Hi! I am RocketBear, a handsome long haired Weimaraner who enjoys long walks in the woods, peanut butter, belly rubs, cheese and a functioning democracy.  But enough about me…

My mom spent close to 20 years working in international development before the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was illegally dismantled in 2025. 

Dedicated to bettering the lives of people across the globe, USAID improved access to education and healthcare, promoted democratic reforms and economic growth, supported environmental conservation and all kinds of other good stuff. My mom specifically worked on conservation, energy access, and gender equality & women’s empowerment.

Despite her and her colleagues’ good work, the Trump administration launched a rapid and chaotic assault on the agency in January 2025. Within a few short weeks, the administration terminated the staff and ended 60 years of development assistance work around the world.

Simultaneously watching her career and our democracy fall apart was quite stressful for my mom.  She needed a way to cope, to calm her nerves and focus on something good in this world. So she picked up a pencil and drew a sketch of ME!

Drawing was so relaxing that she began to draw other pets. But she did not draw random cats or dogs; my mom specifically drew the pets of other former USAID employees. Pretty soon she had a nice collection, and while each sketch was cute individually, my mom saw something more in them. As a collective, she saw that they had the power to tell a very important story. And so she turned her growing collection of pet portraits into @RocketBearProject: a social media storytelling project aimed at sharing the diversity and impact of the work of former colleagues who lost their jobs due the policies of this administration.

Since launching @RocketBearProject, she has posted more than 200 pencil-and-paper drawings, each representing a proud pet and their inspiring human. They tell the stories of how their people increased access to education, provided life-saving medicines, improved access to clean water, championed women’s  rights, fought illegal deforestation, responded to disease outbreaks, provided food assistance, combated human trafficking and so many other equally awe inspiring things. The pets are as diverse as the stories they tell—including numerous dogs, cats, hamsters, and birds, as well as a goldfish, snake, turtle, butterfly, chicken, deer and bearded dragon.

Since scribbling her first lines on the back of a piece of scrap paper, my mom has not put down her pencil. She continues to draw every day, choosing to focus her attention on all the creatures that bring people comfort and joy, reminding all of us of what is good in this world.

I remain her constant companion and muse.