The website is both fascinating and heartbreaking. It opens upon a world map made up of points of light, each of which can be clicked on to find out the story of one of the missing. You can also rearrange the site to tell you the story either chronologically or geographically. Or, even within the maps that are arranged by place, you can focus on the past, the present and, (eventually, this part is not yet built) the future. There is also an interactive page which allows people to post their own memories, or the stories they were told by their parents and grandparents about their memories, of the way it used to be. The creatures who were who are no longer. The abundance that is now diminished. (On a personal note, I can easily remember that when I was a child, bird song was so much more complicated and varied than it is now.) The site’s facebook page has also become a place for people to post their memories. These stories are absolutely fascinating and, if Maya Lin had not thought to put this all together, how many of these memories would have simply died along with those who carry them?

You can easily spend hours and hours here. While randomly clicking on points of light on Lin’s map, I learned about estuaries, their importance for sustaining biodiversity, and how 22 major cities around the world are built right on them (including right here in New York), pretty much eliminating their value to the natural world. I also learned about, and saw, and heard, African Penguins, who are the only penguins to inhabit Africa and whose numbers have dropped from 220,000 to 72,000 since the 70s. And then there were the Giant River Otters of South America. And, and, and….

What a privilege to catch these glimpses and snippets of these animals just living their lives. This is so different from seeing animals in a zoo, where they have been reduced to objects for us to peer at, learning that it is ok to imprson them and learning little of what their lives should be. I truly believe that you cannot explore this website for any length of time without coming away moved by the extraordinary diversity and beauty of the world and its inhabitants and re-energized in your commitment to try to save whomever we can.

We're proud to say we knew her way back when. Mariann, Camille Labchuck, and Jasmin (as a blonde) in Portland, OR, October 2011.

One of our favorite lawyers (and self-described “vegan for life”), Camille Labchuck, is asking the Canadian Human Rights Commission to think about these issues, and to assure that vegans are given the right to choose food that sustains them, both physically and ethically. The Commission is currently holding hearings on how to interpret a provision of the Ontario Human Rights Code that prohibits discrimination based on “creed.” Since the exact definition of “creed” is not clear, Labchuck argues, the Commission should clarify that it includes the beliefs that underly veganism. Thus, the right to live a vegan lifestyle is something that everyone should have, including at those times when someone else is controlling what they are consuming. What do you think? Personally, I think she’s right on target.

Issues like this have arisen from time to time in the courts, whether someone was fired because they were vegan (the vegan won), or didn’t get a job because they refused a mandatory inoculation that was made using eggs (the vegan lost), but it’s great to see someone take a proactive approach, asking for a ruling on the issue before it becomes a lawsuit. Let’s hope the Commission does the right thing. As most of us know, the principles that underly veganism are as strongly felt and and as deeply held as the other “creeds” that may guide people’s lives. The law should recognize that.

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Book Review: Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane: 9 Simple Steps to Optimal Health by Kirk Hamilton

Review by Carrie Forrest

When I transitioned from being a meat-eater to becoming a healthy vegan, one of my sources for advice on plant-based nutrition was Kirk Hamilton, who is the creator of the Staying Healthy Today radio interviews and podcasts. Kirk is not only a vegan himself, but is a certified physician’s assistant based in Sacramento, CA, with many years of clinical experience. I follow his work closely and appreciate his commitment to honing in on the most relevant, factual research on plant-based living.

It was, thus, with great anticipation that I read Kirk’s self-published book from 2011 entitled Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane: 9 Steps to Optimal Health. The book is intended to synthesize Kirk’s vast experience with treating patients for diet-related conditions, and to offer a guide for those of us who want to find our way to be the healthiest we can be. For those of us who are animal activists, staying healthy is a necessary component to avoiding burnout, which is yet another reason why the health-aspects of veganism calls to me so vehemently. I am pleased to report that this book does not disappoint: it is clearly written with the informative yet firm tone of a caring, competent health professional describing to a patient the necessary steps that she or he must take to prevent and treat diet-related conditions.

Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane tackles, in turn, “The Problem,” “The Solution” and “The Program.” By now, we are probably all somewhat familiar with the problem, as we have seen the statistics about obesity and chronic disease in our country, an epidemic that is spreading throughout the world. The sad truth is that the standard American diet derives less than 6% of its calories from unrefined plant foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains.

Kirk points out that the research clearly links chronic disease with an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and tobacco use, and that if these risk factors were reduced, “at least 80% of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes would be prevented and 40% of cancer would be prevented.” These statistics are admittedly scary, but it is also empowering to think that we can manipulate our lifestyles to prevent disease. The important question is: How can we make these changes in our busy, modern lives? According to Kirk, this isn’t as hard as we think. We can all have good health, as long as we follow “a daily consistent practice of simple principles and disciplines that incorporate physical activity; a whole-food, unprocessed, vegetable-based diet; and a positive, loving mental outlook on life.”

Refreshingly, in addition to his focus on how our diet can drastically affect our health, Kirk also addresses some of the non-health related aspects of veganism. This is something that I see far too infrequently in books focused on health, and it’s really heartening to see Kirk’s recognition of the important intersections among all the benefits of a plant-based diet. Kirk not only questions the sustainability of diets that include animal products, but also discusses the issue of animal rights. In his words, “I believe there is something that negatively affects our core spirit as humans by senselessly killing billions of animals per year for food, for really no reason.” Exactly!

I also love his particular focus on dairy. In a chapter entitled “Double Trouble? Dairy and Grains,” Kirk issues an “Ain’t Got Milk” challenge, asking non-vegan readers to try going off dairy products completely for at least three weeks. He explains that in his clinical experience, he has “seen more suffering from common health complaints stopped immediately by eliminating dairy products than any other single medical therapy.” He then questions the typical American assumptions about dairy products and bone health, by summarizing scientific evidence showing that “osteoporotic bone fracture rates are highest in countries that consume the most dairy, calcium, and animal products.” The dairy chapter alone was enough to inspire me to put Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane on my list of “go-to” gifts for friends and family members who are not yet vegan.

The culmination of the book is Kirk’s Triad Wellness Program, which is based on “9 Simple Steps to Optimal Health.” His Program encompasses diet, exercise and mind-body work, with three steps for each. It is a true guide for those who want to improve their health. The essence of the food recommendations come from Joel Fuhrman, M.D., author of Eat to Live, and the focus is on consuming nutrient-dense foods like vegetables (especially leafy greens), fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds. To answer the question of how to incorporate these suggestions into our busy lives, Kirk gives helpful tips such as how to grocery shop, how to order in a restaurant, and how to control food cravings.

After addressing how to incorporate a whole foods, plant-based diet in our busy lives, Kirk then moves to the importance of exercise in an overall health program. He recommends starting with fifteen to thirty minutes of daily activity, and then working up to about an hour a day of something that includes aerobic exercise, strength training, or flexibility. The truth is, if we want to ensure a good quality of life as we get older, then we must develop an “exercise habit.” Going back to avoiding activist burnout, physical activity is yet another key to that, and something that all of us who work tirelessly for the greater good should bear in mind – especially if we want to be in it for the long run. This doesn’t mean that we have to spend hours at the gym, however. As Kirk points out, consistency is more important than intensity and technique. The important take-away is that we all need to get off our vegan tushies and move more.

Finally, Kirk’s Triad Program includes techniques to nourish the mind-body connection and improve our emotional health, at the same time as we’re eating better and getting physically stronger. Kirk’s discussion of this piece of the puzzle is brief, and not overly intrusive, but it nonetheless provides some great concrete exercises to inspire change.

While reading Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane: 9 Steps to Optimal Health, I found myself truly grateful to Kirk for taking the time to create an accessible and thorough resource that effectively synthesizes so much of the invaluable information he has learned from his research review and clinical experience. As I work toward my degree as a registered dietician, Kirk is a role model to me – someone who truly wants to help others, while at the same time understanding the connections between people, animals, and the environment. Kirk Hamilton gets it, and Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane deserves a place in the library of anyone who wants to live a healthy, vegan life.

 Want to win a signed copy of Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane: 9 Steps to Optimal Health by Kirk Hamilton? Comment below and tell us your favorite way to stay healthy. You must comment within one week — by midnight EST on May 21, 2012. Thanks!

In today’s episode, we discuss an annoying article regarding the sentience of peas. We talk about tactics for getting non-vegan family and friends to try the non-hummus dishes at vegan restaurants. We give you the skinny on Mariann’s recent talk on animal law, and we ruminate on whether or not to get a hybrid.

Joining us today is Chloe Jo Davis, founder of GirlieGirlArmy.com, and vegan fashionista extraordinaire. Chloe will talk to us about everything from vegan pregnancy and parenting, to current trends within vegan fashion, to tips on getting the animal message seen and heard in mainstream media.

For our review, we’ll give you our thoughts on the newest vegan cheese out there — vegan cheese shreds this time — thanks to Galaxy Nutritional Foods. Don’t  miss this review of – okay, we’ll ruin it – the best vegan cheese Jasmin has ever had.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include: 

• “Safeway to drop pork from pregnant pigs raised in crates” from USA Today
• “Piglets twirled, pigs kicked by farm workers, activist video shows” from U.S. News 
• “Review panel confirms abuse in HSUS video” from MeatPoultry.com 
• “Foie Gras Lawsuit: Opponents Claim USDA Allows Sale of ‘Diseased Bird Organs’” from Huffington Post 
• “Dog Pulls Unconscious Owner From Train’s Path” from WCVB.com 
• “Deuce the vegan and other potential truths” from ESPN 

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight.” -e.e. cummings

Today’s episode is being sponsored by The Seed: A Vegan Experience, coming to NYC on June 16 and 17. Explore a compassionate and scrumptious plant-based world at The Seed: A Vegan Experience, featuring two full days of the finest food from New York’s famed vegan restaurant scene – the best in the world! Discover and delight in the latest cruelty-free products and services, world-renowned speakers, athletes and chefs, screenings of award-winning films, and eye-opening cooking demonstrations. Experience music and art that will make your heart sing, and enjoy stellar giveaways that will make your friends jealous.

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

And, of course, some of our favorite video advocacy ventures are “pay-per-view” projects, which, since we first heard about them from Gary Loewenthal back on Episode 8 of the Our Hen House podcast, have taken the vegan advocacy world by storm. It’s so simple! And so brilliant! A group, or even an individual, sets up a video showing standard animal food production methods and actually pays people a dollar to watch it. The results? Instant vegans! (And most people give the dollar back). Check out the latest in this kick-ass form of advocacy — F.A.R.M.’s new pay-per-view touring truck!

We’re so glad that one of our favorite organizations, A Well Fed World, is not only in complete agreement with us about the power of video, but is there to support those who want to expand their advocacy in this direction. Their “Film for Thought” project has been designed to help anyone kick their video advocacy projects up a notch by, for example, supplying portable DVD players for Pay-Per-View projects, helping with finalizing videos that are already in production, working with conferences to enhance their video programming, and, basically, providing grants for any kind of video project that they think is going to help change the world.

A Well Fed World is dedicated to seeing the world transition to a food production system that will create a world  “in which everyone has access to food, and the right kinds of food. The right kinds of food nourish people in sustainable ways that maximize well-being and minimize harm… to other people, the planet, and animals.” If you’re on board with that, and if you want some support for your video work (or what was, until you read this, your pipe dream of working with video), you need to get to know them. (As a bonus, don’t miss our podcast interview with AWFW Executive Director, Dawn Moncreiffe.)

A much better — and entirely intentional — play on words, is the vegan feminist blog, Vegina, written by activist Carol Glasser. On her blog, she explains: “For readers not familiar with one or both of these ideologies or for those interested in understanding my “brand” of veganism or feminism, there are links for both of these topics on their respective tabs: (‘for the vag’ and ‘for the veg’).”

In addition to having the Best Named Blog Ever, Carol has thought-provoking content that, IMHO, not enough social justice activists are exploring, ideas examining (among other things) the interconnections between women’s rights and animal rights.

I was particularly pleased — and extremely moved — by Carol’s recent foray into exploring “activism in haikus.” As a fundraising project for the Open the Cages Tour — which is “a collaborative effort between artists, filmmakers, activists and musicians all united under the banner of Animal Liberation” — Carol was asked to share a story about activism. She explains:

I decided that a story about activism should be a collective story, as activism is collective in nature, so I treated it like organizing a protest. I came up with the parameters for the project and I asked people to join. I decided on a haiku, as it forces big ideas into concise spaces.

And thus, “activism in haikus” was born, a collection of poems written by animal activists (including me), and divided up into sections including “the challenge” and “the solution.” Though I’m not generally a fan of any kind of poetry (just say it already!), I will readily confess to getting chills more than once while reading this powerful collection of words. When divided into five syllables/seven syllables/five again, the thoughts on animal activism were — much like the activists who wrote the words — diverse and dynamic. Some of it made me laugh (“why yes, I do like animals better than you”), and some of it made me (almost) email my therapist (“twenty-six thousand, the number of chickens killed writing this haiku”).

As Carol anticipated, much like effective activism, the true power of this piece came when it was all linked together — a variety of voices, tactics, thoughts, attitudes, and messaging — all with the same bottom line of working toward animal liberation. It’s also refreshing to see a new artistic outlet that results in getting people to further think about the immense passion so many of us bring to ending animal suffering (in this case, it had the added benefit raising funds for the Open the Cages tour, which, among other things, will financially support the upcoming documentary Maximum Tolerated Dose).

Now more than ever, I really love Vegina.

The overall theme of the competition, the environment, obviously encompasses a great many topics that are centered on animals, and it would be great to see the winning essay focus on them — whether the wildlife that inhabits the spaces that must be saved, or the animals languishing on factory farms, whose exploitation is not only the cause of their own suffering, but is also the cause of the degradation of the natural world. Or you can probably think of lots of other things to write about as well. In addition to the winning prize, second prize is $500 and the top tier of entries will be published.

It’s ridiculous that the animal rights movement, which tends to focus on the suffering of the individual animal, and environmentalism, which tends to focus on the protection of species, are often seen as at odds with each other, when, in fact, their goals are so aligned. If you are one of those people who think they are really one and the same, your voice needs to be heard. And $1500 can’t hurt either.

This summer’s course offerings will include four different two-credit classes important for anyone interested in using the law to protect animals: International Wildlife Law (Professor David Favre); Animal Law Litigation (Professors Carter Dillard & Matthew Liebman); Animal Rights Law & Jurisprudence (Professor Steven Wise); and Law of Humane Science (Professor Paul Locke).

ALDF Offers Scholarships

While the summer program is open not only to law students in good standing at any ABA-approved law school, but also to practitioners, as well as qualified graduate students and legal assistants, the scholarship program is specifically targeted at law students who are active in their school’s SALDF chapter. It will cover partial or full tuition for one course.

As you may know, Jasmin and I are headed out to Portland this summer so that I can teach at Lewis and Clark Law School in the fall semester. I’ll be teaching two courses: “Animals in Agriculture: Law and Policy,” and “Animal Law Fundamentals.” I can’t wait! There’s just so much going on at Lewis and Clark, and we’re so excited to hear about this opportunity for law students from around the country to share in these exciting goings-on and to gain credits toward their degrees at the same time. Hope to see you there!

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REVIEW: “The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary” by Andrew Westoll

Review by Karol Orzechowski

It’s difficult for me to review The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary with any sort of critical distance. I know the author, Andrew Westoll, and consider him a friend and colleague. I am also lucky enough to know some of the actual chimps of  Fauna Sanctuary, and have spent time there learning about their stories, and looking into their eyes. Furthermore, I have a great emotional investment in sharing intimate stories about survivors of animal experimentation with a broader audience. In fact, it’s the subject of the film project I am deep into editing, Maximum Tolerated Dose. In other words, I should just come right out and say from the get go:

"The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary" by Andrew Westoll

I really, really want you to read this book. (Others agree: The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary recently won the Charles Taylor Prize, Canada’s most prestigious award for literary non-fiction.)

Behind that immediate desire, though, is something else. The truth is, I really don’t just want you to read the The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary. We have all read books that touched us deeply, but whose lessons and emotional impacts elude us even just days after finishing. So, after you read The Chimps, I want you to remember it. Let it stick with you. Make these stories into memories that you draw upon regularly.

Throughout The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary’s 260 pages, we are presented with a sharp and poignant exploration of the creation of Fauna Foundation, the building of a sanctuary, and the lives of the residents who come to call it home. Westoll does an excellent job of laying out the emotional history of this haven, and of the long and difficult road from when the sanctuary was simply an idea, to the actual building of it.

We are let into the world of Gloria Grow – the sanctuary’s founder, and the quiet but fierce “mama bear” of the whole operation. She is the most compelling human character, and her steely resolve and determination to build her sanctuary in one of the most unlikely places – a small village just outside of Montreal – sets the tone for a lot of how the book plays out. As Westoll describes it, Grow navigates the complexities of establishing a home for the former lab chimps with grace and sheer willpower; with care and forethought she likewise navigates the complexities of becoming the subject of a book. She is a reluctant and cautious spokesperson, not because she feels it isn’t important to speak up, but because exploitation has haunted the chimps’ lives, and allowing someone close enough to tell their stories is a risky proposition. But Grow rises to the task, and lets Westoll into their lives, tentatively and slowly.

The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary is, in many ways, a book about how working at Fauna as a volunteer changed Westoll’s life. He indulges his personal narrative, tastefully and sparingly, allowing readers to take the journey with him rather than just being spectators. Only when it helps the narrative does he let you into his inner world – getting to know the chimps, and pondering his relationship to them, and their relationship to each other, asking himself what it all means… It is a delicate balance to strike, but Westoll succeeds.

Of course, the main characters of the book are the chimps themselves – 13 survivors who spent years, even decades, enduring the isolation, pain, and psychological distress of biomedical experimentation. In labs such as the now defunct LEMSIP, they endured hundreds of terrifying knockdowns (tranquilizations done with dart guns), repeated invasive surgeries, separation from meaningful social groups, and years of emotionally damaging boredom. This is where it becomes very difficult for me to keep any sense of objectivity. Being someone who has been very outspoken against all animal experimentation, my visits to Fauna have been very emotional, touching me in a deep and dark place. The stories of Tommie, Rachel, Chance, Spock, Binky, Pepper, Sue Ellen, Regis, Toby, Petra, Jethro, Yoko, and Maya are beyond heartbreaking, and their perseverance in the context of their new life is heavy with past trauma.

As an example, one of the chimps that I’ve been able to follow closely during my visits to Fauna is Pepper. Pepper was born into a mess: She spent her first 7 years of life at a Buckshire Corporation lab, until she became too big to control, and was subsequently sent to LEMSIP. Pepper spent the next two decades there, used as a breeding mother at first, and then a research subject. She endured over 300 knockdowns and dozens of biopsies on various parts of her body. After being used for biomedical research for 27 years, she was handed over to Fauna, and has since lived her life quietly and calmly. These days, Pepper is a nervous soul who has seen the depths of what humans are capable of doing, but she also has a big heart and has healed so much, finding solace in her companionship with her chimp friend, Sue Ellen, and some of the Fauna caretakers. She builds beautiful blanket nests every night, and spends her days grooming and exploring the sanctuary grounds.

Fauna Sanctuary is not open to the public. I have been allowed in occasionally to help the sanctuary with documentation, and every visit has been a privilege for which I will always be thankful. For those people who are not so lucky as me, Westoll’s book manages to communicate the transformative power of the place, and the weight that comes with simply being in the presence of such strong, stoic, and damaged individuals.

Apart from the access to these individuals – access that Westoll, too, was privileged to have received, and sufficiently skilled to share with the rest of us in a deeply authentic way – perhaps the strength of The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary is the considerable amount of research that he did to elaborate on the chimps’ stories, and the history of Fauna Foundation. The book is infused with background details about the various places that the chimps came from, the people and institutions involved in their exploitation, and the ways in which so many people wrung their hands about the animals’ plight over the years, but rarely did anything to end it. This context is crucial to understand the chimps in the present tense, and also helps to bring the Fauna Foundation to life, in terms of the work it does and the struggles it faces.

One question that might arise for readers approaching the book from an animal rights point of view is whether the focus on chimpanzees implies that only chimps are exceptional non-humans who should be exempt from experimentation. In fact, Westoll mostly avoids a larger discussion of the ethics of biomedical research, and instead focuses on the fallout that it has had for chimps – both in general, and Fauna’s chimps in particular. The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary was never meant to be an animal rights manifesto (and I think judging it on such criteria would miss the point). However, I imagine that many “non-AR” readers will actually find themselves pondering the larger implications of the ethics of experimentation. While Westoll and I disagree – and often agree to disagree – on some matters related to animal ethics, we certainly agree that individuals, and their stories, have the power to touch people deeply, and for those who are open to it, promote a change in consciousness and cross-species compassion.

What Andrew Westoll has done with The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary is provide the reader with the in-depth stories of 13 individuals who have seen more hell in their lives than any sentient being should have to experience, and he has accomplished this retelling in a way that is both accessible and perfectly crafted for a mainstream audience unfamiliar with the issues.

Get the book. Read the stories. Remember the stories. Tell others.

Please also consider buying The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary from your local independent bookstore, and visit the Fauna Foundation website to find out how you can support the people who support the chimps every day.

Photo at top of blog by Jo-Anne McArthur of “We Animals”

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Karol Orzechowski

Karol Orzechowski is a filmmaker from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His forthcoming documentary, Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD), is about humans and non-humans who have experienced the vivisection industry first-hand. When he’s not working on films, Karol enjoys cycling, making music, reading, plotting, and scheming. You can find out more about MTD at MaximumToleratedDose.org.

In today’s episode, Mariann and I discuss the sadly ironic situation of Petunia the Pig. We also talk about how to respond to “humane meat” myths when you find yourself confronted with them. We will then, as always, give you the skinny on some vegan events we attended here in NYC — including the gallery opening for artist Sue Coe, an event which was held in conjunction with her new earth-shattering book, Cruel. And we will tell you all about the launch party we attended for Victoria Moran’s new masterpiece, Main Street Vegan.

Then, we’ll be talking to author Victoria Moran herself — all about the way the vegan scene has shifted since 28 years ago, when she herself took the leap. We’ll discuss the myth that being vegan is expensive, and the unfortunate perception held by some meat-eaters that vegans will eventually “go back.”

Following that interview, as a special treat, we will give you a glimpse into next week’s much-anticipated Brooklyn Food Conference. Specifically, we’ll be examining a panel that Jasmin will be moderating entitled, “Women, Feminism, and the Use of Animals for Food.” Joining us for that discussion is philosopher Lori Gruen, who will let us in on some of the thoughts that she will further explore at the panel. Don’t miss this.

For our review, we eagerly welcome back Our Hen House’s Sally Tamarkin, who will give us her take on the book, Main Street Vegan. Somehow this review results in Sally discussing both polyamory and peanut butter — though not together. (This time, anyway.)

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Calif. lawmakers: No repeal of foie gras ban” from San Francisco Chronicle 
• “The killing agency: Wildlife Services’ brutal methods leave a trail of animal death” from The Sacramento Bee
• “Mad cow case highlights need for further investigation and better testing” from Consumer Reports
• “‘Ag Gag’ Bills and Supporters Have Close Ties to ALEC” from Green is the New Red
• “Ellen DeGeneres says her vegan diet wasn’t always easy, but glad she made the change” from The Washington Post
• “Pathetic” from Eating Plants 

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If You Write It, They Will Read; If You Bake It, They Will Eat: Vegan Food Activism 

by JL Fields 

I have somehow found myself a vegan food activist. Truthfully, there was no plan, rhyme or reason to it. Yet it has happened, and I am delighted to share two examples.

I have been blogging about my vegan transition for nearly two years. Recently I participated in Vegan Mainstream’s blogger “boot camp” to sharpen my skills – and my message. One of our “assignments” was to seek opportunities to write guest posts; soon after that the food editor for my local newspaper put out a request for guest blogs to cover the local restaurant week. I responded and indicated that I wanted to write reviews from a vegan perspective. “A vegan and an omnivore walk into a bar…” angle, if you will (my husband is not vegan). I wrote three guest post reviews, and upon the conclusion of my guest blogger stint, I was offered the opportunity to write my own online column for the paper. A vegan column! The editor felt I offered a unique voice, offered a new perspective, and would be a great addition to their online content.

Last week my column I Eat Plants launched! I introduced myself to readers by describing my vegetarian to vegan journey. The next day The Journal News announced my column on the front page of the print edition!

For my second column submission, I interviewed a non-vegan chef of a non-vegetarian restaurant about why he offers plant-based options (clearly marked vegan) in every course on his menu. I plan to interview more local chefs about how they accommodate special, compassionate dining requests with the hope that it will encourage other local chefs to rethink how they approach vegan diners.

Which leads into my second example of vegan food activism. Last year I was in Pennsylvania to officiate at a wedding. I wasn’t needed at the wedding ceremony until 4:00 p.m. and, frankly, I wasn’t confident I was going to be able to eat much – both because of my role in the wedding, and an assumed lack of vegan options. I did a Google search to find a restaurant for lunch. Though I did not find a vegetarian restaurant, I did find an establishment that indicated they would accommodate vegans. I phoned ahead and the owner confirmed this.

I met the chef upon my arrival and, after a lovely conversation, he created a most exceptional meal.

I reviewed this experience on my blog and, in good fun, I challenged the chef to do a vegan weekend. I am proud to announce that the chef and I have stayed in touch for the past year, and on May 19, we’re putting on a 10-course vegan dining event!

I could not be more thrilled to work with a non-vegetarian restaurant on such an unashamedly vegan event!

So, how can you be a vegan food activist in your community?

1. If you blog, reach out to non-vegan blogs and offer a guest post.
2. Does your local paper have a food column or food blog in their online presence? Research how often they include vegan recipes. Write the editor and offer vegan content. (Trust me, they need content!)
3. If you are a regular diner at a non-vegetarian restaurant, get friendly with your chef and encourage her to put the fabulous vegan creations she makes for you on the menu as a standard item.
4. Invite the chef to join you in planning a special, vegan-dining event, where the star of the meal is plants.
5. Combine the two! Ask your local paper to sponsor the dining event at the restaurant.

JL Fields

JL Fields blogs about her transition to a vegan diet and lifestyle at JL goes Vegan: Food & Fitness with a Side of Kale. Her original recipes have been featured on Foodbuzz, DailyBuzz Healthy Living, BlogHer and Meatless Monday. She is the editor of the community blog Stop Chasing Skinny: Find Happiness Beyond the Scale. JL writes the weekly column ”I Eat Plants” for The Journal News food blog, Small Bites, and is a contributor to Elephant Journal. JL is the founder and lead consultant for JL Fields Consulting. She serves on the board of directors of the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and the advisory board of Our Hen House. Follow JL on Twitter and Facebook.

Bust Magazine is currently “calling all cruelty-free crafters” to take part in this unique event — an event that will bring together NYC’s robust vegan scene with the health gurus and veg-wannabes who won’t know what hit them (not that anything will hit them, since we vegans are into non-violence through and through). The FAQ page answers all of the questions, including the deadline (coming up on May 14!) and details about the application process.

I love this idea of incorporating a DIY crafter element into a huge vegan event. It not only allows vegan artists a place to display their goodies, and gives shoppers like us who want to support ethically-sourced, independent folks (as opposed to The Man) a rad way to stock up on presents, but it also shows the RVA (that’s “random veg-curious attendee”) that cruelty-free goods are all the rage. It’s also exciting to see Bust — a fabulous magazine that is not specifically vegan — as the force behind this vegan craftacular.

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With Mother’s Day is just around the corner, I am reverting to 12-year-old me and starting to get excited to find that perfect gift – to do something really special for my mom. Yep, it’s true – I love my mom! Seriously, I get more giddy about Mother’s Day than I do any other holiday. And this year, the joy that this holiday brings is even greater, since this year is my mom’s first Mother’s Day as a vegan!

Handmade Shades of Autumn Glass Chicken Earrings by Bonnie Goodman

My usual Mother’s Day tradition is to buy my mom a lily, which we plant together. This year, though — this year is a big deal. She’s vegan! She needs more than flowers. Instead, I want to give her something that will recognize the change that is growing within her, that will give her meaningful tools, and that will help cultivate a wonderful new lifestyle.

Maybe you’re faced with a similar quandary. Do you have a mother (or a grandma, or a mother figure) in your life transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle? Or maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe there’s someone who taught you about being vegan, someone who inspired you, and you want a way to say thank you.

Either way, the Our Hen House Etsy Shop has some new, beautiful additions that would make perfect gifts for the new vegan, the vegan mentor, or for anyone who even might be considering veganism. All the items are vegan, cruelty-free, and handmade especially for you!

Just arrived are a variety of lovely glass earrings donated by Montana-based jewelry designer extraordinaire, Bonnie Goodman. Each pair is unique and absolutely beautiful, and the colors are a delight. I’m wearing a pair as I type!

Follow Your Heart Charm Bracelet with Swarovski crystal accents. by Julie Sheremeta

Or maybe a bracelet would make your mom smile? Our “Follow Your Heart” charm bracelet might just remind your mother of what she’s always encouraged you to do! It’s made by Julie Sheremeta especially for Our Hen House, and is accented by beautiful Swarovski Crystals. Another possibility that she’s sure to love are one of our glass beaded bracelets, which stretch to fit most wrists, and are also made by Julie Sheremeta.

This is only a taste of the many beautiful items in our Etsy shop, all of which have been donated to Our Hen House by talented and compassionate artists. And not only is a gift from our Etsy Shop a wonderful gift for your mom, or another inspiring woman in your life, it’s a gift of support to Our Hen House in its efforts to mainstream the movement to end cruelty to animals.

If jewelry isn’t just right, how about making a special vegan meal, served along with a card that includes a donation made in her name to Our Hen House? And how about starting a new tradition? You could both listen to the Our Hen House podcast together (whether you’re physically together, or far apart), and then chat about something other than “Why are you single?”, “Have you met anyone yet?”, or “You’re so good with kids, you should have one already!” (Uh, oh, maybe that’s just MY mom…).

In any case, regardless of whether it helps me to avoid questions about my love life, it’s lovely to have something new to chat about with my mother. Now that we’re both vegan, the podcast is something we can truly share. And, I love that. Because, in case you haven’t noticed, I really love my newly vegan mom.

Thanks to YouTube user “delneive1″ (Are you reading this? Who are you?!), both of our presentations from the Worcester VegFest are now available in full online. So imagine you’re at a VegFest, dutifully grab your favorite cruelty-free snack, and get comfy…

The first is the talk that Mariann and I gave, entitled “THINK VEGAN: Ten Tips to Get You Started.” (You might also want to check out the blog entry we wrote following speaking at last year’s Boston VegFest, entitled “Ten Tips for Shifting to a Plant-Based Diet.”) Hope you enjoy watching our workshop! Podcast listener Stephen, from Halifax, recently told us that this video of our workshop accompanied him in making a delicious vegan dinner. (Wish we could have been there, Stephen. Feel free to mail us any leftovers.)

