We released the second episode today and made it a bit more concise and organized! If you have any ideas or questions you’d like featured just let me know! We would also love to discuss pop culture and current events in the future episodes.
Well I haven’t been super vocal about this on my own platforms but I have been managing Tonia Haddix online and helping her after everything that went down due to the documentary on HBO Max called Chimp Crazy. This lead to us starting a silly podcast so that she could talk about her own ideas and not just be featured by shows pushing a bias.
This first episode is a little painful and off-beat due to her getting a phone call. It was mostly us trying to answer all the questions we got and figure out how to do this and also go live, it didn’t work well but we figured it out for the second show.
We really work well together as we both adore animals, some similar (pink) aesthetics, and because I am an alt pop culture archaeologist, how could I not help? I have thoroughly enjoyed this journey with her and it has been quite interesting protecting her from all of the hate but getting her good opportunities. I used to manage my husband as well and it reminded me that I actually love doing this work but it’s tough being in the public eye at all. So I may hide from that somewhat but then again, if the haters win it’s a big loss for my own growth.
So there you have it. I’m actually not hiding behind the scenes and enjoying it.
I’m sure a lot of you have been watching Chimp Crazy right now on Max. Same. After the third episode was released I had a lot of thoughts that I wanted to share and mull around with you.
Surprisingly, I could finally start to relate with the women who take care of primates and why they choose to do that. I could especially relate with Tonia Haddix as they shared a little more of her story. She had a difficult early life and a difficult or predatory first marriage. She did not feel loved or needed which greatly affects your future in many instances. It is very obvious when you watch the show that she does love the animals that she cares for. Also, if you remember, she did not steal, acquire, or adopt these chimpanzees as babies, but fell in love with them when she visited them. They were already kept in the situation that she was trying to make better for them with her limited experience in the area.
As the show goes on, it becomes aware that the chimpanzees’ care became crazy-making for her. She felt a strong, almost insanity-inducing urge to protect them and make sure that they were okay. Tonka especially had been brutalized when he was housed in more wild-type enclosures with other chimps in the past. It was not her choice or doing for Tonka to be in Hollywood or to be an actor, but she had witnessed him be attacked by other chimps several times. He was missing a lot of his chimp instincts by spending so much time with actors and other humans. Tonia was stepping into this situation and trying to do what she thought was best. She was loving him as though he was her child.
It was incredibly heart-wrenching watching Tonka in his cage, unable to go outside temporarily and sadly looking at videos of other chimps. I felt heartbroken for him, Travis, Buck, Harambe, and all of the primates who have been abused by power. Tonia was hiding him for what she felt was a dire reason. She was afraid of him being injured or killed by PETA or at Project Chimps. So, as any mother would, she did all she could to protect him. Did she make all the most optimal decisions? Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t, but she did the best with what she was able to do. And in her heart and soul, she felt that it was her purpose to protect him.
I have had the pleasure of getting to talk to and to know Tonia better after these early episodes. She raises and rehabilitates a lot of wild animals and smaller primates that are either unable to be released or are captive bread. She even sells small primates from zoo organizations to raise money to care for the endangered animals those zoos house. I am grateful there are people that spend their lives caring for animals that cannot be released. Based on the way that we human primates treat the planet, a lot of animals can’t or wouldn’t survive very long in the wild. It is not so easy to label someone as the “bad guy” and someone else has the “good guy” when making a documentary about such a polarizing subject. Eric Goode mentioned that the owners themselves are also essentially caged due to their devotion for these animals.
We know that while PETA is trying to do what they believe is best for the animals, they can also be extreme. They used to strongly voice that they did believe in anyone having pets of any kind and they are against using absolutely any animal-products in any way. They also have very strict guidelines for the care of absolutely any animal that many everyday people cannot achieve. Even the director, Eric Goode, has mentioned that he does not meet PETAs standards with his own animal care. It makes it hard to choose a side when both sides are so extreme, but as an outsider, it’s easy to see the extraordinary differences between each side and to come to the conclusion that the best solution is maybe somewhere in the middle.
