wish i could take the credit for this...

but i can't... what i can do is share the wit and wisdom of marla from vegan feminist agitator as she articulates what many vegans think and feel with her sixth annual disgruntled vegan alphabet...

from vegan feminist agitator

A is for Another flaky “former vegan” celebrity just went on a talk show and is now on the paleo bandwagon so could we please stop already with the celebrity worship? Pretty please? It never ends well.

B is for “But what about the Inuit? But what about the Native Americans? But what about the lions? But what about the microscopic insects you kill? But what about soy? But what about eating humane meat? But I’m part Italian. But eating meat is how I honor my ancestors. But I was raised eating meat. But I give a blessing. But I give thanks. But my guru said it was okay. But I need the protein. But I am allergic to soy, wheat, all grains, all fruits and all vegetables except for celery. But I need the iron. But I just eat a little meat. But I don’t eat red meat. But I only support the best farms. But…”

C is for Cough in front of the wrong person and it is incontrovertible proof that I have a vegan-induced nutritional deficiency.

D is for Delusion, because apparently there is a just and compassionate way to needlessly slaughter other sensitive beings as long as you have an unlimited supply of it.

E is for the Eerie silence that happens whenever I get stopped by a Greenpeace canvasser or the Sierra Club calls and I ask them about their organization’s public position on eating animals.

F is for For once, could I either opt out of the Secret Santa exchange at work or get someone who doesn’t give me a basket of alpaca milk soaps from her brother-in-law’s farm?

G is for Gotcha moments, and, no, you didn’t “get me” with your inquiry about what my shoes or coat are made of but try again, sport, because this endless game of pin-the-tail-on-the-hypocrite never gets old or predictable.

H is for Har-har-har, writing People Eating Tasty Animals in the middle of a debate never fails to make an original and devastating counter-argument. Touché! How could anyone ever recover from such a salient point?

I is for Ick, no, I really don’t miss eating corpses. Do I look like Hannibal Lecter or something? Fava beans and a nice chianti, though, those would be fine.

J is for that Junk science video you posted about “plants feeling pain.” If this is more persuasive to you than, I don’t know, the lack of a central nervous system and an evolutionary incentive for pain reception and you ignore the fact that far more plants are consumed when eating a diet that includes animals, I am going to have to question if you are really sincere about your convictions.

K is for karma because sometimes that is all we can hope for in life and we have all heard about her general disposition.

L is for Logical Fallacies because whether were are talking about a strawman argument (“Vegans hate people and only care about animals!”), the slippery slope argument (“If we stop eating animals, they will take over the world!”) the tu quoque approach (“How can you talk about animal suffering when you are stepping on bugs, hmm?”) and an anecdote (“My cousin was vegan for two weeks and she almost died from a protein deficiency!”), these are all examples of the logical fallacies people who want to continue eating animals will wrap themselves in like a warm blanket. A blanket with a bunch of holes in it nonetheless.

M is for the Massive meltdown that happens when a vegan asks her affluent grass-fed, organic paleo cousin how many worlds we’d need in order to sustain the world’s population with his way of eating.

N is for the Namaste-spouting New Agers who try to justify eating animals and are so self-involved as to claim that “judgments” are worse than unnecessary violence and destroying the planet. Altogether now: om…

O is for Okay, do you honestly believe that vegans are pushing their views on you? Have you looked at the world through the lens of someone who doesn’t think that animals are “food” lately? Have you tried to look at the world through the lens of a being who is born and raised solely for the purpose of being eaten lately?

P is for Paranoia, as in, “I said soy milk, right? Because if my coffee has cow’s milk in it I will be really upset and disgusted. Okay, wait, I see you’ve charged me extra because apparently destroying our planet is not enough for animal product consumers, now they should be able to get what they want without any penalties at all and when is a vegan coffee shop finally going to open around here??? So, anyway, how do I know the barista didn’t make a mistake?”

Q is for having exceeded my annual Quota of weird looks and passive-aggressive remarks about my meatless roast at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner within five minutes of being there. Because family…

R is for Really, I don’t want to hear about how much you love animals but vegans “just take it too far” because, you know, this is kind of idiotic if you think about it without your ego getting in the way.  

S is for being Self-righteous because it’s better than being self-wrongteous.

T is for Turducken because what kind of twisted, Caligula-minded sadist invented this grotesquery?

U is for the Universal sign of warm weather, which means that when I can finally open my windows for a few months, the smell of charred, tortured flesh filling the air greets me. Yay.