Then, I had the unbelievable honor of interviewing Kathy Freston (who was on our podcast last year). Her talk, which gave a glimpse into what she writes about in her new book, The Lean: A Revolutionary (and Simple!) 30-Day Plan for Healthy, Lasting Weight Loss, was done in “talk show format,” which was clearly a huge coup for me. We had a lot of fun. Oh, and I’ll be interviewing Kathy again at the upcoming The Seed: A Vegan Experience, here in NYC, which I absolutely cannot wait for (Mariann and I will also be giving our own workshop). But here is the interview I gave to Kathy Freston at the Worcester VegFest:

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Book Review: Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight, by Timothy Pachirat

Review by Katie Gillespie

"Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight" by Timothy Pachirat

In 2004, Timothy Pachirat concealed his identity as a researcher and got a job in an industrial Nebraska cattle slaughter plant where a cow is killed every twelve seconds on a continuous production line. He started out working for several months as a ‘liver hanger,’ a position that revealed the oppressive monotony of the division of labor on an industrial (dis)assembly line. Pachirat then worked for a few days in the chutes, herding live cattle into the knocking box, which afforded him close contact with the live animals upon whom the entire system relies, and allowed him to witness the attitudes of the other workers. Finally, Pachirat was promoted to a quality control worker — a role which gave him the freedom not enjoyed by the line workers — to move fluidly throughout all spaces of the slaughter plant. In the five months he worked at the plant, he used these three vantage points to understand industrialized slaughter in the United States. The result is Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight [Yale University Press, 2011], a meticulously detailed account of the inner workings of slaughter, and a more general reflection on the workings of U.S. society at large.

The value of this work is not so much in the information it presents. Though it does provide a great deal of insight into the day to day workings of industrialized killing, there are other accounts of slaughter which tell us about the violence of slaughterhouse work and its effects on the humans and nonhumans involved. Rather, the value of this work is in the way Pachirat presents the incredibly detailed material, relating it to his theoretical structure regarding the “politics of sight,” the power of visibility and invisibility, and the physical, social, linguistic and methodological metrics of distance in industrialized killing.

Pachirat defines his politics of sight as “organized, concerted attempts to make visible what is hidden and to breach, literally or figuratively, zones of confinement in order to bring about social and political transformation.” At first, I thought Pachirat was making the now-familiar argument (popularized by the likes of Michael Pollan) that the simple act of making things visible is what leads to social and political transformation. And, in fact, he does make this argument to some extent, and a large part of the project is, indeed, dedicated to making the invisible visible. But Every Twelve Seconds is much more than an exposé. Pachirat, who is careful not to reveal the name of the plant specifically because he does not want to engage in an exposé of one plant, is aiming to provide an ethnography of slaughter work, and, more generally, an account of “distancing.” His politics of sight refer not only to making the invisible visible, but to drawing attention to the ways in which even when the invisible is visible, we are experts at distancing ourselves from what we see. He shows this distancing not through consumer responses to visibility, but through the ways in which even those closest to the process of killing compartmentalize their own role in the process – at least in part because of the necessity of focusing on their own suffering and desperation, and attempts to keep up with the speed of the line.

Pachirat’s clinical description of the slaughterhouse begins not with the live animals, as one might expect, but with the front office. He then moves backwards into the fabrication department (where the carcasses are cut into uniform pieces, packaged, and shipped out), then onto the kill floor. Finally, he moves out into the chutes, where the live animals are herded into the plant. This reversal of the process of slaughter emphasizes in an interesting way the homogenization at work in the system. As he moves us further back in the slaughter process, we see how the homogenous aesthetic of the packaged meat becomes a carcass, a dead body, and then a living, breathing animal. Through this reversal of the production line, individual characteristics (size, sex, horns, etc.) become visible, until you reach the live animal, an unpredictable and utterly non-homogenous creature with a will of her or his own.

This transformation through the production line is mapped in carefully rendered diagrams of the 121 jobs in the slaughterhouse, and the divisions (both physical and social) within the work of killing. These diagrams, and the related appendix – which, along with the notes, you shouldn’t skip – are some of the most interesting parts of the book, and should provide an invaluable teaching tool as well.

As counter, and complement, to this somewhat sterile description of spaces and jobs, Pachirat give us his personal narrative about his time working in the slaughter plant. He recalls his own anxiety and guilt about getting hired, the friendships he forms with coworkers, the workplace politics of the slaughterhouse, and the day to day experiences of the physically exhausting, often numbingly tedious, and always poorly paid work he performs.

This account reads like a gripping novel, and, long after finishing it, I still find myself haunted by it in ways I was not anticipating. But I am haunted not by the more expected, sensational details of slaughter — the violence, the blood, the suffering of animals and humans. True, all of these are present. But what is far more lingering and disturbing is the way this work of killing is utterly mundane: the monotony and the division of labor for the line workers; the desperate drive to keep the line moving; the quality control records that must be falsified in order to meet USDA standards; and, most of all, the industry’s reliance on this monotony and desperation to keep the killing line moving without hesitation and with no questions asked. These are the things that worry at my heart and mind.

And, of course, these are the things that make Pachirat’s work an invaluable resource for thinking about killing animals, meat-eating, workers’ rights and the politics of citizenship, speed and industrialization, human health, animal rights, and the contradictions between law and practice. For me, Every Twelve Seconds is not a book about hope. Pachirat does not provide an easy prescriptive solution for moving forward; there isn’t one. Instead, this book is about reflecting on how a politics of sight might make us each more attentive to what it is we’re allowing ourselves to see. A politics of sight is about opening more than our eyes. A politics of sight is about seeing with our clearest eyes, our most compassionate hearts, and our critical-thinking minds what is right in front of us, and what we know is concealed from view.

Get your own copy of Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight, by supporting Our Hen House today. 

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Katie Gillespie

Katie Gillespie is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. Her work focuses on animals in the food system — in particular, within the dairy and slaughter industries. Katie currently teaches an undergraduate class, “Animals, Ethics and Food: Deconstructing Dominant Discourse,” which asks students to explore and rethink their relationship to animals in the food system, and she co-organizes the Animal Studies Working Group at the UW. In her free time, Katie writes the blog Serenity in the Storm, which features vegan food, news, and animal studies-related topics, and she volunteers at Pigs Peace Sanctuary in Stanwood, WA.  

In today’s episode, we talk all about The Seed: A Vegan Experience, which is set to come to Soho on June 16 and 17. We’ll tell you why you don’t want to miss this event, and we’ll talk about our involvement in this groundbreaking and delicious happening.

We’ll also discuss the results of the New York Times essay contest asking people to share their thoughts on the false, flawed assumption that “it’s ethical to eat meat.” And we’ll share the results of our essay contest where we asked you why it is unethical to eat meat. The responses overwhelmed us.

We’ll talk about the term “meat-free,” and we’ll tell you about an old video, circa 1976, from The Vegan Society. We’ll share with you our experiences attending the NYU “Panel on Global Equity and Animal Agriculture,” as well as a clothing swap that benefited Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers. We’ll also talk about the recent controversy all over the news about vegan parenting, and we’ll tell you about Ginny Messina’s recent eye-opening blog entry about umami being a “secret ingredient of vegan activism.”

Joining us today is vegan chef Ayinde Howell, who will talk all about his pop-up restaurant, Wildflower, which is popping up in San Francisco on May 4 and 5. Ayinde will discuss with us everything from being born and raised as a vegan, to why the pop-up model is so effective for budding vegan entrepreneurs.

For our review, Ari Solomon will be joining us and will tell us about the product line Herban Cowboy, which is an all-vegan line of goodies including soaps, shaving creams, deodorants, and other grooming must-haves.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Burger King makes cage-free eggs, pork promise” from Associated Press
• “Mad-Cow Case Confirmed in Central California, USDA Says” from Bloomberg Businessweek 
• “India Bans University Experiments on Animals” from The Chronicle of Higher Education
• “‘Hurry up and die’: Shocking footage of pigs being beaten to death and abused on farm supplying meat to top supermarkets” from Mirror News 
• “Colorado Woman Awarded $65,000 After Dog’s Death” from ABC News 
• “HSUS files complaint against NPPC with the FTC” from Ohio’s Country Journal 

“You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.” -Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Today’s episode is being sponsored by The Seed: A Vegan Experience. Explore a plant-based world at The Seed: A Vegan Experience, New York City’s premier vegan event, scheduled for June 16 & 17. Featuring the best in vegan products and services, world-renowned speakers and presenters, film screenings, demos, and more.

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

Photo Courtesy Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org)

Thank you to everyone who sent us their essay. As we have said, it was a harrowing ordeal to go through all of your brilliant work and decide on 4 runners-up and 1 winner. You inspired and enlightened us!

Here is Alan W. Peck’s winning essay:

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WINNER

Why It’s Unethical to Eat Meat

by Alan W. Peck

When I first met my best vegan friend, I said to him, half serious and trying to be funny, “Almost all of my friends are Mexican, so I don’t think I could live my life without carne asada.” And… crickets. He just looked at me, and started talking to someone else.

Wounded by the awareness of my own bullshit, I went home that night and proceeded to scour the internet, fully determined — since I considered myself an ethical person — to find an ethical argument for eating meat.

Well, I failed… miserably. In my research I came across a simple yet devastatingly bulletproof argument against eating animals and their bodily secretions, using ethics and simple logic. It goes like this:

Can humans survive and thrive on a plant based diet?

Well I hadn’t really thought about it before, but despite some shady articles by the dairy industry slandering soy, apparently so.

Does all production of animal products, factory farmed or otherwise, cause suffering?

After a lot of research and reading too much on the internet about bees… yes.

Do I believe that willfully participating in unnecessary suffering is unethical?

Of course. I’m not a monster.

Given that humans can survive and thrive on a plant based diet, isn’t the suffering caused in the production of animal foods unnecessary?

Oh boy… I guess so but –

Well then if willful participation in unnecessary suffering is unethical, don’t you think you should put down that sausage?

Fuck. I can’t do this anymore.

And that’s how, midway through my standard American breakfast on November 12, 2010, I became vegan.

Admittedly, it did take me a few months after my exposure to the facts to come to terms with them, so I empathize with people who “most certainly could not live without cheese.” But given that you are a decent person, you owe it to the animals — and to yourself — to not remain willfully ignorant, or block out the truth you already know for the satisfaction of your taste buds… And honestly, given how much delicious plant based food there is in the world, flavor and texture, along with emotional comfort and family tradition, are nothing more than hollow excuses. You’re better than that.

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RUNNER-UP

Why It’s Unethical to Eat Meat

by Loren Fry

People refusing to eat meat affirm a truth that many others find fanatical: that eating meat is wrong. And while this opinion may consign us to the status of overly emotional dilettantes, I have not come to my conclusion based on my emotions but rather the emotions and feelings of animals, otherwise known as sentience.

Photo Courtesy Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org)

All living, breathing beings are sentient. While the degree of intelligence varies by species, each is imbued with the ability to feel pain, respond to threatening situations and experience heightened emotional states, just like us. When eating a steak, you’re consuming the bodily remnant of an animal who was self-aware, loved, was highly sensitive to pain, felt sadness and joy and avoided threats. What’s more, you’re consuming a being who endured both mental and physical agony just to become your dinner. While a cow may not be able to have a conversation or solve a math problem, shouldn’t sentience make their life worth something?

Imagine eating your dog or cat. Unthinkable, right? Like me, you’d exhaust any financial resource necessary to save and preserve the life of your companion animal. In western culture, dogs and cats hold a special rank in the human family and are afforded much consideration. Yet, in many non-western cultures, slaughtering them for human consumption is completely acceptable. Is it defensible that, since we’ve placed dogs and cats in a “do not eat” category, it’s fine to kill other animals of equal or greater intelligence simply because our companions have fallen arbitrarily into a group of favor?

According to the Cambridge University Veterinary School, pigs “have the cognitive ability to be quite sophisticated. Even more so than dogs, and certainly three-year-olds.” That’s a three year old human being, by the way! Researchers have taught pigs to play video games with joysticks, where they beat dogs in both speed and accuracy, and have also suggested that pigs can express an extensive range of unique personality traits, much like us. Despite this, the average American consumes 51 pounds of pig meat each year. Incidentally, it’s been said that pork is the most similar tasting meat to human flesh, but that could be a due to the fact our genomes are so similar when compared. (It’s evolution, check it out.)

Meat eaters consume certain animals, but spare others, simply because that’s what they do — not because of any scientific evidence suggesting that one species is more appropriate to eat than another, or that it’s appropriate to eat any for that matter.

If this were simply an emotional concern, it could be easily overlooked, but it isn’t. This entire argument is based on the fact that if something lives, breathes and desires deeply to continue living, then taking its life must be justified by an extraordinarily profound ethical defense. “I really can’t live without bacon” does not fit that criteria. In fact, given that human beings have advanced so far in the understanding of agriculture and the proliferation of food from plant sources, the excuse our ancestors tens of thousands of years ago could make for taking animal life has been thoroughly invalidated, simply by virtue of human progress. Therefore, we can only assume that the billions of animals slaughtered for human consumption in the United States each year are done so for selfish, superfluous reasoning, that I want no part of.

I consider every bite of a burger, chicken wing, or pork chop to be not only an expressed denial of human evolution and progress, but a decision to either remain blissfully ignorant or brutally aware.

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RUNNER-UP

Why It’s Unethical to Eat Meat

by Britt LoSacco

Contrary to what many omnivores assert, whether to eat meat is not simply a matter of taste or personal preference. Because of its massive implications — spanning concerns of well-being for animals, humans, and the environment — it is, at its very core, a question of ethics.

Photo by Derek Goodwin; Courtesy of Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org)

The current methods by which 99% of animals are “farmed” for human consumption are appallingly cruel. Livestock are kept cramped in close quarters, often unable to move entirely, wallowing in their own waste. Because they are viewed not as living beings but as commodities, they are treated at best with indifference and at worst with violence. When the time comes to “harvest” their flesh for meat, their deaths are executed so inefficiently that the animals often continue to struggle well into “processing.”

Study after scientific study continues to reveal, with increasing poignancy, the significant capacity that non-human animals have for reason and emotion. If more people were honest with themselves, they would likely allow that their own personal experience demonstrates this as well. Animals are not unaware of or undamaged by the horrendous conditions of their existence. They slump helplessly in their misery, cry out in pain, shriek in terror when another’s life is taken, and clamber for self-preservation in the knowledge that they may be next.

The remaining 1% of meat production — the so-called “humane” farm — is not exempt from cruelty. Though the animals may live in more respectable conditions, they still suffer the same heart-rending fear when their lives are ended. Just as with factory farms, the deaths are not physically and psychologically painless nor as swift as their proponents would like people to believe.

As unspeakable as these atrocities are on their own, the very worst part is that they are wholly unnecessary.

It is not nutritionally essential for humans to consume meat in order to survive — or to thrive. Studies consistently show that those who eschew the consumption of animal products tend to be in far better health than their counterparts. Eating meat is correlated with an increased risk for virtually all chronic disease. Plant-based diets are associated with a reduction, and even elimination, of these risks.

And if compassion and health weren’t significant enough, there is also the environment to consider.

On a large scale, it is highly inefficient and, ultimately, unsustainable to expend water and energy on producing plants to feed animals. Those animals then require even more water resources, expel tons of toxic waste into the ecosystem, and have to be processed so that they can provide nutrient-poor food for humans — and far fewer calories’ worth than went into raising the animals themselves. It is notably more sustainable to simply grow nourishing plant foods and feed them to people directly.

Not to mention the massive amount of land required for farming both the animals and their sustenance. The depletion of the rainforests has been a concern for decades, and they are increasingly cleared to make way for livestock and feed.

Ethics are a set of moral principles, parameters that determine what is right and what is wrong. Something that is ethical supports that which is decent, honorable, and virtuous — that which is right. When considering that eating meat contributes to the unnecessary suffering of sentient beings, to a decline in the quality of human health, and to the degradation of the environment, it can only be concluded that to do so is unethical.  That a person enjoys bacon or wants to eat a steak is inconsequential. The prevailing truth is that it is wrong.

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RUNNER-UP

Meat Ethics

by Joanna Strittmatter

“It sounds like propaganda.”

I raised an eyebrow at such a statement. It’s not as if I had just been selling the idea of going to war. In fact, I had not been selling anything. Turning down meat products is an easy way to stick out as a vegetarian. And as a vegetarian, the burden of explaining yourself seems to meet you around every corner. I always attempt to keep responses as short as possible, in the hopes of having an enjoyable night out while leaving heavier discussions for a more appropriate time. But this time I was caught off guard. While giving my general response of health and personal values, I was intrigued by the accusation of my reasoning behind not eating meat as being propaganda.

Photo by Connie Pugh; Courtesy of Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org)

For one to truly raise the question of ethics regarding a socially accepted and commonly practiced activity, it must be clearly stated as to what the issue really is. Although it is not the only problem, this essay addresses the ethics involved in consuming meat because it is customary and seemingly enjoyable. The fact is, in our country, meat is not a necessity in order to preserve life. It is simply a profit-driven industry and an extravagance that humans are unwilling to live without, regardless of its effects on health, environment and the livelihood of conscious creatures.

While this sounds like so many other industries in the world, the subject at hand is the ethics of consuming meat. Moral principles must be considered when any thought is given to the process of bringing meat to your plate. By simply researching the subject, it is easy to realize that the meat and dairy production industries are cruel. One could research veal production, foie gras, humane-slaughter regulations for poultry (non-existent), the de-horning process for cows, gestation crates for pigs, the cruel confinement of battery hens, and countless more subpar standards that are a sad reflection of man’s superiority. If evolution or man’s ascribed status in the food chain is the culprit behind these acts, then perhaps it is prudent to consider that something may have gone awry in nature.

Arguments made for the necessity of meat in our culture are ill founded. Converting over to a vegetation-based diet has proven again and again to improve general health, reduce risks of disease, improve symptoms of existing ailments, and with an appropriately balanced plan, lead to a healthier community. The China Study provides a strong correlation between diet and disease by documenting the relationship between a vegetation-based diet and lower rates of various cancers and degenerative heart diseases.

In addition to health issues, meat consumption affects many global, social and economical factions as well. Between the methane gas output assisting in the destruction of the ozone layer, the rainforests that are being torn down to provide land for grazing cows abroad and the large amounts of grain fed to cows to produce small amounts of meat, animal agribusiness proves time and again that the driving force is in the almighty dollar.

If this still “sounds like propaganda,” I encourage everyone to research the topic at hand. The notion that “it tastes good” or “we were made to eat meat” can no longer be accepted. The burden of education falls on humans and should be exercised in all aspects of life. If it is preferable to not know how your dinner makes it to your plate then it begs the obvious realization that it shouldn’t be there.

The real question then becomes whether or not it is ethical to keep looking away.

Photo by Derek Goodwin, Courtesy of Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org)

Your essays poured in, making our jobs very difficult. We found ourselves inspired by your passion, compassion, and articulateness. We decided to dedicate this week to publishing the essays of four runners-up and, finally, one winner — which you’ll see this Friday right here on Our Hen House. The four runners-up, published beginning today and through Thursday, are listed in no particular order; we just really liked what these people had to say, and felt they made their argument in a well thought-out, concise, compelling, and creative way. 

If you’re interested in reading the results of The New York Times’ contest, there are five essays waiting for your perusal in “Put Your Ethics Where Your Mouth Is.” They are asking for our votes for the winning article. Pay particular attention to “I’m About to Eat Meat for the First Time in 40 Years,” which details a long-time vegetarian’s flirtation with eating in-vitro meat! That one clearly has our vote. 

And so, we now begin showing you some of the essays you submitted that also won our hearts. We begin with runner-up Ashley Capps. 

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RUNNER-UP

Why It’s Unethical to Eat Meat

by Ashley Capps

In any discussion concerning the ethics of eating animals, it feels important to begin by pointing out a frequently overlooked distinction: that harming and killing animals from necessity is not morally equivalent to harming and killing animals for pleasure. Just as shooting someone in self-defense is not commensurate with shooting someone to satisfy a sadistic urge — killing animals for food when we have no other choice for survival, is not morally equivalent to killing animals when we have plentiful alternatives. Violence committed in order to save a life is never analogous to violence committed for pleasure or profit.

This distinction is crucial for several reasons, the first of which is that it clarifies a serious category error, in the thinking of people who insist that meat-eating is “natural”— and therefore morally neutral — because other animals eat animals. It’s important to realize that, with a few exceptions, when humans kill other animals for food, we’re not doing what animals do in nature. When animals kill other animals for food, they do as they must, in order to survive; they have no choice in the matter. Many humans, on the other hand, do have a choice, and when people with access to non-animal food options choose to consume animals anyway, because they can, or because they like the taste, they are not killing from necessity, as animals (and some humans) do. Whether we’re talking about a lion taking down a water buffalo, or a human in some remote or impoverished location forced to hunt in order to feed her family: these are acts of necessity, and do not equate to, nor justify, wholly unnecessary harm to animals. There is no analogy to be found in nature for the massive harm we do to animals for pleasure.

Another reason it’s important to recognize the necessity/pleasure distinction is that harming animals for pleasure goes against core values most of us hold in common — which is why, for example, millions of us were outraged over Michael Vick’s involvement in dog fighting, and why we oppose dog fighting on principle. The notion of deriving pleasure from violence toward animals is repulsive to us; so how can we justify harming animals for the taste of their flesh? How can it be wrong to harm for pleasure in one instance, and not the other? The same reasons that compel us to oppose dog fighting compel us to abstain from killing animals we don’t need to eat: namely, that it is wrong to harm animals for pleasure, and it is wrong to kill animals for pleasure.

Finally, to harm animals for pleasure is also, ultimately, to harm ourselves. Constantly acting in opposition to our own core values deforms our hearts — and it diminishes our integrity, and hinders our emotional and moral growth. Day after day, and year after year, our lives can be seen as the culmination of thousands of instances in which, equally assured of nourishment and pleasure, we had the opportunity to choose kindness and mercy, or to choose violence and selfishness. What can it mean for caring people to regularly reject compassionate choices that cost them next to nothing, and to instead embrace unnecessary violence that costs its victims, literally, everything? To do so is to destroy kindness in our hearts. It’s a simple equation. Every time we put food in our mouths, we reinforce a value. When we choose, over and over, to activate apathy and selfishness in ourselves, we become different people than the people we would have become had we chosen instead to cultivate compassion and mercy.

In today’s episode, we discuss the recent story of the cow dubbed “Moo-dini” who escaped from slaughter, and the important role that escapees play in our movement. We will also give you our thoughts on the unfortunate quote-unquote “animal welfare” video produced by a huge restaurant chain. We’ll make you jealous with our banter about the new Café Blossom, this one on Carmine Street here in New York City, where we ate this past week, and we’ll give you the low-down on Jasmin’s performance in Mortified. We’ll also share with you our amazing experiences last weekend, where we spoke at the Worcester VegFest, and we’ll chat with organizers Drew Wilson and Kaitlyn Miklinevich about what it takes to put such an event together.

Joining us for our feature interview is “Pete,” the undercover investigator responsible for the undercover work that led to the film “Death on a Factory Farm,” as well as the HBO documentary, “Dealing Dogs,” not to mention countless other investigations into kennels selling animals to research, as well as puppy mills, factory farms, and slaughterhouses. Pete will give us a glimpse into this mind-blowing work, and he’ll tell us what it takes to become an investigator. You absolutely won’t want to miss this interview with a true unsung hero.

For our review, Our Hen House’s reviewer, Ari Solomon, will give you his thoughts on the book, One Good Dog, by Susan Wilson. Listen to Ari’s insightful take, and then order yourself this engrossing novel.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Footage of Illegal Slaughterhouse Prompts Arrest” from Food Safety News
• “LA City Council Moves Forward On Banning Pet Sales” from CBS Los Angeles
• “The Myth of Sustainable Meat” from The New York Times
• “The Challenge of Going Vegan” from The New York Times
• “Is Veganism Good for Everyone?” from The New York Times
• “Is It Ethical to Eat Meat?” from The New York Times

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” -St. Francis of Assisi 

Tracking Down Great Podcasts

But there’s another way to listen to our podcast, and, excitingly, to every other fantastic vegan-themed podcast out there (and there are a bunch). I recently learned about The Vegan Feed, an aggregator of your favorite podcasts, as well as some videocasts and blogs. Not only does this take the guesswork out of tracking down some great broadcasts to accompany you on your morning jog, your afternoon drive home, or your housework, but the site makes it really easy to share your favorite episodes with your friends and family, by way of email or social networking.

As for Our Hen House’s page on The Vegan Feed, you can access all of our episodes in one place — that’s over 118 hours of listening enjoyment. Looks like you have to clear your schedule for the next week or so.

One-Stop-Shop

I chatted a bit with Ben, the genius behind this new project, and the first thing I was struck by was his raw passion for turning his tech skills into a way to advocate for animals. One of his goals in starting The Vegan Feed was to not only provide a one-stop-shop for vegans to find the resources they need — be they entertainment, information, or support — but also to reach out to the not-yet-vegans, by encouraging everyone to take full advantage of the simple share widgets. In addition to podcasts, on The Vegan Feed, you’ll find recipes — such as the scrumptious-sounding “Spring Tartine with Sweet Pea Hummus, Grilled Asparagus, and Lemon Zest,” from the always sensational Choosing Raw — cooking shows, and news and lifestyle blogs, all pertaining to veganism and animal rights.

Don’t know about you, but I’m about to bookmark The Vegan Feed.

1. If you’re in NYC, there are some great events happening tonight, and in the coming weeks. Tonight, artist Sue Coe — who we featured in our most recent Art of the Animal video — will be signing copies of her new book, Cruel, at MooShoes (MooShoes was featured in our “NYC Vegan Weekend on a Budget” video). 10% of all sales will go to United Poultry Concerns, and the vegan food cart, Cinnamon Snail, will be parked out front. Also happening tonight, in observance of “Earth Week,” NYU is hosting a panel on Global Equity and Agriculture. Panelists include OHH advisory board member, Lori Gruen (who was recently on our podcast), and Brighter Green’s Mia MacDonald (who was on our podcast last year). This weekend is the 2nd Annual Charity Clothing Swap, which is not only a great way to reduce/reuse/recycle (not to mention look ravishing), but ticket sales go 100% to HEART’s humane education efforts — that’s Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (director Meena Alagappan talked all about the program last year on our podcast). One “Save the Date” you might want to etch into your iPhone (or at least type it in) is the upcoming annual Veggie Prom. Yep, that’s a prom for adults, and it’s totally vegan and fabulous. We went last year, and have the bad prom photo to prove it.
2. Since we’re on the subject of dates, Mariann and I are speaking at some upcoming conferences and VegFests that we want you to know about — and attend! We had a blast talking at the Worcester VegFest last weekend, and will chat all about it on our podcast this coming weekend. Thanks to everyone who attended and said hello! In case you missed it, here are some other events where we’ll be appearing: On Saturday, April 28, we’ll be helping you to “Think Vegan,” and providing you with 10 tips to embrace veganism, at the CT VegFest. Our talk is at 2:00, but you also won’t want to miss the rest of their lineup, including Dr. Michael Greger (don’t miss him on our podcast), and 2 screenings of Vegucated (which, yay, I’m in! And don’t miss filmmaker Marisa Miller Wolfson on our podcast). On Saturday, May 12, Mariann and I will be involved with several panels at the Brooklyn Food Conference. We’ll be talking about everything from gender roles and exploitation as it relates to animal rights, to farmed animal law, so come out for that if you can. On Sunday, May 20, we’ll be giving a talk on Food Activism at the Metropolitan Community Church of New York. There isn’t any info posted about that yet, but email me (jasmin [at] ourhenhouse [dot] org) if you want to stay in the loop. On June 2, Mariann and I will be speaking at the awesome Niagra VegFest. On Saturday, June 16, we’ll be speaking at The Seed Experience here in NYC. Looking ahead, save the dates — October 19-21 — because Mariann will be presenting at Lewis & Clark Law School Center for Animal Law Studies’ Animal Law Conference. Also save November 9 & 10 — where we’ll be speaking at the conference honoring ecofeminist (and our late friend) Marti Kheel at “Finding a Niche for All Animals.” More dates will be announced soon, so stay tuned…
3. Have you heard about our online magazine? We’re about to launch this huge undertaking of changing our website over to a much more dynamic one full of loads more multimedia content, features, editorials, columns, and more — but we need your help. We are trying to raise the last $5,000 in order to make this dream a reality, and we’re 77% of the way toward our goal! Please help us reach $5,000 by donating anything you can to this project. We are a 501(c)(3) so it’s all tax-deductible. Have I told you lately that I love you?
4. Did you happen to catch author Timothy Pachirat on our podcast last week? Not surprisingly, it was our most-listened-to episode… ever! Timothy, who is the author of Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight, discussed with us what it was like working inside a slaughterhouse where 2,500 cows were killed per day – one every twelve seconds. He also talked about his thoughts on animal agriculture being used as a metaphor for other forms of violence, ritual slaughter, and the question of who is more responsible: those who work in the slaughterhouse, or those who eat the meat. For a limited time, if you become a monthly recurring donor to Our Hen House at a minimum of $10 per month, you will receive a signed copy of this life-changing book. And, as always, we offer some other great thank you gifts for donations of $25 or more. For $25, you will receive a copy of The Tourist Trail by John Yunker (our most FAVORITE NOVEL EVER!); for $50 you will receive a stunning, ethically-sourced, vegan-made Our Hen House tote bag (shootout to designers Lion’s Share Industries); and for $75, you’ll receive a sterling silver and hematite necklace that says “vegan” on it (designer Michelle recently appeared on our podcast). In short: please donate! We’re entirely listener and reader supported! If you’re reading this, that makes you… a reader! (Smooches.)
5. Speaking of our podcast, let’s back up… If you’re not listening yet, what on earth is wrong with you? I kid, I kid. (Kind of.) We publish a 1-hour episode every week, complete with an in-depth interview with a mover and shaker from the world of animal rights (like Peter Singer, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Kathy Freston, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Jonathan Balcombe…); a review of a new vegan product, film, book, etc.; vegan banter; and current events from the world of animal rights. This weekend will be our 119th consecutive weekly episode, and in absolute truth, features one of my favorite ever interviews, with undercover investigator “Pete,” who will tell you stories that will blow your mind. You can listen and subscribe for free on iTunes, or you can listen directly on our website. Someone recently told me about an app you can get called Downcast, which automatically updates your mobile device with your favorite podcast (eh-hem, why thank you…). We have a ton of fun on our podcast and are thrilled to see our listenership going up and up! Let’s keep that happening. Please spread the word about our lil’ ol’ podcast, which we pour our hearts and souls into every week — no matter what. And be sure to leave a friendly review on iTunes. THANKS!
6. HumaneSpot.org, a thorough resource for which we’ve previously professed our love, never ceases to amaze me with the articles and studies they publish. Some current ones that have called to me include “Should You Share This Video?“ (by Caryn Ginsberg, whose new book on animal activism was recently reviewed on our blog), detailing when it is — and when it ain’t — effective to simply “Like!” and share an AR video. This is information all of us changemakers need to know. Also on HumaneSpot right now is a study entitled “To Eat or Not to Eat: A Comparison of Current and Former Animal Product Limiters,” which compares current and former vegans, vegetarians, and others who abstain in one form or another from consuming animal products. Based on a study by Western Washington University, “this study investigates motives for and barriers to meat reduction,” and is worth a read. (It’s free to read the short abstract, but the full text will set you back about thirty bucks, unfortunately.) If you’re not already getting updates from HumaneSpot, change that.
7. We’re giving away a free copy of Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide by Sayward Rebhal. Be sure to check out guest reviewer (and mom-to-be) Robyn Lazara’s review of this important book, and then “Like” Our Hen House on Facebook and leave a comment beneath the review for your opportunity to win.
8. Now that you’ve “Liked” Our Hen House on Facebook, be sure to follow us on Twitter, too (@ourhenhouse)! Though, admittedly, I’m not nearly as good about “Follow Fridays” as I should be, some of my favorite tweeters are @sallyt, @VeganAri, @QueerVeganFood, and @vegansaurus.
9. In the further interest of (more) shameless self-promotion, don’t forget that Our Hen House has an Etsy Shop! It features beautiful jewelry and knitted wear that you will not only love, but so will your mom! And look at that, Mother’s Day is in just a few weeks — so make sure you place your orders now. Best part? 100% of the proceeds go to Our Hen House!
10. Lastly for now, I really enjoyed an article by Ginny Messina (“The Vegan R.D.”) entitled “Is Umami a Secret Ingredient of Vegan Activism?“ Ginny, who is the co-author (with Jack Norris) of the must-have book, Vegan for Life — which we gave a rave review — talks in this piece all about how “Understanding umami might help meat-eaters who struggle with a transition to vegan meals.” Adding vegan foods that are rich in umami — such as, according to Ginny, wine, miso, tamari, ripe tomatoes, dried sea vegetables, marmite, nutritional yeast, mushrooms, olives, balsamic vinegar, dried mushrooms, and sauerkraut — might be key to the longevity of one’s veganism. Fascinating!

