I would never, ever (ever) equate âjoyâ with âcops.â Exactly the opposite! Yet never say never, right?
In scrolling through my thousands of still-unused photos of street art from over many time periods and many geographiesâoften taken while prowling alleysâit hit me that there is indeed joy in the #AllCatsAreBeautiful genre related to cops.
This feline form of #ACAB street artâof which I realized tonight, I have a hefty amount of photos âcapturingâ kitties who snarl at cops and purr at anarchistsâseems to me to point toward the joy of a world without police. In thinking of cats raises a smile of comradely recognition at their ungovernability, for one. But more prefiguratively, it conjures images of playful abandon, abundant cuteness, cuddly tenderness, scrappy inventiveness (oh the things a cat can create from a simple cardboard box!), and lots of other warm-and-fuzzy feelingsâthe kinds that exude joy, yes, and also aid us in imagining how sweet life should and could be. (Who hasnât asserted at one point or another, âIf Iâm reincarnated, I hope I come back as a cat!)
Plus cats, contrary to popular perceptions, are loyal and stick side by side with their human friends, thus they would never, ever (ever) talk to the police (they might yowl at them or loudly scratch the door, but refuse to open it, if the cops come knocking).
So hereâs a small sampler of some street cats, as seen in Pittsburgh, Vienna, and Athens.
The world is pretty damn shittyâlike the messiest of litter boxes. So itâs worth finding all the tiniest of joys, creeping quietly toward us on cat paws.