As far back as I could remember I always wanted to be a stray cat. My name is Vassilissa, although I hear the Fanny Packs call me “Awww” , and I’m the luckiest cat on Santorini.
I get pet wherever I go.
I sleep where ever I want.
And even after 5 litters, I’m still the most frequently pet cat on the streets.
This is my brother Gus. He spends most of his time waiting in the doorways of cafes anticipating, keeping a constant vigilance of the streets, and waiting to fight for fallen scraps of gyros.
Sometimes Gus comes to me for advice. He’s a smart kitten even though I have to hiss him off my street sometimes. Some call him a little skittish but I’ve seen a Fanny Pack give him a belly rub once.
This is Sylvester. He spends most his time around the hotels waiting for head scratches and bits of salami from his drawn in prey. His eyes are an envy of the south side and he uses them to fish out the gullible Fanny Packs.
He’s very good at what he does.
Tom has a different approach to getting the things he needs.
Tom waits until all the Fanny Packs are distracted by the lowering of the red ball then he slinks behind them and snatches their leftovers.
Artemis starts her search in the night time when all the leftovers are compiled in bags.
Of course, you always have to watch out for Steve. I heard he organized a raid so large half of Fira was left sockless. The canines spend their time in the dump and we only cross paths only when we have to. They think we kiss up to the Fanny Packs too much.
Although we all have different techniques, each of us live on this rock in the water and call it home.
Cute take on the narrative. I like the first person context. What would really have been nice is to add in some commentary on the state of strays on the island and how locals (not just Fanny Packs … ha!) treat them and try to control them (or not). Also, consider that introductory text (e.g., abstract or executive summary) really helps orient the reader to your story.
This was really different from anything I thought of and I really liked it! There are so many cats here and i think it’s great that you organized them and personified them! You mentioned to me how they treat the cats and what they do at the end of tourist season and I think adding that in would have provided a little more to the story that would have been informative and left a lot of people thinking.
I loved reading your cat profiles and enjoyed you taking each cat’s perspective to tell the story. Reading your first blog post after knowing you for a bit was great because it shows your goofy side and your personality is portrayed so well throughout. If I had to give any constructive criticism I’d agree with Jim on maybe giving a background to how and why there are so many strays here in Santorini, but overall great post!
Thank you, I appreciate the critique 🙂
There was a missed opportunity here to provide perspective into island life, geography, and lack of governmental oversite (so many strays here…why?). For example, a map of the “typical” feline day would have been clever. I can imagine a map with zig-zags all over it showing a bit of the geogepahy of Fira and different places you’ve seen through a cat’s experience. For the next post, think critically about how to involve your own experices in the story and in this way you can enlighten our readers.
Thank you for the feedback and I will make sure to incorporate my experiences into the next post.