… videos by Swedish Eva Olsson, depicting the alienation of 21st Century humans and obsession with possessions, including the right to ownership of other animals; “One Day on Mars” video by German artist and curator, Wilfried Agricola de Cologne, a penetrating statement about hierarchical power abuse of humans against humans and against other animals; wall reliefs by US artist, Margaret Roleke, making statements against war; [and] work by the US artist Lynne Hull who has “pioneered in ‘trans-species’ art, creating sculpture installations as wildlife habitat enhancement…

Earlier this week, Urban Ranch Project featured the Gao Brothers. Stepanian explained part of her fondness for this Chinese artist duo, saying, “In an email to me, Gao Qiang states: ‘I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years now, I think human beings should keep a distance from other animals…’”

I particularly like the use of multimedia in this virtual gallery. Stepanian uses videos, paintings, photographs, and more to raise awareness about animal suffering — the human and non-human variety — in our favorite possible way, through art. Be sure to visit Urban Ranch Project. Unlike most of the other pages you “like,” you will actually like this one.

Grocery Store Activism

“What’s that for?” a woman at the grocery store recently asked me, pointing at my cow ribbon. I noticed her 2-year-old son sitting in the front of the cart, staring in wonder at the gossip magazines.

Get a cow ribbon.

I consciously erased my visible annoyance at the world — something I’ve been told I occasionally flaunt for all to see (perhaps it’s because I’m a New Yorker?) — and put on my friendliest face. “Oh,” I said with a genuine smile that I managed to muster, “it’s to raise awareness about the egregious suffering of dairy cows.” The woman seemed surprised, but genuinely interested. Clearly it wasn’t the answer she was expecting. I continued, “It’s actually pretty unbelievable what goes on. Calves are immediately taken away from their mothers, and the boys are usually sent off to be turned into veal.”

The woman interrupted me, “I haven’t had veal in years! Those cows are just babies!,” she told me, standing a little straighter.

“That’s great that you boycott veal,” I said. “And I hear you. The veal industry is disgusting. I remember how horrified I was when I learned that it’s a direct result of the dairy industry. One wouldn’t exist without the other.” I could see the woman taking this in, so I went on. “And the dairy industry is perhaps the worst of the worst, in terms of animal welfare — or lack thereof.”

She hesitantly nodded, and I got my cue to slow down. Her energy quickly shifted back toward her son, who was now grabbing for Angelina Jolie (not that I blame him for that). “That’s not for us, sweetie,” she said to him.

What I wanted to say then was “Yeah, neither is cow’s milk. That’s for the cow’s baby, just like your milk is for your baby.” But that would be rash, and this was a perfectly nice woman. So instead I gave her a friendly smile, since one of the tenets of good advocacy is when to know when your conversation is over… for now.

After I’d paid for my groceries — tofu, kale, frozen cherries, and,  to go with the cherries, chocolate hemp milk (heaven!) — I remembered that I had a stack of vegan recipe brochures in my bag. Jackpot! I handed one to the woman in line. “There’s some great recipes in here,” I said. “My 2-year-old niece loves the vegan mac n’ cheese.”

I smiled, and so did the woman, who gratefully accepted the brochure. She even stopped putting her groceries on the conveyor belt  – yogurt, frozen chicken nuggets, and some string cheese — in order to flip it open, and squint under her glasses to see what it had to say.

The cashier was annoyed; I was pleased. Two points, cow ribbon.

True story.

You Can Wear a Cow Ribbon Too

Remember all the moms.

The Cow Ribbon Campaign, a project of Liberation B.C., is one of my favorite annual campaigns. It happens each year around Mother’s Day as a way to “join hundreds of animal lovers in showing support for all mothers.” The website further explains why we should proudly flaunt our ribbons: “Wear it for the calves who will never know their mothers. Wear it for the cows who will never know their calves. Wear your ribbon to show your compassion for all of the animal mothers caught in our ‘food’ system.” The website even lets you send Mother’s Day e-cards that delicately (yet powerfully) explain the horrendous truth behind what mother cows go through — being forcibly inseminated (or raped) over and over again, having their babies ripped from them so that greedy humans can steal the milk that was meant for their offspring (their offspring who themselves become victims of either the veal or dairy industry), and ultimately, being sent to slaughter once they are considered “spent.” This Mother’s Day, remember all mothers, and spread the word about why. A cow ribbon is a great way in to that much-needed dialogue.

Think About the Moms, and Their Babies

Kudos to Liberation B.C. for creating such a unique, eye-catching, and effective project — this should be inspiration to all of us activists with a  yearning to create effective campaigns. But beyond the Cow Ribbon Campaign, don’t forget about the other mother victims of animal exploitation. To name a couple: egg-laying hens, whose reproductive systems are manipulated in unfathomable ways, and who never experience the joys and natural behavior of chickens in the wild; and breeding dogs, who are usually confined for their entire lives in horrendous puppy mills — when countless other dogs are being killed in shelters because they are not being adopted.

And, of course, don’t forget that all farmed animals are killed as babies — not just veal cows. And all mother farmed animals have their babies taken away, not just dairy cows. Piglets, for example, are forcibly weened much sooner than they would be in nature. So are beef cattle. You simply cannot have animal agriculture without exploiting mother animals — or father animals, baby animals, and hell, even human animals.

We need to talk about this, and loudly. The animals of the world cannot remain out of sight and out of mind, suffering in silence. They need each of us to step up to the plate — on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and every other day — and say, “No! I will not support this!”

Despite my hard-New-Yorker exterior, moments like I had in the grocery store fill me with hope, and they remind me of the potential we each have to create change for animals simply by speaking up in a way that is genuine and nonjudgmental. It also reminds me of the power of grassroots activism, such as keeping a stack of vegan recipe guides in your bag at all times, starting conversations with those around you in the grocery store line, and wearing your cow ribbon. There is just no time for complacency or silence.

***

Book Review: Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide by Sayward Rebhal

Review by Robyn Lazara

"Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide" by Sayward Rebhal

Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide (Herbivore Books, 2011), by Sayward Rebhal, is a concise and entertaining handbook that navigates the ins and outs of vegan pregnancy. Rebhal, having had an entirely plant-based pregnancy herself, guides the reader from pre-conception to breast-feeding in a down-to-earth, “girlfriend”-like tone, that is both informative and giggle-inducing. Pregnant myself, I read the book in my third trimester, finding that, even at this stage in pregnancy, it was a valuable resource. Rebhal’s personality is a strong presence in this read, and she draws heavily on her own experiences. I liked her immediately.

Not meant as a complete guide to pregnancy, the book instead effectively hones in on the areas of being “with child” that are particularly relevant to the vegan lifestyle – keeping it impactful, pithy and, perhaps most importantly, reassuring. Throughout Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide, she advocates for – and demonstrates – the accessibility of veganism during pregnancy with frankness and encouragement. This is a perfect source of support for the reader who might be discouraged or apprehensive about sticking with veganism during pregnancy.

As expected, Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide proficiently covers dietary topics like vegan prenatal supplements, and plant-based sources of critical nutrients. And in her assuring, “this is not about perfection” way, Rebhal illustrates the ease of incorporating nutrient-packed, pregnancy-supporting foods into the vegan diet – detailing recipe ingredient suggestions and quick and easy health foods – as well as providing a breakdown of where she thinks it’s best to back up with supplements.

To my delight, Rebhal gives a sense of camaraderie to those of us zapped of energy, bloated, and searching for some understanding and relief. To that end, she covers the many absolutely-to-be expected pregnancy discomforts, such as heartburn and swelling. Rebhal references cruelty-free remedies that are both homeopathic and allopathic, and also provides behavioral tips for dealing with them as gracefully and painlessly as possible. Encouraged by her wisdom, I am less baffled by my occasional non-vegan cravings, and have eagerly took up some of her suggestions (as I write this I am sipping on some Earth Mama Angel Baby Heartburn Tea, which is mentioned in the book).

A significant part of Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide that I hadn’t before personally considered (probably since I’m planning a homebirth), is advice on preparing for labor and a hospital stay. Rebhal offers handy advice on conveying information to medical providers, appropriate food for labor, and thorny non-vegan medication issues. Her advice makes these sometimes intimidating issues much less mind-boggling, and shows that, with prior planning and consideration, they can be effectively tackled.

Given that we are living in a largely non-vegan world, and since – as every woman who has ever been pregnant knows – there is just something endemic to pregnancy itself that makes folks offer up unsolicited advice, Rebhal is perhaps at her most useful when she debunks some vegan pregnancy myths, and offers scripts for addressing unwelcome, frequently annoying questions or comments. Her suave take on addressing such comments allow us to actually seize the opportunity as a chance to spread the vegan message, rather than brush it off with an eye-roll. Her wit on this subject is refreshing and inspiring, such as her response to the inane question of whether or not breast milk is vegan. “Other than blinking repeatedly with your mouth hanging open,” Rebhal writes, “here’s how to address this one…”

In the post-partum section of the Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide, Rebhal covers introducing pets to your new baby, an important topic that I haven’t seen addressed elsewhere, even in my childbirth education class. She also brings up placenta consumption, another topic seldom touched on in conventional pregnancy books (and I must admit, my thinking here really changed around after reading Rebhal’s take). Naturally, she also covers proper vegan nutrition for postpartum moms, as well as breastfeeding tips, giving useful and time-saving pointers. She even covers “superfood” suggestions, again reminding the reader to shoot for practicality versus perfection.

Candidly, Rebhal admits that navigating any pregnancy can be complicated, but assures in this edifying guidebook that it can be a fun and wonderful endeavor to nurture and fortify a new life in the vegan way.

For your chance to win your very own copy of Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide by Sayward Rebhal, first “LIKE” Our Hen House on Facebook, and then comment below saying you did so, and tell us why you want this book! A random winner will be selected in one week, on Monday, April 23 at midnight EST. The winner will be notified by email. Good luck! 

***

Robyn Lazara

Robyn Lazara is a New York City-based animal rights advocate, and the Volunteer Coordinator for Mercy for Animals. She is involved locally in coordinating outreach, community-building and fundraising activities. Robyn lives in Brooklyn Heights with her husband, Bryan, and rescue dog, Jessy. Her baby is due in June.Robyn can be followed on Twitter at @wellofintention.

In today’s episode, we will make a very big announcement about where we’ll be spending 6 months of this year, and why. Here’s a clue: It has to do with animal law, and, for a while anyway, we will no longer be on the east coast. We’ll also give you the run-down on Mariann’s birthday celebration, including vegan soft serve, Ghost the Musical, and our middle of the night visit to the Apple store. We’ll also report back on our vegan Passover, as well as our Easter, and we’ll tell you about some exciting upcoming speaking engagements.

Joining us today is Timothy Pachirat, the brilliant author behind Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight. Timothy, who is joining us in person here in Our Hen House, will tell us about what it was like working inside a slaughterhouse where 2,500 cows were killed per day – one every twelve seconds. He’ll discuss his thoughts on animal agriculture being used as a metaphor for other forms of violence, he’ll talk about ritual slaughter, and he’ll discuss the question of who is more responsible: those who work in the slaughterhouse, or those who eat the meat? You won’t want to miss this eye-opening, riveting interview. And you also won’t want to miss the opportunity to get your own signed copy of Timothy Pachirat’s Every Twelve Seconds. We’ll tell you how.

For our review, we’ll tell you about our favorite frozen fruits and vegetables, and our best go-to ways to use them.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Use of Common Pesticide Linked to Bee Colony Collapse” from Harvard School of Public Health 
• “UC settles suit with activist group over 2008 raid” from San Francisco Chronicle 
• “Slaughter Free City: Progress for Chickens in Minneapolis” from One Green Planet
• “Pennsylvania Egg Factory Accused of Animal Cruelty, Filth” from ABC News

“Today’s problems cannot be solved if we still think the way we thought when we created them.” -Albert Einstein 

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

It’s true that NYC is already a vegan mecca. Having recently relocated here, I’ve been thrilled to discover that vegan options abound. Whether you want to dine upscale, indulge in vegan soft serve or doughnuts, grab some healthy raw snacks, join a vegan seder or happy hour, or pick up cruelty-free body care items, no place will serve you better than the Big Apple. Granted, you might have to do a bit of borough-hopping to get everything you desire, but if you’re willing to do some geographic crisscrossing, you’ll have no problem stocking your kitchen, medicine cabinet, shoe and handbag collection, or pet supplies. I barely remember how I made it through the day without hopping over to MooShoes to peruse their footwear in advance of a wedding or interview.

Similarly, I don’t know how I ever lived without another New Yorky thing, the bodega. The bodega is simply a corner store that stocks the basics, or maybe the basics-plus. When you discover you’ve run out of some staple you need ASAP, and are too pressed for time (or, in my case, motivation) to make a sojourn to a supermarket, the bodega has what you need. Whether it is cereal, toilet paper, beer, produce, shampoo, or diapers, the bodega will seduce you with its proximity and convenience. But admittedly, your typical bodega has a limited selection of goods — I couldn’t get my sea fennel and passionflower deodorant, or do an in-depth nut milk comparison, for example. That’s where Eric Hopf’s Vegan Bodega comes in. It’s a meant-to-be marriage of vegan abundance and convenience.

I had the opportunity to meet Eric when I attended his recent pop-up shop at MooShoes. I discovered that he not only stocks delicious vegan items, but he is also in possession of the best idea, perhaps ever, and is one of the nicest dudes around. In fact, when I had a Passover recipe-related catastrophe on my hands, Eric was kind enough to make a house call so that I could buy Bee Free Honee for my charoses. Just as he defrayed a would-be disaster by getting a crucial ingredient into my hands, without me having to so much as lift a finger, Eric’s plans for Vegan Bodega will ensure that other vegan and veg-curious New Yorkers can enjoy the same cruelty-free convenience.

I had the opportunity to ask Eric some questions about this amazing project.

***

Our Hen House: First of all, how long have you been vegan?

Eric Hopf: I’m not sure, as I never kept track of the “official” date. I would have to say about 7 or 8 years now.

OHH: What was your “Aha!” moment?

EH: I had been vegetarian for about 8 years. I have a friend who I was very close to at the time. We were talking, and she helped me look at my choices by asking simple questions regarding why I ate as I did. Her poignant and non-threatening query caused me to spend a quiet evening at home, looking inward. I knew the facts, but I chose to ignore my responsibility. This friend helped me recognize what was true for me and how to make a better choice.

OHH: Which came first — the realization that NYC lacked a vegan convenience store, or the inspiration from visiting Orlando’s all-vegan Artichoke Red?

EH: My significant other took me to Portland and Seattle a few years ago. It was what many longtime vegans have fantasies about when we entered Food Fight! and Side Car for Pigs Peace – places where you don’t have to read all the labels. My visit to Artichoke Red was the kick in the pants for me. If an all-vegan shop can work in Orlando, where is NYC’s? Not being one who is that comfortable in front of large groups of people or bringing focus onto myself, I thought this was the best form of activism for me. I have always loved sharing my favorite things with others and seeing them enjoying trying new things.

OHH: I love that you think of the vegan bodega as activism. At Our Hen House, we believe not only in food as activism, but also in people changing the world for animals through their own unique passions and interests, not to mention through “for-profit” avenues. Can you tell me a little more about how a place like Vegan Bodega is activism? 
 
EH: I truly love to see people discover new foods. Some time ago, a friend called me her “Vegan Zagat’s” due to all my recommendations. I loved that I was thought of like that. Exposing people, especially omnivores, to great vegan food, is so much fun for me. It’s both rewarding and annoying when I hear, “Wow, this is actually really good.” I am not going to eat food devoid of flavor or texture. The silly misconception that all vegan food is beans and rice with tofu is something I want to try to eliminate with Vegan Bodega.

OHH: Are you telling me I can get cruelty-free toothpaste and shampoo in the same place I get my Queso and Honee? Tell me about the kinds of products you’re thinking of carrying.

EH: The aim is to carry most things you’ll need, so you won’t have to have a one or two day shopping trip with three stops at different stores and one at the farmers’ market. We want to be similar to a traditional bodega. There will be convenience foods, snacks, drinks, and also raw foods, baking goods, cleaning products, personal care products, and some baby care. There will also be a refrigerated and frozen section.

OHH: Getting a small business off the ground is no small feat. How are you going about making Vegan Bodega a brick and mortar storefront?

EH: We started out with a crowd-funding project that didn’t quite make the goal, but allowed us to work on the pop-up shop, and get to meet some of those folks we hope to open the store for. We’re currently looking at all possible funding options to open a storefront. We are looking into finding a backer, angel investors, Small Business Administration loans, and so on. I decided a while ago to sell my Brooklyn apartment to help fund the store. I just believe NYC needs it that much.

OHH: I’ve read that you’re thinking of the Lower East Side as the location for the Vegan Bodega. How’d you choose the location?

EH: Correct, the LES is our target area. When looking at where the best places were to open, there were a few things to consider. The Lower East Side had most all of what we were looking for — proximity to transportation, great feel and “reasonable” rents for NYC, as well as other vegan and vegan-friendly establishments in the vicinity.

OHH: Do you have any plans to use the space for events or programming? Tell us about any other plans you have for the store.

EH: We are working to have weekly samplings of new products. Any other activities, such as hosting book launches, food demos, or hosting group meetings are something we will look at. The space where we open will dictate what we are able to do.

OHH: Will you carry prepared foods or other grab-and-go type items?

EH: There is talk of introducing something along those lines after we are open and have staff to accommodate all the additional work. We are planning to open with fresh juices.

OHH: What are your plans, if any, to work with local vendors? Any super special NY-area treats you plan on carrying?

EH: Vegan Bodega is going to have a large number of local products from NYC and the tri-state area. Something we want to do is give all the great small businesses a place to sell their products. Most find it difficult to get shelf space, and are crowded out by larger producers with more funds.

OHH: How have folks — vegan and non — responded to this project?

EH: In general, people have been supportive. We were called “curators of wonderful vegan items that most people hadn’t heard of.” Honestly, the majority of vegans just want to know when we are opening.

OHH: I saw on your Facebook page that you did a poll about a monthly pop-up shop. Where is that headed? Have you considered just sticking with a pop-up model rather than taking on the storefront model?

EH: We are working to see if we can have a regular monthly event . . . Although we love the pop-up shop events, it really limits what we can carry and the variety, so sticking with them would hold us back too much. It’s difficult to have a large amount of items to offer when each event requires so much work to set up and break down.

OHH: How can we eager vegans support you and the effort to launch the Bodega?

EH: Come out to the pop-up shops and buy what you love. We are also open to talking with any investor interested in an angel investment opportunity. This project means enough to me that currently I have my studio apartment in Brooklyn for sale to fund the opening. If anyone helps me sell it, as in just referring someone who buys it, they will earn a $750 store credit when we open.

OHH: Thanks so much, Eric. I’m thrilled to do my one-stop shopping at Vegan Bodega as soon as it’s open!

***

Don’t forget to follow @VeganBodega on Twitter to stay up to date with this project!

Make this book available to impressionable young minds!

You’ve probably heard of the book, Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World, by Bob and Jenna Torres. In not, you should know that, not only is this book full of accessible tips and tricks for going vegan, and embracing your veganism once you’re already there, but it is written in a cool, relatable way — as if you’re sitting at your family’s Thanksgiving meal and your awesome older cousin is imparting her values to you.

Just imagine if impressionable students were privy to your cool (vegan) cousin’s advice. That’s basically what Evolve for Animals is gunning for. Their aim is to obtain copies of Vegan Freak and get it widely distributed at college campuses, high schools, and public libraries. They are asking us to join them on Facebook, donate whatever we can, and help get Vegan Freak to the 16-25 year-old age bracket, a highly influential demographic frequently ready to answer critical questions about the world.

Beyond just supporting the Vegan Freak book drive, or buying a bunch of copies of your own favorite AR book and donating them, there are so many other ways to spread veganism — and educate people about its underlying issues — in easy and effective ways, using the power of the bound book. This campaign reminds me of what a no-brainer it is to donate your old AR books  — whether to schools, libraries, community centers, yadda yadda. Note to self, actually, since I have this compulsively strong, and somewhat irrational, attachment to my absurdly large AR book collection (not to mention vegan cookbook collection). I have to remember that these books may have the opportunity to do more good in someone else’s hands than in my own. And, after all, I could always get another copy, if I needed to. So note to you, too: Let’s do this together. Donate a book or ten, knowing that you’re spreading compassion along the way, and informing the masses (or at least some dude who happens across your book) about the absolute importance of boycotting cruelty and speaking up for animals.

Since we’re on the subject, another possibility for recycling and disseminating wise words is to follow in the footsteps of some great NYC activists and organize a “Vegan Book Swap.” This one, happening on April 16, is benefiting Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. We’ve told you about similar book swaps in the past. We can’t get enough of this idea. There is so much good to be done when it comes to sharing books, knowledge, and — yep — ethical imperatives.

The same thing happened for my mother. After I went vegan over 8 years ago (I had been a long-time vegetarian before then), Mom decided to try it out for a week. She asserted over and over again that she wasn’t doing this permanently. That was 8 years ago. Nowadays, her car is covered with bumper stickers proudly flaunting her veganism, and no one can get her to stop shooting her mouth off to fur-wearers, Facebook friends posting photos of steak, or the occasional grocery store shopper with a cart full of pus-laden dairy. Seems pretty permanent to me.

And so. I am indeed a fan of the “Veg Pledge” movement (yep — I called it a movement). Though I am in agreement that it is not in and of itself good enough for people to “just ‘go veg’ one day a week,” or one week a year, or “just for health” (it is, after all, about the animals and their unimaginable suffering), I have hope — I’ve got to — that pledges like this are one way in… of many. I have seen it work, and I also believe that the fact that it has penetrated the mainstream media is indeed a good thing. For those of you about to throw a temper tantrum, I will tell you, I’ve thrown that very same one. I am not the person who applauds someone for making the extremely obvious (to us) choice to stop their consumption of oppression. It is a no brainer. But when they “pledge,” I am absolutely right there by their side, seizing the opportunity to be supportive and provide them with resources, recipes, and a big “Ra Ra!”

Speaking of “Ra Ra,” my latest cheer goes to Compassion Over Killing (I actually try to toast to them at least twice a week, since I love them passionately and in mildly inappropriately ways). COK — a Washington D.C.-based organization that is busy exposing the truth in egg labeling, getting “go vegan!” ads on national T.V., and implementing National Vegan Hot Dog Month, is about to launch VegWeek 2012 — a “seven day celebration” that highlights the vital reasons for going vegan. As part of the Week, which will occur in conjunction with Earth Day, April 23-29,  thousands of participants will pledge go vegan, and — since COK wants them to stay that way (shhhh…) — the participants are provided with ample resources and information to make it as simple and tasty as possible. That, in conjunction with the facts about why veganism is a necessary step in order to preserve the planet, our own health, and — most importantly — why we need to boycott the cruelty of animal agriculture, is enough to make any “pledger” follow in the footsteps of my mother, and stick around.

Case in point: COK’s VegWeek was inspired by MD Senator Jamie Raskin, the very first person to take their pledge, a move that indeed stuck. Yep. Raskin continues to embrace a plant-based lifestyle, asserting that his new diet succeeds in “aligning my morals with my menu.” That’s what I’m talking about…

COK’s VegWeek has other components too, including getting restaurants in on the action, and hosting nationwide events that raise awareness (and deliciousness) about the benefits of veganism. This is grassroots advocacy at its finest.

Our Hen House is a proud partner organization on this campaign, and we hope that you will do your part in spreading the word to your not-yet-vegan colleagues, friends, family, and neighbors — and ask them to pledge to go vegan for 7 days. Remember to lead by example. Just as I might not have stuck with veganism had I not initially had loads of support from vegan friends — and just as my mom relied very much on my support — the people you get to pledge will need you! What’s beautiful about VegWeek is that, by pledging, they will also have the opportunity to receive daily VegWeek emails with recipes, meal ideas, dining tips, and more, but regardless, be sure to check in on them — even if that means you’re a tad pestering. “Atadpestering” is actually my middle name (weird, right?), and, I’m proud to say, it’s resulted in many people ditching meat, milk and eggs for good, opting instead to live a life in an ethical continuum with their values.

Spread the word! VegWeek 2012 is happening in conjunction with Earth Day, on April 23-29. Be sure to also “Like” and share VegWeek’s Facebook page, where your friends can actually take the pledge!

***

Review: “The Adventures of Vivian Sharpe, Vegan Superhero” by Marla Rose

Review by Stephen Lukas

"The Adventures of Vivian Sharpe, Vegan Superhero" by Marla Rose

I initially agreed to review The Adventures of Vivian Sharpe, Vegan Superhero [Wide Awake! Books, 2012], by Marla Rose, because it was a story for young adults. My Hardy Boy years long since passed, it isn’t often that my attention is drawn to books written for that demographic, and so I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t, since this “young adult” novel is really a tale for all ages.

Vivian Sharpe is a vegan Nancy Drew – an inspired and determined 15-year-old who sets out to change her life, the environment, and the world – for animals. A lifelong resident of Center City, “in the middle of a state that grows a lot of corn and wheat,” it is after eating an otherwise innocuous ham sandwich at a barbeque that Vivian’s “regular, normal and unremarkable” life is turned upside down. Later that evening, dream fragments present like a horror movie: terrified shrieks and cries, gates slamming, loud motors, metal on metal chainsaws, and clanking gears. One particular vision keeps returning: “a pair of soft brown eyes with thick pale pink lashes curled down, unblinking, brimming with an immeasurable sadness and incomprehension.” When she awakens, Vivian discovers a pig spirit named Tolstoy gently levitating over the desk chair in her bedroom, reminiscent of the ghost of Jacob Marley who visits Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Tolstoy initiates a conversation wherein Vivian soon learns that the noises and screams are images from a nearby slaughterhouse. After making the connection between that afternoon’s ham sandwich and her evening visitor, she is stricken with remorse. While not many of us commence our vegan journey with a visit from a ghostly pig, in many ways Vivian’s “awakening” unfolds as it probably has for many vegans: when she experiences the life-altering revelation that what she has always accepted to be food was, until recently, a living, breathing sentient being, there is a single moment of truth, a sudden clarity. Case in point:

She looked at Tolstoy and he looked back at her with a calm, almost apologetic look upon his face. There was no need to affirm or say a word; the little hairs on Vivian’s arms stood up, poking painfully against her pajama sleeves. They stared at each other wordlessly until Vivian finally collapsed forward in a heap.

“But – I – no one told me. Oh, god, I feel sick. I feel sick,” she gasped.

“But I didn’t know a thing, Tolstoy. I – I didn’t know,” she trailed off, clenching her blanket. She couldn’t meet his eyes. “I never thought about it.”

“I know you didn’t, Viv. I don’t blame you. But you know now.”

Tolstoy charges Vivian with one task: “Observe.” As Vivian proceeds to do just that, she learns many lessons. First, of course, is her transformative food pilgrimage. This is subtly presented, in a way that would enlighten, but not frighten, a non-vegan reader. It takes her from an education about easy, tasty vegan foods – like peanut butter sandwiches and pasta – to a greater understanding of the full bounty of plant-based options. (How many vegans have traveled that familiar food path themselves?)

But Vivian’s evolution extends beyond simply taking the first necessary step of becoming vegan. Because of Tolstoy’s influence, she becomes empowered to go further, and to resolve to change the world for animals.

Vivian befriends an odd newcomer at Center City High – Wren Summer – who has been shunned by the rest of the students as weird. Wren, touchingly, is the solitary but steadfast member of the Vegetarian Club. That is, until Vivian joins. Their ensuing friendship depicts the value and importance of moral support, especially regarding passionate issues that – as many of us can relate – become our heartbeat. In each other, they find another tribe member.

Young Vivian also acquires an intuition about animals, following it blindly but with confidence. At a market, she develops an unsettling feeling of worry, and finds herself glancing over towards a man who is standing next to a large, dented cardboard box. Following her instincts, she discovers 6 tiny puppies huddled together in a corner of the box, atop soiled newspapers. Without even needing to think about it, Vivian boldly enters into a battle to rescue the frightened dogs.

But the primary controversy commences when Vivian rescues ducklings from a river behind the city’s largest employer, Gordenner U.S.A. The ducklings are covered with a thick, greasy, green slime. Suspecting this organization is polluting the main water supply, and determined to get to the bottom of what is really going on, Vivian gets herself hired as an intern in the Marketing department. There, she discovers that Gordenner is about to market a genetically enhanced seed and spray known as “Bountiful” to developing countries, the “miracle” solution to eradicate starvation. The reality, however, is far more sinister, and, once again, Vivian sets out to expose the truth.

In many ways, I experienced Vivian’s journey less as a work of fiction, and more as an allegory. The Adventures of Vivian Sharpe, Vegan Superhero is a contemporary David and Goliath saga, complete with entirely believable – and all too real – villains. Good-versus-evil is an ancient conflict that author Marla Rose refreshes in a latter-day setting. From the outset, I was unable to resist the urge to cheer on this accidental heroine.

