Have Gone Vegan

my summer of '14 vegan tees

As you know, t-shirt activism is one of my favourite ways to spread the vegan word. This past summer (yikes, can you believe we're already talking about summer in the past tense?), I got three new ones and pretty much wore them all the time. The first Captivity Is Cruel tee got a few nods and "I like your shirt" responses:

The second Not Your Mom, Not Your Milk tee got the most polarized response ranging from a cold stare (given by a Farmers Feed People in Cities clad person, snort), to an enthusiastic "You're vegan? Wow, my respect for you has just gone way up" exchange with the checkout clerk (thanks again, Monika, in case you're reading this!) at my grocery store. I didn't hear it, but apparently, the otherwise-hip young couple behind me were rolling their eyes and saying how veganism was too extreme while M and I were discussing the tee.

And grocery stores, by the way, are one of the best places for vegan tee advocacy because when people are stuck in line, you've got a captive audience. Did I ever tell you about the time when a teenager behind me excitedly told her mom to look at my Food Is To Eat, Animals Are To Love shirt, and the five people behind them promptly demanded to see it too? Now THAT made waiting in line worthwhile. :)

But the vegan tee that got the most response this summer was the sweet and gentle Friends, Not Food, as it elicited a smile from just about everyone who saw it. It also got quite a few "oh, that's SO cute!" responses as well as initiating a couple of more serious discussions. But what I really liked about this t-shirt in particular was how it seemed to get non-vegans to see their food in a different light. I swear I saw at least one mental light bulb going off!

So, as a cooler fall begins, my tees will get a final wash before they're put away for their well-deserved rest. They did a good job this year, and will be summoned for vegan duty again next summer, along with a few reliable others. :) 

pick a pitch, any pitch ;)

As you know, I've been playing with elevator pitches of late, and I've concluded that I may need as many pitches as there are circumstances, snort. And while I still like the last one I came up with, I'm thinking now that it's just too general. What I really want to convey right away is the WHO of my concern, so I've decided that I'm vegan because I don't want to support animal cruelty might just be more on the mark.

Obviously, as a vegan, I don't support animal use either, but since other vegans aren't going to be asking me why I'm vegan, I need to tailor the message to the audience. So, depending on whom I'm speaking to, I want a variety of pitches handy but with the focus being on other beings rather than health or environment. Therefore, future pitches might include:

• I'm vegan because I don't believe in violence
• I'm vegan because I don't want to support animal cruelty
• I'm vegan because I don't want to contribute to animal exploitation
• I'm vegan because I believe in justice for all beings
• I'm vegan because it's the right thing to do
• I'm vegan because it's the Christian thing to do
  (when speaking to Christians for example)
• I'm vegan because... What about you? What pitches do you use or prefer?
• I'm vegan because I can't NOT be vegan (Tom's line in comment below -- thanks!)

I'm vegan because I don't believe in violence

That, my friends, may be my new elevator pitch. Catchy, don't you think?

I like it because it's brief, non-apologetic, gets to the heart of the matter straight away, encompasses planetary, environmental, animal, and human violence, and invites folk to consider that their values may actually be vegan too, because how many people truly identify violence in general as a good thing? Plus, it's almost alliterative. ;) 

But seriously, I think it would illicit reflection and interesting questions (after, perhaps, some initial confusion), and possibly be helpful in spreading the vegan word. 

 

 

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! :)

I believe in testing make-up on animals...

... only to show that they are kissably soft. Indeed.

Another one of my tees I've been sporting this summer that has gotten a good response. I think most people feel that they love animals, and if you start from a position they're likely to agree with, then it's easier to continue the discussion from there.

I even wore this to a staff meeting the other day (in direct defiance of the dress code which doesn't permit "clothing with slogans, pictures or drawings" -- hey, if I have to haul myself into work on my day off then I'm going to wear whatever I want, snort), and had two elderly residents read and comment on my attire. This led to my "actually, I'm vegan" confession and an interesting discussion arose with one of them, which goes to show that even nursing homes can be a great place for T-shirt activism!

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!

my most successful vegan tee so far

And by successful I mean it's gotten the most attention from strangers. Wore it into town on Saturday and two people actually read it out loud! Cool. One exchange went like this:

Store owner filling in at cash register: "Food is to eat, animals are to love. Pause.
So I guess that means you don't eat meat?"

Me: "Yeah, I don't touch the stuff."

Owner: "And you love pigs?"

Me: "Yes, and chickens and cows too!"

Unfortunately at that point another customer needed serving and the conversation ended, but I like to think that a seed was planted. Or at least, that the owner has now met (if he hadn't before) someone who doesn't think other sentient beings should be thought of as food. And I wonder too if a gentle message like the one above is more effective in challenging typical assumptions then a more aggressive "meat is murder" motto. I mean, while I have no problem with thinking of meat as murder, it's the kind of slogan that is more likely to make people want to defend their habits methinks. It raises walls, instead of helping to tear them down. 

