Our Hen House

Episode 7: “… thoughtful committed citizens can change the world …”

Posted on28. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin and Mariann.

Welcome to the seventh podcast episode of Our Hen House!

In today’s episode, we will discuss what’s mean and what’s green about eco-tourism. Then, we’ll talk about some meat-industry folks who have come up with a great slogan – one you’ll…

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So, How Do YOU Feel About Avatar?

Posted on27. Feb, 2010 by Mariann Sullivan.

There is no doubt that Avatar has tapped into something deep in the way that people feel about their world. Though members of the animal community, by and large, have given much serious thought to many of the…

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Get Your Compassion On in India

Posted on26. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

Eco-tourism has been of great interest to me lately. Though it’s always been on my radar, I really started to focus on it after I received an email last fall from VegNews Magazine Managing Editor, Elizabeth Castoria, asking whether, although she knows…

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Our Hen House Talks to the Dosa Man

Posted on25. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

“The Dosa Man” (or, Thiru Kumar — though he prefers the former) serves the best Indian food I’ve ever tasted. His vegan business, “NY Dosas,” is run from a food cart (one of the very few in NYC — nothing like…

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Food for Thought and the Hungry

Posted on24. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

It’s sadly ironic when food drives bring in animal products, particularly when — as hundreds of millions of people go hungry each year — much of the world’s harvest is fed to animals instead of people. Inefficiency at…

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Public (and Animal) Relations

Posted on23. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

Anyone who has ever come to either Mariann or me for advice on what animal advocacy career path they should consider taking, we have pretty much answered like this: “PR.” Here’s why, in a nutshell: If you take any effort…

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Where the Buffalo (and the Volunteers) Roam

Posted on22. Feb, 2010 by Mariann Sullivan.

While most of the opportunities to help animals, as well as the tools and resources available to do so, that we write about here at Our Hen House are, we hope, important and useful, they are not always adventures of a lifetime.  We would like to…

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Putting Animals on the Academic Agenda

Posted on21. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin and Mariann.

One of the most fundamental relationships in society is the one between the human animal and the non-human animal. Yet, shockingly, this relationship goes largely unexplored in academia. As we work to end the subjugation of and cruelty to animals, a…

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Episode 6: “… teach children respect for life.”

Posted on20. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin and Mariann.

Welcome to the sixth podcast episode of Our Hen House!

In today’s episode, we will discuss Ellen DeGeneres’ role in Jasmin’s nightlife, which, oddly enough, will lead us into a discussion of children’s TV. (Should you call it children’s TV…

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Let’s Go to the Movies

Posted on19. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

Film is perhaps the most useful tool that animal advocates have when educating others about the horrors of animal cruelty. Or, at least, I think so, since it was footage of animal exploitation that ultimately inspired me — on the spot —…

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Humane, Factually Speaking

Posted on18. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

One thing that we, as animal advocates, need to be armed with is cold hard facts. Lucky for us, there are myriad ways to come about these, since it not an opinion that animal exploitation is destroying the planet, plaguing…

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Attention Animal-Loving Grad Students

Posted on17. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

Here is an ideal opportunity to get funding to pursue your graduate-level project aiming to benefit animals: Animal Welfare Trust — a foundation “devoted to promoting the well being of the animal community” — is currently looking for graduate students…

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Everyone Has a Website …

Posted on16. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

So you have a vegan blog or website, or you’re a vegan who has a blog or website. Either way, you want your new venture to be a success, and in this here technology age, that can be both simple…

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Vegan Artists and Art-Lovers, Listen Up

Posted on15. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

If you’re a vegan artist, and you haven’t yet discovered Veganica, then put down your acrylic-bristled paint brush and check it out pronto. According to their website, “Veganica is an on-line gallery space for artists who are vegetarian…

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Our Hen House Talks to Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Posted on14. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

Recently, I got to sit down with Isa Chandra Moskowitz to discuss how she became the vegan goddess she is today. For those of you who’ve been living under a cupcake (which, chances are, Isa baked), Isa is…

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Episode 5: “Until one has loved an animal …”

Posted on14. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin and Mariann.

Welcome to the fifth podcast episode of Our Hen House!

In today’s very special Valentine’s Day episode, we give you the low-down on cruelty-free aphrodisiacs, lesbian albatrosses, and what it means to be a vegansexual.

We…

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Law and Order and Animals

Posted on12. Feb, 2010 by Mariann Sullivan.

While many people, with some justification, liken the law’s treatment of animals to its treatment of inanimate objects, like tables or chairs, the fact remains that every state in the union has a law, or, more likely, a set…

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Our Hen House Talks to Sweetpea Baking Company

Posted on11. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

When I was in Portland a couple weeks ago, I spent most of my time at the vegan mini-mall. (Wouldn’t you have?) I’ve already posted short videos that I made with Chad and Emiko from Food Fight Grocery,…

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“Let’s Move” Toward a Vegan Diet

Posted on10. Feb, 2010 by Mariann Sullivan.

Yesterday, Michelle Obama announced the “Let’s Move” initiative to combat childhood obesity. It includes her plans for improving school lunches. Pretty much everyone knows that school lunches are an absolute disgrace, and that the way America feeds its children…

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Helping Animals, One Can of Vegan Dog Food After Another …

Posted on09. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

The Humane Society of the United States has introduced a new vegan dog food called “Humane Choice.” HSUS receives 6% of the wholesale price — money that helps them to fund programs such as The HSUS Animal Rescue…

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A Flipcam and a Dream

Posted on08. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

If you are a fan of grassroots tactics, then here is your next purchase: The Flipcam. It has pretty much changed my activism, permanently. As a fan of (and participant in) grassroots tactics myself, the Flipcam allows me…

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Episode 4: “Always let your conscience be your guide.”

Posted on07. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin and Mariann.

Welcome to the fourth podcast episode of Our Hen House!

In today’s episode, we come to you from Disneyworld — where Mariann is busy with meetings for the Animal Law Committee of the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice…

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The Meaning of Meat, in Spanish or English

Posted on06. Feb, 2010 by Mariann Sullivan.

I really like this particular call for papers. It’s from the Revista Atenea, published by the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. The papers can be in Spanish or English, and can be essays, book reviews,…

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A Cult I Can Live With?

Posted on05. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

A vegetarian movement in Mongolia? So says The Christian Science Monitor? Really?

When I first read that, I was dumbstruck…. in a good way. According to the article, in Mongolia, “livestock outnumbers people 14 to 1 and meat…

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Don’t You Care About People?

Posted on04. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

A few years after Lisa Shannon saw an episode of Oprah, opening her eyes and heart about the war on women in the Congo, she, herself, was a guest on Oprah. After learning about the atrocities that all too often…

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A Poisonous Trend

Posted on03. Feb, 2010 by Mariann Sullivan.

The meat industrial complex is causing damage on a lot of fronts. We are all pretty familiar with what they are doing to animals, but we also know it’s important to pay attention to what they are doing to the…

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Breeding Young Activists

Posted on02. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

Remember summer camp? For most of us, those words alone bring us back to thoughts of muddy socks and July romances. For me, my adolescent summers were spent at a theatre camp in the Catskills, where I learned just as…

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Our Hen House Talks to Scapegoat Tattoo

Posted on01. Feb, 2010 by Jasmin Singer.

I have a tattoo on my leg that makes me want to cut a hole in the calf-part of all my jeans so that everyone can see it. It’s totally amazing, hurt like hell on hell, and was done last…

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