Artist #4: Joon Kim

Unlike a lot of the other artists I’ve commented on before, Joon Kim does art for a hobby. His usual styles include Japanese animation and traditional art by pencil and paper. One of my favorite of his drawings is titled, Art is a Creation…, which in itself is a pretty neat concept. In the drawing, an artist’s hand can be seen holding out a pencil and sketching the picture of a cartoon-like girl on scratchy yellow paper. As he draws, the girl comes to life and lifts out of the simple sketch, with her torso first appearing and then her dress. An eraser is set off to the side of the paper within the drawing and the shadow of the artist’s hand is in the forefront of the image.

One of the first steps a lot of artists take when they sketch is to generally round out a few circles and ovals and thin lines before adding layers of increasing detail. Kim acknowledges this in his piece, with the thinner, vaguer sketched lines at the bottom of the paper with the “incomplete” portion of the drawing and the increasingly solid and refined detail of the created work as the girl appears, and I think it’s really neat to see this progression.  I really like Kim’s work because of these surrealistic aspects of his pieces and his overall neatness and simplicity of design. In this piece, for instance, there is really only one color tone – a yellowy golden brown, with the occasional flicker of light yellow and white, but the viewer is really able to imagine this scene taking place. In many of his other pieces like Sunset and Reflection which also have a Japanese animation-style of art, Kim chooses to shade in light, airy colors and sunny skies which give the viewer the sense of a sun-shining day. (On a sort of side note, realistic-looking clouds are very, very hard to draw — and I think Joon Kim really masters this in his sketch, Reflection, which features a girl walking on a world covered with bright blue water, reflecting the poofy, cloud-filled sky.) All of his pieces seem to have a happy, bright theme, and he occasionally draws American-styled cartoons and Disney-themed sketches from the movie Tangled with quick, strongly-defined lines of ink. According to his artist statement, he frequently uses Derwent Graphic Soft Pencils and tissues for his traditional media drawings, which are all spectacular! You can view his gallery of works here.

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Artist #3: Silvia Colombo

Photography is a beautiful form of art. The breathtaking and graceful scenes captured by the Italian artist Silvia Colombo is proof of this. As an amateur photographer and stamp maker from Italy, Colombo frequently makes flowers and fauna from nature her main subjects. Her color scheme generally includes varying shades of leaf green, taupe, faint blue, lavender, and pink. Each photograph has a clear forefront — usually featurng a single spot of a tree or a flower petal — and a fuzzy backdrop of blurred, pastel-like colors to give a sort of perspective effect in which the viewer’s closeness to the flower or leaf or object is in focus. Each dewdrop on the flower’s petals are captured in sparkling clarity and rain comes across in trickling lines with Colombo’s skillful use of the polaroid camera.

photo

While aesthetics and composition are fundamental for any painting or photograph, I also think that naming each work of art is also really important in terms of artistic expression and merit. The fact that Silvia Colombo comes up with really thoughtful and creative titles for her pieces is an added bonus to her already awe-inspiring collection. She is able to post serene and peaceful photographs of turtles half-submerged in local ponds, leaves swaying in the wind, and roses peaking out from snowfalls and come up with names like: Dye Water with the Colours of Life , Season’s Stranger, and Beauty and the Frost. She also has ridiculously cute pictures of her cat, Layla, sleeping in funny positions. For instance, one of my favorite of her pieces is a photograph of an extended kitty paw which she titled “Deal?”. Occasionally, she also takes photographs of random everyday objects like pages in a worn book or an empty glass bottle and turns them into interesting compositions. For instance, her photograph, My Lucky Stars, features a corked glass bottle containing tiny, folded origami stars in a wide array of colors in an open field of grass.

Colombo was a self-taught artist who enjoyed taking pictures when she was little. Today, she uses a Canon PowerShot SX1 to capture her photographs and Adobe Photoshop CS4 to refine the colors of many of her pieces. Besides photography, Colombo also enjoys stamp making. Due to stringent copyright issues, I can’t directly re-post her work, but if you’d like to take a look at her gallery, you can view it here on her official website.