It is impossible to overestimate the potential impact that this kind of “young adult fiction” can have on up-and-coming activists. The role of fiction in advocacy is vastly under-explored, and, like the young adult novel Out of Breath by Blair Richmond, The Adventures of Vivian Sharpe, Vegan Superhero is another fun, engaging tool to capture the attention and compassion of the animal rights movements’ future movers and shakers. As I can fully attest, even for not-that-new and not-that-young activists, this book has charm, poignancy, and validation that makes it the perfect easy-to-read story for a rainy Sunday (or a sunny Saturday).

President John F. Kennedy said: “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.” The world, and all its human and non-human animals, would indeed be better off with more Vivian Sharpe vegan superheroes. I hope we hear more from her.

***

Stephen Lukas

Stephen Lukas is a Human Resources Business Consultant working for a large, international financial services company. In July 2011, after 10 years as a vegetarian, he became a vegan. Stephen runs, practices yoga, volunteers at the local SPCA, and nurtures a manic addiction to vegan baking — all while shunning Facebook. He lives just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with his husband of 18 years, Peter, their beagle, Gracie, and their kitty, Seamus. If you drop him a line atlukas[at]accesswave.ca, he will send you a picture of his new, vegan tattoo. 

We're going on the road.

Mariann will be teaching two classes, “Animals in Agriculture: Law and Policy” (which she is particularly excited about since farm animal issues have her heart) and “Animal Law Fundamentals” (which she currently teaches at Brooklyn Law School, Columbia Law School, and Cardozo Law School). These courses will enhance CALS’ cutting-edge advanced LLM program in animal law (the first program like that in history!), and they will also be available as part of the regular law school curriculum. CALS is at the foreground of animal law, helping to pave the way for other animal law programs to become a mainstay at law schools far and wide — there are well over 100 in the U.S. that now offer a class in animal law! Mariann is nothing short of gobsmacked about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join their esteemed team.

While on the road, we will of course be blogging, podcasting, tweeting, and scheming. Once in Portland, we expect to gain a whole new angle on our coverage of animal activism opportunities and ideas, and we’re also looking forward to some thrilling collaborations with CALS. For those of you back here on the East Coast, don’t cry for me, NYC, because we will be back for speaking engagements and visits more times than you’ll want to hear about (including Wesleyan University’s “Finding a Niche for ALL Animals: A Conference Honoring the Ecofeminist Work of Marti Kheel,” and “BlogHer’s 8th Annual Conference“).

But for now, I guess I need to focus on the logistics of getting there in the first place. New Yorkers like us don’t have things like cars, let alone baggage (except the emotional variety, most of which is already packed). Stay tuned for our podcast this weekend where we will ruminate all about the trip, which, holy shitzu, is coming up much sooner than we think. Does anyone have a hybrid we could borrow? Or a mixed tape? (People still listen to those on road trips, right?)

Portland, here we come!

Read the press release  for more information on Our Hen House’s big move! 

Joining us today is Anat Pick, author of Creaturely Poetics: Animality and Vulnerability in Literature and Film (which we recently reviewed). Anat, who is visiting New York City from her home in London, where she teaches at the University of East London, will discuss with us the role that animals play in film, and whether or not the use of animals in film is inherently unethical. She’ll also talk to us about her thoughts on how literature and film relate to animals and their role in our lives. We’ll chat about where academia and activism intersect, and where she thinks they should intersect. And we’ll talk with her about her feelings on the science behind animal minds, as well as the significance of a vegan diet — from a personal as well as political perspective.
For our review, we’ll tell you about Ruby Roth’s new children’s book, Vegan is Love, which teaches the benefits of veganism for people, animals and the planet.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Chef Sued Over False Advertising of Foie Gras” from The Wall Street Journal 
• “PETA Sues Merck Over Animal Rights” from Courthouse News Service
• “Jury acquits animal broker of cruelty to primates” from San Francisco Chronicle 
• “Animal-rights groups upset by rules adopted by Texas” from Star-Telegram

“Walk the street with us. Get off the sidewalk.” -Dolores Huerta 

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

See this film.

Friedrich explains: “… the ramifications entailed in questioning our speciesist assumptions are tremendous: Our entire political discourse centers on how policies will affect humans. If we conclude that speciesism is not justifiable, our thinking about nearly everything in our lives will undergo a transformation.”

Speciesism: The Movie explores this question through interviews with activists of many stripes, as well as factory farm workers, vivisectors, and everyday Janes and Joes.

I, for one, am waiting with bated breath to see this documentary. As animal issues continue to permeate mainstream media and consciousness, documentaries will inevitably be among the resources to emerge (like everyone’s favorite, Vegucated), yet there is still a dearth of films out there that really go there. It seems that Speciesism: The Movie is one of the few that is paving the way for more budding filmmakers to take the ethical plunge, ask the hard questions, and capture it on videotape.

Animator Zina Saunders, a frequent contributor to Mother Jones, has mastered satire, as is evidenced in two of her cartoons spoofing animal agriculture. My favorite is the clever “animated editorial” entitled “Agribusiness on the Assault,” which pokes fun at the increasingly popular “ag-gag laws.” The description of the one and a half minute animated film explains:

Agribusiness has pushed a law through the House in Iowa that would criminalize shooting or displaying undercover videos that show animal abuse at factory farms. Yet another example of the corporatization of our country, where the interests of big business trump the rights of individuals and free speech and access to information.

And Zina’s equally brilliant “Factory Farm Superbugs” goes like this:

From the folks who brought you E. coli and Salmonella, factory farms are breeding something new for the American Public: drug-resistant Superbugs!

By the way, if you want more of our thoughts on the importance, and challenges, of using satire as one of many tools to create social change — particularly when fighting for something as “un-mainstream” as animal rights — check out our  interview with Ben Grossblatt from Suicide Food for Episode 87 of our podcast.

"Ethics and Animals: An Introduction" by Lori Gruen. Read this book!

It is for those reasons that we are delighted to welcome Lori Gruen to the Advisory Board of Our Hen House! Lori, who is Professor of Philosophy, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Environmental Studies at Wesleyan University — where she also coordinates Wesleyan Animal Studies and directs the Ethics in Society Project, has published and lectured widely on topics in animal ethics (including her two aforementioned books).

Yet it is Lori’s most recent project that has us in absolute awe. She has documented the history of the first 100 chimpanzees in research in the U.S. — a website which recently won her an award at the Institute for Critical Animal Studies conference.

According to “The First 100” — which, trust us, you have to carve out time to read in detail — it was while doing research for an upcoming book on human relations to captive chimpanzees, that Lori became interested in the genealogy of chimps in the U.S. It goes on to explain:

R. M. Yerkes, a rather elaborate list maker, left behind many incomplete lists that Gruen began filling in while working through archival materials. One document in particular captured her attention — “Complete List of Chimpanzees: Yale Laboratories of Primate Biology.” The “complete list” contains:

Don't miss "The First 100" website.

Name | No. | Sex | Birth | Ancestry | Location | Remarks

The “complete list” begins with (1) Bill and ends with (100) Flora. Flora was born the year Yerkes retired as the director of the YLPB, in 1941. It somehow seems fitting that the “complete list” was a tidy 100 as Yerkes retired.

As she continued her research, Lori realized that the list was not, in fact, complete, and that 14 names were not yet on the list (as they had not yet been born when the first list was created, in 1925). In order to commemorate the first 100 chimpanzees, and to raise awareness about the plight of these glorious primates, Lori decided to complete the list as best she could.

It is estimated that currently there are less than 1,000 chimpanzees in research laboratories in the U.S. As the website explains, “Many of them are descendants of the original colony. Here we remember the first 100 chimpanzees.” Lori is currently working on another website which will document what she likes to call “The Last 1000.”

Here is a random example of one of the 100 first chimpanzees, as documented on “The First 100.” This is Fin.

Fin. Photo courtesy of "The First 100"

Date of Birth: November 10, 1937

Date of Death: September 26, 1942

Fin died from dysentery or a virus. He was almost 5 years old. It is not uncommon for chimps, particularly youngsters, who are reared in home environments to get sick and die once returned to a laboratory setting.

Parents: Bokar and May

Also Known: Fin was raised in Dr. Glen Finch’s home to be cross reared “under conditions which should be especially favorable to the manifestation of such linguistic capacities as the animal possesses. This investigation is comparable in many ways with one conducted early in the history of the station by Dr. Winthrop N. Kellogg, in which he observed for several months, under natural and experimental conditions, a chimpanzee infant loaned to him by these laboratories [Gua] for the purpose and kept in his home in close association with his infant son.” In 1939, Fin developed pneumonia but was successfully treated and recovered. In 1940 the study was discontinued. There is no further explanation of why the study ended and there is no published report of the conclusions of the study.

This website, which is unlike any we’ve ever seen, takes a personal approach in that it puts a name, face, story, and family on the members of that original colony, the first 100. It’s this kind of connection that makes advocacy particularly effective, giving the reader a single story, a unique inroad into seeing this overarching issue through a keyhole. And “The First 100″ is tragic not only in its reminder of the stunted, sad lives of these individuals subjected by humans to captivity and brutality, but it also is a stark and sad reminder of the fact that, due to human encroachment, these magnificent animals are so rare in the natural habitats in which they should be living. According to the sanctuary Chimp Haven, “All of the factors contributing to the endangerment of chimpanzees can be attributed to humans.” These include habitat loss, logging, bushmeat and hunting, mining, and human disease.

As we welcome Lori Gruen to our Advisory Board — where she joins Carol Leifer, Dan Piraro, Donny Moss, James E. McWilliams, and J.L. Fields — we are excited to also give you the opportunity to win a set of her books: Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide, and Ethics and Animals: An Introduction. These books will enlighten, inspire, educate, and move you.

For your chance to win, comment below and give us your thoughts on “The First 100.” Was there a particular story that spoke to you? Do you have an opinion about the project as a whole that you’d like to share? Does it inspire you to act in some way? (And if so, how?) To double your chances to win, also follow Our Hen House on Twitter (@ourhenhouse). In your comment, include your Twitter handle so we can be sure that your entry is being counted twice. A randomly selected winner will be chosen in one week — April 11, 2012. You have up until that day, at midnight EST, to enter. And please spread the word about Lori’s groundbreaking work for animal rights, and about this contest.

Lori Gruen (center), joined by Fuzzy (left) and Maggie (right).

Photo at top of blog: From “The First 100” website by Lori Gruen, that photo is of “Dick,” 1933-1947.

"Souls Awakened"

“Souls Awakened” highlights the personal side of the movement to protect animals. Humankind’s interaction with the animal world goes back to the dawn of civilization, yet the field of human-animal studies — the exploration of the how, when, and why of these varied interactions — is still in its infancy. Now, a new online art and photography exhibition explores just a handful of the ways the animal world has affected the human realm, through sharing the stories of individuals impacted by observing or interacting with animals. “Souls Awakened: The Animals Who Have Shaped Us” showcases the contributions of nearly 40 artists, photographers and writers, discussing the one animal that changed how they feel, how they think, how they act, and — ultimately — who they are.

Admittedly, after glancing at a few of the photos and stories, I got sucked in, and spent a good portion of my morning allowing them to permeate, awakening my own soul a little bit. One particularly special entry was by activist Julie Janovsky, who posted a photo of the glorious pig, Nikki, and her piglets. Julie said:

Nikki was a sow confined to a gestation crate, only to be saved by the Iowa floods of 2008. After the floods hit, she was one of the lucky few who swam to safety, gave birth on the levee and for the first time was able to nuzzle her piglets. When we found her, her ears were burned to a crisp, and her ribs were showing, but still, she had made three nests to shelter those piglets and made every attempt to provide nourishment to them. We gave her a power drink and she ran back to her piglets immediately and laid down to feed them. She was easily one of the best mothers one could ever watch. She is now safely living with those piglets at Farm Sanctuary. She shaped my life by showing love, forgiveness and strength.

Here are Nikki and her piglets, as seen in the virtual exhibit, "Souls Awakened: The Animals Who Have Shaped Us." Photo courtesy of The National Museum of Animals & Society

Having an animal shape our lives “through love, forgiveness, and strength” is something that so many of us can relate to — if we’re lucky, that is. I’ve experienced it time and time again — at sanctuaries, shelters, outdoorsy gallivants, and even walking around here in NYC (I can’t get enough of pigeons!). Most profoundly at the moment, my pit bull, Rose, awakens my soul on a regular basis.

As I’ve talked about before, her story involves being found tied to a tree — where she had been for several days — taken to a “shelter” (that killed all pit bulls), and being snuck out in an “underground railroad” of sorts, by a caring employee who fell in love with her. Rose was Mariann’s companion before she was “ours,” and in the past 5 years I have watched with awe as she has demonstrated, time and time again, the power of unrelenting devotion, empathy (yes, empathy! or at least that is how it seems from my end), and love. When I look at Rose and think of what she has been through — what most animals have been through (look at Nikki!), I feel refocused and re-energized. It is impossible to ignore the plight of animals, to diminish the imperative that we each have to fight for them — especially when there is a glorious pit bull curled up in a ball on your lap. (Would someone please inform our dog that she is not a kitten?)

“Souls Awakened: The Animals Who Have Shaped Us” has brought all of these feelings to the surface for me. I feel motivated, and reminded of why I cannot get too sidetracked by petty personal things. Like the number I have tattooed on my left wrist — 267 — the number of chickens killed every second in the U.S. alone, this exhibit is another way to put things in perspective! Look at the animals all around you (even the human ones). Fight for them with everything you’ve got. Awaken your own soul.

 

***

Book Review: Fear of the Animal Planet: The Hidden History of Animal Resistance by Jason Hribal

Review by Katie Gillespie

Animals resist. They escape their cages. They attack their trainers. They refuse to work, eat or reproduce. They bite or kick or scratch or sometimes kill. These stories are familiar — either from our own personal experience or from reports we hear on the news. Zoos, circuses, aquariums, and media sources often report these acts as isolated incidents, as animals ‘gone wild,’ or simply that certain animals are ‘bad seeds.’ But what happens if we recognize these acts not as isolated incidents, but as individual, and sometimes collective, acts of resistance within their own kind of social movement?

"Fear of the Animal Planet: The Hidden History of Animal Resistance" by Jason Hribal

Jason Hribal, in his 2010 book, Fear of the Animal Planet: The Hidden History of Animal Resistance [AK Press/CounterPunch], pushes us to recognize this long history of resistance, and asks us to think about what it means to read human/animal histories in this way. The book carefully documents the stories of resistance struggles of individual animals and groups of animals in the entertainment industry, and prompts questions regarding these and other struggles for liberation. The stories Hribal tells are numerous and varied.

Tatiana, a Siberian tiger at the San Francisco Zoo, escaped her enclosure, and then, after ignoring and passing by numerous bystanders, killed and maimed three teenagers who had teased, taunted, and thrown things at her. She was hunted down and shot to death by park security.

Janet, an elephant at the Great American Circus, chased down and tried to injure circus employees while she had a group of children riding on her back. In the middle of the chaos, she stopped, let someone remove the children safely from her back, and then continued to chase the employees. Janet grabbed a bull-hook, which they had often used to beat her, and smashed it repeatedly against a wall.

A group of baboons in Northern Africa resisted the slaughter and capture of members of their community by animal traders, through chasing the traders all the way to the train station, and launching raids on the train cars to try to free the captured baboons.

Tilikum, a captive orca at SeaWorld, has killed trainers on several occasions, pinning them to the bottom of his tank until they drowned.

Jeffrey St. Clair, in his introduction to the book, writes:

Each trampling of a brutal handler with a bull-hook, each mauling of a taunting visitor, each drowning of a tormenting trainer is a crack in the old order that treats animals as property, as engines of profit, as mindless objects of exploitation and abuse. The animal rebels are making their own history and Jason Hribal serves as their Michelet (2010: 16).

Since Fear of the Animal Planet was released, I have heard a few critiques that Hribal fails to go far enough in analyzing what this resistance means, how we should understand it, and how it should inform work moving forward. Clearly, it’s true that Hribal could have done more to analyze and theorize how we might understand these acts of resistance in a more nuanced way.

But I cannot really object to Hribal’s choice to leave the book somewhat analytically open-ended and without heavy-handed theorizing that tries to instruct the reader on how and what to think. This open-endedness is precisely one of the greatest strengths of the book, as it provides an invitation to further discussion.

Readers of Our Hen House, who include animal rights activists, animal studies scholars, and animal rescue workers, are in a perfect position to push this conversation further. So many people in this movement have long recognized that animals certainly resist, that animals have agency, and that they express that agency in a wide variety of ways. It’s time to ask some of the important questions to which this evidence of resistance gives rise.

First, what does this mean for the animal rights movement at large? The animal rights movement is still very much a movement by humans for animals. This book turns this conception of the movement a bit on its head. It argues that animals are already engaged in their own social movement and that we should recognize it as such. Moreover, what might we learn about human and nonhuman animal social movements from trying to understand these resistance struggles on their own terms, and without trying to impose models of human social movements of resistance on animals? And, how might we leave ourselves open to understanding new things about resistance, liberation, and justice, by observing and listening to the already established contemporary and historical animal resistance movement? Just articulating these questions reveals how much the movement to protect animals has to learn from those it seeks to serve.

Fear of the Animal Planet is just the beginning of this important and exciting conversation. For this, we can be grateful to Jason Hribal — for writing the catalyst for a serious dialogue on animal resistance and nonhuman struggles for liberation.

***

Katie Gillespie

Katie Gillespie is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. Her work focuses on animals in the food system — in particular, within the dairy and slaughter industries. Katie currently teaches an undergraduate class, “Animals, Ethics and Food: Deconstructing Dominant Discourse,” which asks students to explore and rethink their relationship to animals in the food system, and she co-organizes the Animal Studies Working Group at the UW. In her free time, Katie writes the blog Serenity in the Storm, which features vegan food, news, and animal studies-related topics, and she volunteers at Pigs Peace Sanctuary in Stanwood, WA.  

In today’s episode, we discuss the new Vegan Bodega, Blossom Bakery, annoying Facebook comments, cursing (and in what dialect it might be more appropriate) and an unfortunate evening of theatre.

Joining us today is the charming and talented Juan Pablo Chavez, the chef at the Whole Foods Wellness Club. Juan Pablo will tell us about the delicious vegan concoctions that Whole Foods’ new Wellness Club is cooking up, and he’ll talk about how the program – which advocates only plant-based options – is empowering shoppers and everyday people to get their health back.

For our review, we’ll tell you about the exhibit we attended here in New York City, entitled “The Wild Horses of Sable Island.”

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Horses to the Slaughter” from The New York Times
• “Animal broker faces trial for cruelty after 15 monkeys die during long, circuitous shipment” from The Washington Post
• “Herman Cain raises eyebrows with new anti-stimulus ad where rabbit is shot and killed” from NY Daily News 
• “Pink slime maker suspending production amid outcry” from ABC News 

“It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness; it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful.” -Adrienne Rich

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below! beneath the recipe!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

BONUS! 

Thanks to today’s guest, Juan Pablo Chavez, and to The Whole Foods Wellness Club for providing this recipe!

Whole Foods Market Wellness Club Mexican Pipian Stew

Serves 6 to 8

This traditional green pipian mole from Mexico is full of bright, fresh herbal flavors and is thickened with toasted pumpkin seeds. “Mole” comes from the Nahuatl word “molli” which means “concoction” (and is recognizable in the well-known “guacamole”). Serve with cooked brown rice or quinoa to soak up the sauce, or over steamed potatoes.

Ingredients

2 large yellow onions, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced

6 cups water

1 dried bay leaf

2 lbs green tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed

1 bunch green onions, white and green parts only, thinly sliced

1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into ½ inch pieces

1 cup sugar snap peas

1 cup fresh or thawed frozen peas

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans

2 zucchini squash, diced

2 yellow squash, diced

2 bunches of cilantro

1 bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves only

1 cup loosely packed mint, leaves only

½ bunch chives (optional)

½ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

To make the Pipian:

Combine water, 2 sprigs of the cilantro, 2 tablespoons of the parsley leaves, bay leaf, garlic, 1 onion half, and bring to a boil. Add tomatillos. Simmer until bright green color becomes opaque, 7 to 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer tomatillos to a food processor. (Strain cooking liquid and reserve.) Cut remaining yellow onion half into large pieces and add to food processor along with jalapeños, white parts of green onions and 2 cups of the reserved cooking liquid. Puree until smooth and season with some freshly ground pepper.

Transfer 4 cups of the remaining cooking liquid to a large pot.  Stir in the tomatillo mixture and bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Add green beans, sugar snap peas, peas, squash and zucchini. Simmer 3 to 5 minutes, until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Just before serving, finish the pipian by placing the remaining cilantro, remaining parsley, mint and chives into a blender with 1 cup of the warm stew liquid and the toasted pumpkin seeds. Puree and season with freshly ground pepper. Add herb mixture back into the rest of the veggie mix, stir  and serve immediately over brown rice or quinoa.  Garnish with remaining green onions.

What I am hoping for this year is your support in taking Our Hen House to the next level and becoming an online magazine. This is something my partner Jasmin and I have been working toward for a year now, and we’re very, very close to making it a reality. Through grants and donations, we have raised almost $20,000 toward our goal of (at least) $25,000 — funds that we need to secure by the end of April in order to move forward with the multimedia digital magazine that will give us the expanded resources we need in order to significantly step up the content and reach of Our Hen House. Specifically, our new online persona will allow for us to produce in-depth feature articles, publish columns by some of our favorite movers and shakers, produce more dynamic videos, and move beyond just the blog format so that our website will become a potent and powerful resource, sounding board, and activist hub. We will, of course, continue to produce weekly podcasts and work to expand our distribution. This weekend, by the way, is our 116th consecutive episode. If you’re not already subscribed on iTunes, what are you waiting for?

Jasmin and I have continually been humbled and moved by the response we have gotten to Our Hen House. What began almost 2 and a half years ago as a small idea for a blog has blossomed into a non-profit organization that we have devoted our lives to, all with the aim of mainstreaming the movement to end the exploitation of animals. We were even voted the “Indie Media Powerhouse” of 2011 by VegNews Magazine, and we average 65,000 pageviews per month by about 16,000 unique visitors. We are heartened by that number but feel we can grow significantly, so that others can become enlightened to animal issues and, most importantly, motivated and excited to change the world for them.

So, have I mentioned that my birthday is next week? I hope you’ll help me get my present. I promise that in exchange, we’ll continue to produce top-notch content, using an indefatigably positive style, in order to mainstream the movement to change the world for animals.

Thanks, friends.

xo Mariann

With IFEEL’s Thank You Project, he is asking you to record your own message of gratitude, taking the form of a video that is less than one minute long. It might mean spending your 60 seconds thanking activists and changemakers you admire who are, in one way or another, devoting their lives to ending animal cruelty, or it might mean telling the story of an animal or animals who have touched you in some way. (Makes me think of some of the heartwarming entries we received during our Valentine’s Day contest, where we asked you to tell us about an animal who worked his or her way into your heart.) If selected, your video message will be included in IFEEL’s Thank You video. The deadline for submissions is April 30. Here’s more about IFEEL’s vision for this project:

Just as there are millions of people who treat animals as slaves and products, abuse them and butcher them without a second thought, there are millions of people around the world who love animals, care for them and relentlessly fight for their rights, their dignity and freedom. Thank You song is a message of love and gratitude from the animals to all the people who love them, help them and fight for them. The song goes out to all the animal lovers, vegetarians, vegans, animal rights activists, sanctuary workers and volunteers, and all others who love animals. It is a one big THANK YOU for all the kindness, all the hugs, all the warm words, all the rescues, demonstrations, petitions, facebook likes and shares, tweets, animal cruelty expose videos, documentaries, and everything else that all those “awesome humans“ do to help animals be safe, free and happy.

Sometimes, taking a step back from the painful reality of animal cruelty in order to reconnect with animals is a necessary shift, and for many of us, can provide the refueling we need to continue on. I love that the Thank You Project is creating a positive platform for activists to express their gratitude. It’s like a big warm group hug.

Don’t miss the Thank You song which will soon be the backdrop for this all-encompassing feel-good project:

First, there’s Four Feet Forward, the all-volunteer animal advocacy organization that offers pro-bono media and legal services for grassroots activists. We’ve told you about FFF before, and we’ve also featured a podcast interview with one of its founders, Carter Dillard. The services this organization offers are unique and necessary to anyone interested in really stepping up the impact of their animal rights activism. Here is what they are currently seeking:

The Board of FFF and our supporters seek out professionals in the areas of law and communication who would like to offer their services to groups working on animal issues which they also believe in. We maintain a database of these professionals and match them with organizations who seek the help of FFF. Typically matches are made based on region, set of expertise and desired outcome by the animal organization. Once a match is made both the client and the consultant can access FFF to report on satisfaction with the project as well as to ask for any additional resources that might be needed. 

Sounds like a great way to get involved with changing the world, while attaching yourself to a cutting-edge organization that is truly making waves. Email Andrea if you’re interested, at aloguidice[at]gmail[dot]com.  

Also in the legal world, the Humane Research Council, which — as we told you — recently offered a pro-bono research grant for AR groups, is seeking a legal volunteer to work on developing a database documenting sexual assaults against animals. Here is more about what they are seeking:

HRC is currently doing pro bono work for Chandler Edwards, trying to help them develop a database of all known cases of sexual assault against animals. Ideally we would like to compile this information and then analyze it to find trends in offender behavior, outcomes, or characteristics. Currently all we have as a source is newspaper articles, but would like to also search legal cases involving animal sexual assault, pornography, bestiality and zoophilia. This will require two things we do not have—access to databases such as Lexis and Westlaw, and expertise in searching for legal cases. Therefore we are hoping to find a law student to help us on this project. We would be happy to have someone work with us in depth on it, but since this would be completely volunteer-based, simply having help conducting the search using keywords to identify relevant case names will also be a valuable asset.

If you are interested, email Carol at cglasser[at]humaneresearch[dot]org. 

A few other opportunities for those interested in animal law include working with the coveted Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal, the public interest law firm that specializes in animal rights issues. They are currently seeking a Fall 2012 Law Clerk, and from everything I’ve heard about this law firm, this would be an opportunity of a lifetime for anyone interested in devoting their life to animal law.

There’s also Equal Justice Alliance, which conducts “legal and fact research on civil liberties/rights issues as they relate to protecting the constitutional rights of individuals advocating for animals, including the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and its state analogues.” For those of you interested in the human rights aspects of animal law, Equal Justice Alliance currently has several part-time and full-time telecommuting internship positions available for law students.

Lastly (for now) on the subject of animal law, if this is an area that calls to you — regardless of whether or not you’re a law student — consider enrolling in the summer program in animal law at Lewis & Clark’s Center for Animal Law Studies. If you’re interested in learning more about the animal law program at Lewis & Clark (and you should be), don’t miss the podcast episode we dedicated to exploring it, Episode 93.

Since animals, along with us, are the inhabitants of the environment (in fact, the beating hearts at its core) — and with our abuse of animals, including in animal agriculture, a primary culprit behind environmental damage — clearly animal issues should be at the forefront of environmental pursuits. This should include conversations, campaigns, and yes, film festivals. But we know that, too often, that’s just not the case.

One reason to hope that that is beginning to change is the recognition on the part of the upcoming generation that these issues are inseparable, and that it is impossible to set aside our attitudes toward animals when we sit down to formulate a coherent attitude toward our world as a whole. This recognition can’t come too soon. The ethic of care we have got to bring to the table (literally!) when it comes to respecting the earth and the many earthlings (human and non) who live here is a matter of life or death. I like to believe that the Yale Environmental Film Festival is providing a cutting-edge inroad for other film festivals and environmental campaigns — artistic, grassroots, and academic — to follow suit.

Organizations and individuals that advocate for animals are heavy on passion and commitment, but sometimes light on marketing savvy. Enter Animal Impact: Secrets Proven to Achieve Results and Move the World (Priority Ventures Group, 2011), by Caryn Ginsberg, which provides a crash course on marketing strategy for activists in an easy-to-digest handbook.

Ginsberg asks the reader early on, “Please don’t read this book.” What she means is “don’t just read this book: interact with and implement it.” The book includes activities and thought experiments, and a free companion journal file is available on the book’s website for taking notes. The information in Animal Impact is presented in bite-size portions, with chapters broken into smaller sections, anecdotes, and lists. Each chapter ends with a summarizing “Recap” and a to-do list.

Ginsberg packages her advice in an acronym: ACHIEVE.

Action and Audience

Create Benefits and Cut Barriers

How to Say Something to Someone Instead of Nothing to Everyone

I Am Not My Target Audience

Education Is Not Enough

Voice Matters

Evaluate, Don’t Guess

Each tactic gets its own chapter, complete with inspiring examples of other advocates, including individual activists, shelters, policy groups, and others, implementing it effectively.

Ginsberg’s premise is that animal advocates don’t always do the things that would help animals most, or don’t do them in the most impactful way, and that smart marketing can change that. She notes the frustration some activists feel with people who are not on board with the animal liberation agenda and the confusion as to why they don’t “get it.” And then she turns the tables to show how better marketing could get better results by asking readers to examine their own responses to two hypothetical appeals: one not to shop at malls or large retailers, and another to eat not only vegan, but exclusively raw food.

I found myself resistant to both appeals for reasons that were more pragmatic than ideological. The exercise highlights Ginsberg’s message: simply pleading a case, however moral and justified it may be, is not enough. If people don’t jump right on your bandwagon it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested or sympathetic; a change in strategy may win them over. Identifying their interests and motivations, crafting messages that appeal to and affect them, addressing their reasons for not changing – all of these are part of marketing and are necessary to effective activism.

While I read Animal Impact on the subway one day, the man sitting next to me read over my shoulder. This being New York, he didn’t bother being subtle about it. When we neared my stop, I closed the book and showed him the title in case he wanted to buy it. He eagerly asked if it was about dog training. (I guess he hadn’t been reading that carefully.) Later, applying some of Ginsberg’s principles, I considered what pro-animal messages he might be open to. His interest in trained dogs suggests that he may respond well to messages about adopting dogs from foster homes because foster parents know how well-trained each dog is, or about spaying and neutering dogs because that can help modify their behavior. One way to reach him would, of course, be advertisements on subways. These marketing-related, Ginsberg-derived observations demonstrate that, though this individual wasn’t interested in the book’s actual subject matter (improving advocacy for animals), advocates could still influence him in a way that helps animals.

As Ginsberg puts it, her book is meant to help activists adapt their goals and marketing to ACHIEVEchange. Needless to say, she has that word amalgam trademarked – she does, after all, have an MBA from Stanford and has taught marketing courses.

