Author: Matthew Baya

Emily & Matt Newsflash – We have a dog now

Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 12:36:31 -0500
To: (everyone we could think of that might be interested)
Subject: Emily & Matt Newsflash – We have a dog now

Ok.. belated news here from the Baya household, for those of you who we haven’t talked to in the past few weeks… we have a dog. Seeger (as in Pete Seeger) is a 90 lb Black Lab/Rottweiler/Newfoundland mix.. looks mostly like a big black lab with a little white on his chin, neck and chest. His paws are a little brown too and he even has a white toe or two on his back paws.. but basically a big black lab. Supposedly only a year old, but we don’t know for sure.

How did we get this dog? Well… here’s the story and a summary of what he’s like. Pardon the length, I just wanted to give those of you who want the long story a chance to hear it. For those of you who want to skim over this, that’s ok, we wont take it personally 😉

We went to the house of someone we had been corresponding with the owner via e-mail who claimed to have a 1 year old Newfoundland mix dog for sale. This was on Sunday 9/24 in Lisbon, Maine (near Lewiston). We arrived around 2 and found this big friendly loveable dog… at a house that was falling apart, surrounded by trash with several other dogs all chained up around it. Seeger, who they called Bear, btw, was chained to a tree surrounded by bags of trash that he had obviously eaten (or been fed depending on your point of view). Plastic bags of garbage had been chewed open by one or all the dogs and there were lots of plastic / rubber trash objects all around Seeger’s tree with chew marks on it (we’re guessing he ate the smaller objects… yuck) The area around his tree was very worn, and the whole place was just disgusting.. no other words really do this place justice. If the garbage wasn’t all over.. and we mean ALL over the place, it would just be a slightly worn house.. but with the garbage… egads… anyways.. Seeger had mud and pine sap stuck to his fur and it was obvious he hadn’t been groomed for a while. We’re still working on getting this out in some places.

The people at the house (we only saw 3, the woman we were buying the dog from (age 27 guess), her 6 month old child, and her sister (age 18 maybe) were friendly enough (who wouldnt be if people showed up to buy your dog?). I guess their mother was inside the house too though we never saw her. They had said he was friendly and a good dog in my correspondence with them before we came there, but when we talked to them they kept calling him stupid and annoying and it seemed obvious to us that he was just a chore as far as they were concerned.. .I guess the ‘puppy’ novelty wore off and now they just wanted to get rid of him. He was very happy to see us, and was well behaved besides being excited and tugging at his chain to get to us. Some jumping up on us but he stopped when we pushed him down.. or at least he stopped for a little bit… nothing aggressive, just excited friendly jumping. To be expected from any dog left chained to a tree for a period of time I would guess.

It was obvious he liked being with people and I think he was really just lonely. The woman we were talking to said her boyfriend and her nephews had played with the dog and brought him toys and such, which we believe since he does seem like he likes people and kids. Since we’ve had him we haven’t let him off the leash to play with any kids or other dogs but I suspect that all that would result would be some slobbering/licking on the child or other dog 🙂 We’ve never seen him show any aggression towards any other dog or person, and even with our cats he pretty much just corners and barks at them.

So to continue with the story of how we got this dog… He wasn’t the kind of dog we were looking for (we wanted a Newfoundland mix, this dog is really a black lab mix that MIGHT have some newfy in him, but not at first glance) and their definition of ‘good with cats’ was different than ours (“oh he just barks at them from a distance” (But he’s chained to a tree? What does he do when he’s near one?). Had this house been a bit nicer, we might have said ‘no thanks, we’re looking for a newf’, but we couldn’t leave him there. Trust me.. if you saw this place you’d have taken him too. He is a good and friendly dog, he’s just not used to being treated as a real pet as opposed to a chore tied to a tree outside 🙁

