When San Francisco’s KQED, the local public radio affiliate, asked its culture writers to reflect on “one beautiful thing” from 2025, Rae Alexander chose her cat, Kevin.
Kevin is “chaos in cat form,” a feline “sociopath” who doesn’t realize how much damage he does with his claws. The tabby, Alexander writes, is “never not screaming at us for food” and pads around as if he owns the place. (That sounds awfully familiar!)
After bringing Kevin’s heavily pregnant mother in from the cold earlier this year, Alexander adopted Kevin’s mother and his “well-behaved sister,” but was repeatedly rebuffed when she tried to get rid of Kevin himself.
Three potential adopters fell through while Kevin was growing out of his kitten stage, drastically reducing his chances of finding a home.
Then something crazy happened: cat and human came to a mutual understanding and the beginnings of trust led to friendship and love. As with any progress in gaining a cat’s trust, it was not a quick process, but Kevin eventually showed another side — a much softer, appreciative version of himself who enjoys cuddling and expresses love despite his quirks.
“As this fraught year draws to a close, I want Kevin to be a pertinent reminder to us all that the little things bumming us out today might just lead to the things that make us happiest tomorrow,” Alexander wrote. “Start putting all those everyday stresses on the stairs. You never know where that might lead in 2026.”
Read the whole thing here:
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983150/kevin-favorite-cat-sociopath
We’re back after a brief interruption!
Apologies for going radio silent over the past week. This past Saturday I sat down to write and my computer was dead. As in completely dead — I couldn’t even trick it into loading BIOS or getting a boot screen.
So I said farewell to a machine that had served me well since 2018, that served as my primary platform for writing, producing music and gaming.
Now I’ve got an absolute beast of a machine centered on one of the new Ryzen chipsets, and it takes quite a bit of restraint not to go into nerdy details. I’m still setting things up, especially the music production workflow.
The important thing is, I’m able to properly sit at a desk and write again, and Buddy can properly supervise me from his desktop perch again, so we are now back!
Pain In The Bud 
A great article. Oddly I have never hesitated when adopting , its always just been an immediate “yes” Kevin slightly reminds me of Basil, a tabby I simply adopted instantly as he was unwanted, his destructive powers were similar to Kevins, he would also bite and he was a tad smelly at times, he was however my firm favourite amongst the 5 that I had at the time ( big place – huge garden, plenty of room for them all) and the moments when he would be affectionate were typically just when I needed it most ( probably my imagination but it works for me). And a big shout out to Little Buddy for getting a new computer ( yes it belongs to him!)- his awesomeness deserves noting less than the processing power and shiny newness of the Ryzen chipset!!!
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It’s great to keep a mom and her kittens together, and Kevin might not have gotten patience and love in a different home. Some people just get it.
I think Basil almost certainly did offer affection when you needed it most. So many studies over the past 10 years have repeatedly shown cats are keenly aware of how their caretakers feel and it absolutely matters to them. It’s just that we’ve misunderstood them for so long.
Yes, it’s true, it’s Bud’s computer, I am merely the intermediary executing his creative will.
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Hey, BigBuddy! I’m glad it wasn’t a long absence.
I loved the article about Kevin. I’m sure he does own the place.
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Thanks, Kymber. It’s a good article to remind us that things can turn out well even if they don’t go according to plan. How are you feeling?
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I’m feeling well, thank you. I hope you are well, too.
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Welcome, back, Christmas without the Buddies would have been way too dull.
While I’ve got your attention, I thought of you when I read on a BBC political news update the following information about a cat who belongs to the Speaker of the House of Commons (in case you’re unfamiliar with the role, the Speaker is an elected MP who impartially presides over the activities of the House of Commons). The quote reads “Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s cat is named after former Labour prime minister Clement Attlee. According to the Houses of Parliament shop – which sells several souvenirs dedicated to the Speaker’s cat – Attlee enjoys joining MPs’ meetings and chasing after scrunched up bits of paper at home in Westminster. However, a proposal to bring cats into the Houses of Parliament themselves to control vermin”. I shall refrain from commenting about the presence of vermin in the Houses of Parliament!
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Our cultures have so many similarities, but when I read about things like the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the fact that there is a body composed of hereditary peers and bishops is so alien to me as an American.
Although it’s not like we don’t have our own aristocracy, and we certainly are not a meritocracy, so it has occurred to me that the UK system is superior because at least aristocrats are prominently labeled as such.
Thanks for the heads up on the proposal to bring in more mousers. I’m sure the towering intellects in Parliament can figure out a way to install cat doors and stop spraying chemicals all over the place.
I just looked up Attlee. He’s a very handsome Maine Coon!
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No clear-thinking, fair-minded society would ever have dreamt up the House of Lords…which is why we Brits invented it! But to be fair, it’s not what it used to be. The number of hereditary peers allowed to sit in the Lords has been capped at 92 since 1999. There are also 26 Church of England bishops. The total number of seats in the Lords is currently around 823, so hereditary peers and C of E bishops are in the minority…although, since none of the other “lords” are elected but are instead appointed at the whim of the government, the institution remains the antithesis of democracy. It is an anachronism of epic proportions, although this is to some extent mitigated by the fact that in reality the House of Lords has very little real power. The current government is looking to phase out the remaining hereditary peers via the The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill 2024-25, but politics here is in such woeful disarray that I’ll believe it when I see it.
On happier matters, Maine Coons are fine-looking cats. Way to go, Attlee!
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Sarge says that Kevin was just making sure his mom was being cared for before he could let down his guard. He also says that all mackerel tabbies should belong to the Le Handsome Club. 🙂
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Done! Sarge is welcome to be the charter member of Le Handsome Club for mackerel tabbies. The club’s mission is the promotion of felids and all of their very dapper species.
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Cool! He thinks that is a very worthwhile mission
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