In fact, Ginsberg has a wagonload of expertise to back up her recommendations. According to the biographical information in the book, she “has worked with the ASPCA, The HSUS [HSUS Senior Vice President Heidi Prescott wrote the book's foreword], PetSmart Charities, Farm Sanctuary,” and others. She has served on boards “for the Institute for Humane Education and the Humane Research Council.” She has also written articles and delivered presentations at conferences related to the topics she covers in Animal Impact.

One of the book’s publicity blurbs, from Humane Research Council Executive Director Che Green, sums this book up: “Effective animal advocacy is a difficult business. To move people with longstanding, entrenched attitudes and behaviors requires a deep understanding of what it takes to create change. This book will give you the insight you need to get the results you want.”

In today’s episode, we discuss the New York Times’ contest asking people to write and explain why they think it’s ethical to eat meat, and the reasons behind our counter-contest. We also talk about dreams, non-vegan tweeters, and our thoughts on being asked to speak to the subject of growing up… oppressed. Mariann will also make us all jealous as she talks about her experience at the brand new Candle Café West, here in New York City.

Joining us today is Bina Ahmad, a human rights and animal rights attorney. Bina will talk to us about activists’ rights, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, ag-gag laws, and her favorite karaoke songs. Don’t miss this eye-opening interview.

For our review, we’ll tell you about Cages of Shame, the new documentary which tells the story of the dramatic rescue of 10 bears from a bile farm in Shandong Province, China. And if you’re in NYC, on April 14 you won’t want to miss the US premiere of this film which will benefit Animals Asia’s work to help endangered moon bears in Asia.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Herbert signs so-called ‘ag-gag’ bill” from The Salt Lake Tribune 
• “L’Oreal backs away from animal chemical testing” from NY Daily News
• “Detroit Police settle lawsuit with ACLU over phony misdemeanor charges” from Detroit Free Press
• “Animal rights group calls on Aqueduct Racetrack to be shut down amid alarmingly high numbers of horse fatalities” from NY Daily News

“Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.” -Amelia Earhart 

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

A scene from "Canh Ba Ba" ("Turtle Soup") by Gyalthang Tsering Tashi

Last year, this project was responsible for the creation of 4,000 films on 6 continents. One of those films was Canh Ba Ba, or, for those of us who don’t speak Vietnamese, Turtle Soup. Canh Ba Ba tells the story of two feisty, passionate kids in Vietnam who want to liberate a turtle from his fate of becoming soup (turtle soup is a delicacy in Vietnam and other Asian countries). Though the past 2 days, for me, were not full of anything revelatory in terms of what I produced, I did do at least one thing that I don’t regret: I spent 5 minutes watching this enticing, moving, charming, and surprisingly deep film about following your heart and saving a non-human life. But don’t take my word for it. Canh Ba Ba took home many prizes from the 48HFP, including “Winner of the Best Film — Canon 48HFP Festival, HCMC, Vietnam”; “Second Runner Up for Best Film and Honorable Mention for Writing — International 48HFP Festival, Taos, USA”; and it even made an appearance at Cannes.

Good on writer and director Gyalthang Tsering Tashi for using his otherworldly talent in filmmaking, and the platform of this unique festival, to give animals a voice. Though Canh Ba Ba tells the story of just one little turtle, the message rings loud and clear for the countless other animals — turtles, bears, chickens, cows, dogs, chimps… the list, sadly, goes on and on — who are mindlessly “thrown into the boiler” without so much as a second thought. The minute you squint a little and allow (or force) yourself to see things differently — from the animals’ point of view, for example — nothing will ever be the same.

Of course, as with any movie in which live animals are used as “actors,” Canh Ba Ba does raise a concern about the actual turtle who appeared in it. Although the titles at the end assure us that no animal was harmed in the making of the film, as we know, we don’t all have the same idea of what “harmed” means in this context, and it’s something that all of us — whether film viewers or filmmakers — need to be more and more sensitive to. Keeping that issue at the forefront of your mind, and continuing to ask yourself the tough questions about when and where to draw the line, if you are artistically-inclined at all, use your platform to insert the animal message. Here’s some inspiration for you:

Which brings us to the story of OHH reader Diana Bezanski. After reading our aforementioned blog entries, Diana decided to donate her (remarkably talented) photography services to animal shelters. The proud human companion to dogs for 18 years, Diana told me that “this is the perfect way for me to contribute my talent.” Her goal was to follow the path of the other photographers we highlighted, and “create portraits to show [the animals'] beauty, personality, and spirit, using a clean gray backdrop — powerful headshots unlike what is typically viewed and perceived of dogs in animal shelters.” Though Diana got the kick in the pants she needed from the photographers we previously featured, her real inspiration to raise awareness about the plight of shelter animals came from  the two boxers she adopted from NJ Boxer Rescue.

Regarding dogs at shelters near where she lives in New Jersey, Diana says that their photos “never did justice – nothing like when I met them. And I always thought, if only they had a better photo, maybe it would stir more interest… Many of these dogs have been in the Center for over a year, and meeting them, I just couldn’t understand why.” She hopes the headshots she takes of them is enough to tug at peoples’ heartstrings. “I hope these images will get them adopted!”

We frequently hear from many of you, telling us that you got that grant to do your animal rights work because of a blog entry we wrote, or you joined that class on animal studies based on hearing about it here, or you organized a protest, got a letter to the editor published, started a “cruelty-free” company, etc. Keep those emails coming! They warm our hearts and motivate us to continue to produce multimedia content highlighting these opportunities for changemaking. We are so glad you’re reading, so inspired that you’re listening, so motivated by your actions. What we produce here is entirely a reflection of you. We highlight what you are doing, because we operate under the modus operandi that changing the world comes from each of us individually, as opposed to solely through top-down organization campaigns. You leave us emboldened, and heartened, every day.

Though we rarely feature a reader or podcast listener as blog fodder (“blodder?”), in this case, I couldn’t resist. Diana’s eagerness to turn a blog entry that she read into an opportunity to create change is exactly what we each need to do. And it also allows me the opportunity to let you see her pictures of these dogs, each one of whom shines through as the extraordinary individual he or she is. Allow yourself to be inspired. Galvanize yourself to create change. Take one look at the face of an imprisoned chicken, chimp, cow, or dog, and you, too, will get the kick in the pants you need.

Here’s what I’m talking about…

These glorious pups are from the NJ shelter, Lilo’s Promise:

Clockwise: Chloe, Amber, Delsea, Noelle. Photo by Diana Bezanski

Clockwise: Delsea, Noelle, Amber, Chloe. Photo by Diana Bezanski

 These 23 pups are from NJ Animal Coalition. They are all long-time residents: 

Photo by Diana Bezanski

And these pups are with Animal Adoption Center:

Noelle with Diana

Dorito & Ricky, Animal Adoption Center. Photo by Diana Bezanski

Note: Though I agree that she’s adorable and uber-talented, to my knowledge, Diana herself is not up for adoption.

Why not simultaneously have a contest that also asks people to submit their 600 words on why it’s unethical to eat meat? Oh wait, is it because we “hard-core inner circle” of vegans are already “dominating the discussion,” so why give us any kind of a further platform — especially when you can gain a massive amount of attention by asking carnivores, and only carnivores, to defend their behavior? Chances are that would be incredibly popular, since the vast majority of the world eats animals, and would probably love a way to justify their indefensible behavior.

This tell-us-why-it’s-ethical-to-eat-meat contest is being judged by Peter Singer (listen to his recent interview on our podcast), Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Andrew Light (you couldn’t think of one friggin’ woman, New York Times?). And seriously, why include non-vegans on this panel at all? Anyone who is still eating meat is clearly not the best person to judge whether their own behavior is unethical.

As a counter to the New York Times contest, we’re calling all vegans, and asking you to tell us — in 600 words or less — why it is unethical to eat meat. Send written entries to contest (at) ourhenhouse (dot) org. Entries are due by April 8; no late submissions will be considered. The best essay or essays will be published in an upcoming blog entry, and one winner will receive an Our Hen House tote bag, as well as one of vegan guru Isa Chandra Moskowitz‘s cookbooks (your choice of which book) — signed, sealed, delivered. The entry must be completely original, and not printed anywhere else. Entries will be judged by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (who was also featured on our podcast recently, for the second time) of The Post Punk Kitchen, as well as me and Mariann. (That’s me, Jasmin Singer, and my partner, Mariann Sullivan — animal law professor and guru, and the official brains behind Our Hen House, not to mention our relationship.)

And since our audience is mainly comprised of people who have already awakened, at least somewhat, to animal issues, we encourage you to also submit a letter to the editor to the New York Times, reminding them that there is nothing ethical, no matter which end you look at it, about consuming the tortured body parts and byproducts of abused and murdered animals. Oh excuse me — there we go dominating the discussion again.

Looking forward to reading your entries.

If, like me, you have a manuscript hidden away on a flash drive, or perhaps burning on the ends of your fingertips, this might be just be the kick in the pants you’ve been needing. I’m a huge ridiculous fan of both Ashland Creek Press and it’s co-founders, John Yunker and Midge Raymond. Ashland Creek Press is a small, independent publisher of books “with a world view,” and it’s not uncommon to find veganism and animal rights issues as strong through-lines in their publications. John, of course, is the brilliant author of The Tourist Trail, a “literary thriller about endangered species in the world’s most remote areas, and those who put their lives on the line to protect them” – which we gave a glowing review. (Remember, for a limited time, you can still get a copy of The Tourist Trail when you donate $25 to Our Hen House!) Ashland Creek Press is also the publisher responsible for Out of Breath by Blair Richmond, a young adult novel about vampires and veganism — which we also reviewed, and you should also not miss reading. (And stay tuned for our upcoming review of Falling Into Green.)

So much literature inspiration! Are you feeling it too? Well, writers and budding authors, get on that. Here is the description of what they’re looking for:

Ashland Creek Press is currently accepting submissions of book-length manuscripts with themes relating to animal rights and the environment. We are especially interested in novels, but we also read nonfiction, including memoir. We believe that veganism and animal rights issues are poorly represented (or mis-represented) in popular literature and we want to do our part to change that. Above all, we’re looking for exceptional, well-written, engaging stories. As you’ll see from our new and forthcoming titles, we are open to many genres (young adult, mystery, literary fiction) as long as the stories are relevant to the themes listed above. Please note that at this time we are not reading submissions for children’s books. Ashland Creek Press is a small, independent press that publishes only a handful of books each year; we regret that we’re unable to publish all of the fine work we receive. Please visit our submissions page for more details. We look forward to reading your work! 

***

The most nightmarish dystopia is the one that, despite being a future purely of the imagination, doesn’t seem so inconceivably distant from the present. Such is the case with the world depicted in Don LePan’s Animals: A Novel (Soft Skull Press, 2010).

Animals, published in 2009, is set about one hundred years from the present, after mass extinctions (due to overfarming) have wiped out livestock, birds, and fish. Resources, particularly healthcare, are scarce, and it is believed that lack of animal protein has led to mass nutritional shortages. Simultaneously, the rate of human babies born with severe cognitive disabilities has skyrocketed. It’s become prohibitively expensive for society to find a way to care for these children or perform medical research to cope with such high rates of “abnormalities.” The cumulative result of all of this? Human babies born with such disabilities are reclassified as “mongrels” or “chattel” and, in the first case, kept as pets in human households or, in the latter, placed in facilities to be raised as food for humans.

"Animals: A Novel" by Don LePan

As an almost universal taboo, cannibalism is something I usually can’t let my mind even wander toward. I was therefore skeptical about whether this story was going to draw me in, particularly because I could see from reading the back cover that it was going to be a story hefty on allegory, which, when done with a heavy hand, turns me off. But LePan creates a future so believable and richly detailed that I gave myself over to the premise quickly.

Animals is the story of Sam, the youngest of three siblings being raised by their single mother. Though Sam is deaf, he has none of the cognitive disabilities that typically trigger reclassification as a mongrel. However, as one of our narrators explains, as society has become more invested in the farming of mongrels for food, less and less precision is used to diagnose such “deficits” before reclassifying children as chattel and any human who exhibits non-standard developmental traits is in danger of reclassification. After all, there is a demand for animal protein, and “yurn” – the euphemism North Americans use for human meat – meets that demand. (Sound familiar? Have some bacon or a McNugget, by which I mean a pig or a chicken.)

When Sam’s family realizes he’s different (though they never bother to determine how he’s different), he is reclassified as a mongrel and goes from little brother and youngest son to household pet. Shortly thereafter his overburdened single mother moves the family and gives him up, leaving him on the doorstep of a local wealthy family. Sam becomes the pet of Naomi, the family’s only child, and, as Naomi and Sam grow closer, she realizes that the only thing different about Sam is that he cannot hear nor speak, and has never been taught to communicate. As their relationship deepens and Sam’s place in the family evolves, Naomi and her parents struggle to figure out how to relate to Sam. As readers we do the same, particularly as Sam’s trajectory shifts and takes him to horrifying new places. (Animals is not a feel-good book. In fact, LePan  published on his website an alternative (and far less brutal) ending when readers gave feedback that they wanted a more “satisfying” resolution.)

It’s clear from the outset that Animals is a cautionary tale about how we treat and relate to animals. But the book’s creative narrative structure makes it more than a moral-of-the-story experience. For example, the multiple narrators’ identities remain mysterious for most of the book, and they often use footnotes to take the reader momentarily away from the story to provide us with a sort of “historical” context and familiarize us with the peculiarities of the imaginary world we’ve been dropped into. In fact, the narrators use such low-key and coded ways to draw parallels between how we humans currently relate to the animals we use for food, and how his characters do the same with the human animals they eat, that I had a forehead-slapping moment when I realized how expertly LePan had connected the fate of non-human animals in our present reality with that of human animals in his make-believe universe.

Thus, while such storytelling devices help LePan to avoid an overly preachy, finger-wagging tone, there is no escaping the fact that his dystopia shares frightening similarities with our current situation. Foodies contemplate how to raise chattel (human children) and when to slaughter them so that their flesh is tender and tasty. Slaughterhouse workers discuss how even free range chattel farms castrate (or “do”) their chattel because “everyone knows it changes the taste of the meat, and not in a good way, you know, if thing hasn’t been done.” Though most of us don’t think twice today about how livestock are “fattened up” for slaughter, LePan gets us to contemplate a 10 year old human child (ten years old is the age that the yurn industry has determined is the perfect age for slaughter in order to hit a sweet spot of cost efficiency and quality) fattened to several times his size in preparation for slaughter. If imagining a gigantic “broiler hen” doesn’t faze you, imagine a 200-pound third grader.

In order to help us conjure up some of the horrors he’s created, LePan mixes recognizable facts and history into his story, such as the kerfuffle about the safety of soy products, the widespread misunderstanding about human protein needs, and actual factory farming practices of postwar North America. This real life stuff becomes the foundation for the future he creates, and that future flows logically from its past, making it difficult to discount even for the most skeptical of readers.

Animals succeeds almost completely in its effort to tell a socially relevant story without losing readers to an overly moralizing tone. And although one assumes that the idea for the allegory came first and the story second, the allegory is instructive and the story compelling. Perhaps the most trenchant and heartbreaking observation made by one of LePan’s narrators (and the one we can take the greatest lesson from) is one about how it came to be that humans are used for food:

Maybe if the choice had been starkly in front of people, they wouldn’t have taken the road they did. But, of course, a clear choice was never right there at any one moment in time, there was the long transition, forty, fifty years of it. And everything seemed to happen disconnectedly; there were no great moments of choice at any point in time, no election campaigns charged with passion over these issues, no series of referendums.

In today’s episode, we will tell you about the animal-themed art exhibit we saw at the Morgan Library entitled, “In the Company of Animals,” including why our pigeon-skirt wearing curator disappointed us with her assertions that it is, in the end, about us humans. We’ll talk about the Citizen Radio interview we were on this week, and we’ll discuss the pluses and minuses of blogging about companion animal issues. Joining us for part of our ramblings is nutritionist Gena Hamshaw from Choosing Raw, who will help us get to the bottom of the recent green smoothie controversy.

Joining us today is scientist Marc Bekoff, who will give us his thoughts on everything from animal rights activists being accused of being anti-science, to facts and insights about animals that astonish people, to his work on compassionate conservation, to his work in prisons. You won’t want to miss this eye-opening interview with a true pioneer in animal studies.

For our review, we’ll go back to our kitchen and give you the skinny on two more of our kitchen appliances. Today, we talk about our beloved soymilk maker and our darling rice cooker.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “HBO Ends ‘Luck’ After Horse Deaths” from Hollywood Reporter
• “ADI applauds North Lanarkshire Council for voting to ban animal circuses” from PR ADI
• “Council Says No to Puppy in the Window” from Laguna Beach Independent 
• “The Trump Boys’ African Killing Spree” from The Discerning Brute
• “The Human Cost of Animal Suffering” from The New York Times
• “A Chicken Without Guilt” from The New York Times
• “Study: Too Much Red Meat May Shorten Lifespan” from CNN

“We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that the animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves.” -Cesar Chavez

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

Lauren Malen: I Am The Animal at the Tufts University Art Gallery

I found it fascinating to listen to the short audio recordings of both the Introduction to Lenore Malen, as well as the artist herself speaking about I Am The Animal, including why and how she created the installation. (Take 4 minutes out today and listen to both of these.) What started as a beekeeping hobby, grew into a fascination with these animals, and then further grew into a deep, profound interest in the relationships between humans and animals, and “reverse anthropomorphism.” Malen says, “There is no human, and there never has been. The human is not a given, but is made in an ongoing process of technological and anthropological evolution.”

According to the website, in I Am The Animal, “Original footage is intercut with archival and found footage, beginning in a documentary fashion then moving into imagery alluding to genetics and robotics.” As you probably guessed from the multimedia resources we offer with Our Hen House, I’m a fan of using many disciplines in the creation of art and change, vis a vis animals. It seems to me that Lenore Malen’s installation embodies that.

If you’re in the Tufts area (lucky you!), there will be a panel discussion of I Am The Animal taking place on Wednesday, March 28 from 4:00-6:00 p.m.

Their latest work, “Alliance Art & Activism,” by creative directors James Koroni and Tracey Katof, will do exactly what good art is supposed to do: inspire us to stand up and be heard about vital issues of justice and compassion! In the case of Enforced Arch, taking a stand begins with taking a dance step, and being heard begins with being seen. (“Alliance Art & Activism” will be showing on April 6 & 7 in NYC — get tickets.)

Ten years ago, when I transitioned from theatre arts to activism, I refused to consider that change in direction to be a reason to let go of my creative impetus. Companies like Enforced Arch send a bolt of electricity up my spine. It makes me want to create and make change, all at the same time. But don’t take it from me. Here is the mind-altering dance piece that Enforced Arch created last year in response to the fur industry’s horrors:

Not that I need to spell it out, but for those of you creative souls out there, let Enforced Arch inspire you. Put animal issues into your work, and see what happens.

Ann Cottrell Free (www.anncottrellfree.org)

Throughout the process of learning about this award, I enjoyed reading a bit more about its namesake, Ann Cottrell Free, a writer whose life’s mission involved telling the stories of those who were marginalized by society — whether human or non-human. In the 50′s, Ann’s coverage of animal protection stories ultimately led to the Humane Slaughter and Animal Welfare Acts being passed — bills that admittedly are incredibly flawed, but were, in their time, huge steps forward. Ann Cottrell Free was a true pioneer.

http://www.musicifeel.com

It is those emotions, and his passion for music, that inspired IFEEL to speak up for animals by way of his brilliant, moving lyrics. In a recent email exchange, he told me, “I rap to be the voice of animals (through music), help promote understanding and compassion and inspire more activist action.”

His raps range from “See the Stars Shine,” which was inspired by a factory farmed cow (“I want to taste the air and the breeze and the grass… I want to see what you don’t want to see.”); “We Goin to War,” which is about animals fighting back (“We’re stepping out and now we’re calling you out…”); and “Why I Do It,” which explains in harrowing detail why iFeel is a tireless activist (“I do it cuz it’s sad to see what we’ve become, I do it cuz there is much more to be done.”).

That last one, “Why I Do It,” has an accompanying video — which, admittedly, I have now watched about 12 times. Truly, I can not get enough of iFeel and his change-inducing music. This is exactly the kind of creative activism that inspires me, moving me to tears, making me want to create art with a purpose. According to his website, where you can hear several of his raps, his album will be released this summer. I’ll be first in line.

By the way, speaking of art and advocacy, ArtThreat just published an exciting piece about our Art of the Animal series, along with an in-depth interview with me about why and how it started.

***

Book Review: “Creaturely Poetics: Animality and Vulnerability in Literature and Film” by Anat Pick

Review by Andy Tabar

Those of us engaging in animal activism should always be looking for new avenues through which to make a positive impact for animals, not only through tangible means but also by affecting public discourse. Yet, given how much influence media, and, in particular, literature and film, have to shape public opinion, it is surprising how little scholarly attention has been given to representations of animals in these media, and how these representations might affect the overall conversation on animal rights. Anat Pick’s Creaturely Poetics: Animality and Vulnerability in Literature and Film (Columbia University Press, 2011) helps fill this gap in scholarly discourse and tackles this subject head on with a series of meticulously laid out case studies.

Creaturely Poetics is divided into two sections, “Inhumanity in Literature” and “Inhumanity in Film.” Pick starts by examining representations of humanity and animality in Holocaust literature, a subject that has long been a source of tension amongst animal rights activists and the general public. The brief examination of the duality of animal imagery often used when discussing the Holocaust – both victims and perpetrators are compared to animals for different reasons – is a unique observation and valuable starting point.

However, the true substance and central framework of the book comes with the introduction of Simone Weil’s concept of “affliction.” Affliction, as opposed to simple suffering, occurs when the suffering ceases to make sense to the victim. This senselessness can happen in a variety of ways, but the most striking is through the framing of the suffering by the perpetrators rather than the victims. The language used is exclusively that of the oppressor. As such, the victims do not have the correct tools to properly express, or even understand, their own experience of their oppression. The afflicted are described as having their souls stripped bare. They are deprived of personality, their identities commuted. They are turned into things.

For anyone with even the vaguest familiarity with the discussions of animal rights, these ideas may at first seem rather predictable and pedestrian. Yet what could easily have become a familiar retread quickly turns into a much more compelling and challenging idea, as Pick uses Weil’s concept of affliction to examine a series of literary and film pieces, attempting to correct a major oversight in prevailing animal rights theories.

Fundamentally, Pick is attempting, through this analysis of various works of literature and film, to do something quite profound, i.e., reshape the reader’s perception of the differences between humans and animals by using the works of a variety of scholarly thinkers to erase the moral line that stands between them. One early clue that this is what is happening is the use of the word “creature,” which replaces “human” and “animal,” making them one and the same. On some level it may seem purely an issue of semantics, yet it becomes quite clear that it is much more, as each piece of literature and film presented in the book acts as a case study for why there should be no moral difference between the two.

While it is not necessary for one to be familiar with the pieces being examined to benefit from the discussion, it certainly helps to be able to ground the analysis in a familiar work. For this reason, I particularly enjoyed the closing chapter on Werner Herzog – featuring his films Grizzly Man, Wild Blue Yonder and Encounters At The End of the World – and how they look at humanity’s place in nature, as well as overturn many of the prevailing conventions of most wildlife documentaries. Here, as elsewhere, Pick looks at these works with an eye toward understanding why we must stop the practice of attempting to humanize animals in the struggle to make others see their worth, for that method will almost always come up short.

The place of the human within nature is a theme that reoccurs throughout the book and culminates in the debate of rights vs. obligation, a continuation of Weil’s influence. The argument is made that the idea of animal rights, and indeed human rights, is a flawed notion because rights are not inherent, they are handed down from those in power to those without it. Whether those rights are gained through struggle and conflict or simply granted by those in power, the possibility always exists that the afflicted may never have the ability or chance to fight for those rights. Indeed, when it comes to animals, that is almost a certainty. As such, Pick turns to the idea of obligation, which she states as a moral imperative to do the least harm to animals. This is not to say that Pick completely eschews the necessity of legislating animal freedom, but she contends that our conversation as a whole must shift to encompass the idea of obligation if we are to ever achieve truly meaningful change. This idea of obligation brings the conversation full circle back to the central tenet of the book, the single idea of the creature as opposed to the duality of the human or the animal.

It should be noted, if it is not yet obvious, that this is very much an academic read. This is not a detraction or criticism – indeed, the style of the book is perfectly suited to the necessity of making its meticulously laid out argument. As someone who is passionate about animal activism and has studied film theory, yet found few scholarly works that link the two, I found the book refreshing and engaging. Ultimately, Creaturely Poetics serves as a much needed and welcome addition to the canon of animal rights literature. The ideas found within are challenging and worthy of consideration for anyone that wishes to change the world for animals.

***

Andy Tabar

Andy Tabar, a graduate of Emerson College, spent several years touring the world with various bands and has since settled down in Connecticut where he runs Compassion Co, a vegan apparel line.

In today’s episode, we ponder about the mindset of vegetarians: Why stop half-way? We share some updates about the latest ag-gag laws and we give you our feelings about this movement toward repressing activists’ voices and their First Amendment rights. Plus, we tell you about the latest Rethinking Animals lecture we attended here in New York.

Telling us all about the NYC VegFest is Michelle Schwegmann, co-owner of the center of Portland, OR’s vegan mecca, Herbivore Clothing. Also joining us today is Doron Petersan, founder of Sticky Fingers Vegan Bakery, and author of the new Sticky Fingers cookbook. Listen closely for your chance to win your very own copy of this cookbook!

For our review, we’ll discuss a performance art piece we attended entitled The Homo Bonobo Project.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Bill passes to ban farm photos under ‘false pretenses’” from The Salt Lake Tribune 
• “In Ohio, Kaptur ousts fellow Democrat Kucinich from House” from USA Today
• “2750 Cattle Die at Sea” from Vegan.com
• “People standing up against bear farming” from Animals Asia 

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” -Anais Nin

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

Cute rescued beagle. Powerful ambassador pup.

The article is from The Advocate, the extremely popular LGBT magazine and website. It’s called “The Beagle Effect: How Saving Puppies Enriched These LGBT People,” and it features queer folks who rescued beagles as part of the Beagle Freedom Project. In some cases, the dogs, it turns out, also rescued the people (something that happens so frequently, as, no doubt, many of you know all too well). The article points out that “not only are the majority of their adopters LGBT, but many of their volunteers, donators, and supporters are as well.” It goes on to feature a slideshow of photos and quotes from the adopters, with their pups. My favorite one (Kezia’s too) was that of an adopter named Richard, who, on page six of the slideshow, is quoted as saying: “To the team of people dedicated to stopping such cruel acts on animals, I can’t thank them enough for enriching my life with the knowledge that I can be a part of this movement and for knowing that Darwin and other animals around the world will have a chance of being who they were born to be.” [Emphasis added.]

A chance of being who they were born to be. Sound familiar? For me, my own gayness is absolutely related to my animal activism. As I’ve written about for publications including The Scavenger and Satya Magazine, for anyone who has ever felt “othered” — whether they’re in the queer community or beyond (insert-marginalized-group-here) — it can be a simple yet profound shift to open your circle of compassion to include animals. Animal rights activist Nathan Runkle eloquently talked about this when we interviewed him for a video that is part of our Gay Animal series.

I'm on the right, at the ripe young age of 22, doing a play about AIDS-awareness.

My own activism began in the AIDS-awareness circuit, with a specific focus on the LGBT community. I was vegetarian then — not yet vegan — but had little to no consciousness of animal rights. When my eyes and heart were opened to issues of animal suffering, changing my behavior, and extending my advocacy, was a no-brainer. Why would I continue to support the cruel and unjust world of animal suffering, by literally consuming the byproducts of oppressed and abused animals, especially while spending the rest of my day speaking out for another oppressed group? The irony was unsettling, but ultimately liberating.

Oppressing animals of all kinds — human and non — is often rooted in a similar (or identical) mindset. That is not to say that the experiences of each group is identical (or even similar), but rather, the mentality that lends itself to seeing the world as “us versus them” is the same. The excuse is the same: I fall higher than so-and-so on the bullshit hierarchy scale. I am allowed to be a hateful, abusive motherfucker because god said so.

There’s so much more I could say about this. I could talk about privilege, and how we need to constantly be checking in on our own, and readjusting our behavior so as to not inadvertently be contributing to unnecessary suffering. That includes not funding suffering (literally) through purchasing a product that was tested on animals or made of animal products. Beyond that, it also includes being aware of larger social justice issues that demand our awareness (and sometimes boycotts), such as sweatshops, cocoa production, and palm oil production.

So maybe we need to stop doing business with a company (or country) that has flawed policies. One such example is Chik-fil-A, which, according to Equality Matters, donated nearly $2 million dollars to anti-gay groups in 2009 alone (Change.org, of course, has a petition against it). Not surprising. A company that profits from brutally killing animals takes it one step further and works very hard to make sure that gay people are not able to marry. What’s more, in the case of Chik-fil-A’s connection with Fellowship of Christian Athletes — they also work hard so that gay people are able to be “freed” from their homosexuality.

I am suddenly reminded of what the dog adopter, Richard said, that his beagles are finally — after spending their entire lives oppressed and abused — being given “a chance of being who they were born to be.” That is, after all, what we all want. Even us gays.

I could go on and on, talking about the importance of gay people coming out, and of vegans “coming out.” In the more privileged parts of this country and world, “gay” is starting to enter the sphere of normal. (Though in many places it is still punishable by prison or even death, and even here in this country — including right here in “my” city of New York — there are loads of areas where hand-holding with your same-sex partner will land you with a black eye — and I would be remiss to not mention that trans-identified people are still dangerously oppressed, pretty much globally.) Similarly to coming out as gay, the more people who “go vegan” and wear it loud and proud, the more normal that will make it, and, ultimately, the less animals will suffer. The more we normalize caring about animals — fighting for them, using our unjust power to speak on their behalf — the more people will connect the dots, and both veganism and animal activism will, for those people, also become a no-brainer. Non-vegan feminists will learn about “rape racks” — the industry’s term for devices that cows are strapped to as they are repeatedly forcibly inseminated — and they will decide they can no longer consume dairy. Gay people will notice with sad irony and and an eye-roll that, although in Mississippi (and other states), it is illegal for gay people to adopt children, gay birds — like certain flamingoes — have been known to exhibit the extremely natural (YES! NATURAL!) and maternal/paternal behavior of “adopting” orphaned birds (this is something I wrote about in my 2007 article for Toastermag entitled “Flamingo Pride“). Ultimately, for gay people, and for animals of all kinds — be they beagles, pit bulls, chickens, flamingoes, orangutans, alligators, whatever — we all want the same thing: a chance to be who we were born to be.

I applaud The Advocate for going there, for pointing out that there is indeed a connection between gay rights and animal rights. There is also a connection between violence to animals and violence to people, and so why wouldn’t there be a connection between fostering compassion to animals, and fostering compassion to all people?

Here's Rose, in Our Hen House.

