a hero comes along...named garbanzo
well, a cat...
Well, it’s another Bad week in the world. Or a not that bad one, depending on your timeline/frame of reference. If you compare this week to this week last year, probably worse, but this week to this week in…1600? Maybe better?
All I’m saying is, these things are subjective. On any given day, there are atrocities happening in some part of the world (as Leslie Knope once said, the atrocities are in blue), but it’s when the atrocities affect my life that I feel the most upset about it.
A horrible thing to admit, but honestly? Isn’t that kind of true for everyone to some extent? Don’t we all pick and choose? I get really frustrated when I see people being like “your silence about X speaks volumes” because like, that person is usually silent about A, B, C and Y — sorry, didn’t realize we were all on X today, missed the memo!
All of this to say, I have absolutely no answers and even less insight. Don’t come to me for wisdom and by God, do not look to this newsletter for intelligent political commentary.
What I have for you today is a cat named Garbanzo. Garbanzo is so important to me.
In February 2025, Rachael Rae Robertson was an animal rescuer who had a decent online following. Her posts got a few hundred likes apiece and she’d gained some niche notoriety on TikTok for calling out a horse abuser. She had a practice of getting her foster kittens “chipped” with her own name and phone number, and got a call from a vet that a cat with her name and number in its chip had been dumped and needed a home.
This was Garbanzo, whom Rachael had bottle fed as a sweet and cuddly baby. Garbanzo didn’t remember her and was now a fearful, hissing adult who’d suffered abuse and neglect at the hands of the woman who’d adopted her from Rachael (but moreso this woman’s roommate). Without space to safely quarantine Garbanzo at her own home, Rachael took the cat to a room at her ex’s and began the long process of trying to rehabilitate her, which, if you don’t know cats, looks like treats and patience.
Her video about this vet pickup got nearly half a million likes and soon Rachael was flooded with donations not just for herself and her pets but also for a dog rescue she shouted out. She kept telling people she didn’t need more stuff. People kept sending her more stuff anyway.
She posted daily updates about the tiny wins of bonding with Garbanzo. The first time she ate in front of Rachael, the first time she sniffed a new toy. Back home in LA after a detour due to the fires, I followed like my life depended on it. Garbanzo would reintegrate into cat society so help me God. Also, Rachael is really cute and charming (and her mom died a year ago so yeah, her connection to animals is special and in this house we are rooting for Rachael!).
Catting to the chase: after ten weeks of love, Garbanzo was adopted and is thriving, Rachael recently babysat her, and how she (Rachael) has lots of Internet followers to keep her in free pet food for the foreseeable future.
I won’t tell you what this means; if you’ve made it this far, I assume you’ll take something from the story, even if it’s just “that was cute and Lizzie really likes cats and needs a boyfriend.” Some of you may feel like a Garbanzo right now, or a Rachael, or a person-sending-an-Amazon-package-to-a-stranger, or you’re waiting to adopt a rehabilitated cat.
And if all else fails…I just watched Rivals, so, we can talk about that if you want?
Lizzie