But Why Are They so Chubs?
We did the weekly weigh-in and had a bit of a surprise. The more rotund cats gained quite a bit of weight, and for once we didn’t have an obvious explanation for it. When we go to the big city and they are left to manage their own intake, we expect them to go overboard and deal with their feelings by stuffing their cute little faces with kibbles. But this last week, we were home. Everyone was relaxed. No big feelings were had.
Then my lovely spouse checked the calories on their new wet food. And there was the culprit. I’m glad that we figured it out, but I think our little furry babies will be less glad when they get a bit less food on their plate at lunchtime tomorrow. Either that or we’re going to have to hunt for a different brand. That’s not easy when they have such diverse dietary needs.
Two From Langston Hughes
It is rare that I am able to get through a compiled edition of an author, but I could not resist Everyman’s Library’s new printing of three books from Langston Hughes. The Weary Blues, Not Without Laughter, and The Ways of White Folks all in one beautiful volume. I reviewed Not Without Laughter a few years ago and liked it enough to try to seek out more of Hughes’ work. And that’s when I was brought to the rather harsh reality that it isn’t exactly easy to find. That seems ridiculous considering how big of a role he had during the Harlem Renaissance and how much he’s referenced by contemporary writers.
The Weary Blues
I was especially excited to see that this volume included a book of Hughes’ poetry, The Weary Blues. It’s hard to express just how incredible his verse is. Often, it is the perfect union of opposites. Harsh and beautiful. Joyful and full of grief. Hughes brings to life the many juxtapositions and oxymorons of Black experience in the Jazz age. His love of music and of Harlem shines through all of it like the most delicate and multifaceted of gossamer threads. There is a yearning here for not just equality and justice, but for human beings to be better human beings. Beyond colour, Hughes asks the reader to see muscles, blood, sinew, and bone. My particular favourites were ‘Troubled Woman’, ‘Suicide’s Note’, and ‘The Jester’.
The Ways of White Folks
Having now read The Ways of White Folks, which is a collection of short stories, I can say that I think Hughes’ skill shines more in the medium of shorter prose than in a novel. Not Without Laughter was a powerful book, but the stories in The Ways of White Folks use a minimal word count to punch the reader in the gut and point out acts of racism both large and small, obvious and insidious. It is a criticism of systemic racism and the white people who profited from it. Like Baldwin after him, Hughes points out the hypocrisies and the ignorance but also seeks to point out that there are whites that also suffer by their own hand and their own blighted society. In ‘Cora Unashamed’ this point is brilliantly made. I also loved ‘Little Dog’ as well.
Diet Plans
When I say diverse dietary needs, I mean diverse dietary needs. This calorie disparity only really impacts the younger girls who are a bit less fussy, and who have a bit more flexibility in their foods. It’s still not as much flexibility as I would like. And just because I can switch them to another food, doesn’t me that they will thank me or do much more to any new food other than sniff it. I love my cats dearly, but they are pampered and they know it.
