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44 Comments

  1. Dianne
    April 20, 2017 @ 10:54 am

    OMG, you need to keep these two. I cannot imagine them having to start over again. Please!!!

    Reply

  2. Nora
    April 20, 2017 @ 10:55 am

    You should keep these two fur babies and they would be great mentors for all the foster kittens in your future!

    Reply

  3. Catherine W.
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:01 am

    I like your dad.

    Reply

    • Bernie
      April 21, 2017 @ 1:21 pm

      Me too!

      Reply

  4. Eleanor Villeneuve
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:02 am

    I wouldn’t, but your Dad will probably have something to say about ‘de-thawed’.

    Reply

    • Gerry
      April 20, 2017 @ 11:54 am

      I was thinking the same thing…. 🙂

      Reply

      • Bernie
        April 21, 2017 @ 1:22 pm

        Me three!

        Reply

  5. Suzanne Forbes
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:09 am

    Thank you so much for saying everything I have ever thought about Elizabeth Wurtzel and Cat Marnell, so much better than I could have. Since I spent the 80s doing heroin in the East Village but have never made a dime off it, I resent them both terribly, yet the tiny bit of Wurtzel I read…I liked. Possibly the same would be true of wee Miss Marnell. I will never know, and I will never need to, thanks to you!

    Reply

  6. Diana C.
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:14 am

    Thanks to your previous article, am fostering two bottle-fed kittens right now… and I’ve never even owned a cat before. Sent you an in-box message with photos.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      April 20, 2017 @ 11:24 am

      You BEYOND made my day. THANK YOU.
      xoxo!!!!!

      Reply

      • ginmar
        September 4, 2017 @ 4:01 pm

        I started fostering cats and kittens this year. I got my first adopted, a little ex-feral ginger who would rub his cheek against mine. Now I have four feral kittens, their mom, and their uncle, plus my own cats, and the feral I feed in my yard who I keep trying to TNR. I’ve been feeding him for two years, and he still growls at me, but he also comes to the door if I’m a minute late. That’s how I wound with a grumpy old ex-feral, ex-tomcat sleeping grumpily on my pillow every night, squawking at me and coming when I call his name, rolling on his back with bunneh feetz when he wants his (now) chubby tummy rubbed.

        Keep up the good work!

        Reply

  7. pigtowndesign
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:20 am

    Hey! Do you know about Alley Cat Allies? They’re national, but DC-based. A friend does some work for them. You should know about Kim Stallwood (www.kimstallwood.com) and the work he’s doing with animal issues, including “animal studies” which are akin to women’s studies, or European studies. He’s a fascinating man.

    Reply

  8. Amy G.
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:28 am

    OMG I wish I could take the kitties! I would drive down to Philly and everything. Alas, we are full up with cats for the time being. But thank you so much for doing what you do! xoxo

    Reply

  9. Em
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:30 am

    Such cute brothers! Our family adopted kitty sisters 3-1/2 years ago and they still LOVE to cuddle together.
    (Insert smooth transition here)
    We have a freezer full of kale and I could use some recipe ideas. Is the first photo of a stew/soup? It looks yummy!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      April 20, 2017 @ 12:04 pm

      I am not great with recipes… (because following instructions is not my favorite?) I mostly throw whatever vegetables in a pan with garlic and olive oil… and then it goes on top of whatever grain/beans/etc. (I think that first photo has barley and some unusually giant fava beans.) But if you are doing pasta, I can endorse the kale cooked with plenty of garlic/oil/some halved cherry/grape tomatoes and LOTS of olives. (I love olives) And it makes a great cold pasta salad too! Try a bit of lemon, if you’re into that.

      It’s also great with sesame/peanut sauce which I love on anything (I just blend stuff until sauce tastes good to me, but this is approximation: garlic cloves (I go heavy, but start with one) 1/4 cup pb/almond butter/tahini, 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons maple syrup (or agave) 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger, you might need some water to thin it if you want)

      Reply

  10. Shanna
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:39 am

    Those are the exact personalities I need for my new kittens. We are down to one and need to get her a friend. Wonder if they would adopt to someone in Wisconsin.

    Reply

  11. Kit Odom
    April 20, 2017 @ 11:55 am

    Really? Did you really mean to say this: “I think people’s real problem with Elizabeth Wurtzel is that she no longer looks the part… society only celebrates deeply-flawed women who are young and beautiful (and white, duh!)”? Off the top of my head, I offer Billy Holiday. I think it was the “and white” part that set me off. I wish people, especially ones I like and admire, would stop making stuff about race when it rarely is. I am tired of being accused of being a bigot when I mostly could not possible care any less.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      April 20, 2017 @ 12:38 pm

      I don’t think of Billie Holiday as being celebrated for her addiction? The two women I’m talking about are writing (pretty much) exclusively about their addictions. Cat Marnell in particular had an online presence (prior to book deal) dedicated to taking drugs and writing about it; she was profiled in NYT specifically for it, and had a job based on it.

      I do think that if a woman of color wrote about taking drugs in the same way, race would be a factor… maybe not to you! But I do think some people would respond differently to someone not meeting society’s endorsement of female attractiveness: blonde, young, thin.

      The same way I feel like older white guys can abuse substances, act like nuts, and still be seen as powerful/virile/passionate… meaning they are not defined by their addiction… they can be more than one thing— but I feel like female addicts are defined much more narrowly.

