Mynah Adventures 6: Home Free
Published June 21, 2011
Sad to say, most times a wild bird is “rescued”, imprinted on humans and returned to the wild… they just don’t live long. Bird rehabilitators are very, very careful not to allow the birds to imprint on humans because that just tends to make them friendly, loving, human-centered cat treats when they are released.
That was the danger all along with Lele. But she made her choices.
My Hawaiian Name
Published June 21, 2011You may know that I’m an Anthropologist. One of the key things that I learned in that study is how utterly futile it is trying to “objectively” understand another culture. The same is even more true of trying to “become” a “member” of a different culture.
So when I was asked if I had a Hawaiian name I had to think very carefully how to answer.
Father’s Day
Published June 19, 2011In my 20′s we’d have long conversations in the kitchen when my dad would ask me about what I was doing and thinking. After I wound down he’d say “This is what your 20′s are all about: smashing your ideals against the world until they break. Then what you have left over is real.”
He died before I turned 30 and I never asked him what was coming next.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad.
“It’s only a model.”
Published June 18, 2011I’ve spent many years studying, working with and even helping teach and develop the 8 Shields Model with Jon Young and OWLink Media.
It has been several years since I moved to Hawaii and stopped working directly with the model and it has been interesting to see how the model applies to life, work and vision outside the relatively small circles of programs related to it.
First, the “road map” of human meta-cultural DNA that the model attempts to clarify and codify is always applicable to the individual. The core routines, shields, and cultural principles always hold valuable insight for me. If I’m stuck in one or more aspects of life there is always a way to flank the blockage and shake it loose. As a personal reflection and growth tool, the 8 Shields Model is pretty darned handy.
Beyond that it gets much trickier to integrate. And to a point, the better you are at using the model personally, the more your internal language reflects it… the harder it is to express both yourself and the model in mixed company.
Cue Monty Python voice:
Mynah Adventures 5: Letting Go
Published June 16, 2011Yes, Lele had been living 2 doors down. The way I figured it, when she was attacked she flew up and away in panic – as she should – but flew so far she didn’t know where she was. The husband 2 doors down, who was just getting ready to mow the lawn, happens to have a goatee like me and found himself being “mobbed” by a young Mynah looking for a comforting shoulder.
He and his wife figured out that it must be a lost, tame Mynah and eventually heard through the neighbor in between that we had a tame Mynah, too. A call and a short walk later Lele was once again in her cage in my room. Thanks to Meadow and Jesse she was alive, healthy and well fed.
You can imagine how relieved and happy I was.
Mynah Adventures 4: Gone
Published June 14, 2011She needed to learn how to live outside and the best way to learn that was from other birds. I checked on her every 10 minutes the first day, later every 15. The second day she was hanging out with the other birds but would always fly to me when I came out.
Then she was gone.
Mynah Adventures: Part 3 – The Miracle of Flight
Published June 11, 2011One of the most wonderful things about birds is that they fly and can go just about anywhere. It truly is amazing.
One of the most annoying things about indoor birds is that they poop and they can go just about anywhere. It truly is messy.
Lele has was rapidly reaching the point where her ability to fly and explore was exceeding my patience for covering up anything that couldn’t get pooped on – like my pillow. Soon it would be time for her to move outside. Where the cats live.
Mynah Adventures: Part 2
Published June 11, 2011If you ever have the opportunity to google what to do when rescuing a baby bird, be prepared to be surprised.
Did you know that its illegal? One moment that little bird was one among millions of young birds doomed to die horribly that spring, and the next it is a federally protected individual with rights and you could be breaking the law by helping it.
Silly, isn’t it?
Mynah Adventures: Part 1
Published June 10, 2011Life has taken a sudden and unexpected turn. For both of us. Just a few weeks ago neither of us would have had anything to do with each other but now we can’t imagine life without one another. She was snatched from the jaws of death and I was the only person available to follow through.
I have become “dad” to a baby Mynah. We’ve named her Lele – which is a Hawaiian word for both fly and jump. Both meanings apply.
The Chris Blog
Published June 9, 2011Do I really need a blog? Probably not.
And yet over the years I have had a variety of thoughts and experiences that I’ve felt would make interesting reading on a blog. Since I have a website already I might as well use it as a blog. And so… here’s a blog. You can, no doubt, so the flawless logic in my reasoning.
And for my first blog entry… have I ever mentioned how much I dislike the word “blog?” There is just nothing graceful about the word. Too close to slog, flog and grog. For some reason I always think of “blog” as referring to writing that unrefined and tedious by its very nature.
But I highly respect the artform at a whole. There are some excellent and well thought out blogs to be had these days. With any luck this will eventually be numbered among their company.
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