So now we’re trying to crate train him and he’s doing well.. a little whimpering barking for about 20 – 30 minutes at night, but he settles down and stays quiet until we get up. We walk him in the morning and then crate him again until we get home in the afternoon, and he’s usually asleep when we get home. We’ve found he likes stuffed/soft things to chew on but pretty much shreds/tears them apart within a short period of time. He hasn’t chewed on any of our furniture but then again we haven’t left him alone for long either so we don’t know how he would do if left inside unwatched for a long period of time. We just introduced him to tennis balls yesterday and he seemed very happy with one in his mouth.. we also realized he can close his mouth with the tennis ball in it so you can’t tell he has it. Did we mention he’s a big dog? 🙂

We walk him 3 or 4 times a day right now.. morning for a long 30-40 minute walk, afternoon 2 short walks when either of us get home, and around 11 for 20 – 30 minutes before bed. He tugs on the leash a bit but if you stop and pull him back he comes, unless of course he sees some animal in the bushes he wants to chase but he even them he doesnt pull too hard and comes back if you pull the leash and yell. Occasionally he breaks into a full speed run and gives us a good tug but we’ve made it clear to him that this makes us upset. We found a great place to walk dogs near our house, old logging trails that go into the woods for miles. We are now wearing flourescent orange hats and vests and Seeger gets a bright orange bandana too since hunting season has begun and we’re a bit worried.

In the house he likes to be with us whereever we go, which is a new experience for us seeing as we were cat people before this..he’s always RIGHT there. We’ve taken to keeping him on a leash inside so that one of us can do stuff without a dog in our face. Not that he’s really in the way or obnoxious. When he’s excited he jumps up on us or the couch but we’ve been consistent that this isn’t allowed and he seems to be catching on. Also has trouble relaxing in our house cause everytime he sees a cat he gets excited and starts to go after it. So far he has just barked at the cats and we’ve sealed off our bedroom as a ‘cat safe’ zone and we don’t let him in there. At times when the cats haven’t come into view he’s fallen asleep on the living room floor near the couch where I was lying. One of the first nights we had him I slept in the guest room with him (without his crate) and after calming down from the initial excitement of getting attention/etc he settled down at the foot of the bed and was quiet all night. I am guessing that as a puppy he was a loved indoor dog, but now that he’s a big dog they put him outside.

We took him to the vet last week and he’s now up to date on all his shots, etc. Everyone at the vet who saw him said ‘he’s got a big head!’. We were’nt sure what they were talking about until we went down to Exeter last weekend and saw Emily’s mother’s dogs, both ‘normal’ sized black labs and then we realized that he does have a big head.

We are signed up for obedience classes with him starting 10/26. We’re already trying to teach him sit, stay, go and of course NO! and he’s learning for the most part. He certainly knows sit when we have a treat or his food in our hands 🙂

Our cats are doing ok for the most part, though not happy about the situation. We have moved their food dishes up to our bedroom which we are trying to keep as a dog free room. Of all our cats, Hurricane is doing the best and has pretty much accepted his presence, in fact I think she may be happier because with him around the other two cats are more worried about him than they are interested in her, so she’s not getting hassled as much as before. She still backs away when Seeger’s around but certainly doesn’t puff up and hiss when she sees him anymore. Finnegan is still kinda shell shocked and seems wary when in the house. Goblin spends most of his time under our bed but has been getting braver as time goes by. Basically the cats go from the bedroom to outside and back but avoid the rest of the house.. except Hurricane of course.

Ok that’s enough for now. We’ll have pictures up on the web as soon as we can scan them in.

-Matt

How to be the worst Community Manager ever!

A guide for Antioch College Community Government managers, or for those about to run. This was last revised when it was published in the Record in either Fall ’97 or Winter ’98. I’m quite proud of this document.

Just about every point in here I saw done by some CM’s (sometimes even me) or ComCil members between Fall ’91 – Fall ’97. It’s funny, and just a little bit too true 🙂 The truth hurts. Since I’m out of touch with Antioch’s community now there isn’t much else I can write about this issue, but if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I’d love to hear from other current or former Community Managers about this.

