The week before the election I went for a stroll in a pasture on the state university grounds where I work, and a vulture approached me. Just walked right up and looked at me meaningfully (?) for a couple minutes. Giant bird as big as a goose with iridescent brown feathers and a naked pinkish grey head. I was a little freaked out—vultures are big!!!
I spoke to it a bit. It just looked at me. Amazing eye contact (can I reemphasize how uncanny vultures are?) We parted ways.
Later I called the state ornithologist and she said there had been many unusual reports of vultures on campus lately.
This is a major American university in a blue state. Symbolically vultures signify death and transformation. Considering I was not the only one to encounter the bird, it seems as if the phenomenon may be collective…perhaps American academia is in for significant changes.
I’m open to anyone else’s ideas of the significance, too.
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branchandroot
Vultures bearing messages
Date: 2024-11-11 02:11 pm (UTC)The week before the election I went for a stroll in a pasture on the state university grounds where I work, and a vulture approached me. Just walked right up and looked at me meaningfully (?) for a couple minutes. Giant bird as big as a goose with iridescent brown feathers and a naked pinkish grey head. I was a little freaked out—vultures are big!!!
I spoke to it a bit. It just looked at me. Amazing eye contact (can I reemphasize how uncanny vultures are?) We parted ways.
Later I called the state ornithologist and she said there had been many unusual reports of vultures on campus lately.
This is a major American university in a blue state. Symbolically vultures signify death and transformation. Considering I was not the only one to encounter the bird, it seems as if the phenomenon may be collective…perhaps American academia is in for significant changes.
I’m open to anyone else’s ideas of the significance, too.
—Ms. Krieger