So I'm Thinking Of Going Vegan

who will love a little sparrow?

Like most folk I'm familiar enough with the more classic hits of Simon and Garfunkel, but when I heard the simple yet hauntingly beautiful Sparrow, I knew I had to share:

 

Sparrow*

Who will love a little Sparrow?

Who's traveled far and cries for rest?
"Not I," said the Oak Tree,
"I won't share my branches with
no sparrow's nest,
And my blanket of leaves won't warm
her cold breast."

Who will love a little Sparrow
And who will speak a kindly word?
"Not I," said the Swan,
"The entire idea is utterly absurd,
I'd be laughed at and scorned if the
other Swans heard."

Who will take pity in his heart,
And who will feed a starving sparrow?
"Not I," said the Golden Wheat,
"I would if I could but I cannot I know,
I need all my grain to prosper and grow."

Who will love a little Sparrow?
Will no one write her eulogy?
"I will," said the Earth,
"For all I've created returns unto me,
From dust were ye made and dust ye shall be."

♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪

Greed, vanity, and hypocrisy abound. So, who will love the little sparrows? 

* from their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3AM, released October 19, 1964

so is Ellen still vegan? part 1

Well, I have my own thoughts on this (which I'll likely share in part 2), but the reaction from the vegan community at large* certainly seems to have answered some of the questions I posed in my previous temptation with eggs post. Interesting timing, huh?

Q: Would I have been stripped of my vegan title? A: Absolutely. I may also have been tarred and feathered -- wait, feathers aren't vegan, but tar still is, I think.

Q: And by whom? A: Anyone and everyone. Being vegan isn't a matter of self-definition apparently, and anyone who deems you unfit can declare you non-vegan, and even claim that you weren't vegan to begin with. Vegans who are thought to be "welfarist" by others shouldn't be calling themselves vegan either, I learned.

Q: Would posting about it have been folly? A: Yes.

Q: Is posting about even being tempted foolish? A: Probably.

Q: What would have happened had I given in to temptation? Would that have undone everything I have tried to do these last four years? A: Likely.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't be disappointed that Ellen is possibly eating eggs again, but I do think we should be equally disappointed with how vegans as a whole have reacted. First, talk about being quick to pounce and denounce! Could we at least get more clarification and feedback from Ellen before vilifying? Could we be a bit less vulture-like? No offense to vultures intended of course.

Could we stop reserving our compassion (supposedly the cornerstone of veganism) for non-human animals only and have some left over for human animals as well? And other vegans especially? Could we try not to perpetuate the stereotype that vegans are angry, judgmental and self-righteous assholes? That one is hard, I know, because I'm angry, judgmental and self-righteous a lot of the time too. And an asshole on occasion.

Could we remember that only about 1% of us are vegan? That even with 19 million booklets handed out by Vegan Outreach over the last decade or so that that percentage hasn't changed much? If any? (Why is that, by the way?) That veganism isn't the end, but the means?

I dunno. I'm still glad I didn't partake of my uncle's eggs (well, not HIS eggs, but you know what I mean), and luckily I'm not famous so don't have my mistakes/choices witnessed by gazillions, but this whole Ellen episode (and the reaction especially) has left me feeling disheartened, sad, annoyed, angry and questioning. While I will always be vegan (self-defined at least), do I really want to call myself that now? Because at the moment the word is calling to mind all kinds of other negative V words like vicious, vilification, vitriol, vengeful, and vindictive -- not what I thought I signed up for. 

* from what I've read anyway

Okay, because I'm still in a pissy mood right now but would rather not be, and before I continue my thoughts in part 2, I'm going to insert this video parodying another hugely famous (except that I haven't seen it yet) video, and see if it cheers me up a bit. Watch with me if you like! :)

 

got milk? go wean yourself already!