My partner, Mariann, and I don’t have a beagle, but we do have a glorious rescued pit bull, Rose. I frequently look at her and think, how could anyone do anything bad to this perfect little being? As I write this, she is curled in the corner of the couch, having a little doggie dream. Yet years ago, before she was with us, she was found tied to a pole in Washington, D.C., where she had apparently been for several days. Her teats were gigantic; she had just weened puppies. No doubt she was used as a “breeder” dog. Rose was brought to a shelter where, at the time, they killed all pit bulls, but she was snuck out by a loving worker there, put through the “underground railroad” that certain employees created. She was given a second chance at life, a chance of being who she was born to be.

There are way too many connections to not pay attention. We can’t ignore the explicit links between social justice issues, the various overlaps between oppressing one group and oppressing another, the moral imperative to speak out for the underdogs — whether they are people, chickens, or actual dogs. Please don’t ever shut up about this.

James Perse is raising awareness and funds for The Beagle Freedom Project

I got to know some of the Beagle Freedom Project’s ambassador pups last week, while visiting L.A. The rescued beagles whom I was lucky enough to meet were Frederick and Douglass, the animal companions to Kezia Jauron and Gary Smith, of the changemaking PR organization, Evolotus (be sure to catch Kezia and Gary’s recent podcast interview here on Our Hen House). You can actually see the dogs for yourself, as they made cameo appearances in a video interview that Gary did of us for his blog, The Thinking Vegan.

Frederick and Douglass were recent rescues from an animal testing lab, where, like other beagles, they were subjected to cruel and painful experiments, lived every minute of their lives in a tiny, indoor cage, and were denied even their most basic needs — like sun, grass, human companionship, and good food. A few months after being rescued, they are acclimating well to humans, and enjoying their new life, which includes doting and attentive human companions, a big backyard with tons of trees and plants, and a future full of dignity, respect, play — and as much good food and lifelong love as they can swallow. Unmistakably, they still have their issues, but given the unimaginably horrific world that they came from, the fact that these dogs can begin to trust again was, when I met them, enough to give me hope and inspiration — and light a fire beneath me. We human animals simply have got to shed more light on the disgusting world of animal testing. We absolutely must put an end to it.

We were lucky enough to meet Frederick and Douglass, 2 rescued beagles who warmed our hearts.

That fire I felt is one that designer James Perse certainly knows full well. His display — which is located at both of his Bleecker Street storefronts (and this is prime real estate we’re talkin’ about) — is haunting, but its message is crystal clear. Part of the prominent display includes big bold text that reads: “In 2011, The Beagle Freedom Project rescued 41 beagles from a lab in Spain. In 2012 we can help them save more. The Beagle Freedom Project is a mission to rescue beagles used in animal experimentation and give them a chance at life in a loving home. Profits from the James Perse 41 Beagles t-shirt will support their cause. Learn more at www.beaglefreedomproject.org.” The t-shirts cost $51 and are available in both men and women’s sizes.

Reminiscent of another awareness-raising project by fellow designer John Bartlett (don’t miss John’s interview on our podcast) — who launched the Tiny Tim Collection last year, which raises awareness and funds about shelter dogs (and is named after his beloved late pup, Tiny Tim, whom he credits with opening his eyes about animal issues) — Perse’s new undertaking is a stark reminder of the power of “for-profit” activism. If you have a storefront, use the window to create provocative art that raises consciousness about our feathered, four-footed, and/or furry friends. If you don’t have a storefront, but you have a business, create a project that opens eyes and changes behavior (and perhaps also raises funds) for any aspect of animal exploitation that calls to you. Whenever possible, make sure you get press (our aforementioned interview with Kezia and Gary might provide some tips for doing so).

There is so much sadness in the world when it comes to animals. It can sometimes (or more than sometimes) feel so overwhelming, and occasionally debilitating. But we have to forge forward anyway, because the only other choice is to remain where we are — and when you refocus on the animals, you realize that is not actually a choice. The beauty of innovative activism like The Beagle Freedom Project, Evolotus PR, The Tiny Tim collection, and James Perse’s powerful displays, is that, behind them, are passionate people who refuse to be complacent, and  who are using their skills, talents, interests, and platforms to create change for animals. That gives me hope and inspiration. Almost as much so as Frederick and Douglass, whose little faces have stuck with me since we met, and whose little stories are actually so big that they haunt me, and motivate me.

***

When Death is the Only Escape: An Unapologetically Animalcentric Review

by Loredana Loy

I was privileged to view two movies that screened recently in New York City, each of which, in its own way, managed to relate the unbearable fate that nonhuman animals endure at the hands of human animals. While much of the commentary about these movies has centered on the experience of the human characters, or characterized the animals as symbolic representations of some aspect of human experience, I cannot accept that the vision of these extraordinary filmmakers does not encompass the realities that they so effectively convey about the lives of their non-human characters. Perhaps the resistance on the part of many reviewers to seeing these films from an animalcentric point of view is because it is simply too heartbreaking. As animal advocates, we are all too familiar with the denial that prevents people from confronting the reality of animal abuse. Nevertheless, we must, if we are to view these films authentically, face the fundamental brutality at their core. Thus, I choose to approach each of these works from an animalcentric point of view.

"The Turin Horse"

Despite its title, Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse (2011), does not center much of its 146 minutes of visual narrative on the horse, but we intrinsically feel that she is central to this story. We never learn her name – let’s call her “She.” In the little screen time that She receives in this absolutely stunning and heartbreaking movie, we are presented with the destiny shared by many “beasts of burden.” She is worked to exhaustion, carrying her “master” to town and back in freezing cold and scathing winds. The opening scene of the movie is a glimpse of her life as a slave, her torment, and her inescapable doom.

But She decides that there is an escape, one that most humans would not even consider accessible to her or her kind. She stops eating. This is the only action available to her. The man tries to force her to work, pushes and whips her. The woman understands that there is no point. Indeed, the only moment of warmth and empathy ever shown among the beings in this triangle takes place between the woman and She. It is just a gentle touch of She’s face, and a question: “Why are you not eating?”

There is a sense of gloom descending upon this small settlement, the water from the well has dried out, and the wind won’t stop. The people decide to leave the house, loading their few belongings in the cart, which the woman pulls instead of She, while She, who is clearly dying, is tied to the back of the cart. As they disappear into the distance, a flicker of hope momentarily lightens our tension. Minutes later, as their silhouettes reappear on the horizon, we know that there isn’t any hope. She is back in the stable, the doors are closed. The family is back in the house. It is the middle of the day yet suddenly darkness falls. Somehow we know that this is the sinister abyss that will end it all. Perhaps She knew it was coming. Perhaps She was living in it already.

"Au Hasard Balthazar"

Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) follows the life of Balthazar, an adorable donkey, from the moment that a group of children snatch him from his mother’s teat to make him their pet. He spends a few years of happiness with Marie, who loves him dearly. Later on, her family gives him away because his “value” is no match for that of a tractor. Balthazar is pushed from owner to owner, their cruelty only equaled by Balthazar’s increasing misery. Just like She, Balthazar attempts to resist his fate through the limited means that are available to him. He tries to get rid of his cart, runs away a few times, and even manages to get back to Marie for a short period of time. Every attempt fails. Put back to work by people to whom he is only a tool, he is beaten, starved, left to freeze in cold rain and snow.

One of the most surreal moments in the film occurs when Balthazar is forced to become part of a traveling circus and comes face to face with caged animals for the first time. A tacit conversation takes place between him and a tiger, an elephant, a chimp, and a polar bear, as they glance at each other, and Balthazar realizes that their lives are even more wretched than his.

In the end, abandoned on the top of a mountain with a cargo of smuggled goods on his back, shot by the border patrol, Balthazar walks through a meadow with his burden that he cannot get rid of. Exhausted from his wound, he lies down and is surrounded by a flock of white sheep. This communion with his fellow beings offers him comfort in his final moments. Balthazar is free.

If seen from an animalcentric point of view, both of these films give us an unrelenting portrait of the suffering we inflict upon the often invisible victims of our cruelty. Of course, as we watch these movies, or any movies that use animals, we can never forget that the animals who portray She and Balthazar are actors, but not by their free will. Their true stories will remain untold. This adds yet another level of depth to the understanding of the invisibility of animal suffering and exploitation that these films bring us.

But this is also another way in which these films remind us that invisibility is not inevitable. It is a pact between the exploiter and those who refuse to see, a pact which we are not obligated to enter into. When confronted with real footage of animal suffering, some of us refuse to watch. Some say that watching does not help. Some even say that it hurts, by making us feel so powerless. However, those individuals whose lives or deaths are being documented, the few among the innumerable who suffer in perpetuity, provide us with a glimpse into a reality that we have no right to decline to see. In the end I think that we owe them, at the very least, the very small gesture of bearing witness to their suffering.

***

Loredana Loy is a long-time animal liberation activist and a graduate student at New York University. She is studying the animal liberation movement through sociological and cultural lenses. Her research is focused on cinema as a tool for promoting animal liberation messages. Don’t miss her analysis of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

So when I learned about Peace to All Creatures, I sat upright, cracked my knuckles (excuse me), and got my hands on a few copies. Published by Jessi Van Pelt and Pippi Howard (“two women on a mission to educate, empower and entertain”), this 5-series zine (with more in the works) includes pieces by writers from around the world, many of whom are actively involved with Vegan Etsy. The zines, which will only set you back 6 bucks each (order them directly from Jessi’s Etsy page), are roughly 50-pages, and covers topics that run the gamut from dog and cat issues (“Got Cats? TNR Can Help!”, Issue 5, Fall 2011), to farmed animal issues and vegan outreach (“How to Advocate for More Vegan Options in Local Eating Establishments,” Issue 3, Spring 2010).

The "Peace to All Creatures" zine is incredibly inspiring.

Though some of the information in the zines is on the rudimentary side (that is, for long-time vegans and animal activists), I quickly realized the beauty of that. In fact, what I like best about the Peace to All Creatures zine is precisely that it is equal parts dog-and-cat focused and farmed animal focused. The cover of Issue 5, for example, bears a gorgeous painting of a pit bull (by the talented Megan Boyd), then, a few pages in, has an article on making your own dog treats (all vegan, of course). So, I can foreseeably gift this zine to some of the “dog people” I know, and then — oh look at that — on page 26 they will read the article by Roni Seabury, “Why I Don’t Consume Dairy.” So — ding ding! — this zine is connecting dots for animal-lovers. The all-too-often fragmented worlds of animal advocates are on common ground in Peace to All Creatures. (I suppose that’s why it’s not called “Peace to SOME Creatures.”)

Moreover, remembering that even long-time animal rights activists can use a refresher every now and again (note to self), I realized while I flipped through Peace to All Creatures that there’s always pertinent information to take in, and there’s always a new vantage point from which to see it. And for times when I don’t feel like enriching my brain, I can always focus on the recipes (such as the vegan Lemon Cheesecake by Sarah Summer, featured in Issue 5, which, after reading the recipe, I am now craving so badly that I clearly must materialize one pronto), or gawk at the stunning artwork — all created by good-hearted animal-lovers.

Pippi and Jessi, who took it upon themselves to create this project, have the kind of “go get ‘em” that is necessary for each of us who want to change the world for animals. They saw a niche and they went ahead and filled it — putting their creative prowess to work, all to help animals. Beyond that, they made it a community-wide effort, engaging writers and artists to provide content. It doesn’t stop there, either, because part of the proceeds from this zine goes to companion animal rescues and farm animal sanctuaries (such as Peaceful Prairie).

If you’re interested in submitting an article or artwork for consideration, Peace to All Creatures is currently scouting out material for the next issue, with the theme “Activism Around the World.” The deadline is quickly approaching on March 15. In addition to visiting their website, you can visit their Facebook page, their blog, and — on March 18 and 19 — bid for some delicious vegan baked goods that will be part of their virtual bake sale!  Not only does that mean that you can get some homemade vegan goodies mailed directly to your kitchen table, but you’ll also be helping Peace to All Creatures raise funds for charities that include Animal Coalition of Tampa, Dogs for the Deaf, Darlynn’s Darlins Pig Sanctuary, and Friends of Arlington Animal Services. Now there’s a reason to eat a cupcake (as if you needed one).

For your chance to win a set of Peace to All Creatures zines (Issues 2, 3, and 4), all you have to do is follow Our Hen House on Twitter, then comment below with your Twitter handle. You have until March 12 at midnight EST, when the contest officially ends. The randomly-selected winner will be notified by email.

And if you want to change the world for animals, be like Pippi and Jessi: Get creative, and get involved with animal advocacy in whatever way makes sense for you.

In today’s episode, we come to you from Los Angeles, where Mariann was a judge in the Lewis & Clark Animal Law Moot Court, held this year at UCLA. When we weren’t in that neck of Tinseltown, we were eating our way through this delicious city, and we’ll tell you all about it. We also got to catch up with some incredible movers and shakers who are heavily involved in all things animal rights.

One such person was longtime activist Patty Shenker, who will be our feature interview today. Patty will talk to us about her work with Animal Rescue Corps, and the importance of rescue work. She’ll let us in on such items as: the resource she co-created, FreeAnimalVideo.org, her trip to visit Birute Galdikas, the role of sanctuary in the animal protection movement, and a new play she’ll be performing in that is a take-off of the Vagina Monologues.

We have a couple of special guests joining us for our news section, too. First, we’ll be joined by Kim Sturla, founder of Animal Place, who will tell us about the over four thousand hens they rescued and took in at the biggest farmed animal rescue in California’s history. We’ll also talk to Mercy for Animals’ Executive Director, Nathan Runkle, who will shed light on the recent turn of events regarding Iowa’s ag-gag law.

For our review, Our Hen House’s Hollywood correspondent, Ari Solomon, will give us his take on the new movie, Big Miracle. That will launch us into a discussion about animal actors.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Largest California Farm Animal Rescue — Inside A&L Egg Farm” from Animal Place
• “‘Ag gag bill’ to governor; opponents fear effects” from DesMoinesRegister.com
• “Shame on Iowa: Governor Signs Ag-Gag Bill to Protect Animal Abusers” from The MFA Blog
• “Broad Spectrum of National Interest Groups Sign On to Oppose ‘Ag-Gag’ Laws That Seek to Ban Farm Investigations” from Bradenton Herald 
• “The Most Sweeping Anti-Cruelty Policy in the Food Service Industry” from The Atlantic
• “Scientists lobby for dolphin, whale ‘bill of rights’” from Cape Cod Times
• “The PR Man Behind the Oscar Night Anti-Humane Society Slam” from Mother Jones
• “Best of New York: Dun-Well of East Williamsburg takes the honors for Best Doughnuts” from NY Daily News

“It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.” -Lionel Trilling

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

Courtesy Mercy for Animals

You also shouldn’t miss what’s going on in Iowa. To “demonstrate,” see Mercy for Animals’ dramatic street theatre outside the Iowa Capitol Building in response to the incredibly unfortunate passage of legislation that targets and suppresses whistle-blowing in agribusiness. The activists donned blindfolds, gags, and black clothing, holding up signs that read: “AG-GAG: BAD FOR CONSUMERS, ANIMALS & FOOD SAFETY,” and “IOWA: SAFE HAVEN FOR ANIMAL ABUSE.”

According to MFA:

On Tuesday, both the Iowa Senate and House passed a bill aimed at preventing farm workers from documenting and exposing acts of cruelty to animals — an effort championed by corporate factory farming interests.  The bill is currently on the desk of Iowa’s governor. MFA is urging him to veto this dangerous and misguided legislation. 

This ag-gag law, just like the ones pending in several other states, will not only suppress our First Amendment rights, but in attempting to ban the filming of factory farms, will keep Americans in the dark regarding the standard cruelty that billions of animals experience every second. Kudos to MFA for encapsulating all of that so effectively in their chilling display of activists who have literally been blindfolded and gagged.

The second news item, which Kim Sturla will shed more light on during tomorrow’s podcast, concerns the largest farmed animal rescue in California’s history, spearheaded by Animal Place, a small-in-size, yet gigantic-in-importance, farmed animal sanctuary.

While videos about the horrors visited upon animals in agribusiness are hitting the news on a regular basis, thanks to Mercy for Animals, Compassion Over Killing, and HSUS, there are 2 reasons why we are taking the opportunity to bring this particular video — produced by Animal Place — to your attention.

First, this video shows something a bit different. We all hear from time to time about animals, especially chickens, being abandoned without food or water because of financial woes, but we never get to see what that means up close. The sight of these chickens, left to die in their cages without even a chance of finding their own way to survival, demonstrates as nothing else does the absolute lack of consciousness, or care, on the part of their “owner” that these are (were) living creatures, with interests of their own and a passion to live. How Animal Place managed to get hold of this footage is beyond us. This is the kind of thing that agribusiness and its supporters want desperately to keep secret. It’s also the kind of thing that you need to pass along to friends and family who still eat eggs.

Second, unlike the case in most of the video footage we see, this is not just a call for systemic change (though it certainly is that). It also provides an opportunity to do something to help these very birds — or at least some of them. Animal Place desperately needs donations to help care for the 4,000-plus survivors they took in. And if you are on the west coast and have a little room, this might be the perfect time to add a few new family members.

Here is that video, which we hope you will watch (keep tissues nearby) and we implore you to share.

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows

But maybe your bookshelf — or that part of your bookshelf where you keep books that you intend to read but haven’t yet gotten to — is overflowing, like mine is. If so, your lucky day is here, because now you can be introduced to Joy’s mind-blowing work without reading a word, and without traveling to a conference to hear her speak. Her narrated slideshow is now available online!

Joy helps us tackle one of the hardest things that vegans face in their quest to change the world for animals, i.e., once you stop eating them, your consciousness shifts in such a way that it’s just really hard to remember what you were thinking when you used to eat them. (Of course, maybe that’s because you weren’t actually thinking.) To tell the truth, when I really focus on the fact that people eat animals, it kind of freaks me out. I just don’t get it, even though I know I used to do exactly the same thing. And that’s just not a useful starting point for advocacy. By bringing psychological insight to the process that allows people who truly love some animals to eat other animals without finding it at all creepy, Joy helps us all be compassionate and insightful advocates for change.

Yesterday, I told you about a celebrity photographer who turned the lens onto shelter animals, in the hopes of “prettying them up” so that they can be adopted. Today I want to tell you about an equally-profound, yet extremely different, use of the power of the camera.

In Taiwan, award-winning photographer Tou Yun-fei has carved out for himself a form of animal advocacy which, I venture to guess, very few of us — if any at all — could bear (I could hardly even read the article, even though I’m very well-aware of the issues it deals with). Yun-fei visits shelters, walks and plays with dogs who have not been adopted and are therefore on death row, and then, just as they are about to be killed, he photographs a portrait of them.

by Tou Yun-fei (11:38am, 08/01/2011, Taiwanese public animal shelter, time until merciful death: 29 minutes.)

According to Focus Taiwan, Yun-fei — who has been doing this twice a week for 2 years now — hopes that his photos result in changing people’s perceptions of stray dogs, therefore working to change the world for animals. He told Focus Taiwan: “I don’t tell people what they should do. My works aren’t propaganda or templates that instruct people, but I hope the images can inspire people to take action.” Yun-fei’s photographs have appeared in major magazines, newspapers, and exhibits, educating the mainstream about animal “pounds.” According to the article, “Government statistics show that 880,950 stray animals have been captured and sent to the 38 government-funded animal pounds in Taiwan over the past decade, and 718, 814 of them have been put to death through euthanasia. A majority of them were stray dogs.”

Rather than photographing the animals in cages, Yun-fei takes portraits of them, hoping that their facial expressions will allow viewers to connect more deeply to the images, and compel them to act. In the article, he is quoted as saying, “If we only discuss the aesthetics of a photo, it can only go so far… But if we hold a press conference, or film the euthanasia process and publish it, it creates a social impact; it becomes a social movement.” The process of creating portraits of these dogs has, of course, inevitably caused this true game-changer to embrace activism. For him, a profession in the arts led him to a passion for animal activism that now, in so many ways, defines his life’s purpose. His art — his photography — is his conduit for change. That is his hope.

To say this is inspiring is an understatement. What Tou Yun-fei has created epitomizes what we hope our “Art of the Animal” series conveys. He embodies what it means to speak up for animals using your art form, and he is changing the world for animals in profound ways that are both heart-rending and beautiful, motivating and disturbing. Tou Yun-fei is my new hero.

Photo at top of blog: by Tou Yun-fei. “04:17am, 03/07/2011, Taiwanese public animal shelter, time until merciful death: 13.2hours”

According to MSNBC, Phibbs — who usually spends his time snapping shots of celebrities and politicians — tapped into his passion for animals, and turned the camera onto some gorgeous dogs and cats. The goal was to turn “their adoption center homepage into a gallery of glamourous shots that contrast with the photos normally taken for display.”

Photo by Richard Phibbs

Funny thing: When I first glanced at these photos, and hadn’t yet read the article, my initial reaction was disgust, since I was sure these were animals from puppy mills, breeders, etc. available for a high price to those with a weak moral compass. When I found out that the animals are, indeed, in need of homes — many are victims of abuse or neglect — my heart warmed and my hope sailed. Though I think the bow-ties and ribbons in which the animals are adorned in their photos are a bit much (reminds me a tad of a 5-year-old beauty queen with bright pink blush), the fact is, it works. No doubt that if you’re reading this, you are probably just as touched, moved, saddened, and intrigued by the type of photos of shelter animals that we’re more accustomed to seeing: the ones where their desperation, anxiety, and neediness seep through. Perhaps they’re too thin, too dirty, too rough around the edges. Yet they’re perfect. And if you’re like me, you want each and every one.

But a lot of people don’t look at the “un-cute” photos with the same sense of longing as self-described “animal-lovers,” not to mention animal activists. So that’s when the polished photos come in handy. The issue of shelter animals is so profound — millions of adoptable animals are just waiting for their new families, but they will be left unclaimed, and their horrid fate will then await them — and we really need to reach the mainstream, tug at their heartstrings, and get them to take home a rescue. It is literally a matter of life or death. And if that means that we have to put a polka dot ribbon on Fluffy, then so be it.

And now for the obvious: This kind of activism is easily replicable. If you have any kinds of skills or interest in photography, then contact your local animal shelter, get yourself a backdrop and a decent camera, and go take stunning photos. Post them on the shelter’s website — or create a blog or website for them — advertise the heck out of it, and save some lives.

Our vision is to provide not-for profit organisations and progressive groups with professional quality services and products in media, marketing, fundraising and communications at a fair rate, in order to extend their causes and communicate their message to the largest audience possible. 

Some of their current undertakings include Coalition Against Duck Shooting, The Animal Sanctuary, Orca Research Trust, Australian Wildlife Protection Council, and Sea Shepherd. As part of their “let’s-change-the-world!” mindset, the services they offer include video production (check out the recent video they made for the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses); photography (including documenting campaigns, producing online galleries, and helping to strategize distribution); and general communications (here’s where reaching the largest possible audience comes in).

Fair Projects sounds like a great addition to the growing movement of companies with heart, offering valuable services to social justice organizations. Among the things I love about them is their accessibility to all groups (they work within each group’s budget), and their commitment to providing the utmost quality in their final output.

Last weekend on our podcast, Kezia Jauron and Gary Smith from Evolotus (“Public Relations for a better world”) explained the power of using your skills and talents in communications to create a more just world. One of the most powerful contributions we can make to ending cruelty to animals is to spread the message of compassion far and wide. That requires an understanding of the media, including independent, self-produced, and, whenever we can manage it, mainstream. Fair Projects offers a refreshing way to maximize the attention that your campaign will receive. They are clearly full of heart and professionalism, and I, for one, will be keeping my eye on their happenings.

In today’s episode, we’ll talk all about the recent episode of “What Would You Do?” that asked the question, “Is It Un-American to Avoid Meat?” Then, we’ll ruminate on the word “vegan” and what we think it means. Some of you might find you disagree with us. So be it…

Joining us today is Dawn Moncrieffe, the Founder and Executive Director of A Well-Fed World. Dawn will talk to us all about how and why we can feed so many more people in the world. She’ll also give us some insight into commonly asked questions regarding meat-eating and land use. Dawn will give us a glimpse into some groundbreaking campaigns that A Well-Fed World is working on, including one that revolves around peanut butter and jelly.

For our review, we’ll talk about the old movie with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford, The Electric Horseman.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “VICTORY! Labor votes animals into office” from Animals Australia 
• “NJ Steel Pier Drops Plan for Diving Horse’s Return” from ABC News 
• “Food Project Proposes Matrix-Style Vertical Chicken Farms” from Wired

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming ALL other living beings, we are still savages.” -Thomas Edison

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Q&A with Vegan Dietitian and Author Julieanna Hever, and GIVEAWAY of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition” 

by Carrie Forrest

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition" by Julieanna Hever

As a career-changer to the field of nutrition, I’ve had to learn the science behind what we eat and how to stay healthy. When I became vegan in 2010, I then re-learned the basics, because vegan nutrition simply isn’t a focus at most universities.

While I’ve found many wonderful resources for learning about plant-based nutrition, I’m happy to discover a new book that meets the need for a straightforward, easy-to-manage, yet comprehensive guide on healthy, vegan nutrition. This book is The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, and it is written by Julieanna Hever, M.D., R.D., C.P.T. – also known as “The Plant-Based Dietitian.”

The book starts off with a discussion of “The Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet,” including an overview of basic nutrition, plus truths and myths about healthy, vegan diets. Since I’m currently a graduate student in public health nutrition, and a future dietitian, I’ve certainly taken my share of nutrition classes. Still, even though I like to think I’m far from a “Complete Idiot,” I loved having all of the essential information compiled for easy reference. I even learned some new facts. For instance, did you know that resistant starch – found in beans, potatoes, slightly green bananas, split peas, barley, and brown rice – can help control blood sugar, lower cholesterol and reduce fat storage? And here’s some crucially important information – research has shown that supplemental folic acid is linked with risks for certain cancers, yet the natural food source, folate, does not pose any of these risks.

Moving along from the ‘whys’ to the ‘hows,’ the book’s second section, “Living a Plant-Based Life,” covers issues of weight management, common vegan nutrition myths and truths, tips on shopping for whole foods, the importance of exercise, and necessary supplements for a vegan diet. The third section is devoted to vegan nutrition for those with special dietary needs, including pregnant women, children, seniors, and athletes. Finally, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition concludes with an entire section devoted to what we all care about the most – the grub! After explaining how to incorporate healthy, whole-food living into real life, Julieanna includes over 45 recipes to get you started, plus a week’s worth of meal plans.

Julieanna was kind enough to answer some questions about vegan nutrition, and balancing the demands of life while trying to eat healthfully. Be sure to keep reading for your chance to win a copy of the book!

***

Carrie Forrest (for Our Hen House): Julieanna, first let me say what a huge fan I am of yours! I love the healthy cooking videos that you do with Chef AJ – “The Chef and The Dietitian.” The two of you make a fantastic team! In fact, the Hail to the Kale Salad you made in Episode 23 is one of my all-time favorite salads. It is so unbelievably delicious! Can you start by telling us some of the reasons you decided to write The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, and how you think it is different from other vegan nutrition books?

Julieanna Hever

Julieanna Hever: Thank you so much, Carrie… I truly appreciate your support! As fate would have it, the book came to me. I had been wanting to write a book my entire adult life, but had not yet found the perfect outline. When I was approached about writing The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, I was ecstatic, and jumped on the opportunity with everything I had in me! I put my heart and soul into this book because it was the perfect chance to help others see just how easy it is to eat this way, and, when doing so, to optimize your health, help prevent and even reverse chronic disease, and be compassionate at the same time.

My book is different from other vegan nutrition books because it focuses on whole food, plant-based eating…. I recommend eliminating animal products and also minimizing or eliminating processed foods. My book shows you exactly why and how to eat this way, including all of the fundamentals of human nutrition, plus chapters specifically on weight loss, exercise, feeding kids, eating during pregnancy, senior nutrition, and sports nutrition. It is very comprehensive, and also simple to understand and implement.

OHH: What is a typical day’s worth of food for you? Are there any foods or recipes that you are currently obsessed with?

JH: Although it sounds predictable, I truly am obsessed with leafy greens… I love them and want to consume them as often as possible! A typical day for me starts off with tea and soymilk. Then, I have some fruit. Sometimes I make a green smoothie or a green juice (love these too) for breakfast on the go.

Lunch is usually a huge salad with whatever leftovers I have from the previous night’s dinner thrown in on top. I have been really into sauerkraut lately, so I throw that in, too. One of my all-time favorite foods is hummus, and I am always experimenting with bean dip recipes. I eat it with everything. Basically, my lunch is a huge hodge-podge.

Dinner is typically more organized. The recipes in my book are literally the ones I make almost nightly… I love dishes based with lentils, rice, quinoa, pasta, or beans, and always with lots of veggies. My favorite flavors are Indian, Mexican, Thai, Mediterranean, and Japanese.

OHH: Do you have any tips for how to make healthy eating a priority in today’s busy environment? What do you say to someone who only has a limited time to shop for and prepare healthy meals?

JH: Most of us are crazy busy these days with very little time on our plate, but eating healthfully needs to be a priority if you want to sustain that accelerated pace. As a busy, full-time mom trying to also manage a career, I totally empathize with people concerned about finding the time. Healthful eating supports bountiful energy and a strong immune system, therefore increasing your productivity and efficiency. Thus, it is the ultimate investment you can make!

Here are my favorite time-saving tips:

• Dedicate one day a week to shopping at a farmer’s market, or wherever you typically pick up your produce. When you get home, wash your veggies and put them in separate bags in the fridge. Then, for the rest of the week, you can simply grab your veggies and make food prep quicker.
• Prepare your foods in bulk by planning to make leftovers.
• Keep a huge salad, pot of soup, and bean dip in the fridge that you make once a week for easy grabbing.
• Always have fresh fruit on your counters to remind you there is a nutritious snack within reach.
• Make your own raw trail mix and bars with dried fruit and nuts as a good travel food (like “Figamajigs” from my book).

OHH: I find that eating healthy on the road is the biggest challenge for me. I find myself overeating to compensate for being tired or stressed out while traveling. Do you have any suggestions for how I can overcome this problem?

JH: Traveling is the most challenging situation to be in when trying to ensure you are getting properly fueled. The key to success is planning where your meals will be, and to always carry nourishing options with you. Traveling by car is easy because you can pack a cooler filled with your favorite foods.

When flying, bring along a meal for the trip to keep you satiated until you get to your destination. I always bring a hearty to-go salad for plane trips. In situations where you are stuck at an airport surrounded by fast food, look for a place like Subway for a whole wheat sub filled with veggies and mustard, or Chipotle, where you can have a black bean veggie burrito with guac and salsa. I have been stuck in extremely limited situations, but have managed to always find at least something to satiate me until there are better options. Recently, in a small airport in Texas, the only thing I could eat on the entire menu was chips and salsa…but at least I wasn’t hungry anymore and could make it to my next stop, where I’d find something nutritious. Be sure to hydrate as well, regardless of where you are. Fatigue will be enhanced if you are dehydrated while traveling.

