There are certain people that have such presence that you can’t ignore them. Jamie is one of those people. She runs the show around here, and you know it at first glance, from her perfect posture to her cocky strut to the steely glint in her eye. When she is focused on something, you can feel all her energy coming through her gaze.
From the moment staff and volunteers arrive at the chimp house in the morning, we are aware every second of being in Jamie’s home. She doesn’t let us forget it. We are expected to keep her company when she wishes (and get lost when she wishes), to retrieve things for her that she can’t get herself, to be available to her at all times. She lets us know if we are being too this or too that, or not enough this or not enough that. Jamie has unapologetically co-opted the humans in her life as her minions, and for someone who was powerless for so long, we think that’s pretty great.