As I may have mentioned in the previous post, the beauty of t-shirt activism too is that it puts a human face on what may be stereotypical notions of who's vegan. In my case, that face belongs to a forty-something female who has given her laugh lines an honest-to-goodness workout, and who isn't bothered by prematurely grey hair. Also, while in some ways it's a real pain to be living in a small rural-based town; maybe it's even more important here than in big cities to demonstrate who vegans actually are.

p.s. more positive response from another clerk: "I couldn't help but notice your t-shirt: eat, eat, kiss, kiss -- that's SO cute!"

t-shirt activism

Did you remember to wear one of your vegan tees yesterday to help celebrate Vegan T-shirt Day? Held every first Saturday of the month this is a great way to spread the vegan message by wearing your heart AND politics on your sleeve. The beauty too of this method of advocacy is that if you're a people-can-be-draining introvert like me, you can get your point across without even having to say a word. Of course, if someone notices your shirt and wants to strike up a conversation, well, that's cool too. If more vegans participate in the event it will let people know how many of us are around, and how increasingly diverse a population we're becoming. So do your part every first Saturday (and any other day you want) and show the world your vegan pride. Do it! :)

* I got the tee in the pic above from AnimalRightStuff.com 

keep calm and vegan on

 

Is this a great print or what? Based on the Keep Calm and Carry On poster phenomenon, this parody made me smile and well, resolve to keep my vegan chin up. Timely too, given the recent Oprah debacle, although I'm starting to think a bit differently about the show too. Oh sure, I'm still annoyed and think the many criticisms raised absolutely valid, but I'm chilling out somewhat. Bea, of Provoked, did a wonderful job of gathering reactions, and reading through the original posts I came across some interesting viewpoints.

 

Vegan Machine's review was probably the most positive of the bunch, and while I didn't agree with all of her observations, I was glad of the mathematical reminder of how many animals were spared that week. And I found some of the comments in Dreena Burton's post quite fascinating. Consider the following by a nonvegan poster:

For people (like me!), the vegan life seems radical, difficult to sustain and dare I say weird. I would have never considered trying it until watching her episode. I'm not certain it's a lifestyle choice I could make, but it got my wheels turning... You have to remember the audience, I think. Majority of those watching having, like me, don't understand it. The show made it seem more attainable... You have people thinking about who otherwise wouldn't be. That' a success.

It made me wonder what other nonvegans thought of the show, and how many of them were inspired to think of veganism differently. It would also be interesting to know how many vegan starter kits were ordered from Oprah's site, or how many clicks there were on the various information links (like the Going Vegan FAQs answered by Dr. Neal Barnard) and vegan menu plans. And what about this last comment?

Well, as someone who watched the show as a certified meat eater I can happily tell you that I went completely vegan on 2/6 after reading most of Kathy Freston's book. I have attempted the vegetarian/vegan conversion intermittently over the past 15 years, but her approach really won me over... The bottom line is that if this gentler approach can get more people on board with a plant based diet then ultimately everyone wins. You really do not win people over to your point of view when you take an antagonistic, I hate to say it this way, but " I'm more evolved than you " attitude because people automatically leap to defend their position no matter how misguided... Just a few thoughts from someone who was affected enough by the not so pc vegan presentation to change her dietary choices.

Bingo! I call that a good result. Apparently, Kathy Freston's Veganist shot to the top of the Amazon list February 1, and is still the #1 book in the Cooking category. Not bad. Her book will fill in the gaps and present the ethics, health and environmental benefits of veganism as well. And what about the term veganish that I wasn't particularly enamoured of? I like This Vegan Life's take on it, and am thinking that if we really want a vegan world then perhaps having people who are becoming veganer, veganish, and veganist is at least a start. Language both reflects and shapes societal attitudes, and the more terms that contain the word vegan as a positive root, the better.

The Vegan Soapbox also reinforced my "well, maybe it wasn't a complete waste of time" reflection, so maybe we can put this episode behind us (or demand a follow-up show where Oprah acknowledges the error of her outrageous retort), and be glad of the opportunity to have more vegan newbies (and curious bystanders) on board. We can answer their questions without being interrupted by commercials or obnoxious meat-endorsing guests, come up with brilliant rebuttals, and offer suggestions and support. 

So next time we hear a celebrity say something incredibly stupid about our cause, let's remember to: a) let them know how they're wrong, and b) keep calm and vegan on! ;)

peas please ;)

I know some of you have seen this billboard ad for PETA on Vegan Soapbox or elsewhere, but I liked it so much that I wanted to post it here too. I've been meaning to do a few posts on the relationship between veganism and Christianity (and other religious faiths), because I think this is really important to address. And if nothing else, being able to tap into this segment of the population should not be ignored from a strategic point of view. Do I sound like a marketer? Snort. But yeah, expect this, plus the posts I still have planned on statistics, the paradox of being vegan, a review of the book Ninety-Five, and my series on what it means to be vegan. Whew! That'll be a lot of reading and writing. ;)

vegan graphics

See the graphic in the last post? At the time I couldn't remember where I had gotten it from, but veganelder kindly tracked its origin. Check out their other wallpapers too! :)

still here, still vegan

I know I haven't posted in what seems like forever (how can nearly two months go by so quickly?), but I haven't given up on this blog, so I hope you won't either. Being vegan in a non-vegan world (am I an abolitionist failure for thinking that all the wanting in the world* won't make it so?) can be daunting, and for me one of the challenges is trying to figure out how to be an effective advocate without being angry and pissed off all the time. And that's just at other vegans! Kidding. Well, mostly, snort. 

