Thursday, November 01, 2007

Washoe & Me

I promise this isn't going to become a photo-free, eulogy only blog, but I just wanted to give a shout out (this generation's moment of silence) to Washoe, the sign-languaging chimpanzee.

You know, when you're growing up, and you think that everything around you is yours? It's your street, your city, your supermarket, your university (because you walked across it every day in high school to catch the bus, even if you never once attended a class there, and ended up leaving the state to go to a completely different university).

Well, I never met Washoe the chimpanzee, but Reno, where I grew up, is in Washoe County, Nevada, and when I first learned about Washoe the chimpanzee in elementary school, even though by that time she hadn't lived in Reno in a long, long time, I sure thought she was mine. I have always felt a connection to her just because, well, we both had a connection to the word Washoe and I liked chimpanzees. Flimsy reasons for an emotional bond, perhaps, but I thought she was really cool. So I just wanted to wave good-bye.

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