Sunday Facebook rant

"When buying or selling kittens and puppies, although people often want to "get rid of them" sooner than later, please keep in mind that for both puppies and kittens, they should not be rehomed until 8 weeks at the soonest.  Small breeds it is recommended 10-12 and kittens are generally 8-10.  The weeks between 6-8 are the weeks that puppies and kittens develop socialization skills.  If they are rehomed sooner than that, it is much more stressful for them.  Also, kittens are more able to find the litter box and hold their bladders at 8 weeks vs. 6 weeks.  And another reason is that puppies and kittens have sensitive stomachs and between 6-8 weeks their stomachs are sensitive to new foods and even new WATER sources!  In many states, it is illegal to sell a puppy under 8 weeks without a vet's written consent.  I know most people will ignore this, but please have a conscience about the health and well-being of your young animals.  They are just as cute and cuddly (if not more) at 8 weeks of age!"

I'm sorry, Cows!

One month when I was 18, I was a vegetarian.  I love animals and don't think that that should just include the fuzzy domesticated kind.

How cute are they??

Cows are adorable.  I lived next to a farm growing up and the cows would come up to the fence along the outside of our property.  I would feed them grass, attempt to pet them, heck, sometimes I would talk to them.  It broke my heart seeing them out in the freezing rain and cold.  I've often thought that if I ever get back to living in the country, I'd like to have a pet cow.

I want to be a vegetarian... couldn't do the vegan thing because I love cheese too much and I don't think I'd be able to remember everything that I'm supposed to avoid. 

I've seen the pictures and heard stories of how poorly farm animals are treated and how they are tortured right before slaughter.  Some of them that are sick or dying are left to die in fields and ditches.  I even watched a show once about a woman who had a farm that people would rescue sick or dying animals and bring them to her and she would try to get them better.  Occasionally she would get a call about a cow that was left to die and she would organize a covert mission in the middle of the night to rescue the cow.  Sometimes all it took was antibiotics to nurse that cow back to life.

How delicious does this look??

I can avoid pork, chicken, fish, etc.  Those aren't foods that mean much to me.  But I can't shake the beef cravings.  I go through withdrawal.  I have low iron and don't care for the supplements and I think that is part of my need for beef.  One of my favorite foods is cheeseburgers.  I love eating meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I can't help it, I'm weak!!

So I wrestle with my moral dilemma.  I don't want to contribute to the cows suffering, but I don't think I could have a happy existence depriving myself of beef.  My conscience has no rest.

If you write, write right.

As someone with my MA in English, I can be a bit of a Grammar Nazi.  I try not to do it with anyone but my immediate family, because I don't want to lose any friends over it.  No, if you use to or too incorrectly or their, there, they're incorrectly, I will just silently judge you and shake my head.  One of my huge pet peeves is when someone writes, "would OF" instead of "would HAVE."  When someone writes would've, it does sound similar to would OF, but it is a contraction for would HAVE... but I digress.

Almost yearly, the MLA comes out with new standards in English writing.  Some make sense, others I refuse to embrace.  And I think in most regards that should be a writer's prerogative.  As the new standards become implemented, teachers would have to be hardcore devoted to memorizing those standards and passing them on, which for public school teachers is a lot to add to their plate that includes little pay and stupid standardized testing requirements.  So, it could take a decade for some of this stuff to even be taught in public classrooms.

At the grad school I attended, there were come teachers who were very anal about adhering to every new comma rule, splice sentence, etc.  And I can understand their logic, but as someone who enjoys writing, please don't make us hate the English language.  I got my only C in grad school from an older lady professor who graded my essays harshly because I didn't write the way she wanted me to.  It wasn't about grammar, it was about order and opinion, etc.  I took the lower grades because I think it should be more about what you're saying than how you say it.  (Except the things like to and too and their and they're... those change the whole meaning of a sentence.)

My point is that when it comes to writing, shouldn't it be more about what is being said.  In all honesty, as an English teacher myself, every teacher wants something different.  This isn't math, where 2 + 2 will always equal 4.  I've had teachers who told me I used too many commas, some who said I didn't use enough, yet growing up, they taught you that if you were talking and would pause, that's where a comma would go.  They don't say that anymore.  Who talks about clauses anymore?  These comma happy/comma lacky teachers are just confusing their students by making them obsess over the technical aspects, when it should be about what the CONTENT is.  Especially when 9 times out of 10, your professor's/teacher's comma rules are outdated.

I'm sorry to all the writers out there who have spent hours editing their writing because someone has marked their work in red because they used a preposition at the end of a sentence of used three exclamation points, because you're only really "allowed" to use one. 

If you can take a stand, do it.  If you have to take a C because you know your writing is good and that old lady professor wants you to do it exactly how she does, go for it.  No one should have to conform their writing style.  There's something to be said for uniqueness. 

So all of you that use to and too incorrectly or their, there and they're wrong, stop it.  It's not that hard to figure out... seriously.  But if you are like me and grew up with two spaces after every period, don't change because your English teacher told you to.  What's wrong with two spaces after a period?  Does it make things read differently?  NOPE.  And did  you catch that?  I said "nope" and used a period at the end... but it wasn't a complete sentence because I didn't have a subject and a predicate.  Ugh.  Who cares!  Not this Grammar Nazi.