Besides continuing to explore vegan identity (yes that includes the stats I promised) and the process of veganism (because I believe being vegan is a journey and not a destination), I want to tell you about some new vegan products, and show off my veganalia. Yep, that's my new vegan word of the day! I've gotten some cool buttons, a stamp, and am planning to get vegan-themed T-shirts and I'll post them all soon. Also, expect more posts centered around questions, because for me, thinking out loud is the best way to process.

* in reference to the abolitionist slogan "THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it."

I'm vegan

Two simple yet powerful words.

Twice last week I ended up using them (with a telemarketer trying to sell me delivery of beef, and a clerk wanting to give me a food sample) and it struck me how effective those words really are. Right away the other person understood what I was saying, and there was no attempt to continue their campaign. And it made me realize that this declaration of who you are and what you stand for is probably better than any type of slogan we could come up with. Although fun, maybe slogans aren't even necessary because as the number of people who utter these two words continues to grow, the more exposure our cause gets. Our message is getting out there people! Before long everyone will know at least one person who is vegan (kind of like how everyone knows at least one person who is gay), which means that the whole movement will become more mainstream. And that, I like to think, will translate into more people becoming vegan. So maybe I'm vegan is actually the best un-slogan of all!

vegan slogans page

Don't forget to keep checking out the Vegan Slogans page up in the right-hand corner! There you will find the most up to date list. Yes, there are a few in a couple of January posts, but not all of the best or current ones. Also, if you have slogans to contribute, please do!

p.s. I've changed the layout -- do you like the main column better on the right, or left?

vegan slogans continued

So my favourite slogans from the previous post were:

• Veganism - Saving Millions One Bite At A Time
• I'm Vegan - Bite Me
• I Think, Therefore I'm Vegan

But I'm trying to come up with more and the tricky (impossible?) part is incorporating all the elements of veganism that are important. Anyway, here are a few that have been percolating in my brain:

• Save Billions - Be Vegan
• Have A Heart - Go Vegan
• What Would Jesus Eat Today?
• Cow's Milk - Really?

Okay, now I'm just going to throw everything out that I can in hopes that something half-decent will emerge from the sludge:

• Social Justice Began When You Became Vegan
• Be Vegan - Every Bite Counts
• Change The World By Changing What You Eat, or
• Change What You Eat - Change The World

Actually, I've changed my mind, snort. What I'm going to do instead is start a separate page for Vegan Slogans that you can find in the upper right hand corner beside Vegan Quotes. In it, I'll list the good ones from above and keep adding to it and mucking around with it until there are a number of vegan slogans that I like. Contribute your own slogans in the comments section, and if I like 'em, I'll add 'em! :)

vegan slogans

Download George the Vegan cat

I know! It's been a while. And where have I been you ask? Well, I'm still recovering from the stomach flu after helping the old folks (my parents) recover from their stomach flu. And I'm still cleaning. No, not after them or myself (at least, not any more), but this wee little blog. Did I ever tell you by the way that the most frequent Google search that brings people here lands them on the "vegans poop more" post? Snort. But it's true, vegans DO poop more, or they should, as they tend to consume more fiber. So I guess in a sense we're not only better, but also cleaner--kidding! Oh, and stomach flu will definitely make you poop more too. See now what I mean about having to clean? And did you visit George in the link above? Tried to insert the image right into the post, but I think I may have gotten a bit of brain flu too.

I hope to be blogging regularly again real soon. But in the meantime, one of the things I want to bitch about is the lack of good vegan slogans. Oh I know, there's the old Meat Is Murder (which I somehow doubt is effective because how is labeling someone a criminal going to entice them to join our movement?), but why can't we have better slogans like the feminist The Personal is Political or the gay I'm Here, I'm Queer, Get Used To It? But even adapting them doesn't quite work. The Culinary is Political? Nah. I'm Here, I'm Vegan, Get Used To It? Doesn't have the same ring, does it? Oh, I did come across one that I kind of liked (sorry, can't remember from where), and it goes like this: Veganism - Saving Millions One Bite At A Time. So, do you know of any great punchy slogans? Or do we need to make more up?

Oh yeah, I'm Vegan - Bite Me, isn't too bad. And I just read this: I Think, Therefore I'm Vegan. Gotta love that!

p.s. please view the Vegan Slogans page for the most up to date list.