No doubt you've heard about the latest undercover investigation uncovering familiar dairy cow slaughter cruelty (the details might change but the unending horror doesn't), and since Provoked and These Glass Walls have covered it better than I could, I won't add more here. Naturally it depressed the hell out of me, so I decided to express my frustration at Cafe Press and came up with this custom-designed (okay, logo only) slightly cheeky (I so mean a stronger word than wean, snort) women's tee:

Hmmm, maybe I SHOULD pop in a suitable graphic, a ©, and run a little tee shop! :)

it's a mammary mad world

Boobs are weird. Well, what I mean to say is that how society views women's breasts is completely cockeyed. Yes, they can be a source of pleasure (both for a woman herself and her chosen partners), but when it comes to their most important biological function we quickly enter taboo territory. Breastfeeding? Okay, but preferably not visibly, and most certainly not in public. Breastfeed for more than 6-12 months? Hmmm, that's too controversial* because what are breasts actually for?

They can be ogled, Googled (ha, now I get where they REALLY got their name from), fetishized (where would the porn industry be without them?), altered (because it's only natural to surgically insert foreign materials into your body when it's not necessary), displayed in almost any setting (I somehow doubt that female professionals in the real world would be taken as seriously if they showed their jugs as generously [notice how many breast euphemisms there are?] as in TV drama-land, for example), marketed to pre-pubescent girls (do you really need a bra when you're only seven?), and even turned into a hugely profitable health industry (why are breast cancer victims discouraged from questioning dietary and environmental factors?), but what they're NOT supposed to do is provide nourishment. 

Nope, take your babe off the boob! Much better to start drinking cow's milk (a whole other sad story of female victimization) and stop only until we fall into our graves. Um, what the hell?

*This post was inspired by a reference I heard last night to Alanis Morissette's decision to keep breastfeeding her 17-month-old son until he tells her he wants to stop.

team vegan 2012 final tally

 

$257,410

 

Yep, that's how much (45K more than last year) was raised by lovely readers like you! Who do we do it for? For chicks, piglets, lambs and all farmed animals who deserve a hell of a lot more consideration than they currently get. Are things changing? Yes. More slowly than we would like, but by getting information into the hands of younger generations maybe there's a chance our future world will be a much better one. 

Here's a message from Matt for Team Vegan members I thought I'd share with you:

Understanding how dependent our efforts are on all of us working together is important, because there are many, many demands on our time and energy. Compared to some specific investigations and campaigns, Vegan Outreach's long-term, grassroots efforts can seem less than urgent at times. This makes it all the more remarkable that you spent so much time and effort to help advance our necessary work.

If we are to bring about the new world we all want -- where animals aren't viewed as mere commodities but rather are treated with their due respect -- it will obviously require that people no longer view animals as food. This fundamental change can't take place from the top-down; it has to occur from the bottom up. This new world won't come about through individual battles, but by doing efficient grassroots work.

I am thrilled and honored to be doing this necessary work with you.

Together, we are bending the arc of history, every day.

For the animals,
Matt
matt@veganoutreach.org

why vegan? we do it for the chicks :)

Thanks to everyone so far for helping Team Vegan help chicks (and a lot of other animal species too, of course!) And a special thank you to the lovely readers of this blog for contributing through the Have Gone Vegan page. My own personal goal of $500 was reached and surpassed (it was then adjusted to $700 by Team Vegan) and the tee I'm sporting above was added to my growing t-shirt arsenal thanks to you! :)

If there are other readers who would like to participate, this is your last chance in the campaign to essentially quadruple your donation (e.g. $5 becomes $20) and raise the total funds up to $115,000 which will then be doubled to $230,000! How cool is that? 

You have until midnight Saturday June 30 to donate. Um, sorry, you can't actually use the donation button in the image above -- but clicking on one of the links in the paragraph right below it will get you there!

"The Keeper of Compassion"

 

Reader Jenn sent me a video of a spoken word piece and dance rehearsal that was going to be performed on National Animal Rights Day in Union Square on June 3. Talented performers included: Lara, Vivake, Melanie, Diana and Jenn. Poem by Jenn, Poem Intro by Lara, Choreography by Lara. You guys were awesome!

