December 20, 2004

Via NYTimes, welcome to the first nationally noted Bark-Mitzvah. The Admiral, as pictured in this article, wore a bib featuring Stars of David, and atop the piano was a chopped liver sculptured appetizer platter, shaped to look like a bone. (NYT logon: mefi1; password: mefi1 ...save for later use!)

Cute/cloying aside, how did this make the New York Times? And have you ever committed an act at this level of lunacy with/for your pet? Finally, who has a pet name on the level of the article's focus: Admiral K. Boom?

posted by arch1 20 years ago
  • and sorry about the spacing... first post jitters, I guess.
  • nytimes link generator so no one has to log in...
  • thanks. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/20/nyregion/20mitzvah.html?ex=1261285200&en=5f7e13b0b77f87cb&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
  • I read this earlier and thought it was adorable. It's such a luxury to be able to pamper pets to the degree that some do. Thirteen years is a long life for a dog so why not have some sort of celebratory event. Looked like the dog could take it or leave it however since he spent most of the time hanging out under the table. Great excuse for a party - I'm sure all of his friends had fun. My Hannah will be thirteen in '06. Perhaps she will have a Bark Mitzvah too. She's pretty reformed however and the other dogs, well, one's a lapsed Catholic and the other agnostic.
  • Raerae, instead of a party for your 13 year old dog, why not donate the money to a local no-kill pet shelter instead so that some other dogs can reach 13 as well?
  • what musingmel said.
  • musingmelpomene and SideDish, most of the guests of the link's party DID donate to the ASPCA in honor of the dog. Did you read that before you decided to judge the idea behind a party I may or may not throw 2 years from now?
  • Nice story, thanks! I get really, really tired of people responding to anything silly/amusing/fun by moaning about how the money should have been used to save the starving people/dogs/seals. Yes, it's one or the other -- either we devote every waking moment and every penny we have to the Good of the World or we're bad, bad people. Sheesh.
  • Re the name: Admiral Boom, if I recall correctly, resided in a corner house on Cherry Tree Lane in P.L. Travers books about the adventures of that interesting and indefatigable lady, Mary Poppins. The bootboy of the Banks household was named Robertson Ay. Rather appalled to find these bits of literary trivia still wedged in my head.
  • i want my faux mitzvah actually i just want a mitzvah
  • So the NYTimes makes it nationally recognized? Does this mean the dog is circumcised? (Which raises all sorts of questions about male dog anatomy that I would rather not think about!)
  • dogs have foreskins? where? i want a recording of his torah reading
  • Those were the questions I didn't want to think about!!!
  • Anything that reminds me of my 12-year-old dog Lolypup, who I had to give up due to an impossible housing situation just over a year ago, and who passed away nine weeks later makes me just want to say: BARK HUMBUG!!!
  • Raerae, do you suppose the party was free to throw? This reminds me of idiotic charity balls where people spend massive quantities of money on dresses and jewelry so tha they can give some extra to the poor. Rifuckingdiculous. Either donate, or don't. Either go to parties, or don't. But don't pretend you're just being a wonderful human being by throwing an expensive party where some money happens to be raised.
  • What about those poor depressed Z-list celebrities who are almost never invited to charity parties? WHAT ABOUT THEM, EH? For Jebus' sake musingmelpomene! - have some compassion you black hearted knife-wielding harpy who hates everything and should be strangled by ferrets.
  • They already have the dresses and jewelry, Mel, because people have social lives. I'm sorry that you disapprove. They could just throw the party, and not raise any money... perhaps you would prefer that? Organizations host charity balls because they work. A good event establishes a dynamic where the participants collaborate in giving, or compete against each other. The event unifies them in support of the cause. Buoyed by each others' company, they give much more than they would if they were writing anonymous checks to anonymous P.O. boxes.
  • If he donated the money instead of throwing the party, the people invited wouldn't have donated. I'm assuming that together they donated more than the cost of the party. This is what you do when you want to raise money for a cause. You take the money you have, and you hold some kind of an event, and the people who participate donate more money than you started out with. Not just parties. 5k races, bake sales, car washes. When you see the high school soccer team washing cars at your local gas station, do you yell at them for spending money on soap?
  • What about those poor depressed Z-list celebrities who are almost never invited to charity parties? WHAT ABOUT THEM, EH? For Jebus' sake musingmelpomene! - have some compassion you black hearted knife-wielding harpy who hates everything and should be strangled by ferrets. I saved someone from getting strangled by a ferret once. At least, I thought they were being strangled by a ferret. Turns out they were wearing a fur. Oh well.
  • Wendell I'm sorry to hear about your dog. Lolypup is a fabulous name.