How are you coping these days? As for me, I’m trying, but it’s not easy. There is a fine line between acting like I’m doing okay and the inability to stop crying over what’s happening in the world, in our country, and especially in Minnesota. When it comes to my emotions, it’s like I’m skating but on a layer of thin ice. Pun intended.
So how do we manage to stay sane — and stay alive — during this heinous time in America?
One thing I discovered is that a lot of us are watching squirrel videos.
While scrolling through Instagram, I saw that an author friend of mine follows a guy who feeds squirrels.
The guy, Derrick Downey, Jr., doesn’t just feed the squirrels, he has befriended his whole neighborhood of them. He’s named them, interacts with them, and tells stories about them. He even built a house for them with a white picket fence that’s decorated with art, furniture, and a tiny wall-mounted TV that actually works.
The rat pack includes Consuela, Hood Rat Raymond, Raggedy Rufus, Richard, and Tore Up Terry, named for ripping up the outdoor couch cushions. But the star of the show is Maxine who can never decide which color to choose from her collection of Birkin Bags. Who knew the designer purses came in squirrel size? When Maxine had babies and couldn’t feed them because her teeth had grown too long, Derrick took her to the vet for dental work and bottle fed her babies while she recovered.
And then there’s Derrick’s tabby cat, Mango, who eyes the squirrels through the other side of the sliding glass door. When the squirrels aren’t climbing onto Derrick’s lap looking for treats, they are chasing each other around and scampering up trees. Their shenanigans play out like a soap opera — As The Squirrels Turn — and you can’t wait for the next episode.
A vintage microphone sits on the patio table that the squirrels sometimes talk into — lured by the nuts it’s filled with — their anthropomorphic voices synthesized but charming. They offer commentary, often giving Derrick a hard time, and lately they’re teaching him useful phrases in French to prepare him for his upcoming trip to Paris.
We suspend our disbelief because, well, it’s just so damn cute. And anything that makes us smile these days is good for our mental health.
The videos are not highly produced. Apart from the squirrels talking into the microphone, there are no special effects, no fancy editing. It’s all about the interaction, the conversation, the compassion. Derrick genuinely loves and cares about animals, unlike certain cabinet members. Cough cough.
What caught my attention is that it all started because Derrick was depressed. His depression led him to going on walks in his neighborhood and noticing the squirrels. He would sit down and talk to them, finding that he was connecting with the furry, fluffy-tailed critters. He started recording them and from his first social media post in 2022, he went viral.
Yes, squirrels are rodents, but as Derrick shows us, they are also sentient beings with individual personalities. You’d have to have a pretty hard heart not to appreciate his tenderness toward these creatures.
The fact that he has 1.6 million followers on Instagram alone tells you that people are craving positive, feel-good stories. Which is why he has been featured on ABC News, the Washington Post, People magazine, and Architectural Digest (for his well-designed squirrel house).
So if you can’t bear another minute of negative news, getting caught up on Derrick Downey, Jr’s squirrel videos — all 3,197 of them — will keep your mind off the political horror show for a while.
And if you’re not into squirrels, there are plenty of kitten and baby goat videos out there as well. Anything to help us cope.
Beth Howard is an author and filmmaker living in Donnellson, Iowa. To learn more about her film "Pieowa," go to TheWorldNeedsMorePie.com
The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of TSPR or its license holder, Western Illinois University.
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