Riddle Me a Riddle

Question for you....

What connects literature, animals and the iPad?


Give up?



OK, well the answer is simple: Animal Writes, the new book club just announced by the vegan dynamo Colleen Patrick-Goudreau! Yes, not content with producing her fortnightly podcast, working on 3 upcoming books, guest lecturing all over creation, publishing everywhere good words are read, and guest column-ing (can we just pretend that's a word?) at VegNews, now she's starting a book club too.

Word has it that she's focusing on the kind of texts she occasionally reads on the podcast - books that examine the relationship we have with animals but which are not necessarily hard-core animal-rights treatise. The first meeting is going to highlight Don LePan's novel, Animals, which is set in a dystopian reality in which some species have become so scarce that 'other' sources of flesh must be found in order to satisfy man's craving for meat....

Anyways, the really neat thing about this book club is that it'll meet in the flesh (pardon the pun) if you happen to live in the San Francisco area and also online for those of us not - yet - so fortunate as to find ourselves in the Bay Area. More details are available at the website

Compassionate Cooks Book Club - Animal Writes

so, without wanting to sound like a complete cliche, go check it out!

Yes, literature and animals...not a bad way to spend an evening!

Perhaps I'll see you there...virtually anyhow! :)

Oh, and if you're wondering how the iPad plays into this - LePan's book is available in e-format through iBooks. Just saying.....

Stay vegan, friends! :)

The most marvelous two years.....

Today I am celebrating is my 2-year vegan-niversary! No, I'll not blow my own trumpet, but it's hard not to have a frisson of pleasure at reaching this milestone. I'm sure as the years roll by it will become less of a source of pride, but right now I am dang pleased!

It's been a great 2 years, the best of my life so far. My eyes have been opened to reality and it's been an education, a source of intense sadness and grief at learning of our egregious and unconscionable treatment of non-human animals and of our profit from their suffering. My world view has changed completely, irreversably, and permanently: I no longer look at people through the same lens, but struggle to see past the inherent selfishness and greed that underpins our willingness to contribute to and look away from animal abuse and exploitation. Each day, a hundred jagged reminders, a thousand reproaches and still no change in sight.

But is has also been a source of tremendous joy and pleasure. I have feasted with the animals, not upon them.





I have met new people along the way, teachers who have guided me and mentors whose patience and friendship has helped me through the trauma of awakening.



I'm now part of a community so much more vibrant, creative and compassionate than I ever dreamed of. It is almost a full-time job keeping up with volunteer activities and online activism - and I love it! It's been my privilege to witness dramatic changes close to home: my mother has adopted a vegan diet; my husband's proved himself more willing to adapt, open-minded, accepting, and loving than I had any right to expect. Thank you, Geoff.



Always a 'foodie', I am no longer conflicted about my choices of ingredients and, through a renewed interest in cooking and nutrition, enjoy every single meal, every last bite. My skills have grown (as has my waistline, or - at least - it has not shrunk!) as I've rediscovered an almost childlike joy at the alchemy which is baking. From co-workers to friends to family, I try to ensure that everyone around me feels the benefits directly, and I suspect they are quite happy!




And of my non-human companions, I have reached a depth of closeness with them that is born of no longer feeling guilt at the arbitrary distinction of 'pet' vs 'food'. In recognising the moral personhood of all animals, I can now look at 'my' dogs and see them for who they truly are - extraordinary souls with their own agendas, interests, joys and pleasures. And I am able to love them just that little bit more too!

I don't yet know how this next year will unfold. More reading, talking, thinking, grieving and more activism. More understanding, more anguish and more joy - this is certain. And I am profoundly grateful for it all.

Stay Vegan, Friends!

Vegan Wishes

Noodling around at lunchtime today, I found a lovely post called And the winner is... over at Vegan Hope. I am crossposting here and adding a few wishes of my own....
(comments in italics are mine too)

My vegan wishes…

That I could present the facts and information to skeptics in a clear concise way.
(- a major wish of mine too)

That my friends and family would see truth before it is too late.

That the general population would come to grips that they are being lied to every single day by the food industry.

That diabetics (type 1 & 2) could know there is an answer, and it is not a hard one.
(- and that those who DO know this would actually stick to their vegan choices - you know who you are!)

That going vegan to people was something that sounded easy and enjoyable (because it actually is)

That people would understand the cruelty of what is done in order for them to consume the food they eat.

That people would understand the harsh addictions that are in things like dairy and meat.

That people would not associate political motives for things like living healthy, refusing to accept cruelty and destroying the earth.
(- when did kindness and compassion become politically subversive concepts?)

That people in all religions and non religion would be able to incorporate a compassionate life, and would want to treat their body with respect and honor by living as healthy as they could.