So let's hear it for Jenn and the rest of the talented crew, everyone! <clap, clap, clap> :)

Niagara VegFest!

Will be happening about 12 hours from now. Woot!

please support me as a member of Team Vegan!

Yep, I'm helping Vegan Outreach raise funds this year, and need your support. As you know, information is key in getting folk to open their minds (and hopefully hearts) in the battle against animal use/abuse, and this organization does a terrific job in getting the word out. Since 2003 their leafleters have handed out booklets to over 7 million students through their Adopt A College program. You can help reach even more young people, and every dollar you donate will be MATCHED by other supporters. 

My goal is to raise at least $500 and to jumpstart the process I put in $100 of my own. Two anonymous donors who wanted to help each Team Vegan member reach a minimum level put in an additional $250 (how awesome!), so I'm already at $350 -- woot! I'm hoping though that blog readers will help raise the final $150, so if any of my blog posts have ever inspired, amused or enlightened, please consider showing me some love and support this great cause. I can easily be found on the Team Vegan page (recognize the familiar name and logo?) or you can skip to Have Gone Vegan directly.

Want to donate but not have your complete name visible for everyone to see? I hear ya, and valuing a bit of privacy as well, got around that obstacle by providing the first letter of my surname only. So whether you don't mind if the whole world knows how terrific you are, or if you'd rather be a bit more anonymous, please donate either way. Thirty readers donating $5, or fifteen donating $10, or ten donating $15, or five donating $30 -- any scenario would get us there! And, $500 would morph into $1000 through the matching program! :)

Thank you in advance for ANY and all help you're able to give. It's highly appreciated. 

Update: A very generous donation has been made by my pal Debbie, so the total raised so far has gone up to $450, which means that through the doubling process $900 will go towards the battle. Awesome! Therefore dear readers, I now humbly ask that ten of you donate $5, or five of you donate $10, or two donate $25 so that our sentient co-beings can count on $1000 being raised from this collective pool. I know we can do it! :)

Update #2: We have reached and even surpassed the goal! Thanks to gentle Harry and a lovely donor couple who wishes to remain anonymous (thank you all very much!), the fundraising amount now stands at $525 -- so $1050 will go towards raising awareness that ALL sentient beings matter. I'm really pleased, and because the goal has been reached I won't badger folk in every upcoming post (although I may issue a reminder of the campaign towards the middle and end of June), but feel free to contribute more to this worthwhile cause anytime you like. :) 

"I'm going veggie."

If I can go veggie (specifically, vegan), and if Earl (from the Mutts comic strip above) would like to, and if Lisa (who left the nice comment on my Farm to Fridge post below) can do it, then so can you! And what better day to begin than with Easter? Think of it as a renewal of your commitment to be more compassionate. Jesus, if you're a follower of the Christian faith, may have had the choice to sacrifice himself for the rest of humanity, but the sacrifice that humans force upon billions of other sentient beings? Unconscionable if you ask me.

I "stumbled" across your blog while looking for vegan recipes. My husband and I had been talking about going vegetarian for health reasons for quite a while now (we already hardly ate meat,just dairy), and then he mentioned going vegan. So, I was online looking for recipes when I came across your blog. After a little hesitation, I decided to watch the video. My husband walked into the room to find me sobbing in front of my computer. Then he watched the video. That was Feb 4, 2012. We haven't touched any kind of meat or dairy since. That was all it took for me. On a good note, we've both never felt better and our health improved!  That's so awesome, Lisa, thank you!

