We’ve moved away from our old neighborhood and so don’t come up here very often anymore.  But I used to drive this way every day on the way home from work.  And almost always would get the red light at Broad, so had to sit on this entry street, and in every kind of weather there was this wiry guy, a black guy maybe, dark-skinned anyway with wavy-curly hair, approaching the stopped cars for money.  Today my husband is driving and he starts to power up his window as this guy approaches.  I motion him to put it back down, and he’s confused – you know this guy?

In Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon wrote “One could argue that black people face many disadvantages in the United States today, but there is little research into how gene expression could be altered to make the next generation of children born to black parents come out with straight, flaxen hair and creamy complexions.”(pg 4) I do not think Solomon thought this thought through. There may not be research, but I do still think there is a desire. Many black women relax their hair so that it is smooth and thin and straight just like white women’s.

Anne Dalke references Donna Haraway's idea of a"companion species." Though we evolved from animals and continue to interact with them, it seems that the gap between humans and the "other" is expanding. I question the idea that we have a "companion species" because even in the example Anne Dalke gave relating to how Haraway communicated with her dog; one cannot ignore the fact that dogs were domesticated by humans. Dogs have been trained for years to be friendly, obedient, constantly search for human attention, to love, and to care.

Relating to the concept Anne explored in her post, I have seen dogs intereact with and understand humans in the way that Donna Haraway described, and my interactoions with my dog seem to have fashioned a more two-wayed communication than your confusing interaction with the cows.  Back home I have a 120 pound Golden Retriever named Max.  So many poeple harp on him for being a big, doofy dog but in truth, he is quite sentient.

In a room of 20 she sat semi growling and barking behind this metal cage. Her paws swept under attempting to pat my feet. She'd pounce against the fence almost within range of my eyes. But as my gaze drew towards her moist nose and glassy brown eyes, I noticed a yellow sign in the corner. A list of characteristics describing her aggressive manners and unability to fully be trusted among other dogs or people. So here I was at the Houston ASPCA staring at this beautiful German Shepherd Lab mix staring back at me.