That people would realize they are strong enough to break their addictions and from what they think they could never change.

That people could understand why we have the diseases that we do.
(- not to mention the ones we're saving up for the future)

That people would see truth as something that is beautiful, and be thankful for it.

That people would WANT to live and thrive.

That people could understand what it is to feel life, to be healthy, and to be contributing to saving life.

That people would come together to help one another, not to rip each other apart.

That people would see past what the media shoves down their throats.

That factory farms would be made with glass walls, so that we could see what is happening.

That I could give people an ounce of what it feels like to be so sick that you are afraid you won’t make it another day, and let them know that if they continue to do what they are doing, they will most likely end up in the same place.

That I could give people an ounce of what it feels like to actually be healthy, full of energy.

That I could give people the strength they need to make it through a couple of weeks of detox.

That everyone could see themselves on the other end of giving up what they feel they could never give up, and see that it wasn’t that hard after all.
(- absolutely!)

And I have a few of my own to add:

That people would accept once and for all that fish and chickens and other non-red-meat-types are not vegetables. They are animals. And as such they have no part of a vegetarian diet.

That slaughterhouses had glass walls and that a visit was compulsory for every meat eater to see the reality for themselves.

That people could break through the arbitrary distinctions they make between the animals we cuddle and the animals we eat. Dogs, cats, pigs, sheep...they all just want to live.

That the concept of being vegan was not immediately dismissed as radical and extreme even by those who should know better.

That there was a will to understand and that empathy was a norm in our society.

That no-one would seriously believe that the satisfaction of a fleeting moment's taste of meat could ever justify the unconscionable abuse and torture of fellow beings.

That we could all - for one moment - experience life as a farmed food animal. (In Anna Sewell's novel 'Black Beauty', the equine narrator says something along the lines of 'I used to think seeing was believing. Now I know it is not: feeling is believing'. That is an elegant distinction.

What are your vegan wishes?

On 'hefty herbivores' and other such fabled creatures.....

Finally.

I finally did it.

I went to the gym this evening on my way home from work. For the first time this year.

And it was tough. I really felt it and wondered, for the umpteenth time, how the hell it is that I am still so fat?

I have been vegan now for 15 months and I haven't really lost any weight. Now, I should say up front that weight loss and health reasons are not why I went vegan. Not in the least. I made the change from my previously largely omni diet when I discovered the truth about the animals - how they live and how they die, and I could bear no further part of that.

However, whenever I catch myself thinking of 'vegans' in the abstract, perhaps of the stereotype, I think of slender willowy types with glossy shiny hair, perfect teeth and toned bodies.

I do not, in short, think of me.

OK, so I am rational. I am perectly able to see that it took 30+ years for me to get to this state and it's going to take a while to put things right. But I can't help but feel discouraged and disappointed because I have the impression - right or wrong - that the vegan diet is naturally healthier, lower in all of the bad things and higher in the good ones. Is more sustaining, nutrient-dense and calorie-poor and that a healthier body is an inevitable by-product of a healthier way of eating.

And no, it's not a case that I 'cheat' from time to time, secretly gorging on hot dogs and cheese pizza. Because I do not. I would as soon snack on a hot dog as I would on my own dog. To me, the hot dog is not food; it is the desperate remains of a once beautiful, intelligent, sensitive creature whose desire to live matched my own. The cheese on the pizza is little more to me than the product of a grief-stricken mother whose baby has been stolen from her. So, no, I do not 'cheat'; I have no interest in those things.

But the question persists: am I the only fat vegan out there? Am I the exception that proves the rule when it comes to plant-based nutrition? We are so bombarded by images of svelte gorgeous vegan women and I am beginning to question the underlying assumption that veganism = slenderness. (There are, after all, svelte and gorgeous meat-eaters out there, folks who wouldn't know a snowpea if they tripped over it on the way to the steakhouse.)

So, in tandem with committing *once again* (sigh) to regular stops at the gym on the way home, I am launching a study: where are the 'hefty herbivores'? the 'portly-plant eaters'? the 'vegans of size'? Am I in a club of one?? Or are there kindred souls out there, sheltering behind their autographed copies of Skinny Bitch?

Watch this (somewhat substantial) space...

...oh, and Stay Vegan, Friends.

Do you wish what she wishes...?

If I am ever fortunate enough to find myself out in Colorado there is a place I am desperate to visit: Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary. I've been 'visiting remotely' for some time now and the dedication and smarts of the folks there never fail to astound me.

And today I came across some of Joanna Lucas' new outreach materials and two of the pieces really struck me as excellent and worth highlighting. Since they are Flash files, I can't reproduce them here, but click on over and see them for yourselves.

I Am Someone

Being Someone

Please take a look.

And Stay Vegan, Friends.