JUNE 2014

June might be the most eventful month of my year. Or, at least, it sparked a real adventure-filled summer. A friend of my mother had a son who stole her credit card, went to a pet store, and bought a really expensive Yorkshire Terrier puppy. Unfortunately, the kid had no idea what a puppy entails as far as training and waking up and cleaning and sleeplessness (and oh god if you’re going to get a dog, adopt a slightly older dog who needs a home. This is my plea to you. One of my few morals that will never ever change.) My mom offered to watch the puppy for like, a week, so obviously I drove as quickly as I could to her house to meet him. His name was JoJo at the time (confusing, because that’s what we sometimes call our pomeranian who lives at my mom’s house, full name Josie) and within 3 seconds of walking in he was rambunctious and jumping on Taco, my chihuahua. “Calm down, Cujo” Miles said.

And so he was named. And we did not know it then, but he was ours. 

The story of our acquisition of Cujo is long, hilarious, heartbreaking maybe, but needless to say — we went from having one puppy who slept til noon and only needed to be walked twice a day, to TWO puppies — the newest of which woke us up at 3AM and cried through the night and was so poorly trained that he did not know he could ever pee in front of humans (let alone outside), who chewed through expensive cords, ruined electronics, ate our books, and wormed his way into our hearts forever regardless. I can see a very distinct marker when I look back on my year. Everything before June takes place in B.C. (Before Cujo).

Despite basically having a furry newborn, life managed to stay exciting. Due to some planning in the winter, Miles and I were able to see Tegan and Sara in concert, as well as The National (and several other bands) with VIP seating at the Prospect Park Summer Stage. I was working diligently on editing Redhead and the Slaughter King (with the help of Sean Patrick Mulroy, Jeanann Verlee, and Jared Singer). Urbana team practices were happening twice a week and, still reeling after the Elliot Rogers, my teammate Olivia Gatwood and I started writing about it, discussing feminism, and generally making each other laugh forever. I also started PONYCamp [The Poetry of New York] - a summer camp for children at heart in which we explored New York and wrote poems based on the themes its locales. It’s hard to pinpoint what the best part of my summer was, really. 

I could certainly post pictures of all these latter adventures to represent the month, but it would be dishonest to ignore what a huge part the adoption of Cujo was. So here he is, the day we had to get him neutered because Taco was not fixed and then found out, at 6AM that morning, than a fixed boy dog could still get an unfixed female dog pregnant for up to a month. So Taco had to get fixed too. In all their crown-collar and drugged up glory, Taco and Cujo, June A.C.

Other Highlights:
-Team Urbana winning our first regional poetry slam bout and generally feeling psyched about how strong our team was.
-Running into the Ocean with Olivia and Sarah Kerson at Coney Island, post PONYCamp.
-Taking Miles to his first Bat Mitzvah where we plotzed over all the food!