SHS's "Mew" Religion
Written by Shelby Barker, Former Student on Friday, September 19, 2014
Lengthy black streaks are applied across cheeks to give the amusing illusion of kitty-cat whiskers. Hearts and black ovals are painted on noses with free-flowing kohl. For quite some time, you may have noticed some of these curious cat faced individuals around SHS. You see them in the hallways and in your classrooms. You may have heard rumors and asked yourself, "Why? Is it casual cosplay? Is it a club? Why are these people dressed like cats?"
“Some people think it’s a cult,” says SHS Senior Kameron Burns, the founder of Meowism.
“It all started when I was seven and I got my first kitty Jinx,” he says. After that, Burns’s love for cats could not be denied. Like many people, Burns is a slave to the feline species, constantly looking for ways to express his long time love-affair with cats. “It was all random; one day I just started the religion.”
When Meowism was first created on April 2, 2014, a rather joyous occasion, some of Burns’s followers where quite apprehensive. “Some people were afraid of being judged; some people were all for it,” he said. Burns’s friends, however, all share an undeniable devotion to cats.
Burns and his disciples worship Bastet, the Egyptian goddess of cats. “We love cats, but we only worship Bastet.” Bastet traces back to the second Egyptian dynasty. She is the daughter of the sun god and mother of the moon god. She has two very different personalities- ferocious and tranquil. This kitty-faced deity is very similar to the Chinese symbol of Yin-Yang. “Meowism is the one and only religion I practice,” says Burns.
Meowists, as Burns calls his followers, take pride in expressing their faith. “It’s all a part of Meowism. We dress up every Wednesday to show our likeness for cats." Burns and his disciples are constantly encouraging others to convert to Meowism. “We go around school and ask people if they would like a lovely cat makeover. I just use the eyeliner my ex-girlfriend bought me.”
Although Burns loves cats more than any other creature that has walked the Earth, he is quite fond of other animals as well. His affection for cats does not exclude him from loving other beings. “I honestly love dogs. Kind of surprising, I know.”
Unlike the average teenager, Burns doesn’t bother fitting in with the mass majority of SHS. He thinks outside the box (not the litter box), he has his own style, and is aloof to any judgment. He dresses in extravagant kilts, and his clothes tend to lean towards a darker color pallet, which gives him a brilliant eye-catching appearance. People are not always so accepting of Meowism. “I mostly just get weird looks. There're a lot of rumors floating around, but it’s not satanic. It’s just for fun,” says Burns.
“The face paint is to show our ancestry to cats,” says Junior Dawson McGrath a Meowist Priest. McGrath has shoulder length, beautiful hair that is very soft and cat-like. He is Burns’s most dedicated follower. He is also the proud owner of three cats: Solstice, Tiger and Chloe. “I just really like cats if I could be any kind of cat I would be a bob cat,” says Dawson.
Their meetings are not cloaked candlelit ceremonies, as the rumors go, but casual, friendly gatherings at Taco Bell. “My goal with Meowism is basically to make people smile and be happy,” says Burns. Any person can join the Meowist movement at SHS to express their undeniable infatuation with kitty-cats.
