Rachel never expected the regular mother-daughter zoo trip to turn into an introduction meeting to what would be her new passion.
It all started with a T-shirt.
In one of her regular visits to the Brookfield zoo, IL in 2016, Rachel and her mother stopped at a kiosk in the corner of the zoo to browse on the items displayed. As she looked, she found a shirt with a large image of a sloth in it and jokingly bought it because of a family inside joke.
Little did she know that the shirt would be the start item of a big collection of sloth related merchandise ranging from multiple different shirts to pajama pants and stuffed animals.
Now as a college student, Rachel Barks majoring in Multimedia Communication and concentrating in Journalism with a Professional Writing minor at Olivet Nazarene Univeristy, recalls how her life changed after that visit.
She remembered “Although they seemingly do nothing, they (sloths) are so interesting,” some of her favorite memories happened in a zoo visit.
During this visit, Barks had the opportunity to meet a sloth for the first time that people seemed to ignore. Later that day at home, she began investigating and researching more about Sloths and feel in love with this animal.
“I think sloths are really interesting. They have their own lives and eco-systems […] God put them on this world and created them for a reason even though they seemingly do nothing for a lot of people.”
Shelly Bogard, Barks college roommate from freshman year, was surprised to find out that the love was bigger than what she thought. She mentioned that before meeting each other, “Rachel told me her favorite animal was sloths, but I didn’t realize how much she actually loved the animal.” This fun shock came after she saw the infamous sloth t-shirt.
Barks is very open about her love for sloths, she says “It is really fun to educate people about them,” whether it is by sharing random facts or more serious information she is very happy to share some of her knowledge of sloth to others.
When asked if there were any similar characteristics between a sloth and herself, Barks was quick to point out that there are many areas she personally relates to sloths. Whether it is by looking at their quiet and reserved personality that shines when looked at with in-depth curiosity (layered personality) or by being lazy and loving sleep to the point of not waking up on time to things, she knows that at heart she is a sloth.
Bogard weighing in on some of the similarities shared that “sloths don’t do a whole bunch, they don’t have a lot to really look at or watch, but yet you can watch them all day long and not get bored – and that’s Rachel”.
“There’s nothing super crazy about her, but you can watch her all day long and not be bored.”
Shelly Bogard
To get to know more about Rachel Barks and her works as a writer visit the ONU student run newpaper: The GlimmerGlass
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