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Starting in the Middle of a Sentence and Rambling

–then the sun shines through when you ruffle your hair, and I don’t think you’ve even noticed how much of a difference you make with that smile and sparkle in your deep brown eyes — full of surprise, happiness, and laughter and everything about you that makes everyone around you just happy to be with you. I remember when I met you that rainy day all those months ago and you went out of your way to help me even though you didn’t have to — the way you lent me your steadying smile and reassuring confidence and helped me find my way again. Meeting you — with your stubborn optimism and infectious laughter — made me a better person, more willing and understanding and open to the world and all its trials and tribulations of life. You take these in stride with joy and humor and compassion. And it’s because of this — the way your chivalry and kindness and goodness are so grounded into your every action and being — that everyone who meets you and knows you will always admire and cherish you. Your refusal to give up on your dreams and your goal to always better yourself is endearing and inspiring, and every day I’ve known you has only worked to convince me more of just how lucky I am to have met you. You laugh and brush off compliments, but believe me when I say that your bravery and unwavering loyalty and strength mean the world to me. You’re always there, a friend to confide in and someone I know who will always have my complete and utter respect and trust. I know that I can expect honesty and clarity from you because that is who you are, and everything you do is heartfelt and kind and truly, spectacularly–

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Advocacy Project Update: African Library Project Website

So far, I’ve set up the homepage for my advocacy project website. I went to the Student Activities & Affairs Office at the HUB yesterday to set up the official web space and URL: http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/alp/

The Blogs @ PSU website format was really hard to edit (I couldn’t figure out how to remove the chicken picture!!), so I decided to move the site to wix.com and have people just be redirected from the psu.edu homepage. A lot of content still needs to be added, but so far I’ve added the the basic layout and a couple of pages. Right now, the site has an About page, a club calendar, and a contact form with some information about the club officers. I also created a slideshow on the front page with photographs from some of the libraries ALP has been able to help in the past. In addition, I set up a video gallery with some information about the national organization.

Here is a preview of what I’ve worked on so far:

preview

I plan on adding more information later about how many libraries we’ve been able to help start and what other student organizations we were able to work with in the past like the Shreyer Honors College Literacy Committee. I also want to post an image gallery and information about how we pack and ship the books in a FAQ section.

To help spread awareness, I also used a Google Search Engine Optimization tool so that the site will be easily search-able. I also plan on sharing the site URL on Facebook and other online platforms.

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Advocacy Project Proposal

**4/8/13 Update: I wrote this blog proposal a while back, and I think I’m actually going to switch my advocacy project topic from pet care to advocating for the Penn State African Library Project instead. I’m part of the organization here at Penn State — and we’re currently a pretty small service group with only a handful of active members. I wanted to persuade people to help out and volunteer with our book drives to start libraries in Africa. Since we don’t have a club website at this point, I thought it might be more useful if I utilized the advocacy project opportunity to create one for the African Library Project instead of going over pet care, since pet neglect may not be as relevant here around campus because most college students live in dormitories or apartments that don’t allow pets in the first place. If I do decide to go with the African Library Project route, I would be spreading awareness by emailing other service groups and getting into contact with friends and family. I also would put up posters around campus and have online poster downloads available on the website. In this case, my target audience would be college students mostly as well as all people in general who might be interested in helping out the cause by running a book drive within their communities back home and so on. In addition, I think that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook may be really effective in getting my message across just because many students (my intended target audience) today use these sites on a daily basis. My website would include pages like a calendar of meeting times, information about the national organization, and statistics on what areas in Africa we’ve been able to help in the past. Any suggestions on this topic (or pet care) would be appreciated!**

Old Proposal: (Pet Care)

For my advocacy project, I’d like to create a website that spreads awareness about animal neglect and abandonment and how people can take steps in everyday life to reduce the incidence of these forms of animal cruelty. My target audiences are prospective (and current) pet owners everywhere since these cases of animal cruelty often get overlooked even by people who are trying to be good pet owners.