How To Be The WORST Community Managers Ever!

Running for Office

* Run a negative campaign. Post signs on campus quoting anything your opponents have said that might be mis-interpreted…or heck, make stuff up, the odds of anyone hearing your opponent deny it are close to nil, even if they announce it in a community meeting.

* Verbally attack your opponents at the community meeting after they speak. Don’t state any of your own ideas, just bash theirs.

* Get friends of yours to be on the election committee. Offer to take them to the Winds if you get elected. Get ComCil to change the elections process weeks before the election happens so people get confused on how the voting system works. Maybe the error will be in your favor! If it isn’t, change your mind and claim that the elections process was changed in mid-stream and the community wasn’t adequately informed, therefore all the elections are invalid!

* Get a friend to run a ballot box, make sure they abandon it for a good 10 minutes in a public space like the mailroom. If you don’t win, demand a re vote and get witnesses to point out the ballot box was left unattended. If you win, get witnesses to claim the boxes were watched closely at all times.

* Come up with a great plan on how your going to fix everything in CG. Ignore everything the current CM’s or previous CM’s have done, instead rebuild it from scratch. Be sure to point out all the faults with the current CMs in all public forums.

Ignore the Community

* You were elected, therefore everything you think is what the community wants. Don’t seek feedback, just do it, and if they complain, call them apathetic jerks and ignore them even more. If any of these people apply for any CG job, don’t even read their application and refuse to hire them after they interview, after all they criticized CG and therefore they aren’t looking at the community’s best interests.

* If ComCil tells you to do something that you don’t want to do, delegate it to an ACM who is too busy already, and then blame them when ComCil asks why nothing happened. After all, you’re too busy to do anything else anyways and they work for you.

Swing your weight around

* Open the C-shop on off hours and give food to your friends, after all CG pays the C-Shop and you’re in charge of CG. What’s a candy bar and a soda a day going to do anyways?, plus if the C-shop manager complains threaten to take away some of their FWSP’s or van privileges.

* Go play on the Record computers during their staff meetings. When they complain say its work for ComCil and that ComCil is the publisher therefore you are a priority for the computer use. Read the Record articles off the computer night before it comes out and if you disagree with anything say it’s against the interests of ComCil and demand the editors remove it. Better yet, write a response and demand they include it in the same issue. If they don’t then insert snide remarks in the text just before they print it and then deny it the next morning when they notice it after it gets back from the printers.

* Find a really sleazy non-community member and grant them a guest community government ID card. Invite them to all the dances & events.

* Find an issue on something that you and the President or the Dean of Students disagree on. Publically attack either or both of these whenever possible and write letters in the Record or make announcements in Community Meeting attacking them. When they confront you, demand they agree to whatever your point is and refuse to sway. Get all the students to rally and clog up ADCIL and other meetings so all they talk about is your issue. Or better yet, take over to main building and hold your breath until you pass out…that’ll show em’.

* Use your master keys to check out all the goodies in the LGBC, TWA and Womyn’s Center offices (especially if you’re male). If they have any good furniture, move it into CG, after all, CG owns it anyways.

* Use the CM discretionary funds to buy totally useless items for the community such as 10 huge tarps that get used once then end up taking up space for the next year or two. Claim it was for the community’s best interests.

* Organize a huge Anarchist conference on the golf course. Convince everyone that it will be really cool and safe. When the conference actually arrives only do half the things you promised, slack on security and invite participants to hang around after the conference is over. When people get upset, claim they just don’t understand the anarchist youth of today and they are suppressing free speech.

* If anyone is organizing an event and needs equipment, refuse to give it to them, even if its available. Tell them they were supposed to sign forms in triplicate three weeks ago and that they need a training authorization form. When they get upset, make them agree to owe you a big favor personally, then get the equipment for them. Collect on these favors immediately in obnoxious ways.