      Reply

      • Kit Odom
        April 20, 2017 @ 1:35 pm

        Thanks for the clarification. I’ve decided that this comes under the heading of having-a-lot-to-loose. Young, blond, pretty, white are all seen as having-it-all-but-throwing-it-all-away. Maybe it’s not a story if fat, ugly people become addicted. O.J. Simpson and Aaron Hernandez had it all and threw it all away. I still think, however, that if a rich, beautiful black woman (and maybe not ever rich) became addicted, the story would sell. (And please tell your dad that after rereading my comment I was horrified to see that didn’t say “possibly” instead of “possible” but that I would really like to know if I should have put the question mark after the quote. I think that’s the proper placement but I’m not sure. My grammar is good ~I caught the who-whom thing~ but my punctuation is “iffy.”)

        Reply

  12. Kaitlin
    April 20, 2017 @ 12:20 pm

    Nice to see More, Now, Again getting some credit. I think it’s miles better than Prozac Nation, and was a major catalyst in my own life.

    Reply

  13. fixitchick
    April 20, 2017 @ 12:22 pm

    behbeh kittehs, sooo fwuffeh! Want! I volunteer at a no kill shelter, though more and more often I do adoption and tabling events. Because I get attached, and want to take them all home. and my mildly allergic husband, and 18 year old grumpycat [who has a complicated rx food and medication regimen], would not much like that.

    Garden wise, I’m having really really good luck with sungold cherry tomatoes. They’re prolific, sweet, and pretty. and lower in predator risk than the red ones. I have found that my basil does well in it’s under story and doesn’t get as sunburned. Satchmo supervises from the porch, wondering what the hell I am doing out there when I could be inside providing him with better service.

    Meanwhile, we managed to get another room tiled [yay, halfway mark!], and I am writing this instead of grouting. But grout I must, because like the redcoats, my in-laws are coming. It’d be nice to put the furniture in the rooms where it goes, instead of higglety pigglety dresser-in-the-dining room, just-put-it-anywhere, so we can do this room style we’ve got going on right now. Not that they aren’t nice people, but I don’t want to go to the dining room to collect my undergarments while they are staying with us. They are ‘Hire someone to do it’ people, and the on-going nature of our renovation makes no sense to them.

    Reply

  14. Cynthia Paschen
    April 20, 2017 @ 12:54 pm

    OK, I have a question about freezing kale. If I tried even one glass jar of frozen kale, I would drop it on the floor or one way or another end up with broken glass everywhere. Do you not like using freezer bags? How do I avoid breaking the glass jar?
    Signed,
    Your clumsy friend Cynthia

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      April 20, 2017 @ 1:23 pm

      You can absolutely use bags (it would be easier!) I have some concern about plastic (even BPA-free) but not everyone shares my phobia… Paul would prefer we bag, but I like to make everything complicated!

      Reply

    • Dawn
      April 20, 2017 @ 1:35 pm

      I was going to ask the same thing Cynthia did. I was taught to never use glass for freezing because of breaking, which would totally happen to me as well.

      Reply

      • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
        April 20, 2017 @ 3:28 pm

        for what it’s worth– the kale doesn’t expand the way a liquid would… I didn’t lose any to breakage! (although now that I’ve written that, I will!)

        Reply

  15. Sam | Away She Went
    April 20, 2017 @ 2:12 pm

    I hope your boys find a great home! Fostering is the most rewarding, heartbreaking experience of my life. We live in Phoenix and the shelters here are so overcrowded. People are so bad about spaying and neutering their dogs in this area (and most places). We started fostering pitbulls last year for a rescue group that transports them to Washington and Canada. There’s a higher demand for them vs. Phoenix where probably 90% of dogs in the pound are pits. Our last one left a couple weeks ago and I did not handle it well. I cried in front of everyone and the entire drive home. I miss that little goof, but I’ve been in contact with her new owner and she seems happy…and even has a baby to play with. So yay for fostering!

    Reply

  16. Carrie Knapp
    April 20, 2017 @ 2:48 pm

    “But like an idiot, I failed to be enterprising and take heroin or angel dust so that I could write about it in a way that is exciting and reckless rather than boring and tedious.”

    Amen.

    PS I would take the cats in a heartbeat if it weren’t for shipping issues. And the five I already have.

    Reply

  17. Diana I.
    April 20, 2017 @ 4:44 pm

    I’m with everyone urging you to keep those sweet babies!!! Many, many years ago I had sister cats who had the same coloring as the those two. We only were going to take one cat, but could not leave her sister behind. So glad we didn’t. Wish I lived near Philadelphia.
    My daughter has a dad just like yours!

    Reply

  18. Shireen
    April 20, 2017 @ 5:00 pm

    Elizabeth, Love your kitty pictures! We volunteer at the Contra Costa Humane Society in No Calif. and we are the permanent companions of 2 tortis, one cow kitty and a long hair black kitty. They rule our lives and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Thank you for all you do in support of animals!

    Reply

  19. Pat S
    April 20, 2017 @ 8:24 pm

    Those kittens are too cute for words. You really should keep them. Personally, I hate kale but I think you will find those jars even easier to fill with a wide mouth canning funnel like this.
    https://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Mouth-Plastic-Funnel-Green/dp/B000HJ99XS/ref=pd_bxgy_79_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000HJ99XS&pd_rd_r=2K6P1GSVJR0RGBEVGGVY&pd_rd_w=ZyFBt&pd_rd_wg=YEbis&psc=1&refRID=2K6P1GSVJR0RGBEVGGVY

    Reply

  20. phyllis
    April 20, 2017 @ 8:55 pm

    “Hands up they’re playing my song” … I dub little Mouse “Miley” 😀

    I have secretly wondered what lovely food would come out of your well-planned kitchen. I have known people with some mighty fine bells and whistles in their kitchens and come to find out they eat bologna sandwiches and cheese puffs. We fry our bologna down south but that only requires one stick of butter and a skillet on a burner. Anyway, I’d love to see more of what you make, if you want to share!

    Reply

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