In the past, I’ve used weebly, freewebs, and wix to create websites for school assignments and also as a hobby. Also, I’m also currently taking an online web design course this semester, so I think I will be able to utilize the online platform to advocate for animal welfare clearly. I plan on creating pages that list the statistics of animal neglect and abandonment as well as general standards pet owners should know for the most common type of pets like dogs, cats, and rabbits. Also, since pictures are usually really effective in drawing on people’s pathos, I’d like to utilize this in my website’s layout and formatting. I found a couple of pictures that I’d like to use at MorgueFile.com, a copyright free image database. I’m going to try to figure out how to embed a slideshow of pictures for the site’s header that features a lot of animals. I also took some graphic design classes in high school, so I’d like to make a few posters that people can download and print out from the website that highlight specific cases of animal neglect that often get overlooked — like when people leave their pets unattended in cars or keep their bunny locked up inside a cage without exercise. I think I want to make a poster that includes a real dog and a stuffed animal with a tagline that indicates that they are not the same since a surprising number of people I’ve noticed consider animals as “property” and therefore things to be discarded when inconvenient. I’m still thinking of ideas for these posters and what else I might want to include, but so far, I think I’m going to try to aim for 3-5 posters along with the other website content.

To really advocate for changes that might help reduce animal neglect, I would email my website URL to friends and family and ask for it to be forwarded to other people. I don’t have a twitter account, but I could try making one and somehow get into contact with famous people and try to convince them why they should care about these issues.  I could also try posting the link in the comments sections of news articles that are related to animal welfare cases or legislation. Another thing that I could try is sharing the posters I make on several social media platforms.

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work in progress persuasive essay

*still work in progress* Petcare Outline

Pet Care Licenses

(image source)

When people generally think of animal cruelty or abuse, they usually think of horrific acts of physical violence like dog fighting, puppy mills, or animal torture. However, statistics from almost every pet abuse database worldwide show that the most common cases of animal cruelty are not of vicious killings or animal maiming as one might expect from newspaper headlines and the media, but more often a less-obvious and overlooked form of cruelty: abandonment and neglect. In many of these cases, pet owners unknowingly provide inadequate food, water, shelter, or veterinary care to animals under their responsibility (Pet-Abuse.org). Unfortunately, these forms of indirect animal abuse occur with surprising frequency and devastating consequences throughout the United States.

Every year, thousands of bunnies are euthanized after pet owners buy the cute furry animals on impulse around Easter and later struggle to properly care for their needs, or worse, get bored and forget about them entirely. According to the Connecticut 3 Bunnies Rabbit Rescue, over 90% of rabbits purchased around Easter die before their first birthday from unintentional neglect due to improper diet, mishandling, or unrecognized illness (Stafford). Many others end up either being “freed” outdoors – where expected survival is less than three days due to predators and exposure – or else squished into a small cage in the back of a basement or garage with their only contact to the outside world with their owners at meal times. Moreover, statistics show that even with meeting the basic necessities to life of food, water, and shelter, neglected pets have significantly reduced life spans from lack of care and attention (Stafford). Happy, contented bunnies can live up to 9 to 12 years (TheBunnyBasics.com), but these Easter-impulse bunnies often don’t even make it past year one.

One of the reasons why animal neglect and abandonment are so common within the United States is because too often people see a cute animal at the pet store and decide to bring them home without fully considering the commitment and responsibilities of being a good pet owner. Often, neglected animals are first purchased as companions but are later forgotten or mistreated as people lose interest or have no understanding of how to handle a pet. One user on Yahoo Voices even had to the nerve to complain that her dog “expects” to be taken on walks even on the weekends  and vacations and that “it’s just a constant chore having a dog.”  Yet another woman in Kansas unfeelingly dumped her cat outside with a bag of cat food on the driveway before loading her kids in the car and driving away for vacation for over a week. Releasing domesticated animals into the wild with nothing more than kitty kibble is unacceptable abandonment behavior. Such heartless and thoughtless owners have no business owning pets. As a result, every year, over a quarter million animals throughout the country are neglected and abused. Many more cases go unreported (Pet-Abuse.org).

In many other cases, animal neglect and abandonment occur because many people have no idea that what they are doing is wrong. For instance, most reasonable pet owners would not lock their dogs in an oven, but over 66% of dog owners surveyed admitted that they have left or seen pets unattended in overheated cars while going shopping or running errands and out of those, only a third intervened (Hubbard). Similarly passive responses were found in the What Would You Do? ABC series where people’s responses were observed after seeing a dog trapped in a hot car (ABC News). This negligence on the part of the owner can be fatal for an animal, especially since animals can receive brain damage or even die from heat stroke within 15 minutes and studies conducted by the Animal Protection Institute have shown that hot cars can easily reach temperatures of over 100 degrees on a normal day just 70 degrees outdoors (PETA.org). Many other pet owners leave their dogs outside in the winter for hours, not realizing that doing so subjects them to a great risk for frostbite, pneumonia, and hypothermia (Gallegos).