Deal With Each Other In The Worst Way Possible

* Have ambiguous job descriptions so FWSP’s and community members remain confused about who should do what. If people want to check what their positions should entail, don’t hold a staff discussion to divide responsibilities fairly. Rely instead on the Leg Code and follow it verbatim. Remember, if it doesn’t specifically say its your responsibility, it isn’t.

* Tedious jobs should be saved for the elite few. Assign the same

shitwork to the same people, especially women and new ACMs & FWSPs. That way they’ll burn out faster and create more staff dissension.

* Sign various CG FWSPs timeslips instead of the CM thats keeping track of the hours. Be sure to lose the office copy (and the occasional Pink one). If anyone asks you why you signed it without checking with them just say “Well like FWSP is indentured servitude and I don’t want to perpetuate that system, so I just gave them all their hours.” Tell this to the FWSP person in Financial Aid repeatedly.

* If you have too many responsibilities, don’t delegate anything. Other aren’t bright enough anyway. Convince yourself you are a martyr and complain a lot, even though you are so burned out you’re not getting the work done anyway. Complain to ComCil that they need to hire more ACMs to spread the workload. When ComCil doesn’t create more positions, you can feel justified in the fact that you tried to warn them, and since they didn’t listen, you don’t have to do as much work (since they obviously don’t expect you to).

* When you’re in a bad mood, deny your feelings. Repress them by transposing your anger onto someone else. Put the blame on some poor sucker and yell at them. If they yell back, take them to CSB.

Polarize The Staff Into Cliques

* Be antagonistic. Put labels on other other workers & offices, such as “the dumb C-Shop manager,” “the whiny Record Editors,” “the computer nerds,” “the greedy Independent Group people.”

* Once you’ve labeled people, it’s easier to rationalize their behavior to fit the negative cliques you’ve created. That way, nothing they do will be judged fairly. That’ll be real fun.

* When thinking or talking about other community members, focus on their more annoying mannerisms and idiosyncrasies.

* Don’t bother about thinking about staff democracy. You are more knowledgeable anyway so your interests should come first. Besides, you were the one elected, so obviously the people want your opinion, not theirs.

* Be sure to hire ACM’s who are very independent but lack sense of direction or common sense. Let them go off on their own with little supervision and yell at them whenever anything goes wrong. Be sure to delegate important tasks such as organizing Div or elections off on them, so when things go wrong everyone can be mad at them.

Have Very Unproductive Staff Meetings

* If possible, don’t show up too regularly at staff meetings. Let two or three people make decisions then complain that you’ve been overlooked, and that damnit, you’re a CM, it’s your office!.

* When people speak during a meeting, interject with humorous quips. They will appreciate your wit.

* When reviewing something, spend a lot of time picking on obvious mistakes so that people will quickly get bored. This is especially helpful in ComCil meetings that have long agendas. Remember, follow the ComCil Leg code verbatim, if anything is vague de-rail the discussion into a debate about that.

* Make meetings redundant by presenting people with accomplished facts only, over and over again. Don’t let others have a say in the way you run things, remember.. you are the CM.. you have the power, not them!

* If other community members complain about something, deny it or trivialize their concerns. After all, if YOU don’t feel there’s a problem, the problem certainly doesn’t exist.

* After someone has made a valid point, repeat the same thing but in your own words. Don’t worry about wasting time. Rephrasing what has already been said show’s your just as smart as the person who first came up with the idea.

* Being misinformed is great because you get to propose unrealistic solutions and turn frustrated when nothing works. You also get to argue unnecessarily during staff meetings.

* When a debate starts, argue against any change to what you proposed. You wouldn’t want to agree if someone else’s ideas also solve the problem. Don’t forget, winning the argument is more important than finding a better solution.

After you’re done

* Say things about your fellow CM’s behind their backs after they leave. Claim that all that went wrong was their fault and that all that went right was yours.

* Stay around in YS and hang with the new CG. Don’t give them any advice or tips, but when something goes wrong, then say ‘HAH! Told You So!’.