V is for getting Verklempt at the Vicarious thrill we enjoy when one of our protégés goes off and becomes an awesome little vegan agitator in his or her own right. Fly, little bird. Fly! Oh, wait. This was supposed to be complaining. Okay, V is for Vasectomy because, please, 98% of humanity, let’s look into it. Snip, snip, done.

W is for Wings as in do you know that people actually sit around and eat a bird’s severed limbs and then dump the bones in a bowl and, um, tofu is gross? Oooookay, then.

X is for the Xenophobes who think that Asian cultures that eat dogs are barbaric while they themselves eat dead chickens and cows. Um, what???

Y is for the boiled Yellow squash plate vegans are served at our cousin’s wedding that no amount of salt, pepper, denial or wishful thinking will be able to remedy. This is why an emergency nutrition bar should always be in the glove compartment.

Z is for the Zany situations that turn your life into a tragicomedy that will make for an excellent screenplay for a film that roughly two percent of the population might be willing to see one day."

i've got nothing to add... marla has said it all...(but you can read her previous alphabets - sixth annual airing of grievances (each word is a link to one of her earlier alphabets)...

animal justice party...

it's state election time here in victoria, and there's a new party on the political scene - the animal justice party...

i haven't voted in so long - there hasn't been any one or any party that offered any hope for change - but i knew with the arrival of the ajp that i needed to make my voice heard for the nonhumans today...

it's not the perfect solution to the horrors perpetrated against them, but it shows me there is a growing awareness that animal nations are not here for human use, abuse and 'benefit' - they are sentient beings that deserve to be treated with respect - they are equal to us, not less than - and they need a voice in government...

the ajp is standing 25 candidates across victoria, and even if one of those representatives gets voted in, it's a start - it won't change things overnight - but it's finally a voice for the voiceless of this speciesist society... this is their very first election and i hope for the nonhumans that they make an impact...

"immorality sanctified by tradition is still immorality" ... bernard e. rollin

raising awareness through art...

when jo frederiks paints, she does it with passion and purpose... she has a compelling message to share, evident in this video of her recent exhibition - 'the animal holocaust' - opened by phillp wollen... the art is stunning, breathtaking, heartbreaking, and the words powerful...

while looking for information about jo, who grew up on a remote queensland 'cattle station', became a passionate animal rights activist and a vegan advocate, i came across an interesting article by 'age' columnist sam de brito - 'confessions of a vegan' - in which he shares his vegan awakening (along with some of jo's artwork)...

"Once the light goes on and you realise the food you so blithely eat actually causes massive, life-long, completely avoidable suffering to billions of animals, it’s not an easy epiphany to un-think.

A supermarket never looks the same, butcher shops become very dark places. The perversity of using smiling anthropomorphised animals to advertise packages of their own body parts grows almost chilling."

i find it encouraging, inspiring, uplifting to read of more and more people making the connection, acknowledging the atrocities humans perpetrate against other sentient beings, moving forward, embracing vegan philosophy and sharing what it means to be vegan in mainstream media... veganism is a truth whose time has definitely come...

“In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they're the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought." ― Isaac Bashevis Singer

the truth is out there...

there's a 'joke' that nonvegans trot out time and time again which goes along the lines of "how do you know when someone's a vegan? don't worry, they'll soon tell you!" believe me, every vegan has heard it, and every vegan is sick and tired of it - considering we live in a society built on speciesism and the idea of human superiority and we are confronted day in and day out with atrocities committed against nonhuman beings enslaved by humans it's no wonder... ads no matter where you turn encourage the buying, wearing, and consumption of body parts, and nonvegans are only too happy to share their 'culinary delights' with all and sundry... the 'entertainment' industry beckons us to witness the broken spirits of those beaten into submission to 'perform'... zoos confine and display nonhumans as 'exhibits' and call it 'educational'... hmmm...

consequently i couldn't resist buying a t-shirt online a few weeks ago from the vegan street store, a "retro design (that) pokes fun at the prevailing attitudes a lot of people hold toward vegans".- my 'splurge' (which i don't get to do very often because i rarely have 'extra cash' to play with)... well my t-shirt arrived just the other day and this is what it says...

realistically, how can i not tell you i'm vegan? as the author of the blog 'there's an elephant in the room' so eloquently puts it...

"How do you know when someone is vegan? Well I’m guilty as charged. I will soon tell you. But the real reason is probably not the one that the ‘joking’ nonvegan finds so amusing.