Many pet owners unintentionally cause harm to their pets by improper care or failing to meet living conditions such as access to sanitation, exercise, and veterinary attention. Although the severity and incidence of animal neglect and abandonment are often underestimated, the consequences of inadequate care are often just as devastating as direct physical abuse when prolonged, as in the case of animal hoarding. For instance, many animal hoarders adopt dozens of strays and pets from local animal shelters with the intention of saving them (Gee). However, these individuals are usually overwhelmed by the sheer number of pets to look after and inadvertently cause harm to the animals by being unable to care for all of their basic needs, resulting in cramped, unsanitary living conditions and the slow starvation of the animals they are trying to help (Gee). Increased knowledge of basic pet living conditions as well as the restrictions placed on pet ownership may help curb such instances of inadvertent pet abuse.

Animals suffer because of this common conception that animals are just property to be taken care of only when it’s convenient and then abandoned or ignored when they become too much trouble. People should understand that being a pet owner is a full-time responsibility that you commit to for life, not just when it is convenient.  For this reason, animal cruelty may be significantly reduced by federal legislation requiring people to obtain a pet ownership permit before they are able to own or purchase a pet from shelters or stores. In order to reduce the incidence of animal neglect as well as other forms of animal cruelty, this government-regulated pet permit approval could be granted after first requiring prospective pet owners to pass a background check and meet a set of specified criteria and pet ownership knowledge. This stipulation would ensure that people in general are better pet owners and that each pet would be able to find a home where they are able to be properly cared for.

Permit distribution and regulation could be directed by a government agency such as the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service or even non-profit organizations that are committed to animal welfare such as the SPCA or the PETA. Each county could have pet ownership testing centers that would screen prospective pet owners and administer the pet permit qualification exams. Before anyone can be approved for a permit, a background check would be done to ensure that the individual has had no previous record of animal cruelty or related crimes. Additionally, different levels or classifications of pet permits could be distributed for species requiring greater fragile care such as exotic species of turtles. Many of the most successful animal shelters today incorporate strong education and awareness programs to advocate the proper treatment of adopted pets. For example, the highly successful Glendale Humane Society in California requires mandatory training sessions for the prospective pet owner before they are allowed to bring the pet home. With the institution of pet care permits, accompanying pet care classes could be offered. Additionally, the written exam could test for things like healthy body conditions and nutrition so that owners know what to feed their pets and when to bring their pet to the veterinarian. General knowledge such as the Purina Body Condition System chart, which includes descriptions for emaciated, underweight, ideal, overweight, and obese body conditions can be used to help pet owners determine whether their pet’s appearance is healthy. The person’s ability to meet the basics like food, shelter, sanitation, and proper veterinary care could also potentially be included in the criteria for obtaining individual pet ownership permits. In addition to providing the necessities of adequate food, water, and shelter, pet owners would also be held accountable for the general health and well-being of animals under their responsibility.

In a country where gun laws regulate the distribution of firearms and state-run transportation centers regulate the distribution of driver licenses, the implementation of pet ownership permits to prevent further animal cruelty is a plausible and necessary course of action. PennDOT, or the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, awards learning permits and driver licenses only after individuals first pass a written exam and a road test to demonstrate his or her capability of being a safe and reasonable driver. Similarly, a written exam taken at an animal rights center could be used to ensure that individuals are only able to adopt pets after proving their capability of being a caring and responsible pet owner. Moreover, like background checks before gun purchases, restrictions could be placed so that people with a history of animal abuse are prohibited from owning pets.