While I feel that all animals, especially a large primate that shares 98.8% of our human DNA should be given all the specialized care that they need, I believe that humans have a lot to offer in conserving animals. Moreover, I selfishly enjoy having domesticated pets of all sorts in my house to take care of.
Another way I can relate to this situation is in my conservation efforts with monarch butterflies. This is a movement that I have put a lot of time, research, and effort in. I work with groups and individuals to conserve these precious beings regularly. Insects also often die in the wild almost instantaneously (please don’t spray your yard for mosquitos) but when you raise them inside, you have a vastly higher survival rate and can release many more monarchs to raise the migration. All animals have much shorter lifespans in the wild. There is a great benefit to zoos and humans stepping in to conserve animal species that are endangered or that wouldn’t otherwise survive in the wild. It’s very valuable that we have so many organizations and people that are dedicated to doing this work.
I myself enjoy volunteering at the Humane Society and doing my part to conserve all species that are at risk. Giving my time and energy in aiding animals and wildlife to thrive has been a lifelong passion of mine. I have had such a strong feeling that although the black-and-white thinking and extreme sides on the documentary make for shocking reality TV and emotionally riveting entertainment, there is so much more missing information and so many more nuances. We miss all of the nuances when a director tries to show us the same old tale of the hero triumphing over the villain. Sometimes these documentaries like to leave out the gray parts that help us relate more to the “bad side” but they also leave out the not so savory parts that help us see the flaws in the “good side.” Although all journalists and documentary film makers are supposed to be the watch dogs of society, many are ultimately loyal to the success of their work and the fortune or notoriety it may bring. While I believe Goode does an amazing job at presenting both sides, I know that even the cutting room floor can be biased.
It’s easy these days to be the next “armchair advocate” and feel that you know the truth, the best way, and the only option. It’s much harder to look inside, accept that all other humans have flaws, and realize you don’t really know another’s path. – Amber Renee Cunningham
(Photos by Eric Goode)
I have always preferred to refer to Indiana as OZ. One of my favorite movies growing up was “The Return to OZ” (it never gets old) and when I would share photos of “home” my friends from elsewhere (mostly from California, my home away from home) would call it OZ due to the bright green grass, saturated yellow goldenrod, and cheerful blue skies adorned with fluffy white clouds. Indiana has a lot of issues, as most places do, but it also has a lot of sweet spots. One of those sweet spots is the state fair which its only 6 blocks away from me!
I have always been a fair and carnival girl, I love the kitschy lights, balloons, and over-the-top sweets. I also chickens. The goat and chicken encounters are a must-see for me and I cannot leave without having the holy trinity: an elephant ear, a candy apple, and a pineapple whip cone.
So my daughter, Colette, has finally released a song with her signing and I am obsessed. She has sang, wrote lyrics, and composed music since she was 5. I have always been proud of her but her growth these days is insane.
I have finally updated my portfolio after so many years of not updating it. But guess what? A lot of my work is on a hard drive that I cannot locate and so a lot of my work that I really would like to show I can’t seem to find.
It’s no secret that I took a hiatus for probably six years at a minimum, and I have been here and there briefly. Sporadically you may say. After my second pregnancy, I was restricted to bed rest but I just couldn’t focus on work for some reason. Or my online life. And of course, after I had my baby and covid lockdown happened, it was just even more sporadic.
Honestly, I’ve been very spacey and flakey since 2010 when I gave birth to my first daughter. The two years following that beautiful life-changing event, my shaky marriage to my “high school sweetheart” finally ended in the worst way I could’ve anticipated. The blind love and trust of youth is so wonderful to experience, but it makes it difficult to see when things are unhealthy or toxic. Unfortunately I did a lot of things to just get through and it started to feel like I was just a problem no matter what situation I was in. I started to feel I was unlovable.