When we meet others. even in the most casual of circumstances, we share information about ourselves, glean information about those whom we meet. Through this sharing, we find common interests, experiences and outlooks and we subconsciously assess the nature of any future relationship we may have with them or reaffirm our existing bonds. If I were to list the things that I consider are important about me and my experience in life I will tell you that I’m vegan because it’s the main thing there is to know about me.  It sums up my values and all the lessons life has taught me. Veganism has become synonymous with who I am as a person and to tell you that I am vegan is baring my soul..." read more in the post knock knock

for those who already know me, all i can hope is that my passionate belief in a non-speciesist world and consequent conversation will encourage you to think about the atrocities committed against others for your food, clothing and entertainment...

 "There is absolutely no way for humans to obtain the body parts and secretions of others without causing unspeakable suffering, exploiting their reproductive systems, mutilating and confining them, killing their children and taking from them every single thing that we would define as the things that make our own human lives worth living." ... from the post painful truth or comforting lies - it's up to us...

i grew up on the same lies that everyone else did, i blindly followed the status quo and ate and wore what society sanctioned - until finally i questioned and discovered the answers i needed to open my eyes, mind and heart and realise we are all sentient beings, we all share the quality of self-awareness... please, start asking questions - the answers are easy to find in this age of information... the truth is out there...

one man's journey...

i watched this video yesterday and knew it was something that needed to be shared...

alex hershaft, 85 year old holocaust survivor and animal rights campaigner, talks about his life in the warsaw ghetto, and the connection he couldn't help but make between his harrowing ordeal and the holocaust that continues today... it's a fascinating insight into one man's journey through life, his awakening, his continued activism, his compassion...

"In relation to animals, all people are Nazis; 
for the animals, it is an eternal Treblinka"... Isaac Bashevis Singer

food for thought...

colleen patrick-goudreau is a writer, educator, ethics commentator and articulate, humorous speaker - she is a proud vegan and a tireless advocate for change, and i thought it was worthwhile sharing this recent talk of hers from the conscious eating conference -  "From Excuse-itarian to Vegan"... 

when life overwhelms...

these past few weeks have been hard, so much emotional turmoil - heartache, pleasure, pain and numbness (and everything in between) vying for my attention... i've been totally overwhelmed lately...

i needed to move, needed to be closer to me mum, her health and ability to look after herself were declining - and i wanted somewhere shadow and petey were welcome, where i didn't have to hide them for fear of being thrown out should the agents find out about them...

irene, my best friend of many years and someone i call sister, offered to lend me the money to make it possible, so i started looking at a few flats... i applied for one and was upfront and honest about my companions - didn't get that one... i emailed agents about others asking if petey and shadow would be allowed, receiving either no reply or a firm no... i viewed a few more - how some get onto the market and they actually let you look through them i don't know - disgusting - there was no way we could have taken any of them, no way we would be comfortable in such horrid surroundings... i was starting to feel depressed and resigned to the fact that i would either be stuck where i was or always have to lie about the gang in order to find a place to live...

and then an ad caught my eye - well, the precise words that caught my eye were 'pet friendly' - and what a perfect position - just around the corner from work and a short walk or quick tram ride to me mum's place... i just had to go and view that one... such a quaint, lovely wee flat at the back of a block of only 6, with a courtyard and such good energy when i walked in... i knew we would be happy in that flat... so i applied and we got it - shadow, petey and me...

i picked up the keys on thursday 3rd of july - now it was real... but i got a phone call later that morning - my mother had been rushed to hospital... she'd had a 'minor' heart attack, had pneumonia - and they were aside from kidneys that were failing, and lung cancer that was taking its toll... she deteriorated over the next few days...

on the saturday irene happened to be in melbourne so we went to visit judy together... she was extremely distressed - they were poking, prodding and probing her and she yelled at us 'why didn't you take me to the vet, they put you down there' - enough was enough - we requested her doctor be called immediately and demanded they stop their intervention, which was her choice and desire - they even had that on record at the hospital - they were meant to be keeping her comfortable, what comfort did she have in the distress they were causing... within 5 minutes of speaking to the doctor intervention was stopped and morphine was given - what a change when the morphine took effect... she smiled, she was lucid, she talked and laughed about old times with us - it turned out to be a beautiful visit with mum... how terrible it must be for those who are alone, with no-one to speak up for them when they are no longer capable...

