Getting The Respect That She Deserves

In the beginning people looked at me kind of strangely as I wandered about North Miami with a toy monkey. I pretended like it was part of a photography project of some sort, a continuation of my "self-portrait series", because I was using that ultra-wide angle lens and I was in all of the photographs.

Then little by little, as people got used to seeing first Monkey and now Monkette just about always in my company we got braver. I'm sure that nobody else older than three has ever brought a toy monkey to a City Council or Board of Adjustment meeting. I'm on the Board of Adjustment and I'm pretty sure that Monkette is the only toy monkey on the planet that gets to sit up there with a municipal board during meetings. If nothing else she's gotten me to start wearing a tie and jacket for the first time in years. Yup, she gives me good advice! The board couldn't function without her.

So here we are after the meeting. It was a short agenda. The City Attorney, the Planning Department Director, and a few others stayed around for a few minutes to chat with Monkette and share a few jokes. She loves the attention.