print
Inside the Cat Show controversy that can teach us about America
by ButterflyEffect

    Vendors man displays of cat trees, cat mats, feather wands, and t-shirts bedazzled with the words “Crazy Cat Lady.” In one of the six show rings, a judge lifts a Turkish Van and stretches its body before the audience to prove the animal is, as it should be, “built like Michael Phelps.”

    I tell the people behind a registration table that I’m from D Magazine and ask where I might find an exhibitor by the name of Mistelle Stevenson.

    “Oh, you’re probably here because of the calico,” says a gentleman with a helmet of silver hair, who I find out later is Mike Altschul, one of the weekend’s show managers. “Yeah, we weren’t too happy about that. She’s somewhere over there.” He flicks his hand toward a back corner. As I turn and start to walk away, he bellows after me, “You know, we don’t let three-legged cats in here either!”

    I should have known then that I was stepping into some deep and dirty kitty litter.