OHH: I enjoyed reading the foreword of your book, written by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. I noticed that he specifically encourages readers not to add oil to foods. As a dietitian, where do you stand on the oil controversy? Can someone who doesn’t need to lose weight include oils in their diet?

JH: I do recommend people curtail oil consumption in general. Oil is 100% pure fat with minimal nutrients when compared to the original source (i.e. the olives instead of the olive oil). Oil is a processed food, where the fibers and micronutrients are stripped away and all you are left with is the fat. Contrary to what many people have heard thanks to clever marketing, there is no health benefit to including oil in your diet.

If, however, you are at your ideal body weight and your cholesterol profile is healthy, a bit of oil included in a primarily whole diet is fine as a treat. The thing is, the omission of oil from most recipes is not even noticeable from a flavor or quality standpoint. So, why not just leave it out and save the excess calories and fat? There are plenty of delicious oil-free dressing recipes now available, and you can even find bottled ones at the grocery store now. And sautéing without oil is easy using vegetable broth, water, juices, coconut water, beer, or wine.

OHH: Can you tell us a little bit about your work with EarthSave, International, and what you are hoping to accomplish? What would you say to someone who wants to become an advocate for animal rights causes, but isn’t sure where to start?

JH: In the past year, we have taken EarthSave in a slightly different direction with a focus on Meals for Health. In our first trial run last spring, we took 21 participants through a physician-monitored, month-long, whole food, plant-based program. Together with some fabulous food coaches, inspiring lectures, exercise opportunities, shopping tours, and group support, all of the participants successfully completed the challenge.

They lost an average of 17 pounds, had an average reduction of prescription medications of 84%, and the cessation of multiple common chronic non-specific conditions (like constipation, heartburn, and migraines)! One woman went off her high blood pressure medication she had been on for 22 years prior to this experience within a couple weeks! Another woman was taken off of eight medications by the end of the challenge. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels significantly decreased, and the group and their families were exceedingly optimistic, energized, and committed to eating this way in the future. Our goals include having this written up in the scientific literature, creating a film documentation of the program, and the generation of a template usable by other groups nationwide.

For someone wanting to advocate for animal rights, I would recommend searching the web and asking your network of friends, family, and colleagues to help you find something that rings true to you. I consider myself somewhat of an undercover animal rights activist, since my expertise is health and nutrition. As I get people to decrease or omit animal products from their diet, they are not only making themselves healthier, they are also saving hundreds of animals a year! It’s a win-win situation, and that is the fire that motivates me! If you are starting out, check out all of the amazing organizations out there and consider your skills and talents; there is plenty of work to do on so many different fronts, everyone can easily find their perfect niche.

OHH: Totally agreed! And it’s particularly exciting to hear you say that, Julieanna, since the essence of Our Hen House is that there is indeed a niche for everyone who wants to change the world for animals, and we hope that the resources we provide daily can help people on their journeys! Are there any exciting new projects in the works for you that we should look out for?

JH: I am working away at a couple of new book proposals, and am busy lecturing, showing my film, To Your Health, and seeing clients around the country and beyond.

Thank you again, Julieanna Hever, for your incredible work, and for authoring this wonderful resource on vegan nutrition.

***

For your chance to win a copy of Julieanna Hever’s book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition,  first follow Our Hen House on Twitter, then comment below with your own answer to the question: “What would you say to someone who wants to become an advocate for animal rights causes, but isn’t sure where to start?” BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR TWITTER HANDLE IN YOUR RESPONSE. A randomly-selected winner will be picked on Friday, March 2 at midnight EST (which is when the contest officially ends), and will be notified within one week via email. Good luck!

What a great opportunity to shed some light on the work of artists who are bringing attention to animals through their work. Please pass this on to anyone you know who might be eligible. The submission deadline isn’t until September, so there is plenty of time to get to work on this.

Closer to home — for me, anyway (and relatively speaking) — is the upcoming Institute for Critical Animal Studies conference, happening March 2-4 at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. I spoke at this conference a couple years ago and found it unlike any conference I’d ever attended, thanks to their refreshing focus on creating dialogues between the world(s) of academia and activism. As ICAS’s mission describes, “… in order to eliminate the domination and oppression of animals in higher education, animal advocacy/rights/liberation/abolitionist scholars must come together under one common field of study, similar to that of other marginalized fields of study … while constructively debating theories, tactics, and strategies for the advancement of animal liberation and freedom.” (Though I won’t be at the conference this year, if you go, be sure to stop by Our Hen House’s shared table and say hello to our coordinator, Danielle.)

Lastly (for now) on the subject of conferences, don’t miss Finding a Niche for ALL Animals, being held in November at Wesleyan University. This conference will be celebrating the life and work of ecofeminist philosopher Marti Kheel — a friend of ours who died last November. According to the website, “The conference will feature four panels devoted to the subjects of ecofeminist theory and practice, contextual moral veganism, feminist ethics of care, and activism and dialogue.” Mariann and I are humbled to be among the speakers at this event, alongside some amazing folks, including Kim Stallwood (who was on our podcast recently), and organizers Carol J. Adams (also on our podcast) and Lori Gruen (yup, podcast).

As far as upcoming conferences, the ones featured here are just needles in a constantly-growing haystack. Let’s take a step back and truly recognize the power of this. How outstanding is it that everywhere we turn, the vitally important role that animals play in society is being brought up in academia and beyond? Theories are being considered and debated, and strategies for changing the shape of things are finally at the fore.

Rose loves "The Animals Voice Magazine."

Though you can purchase the digital-only copy of any of these issues for roughly $5 (but some select e-versions are totally free), if you purchase a print version, you’ll get the digital version for nothing, just poof. Obviously it’s better on the planet to opt for just the e-version, but since I simply cannot suppress my desire for an actual magazine in hand — especially for long plane trips, when my laptop’s battery will surely die — I opted for the hard copy version. I know all too well that online publications are the way of the future (or present), but I will not let go of my desire to have something in hand to read from time to time. (In fact, I’m only now accepting the fact that cassette tapes have become antiquated.)

That’s because things change. We change. Our outlooks change. Our circumstances change. Our friends, colleagues, schooling (both in the academy and self-taught), communities, locations, opinions, self-interests, selfless interests, and our plans, all change. For those of us who have devoted our lives to changing the world for animals, that means we need to take a step back every now and again and figure out if we need to switch up our tactics, our goals, our attitudes, our “campaigns.”

One way to approach making these adjustments is by writing out a life mission statement. This can be as simple as sitting down with a paper and notebook (or a computer, though, personally, for things like this, I tend to like to see it in my own handwriting), not following any “rules,” and just jotting down what you hope to accomplish within your lifetime. If you want to get really into it, there are a ton of online resources available — not to mention books, often found in the “Self Help” section — that walk you through writing your life’s mission. For example, there’s this resource that talks about the chapter from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey, which centers around personal mission statements. According to Covey:

Some suggestions in creating a mission statement may be:

1. Write down your roles as you now see them. Are you satisfied with the mirror image of your life?
2. Start a collection of notes, quotes, and ideas you may want to use as resource material in writing your personal mission statement.
3. Identify a project you will be facing in the near future and apply the principle of mental creation. Write down the results you desire and what steps will lead you to those results.

Or, “Time Thoughts: Resources for Personal & Career Success” has “Personal Mission Statement Guidelines,” which include this doozy that we all need to remember:

Make sure your mission statement is positive. Instead of saying what you don’t want to do or don’t want to be, say what you do want to do or become. Find the positive alternatives to any negative statements. 

I chose not to include sample mission statements in this blog post because, although for some of you they might be useful, for others (like me), you might feel stymied by them. It’s kind of like watching the movie version of Romeo and Juliet while you’re in rehearsals for a community theatre production of it — it’s probably going to influence your performance too much, taking away from it being truly your own.

Or maybe mission statements sound too crunchy for you. That’s fine too. The answer to what you want to be when you grow up is not discovered from one specific formula. So maybe you don’t want to look at the big picture, and you prefer to make changes step by step.

Specifically, this might include switching up your tactics (ditch the leaflets, focus on media), the type of animal issue you’re focusing on (perhaps go from anti-circus work to vegan outreach, which also effectively takes you from a “no” campaign to a “yes” campaign — a refreshing change), or zeroing in on another talent you have and figuring out how to best use that to create change for animals (like dusting off your easel and paint brushes, and creating art with a conscience — like Sue Coe).

Though I don’t have the specific answer for you, as long as we’re being honest with ourselves, which might include challenging our comfort zones, we will forge ahead in an effective way, on our quest to eliminate animal suffering. Throughout it all, remember the reason we do the work we do. As you read this, there are billions of innocent beings being needlessly tortured and killed for human pleasure and profit. But also, don’t forget the other side of the coin. While fighting that unfathomable yet undeniable horror should remain our focus, we have to also recognize and celebrate the victories along the way, and tip our hats to the many compassionate people we meet who give us hope along the way. Furthermore, in order to be in it for the long run, we have to take care of ourselves and each other. Part of taking care of ourselves means, every now and again, trying on a new hat for size. It might just suit you.

In today’s episode, we tell you about the talk we went to on Rethinking Animals, which discussed, among other things, the consciousness of animals. We’ll whine about a horrible string of events we attended, and we’ll share with you our excitement about yet another new Our Hen House advisory board member – whom we each have a huge crush on.

Joining us today are Kezia Jauron and Gary Smith, the masterminds behind Evolotus PR, a public relations agency working for a better world. Kezia and Gary will give us their thoughts on the power of using the media to create social change, and they’ll give us a glimpse into some of the groundbreaking campaigns they’ve worked on for the betterment of animal rights.

For our review, we’ll give you a look into our kitchen – specifically, to the section of it known as “Kitchen Appliance Wonderland.” We’ll give you the skinny on two of our appliances that we simply cannot live without.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Breaking News: Butterball Employees Arrested for Cruelty to Animals Following MFA Investigation” from Mercy for Animals
• “Whistleblowing Expose Reveals Cruelty at Iowa Pig Breeding Factory Farm and Hormel Supplier” from The Sacramento Bee
• “Inside the British Pork Industry” from Animal Equality 
• “McDonald’s Set to Phase Out Suppliers’ Use of Sow Crates” from The New York Times

“Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act.” -Albert Einstein 

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

American Studies is a field that is centrally concerned with power in its most salient manifestations: race, sex, class, sexuality, empire, and more.  It is therefore a field well situated to take up the challenge of engaging meaningfully with one of the most ubiquitous, enduring, and momentous social hierarchies: that between human and nonhuman animals.  Although human/animal dualism ranks among the major dualisms undergirding western culture and discourse, relatively little critical work has been done in American studies to critique, deconstruct, and politically challenge it, even as discussions of “intersectionality” and “interlocking hierarchies” intensify within the field. 

The papers will aim to explore these questions:

What is the relationship between speciesism and other forms of supremacy in the contemporary west?  In what ways have racialization and gendering depended upon processes of animalization? Does the formulation of “interlocking” dualisms or hierarchies do the work we need it to do in connecting speciesism to racism and sexism? Do anti-racism and feminism commit one to an anti-speciesist position as well? What tensions have emerged among civil rights, feminist, and animal liberation movements? How might we conceive of animal subjects in a way that escapes the pitfalls of neoliberal thinking? How has speciesism (and its relation to other supremacies) assumed different forms and guises in different cultures, spaces, and time periods?  How have speciesist ideologies and practices developed in tandem with U.S. imperialism?

I am wildly intrigued. This is a subject near to my heart, and one that I’m constantly exploring. Just recently, alongside Matt Rice from Mercy for Animals, I gave a workshop entitled “Commonality of Oppression,” where we delved into the intersections between animal rights and other social justice movements, aiming to to make the point that while the victims of oppression are inherently different, the mindsets of the oppressors are often identical. Understanding this mindset is key to understanding oppression and how we can best work to end it. It thrills me to see this topic being further analyzed in mainstream academia.

Concern for animal suffering is not new. Developed around 1500 BC, the most ancient of all works of philosophy and religion, the Indian Vedas, denounce meat-eating because of the injury and death it brings to animals. The religion of the Jains, which dates from about 500 BC, teaches that non-violence is a guide to all morality. Jains are often ridiculed by Westerners for the care they take to avoid injuring insects of other living things while walking or drinking; but they also looked after sick and injured animals thousands of years before animal shelters were thought of in Europe. 

"Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide" by Lori Gruen and Peter Singer, Illustrated by David Hine

But beyond containing page after page of insightful and accessible commentary, A Graphic Guide is unique in that, well, it’s graphic. Illustrated by British comic artist, David Hine, the serious subject-matter is laced with page after page of cutting-edge, thought-provoking, sometimes emotional, and always informative (not to mention tattoo-inspiring) illustrations. According to the website Conflict Gypsy — which offers an e-version of Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide, for free – following his work on this book, Hine’s career went on to include drawing or contributing to comic series including Transformers, X-Men, Spiderman, and Batman and Robin. Conflict Gypsy goes on to say:

Hine’s impressive career explains the comic-book esque structure of the guide as well as the absolutely amazing skills on display. Twenty-four years later and there is simply no comprehensive visual rival to the work of this guide. Conflict Gypsy is beyond excited to host this publication here, to trace and celebrate it’s influence, and to hopefully inspire all of those illustrators/designers/drawists out there currently fighting for animal liberation.

I’m somewhat embarrassed that it has taken as long as it has for Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide to wind up as part of my library — an integral part, already — taking up elite nightstand space, along with Gruen’s latest, Ethics and Animals: An Introduction (which we reviewed). Though A Graphic Guide was written 25 years ago, much like Animal Liberation, the ideas, theories, and (most of the) information presented in it have not gotten old. After a thorough history lesson, and a look into the hideously ugly underbelly of various animal exploitation industries, while discussing “What are we going to do about it?,” the authors present an action-oriented plan, which calls on each one of us to change the world for animals. The suggestions, which are fleshed out in the book, include: shift to a cruelty-free lifestyle; flex your consumer muscles; spread the word; do your homework; choose your target (or campaign) carefully; set attainable goals; and vary your tactics.

There are parts of A Graphic Guide that gave me no choice but to picture Gruen and Singer, megaphones in hand, feet firmly planted, righting the wrongs of this troubled world. Here’s one such part:

The agribusiness corporations which profit by exploiting calves, pigs and chickens don’t need your approval; they need your money. The purchase of their products is the only support they seek from the public. As long as they continue to get it, they will have the money and the political muscle to be able to say to their critics: ‘We are only providing the public with the goods it demands at the price it is prepared to pay.’ And they will be able to tell their shareholders that agribusiness is a good investment.

According to Conflict Gypsy, Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide is “lesser known but still influential.” Though I’m willing to accept that it’s only me who missed the memo on this book, I’m horrified that I have. Don’t follow in my footsteps. You can get a copy (new or used) on Amazon, or, if you’re into free things (ding ding!), don’t miss Conflict Gypsy’s e-version.

Speaking of Lori Gruen and Peter Singer, don’t miss either of their recent eye-opening interviews on our podcast. On Episode 105, Gruen enlightened us about everything from chimpanzees, to teaching animal ethics, to her feelings regarding the prevalence of women in the animal protection movement. And on Episode 100, Singer (no relation to me, though I pretend otherwise) talked to us about his views on the current state of the animal liberation movement. (He also joined us way back when during Episode 36, where he got down to basics, discussing why he thinks animals are important.) Don’t forget that you can easily access our podcast via iTunes.

Below are some images from Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide, illustrated by David Hine, that make me want to sing and cry, simultaneously.

H.E.A.L.T.H.

The compilation includes a variety of resources for teachers and/or scholars, as well as journals, online communities, academic programs — you name it. As is made clear by this list, it’s really becoming difficult to keep up with the explosion of academic interest regarding animals and the roles that they play in our lives. Kudos to Adam for shedding light and bringing order, as well as for his commitment to regularly update the list. If you can’t find something to interest you in this compilation, you’re just not trying.

It’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air. Which means it’s the perfect day to change the world for animals. Well, okay, I’m totally using that as an excuse, since every day is a day to change the world for animals. But the point is, why not latch onto this Hallmark holiday for the betterment of the world and all its inhabitants? That’s exactly what several activists and organizations are doing.

The Center for Great Apes, a Florida-based sanctuary that provides a “safe and enriching environment for orangutans and chimpanzees in need of lifetime care,” is taking full advantage of people’s open hearts (and hopefully wallets), and wishing people an “Ape-y Valentine’s Day.” They are educating consumers about the horrors inherent in palm oil production — a product found in many Valentine’s Day candies (and gazillions of other products). The production of palm oil is directly responsible for the destruction of orangutan habitat. According to The Center for Great Apes, “Each year, hundreds of thousands of acres of primitive rain forests are cleared to plant plantations of palm oil trees for this product. So-called ‘sustainable palm oil’ is not an easy answer.” (For more on this subject, also check out the video, “FreeAnimalVideo.org Visits OFI (Orangutan Foundation International) in Indonesia,” by Patty Shenker and Sandra Mohr.)

Meanwhile, yesterday in Vancouver, PETA protesters got naked-ish and held signs that said “Fur — Out! Love — In!” For the protest, a couple laid down in red sheets, post-sex-like, grabbing the attention of passersby. There’s even a video to prove it. Also in B.C., STOP UBC Animal Research — an organization “working to end research on animals at the University of British Columbia” — sent a Valentine’s Day bouquet of flowers to the University’s president, asking him to “have a heart” and end the school’s hideous animal research.

Here in New York City, Carly Marie Knudson, Huffington Post blogger and Executive Director of NYCLASS — an animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending NYC’s cruel horse and carriage industry — is taking the opportunity to implore people, “For Valentine’s Day, Give Carriage Horses a Break.” She is calling on New Yorkers to opt for a  romantic movie this year, as opposed to a dreary rendezvous with an antiquated and cruel industry.

For more on the Valentine’s Day theme, be sure to check out our most recent podcast — Episode 109 — which you can find both on iTunes and via our blog, and which is focused on all-things-V-Day. It features an eye-opening interview with Food Empowerment Project‘s Lauren Ornelas, who talks to us all about chocolate, including the ethical issues that frequently arise regarding its production. Lauren gives us a glimpse into the oftentimes hideously cruel world of cocoa production, and shows us how to spot the truly ethically-sourced varieties (don’t miss F.E.P.’s Chocolate List), plus discusses why there is a correlation between boycotting animal products, and boycotting other unfairly-produced food products. In honor of Valentine’s Day, we also share some of your stories of love – love of animals, that is.

Perhaps most importantly, please remember the old Our Hen House adage: It is not up to top-down organizational campaigns to change the world for animals, on Valentine’s Day or any other day. We do not need to rely on petitions, fund-drives, organized protests, or anything else to get started on this path toward opening our hearts, and others’ hearts, to animal rights issues. For those of us who have a heart — and if you’re reading this, I’m going to bet my last piece of slavery-free, fair-trade, ethically-sourced, vegan dark chocolate that you do — then you already have what it takes to be a changemaker for animals. For whatever reason, people are wearing red and singing romantic songs today (or they’re wearing black and listening to my newest favorite song). Whatever aspect of love (or hate?) that people are focusing on today, let’s use the platform to bring attention to the animals. Write a letter to the editor or otherwise reach out to the media; post some animal stories on your Facebook and Twitter pages; make some vegan heart-shaped cookies and share them (along with the recipe and a “Why Vegan?” brochure); go outside and leaflet for a half an hour, asking people to “have a heart and remember animals today”; create art — any kind! — with an animal rights message, and reach out to your local gallery/library/cafe/theatre regarding displaying it; call your legislator and ask them to “have a heart” and support that animal-friendly bill in your city or state; or do one of about a million other things to open people’s eyes and hearts to the unrelenting, unimaginable suffering of animals in factory farms, zoos, circuses, labs, and various other industries that rely on the pleasure and profit of sentient beings. Tap into not only your heartstrings, but the heartstrings of others who would not abuse their dogs, yet for whatever reason turn off the light when it comes to other animals.

Finally, even though Valentine’s Day is already several hours in, making a donation to one of your favorite animal advocacy “organizations (eh-hem), perhaps in honor of someone you love — a partner, friend, family member, or yourself — can be a wonderful way to add an extra serving of compassion to this special day. As our coordinator Danielle talked about last week, Our Hen House’s Etsy Shop is also full of heart-y gifts — including knits and jewelry — and 100% of the proceeds go toward our effort to build a strong voice for animals. In addition to Our Hen House — which is a reader- and listener-supported  501(c)(3) and is always seeking donations — many other AR organizations and sanctuaries are also greatly in need of funding, so if you have the means, Valentine’s Day is a perfect time to support a cause you love. I speak first-hand when I say that any amount is greatly appreciated and deeply needed. XOXO

Does Christianity require, or provide any support for, a human obligation to treat animals well? 14 theologians and thinkers take on this thorny question in the essay collection Good News for Animals? Christian Approaches to Animal Well-Being (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008), edited by Charles Pinches and Jay B. McDaniel. As a whole the book strongly suggests that Christians have a responsibility to work towards improving non-human animals’ lot.

"Good News for Animals?: Christian Approaches to Animal Well-Being"

Most of the essays turn to the biblical bookends of creation and the end of days for guidance in their analyses and proof for their conclusions. The story of creation in Genesis portrays the Garden of Eden as a paradise in which all lived in peace and everybody ate only plants. Eating and otherwise abusing animals is traced back either to the Fall (i.e., Eve eating the apple) and subsequent expulsion from Eden, or to the covenant God made with all animals after the famous flood that earned Noah a place in the canon. At the other end of the timeline, the prophet Isaiah describes the World to Come as a serene love-in where the “wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,” calves and bear cubs “shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” (11:6-7; emphasis added.) After the Messiah arrives, even lions will eat vegan.

Some of the writers find their inspiration in less religious sources. In “Men, Women, and Beasts: Relations to Animals in Western Culture,” Rosemary Radford Ruether, though a noted theologian, relies largely on evolution and history to conclude in essence that the traditional notion of God is a human invention and that our species is “a cancerous growth on the planet.” Gary L. Comstock focuses “Pigs and Piety: A Theocentric Perspective on Food Animals” on his personal experience, environmental theory, and philosophy in his argument for vegetarianism.

Eating animals is not the only abuse of animals that the book identifies. Various writers address laboratory research and forced animal labor in the entertainment industry. Humans’ destruction of the planet’s environment, and with it the habitats of so many non-human species, is a central concern in many of the essays. Different writers interpret humans’ biblically conferred “dominion” over the earth in different ways, many of them deducing that it means we should protect and preserve the environment and the animals whose lives depend on the availability of undeveloped land.

“Good News‘s” contributors tend to oppose the philosophy of animal rights, particularly as articulated by Tom Regan (whose essay “Christianity and the Oppression of Animals” ends the book, giving him the final say). One of the most robust critiques appears in the essay “A Trinitarian Theology of the ‘Chief End’ of ‘All Flesh,’” by Stanley Hauerwas and John Berkman. They argue that if rights depend on social contracts, animals are disqualified from holding rights because they are not capable of entering contracts. But in the end the authors’ rejection of “the language of rights” is religious: “[a]ny appeal to rights pales in relation to the peace and love of Christ to which the Christian is called.”

This is one illustration of the fact that this book is written for practicing Christians. Essayists toss around words like “witness” and “confess,” which have different meanings in Christian discourse than they do in everyday usage. People committed to improving humans’ treatment of animals should consider giving Good News to an observant Christian friend or relative who may be left cold by secular, philosophical approaches, but swayed by theological arguments on behalf of animals. But they shouldn’t rule out reading the book themselves. I am not Christian or well-versed in Christian theology and, in places, this made the book a tough slog, but on the whole I found it interesting, educational, and occasionally even inspiring.

In today’s episode, we discuss clothing swaps, new juice joints, our deep love for pigeons, and how stupid we think Valentine’s Day is. (Well, mostly.)

Joining us today is lauren Ornelas, the founder and director of Food Empowerment Project. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, lauren is going to talk to us about chocolate, including the ethical issues that frequently arise regarding its production. You will definitely not want to miss this eye-opening glimpse into the oftentimes hideously cruel world of cocoa production. You’ll also learn about how to spot the truly ethically-sourced varieties (don’t miss F.E.P.’s Chocolate List), and why there is a correlation between boycotting animal products, and boycotting other unfairly-produced food products.

Since it’s Valentine’s Day, we’ll also be sharing some of your own stories of love – love of animals, that is. Many of you sent us your stories of animals who worked their way into your hearts, and, today, we’re going to highlight 5 of your touching tales.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Judge Tosses Case Seeking Rights for Orcas” from ABC News
• “Return of Diving Horses Sparks Controversy” from NBC10 Philadelphia 
• “Horse axes 25-year-old ‘pit bull’ law” from Toledo Blade 
• “Wonder Dog” from The New York Times Magazine
• “18 Tigers, 17 Lions, 8 Bears, 3 Cougars, 2 Wolves, 1 Baboon, 1 Macaque, and 1 Man Dead in Ohio” from GQ Magazine
• “Fukushima’s animals abandoned and left to die” from CNN
• “Mindful Eating as Food for Thought” from The New York Times

Three Proven Steps to More Effective Advocacy

By Caryn Ginsberg

Have you resolved to be an even more effective activist in 2012? OHH’s recent blog entry, “10 Questions Animal Advocates Should Ask Themselves,” shared points to help you make this year the best ever — for you and the animals. We should revisit the first question often: “Am I effectively doing what I can in my life to change the world for animals?”

Activity does not equal results.

Like many of you, I got my start at outreach tables, leafleting events, and demonstrations. Some of these activities were more effective than others.

When I tabled to promote veganism at health fairs, for example, many people were eager to learn how they could eat more plant-based foods. When I spent time on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall, fewer of my interactions with passing tourists and residents were worthwhile. More often than not, it seemed, I ended up speaking with at least one animal-farmer who was there on vacation – not the most likely candidate for change.

It’s not enough for us to be passionate about helping animals. We want to be “passionately productive.” Sometimes, our passion gets in the way of our productivity. Paul Shapiro, founder of Compassion Over Killing and now with The Humane Society of the United States (be sure to catch his interview on OHH’s podcast), talks about how some of his initial raucous protests and sit-ins weren’t useful. “The intent was to help animals, but I don’t think we were introspective about whether we were tangibly helping animals.” And Bruce Friedrich, previously with PETA and now with Farm Sanctuary (also interviewed recently for the podcast), frequently talks about the importance of focusing on effectiveness and time management to maximize our accomplishments.

What does it take to be passionately productive?

To be passionately productive, we want to understand why people do and don’t change their behavior. Let’s return to the subject of resolutions. For 2012 – or ever – did you resolve to eat healthier (yes, some of us favor the most unhealthy vegan foods), walk instead of drive, purchase fewer new things, recycle more, practice kindness (to people as well as animals), or institute another new habit? Have you ever fallen short?

If you’re like most people, you’re not acting on everything that could make the world better. That’s because the benefits of the change don’t seem as great as the barriers do. For example, by walking, you can both help the environment and get exercise (benefits). However, you feel pressed for time;, it’s cold, and the bus stop is far away (barriers). Until you see more benefits than barriers, you’re not going to act, and you’re not going to change.

The people we’re trying to influence operate the same way. They weigh benefits and barriers, and often keep doing what they have always done. To be passionately productive, we need to help people tip the scales, so that when it comes to animal-friendly action, they see more benefits than barriers.

Three ways to tip the scales for animals…

1. Voice matters. We may think people doing things that harm animals are “bad.” But are you “bad” because you don’t take every single action that would help people and the environment? Of course not. There are advocates who feel as strongly about these issues as we do about helping animals. Would you be more likely to act if one of them berated you for your failure to walk, buy less, recycle, etc.? The tone and style we use can inspire people or drive them away. Alan Darer, co-President of Vassar Animal Rights Coalition, notes, “People are trying to find any way they can to not listen to what we have to say, because it means they would have to change their lifestyle. They’re looking for a chance to say, ‘I’m going to disregard what that person said, because … they were rude to me.’”

2. Create benefits and cut barriers.  When animal welfare consultant Belen Brisco works with local governments on anti-tethering ordinances, she doesn’t just tell them that chaining is cruel. She points out that chained animals may bark, resulting in complaint calls that cost the municipality money. She shares research showing that these dogs are more likely to bite. She also provides samples of ordinances adopted elsewhere. Belen then works with Animal Services and other local government officials to tailor the wording as needed. All these benefits make it easier for officials to vote for change.

3. I am not my target audience — listen. We can’t know what motivates change unless we ask. We often launch into our pro-animal monologue.  “Here’s why you should…” avoid animal circuses, only purchase cruelty-free cosmetics, go vegan, etc. Maybe you’ve seen people glaze over or tune out. How about asking, “what are your thoughts on buying only products not tested on animals?” One person may need an introduction to the issue, while another wants your recommendation on a cruelty-free mascara. When you know where people are coming from, it’s easier to help them see more benefits than barriers. Plus, you’re using a positive voice of respect and interest. Many savvy animal protection groups are using market research to get input from large numbers of people. This process provides insights on how we can be more effective in advocating for animals when speaking to many people at once, such as through websites, brochures, ads, talks, and so forth. To find out what they’re learning, check out Humane Spot.

Learn more ways to enhance your effectiveness.

Leading animal protection advocates are using approaches like these to score impressive victories. The three tips I’ve shared are part of a seven-point framework on effective advocacy that I explain in my new book, Animal Impact: Secrets Proven to Achieve Results and Move the World. Stories and quotes, such as the ones you’ve read here, illustrate each point.

Over 80 advocates working individually, in grassroots groups, in shelters, and in larger organizations, contributed methods they use to be passionately productive. Learn more at http://Animal-Impact.com, and find out how to order your copy (paperback or electronic). Discover how to answer an enthusiastic “yes” to the question, “Am I effectively doing what I can in my life to change the world for animals?”

***

Caryn Ginsberg

Caryn Ginsberg has spent more than a decade helping animal protection advocates utilize proven strategy and marketing approaches to get better results. She has worked with leading organizations and spoken at the Animal Rights National Conference, Taking Action for Animals, and other events. She has served on boards of directors and advisory boards, including for the Institute for Humane Education and the Humane Research Council. Caryn’s teaching experience includes social marketing, marketing, and strategic management courses for Johns Hopkins University and Humane Society University.

"Gnocci Soup" by Jen C.

But here is one thing I love about the suburbs: The Suburban Vegan Meal Group, which, I’m proud to say, is indeed located in The Garden State. It was started in Montclair by two Jens who wanted to “alleviate the pressure of cooking for our households one or two nights per week, as well as build community. We’ve also enjoyed using the meal group experience to cook outside of our usual comfort zones.” Their rules are simple: “Make some food. Deliver it if you can, or maybe someone in the group will pick it up, or maybe a third member will deliver to all three.”

The group’s blog is choc-full (and chocolate-full) of inspiring ideas for anyone who wants to replicate such a club in their own community. In the post, “Lasagna, Oh You,” Jen C. begins with “Jen delivered a fine, veggieriffic lasagne to my porch just when I needed it most. I cannot begin to describe what a relief it was to pop that sucker into the oven and not have to worry a whit about preparing dinner that night because I was really running with other projects, as was the other person capable of meal preparation in our home.”

