Purrfect Match

Me and Garfield. He is wearing his lion mane.

Throughout my time working professionally in Residence Life/Residential Education in Student Affairs, I have been privileged enough to work for institutions that have pet policies allowing staff to have animals live with them. This is crucial for live-in professionals. It is tough to work where you live and live where you work. In order to fulfill your job responsibilities in an authentic manner, not only do you have to meet basic needs, your home should be comfortable. After all, live-in professionals sacrifice a lot when they choose to live amongst college students. You lose privacy. At one of my earlier gigs, students told me they sneakily came up to one of the windows of my apartment one night and then said: “we saw you in your boxers working out with dumbbells.” Cringe. Usually your apartment is outfitted with extremely sturdy fire-rated furniture that is far from glamourous. Regardless, there is always a give and take to the decisions we make.

As a child, we never had small animals as pets. My mom already had to clean-up after me and my brother. Mom did not want to clean-up after pets.

As an adult, I have now owned many pets over the years. I would like to share more about my furry friends to readers in future posts. Now, we honor my cats, named after cartoons, that helped me start my professional journey.

I did not adopt any furry pets of my own until I moved-out and started working on at a job with a live-in pet policy. I was living in New York City and working in Residential Education at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). No fashion for me, just res life. The school had a pet policy for live-in staff such as myself. Many of my colleagues had small dogs and cats.

Felix

Felix was a tuxedo cat. He was part black and part white—just like me. Felix was abused by his original owners. They shot him with a BB gun. Felix’s tail had to be partially amputated. Felix came from Angelical Cats Animal Rescue in Manhattan. I adopted Felix and his foster dad dropped him off at my studio apartment. This was the day before Thanksgiving in 2009.

Felix was a good cat. Small, quiet, and polite. He always looked stunning in his single-breasted Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo. Yet, he was very reserved. I thought simply” “he might be lonely.” I figured I would get Felix a friend.

Garfield in 2009

Sweet Cat in Manhattan Needs a Good Home

It was December 2009. "Tik Tok" was not a social media app, but a song by a new artist named Ke$ha. Meanwhile, Manhattan was digging-out of a major snowstorm. Me? I searched Craigslist for a potential match for Felix. I came across a listing entitled "Sweet Cat in Manhattan Needs a Good Home." Garfield’s owner was a young woman who was moving back to Tennessee after living in the city. She originally cancelled Garfield’s adoption with me after I told her I was interested. The reason for the cancellation was Garfield was supposed to be a Christmas gift for another Craigslist prospect. I said to myself “Oh, well. It wasn’t meant to be.” Then I get a message on my phone stating the other person backed-out of the adoption and I could still adopt Garfield if I wanted. Then, I heard the voice of my grandpa whisper in my left ear: go get that cat. 

Garfield is the first and only Craigslist purchase I ever made. As Garfield traveled home with me on the subway, his quiet meow contrasted his huge 16-pound frame. This trip on the subway would be the first of many trips Garfield would take with me. We went to the vet and eventually moved to Philadelphia, then to Las Vegas, then to Henderson, Nevada, and eventually to Palo Alto, California. When we got to Stanford, I told Garfield he is my “from sea to shining sea” kitty. Merica.

Felix died in June of 2016—with Garfield by his side. Garfield would go on to out-live two other cats: MC Skat Kat Spinderella and Oro. I have many fond memories with Garfield. I remember petting Garfield after the 1 October mass shooting in Las Vegas. I was working at UNLV at the time. “All those people died” I told my big orange-ish kitty as I stroked his fur.

I often use pets as a way to soften my image and appear more approachable to other people. Ironically, my connection to animals humanizes me more in the eyes of constituents. This is crucial because I am frequently the only man of color in the spaces I am in, if not the only Black man. I am automatically perceived as threatening to others—no matter how many times I kiss a kitty cat on the forehead. 

Nowadays, not allowing pets with live-in professional staff is nearly unheard of. So many professionals adopted pets during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This turned so many non-pet owners into pet-owners who love their fur babies. Yes, we treat them as children since they are extensions of our family. Pets are comforting. People who do not understand do not need to. However, when it is my decision, I will always allow pets for my live-in staff.

Garfield and Felix