Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Scott Simon - TPR's In Focus - April 28, 2026

Transcript

Scott Simon - TPR's In Focus - April 28, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

• 0:00
  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's Dothan Campus,
• 0:04
  identifying and preserving historical documents and photographs for research related to the
• 0:09
  wiregrass region. More information at troy.edu slash wiregrass archives.
• 0:16
  Scott Simon, you have made our day. Welcome to Troy Public Radio.
• 0:22
  Well, thank you. I'm excited to be here. Thanks so much.
• 0:26
  Your book, Ulysses S. Cat and Other Animals I Have Known, is heartwarming. Who was Ulysses S. Cat?
• 0:37
  Well, it's his revenge on us that he winds up getting the title of the book at the suggestion of
• 0:43
  my publisher. He was my late mother's cat, last pet in her life, and also for my late stepfather.
• 0:51
  And Ulysses, who was a huge orange cat, a little, you know, smashed in face, did not like me and
• 1:00
  my wife, Caroline, and our daughters, Elise and Paulina, when we visited my mother in Chicago.
• 1:05
  Because my mother would talk to our daughters, hello baby, how are you? Can I get you something?
• 1:11
  In the same little voice that Ulysses believed was saved just for him.
• 1:17
  So he would occasionally go that sort of thing and try and scare them away, unsuccessfully,
• 1:22
  I must say. One of the many things that I enjoyed about writing the book and the chance to run
• 1:28
  things through my mind, and my heart for that matter, was to realize all over again the important
• 1:33
  role that Ulysses played in the lives of my late mother and stepfather. My stepfather was mostly
• 1:40
  bedridden at that particular point, occasionally in a wheelchair. He had begun to lose some zest
• 1:45
  for life. He had wondered what it was all adding up to at that particular point. And all Ulysses
• 1:51
  wanted from him was a nice place to curl up. He wanted to be under his arm, he wanted to be on
• 1:56
  his stomach, the two of them would listen to music together. He came along at a wonderful time in my
• 2:02
  late stepfather's life, when Ulysses reminded my stepfather that he was still capable of bringing
• 2:08
  joy into the world. And it was wonderful to see. Endearing companion. And speaking of companionship,
• 2:16
  you have a companion in your home recording studio. You mean Gato Blanco. I'd say at least
• 2:24
  a dozen times Gato will be... I'm sitting at the broadcast table in our family apartment right now,
• 2:32
  where I have some of my late mother's mask cards, where I have pictures of our daughters,
• 2:37
  pictures of my late mother, my mother-in-law, a Saint Simon little bust from Spain. I could go on
• 2:45
  and Gato will just leap up on the table, which is difficult because he is, we sometimes call him the
• 2:50
  Orson Welles of cats, he is so large, you know, with a swish of his tail will hit the mic or knock
• 2:56
  something over. And I have interviewed some well-known authors and some entertainers and
• 3:01
  comedians and experts on various subjects, and I'll have to say, I'm sorry, you know, Gato Blanco
• 3:08
  just knocked over something. And none of them, and I mean none of them, has taken exception to that.
• 3:14
  On the contrary, they all go, oh, is he all right? Can I say hello? Is everything all right? And it just
• 3:20
  reminds me that the animals in our lives have a way of calling out some of our better instincts too.
• 3:26
  And they have a way of keeping us grounded. I want to get serious for a moment. In your book,
• 3:32
  you talk about pets in the siege of Sarajevo in 1993. Yeah. Then you also talk about being
• 3:42
  at Hurricane Katrina. What were the parallels in those two situations?
• 3:48
  I think both those situations, those tragedies, those outrages in which so many people died,
• 3:55
  reminded a lot of people what was important in their lives. And of course, first came family and
• 3:59
  animals. Pets, if you please, are very much part of our families. We went to the funeral of Miss Anita
• 4:09
  in Biloxi, Mississippi, who died in a home with her cats and dogs that she had taken in because
• 4:15
  she wasn't allowed to be evacuated with them. And she would rather face whatever was there with her
• 4:20
  animals than go on without them. As I don't have to tell you, probably the laws were changed here
• 4:27
  in the United States after Katrina so that people, in fact, when they were being evacuated, could
• 4:32
  bring a pet or animal with them, given the size, because they understood that a lot of people just
• 4:37
  would refuse to go if it meant leaving behind their animals. And certainly in Sarajevo, it
• 4:44
  inspired us so much to see and know that people were sharing some of their meager humanitarian
• 4:49
  relief supplies with their cats and dogs and hamsters and parrots, so that they would keep
• 4:56
  on going as members of their family. When we were with someone who was walking their dog and