While it may be argued that requiring pet care permits would be logistically difficult to implement, the current prevalence of animal cruelty and neglect throughout the country necessitate such legislative measures. Moreover, the introduction of a pet permit is a natural progression in animal welfare legislation. Several stepping stones within the protection of animal rights in the past have demonstrated the feasibility and widespread impact of such legislative change. For instance, prior to the Animal Welfare Act of 1966, animals were left largely unprotected and subject to abuse from many businesses and dealers. The Animal Welfare Act was the first federal law to set standards for animal care regulations such as adequate feeding and watering as well as humane handling, shelter, sanitation, and veterinary care (USDA.gov). Today, the AWA requires all businesses involved with animal transportation, sale, experimentation, or public display to be licensed or registered with the USDA. Moreover, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service branch of the USDA makes periodic visits to all locations where animals are held to see that the Federal animal care regulations and standards are followed. If an animal dealer or business fails to meet Federal animal care regulations and standards, their licenses can be revoked and their businesses can be shut down (USDA.gov). Meanwhile, a few cities in America and all of Canada require dog licenses to verify that a dog has received its immunizations in order for people to be able to legally own dogs. Failure to license your dog results in a monetary fine (USDA.gov).

Additionally, in past court cases dealing with animal cruelty, judges have been able to ban animal abusers from being pet owners for either an extended period of time or thereafter in the future. For example, a woman in Scotland was banned from owning dogs after failing to seek veterinary attention for her Staffordshire bull terrier who suffered from a painful but treatable skin condition and had to be euthanized after the disease progressed too far (BBC News). In America, an animal abuser in California was prohibited from owning any type of pet for life (LATimes). Meanwhile, Michael Vick, the abusive quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, was banned from owning any animals for the duration of his probation after being prosecuted for dogfighting (LATimes).

The institution of pet ownership permits is a necessary course of action to prevent further animal cruelty. All acts of animal cruelty, whether intentional or unintentional, cause unnecessary suffering to animals. Moreover, unintentional animal cruelty is entirely preventable and resolvable through education of proper pet care. The implementation of a pet ownership permit regulated by the government would be a necessary and feasible course of action to prevent both intentional and unintentional animal cruelty in the future.

Works Cited

“Animal Abuse Statistics.” Pet-Abuse.Com. N.p., 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. <http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/cruelty_database/statistics.php>.

“Animal Welfare: AWA Licensing and Registration.” USDA.gov. United States Department of Agriculture, 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/licensing.shtml>.

“Companion Animals.” USDA.gov. United States Department of Agriculture, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://awic.nal.usda.gov/companion-animals>.

“Dogs in Hot Cars.” PETA.org. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.peta.org/issues/companion-animals/dog-hot-car.aspx>.

“Dog Left in a Car: What Would You Do?” ABC News. ABC News Network, 2009. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/video/dog-left-car-6800375>.

Gallegos, Alicia. “Animal neglect cases climb.” The South Bend tribune. 24 Jan 2008: A.1. Tribune Print. Co. 22 Mar 2013.

Gee, Michelle. “Unintentional Cruelty.” Examiner.com. Examiner.com, 1 Oct. 2010. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.examiner.com/article/unintentional-cruelty>.

“Glendale Humane Society.” Glendale Humane Society. Glendale Humane Society, 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.glendalehumane.org/>.

“Hamilton Woman’s Dog Cruelty Ban Welcomed.” BBC News. BBC, 26 May 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-13565026>.

Hubbard, Olivia. “Warning over Leaving Dogs in Cars.” Times of Malta. Times of Malta, 29 June 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120629/motoring/warning-over-leaving-dogs-in-cars.426512>.

“Man Who Killed Dog with Hammer Banned from Owning Pets.” LATimes.com. Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/10/no-contest-hammer-death-of-dog.html>.

“Rabbit Facts.” TheBunnyBasics.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.thebunnybasics.com/bb_rabbitfacts.html>.

Stafford, Scott. “Rethink that bunny buy: Easter impulse pets are ill advised.” The Berkshire eagle. 02 Apr 2010. Web. 22 Mar 2013. <http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_14805338>

“Report Animal Cruelty : The Humane Society of the United States.” Humanesociety.org. The Humane Society of the United States, 22 Aug. 2008. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/tips/cruelty_action.html>.

“What Class of Driver’s License Do You Need?” PennDOT Driver and Vehicle Services. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/driverLicensePhotoIDCenter/license_classes.shtml.

