FROM ANGRY HORDE
Hello everyone,
I’m Rosie the Beagle, and I live with a literal horde of animals. At first, it was just me; my mom, Kyla Hughes; and the cat, George. I was the very first dog my mom ever had. Then we were joined by another cat, Jasper the flame point Siamese. And then yet another cat, Tink the munchkin Siamese. I was fine living with so many cats. But then Myah, a heeler, came into the household. That’s where I had to draw the line. For a long time, I couldn’t stand Myah. I worried about her trying to eat my food and that she would get more food than I did. I got super stressed whenever she tried to play. I get that puppies like to play, but she was bigger
4 DECADES OF EARTH, WIND & FIRE’S ‘SEPTEMBER’ What Happened on the 21st Night of September?
than me, and she didn’t listen when I said no. It freaked me out. We never fought, but we often got into what my mom calls “kerfluffles.” And then a third dog came along. That was just about the end of the world for me. All of the animals at my house go to The Animal Clinic of Kalispell, myself included. This month, Dr. Clark asked me to share a bit about the hard work our mom has done to turn us into a happy pack. Life at home has done a total 180. “I had to learn what it meant to really be there for your pet,” Mom says. “And to know what they need and be willing to do it.”
Jasper
“Do you remember the 21st night of September?”
In 1978, Maurice White of the band Earth, Wind & Fire first asked this question in the song “September,” a funky disco song that quickly topped the charts. While disco may be dead today, “September” certainly isn’t. The song is still featured in movies, TV shows, and wedding playlists. On Sept. 21, 2019, the funk hit was streamed over 2.5 million times. It’s no wonder that the Los Angeles City Council declared Sept. 21 Earth, Wind & Fire Day. The story behind “September” is almost as enduring as the song itself. It was co-written by White and Allee Willis, who eventually became a Grammy-winning songwriter and Tony nominee. But before any of that, Willis was a struggling songwriter in Los Angeles living off food stamps. When White reached out and asked Willis to help write the next Earth, Wind & Fire hit, it was truly her big break. White and Willis proved to be excellent songwriting partners, but they clashed over one key element of the song: the nonsensical phrase “ba-dee-ya,” which White included in the chorus. Throughout the songwriting process, Willis begged to change the phrase to real words. At the final vocal session, Willis finally demanded to know what ba-dee-ya meant. White replied, “Who cares?”
This journey started shortly after that third dog, Charlie, joined the house. I know my mom really wanted Charlie to stay with us, but she realized that Charlie would be happier in a single-dog household. She rehomed Charlie, who is now being trained as a therapy dog to help a girl Mom used to nanny. This definitely reduced the tension in the house. Mom’s next step was to reach out to a local dog trainer, Neil Day, owner of All Day Dog Adventures. Neil is fantastic! He just really gets pets, you know? Humans talk about their own mental health all the time, and Neil points out that good mental health is just as important for dogs and cats. Neil taught Mom how to help work on our brain stimulation and help us think every day. This sounds like it would take a lot of time, but it really doesn’t. Mom just looked for little ways to change our daily routine to include some mental stimulation. She started with meal times.
“I learned my greatest lesson ever in songwriting from him,” Willis recalled in a 2014 interview with NPR, “which was never let the lyric get in the way of the groove.”
I’m very food motivated, so I would get stressed when Myah was nearby while I was eating. But packs are supposed to eat together, so Neil told my mom to put a baby gate
The groove is why “September” has stood the test of time, right from that very first lyric. For decades, people have asked Willis and members of the band about the significance of Sept. 21. As it turns out, there isn’t much beyond the sound.
“We went through all the dates: ‘Do you remember the first, the second, the third, the fourth …’ and the one that just felt the best was the 21st,” Willis explained.
The truth is that nothing happened on the 21st night of September — except a whole lot of dancing.
Tink
Myah
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