sadly that was really the last quality time i got to spend with her... more and more opiates had to be administered to keep the pain and distress at bay, so there were very few moments of awareness for her after that... there were times you knew she knew you were there, but there were many when she didn't have the strength to acknowledge anybody - but almost everybody that mattered to her managed to visit her and she knew, recognised everyone and managed to say her goodbyes - she knew she wasn't going to see them again... every time i went in i would wrap my arms around her - i didn't know sometimes if she knew i was there or not - but i would talk to her and whisper in her ear 'it's time to let go now mum, you really can let go now...'

those few days were so hard - even more so because now i'd committed to moving i had all of my packing to be done in between spending time at the hospital... i don't know what i would have done without my niece rebbecca who virtually organised moving me on tuesday 8th july - she came down from malmsbury with her partner ray and a big covered trailer and they pretty much did it all because i was a mess...

the next day, wednesday 9th july i visited mum along with my brother darrell and her best friend and soul mate eileen... after a while we left with darrell saying he was going back in around 10pm to sit with her overnight as he'd done the previous couple of nights (at last he was finally doing something for his mother - once i would have said too little too late, but this was really the right time for him to come through)...

i was so drained and worn out with the stress of the move and the work still to be done, the knowledge my mother was dying and being unable to spend the time i might have liked to with her, but also feeling i was failing in my responsibility to petey and shadow too... so i came home to slowly start the unpacking process and spend some much needed time with my nonhuman family members - such a hard transition they were going through with me dashing in an out all the time - i felt so guilty constantly leaving them in this place that wasn't really home yet, and i'm sure they must have felt neglected and abandoned...

it was 9.30pm when i got the phone call - mum had died... how sad neither of us were with her at that time, but according to the nurse who sat her last hour with her it was a peaceful passing... so i rang darrell and we both went in to say our final goodbye to her - you could still feel her essence in the room, she'd waited for us in that ethereal way... i'll never forget the moment we walked into the room and darrell went up to her, kissed her on the forehead, then picked up her hand and held it and said "mum, you know you've gone and left us orphans now!" - she would have got a laugh out of that just as i did (after all darrell's 62 and i'm 59!!)... we sat and talked and laughed and cried, but we knew when it was time to leave - the warmth left the room and we knew she was gone...

there's been so much to do since her death and funeral... tying up the loose ends of her life has been a harrowing process and there's been no real time for grieving properly... we collect her ashes from springvale on wednesday and being the st kilda loving womon she was it was her wish to be scattered at the st kilda gardens and the st kilda pier - you'll finally get that walk to the end of the pier that you promised yourself you'd make one more time mum...

unfortunately she will never get to see the flat we moved into to be closer to her... however she got to see photos of it while still lucid so i have no doubt she felt some comfort in the knowledge i'd come home - home to her st kilda...

if the slideshow doesn't view properly, you can view it online... bye mum

thank you to those very special friends who have been there for me and helped me in so many ways - from the mundane moving practicalities to the emotional support needed so desperately - you know who you are...

when thoughts turn to mothers...

my mother is on my mind a lot these days... i'm watching a once strong, feisty, vibrant, active womon become the womon she never saw in her future, never expected nor wanted to be... feeble, confused, depressed, unable to make solid decisions for herself, unable to find much joy in life anymore... it's a hard, painful, frustrating transition for her, and one she often tells me she wishes would end... her dream these days is to lay down, go to sleep, and never wake up... 

i understand that dream... she turned 85 last month and has just had enough... chronic, degenerative illnesses and age have robbed her of her spark, her confidence, much of her vision, and her mobility and short term memory are failing by rapidly rising degrees... what lies ahead for her is hard to think about, harder to deal with... she is fluctuating between coping and crumbling, sometimes telling me she doesn't think she can live independently and look after herself anymore, then fearing the next step, entering a care facility, deciding now is not the time to start making those plans yet... being a working class womon with no assets, no money apart from a government pension, limits any option of the type of facility she would be able to afford...

i am concerned for her, and fearful of what lies ahead too... i have no sanctuary to offer her, i have no assets myself and no way to make her safe... i never want to have to make the decision as to where she will go, having heard some of the horror stories of many of the government funded facilities due to under-staffing and under-funding... i hope her dream comes true...

i have my ups and downs, guilt visits occasionally, but depression is a friend and foe that regularly comes to stay these days as our roles are reversed in our mother/daughter relationship, the daughter now the mother, the decision maker, the mother now the daughter, seeking protection and guidance...

my mum (1951); with me (1958)

my friend sailor lily wrote a beautiful essay, letter - i'm not sure what to call it - and sent it to me on my birthday last month - she knows the rocky mother/daughter relationship judy and i have shared, has seen the weight of it over the last few years, knows my fear and concern, understands my desire for my mother's life journey to end with dignity in her own familiar surroundings, with her memories enveloping her... i thought now was an appropriate time to share her words...

