Clomp, Clomp, Clomp. Here Comes Sister Mary Frances

Right into your feed

I don’t know what your Instagram feed’s like, but for mine, the launch of stories hasn’t been the barrage of piping hot content I was promised. To be fair, my feed is largely full of civilians like me—relatives, people I was friends with growing up, internet buddies—and it turns out none of us are up to enough riveting shit to warrant the amount of updating a story provides.

Are there funny ones in there? Sure. But not so many that I’m revved up on the regular. As it stands, checking stories is an in-a-waiting-room-with-nothing-better-to-check-level social media practice, not a first-thing-in-the-morning-let’s-see-what-I-missed one.

There is, however, one exception. One story consistently cranking out stuff that’s not only fun, but worth looking at too. It’s the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, and I love it so much.

All of the posts are from a farm in Saugerties, New York, and you can tell that whoever’s running it is just having the best time. There’s plenty of coverage of the animals— you’ve got your video of a chicken poking around in some hay, your goat escaping his fenced-in enclosure—but the star as far as I’m concerned is a large pink pig named Sister Mary Frances. According to her bio, she’s a potbelly pig who came to live on the sanctuary after her family lost their home and could no longer care for her.

Look how beautiful:

Part of her charm is definitely her name. Why is she a nun? Is it my place as a human oppressor to try and apply my understanding of religion to her narrative?

But I also love that the other animals are usually up to something and Sister Mary Frances is, always, not.

In the mess of stories of people at bars, spotting funny signs, and taking indulgent selfies, here is a social media presence dedicated wholly and unabashedly to not being up to shit. Sister Mary Frances is not busy. Sister Mary Frances does not know or care that you are looking. She’s not a viral pet with disability or your coworker’s labradoodle with a custom hashtag, she’s just a normal, happy pig who happens to be near someone with a phone.

She will wake up today not thinking once about your gaze the same way she has every day of her muddy, pink life, and isn’t that lovely?

Give it a look and tell me I’m wrong.