On the season 2 episode of My Cat From Hell titled “Pissed Off!”, Rob tells Stephanie “It’s like going into… Dante’s Inferno of piss.” (My Cat From Hell, Animal Planet, January 28, 2012)
Contributed by Victoria Nicholls (The Bolles School, ’22)
“Iraq: Dante’s Hell for Animals?”
“Nearby, a brown bear that once roamed the Kurdish mountain reaches from the shadows of a filthy enclosure for a wafer biscuit that a boy holds just out of reach. Meanwhile, in a central cage that seems to double as the zoo’s garbage dump an adult male baboon makes lewd gestures to a group of teenage boys poking him with sticks. This sad place is not the beastly equivalent of Dante’s third hell, but a zoo — and a typical one for captive animals in Iraq.” –Tracey Shelton, Public Radio International, May 22, 2010
Dante the Snake
“His original name was going to be Alucard, which is Dracula spelled backward, but it took quite a bit of convincing from Rudolph and the other roommates to deem it an unwise decision. After a few moments debate, they decided to call him Dante, after the famous poet who wrote the Divine Comedy.” –Kathryn Coffey, The Decaturian, February 25, 2019
Open the Slaughterhouses
“IN 1999, as a writer for The American Prospect, I went into a slaughterhouse undercover, with the help of some rebellious employees. The floor was slick with the residue of blood and suet, and the air smelled like iron. A part of my brain spent the whole time trying to remember which of Dante’s circles this scene most resembled.” [. . .] –Jedediah Purdy, The New York Times, April 8, 2013
Cat Cafe, Seoul, South Korea
“Long hours at the office, tiny apartments and high stress levels are so characteristic of life in Seoul that the city’s motto might as well be ‘Abandon sleep, all ye who enter here.’ So it’s not surprising that Seoul residents keep thousands of coffee shops in business. The cafes allow tired masses to meet in a space that’s neither home nor work, taking time out from busy schedules to see friends and relax. While faceless chains are plentiful, a number of quirky theme cafes have sprung up, satisfying both the need for caffeine and the Korean passion for anything trendy, cute or both. Charming, whimsical and sometimes downright bizarre, these places embody a peculiarly Korean sensibility.” [. . .]
“About 20 cats of various breeds live in this scrupulously clean cafe. Cat lovers whose homes are too small to house a pet can spend time playing with and photographing the residents while enjoying their coffee.” [. . .] –Nell McShane Wulfhart, The New York Times, January 5, 2012
