Book Introductions

I am currently working on the text for the book introductions. The following is for the introduction to the Breedism book.

Never trust a dog not to fight. This doesn't just exist for dogs that fall under the "bully breeds", this goes for all dog breeds. just like with a human being, you never know how someone or an animal will react under certain conditions. Do you know the signs your dog gives when they feel threatened? No matter the size of the dog, at certain times they may feel threatened and it is never certain exactly how they will react.

Pit Bull Rescue Central (www.pbrc.net) has endless amounts of resoures when it comes to learning all about the breeds, and educational sources. Their vision is: a compassionate world where pit bulls and pit bull mixes reside in responsible, loving homes and where their honor and positive image is restored and preserved. On their website they include a test with 18 images of different dogs, and asks the viewer to identify any dog they believe is a pit bull. out of the 18 dogs pictured, there is only one actual Pit Bull. When I conducted this test of my own several of the participants didn't pick the actual pit bull when choosing several of the dogs to name as pit bulls. This brings into questions- how accurate are the dog bites statistics that are out there?

Through out the semester I will be visiting the Writing Center frequently to get the introductions to be well written, as well as short sweet and to the point. 

Working out poster text

Ideas for poster line text and photos.
ABUSE
(Show no humans. Allude to physical abuse and emotional abuse.)
1. It’s lonely at the top. (dog left outside, in yard?)
2. My kennel isn’t a babysitter. (dog in a kennel)
3. Unknown message. (a dog and a dog house, have dog “cut out” of image, add dotted line around shape of dog)


BREEDISM
(Show pure bred “power breeds” or "bully breeds"- Pit bull, Rottweiler, Chow Chow, Doberman)
1. Who’s the guiltiest of them all?
2. What’s the verdict?
3. We the jury find…
4. Who’s to blame?
5. One in the same

Or no words ~
1. a large X on a German Shepherd’s face and a check mark on a Golden Retriever’s face - approving a dog based on breed
2. Large red K, idea of the scarlet letter. Pit bull has a K for killer.
3. Third one unknown right now.
4. Unknown.

COMPANIONSHIP
1. Animal first. Companion second.
2. My name doesn’t make me.
3. Table for two.
4. Unknown.

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Book to accompany poster.

For each set of photos there will be a book that goes with it, sort of a “here’s more info…” type deal. There will be three books. The covers of the book with be one of the photos from each campaign. Book will include an opening paragraph by me, then a few (probably five) articles to follow showing different points of view on the subject matter.
These are two paragraphs I’ve been trying to work out as the opening paragraph of each book
Abuse opening paragraphThere are different types of abuse when it comes to owning a pet. There, of course, if physical abuse but there is also emotional abuse. Dogs, just like human beings, need sunlight, exercise and fresh air. What is the purpose of owning a dog when you have a full time job that requires most of your attention? What about giving a pet the full attention it deserves? After all, a kennel isn’t a babysitter.
Companionship Paragraph
All too often we seem to forget that out beloved pet is an animal at heart. We can dress them in clothing, call them our “babies” and treat them another family member but this doesn’t change their true nature. They are an animal first and a companion second.


None of these are completed ideas. This is just to show a process of figuring out tag lines or body copy of posters and also a book to accompany those posters.

Meeting with Erica Ruch

At my review it was suggested that I just focus on the articles and information I have right now and sort through the various topics trying to narrow them down. The topics I have as of now are domestication, court cases/legal articles, companionship & bonding, chemical reactions to animals, and statistics. I was thinking of picking 4 topics and making 4 books each focusing on one topic each.

Last night I met with Erica Ruch who is a teacher at Montserrat and also works full time for PETA. I told her about my idea of making four different books each focusing on one topic. She introduced a new term (& issue) to me, which is “breedism”. We talked about visuals for the books and how to go about obtaining those visuals. She was very helpful with suggestions on how to brainstorm the structure of the books and how to focus on each topic.

After I have the outlines of the books and topics figured out, I am going to e-mail them to her and get her feed back seeing as she works for PETA and knows a lot of information and resources.