I made the first Perrin R Ireland Update in August 2020 because of Phyllis Schlafly. I have seen five whole minutes of Mrs. America, and the glimpse I saw was Cate Blanchett playing Phyllis Schlafly stuffing envelopes with the Phyllis Schlafly report. And I got to thinking: why couldn’t I spread my own peer-reviewed biodiversity gospel with a photocopier and the help of my pals at the postal service, just as that monster did?
Georgia State University Grad Student and curator of the exhibit ERA: Absolutely, Yes! Samantha Harvel had this to say about Schlafly’s newsletter as depicted on the show: “I really like that they’re showing how effective the newsletters were, how important those were… people don’t think about how movements happened before the internet. What did you do before you could group text all of your friends to say, “Hey, let’s show up to this protest.” It all starts with The Phyllis Schlafly Report…”
The Update began as a mail project for friends during a global pandemic, to tell them I missed and loved them by sharing with them what I love about Earth. There are now far more people I’ve never met who subscribe than that small group of buddies I first started sending it to. Phyllis was right. I’m so grateful to you for being part of this ride! It’s become a weird party trick of mine to know exactly where everyone I’ve ever met, or haven’t met, and their cousin, and their other friend, and their ex, lives. This project has been a deeply connecting, heartening, enriching experience for me. And it’s felt so good to know that an ever-expanding group of people value print illustrated newsletters about nature.
The Update has a PO Box (that I will continue to check!) where Update subscribers have sent fan mail, questions, Christmas cards, requests, and their own illustrated animal newsletters. My first reader feedback came from Althea, of Nashville, Tennessee, age 3 at the time- she caught that I had failed to reference which species of walrus I illustrated in a previous issue. Faux pas for the faunally-inclined. Young readers have inspired most of the topics covered in the newsletter through their questions. Many of you have financially contributed to cover stamps and envelopes. You have been the reason I’ve kept making the Update. You are the reason I must actually stop making the Update because there are so many of you now and it’s so so much to copy and stuff and mail. And you are all now why I feel there’s enough interest in this stuff to broaden our reach with an email newsletter and actually start working on an illustrated book!
The patron saint of the new Thirsty Science email newsletter, the high priestess of feminist animal power and nature kink, thirstiest of the thirsty of the animal queendom, is the female spotted hyena. In honor of transitioning the Update to Thirsty Science, I’m sharing the all-time crowd favorite Update below.
We rely on her as our guide in the dark, to lead the hunt for the best animal science out there, and to usher us into this new era.