double dirty boy latte

amyplaystuba

rgfellows

So, in my art history class today, my professor was talking about something that is so fuckin awesome.

These are warrior shields from the Wahgi people of Papua New Guinea. The warriors paint them with imagery meant to symbolize animals who have traits they wish to embody in battle. These depictions are intended to give the person using it the powers of what they’re depicting.

Now. Look at this Wahgi shield:

Hmm. That looks a bit different from the others.

That looks VERY different. Why, it looks like

The Phantom… American comic book character by Lee Falk. And that’s because it is.

The Wahgi people were isolated from the rest of the “modern” world until 1933. They came into contact with WWII service men who shared some aspects of western culture with the tribesmen. In particular, they showed them the comic books they read while shipped out. The Wahgi loved them. In particular, the Wahgi adored the stories of the Phantom, who wasn’t even particularly popular in its home of America.

He is so popular that the few Wahgi who can read english will read the comics out loud in the village center and hold out the pages for everyone to see, so the whole tripe can enjoy them and marvel at the Phantom’s might in battle.

They identify with the Phantom because he came from a jungle territory, like them, wore a mask to fight, like them, and came from a long line of warriors, which the Wahgi, who worshiped their ancestors, deeply respected. Further, despite not really having superpowers, the Phantom is strong, clever, and incredibly fast. He was so fast that his enemies began to believe that he was impervious to bullets and could not be killed.

Therefore, the Wahgi began painting HIM on their shields to invoke HIS abilities in battle. There are TONS of Phantom-Wahgi shields out there.

So, you might think that you’re huge comic book fan, but the Wahgi have taken their Phantom fandom to the next level and have made the Phantom a fucking talisman to carry into battle for strength.

lady-feral

That is pretty fucking cool.

amyplaystuba

Finding Foxy’s Fur

doctorbeth

Foxy’s people wrote earlier this year hoping for a full rejuvenation for their beloved fox. Here are his original diagnosis photos:

Not only were his eyes loose and his tongue and whiskers missing, but his fur had stiffened with age, and was going bald. We agreed that the best treatment would be to recover all of his fur, tighten his eyes, and give him new whiskers and a new tongue. He wasn’t getting a spa, because his family wanted to keep his original stuffing.

Now when patients need fur, whether full recovers like this fox, or transplants on bald spots, I always say I will get as close as possible to either their current or original fur color and texture, depending on their family’s preference. But… I also always warn them:

Perfect fabric matches are rarely possible, but if that is the case, I will send photos with transplant options so you can choose what you like best.

Especially when we’re trying to match aged fur, or original older fur, this is true. Fabric styles go out of fashion, fabric colors and patterns go out of print, even with the same exact fabric from the same time, two bolts will be different colors, and then you need to take into account that every animal ages in a different environment, so their fur ages differently. In fact, for some patients the bulk of their time in the hospital is trying to find that perfect fur, because you can’t match fur by looking at photos. There’s too much variation in cameras and computer screens. You need to be able to sit a fur next to a patient.

For Foxy, there was some question as to what his original fur was (maybe orange, maybe a faded brown or darkened gold). The first fur options were along those last two lines:

The top was closest, but not exact… he had been oranger originally. So I took another week, and found some more furs, which I ordered from Belarus and Germany! They arrived and I sent a photo:

The second was the one! Surgery proceeded… Foxy had white parts that needed recovering too, but there is much easier access to pure white fur, so I could match one I had in texture to the orange his family chose. His inner ears were white satin, which is also fairly easy to match. Here he is fully recovered, eyes repaired and with his new tongue… we also ended up recovering his nose in new fabric:

And here he is showing off his new black whiskers:

His family wrote:

Oh my gosh, he looks just like I remember!

and he flew home….

****************

Finding a fur for transplants or recovering is always a treasure hunt. Foxy had time (he was here a couple months) and we were able to search the globe and find a near perfect match to his original fur, but that is rare. Many patients have close matches though, and if there’s a bit of a color or texture difference between old and new fur, well that’s just a scar… and they did earn it from years of hugs. What’s important, is the new fur makes them sturdy enough for many more years of hugging. :-)