"Hey Jude, don't make it bad

Take a sad song and make it better

Remember to let her into your heart

Then you can start to make it better

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain

Don't carry the world upon your shoulders

For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool

By making his world a little colder

Hey Judy! We’ve never met, but I’ve known your girl, your daughter, this amazing womon for well over a decade. Yeah not as long as you, hardly a moment in your life with her, just a blink really, or as long as a cigga takes.

But she’s hurting for you, Mother. She’s caring and crying for you Mother, and she’s doing it alone.  So Judy, so Mother, let’s have a Mum to Mum chat…

You have a river to cross, and you don’t have to swim hard or long. You don’t have to fight, and you won’t drown. Hey Judy, who I’ve never met: You’ve always been able to swim and keep people safe on your back, now is your time to float. When the burden is great know it is your time to float and be carried.

There is a great body of water, salty with life’s tears and spunk, with babies and friends and love, and its sole purpose, this river, is to take you a little downstream until you get to say “Yes, stop here, that’s my place.”

It will be your place. Not anyone else’s. In that place that you recognise you won’t be beholden. It’s just golden and dappled, or maybe a crazy club you once went to…Maybe a friend’s home.  Maybe a view you tasted when you were four.

No matter Judy - you will know it. You’ll be glad and grateful. When the time and the river take you there jump in with all the glee of a kid into the river. With all the happiness of a woman stepping forward into adventure or love, perhaps swept away in the currents, or perhaps quick to swim to the excitement of the other side, the embankment that beckons with green ferns and friends waving.

Hey Judy, be excited. This is it. Your time, your time at long-last.

And from me? By hook and by crook and default and error; you raised a child that became a girl that became a wonderful and powerful womon. Be proud! But when it’s time be nothing but that foot that carries you on, into the water, to take yourself back and forward and in and out to all the space and time of was and is and ever-ness."

----------------------------------------------

there are other mothers on my mind too... unlike my mother who has lived a long, full, mostly happy life and had the benefit of raising her children and watching them grow up, make their own decisions, choose their own paths and follow their journeys, there are many mothers who have never known that pleasure, never been allowed to nurture their babies and watch them grow, never known the wonder and joy of nuzzling, touching, sharing, only ever knowing pain, suffering, heartache and grief... these mothers deserve thought too - they deserve to be known and acknowledged - they deserve respect - they deserve the right to their own life and happy memories... all of us can do something for these mothers - one simple act can change their world, the world they have had no choice in... you have a choice - please, choose compassion, go vegan...

all of them are vulnerable...

from evolve campaigns...

it's time to end the fallacy of human superiority that allows untold crimes to be committed against the voiceless - the holocaust needs to stop... by embracing veganism you can save countless lives...

the interconnectedness of oppression...

i'm reading a book titled "eternal treblinka" by charles patterson at the moment - it "examines the origins of human supremacy and describes the emergence of industrialized slaughter of both animals and people in modern times"...  it is a powerful exposé of the human capacity for horror that's way beyond anything i thought could exist in the human psyche, let alone reality - it is not an easy read, i shed tears every time i turn a page, yet it is something i am drawn to, repulsed and repelled by, but need to read to its final sentence...

the title is taken from a short story, 'the letter writer' by isaac bashevis singer, polish-born jewish-american author and nobel laureate, in which he states "in relation to them (animals), all people are nazis; for the animals it is an eternal treblinka"... the book is actually dedicated to him...

according to lucy rosen kaplan, former attorney for peta and daughter of holocaust survivors, "in eternal treblinka we are presented for the first time with extensive evidence of the profoundly troubling connections between animal exploitation in the united states and hitler's final solution"...

jane goodall says "charles patterson's book will go a long way towards righting the terrible wrongs that human beings, throughout history, have perpetrated on nonhuman animals."