Patrick McDonnell's comic strip above, by the way, can be ordered as a print and I did, Because I'm worth it, snort. The company behind that advertising slogan though? Nope, they're not worth it (they still do animal testing, or pay others to do it for them), so buy your cosmetics elsewhere. Although I do appreciate their ToxCast donation.

springing into action

Well, not quite. After having found my groove again (snort, thanks veganelder), I ended up working full-time for a spell (debating whether I should fight the flu shot requirement or not) and didn't have the energy to blog, or do anything particularly useful for other animals. But today is the first day of Spring, yay, so I hope to be back in action soon. In the meantime, here are some other dates to keep in mind this week: 

March 20: Meatout

March 22: World Water Day 

March 23: One Life -- although not a vegan documentary, I'm always hopeful that films of the Planet Earth genre will at least inspire more respect for other species

March 19-25: Canada Water Week -- discover your water footprint!

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Also, for any Canadian reader interested in working with an animal sanctuary, there's an Executive Director position available with the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada main farm in Puslinch, Ontario. I would encourage you to apply! :)

wanna be a veganpreneur?

Excellent! I hope many of you do because we sorely need vegan goods and services. And as a consumer wanting to spend my measly dollars in humanitarian sentientarian ways, here's a small sampling of what I personally would like to see more of:

• vegan-themed calendars (both wall and engagement planners) -- because how many did I come across scouring Amazon back in December? Nada. Tsk, tsk.
• vegan books that aren't cookbooks -- because not every vegan is infatuated with food. At least, I'm not.
• vegan books discussing the politics of food, however, are always welcome
• vegan anthologies -- because it would be cool to have collections of authors discussing their vegan journey or other aspects of the vegan experience
• vegan documentaries -- because they rule!
• vegan humour -- more jokes, comics, standup comedians and funny books, please
• vegan art
• vegan plays and musicals -- why not?
• vegan apps 
• vegan directories
• vegan databases, studies and surveys
• vegan classes and courses
• vegan job boards -- there's one or two, but we need more
• vegan career counsellors, and
• vegan life coaches -- with special emphasis on stress and anger management, snort

So, step up to the plate all my vegan entrepreneurial friends and let's fill in the gaps! :)

maybe it's not too late? ;)

Have a happy, safe and animal-friendly holiday everyone! Hope to be back soon.

* The cartoon above is by the well-known vegan genius Dan Piraro. He's awesome. 

not vegan yet? then please view farm to fridge

 

Vegan already? Excellent! Then keep calm, vegan on, and scroll down for latest post.

vegan videos by John Sakars

Had never heard of him until The Vegan Spyder sent me a Flickr message one day saying, hey, check this out:

  

Turns out it was pretty funny and John certainly has a unique voice/style to add to the vegan choir. Then on Provoked I saw this brilliant piece and was really impressed:

 

So thanks to both my pals for introducing me to this cool Canuck (slang for Canadian), and be sure to check out his other works. I know I certainly will! :)

Update: As it turns out, YouTube decided that the work of vegan activist John Sakars was in violation of its Community Guidelines whereas the numerous animal crush videos and other videos celebrating hunting, dogs being barbecued, people tossing live goats to lions in Chinese zoos for entertainment and all other manner of sick crap is, well, perfectly fine. And yes, some may find a few of John's videos too crude for their taste, but really? Actual violence against animals is okay, but speaking out against said violence is not? But that, my friends, is where YouTube stands. So, YouTube terminated John's original account, but he has uploaded 25 videos to his new one (from where I uploaded the Vegan Marriage Counsellor above), and he can always be found on Facebook.

is the V word too scary?

And no, I don't mean The "V" Word, which is a lovely blog full of tempting recipes that one day its author will turn into a delightful cookbook. Right, Rhea? ;) 

I mean the word vegan of course. I've thought about it before, but it really struck me yesterday as I watched the segments of the Dr. Oz show discussing The China Study and The Engine 2 Diet without once referring to veganism. Not surprising I guess since the show is more about diet and health, but I wondered if only using the phrase plant-based diet was deliberate. And in a sense because they were only talking about veganism in terms of the diet aspect and not about the other essential parts, plant-based diet was probably appropriate, but still. To be vegan IS to follow a plant-based diet, so it was a little odd not to hear about the philosophy behind the food choices. Mind you, the Dr. Oz show tends to be hyperkinetic with shorts bursts of rapid-fire information so no topic gets more than a superficial treatment in the time allotted.

