I'm sorry.

Every day I say "I'm sorry" in a prayer to non-human animals everywhere being used for humans. You could call it my "moment of zen". I try to imagine their pain, fear, anxiety, and sadness, it really helps put anything I'm going through in perspective.
I drove down to Charlottesville, VA from Pittsburgh last weekend. For 5 hours I passed fields full of cattle, lamas, goats, and horses. In the fields of cattle, babies suckled, they ate grass, many simply laid there basking in the sun. As serene as this was, it made my heart heavy and my eyes fill with tears. I said "I'm sorry" to each and every field we passed. To the field we passed with a barn that had "Eat Dairy" spray painted in large letters, I gave it the finger. How many omnivores pass theses fields and think "These are the cows I'm eating, their lives are gentle, and their death is humane"? Sometimes the fight for animal rights seems incredibly big and out of reach.
There are multiple images that have branded themselves in my brain since starting this journey. I added another one Saturday morning while passing a truck full of cattle. One large cow was turned looking out of the steel wall, I looked into his large brown eyes, he seemed worried but at the same time indifferent. Like he had excepted his fate, and knew it would be over soon. I said, "I'm sorry".

Fur real?

I'm not sure what it is like in other cities but here in the 'burgh full length fur coats are all the rage, and so is my temper. Maybe I expect a bit to much out of this city, although considering that most of the population roots for an ever failing baseball team, thinks "yinz" and "n'at" are proper English, and considers sauerkraut and kielbasa a delicacy I'm not sure why, but seriously. Floor length fur coats at the movie theater?
I hope I'm not the only person that makes wide detours around these pudgy, middle aged low lives as they waddle seemingly unaware of the torture barely sheathing their bulging waist lines. Or glares relentlessly at the skinny debutante who is seated beside you at a restaurant stroking her mink wrap, muttering under my breath what I'd like to do with her skin. Yes, aside from ill prepared tofu, nothing makes me quite as irate as fur clothing. They say ignorance is bliss, and in the case of fur I might have to agree. After seeing videos of anal electrocution, dogs being skinned alive, and the naked bodies of these tiny creatures tossed in shallow graves I can't not be angry. It's hard to explain to the ignorant how just passing a fur store, or a person wearing fur makes me want to cry, vomit, and hit something. That's why I'll be protesting this Saturday in 27 degree weather, because to get through this season I need those honks, cheers, and raised fists. To know that I'm not alone.
Thanks for adding me to the group Popey!

Diets that (don't) work

So I was reading the CNN main page headlines, which I like to do so I can at least pretend I am keeping up with world news. And since CNN mixes fun stuff in there, it's also hilarious. So today I saw this link to "The top 10 healthiest diets in America", and naturally I get excited thinking that they could possibly talk about raw veganism or something equally awesome.
Well, here's the list:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/29/healthiest.diets/index.html
They pick 10 weird diets, whatever, Weight Watchers is the only one I've heard of, and they list the various fallbacks of the 10 diets. The amazing part? No kind of vegan diet made the cut, and the only vegetarian diet on the list is described as "just too hard to sustain".
REALLY?
Vegetarian diets, which are credited with lowering the risk of colon and prostate cancer, heart attacks, high cholesterol and blood pressure, and stroke, are well worth any difficulty. And at least in my case, the difficulty that one might have in maintaining it only serves to boost my self-esteem, give me another reason to change the world, and add some deeper meaning to my daily routine.
I'm coming out of the vegan closet: it's easy, and I feel great in every way. Take THAT, top 10 american diets.

Animal Rights

Humans rights abuses are pimples on the face of society, showing time and again that people are easily able to forget their own humanity. But what about animal rights abuses? People have a hard time remembering their human relatives, let alone that they are also animals. Animal rights is a pimple on the face of society too, but it is one that lies deep under the surface, causing much pain and redness, but not yet emerging to heal. It's one of those you know is simply filled with sebum, waiting to explode, but you can't pop it or do anything to heal it until moves to the surface.

What I'm trying to say is, I feel like animal rights is an issue that has been recognized by some, but definitely not taken seriously by others, and, therefore, has not even begun its biggest fight. I am often tempted to add in the question of, "was that person vegetarian?" when evaluating moral character, but as soon as that idea is brought into the topic, people seem to take away my legitimacy and refuse to hear what I have to say. It is crazy enough for me to mention women's rights or immigration law reform... god forbid I mention animal rights! But these issues are interrelated as all injustices are. We must fight "the man" in unison.

Which led me to thinking about how the animal rights movement might play out in the future. Will it be like other movements that have continued to marginalize groups within the larger group? Will pigs' rights come before cows' rights? Will we fight vivisection before we eliminate factory farms? Will we forget how other injustices are related to the cause? How environmental injustice is directly related to farm animal injustice, for example?

I am wondering how this will play out.

I am hoping we remember the necessity for inclusion.

I'm going to eat 3 year old children

This is equivalent to eating pigs.

Species don't exist. Get over yourselves. That ugly kid you see is just a rearrangement of the same molecules that make up a pig.

So go on and feast upon the flesh of intelligent beings! Just be fair in your judgment of food. Hypocrites aren't allowed into heaven.

Vegan Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a difficult holiday for vegans. It is a holiday based on the murder of members of other species, particularly turkeys. I could not help but be offended at the utter disregard for life at the latest presidential turkey pardon. The whole issue is treated as a joke. Bush says of the two pardoned turkeys: "They will not be trotting to their finish," which of course is met with laughter from the audience. They recognize that many other turkeys are perishing, which is acceptable to them, and saving a turkey is somehow humorous. For now my strategy for surviving Thanksgiving is to surround myself with other vegans and vegan food and when eating with my family at the table I will proudly display my separate tofurkey, non-dairy mashed potatoes, and vegetable broth stuffing.

lol wut

“Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.”
- Anthony Bourdain, host of No Reservations, “Kitchen Confidential,” p. 70

Animal Abuse?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/18/actor.cat.cruelty.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

So I was reading this article and I almost cried because it is super sad and the cat looked super sweet, plus thinking about how like, people who abuse animals also abuse people (please note the way he chose to wake his girlfriend), but then I got more upset thinking about the way farm animals are treated in this country, tormented and killed in the millions for basically no better reason than this guy had, and yet he is facing criminal charges while people who facilitate the beating to death of cows and pigs make the big bucks. I don't get it. This is one of the top reasons I won't date a meat-eater. Anyone who thinks it's ok to kill, thinks it's ok to kill YOU. Maybe.

I Love This Creepy Vegan Pig

http://youtube.com/watch?v=05zhL1YUd8Q

I wrote this song a real long time ago, a real real long time ago

Even while on vacation, I was thinking and observing for you. Here are the gems of wisdom I came up with (and am now posting a month later, whoops):
Have you ever noticed how carnivores, when they realize there is more than one veghead in a room, have to find and loudly congratulate each other? As though they are maybe upholding justice as the last stronghold of animal-eaters? What is the deal?
Also, when people see me eating veggieburgers, they act like they have caught me in some act of treason, and accuse me of secretly craving meat, and assert that if I want it so bad, I should just eat meat and get over it. All rational arguments aside, I came up with a mildly witty retort: “No, you just crave the flavorful succulence of vegetables and are trying to re-create it by cooking and seasoning that bland flesh just right, but give it up already. Vegetables are soooo much easier.”

From OBX, with love
P.S. I read some pages from the book Skinny Bitch, which advises women on how to become a skinny bitch (bitch in the sense that other women are overwhelmed with jealousy of how good you look). The book advocates veganism and is also hilarious. When I read it, I will submit a full report.