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Persuasive Essay Update

After researching animal rights issues and trying to figure out how I could introduce pet permits to America, I’ve learned a lot about current animal welfare legislation as well as the ethics of pet ownership and government regulation. Within current animal rights laws, I’ve found a few stepping stones already set in place that might help me make the argument that pet ownership permits are a natural progression in animal rights legislation. For instance, a few cities in America and all of Canada require dog licenses to verify that the dog has received its immunizations in order for people to be able to legally own dogs. Meanwhile, the Animal Welfare Act currently requires all businesses involved with animal transportation, sale, experimentation, or public display to be licensed or registered with the USDA. If an animal dealer or business fails to meet Federal animal care regulations and standards (which currently cover things such as feeding and watering as well as humane handling, shelter, sanitation, and adequate veterinary care), their licenses can be revoked and their businesses can be shut down.

I’ve also found that in past court cases dealing with animal cruelty, judges have been able to ban the animal abuser from being pet owners for either an extended period of time or thereafter in the future. For example, I found a BBC news article about
a woman in Scotland who was banned from owning dogs after failing to seek veterinary attention for her Staffordshire bull terrier who suffered from a painful treatable condition. In America, a court case ruled out a similar verdict — an animal abuser in California was banned from owning any type of pet in the future and Michael Vick, quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, was banned from owning any animals for the duration of his probation. (However, I think that extreme violations like Michael Vick’s actions should warrant be a lifetime ban, not just a one-year probation.)

Meanwhile, the government regulation of driver licenses and gun purchases helped give me insight on how the logistics behind pet owner permits might work. So far, I’m thinking that a government agency such as the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service or a non-profit animal rights organization like the SPCA could be in charge of regulating and distributing the pet ownership permits. Each county could have pet ownership testing centers that would screen would-be pet owners. Before anyone can be approved for a permit, they would be required to go through a background check and sit through a written exam that evaluates their capability as a pet owner. Like a driver’s license, a pet permit could be able to be taken away after misconduct.

I’m hoping to find compelling anecdotes about the consequences of animal neglect and abandonment that I can use to introduce my topic and that might help me make the case for increased government regulation as a necessity to prevent further animal cruelty.  Also, I know that a major drawback to requiring a pet permit would be that less animals may be adopted as a result. To help support my case, I hope to find more statistics about pet ownership that indicate that the quality of life of adopted pets would significantly improve as they are paired with families that are better able to care for them, which is the aim of requiring pet ownership permits.

I’m having some trouble finding news articles that specifically cover cases about animal neglect. Mostly, it seems like the stories that make it to the headlines are violent cases that involve unstable animal hoarders and direct physical abuse such as dog fighting. However, I have been able to find a NPR broadcast about a major pet abandonment problem that occurs every summer in France during the summer holidays — as families decide to go on vacation and leave their pets behind in shelters overexceeding their capacities or, worse, to fend for themselves in the wild. I also found one pet owner complaining about her dog in the comments section of a Yahoo opinions article, which I might decide to include in my essay for an example of a poor pet owner. She complained that she was required to walk her dog every day even during vacations and that “it’s just a constant chore having a dog” which I found particularly irritating seeing as she got the dog first and then decided that she didn’t want to take care of him…

For the next steps of my research, I plan on utilizing library resources and looking more into specific animal welfare court cases in the past.

Sources I’ve found helpful so far:

“Animal Abuse Statistics.” Pet-Abuse.Com. N.p., 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. <http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/cruelty_database/statistics.php>.

“Animal Welfare: AWA Licensing and Registration.” USDA.gov. United States Department of Agriculture, 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/licensing.shtml>.

Beardsley, Eleanor. “In France, The (Abandoned) Dog Days Of Summer.” NPR. NPR, 11 July 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.npr.org/2012/07/11/156609037/in-france-the-abandoned-dog-days-of-summer>.

“Companion Animals.” USDA.gov. United States Department of Agriculture, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://awic.nal.usda.gov/companion-animals>.

“Hamilton Woman’s Dog Cruelty Ban Welcomed.” BBC News. BBC, 26 May 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-13565026>.

“Man Who Killed Dog with Hammer Banned from Owning Pets.” LATimes.com. Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/10/no-contest-hammer-death-of-dog.html>.

“Report Animal Cruelty : The Humane Society of the United States.” Humanesociety.org. The Humane Society of the United States, 22 Aug. 2008. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/tips/cruelty_action.html>.

