Becoming Politically Involved and Proofing Books

When I first moved to this area in 2001, I was waiting for Bow to be born, so we could begin Project Bow. Some local ladies asked me to become involved in local politics, and I declined. They were Democrats, but I would have turned down the Republicans as well. I had a two year old child and no babysitter. I was expecting to take custody of a newborn chimpanzee. And though I had been involved in politics in the past, this was not the right time for me. I wanted to concentrate on my domestic and productive life, and all I asked of the outer world is that they leave us alone in peace.

At that time, I was not even trying to publicize Project Bow. I wanted to first of all have a chance to raise Sword and Bow together, quietly and without anybody remarking constantly on the difference between them, so that they could have a level playing field, and their experiences would be as similar as possible. That way, any differences in their way of interacting with me and with their world would be based on their own internal requirements and not on anybody's preconception about them.

Sometimes we went places, and when Bow was an infant, nobody even noticed he was a chimp. I would take them both to McDonald's, Sword holding my hand and Bow slumbering in his infant seat, but I kept him covered in a blanket. People sometimes asked casually how old my baby was, but if they didn't look too closely, they didn't see anything unexpected.

Those days are long past. The differences between Sword and Bow have gotten too great not to notice, and I do treat them quite differently, each as their own behavior requires. And no, it is no longer possible to deny that I have a chimpanzee. Just at this time, the political forces that are overwhelming the entire country are threatening also to snuff out our way of life. So the time to lie low has ended, and the time to be active has begun.

On Saturday, I participated in the local Republican caucus, and I worked in concert with a very fine group of Ron Paul supporters. While we did not win the day, our candidate came in second, and the slate of delegates elected are bound to vote for Ron Paul, if the person in the number one position drops out of the race. Why Ron Paul? Because he is the only candidate who promises to keep the government out of people's lives. All the other candidates want to impose their views on how to live on other people. Ron Paul believes in "live and let live."

After the caucus, Bow and I proofed books. We have to try to make a living in a way that has nothing to do with ape language experiments directly, because the road to an established position in academia is permanently blocked. Bow would really have benefited from the opportunity to merge into an existing program, where he could make friends of his own kind, as well as keeping his human family. But since we cannot hope for that at the moment, we fall back on the skills we have, which in our case is literacy. We can read and write. So we publish books.

Somebody who recently saw me posting a picture of Bow proofing a book on Facebook asked me if Bow could read. Yes, he can. I posted a link to the old article about Bow and Literacy from 2007. There are many well-wishers of Bow's today, I think, who have almost lost sight of his intellectual achievements, so intent are all of us on keeping Bow safe and our family intact.

Tomorrow, Lawrence will come in to stay with Bow, and I will make a trip to Jefferson City to plead our case before the state senate. There is a time to be quiet and lie low, and there is a time to speak up. For me and Bow, the time to be quiet is over.