This has sent me on a journey to build a life that I truly want and choose which I never felt I was able to do before in my life. So since around 2012-2014 when some more extremely traumatic things occurred in my life (some of which being an emergency life saving surgery, the death of my one stability: my cat I lived with since age 11, and some things I can’t even mention here) I decided that it was time. It was time for me to face all of the horrors that I was hiding from. I decided that it was time. It was time for me to face all of the horrors that I was hiding from. That I was stuffing down. Sometimes I imagine writing a memoir, or even a fiction book about some of the things that I experienced in those years, but because I have had my daughters, I’m not necessarily sure that would be good for them to have access to at these ages. Or probably any ages. Maybe one day I will write under a pen name, but I have so many large projects that I am already behind on that. I just can’t imagine adding that to the list.
It’s Aquarius, Valentine, Birthday season! It never seems like it will get here and then it’s gone in an instant. I am always ecstatic when the stores are full of pink, hearts, and saccharine-sweet, romantic kitsch.
Making valentine’s gifts for my class as a kid was always very enjoyable for me, then it was something I shared with Colette, and now I share it with Bea. It’s so fun and cute. I am hyper vigilante about hoarding so sometimes I toss a lot of old cards and Valentine’s cards are the ones I wish I’d saved. I would love to find some of mine featuring various 80s and 90s cartoons and frame a collection of them!
As a side note, I’m really into taking my odd, candid shots again. I’m constantly doing this just as I did in my youth with my Olympus digital camera. Funny crops and non-rehearsed expressions. I prefer awkward candids to posed photos.
Lately I’ve gotten back into collaging. I need to revamp and update my portfolio but I have been putting it off for years. The thing I did many years ago was make little worlds using photos of random things. I stopped doing most personal/creative work when Bea was born (your focus just changes). My poor shop hasn’t had many new updates and I certainly haven’t been making collage artwork for a long time. Recently I started making graphics like I did in the early days, too, like 1997 logos and wallpapers. I think it’s fun and it’s reminding me some parts of myself that got lost along the way.
I used to LOVE making those animated buttons. (32×32 or 88×31 — remember?) and I’ve been using that silliness now to make little animations for Reels, Shorts, and Tiktok. No one likes them! But it’s so fun and nostalgic to me that I can’t stop. It’s silly. I’m even working on a web 1.0 website (like Miseducated used to be)! I’ve made a ton but only uploaded one so far to market my bumper stickers~
What once was a family office and a place my husband hung more of his art collection, is slowly becoming the reptile/spider/bug room. We no longer use a family desk as everyone has their own desks and computers these days and it’s such an odd-shaped room.
My bedroom one of my favorite places in my home to cocoon. I love chilling in bed on my laptop and looking outside at the cute neighborhood below. We have 2 windows and a huge balcony off of our bedroom so it is filled with natural light. It’s best when the sun is shining so the prisms make little rainbows everywhere! I have prisms in every sunny window of my house~ they make me feel so happy.
What is something in your home that really makes you happy?
I get really obsessed with random things sometimes and it’s usually something to do with animals or animal care. One of my lifelong hobbies that I’ve never wavered from is my adoration for animals and making sure they are treated well (I have quite a zoo at home). I’ve noticed this little frog has been making a big stir these days. They are pretty available in Japan in pet stores but not so much here. Most of the care guides are wrong so I translated specifics when looking through many guides, worked with breviceps frog owners, and made a short care guide about them for English-speaking owners: Chubby Rain Frog Care Guide.
What do you think of the Breviceps or chubby rain frogs? They are so stinking cute and their little expressions and bodies kill me with cuteness.
I’ve also made a new section with these sort of ebooks which I’m calling Miseducated Mini Mags. Blogging is not as common these days so it seems like a good idea to make small guides or articles you can read that have the usual Miseducated flavor of our bigger blog days gone by. Please enjoy!