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Describing a Photograph

Norway 102 by Polish photographer Maciej Duczynski

A little more than half of the photograph features a still, open water lake.  The waters are perfectly calm — smooth and unwrinkled like glass and clear and reflective like a mirror of the cloud-dusted sky. Three unoccupied fishing boats float on top of the still water. Each boat is a different color and the boats are spaced unevenly apart; the two farthest left are nearer to each other and painted light and dark brown respectively while the fishing boat on the right is a slightly dark shade of apple red. Like the reflection of the sky, the shadow of the bottom of each boat is mirrored in the lake. Each boat dangles a fishing bobber over the side; the light brown boat floats a white bobber while the other two fishing boats float two red fishing buoys.

Meanwhile, the top portion of the photograph opens up to a large, afternoon sky.  Swirls of gray-white and alice blue interrupt the otherwise pure yale blue hue. Towards the bottom of the poofy layer of clouds, the sky is a shade of azure with dapples of cornflower and light blue. Several mountain peaks and cliffs are also visible in the backdrop of the photograph. Thousands of trees and bushes add a rough texture to the mountainside; each hill is covered with colorful bursts of yellow and mossy green. The sun is mostly hidden behind a large gray cliff but bright white rays of sunlight are able to shine and outline the edges of the rock. The cliff casts a long shadow over the left side of the lake, separating the light brown fishing boat from its brown and red companions.

On the right side of the photograph, the lake ends in what appears to be a man-made straight edge where a foundation of large gray rocks support a small waterfront property. The building is made of white-lined material with a blue-gray tiled roof and a frame of green painted around each window and door. In the bottom right corner of the photograph, a small portion of the road leading up to the lake is visible. The path is paved by flat gray rocks of varying sizes and the space in between each rock is filled with golden-brown soil.

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Persuasive Essay Proposal

For my persuasive essay topic, I’d like to advocate requiring a permit in order for people to be able to own pets. The problem today is that many people see a really cute kitten or puppy at the pet store and decide to bring them home without thinking seriously about the commitments and responsibilities required to be a dutiful pet owner. As a result, many people later end up neglecting or taking improper care of their pets afterwards. By requiring a permit for pet owners and having pet care classes (like driver’s ed classes for a driver’s license), steps would be taken to ensure that people would overall be better pet owners and that each kitten or puppy would be able to find a home where their needs are able to be met.

My target audience would be prospective pet owners and legislators who would be able to enact this change. Many people believe that they are doing an animal a favor by adopting them and bringing them home. However, the pet’s living conditions may be much worse if the caretaker is negligent or ignorant of proper care. In my essay, I would highlight the fact that the most common cases of animal cruelty involve neglect and abandonment on the part of the pet owner and that many pet owners are unaware of the harm they cause to their pets. I would also argue that people should make sure they fully understand the commitment and responsibilities involved before deciding to be a pet owner. As for the specifics of the permit, I was thinking that it might require all pet owners to be able to provide the basic necessities like shelter, food, water, veterinary care, and access to sanitation. Also, pet care classes could describe things like healthy body conditions and nutrition so that owners know what to feed their pets and when to bring their pet to the veterinarian.

To substantiate my claims, I would need to do a lot of research on animal neglect and law as well as the proper care of common household pets like dogs, cats, rabbits, and fish. (Fish, I would assume, would be some of the most abused pets because of their lack of vocal ability.)

For my advocacy project, I plan on either writing a letter to the local government voicing animal rights concerns or creating a website compiling my findings and advocating the need for stronger animal rights legislation.

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Heroic Simile

I.

Your laughter is like a splash of cool ocean water, refreshing and sparkling with crystal clarity as a beautiful, cloudless day passes by under the summer sun. The ocean spray is swept up by the wind as dappled waves bubble to the shore, lapping the sand and smoothing all creases with each playful tide.

II.

His fury is like the tempest, restless and unpredictable as streaks of lightning illuminate the dark night and a deafening roll of thunder echoes over the valley. With lines of blinding white sparring in the sky, the tempest crashes down upon distant peaks in the land, emblazoning faraway forests with instant fire. The flames bring wood to ashes until swept away by the forthcoming rain.

III.

The rain is like a dance, a dance in which the orchestra has just begun and the partners have just gotten to their feet: standing idly at first then tapping and twirling along the floor with the quickness and symphony of thousands of nimble feet. The dance is a composition of graceful leaps and bounds, majestic and full of life.

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