Chelsea, Manhattan / What event has most influenced you in choosing the career you have now?

Another favorite thing about this city...dogs are everywhere! And I LOVE dogs! I struck up a conversation with my next interviewee over her very sweet papillon, Tufani.  

© Jasmin Chang 2011

Question: What event has most influenced you in choosing the career you have now?

Answer: I'm a lawyer now. When I was little, I wanted to be an artist. My parents wanted me to get a profession. Parents  hammer into you that you need a practical career. So, my artistic career got swapped for a legal career, which I've been doing for 28 years. Intellectual property law is very tedious, but it's a way to get into the more creative. 

Question: If you could go anywhere in the world and spend a month, where would it be?

Rockford, IL/How come some people can take care of dogs and cats for a long time, but others for only a very short time? With babies too. Some people can care for them for a long time, some people play for a few minutes and then get bored. Why is that difference?

© Jasmin Chang 2010

Answer: Well, you can say the same for people and children. For people who are entertaining a child for the short term, they want to play with the child, interact with the child so the child will not fear them, so that it will be comfortable with them but then they want to move on and interact with the adults in the room if there are adults in the room.

As far as taking care of a child on the long haul, usually that's either your own child or you've taken an interest in a friend's child or an aunt's child or you're doing it for money so it can either be a financial need or an emotional need, end of story.

Patience comes because people have a deep love for children, or they have a deep love for a pet and a pet fills empty holes in their life. It fills loneliness and some people, they bond with animals better than they bond with people so they have a wonderful lifetime relationship with an animal.

I understand people who love children and I understand pet lovers and the desire for pets. It's kind of, you know, when you've lived this many years, you kind of know a little bit about human nature and human needs. You can read body language and the way people laugh, the way they react to you...you can tell if they're genuine or not, the same thing with pets they either love you or they don't.

So now, shall we move on?

Question: How do you feel about life in general? Do you feel like you're content or do you feel like you're missing something?


© Jasmin Chang 2010


© Jasmin Chang 2010

Skokie, IL/Why don't people pay more attention to spaying and neutering their cats and dogs? Why don't people take more responsibility for their pets?

Welcome to the Pita Inn, one of the most amazing places to eat in all of the Chicagoland. Three dollars for a dozen fresh baked pita bread, the best falafel sandwiches, hummus, tabouleh... Needless to say, many of my Northwestern days were spent here so it was only fitting when I visited this summer that it would be a part of my project.


© Jasmin Chang 2010

 Answer: I don't know because I don't raise cats or dogs. The people don't have responsibility. They think it's easy but it's not. It's a soul. It's like a human being. It needs food. It needs care. You have to take care of it like a baby.

I ask why he does not own any pets.

I've been here just for a short time and in my country, Iraq, they don't care to take care of pets like here.

Question: How come some people can take care of dogs and cats for a long time, but others for only a very short time? With babies too. Some people can care for them for a long time, some people play for a few minutes and then get bored. Why is that difference?

Venice, CA/Do you think that the country is headed toward a more socialistic system than we had before? Why do you think so?

© Jasmin Chang 2010

Answer:  Right now, there's a democratic president and the healthcare issue. That passed so that is more socialistic. But I think the real sign is that everyone is intermixing. Before it was like our culture versus your culture. It seems like people are interrelating more. It's more of a celebration of culture rather than paranoia, which I guess is more social.

Question: Why don't people pay more attention to spaying and neutering their cats and dogs? Why don't people take more responsibility for their pets?