But the lion has a name - A quilt for Zimbabwe

The media hype around the death of Cecil the lion got me thinking..why? Canned lion hunting is a fact of life, so why all the news coverage of this lion? A bunch of wildlife was slaughtered for one of Robert Mugabe's birthdays, and the media didn't blink. It occurred to me that naming the lion personalized him, made him relatable, gave him a persona and the phrase "but the lion has a name" came to mind. The "but" makes it part of a conversation. Something must precede the but. I grew up in South Africa, Zimbabwe's neighbor, so I know some of the problems, and I began to research some statistics. There was frustration in Zimbabwe that the difficulties of life there are largely ignored by the media, while the death of one lion got all the attention. As a means of commenting on this, I wanted to contrast numbers and words. For some people words are easier to grasp than numbers. I tried to make it visually unfair for the numbers. They are at odd angles, there are many intersecting lines, I went right through them with stitching. The lion's name, by contrast is bigger, more regular, uncluttered. And then, just to emphasize how Cecil draws the focus I added a hunk of fake fur. Let me tell you, that is not fun to sew. I showed it to my quilting group. I think I freaked them out. I think we should be freaked out, by killing animals for sport, by people living in such difficult circumstances, and by the fact that what the world remembers is the name of one lion. My quilt for Zimbabwe:

But the lion has a name: reflections on the death of Cecil the lion

So many numbers, cobbled together from reports and tables and charts,
But the lion has a name.

But the lion has a name: reflections on the death of Cecil the lion

The numbers don't seem real, like children's words: a quadrillion. Too much, too many to understand, so they slip through our consciousness, displaced by what is familiar, comprehensible. Numbers are tricky,
But the lion has a name.

But the lion has a name: reflections on the death of Cecil the lion

The people get lost in the statistics, their hopes, their dreams, their faces,
But the lion has a name.

But the lion has a name: reflections on the death of Cecil the lion

A child lies drowned on a Turkish beach, a child lies alone, dying from Ebola in Liberia, such gut-wrenching images, but behind them crowd, like photographic negatives, the hoards of others. So many refugees, so many AIDS orphans, so many without work, without resources, without hope. So many, too many. Too confusing to know what to do for the best for the misery of the masses,
But the lion has a name.

But the lion has a name: reflections on the death of Cecil the lion

Another failed government, collapsing infrastructure, tortured economy, dismal prospects. Repeating headlines, just the names of the countries change. So far away, so hard to care,
But the lion has a name.

But the lion has a name: reflections on the death of Cecil the lion

We understand a lion; we understand this lion. We know how to feel about the dentist, no one really likes a dentist. We know how to feel about the lion, noble beast, king of the jungle, innocent victim. Oh yes, we know how to react to this event, after all,
The lion had a name.