” book.
The “Talking To Animals” project is the culmination of 15 years of my life with donkeys, sheep, dogs, goats, chickens and barn cats. Maria and I have learned a great deal about communicating with animals – from food to voice to mental preparation and the sharing of emotion. We need a language for communicating with animals, they don’t have our language or narratives in our heads, although we often think they do. I think my work is evident in the animals themselves, come and see. I remind you that you can come to the farm’s Open Houses for free if you wish – details on Maria’s website, but this, obviously, will be a private and more focused tour. I will be conduct it, I will be eager for your input and feedback.
Whether you pledge to visit the farm or not, I thank you for your interest and support, I asked for $9,000, I have already received $14,000, most of the money will go for new and expensive photographic equipment – and time – necessary to do this project justice. I am grateful to Kickstarter for funding so many arts projects, this one will close on Wednesday morning at 9:21 a.m.
Ice whiskers are a new daily feature of our mornings, this winter is focused and determined, it hangs on and on, and many parts of the country have been hit harder than we have here. I think the animals adapt more easily than we do, they cling to the Pole Barn go out and soak up the sun when they can, they still want their daily carrots, their treats, we brush them for as long as we can stand to be outside. This morning it was 10 degrees, 20 degrees higher than it was yesterday.
I can hear some spring songbirds outside of the window, they are starting to show up, the sun is higher and brighter in the sky, I feel Spring creeping just around the corner.