• 5:01
  we all came under sniper fire. But as she explained to us, you don't explain to a dog,
• 5:05
  no, there's snipers out there. And, you know, they have to get outside.
• 5:09
  You say about Sarajevo that for animals at the lowest times in their lives, Sarajevo should
• 5:18
  show the world real humanitarian aid. Yeah. And that's what I believe, real humanitarian aid,
• 5:26
  in that it was aid that was not self-centered. It was aid that comes from our heart and is
• 5:32
  extended to others in the whole embrace that we have of life. And seeing the generosity
• 5:38
  and the love that people in Sarajevo extended to the animals in their lives absolutely and
• 5:43
  utterly reminded me of that. Scott, you say in the book that pets unlock our hearts. And then on
• 5:51
  page 201, one of the pets in your family is a hamster named Bagel. You and your wife were about
• 5:59
  to go somewhere and couldn't find Bagel. Can you share what happened to Bagel? Well, yes, Bagel got
• 6:08
  out of his Bagelarium one night. And I described the search with some alarm and actually wound up,
• 6:16
  because we also had rats at that particular time, and I actually wound up with his back on the
• 6:21
  matting of some rat paper and had to be unstuck by my wife, the French escape artist. And one of
• 6:28
  the things I noticed, because we worried that either Gato or Daisy, our dog, our French poodle,
• 6:36
  would mostly think of Bagel as a morsel. But when they were presented with the opportunity to make
• 6:42
  a meal of Bagel, they didn't. So I think they understood, too, in their own ways, Bagel, you know, a
• 6:48
  member of our family. Now, one of your cats, Leona, had ties to the British Embassy. What was that about?
• 6:58
  Well, because she was the cat of three interns who worked at the British Embassy. And as I
• 7:02
  understood the story, they were leaving after their summer at the Embassy and left a bathroom
• 7:09
  window open. And Leona got out into the alley, came up to me after the show on a Saturday.
• 7:15
  I saw the people had, you know, printed out posters or put them on in the neighborhood in the trees.
• 7:21
  I brought Leona home to take care of her. By the time we got a call from the British Embassy
• 7:26
  personnel, a very nice woman we grew to know named Jane Brown. She said, you know, Scott,
• 7:31
  I think there's a reason why this little cat walked up to you. I think you should take her
• 7:37
  into your family, but you must rear her as a British cat. So, of course, we agreed. And we
• 7:44
  would put pictures of David Beckham up over her food bowl. I would get Manchester United pennants
• 7:50
  for her when we traveled. And, you know, I must say, Carolyn, I hope you will understand,
• 7:56
  from our family's point of view, this was big because my wife is French, okay? And there was
• 8:00
  a little War of the Roses tension left over there. But in any event, my wife grew to accept,
• 8:06
  from the first, accepted Leona. Leona, your cat from across the pond.
• 8:12
  Toward the end of the book, you talk about what we learn from pets. Can you share that?
• 8:18
  Sure. Here we go. What we learn. I don't want to risk a faintly scolding word to raise the
• 8:25
  question of what we might learn from the animals in our lives. After all, it's just fine to
• 8:30
  enjoy the ride. But I know that every cat, dog, fish, turtle, hamster, grasshopper, and other
• 8:35
  living thing we have brought into our family's lives has helped to lift us outside of ourselves.
• 8:42
  They remind us that caring for others can give our lives a sense of purpose. That care is at
• 8:48
  the core of what gives us life. Well, Scott, one of the most endearing parts of your book,
• 8:56
  Ulysses S. Cat, is actually about your family's beloved dog, Daisy. And although we haven't had
• 9:03
  time to talk about Daisy, I know the listeners will love the opportunity to get your book,
• 9:09
  Ulysses S. Cat and Other Animals I Have Known, and learn all about Daisy and the other pets who
• 9:16
  have been in your life. Before I let you go, can you share some thoughts about the importance of
• 9:23
  supporting public radio? Oh, yes. I think it's more important than ever in these times. And there
• 9:29
  are so many dissonant voices, often with inauthentic information, that we have a source of
• 9:35
  information that's available to each and every person in the United States without a paywall.
• 9:41
  They can tune in to us and know that the information they're getting is solid and verifiable
• 9:48
  and something in which they can believe and information in which they can trust. That is
• 9:53
  essential to building a democracy. And I think these times in particular, we realize how essential
• 10:00
  it is to keeping that going now. Scott Simon, it has been a joy and a privilege to share your book
• 10:08
  and your thoughts with your fans here at Troy Public Radio in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
• 10:14
  Thank you so much. Well, the honor is mine. Thanks so much, Carolyn.