i'm still reading it, so not yet ready to write about it, but i felt it was time for a new post, however i am so totally pissed off with the human species and their treatment of our nonhuman kin, and so very ashamed to be part of a species that is capable of such horror that i am unable to write a post without rage and hatred, so instead i have opted to share three videos by three womyn i find inspiring and who passionately believe in feminism and nonhuman animal rights... here they 'join the dots' between the oppression of womyn and the oppression of nonhumans...

ruby hamad... "feminism, veganism and patriarchy"...

ashley maier... "violence against women and animal rights"...

both make reference to the wonderful carol j adams... "politics and the absent referent in 2014"...

i hope you find them inspiring... i hope. i implore, you make the connection... it really is time to change the world... 'animal rights' is, without doubt, a fundamental feminist issue... womyn's liberation and 'animal' liberation go hand in hand...

from 'animal rights is a feminist issue'

sisters all...

i was reminded today of an article i read last month titled commodities and cages... i thought it fitting to share an excerpt this international womyn's day as a tribute to Betsy, Lucy, and Anarcha (and so many more) who were enslaved and brutalised in the 1800s...

"Montgomery Alabama 1846 -1853. Dr. J. Marion Sims (1813-1883) is now known as both “The Father of Gynecology” and “The Father of Vaginal Surgery”. Sims was born in South Carolina and practiced there, in Alabama, New York City, and throughout France. He is widely recognized for laying the foundations for modern gynecology, pioneering the use of surgical steel sutures, and developing several techniques in vaginal surgery. What is less known about Sims is “the fact that many of his accomplishments ….were obtained at the expense and the surgical exploitation of Black women”.

While Sims went to some length to hide his use of slave subjects, featuring white women in anatomy articles and texts, his primary research subjects were three female slaves – Betsy, Lucy, and Anarcha. He operated on each of these women as many as 30 times without anesthesia, believing that blacks did not have the same capacity for pain as whites. Sims even went so far as to purchase Anarcha in order to continue operating on her. In addition, he addicted all these women to opiates in order to facilitate their post-operative recovery and expedite another round of surgeries.

After moving to New York in 1853, Sims continued his exploitation of poor and African American women, exposing them to dangerous experimental surgeries at the Women’s Hospital of New York City. Describing the death of an African American woman after such a surgery, MacGregor (1998) writes:

“Clearly from Sims’ point of view, the life of the patient in this case was expendable. Her body in many ways had become his even before she died… While he placed his findings at the altar of science, her class and her race placed her at Sims’ disposal.”

Because these women were deemed less than human.

They were only animals, and above all, they were property."

their story is one of many echoes from the herstory of slavery, a reflection of the enslavement that exists today, those subjugated and brutalised now our sisters (and brothers) of other nations, other tribes - "because they are deemed less than human... they are only animals, and above all, they are property' ... you can read the full article "commodities and cages" on vine sanctuary's website...

heat and tears...

as i melt in the sweltering heatwave we're experiencing here in melbourne, i watch petey and shadow constantly on the move inside to outside, outside to inside, finding refuge in all sorts of places, continually visiting their water bowl as i continue to top it up - and my thoughts shift to other nonhumans, and i start to weep for all those enslaved in tin sheds with no opportunity to move away from the crush of bodies in the oppressive heat, with only stagnant (if any) water to slake their desperate thirst... i weep for those in paddocks with no shelter, with no water and no way of getting to the dam on the other side of the fence... i weep for those chained in backyards, and those confined to cages... i weep for those incarcerated in feed lots forced to defecate where they stand, lie and sleep, with nowhere to move to escape the feces filled pens.. i weep at the brutality that humans continue to perpetrate against our nonhuman kin... i weep at the compassion that seems to be so lacking in so many... i weep for all the victims of human abuse, and i weep for the victims of human apathy...

"If a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth - beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals - would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over other animals?" ... George Bernard Shaw, playwright, Nobel prize in literature 1925

so, while i continue to melt and weep, i thought i'd share this video that popped up on my google+ stream the other day... simone reyes is vegan, an activist and a wonderfully passionate orator... although i don't agree with her view on peta or their 'naked activists on the corner' misogynistic campaigns - the only point we disagree on (because you can't subjugate one to free the other, and that's what peta's campaigns do - you can read more on that point in ruby hamad's article 'the problem with peta') please take the time to watch this inspiring young womon...

and here's some dark vegan humour to end this post... on those rare occasions i go to a restaurant with necrovores i want a waiter just like this one...

another story of awakening...

journalist, blogger and food critic Ori Shavit talks about her journey to veganism with humour and eloquence in this 13 minute video...