The Fear of Monkeys - The Best E-Zine on the Web for Politically Conscious WritingThe Squirrel Monkey - Issue Ten
The Fear of Monkeys
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The Squirrel Monkey, photo from Christian ArtusoThe Squirrel Monkey weighs up to about 1 kg. They live in primary and secondary forests and cultivated areas. Disturbed habitats are advantageous because of their greater supply of preferred food - insects (such as grasshoppers) and fruit. They rarely travel on the ground and are most active in the morning and late afternoon. They have large group sizes (40 - 70 individuals) in continuous forest. They are non-aggressive and egalitarian - neither males nor females appear to be dominant. Females are usually the ones who disperse to another troop. The Central American squirrel monkey has always been restricted to the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica and Panama. They have already declined drastically due to clearing of forests. Currently, deforestation and habitat fragmentation due to agriculture and tourism development are the major causes of decline. Insecticide spraying, the pet trade and electrocution from electric power lines have also adversely affected these squirrel monkeys.

   


The Fear of "Monkeys"

By

Kindra J. Ferriabough

One night a friend--who was my boyfriend at the time--and I were walking back to his apartment from a local bar. We were chatting as we walked, but not about him being White and me being Black or anything.

As we got closer to his house, I noticed a scruffy-looking older White man approaching from the opposite direction. When he finally got close enough to us, he pressed his palms together with his fingers pointing outward and staggered between us saying something to the effect of: "Move outta the way..." Now I say that it was "something to the effect of" because the adjective of NIGGER! seemed to reverberate throughout the neighborhood.

My immediate reaction was to put my fingers frighteningly to my mouth and glance wildly around, noting the other Edvard Munch paintings that were waiting for the bus across the street.

Nigger! I screamed to myself. Oh my God! Where?


Kindra J. Ferriabough thinks back moneys are the worst. Some of her previous work has appeared in DOGZPLOT, Clockwise Cat, Unlikely Stories, Calliope Nerve and Ken*Again.
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