But I still wonder if they intentionally avoided using the word and if so whether that was wise. As an ethical vegan (although I don't really like that terminology either) I have no problem with labeling who I am and what I eat as vegan, but if the main goal is to reduce suffering and eliminate use, then does it matter what words are used? If the phrase plant-based diet is easier to digest, so to speak, then is my preference of the word vegan important? If people find it easier to adopt and say they're on a plant-based diet than to label themselves vegan, and if a real reduction of animal use occurs, should we focus more on results than labels? Because in a sense I'd rather that 100 people actually adopt a "plant-based diet" than 10 people to identify as vegan. In the end, I guess I wonder which strategy is more effective: getting more people to greatly reduce consumption or getting fewer to eliminate it completely. 

I don't know. What do you think?

vegan mail delivery part 1

Woohoo! Received Nick Cooney's Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change in the mail Friday and after only one chapter I already think it'll be invaluable. Not only is it interesting reading (although I'm biased towards the social sciences), but I feel it will help us to become more effective activists. I like how the title is Change of Heart as opposed to Change of Mind because while facts, logic and reasoning are certainly part of the activist's arsenal, facts by themselves are not enough. Compassion is more a matter of the heart, and hearts have to be opened before information can settle in. 

Chapter One is called Looking Inward and it deals partly with the relationship between self-identity and activism. Cooney reminds us that because we're so strongly and emotionally invested in our cause, we tend to believe that our own advocacy methods are the right ones and that any criticism of them can feel like criticism of us. That in turn can make it hard to abandon them if it's shown they're flawed.

He also suggests that negative aspects of self-identity (like ego, jealousy and insecurity) need to be kept in reign if we want to be effective, and asks the following:

Are we as activists willing to keep our anger and passion in check so that we're directing them rather than they directing us? Are we willing to put those we hope to help ahead of our desires for self-expression, for standing up for ourselves, and for loudly proclaiming what we believe regardless of how others will respond? Are we willing to go beyond the comfortable boundaries of our current self-identity in order to be as effective as possible? (p.15)

All good questions.  (And it makes me wonder what HE thinks of the VegNews scandal, snort. My own take on it is expressed in a comment I left at The Discerning Brute, but check out the excellent post Vegan Feminist Agitator has written on the matter.)

So I'm looking forward to the next chapters, and if any of you are interested I may share bits in the future that resonate with me. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can read a complete interview posted by Vegan Outreach to get a sense of what's in store.

Better yet, buy the book! :)

a simpler and sweeter video

 

Maybe the last one was too snarky?

But I ran across the one above the other day and was moved by the infectious joy shared between baby and dad. Couldn't help wishing though that babies of ALL species were able to revel in the myriad pleasures of being alive.

veganlly incorrect no doubt, but funny nonetheless

 

Okay, I thought it was funny. Hysterically so, actually. And you know what they say, "Those who can't laugh at themselves, leave the job to others." Amen!

@havegonevegan

Yep, I've taken the plunge and am now on Twitter. I did this even before Erik Marcus wrote a couple of posts outlining why it's a good idea, and I think the shift for me took place when it occurred to me that instead of just being a silly social networking site (yes, I've done my share of mocking!), Twitter could also be used as a tool for social justice. I mean, nobody cares about the daily minutiae of our lives I hope, but using Twitter to keep abreast of vegan happenings and to spread the word of awesome posts and videos by other bloggers is pretty cool. I haven't tweeted much myself yet and am still learning how it all works, but I can see the potential now. It's been fascinating recently to see ordinary folk around the globe standing up to dictatorial governments, and if a media mechanism like Twitter can be used to make our world more vegan even faster, than why not?

If you want to follow me, follow the "follow me on Twitter badge" on the left! ;)