Fantastic idea, don’t you think? For those of you intrigued, here’s an obvious bonus: If not everyone in the group is vegan, this becomes not only a convenient arrangement for busy people who like home-cooked meals (eating them and creating them), but it also makes it an endeavor in changemaking. If the best way to win someone’s heart is through their stomach, then the best way to advocate veganism is to create, supply, and demand delicious, cruelty-free food — and to share it.

Photo at top of blog: “Popular pumpkin puff cookies” by Jen G. 

Humanimals confronts many of the “problematic issues” Weitz sees in our society. Each of the 12 “human-size carved figurative cabinets” depicts an animal idiom (like “Foxy” or “Sheepish”) with the interior cabinet portion opening up to reveal “how humans typically treat the animal in the idiom,” such as the fur and wool industries. Besides “Foxy” and “Sheepish,” the exhibit also includes “Harebrained” (a doctor bunny), “Chickenhearted” (a farmer chicken), and “Night Owl” (an owl in a bathrobe).

"Chickenhearted" by Gayle Weitz (pictured) -- from "Humanimals"

In this groundbreaking exhibit, Weitz’s examination of the oftentimes complex relationship between humans and animals — too often based in the collective societal acceptance that exploitation is okedoke — is explored, allowing the viewer to note the profound irony of, say, the aforementioned chicken farmer (pictured left). According to that article, Weitz “aims to ‘reveal truths’ and ‘penetrate the cultural ignorance in society.’”

My love for Madison, WI just got even deeper. Last year, Mariann and I spoke there at the Mad City Vegan Fest, which is memorialized in both our podcast episode (#76) that ruminated on our very-vegan trip to Madison (and interviewed some of Mad City’s own), as well as the video we made for VegNews, VegFest Mash-Up. We’ve actually been to (and thoroughly enjoyed) the Memorial Union, but only wish we could be there between now and March 20, so we could catch this eye-opening show.

From "Humanimals" by Gayle Weitz

Picture at top of blog: “Harebrained” by Gayle Weitz, from “Humanimals”

***

If you’re single like me, Valentine’s Day is usually the day of the year that you sincerely wish didn’t exist. Even the grocery store is covered in hearts and kisses, and foil-wrapped chocolates abound on the shelves. You can’t go anywhere without seeing red or pink. But if you’re coupled, of course, Valentine’s Day can be heaps of fun, maybe allowing you to give your partner something small that says how much you care. And maybe you’ll even get a fantastic gift in return.

But hold the phone! I’m not about to let anyone who is single feel sorry for themselves — myself included! Though I could get into the benefits of being single, I’ll save that for another blog altogether. Staying on focus, this year, why not make Valentine’s Day extra special regardless of whether you’re wearing someone’s varsity jacket? Gifts, no matter how big or small, are always a delight to get (especially when you actually like them!), and they’re just as much fun to give.

By Beth Begany. Pink fingerless acrylic microfiber handwarmers with a cable knit pattern on top. The cozy handwarmers will keep your hands toasty without making you sacrifice your ability to text!

By Beth Begany. "Geometrica" is a gorgeous, bright pink scarf that features a fun pattern of rectangles and squares.

By Beth Begany. Multi-colored fingerless acrylic microfiber handwarmers.

What about gifts that give in more than one way? When you shop at the Our Hen House Etsy Shop, you’re giving two gifts! First, you’re getting a special someone some amazing handmade things, ranging from beautiful earrings, necklaces and bracelets, to knit scarves and hand warmers. Second, every dollar you spend will help to expand Our Hen House, allowing us to build a strong voice for animals. While some of my personal favorite items from the shop are pictured here, you should also browse to your heart’s content, because this is only a small sampling of what treasures the shop holds.

Flowers and plants can be a delight to get on Valentine’s Day. However, if you are like me and lack a green thumb, the initial beauty can wear off pretty quickly. These German lucite flower earrings might be just the solution. They’ll never wilt, they won’t die, and their colors won’t fade as the days pass. There are several styles available. Here is a sampling.

By Karin Jagger. Beautiful Pink and Purple German Lucite flower earrings with gold accents.

By Karin Jagger. Beautiful delicate pink, green and maroon German Lucite flower earrings with copper and silver accents.

By Karin Jagger. German Lucite flowers that will forever hold their beauty.

Or, instead of flowers, maybe this Sweetheart hand-beaded necklace with a heart and key closure is the perfect gift to tell her (or him — no judgment!) that you care.

By Karin Jagger. This lovely piece features beads of a various shades of pink and red. It is lively and fun, and the heart and key closure add an elegant touch.

There may not be snow on the ground (at least where I live, in upstate New York), but there certainly is a winter chill in the air. Howzabout letting your compassion keep you warm, whether you’re out walking with your two-legged love, or a four-legged one? My dog, Arcot, loves walking, and I love being warm (if we could only cuddle while walking!). The scarves, neck warmers, and hand warmers at the Our Hen House Etsy Shop are a perfect gift to keep warm on cold winter walks. Compassionate knit-wear looks good on men too, and we’ve got a great men’s scarf in our Etsy shop to keep him warm (or her! no judgment!).

A nicely formal, yet attractive, white men's dress scarf by Beth Begany. Made from acrylic and recycled polyester.

"Interplay" is a deep blue scarf with light blue highlights throughout and a cool cable pattern. By Beth Begany. 100% indigo-dyed cotton denim. 100% vegan and cruelty-free. By Beth Begany.

So go ahead, treat yourself to our German lucite flower earrings if that’s your thing, or give a pair to someone you love. Get a scarf and some hand-warmers to keep you warm on that moonlit stroll. We’ve also got a variety of other gifts, from brass hen wine charms, earrings, and zipper pulls, to an assortment of hand-made jewelry and knit goods.

By Bonnie Goodman. Purple and Blue Handmade Glass Hen Earrings

Created by Montana artist Bonnie Goodman for Our Hen House. These endearing brass chicken bell zipper pulls will put a smile on your face and rhythm in your step. Great for purses, jackets, or for embellishing gift packages.

Even if knitted stuff and jewelry isn’t your thing, why not make Our Hen House your Valentine anyway? Did you know you can also simply donate to Our Hen House? It’s easy, tax-deductible, and you get some great gifts as our thank you for your donation! Just click the “Donate Now”button to learn more. Every purchase or donation goes to helping Our Hen House expand. Knowing that your purchase is 100% cruelty-free and vegan, and that it helps Our Hen House build a strong voice for animals, will clearly fill your heart as much as your donation fills ours. Isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about? Giving and getting love? So check out the Our Hen House Etsy Shop, where you will almost certainly fall in love. Happy February, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

A very unique piece -- larger red beads strung with smaller colorful beads. By anonymous.

***

Canadian author Yann Martel won the Man Booker Prize in 2002 for his animal-themed Life of Pi. In Beatrice & Virgil, non-human animal characters again share prominence with their human counterparts. An allegory retelling one of history’s greatest atrocities, this harrowing Holocaust tale profiles humanity’s worst – in an alternate voice atypical of the customary factual accountings of events. As symbols of the oppressed, a donkey and a howler monkey stand in for the persecuted.

"Beatrice & Virgil" by Yann Martel

Henry, the main protagonist of this somewhat difficult book, is a successful writer who sets out to challenge the way historical writings have represented the Holocaust.

“My book is about representations of the Holocaust. The event is gone, we are left with stories about it. My book is about a new choice of stories. With a historical event, we not only have to bear witness, that is, tell what happened and address the needs of the ghosts. We also have to interpret and conclude, so that the needs of people TODAY, the children of ghosts, can be addressed… Stories identify, unify, give meaning to. Just as music is noise that makes sense, a painting is colour that makes sense, so a story is life that makes sense.”

Henry’s book, which he calls a “flip book,” is actually two books in one: the first a novel, and the second an essay. After it is rejected by his editors, he abandons writing and moves to “an unnamed great city of the world.” There, a letter finds him, from a resident in the same city who requests his assistance. With the letter is a photocopy of Gustav Flaubert’s short story, “The Legend of St. Julian Hospitator,” a barbarous tale wherein the main character finds not only redemption, but sainthood, despite having pointlessly murdered his parents as well as myriad animals. Only those portions of the text relating to the animal killings are highlighted. His curiosity piqued, Henry seeks out the letter’s author, only to discover it’s an elderly taxidermist, also named Henry, who is struggling to complete his stage-play, “A 20^th Century Shirt.” As metaphors for undesirables victimized during the Holocaust, Beatrice (the donkey) and Virgil (the howler monkey) reside on the striped shirt of his play’s title, and are its main characters.

Or is the metaphor the other way around? While animals may be standing in for Holocaust victims, for the taxidermist, who has been writing this play his whole life in an effort to find redemption, the Holocaust itself appears to be a metaphor for the extermination of animal life, which his fictional Beatrice and Virgil call “the horrors.”

And the metaphors don’t end there. Readers may recognize those names as main characters in Dante’s epic allegory of the soul seeking redemption, Divine Comedy – wherein Dante is first accompanied through Hell and Purgatory by Virgil, then, through Heaven, by Beatrice. Moreover, the “real” donkey and howler monkey exist, dead and stuffed, in the taxidermist’s shop. They are his inspiration.

The story that the taxidermist wishes to tell of the suffering of animals reaches a pinnacle in its deeply haunting description of the savage torture of Beatrice, which graphically recreates the kind of barbarity inflicted upon victims of Nazis and their collaborators. In the play, Beatrice and Virgil appear as intelligent, sentient beings fully capable of rational thought – and expression — and possessing the capacity to suffer. And they fully realize the necessity, and unlikelihood, of their story ever being told:

Beatrice: “You asked, how are we going to talk about what happened to us one day when it’s over?”

Virgil: “That’s assuming we survive.”

Perhaps the most extraordinary moment in these complex layers of stories comes when Henry realizes, too late, that the playwriting taxidermist is, in fact, a Nazi collaborator, truly complicit in all the suffering so graphically described in his tale. In the shocking and violent climax, the stuffed animals in the shop are consumed in a fire, and Henry finds that he:

“…missed them terribly. In his mind, he saw them as they stood in the taxidermist’s workshop, Virgil so, Beatrice like this – he tried to make the pictures in his mind as clear as possible. But they faded, as memories of appearance always do. All that remained now was their story, that incomplete story of waiting and fearing and hoping and talking.”

This is a difficult, painful, and complex book. And the lessons it has to offer are not simple. Through its cross-metaphors, Beatrice & Virgil projects that the capacities for life, suffering, fear, pain and self-interest exist in both animals and humans. The misfortunes that befall Beatrice and Virgil mirror the cruelty and domination, institutionalized and otherwise, inflicted upon billions and billions of animals around the world year after year. Denied even basic dignity, animals are systemically tortured and slaughtered in more inhumane ways than the mind can cope with. Man’s capacity to inflict suffering on all living beings, especially those presenting any kind of otherness, is bounded only by his imagination.

And yet, although in many instances it is as painful to read as it is to watch undercover footage from Mercy for Animals, Beatrice and Virgil nevertheless reinforces a reality that will resonate with many. No matter the horrors inflicted upon animals, despite their pain and suffering, no matter how thoroughly their desires and natural instincts are frustrated, and despite all that is taken from them, mankind can never succeed in eradicating the fact that they are like us. And nothing we do to them will ever change that.

Perhaps most importantly, throughout Beatrice & Virgil, Martel posits why we must continue to tell stories about events like the Holocaust, and the ongoing exploitation and slaughter of the animals of our world – the ghosts of our oppression. It is the least we can do.

***

Stephen Lukas

Stephen Lukas is a Human Resources Business Consultant working for a large, international financial services company. In July 2011, after 10 years as a vegetarian, he became a vegan. Stephen runs, practices yoga, volunteers at the local SPCA, and nurtures a manic addiction to vegan baking — all while shunning Facebook. He lives just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with his husband of 18 years, Peter, their beagle, Gracie, and their kitty, Seamus. If you drop him a line at lukas[at]accesswave.ca, he will send you a picture of his new, vegan tattoo. 

In today’s episode, we give you the skinny on everything from the screening of Vegucated at the Artivist Film Festival, after which Mariann spoke on the panel; to the annoying (and expensive) runaround that many vets give people; to a discussion on how much – if at all – we should broaden the scope of what we discuss here on our podcast.

Joining us today is Zia Terhune, the co-founder of VegFund, a unique organization that empowers vegan activists worldwide by funding and supporting outreach activities that inspire people to go vegan. Zia will talk with us about how the idea of VegFund stemmed from a potluck, and she’ll tell us how we can all get in on the fun — and the changemaking — of this incredible organization.

For our review, we’ll talk about the short film, Together: Dancing With Spinner Dolphins, by Chisa Hidaka. This film is a great segue into discussing the multitude of ways that animal advocates can use film to inspire change.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include: 

• “Two pig farms in Oklahoma accused of abuse” from Chicago Tribune
• “A question of freedom for chimpanzees who spend lives in research labs” from Rock Center With Brian Williams
• “Animal Rights Activist Gets $15,000 Settlement” from Care2
• “Smuggling Scandal brings down Texas deer hunt breeders” from Standard Examiner
• “Miami-Dade County expected to repeal pitbull ban” from The Telegraph
• “Ohio law defining pit bulls as vicious could soon be changed” from Northwest Ohio

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” -Audra Lorde 

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

Book Illustration from "Lightfoot the Deer" (credit: Harrison Cady)

Their event, “‘Stories from the Wild’ at Central Library” will feature the classic children’s book, Lightfoot the Deer, written by Thornton W. Burgess and illustrated by Harrison Cady, which tells the story of a deer and his hunter, from the deer’s point of view. Storyteller Loretta-Lucy Miller will act as the storyteller at this event (an event which is making me wonder I should reserve a seat on the Bolt Bus — because the City of Brotherly Love is calling!). Artist Zipora Schula and dancer Lara Vracarich will be helping to lead the kiddies in the hands-on portion of the afternoon. It will take place on Saturday, February 18, from 2-4 p.m., at Story Hour Room of the Parkway Central Library Children’s Department, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. The event is free, and it is recommended that you make reservations, by emailing publiceyephilly [at] gmail.com.

For those of you not in the Philadelphia area (and if you’re not, you should probably find yourself there sometime soon, since the new vegan hotspot, Vedge, just opened), it is pretty easy to host an event like this all by yourself. You can either use Lightfoot the Deer, or you can browse around on VegBooks for other animal-friendly books. Be sure to include pro-animal themed activities that make the young ones not only engage in artistic expression, but also begin dialogue with their friends (and with you) about why animals are our friends — not our food.

Basically, what FreeAnimalVideo.org does is provides high-quality clips of animals in all kinds of situations — animals in entertainment, animals in sports and fashion, farm animals, laboratory animals, wildlife, companion animals — and allows anyone to download and use them for free. The videos you can download include everything from general footage that can be placed into a larger context (like a nibbling lamb or a close-up on a goose), to absolutely horrific stuff, like a white fox being anally electrocuted. There are promotional videos for animal advocacy organizations as well. The videos are made available in either HD (suitable for TV), or lower-quality that will suffice for “the internet machine” (I stole that term from Rachel Maddow — who, now that I’m thinking about it, should totally use some of this footage and actually cover an animal story on her show). You can also submit videos, either by uploading them, or sending in physical tapes.

This brilliant activist resource is the brainchild of founders Sandra Mohr and Patty Shenker.

Here is an example of how the footage has been used. The clip below shows our friend Jane Velez-Mitchell (who was on our podcast last year), of CNN’s HLN show, “Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell.”

A pinup model... WHO KNEW? (We're on the top right.)

The calendar is not only a fun and accessible way to help change these stereotypes, but, you’ve gotta admit, it’s a wickedly creative campaign! I’ve long gawked at the calendar models — both the human and non-human ones — which is why, last year, I decided to take my chances, because what did I have to lose? Getting model and performer Bettina May to do my photos and make-up was icing on my cruelty-free cake, because not only is she a well-known modern-day burlesque superstar, but she’s also an outspoken vegan. She has even created vegan versions of burlesque gear that traditionally uses animal products, like boas made out of fiber instead of feathers, yet look just like the “real deal” (minus the exploitation). My Rose was a trooper that day, too, and thoroughly enjoyed the attention and spotlight.

This is Rose. She totally knows how gorgeous she is. (As she should.)

Pinups for Pitbulls is certainly a think-outside-the-box type of organization, which is another reason why I’m gaga for them. Indeed, it’s not just the attractive women (many of whom have tattoos — sigh…) that draws me in, nor is it the perfect pits who steal the show. PFPB was founded in 2005 by Deirdre “Little Darling” Franklin. Little Darling was increasingly saddened and frustrated by “shelters” euthanizing totally adoptable pit bull-type dogs, simply because of their breed. So she tapped into her experience, skills, and interest in modeling, fine arts, and education, and started this truly one-of-a-kind organization. 7 years later, I am basically ecstatic to be among the women and dogs who can call themselves “Ms. February.”

Photo by Bettina May

In addition to getting the calendar (quick! before it’s March!), and supporting this organization, there is also a lesson to be learned from this organization. A strong takeaway from PFPB is that nobody has to sit idly by and be frustrated by an animal issue. Much like Little Darling demonstrated when she grew this positive, accessible, and fun organization out of a desire to change the world — and a refusal to become complacent and accept a world where pit bulls are put down for no good reason — we can all plug our talents and skills into animal advocacy.

Another takeaway from PFPB? Rose is ridiculously gorgeous. And the 1940′s were a much more fashionable era.

Note to self: Don't be intimidated! Read this book!

That said, I am so intrigued — and slightly intimidated — by this new book by Kim Socha, Women, Destruction, and the Avant-Garde: A Paradigm for Animal Liberation. Though I haven’t read it (yet!), and it might very well be a tad too academic for the casual reader (eh-hem), I love where it’s going. All you need to do is see the book’s description to share in my excitement (and possible trepidation):

This interdisciplinary study fuses analysis of feminist literature and manifestos, radical political theory, critical vanguard studies, women’s performance art, and popular culture to argue for the animal liberation movement as successor to the liberationist visions of the early twentieth-century avant-gardes, most especially the Surrealists. These vanguard groups are judiciously critiqued for their refusal to confront their own misogyny, a quandary that continues to plague animal activists, thereby disallowing for cohesion and full recognition of women’s value within a culturally marginalized cause. This volume is of interest to anyone who is concerned about the continued — indeed, escalating — violence against nonhumans. More broadly, it will interest those seeking new pathways to challenge the dominant power constructions through which oppression of humans, nonhumans, and the environment thrives.Women, Destruction, and the Avant-Garde ultimately poses the animal liberation movement as having serious political and cultural implications for radical social change, destruction of hierarchy and for a world without shackles and cages, much as the Surrealists envisioned.

The comprehensive book will set you back whopping $81 on Amazon (though you can also buy it used and save about ten bucks in the process, or maybe just ask your library to get you a copy). Anyone who reads it, please keep us posted on your thoughts. I’ll keep you posted, too, since Women, Destruction, and the Avant-Garde is most certainly on my wish list — both in terms of books I wish I could afford, and books I wish I could devour. The subject-matter of violence against non-humans, and the many correlations between women and animals, clearly is near and dear to my heart. What Socha created here looks to be a manifesto (a “womanifesto?”) — one that even unacademics, such as myself, might want to read.

This girl is having a much better day than the summers I wasted at day camp. Woe is me...

Though I have tried, unendingly, to block it out, I still remember it all. Days were spent suffering through competitive contact sports like dreaded dodge ball (where I was, without question, chosen last for the team); or being mortified as I changed into my swimsuit, so that everyone — including my prepubescent campmates and snotty teenage counselors — could gawk at my early-to-bud body (blame it on the cow’s milk I guzzled all throughout the 1980′s); or, no matter what activity we were gearing up for, lagging behind the rest of the kids, dragging a stick through the dirt behind me, humming the score of “Gypsy” almost to myself, while the other kids just stared, — or, more accurately, uproariously laughed. On the bus ride home, as the other kids sang “The wheels on the bus go round and round…,” I listened intently to my walkman, thanking god for Ethel Merman, who single-handedly got me through many sad afternoons. Just call me Augusten Burroughs.

If you haven’t guessed, I would not wish day camp on anyone. Camp, as far as I’m concerned, should be reserved solely for song and dance, and, if you’re lucky, for frivolous fun. It’s not like camp could change the world… Could it?

Turns out that camp, shockingly, can be good for something other than a future prescription for therapy. Though, much to my dismay, I’m about 20 years too old to take part in the amazing Youth Empowered Action Camp that arms kids with the resources and creative prowess necessary to change the world, there is one other groundbreaking camp that I have my eye on. I’m not too old for it, nor too awkward for it, and the fact that I have breasts would most likely not come up in discussion. (If it did, I’d know enough now to slap someone silly.)

Note to self: Attend (or organize?) "Animal Advocacy Camp"

It’s called Animal Advocacy Camp, and it is headed up by our friends over at Liberation B.C. — including, of course, the brilliant and dashing Glenn Gaetz. Glenn, who we not only interviewed on our podcast (along with his equally-brilliant partner, Joanne Chang), has guest-blogged for Our Hen House about, among other things, the concept of Open Space as a model for a more effective movement. The thought process of Open Space is that it’s the attendees — not the organizers — of a conference/workshop/camp who set the rules and the agenda. That includes proposing topics for discussion. In the case of Animal Advocacy Camp, some possible suggestions might include how to talk to the public, how groups can better work together, discussions on tactics, and historical precedents. Sounds totally unhierarchical, fair, fulfilling, and timely. This camp, I must say, sounds up my alley. (MOOOOM? ARE YOU LISTENIIIIING?!)

Animal Advocacy Camp — happening this February 25 and 26 in Vancouver — will be using the Open Space format. According to the website:

There is a lot of room for discussion within the framework of this event. We all can learn a lot from each other. This is a great opportunity to tap into the collective knowledge of many other experienced people in your community. Bring along your tough problems, questions you’ve been struggling to answer, problems you’ve been trying to solve.

Though Open Space sounds — I gotta admit it — a bit crunchy, don’t let the hippie vibe fool you. The goal of this camp, which is also being called “Vancouver’s Animal Rights UnConference,” is to work and learn together so that activists can build a stronger community, and, ultimately, “make a greater difference in the lives of animals.” And there is indeed still structure to this format (including fantastic speakers, like Sarah Kramer and Camille Labchuck).

It sounds, to me, incredibly refreshing — especially when other conferences are sometimes too dense with speakers and information, to the point where you every time you attend one workshop, you miss a dozen others that you wanted to attend. That’s not to say that there’s not room for the more “generic” types of conferences, but seeing as how everyone learns in different ways, Animal Advocacy Camp might very well be on to something.

For those of you in the British Columbia area (and — sigh — lucky you, if you are…), check out this game-changing weekend. And if you’re too far away to be able to attend, perhaps it’s high time for a similar workshop, conference, or, hey, camp, in your neck of the woods. Even if you’ve never organized an event before, starting these kinds of dialogues about animal issues and activism, and letting attendees decide what is important to focus on, can sometimes be more empowering than a set itinerary, or someone else’s agenda. (Be sure to check out the Open Space User’s Guide, too.)

As for me, I have certainly moved on (for the most part, anyway) from the drama of being an oddball, ostracized child at day camp, and so perhaps it’s time to wipe that slate clean and start fresh. While, for my mid-1980 campmates, it was the wheels on the bus that went round and round, perhaps for us grown-ups in the 21st century, the way to change the world is to come together — all on the same damn team! — so that, through shared experience, pooled ideas, and delegated responsibilities, the wheels in our brains can go round and round, coming up with more and more new ways to change the world for animals.

In today’s episode, we will tell you about the animal rights character we learned about in The Canterbury Tales, and why we learned about him in rap form. Jasmin will tell you about the most hideous trip to a restaurant she’s ever taken (she trusts that you’ll also be equally horrified on her behalf). We’ll ruminate on whether vegans are too nice, we’ll tell you about our expanding flock of chicks, we’ll profess our love for dahl and for oranges, and we’ll update you on the latest theatre happenings in our world.

Joining us today is Matt Rossell, the Campaigns Director for Animal Defenders International, who will give us the skinny on the international efforts of this animal protection organization, including the latest news on their Break the Chain campaign, and how you can help.

For our review, we’ll talk about the Nova episode, “How Smart Are Animals?”, which is available for your viewing, for free, both on PBS.org, and on Netflix’s instant queue.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Supreme Court: Federal Meat Inspection Act preempts California’s slaughter ban” from The Sacramento Bee
• “Bill Introduced to Improve Animal Welfare Standard for Egg-Laying Hens” from Food Safety News
• “Anti-Battery Cage Bill Introduced to Congress” from Vegan.com
• “What Are Agribusiness Groups Trying to Hide with ‘Ag-Gag’ Bills?” from A Humane Nation
• “The HSUS Praises Florida Legislative Committees for Removing ‘Ag-Gag’ Language from Agricultural Bill” from The HSUS
• “The Veggie Burger’s New Dream: Be More Like Meat” from The Wall Street Journal 

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” -St. Francis of Assisi

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

Perhaps it was your childhood kitty companion, who slept on your pillow, right beside your head, all throughout those awkward middle school years. Or maybe it was a pigeon you rescued — the one who opened your eyes and heart to how glorious these birds are. Or it could have been a goat you met at a farmed animal sanctuary, who wanted nothing more than to head-butt you incessantly, which he clearly found hilarious.

We all have these stories — whether it’s regarding an animal who was (or is) part of our family, or one we read about, or saw in a film or a news story. If you’re alive, then you have, at some point, been influenced by an animal. Maybe it was even that very animal who led you down this path of activism, giving you the push you needed to devote your life to changing the world for our feathered and four-footed friends.

Me and Rocky, only moments after he came into my life. I was 11.

For me, there have been several animals who have become part of my heartbeat, but perhaps the most influential was my childhood cat, Rocky, pictured on the left. That photo was taken only minutes after my brother and I opened a box that my mother had carefully set in the middle of the living room floor, out of which popped this thoroughly wondrous cat! He was a friendly neighborhood stray, and our neighbors had taken him in, only to find that their kids were allergic to him. How lucky was I that Rocky found his circuitous way to our home, and my heart. Rocky was my constant companion from the time I was 11 until I was 24. Growing up in a home with a lot of love — but an equal amount of inconsistency, confusion, and my share of sadness — what a treasure it was to always come home to Rocky’s loud purr-squawk as he ran down the stairs to greet me. During the weekends I spent at my father’s house, I would miss my cat, and wait with bated breath until the moment I stepped back into my house, so that Rocky could, once again, be by my side. He was strong, loyal, and protective. When I think of unconditional love, I think of Rocky.

And what about you? Valentine’s Day is, to me, a perfect opportunity to fondly remember the animals who have touched our lives. And so, for our Valentine’s Day podcast episode, which will air on Saturday, February 11, we need your help.

In the comments section below, share with us your story of one animal who has touched you. Why was that animal important to you? How did she or he shape your view of the world? Be as specific as you can, and make sure to convey to us why that animal holds a special place in your heart.

For our Valentine’s Day episode, we will read some of your stories on the air. We also might invite some of you to be guests on our podcast and tell the story yourselves. And anyone who leaves a comment will be entered to win an Our Hen House tote bag. A randomly-selected winner will be announced on the Valentine’s Day podcast episode. In order to be in the running for both the tote bag, and the chance for your story to be featured on our podcast episode, you must leave a comment by midnight, EST, on Sunday, February 5.

By appealing to individual intellect, creativity and compassion, CAF believes we can awaken people to the plight and grandeur of kindred animals – and ultimately build a deeper understanding of human-animal relationships and a greater respect for basic animal rights.

Can we say “well put,” Tom and Nancy?

I admire Culture & Animals Foundation so deeply for their ongoing support of creative and academic projects that aim to change the world for animals. Foundations like this one, I believe, are among the unsung heroes of our movement. They are behind so much greatness.

If you have a project that you think is up their alley, you need to get on that immediately, because their deadline (the only one for the whole year!) is coming up on January 31. And you don’t need to be a non-profit to apply, either. Previous grants have gone to authors, composers, filmmakers, and performance artists.

Bonne chance.

"Vegans Are Cool" (and hot, apparently)

In addition to interviews with us, you’ll find interviews with Brazil-based designer Julia Harger, Australian entertainer Renata Halpin (who is “Teaching Kids to Go Green, the Musical Way“), as well as vegan activists from countries including Iran, South Africa, and Mongolia. There are also eye-opening articles written by movers and shakers from around the globe, including activist Leigh-Chantelle (who was on our podcast), dietician Amanda Benham, and environmentalists Gerard Wederburn-Bisshop and Lefkothea Pavlidis.

Though we’re clearly huge fans of using the internet to influence others to adopt a vegan diet and, what’s more, get involved with changing the world for animals, there is sometimes nothing more powerful than reading a real, live book. Plus, whip out a copy of Vegans Are Cool the next time you’re settling in for a soy latte at your favorite café, and you can bet people will take notice — especially once they see the sexy cover models, Noel Polanco (of “Noel Vegan Fitness Star“), along with the ridiculously cute pup, Bianquita.

Though I knew this before getting the book, it is clearer than ever before that vegans are, indeed, cool.

Photo at top of blog: Courtesy of Neil (photo called “Pig at sanctuary”), uploaded from Vegan Stock Photo.

Sally Tamarkin

First, Sally Tamarkin, whom you may know as our intern extraordinaire (and the brilliant, protein-packed voice behind the recent peanut butter review on our podcast), has graduated to a contributor here at Our Hen House. Sally, whose prolific voice has graced our blog time and time again since she joined us just over 3 months ago, will continue to provide insight and ideas — along with her trademark dry humor that makes me ROTFL at least 4 times a day — right here on our blog. Sally is a long-time activist, but is still on the new side to veganism and animal rights, and the freshness she brings to the (cruelty-free) table, mixed with her years of experience fighting for social justice in other arenas, such as LGBT rights, is nothing short of genius.

JL Fields

Next, I’m proud as a peacock (or a peahen?) to welcome JL Fields to our advisory board. JL, who is the wise and talented voice behind the blog, JL Goes Vegan (the tag line, which I adore, is “Food and Fitness with a Side of Kale”) joins advisory board members Carol Leifer, Dan Piraro, and Donny Moss. What does JL bring to OHH? Oh, you know, just decades of nonprofit experience — including leading three organizations as CEO, and teaching nonprofit management at a college here in NYC. You know, the usual… (!!!) JL is also on the board of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (co-founder Jenny Brown’s interview on our podcast remains, to this day, one of our faves), and is the editor behind Stop Chasing Skinny.  We’re honored to have someone as established and smart as JL advising us. (And she’s a blast to hang out with, too, which is a ridiculously fun side benefit!)

Carrie Forrest

You probably have already read Carrie Forrest‘s health-oriented book reviews here on Our Hen House. Did you catch her take on Healthy Eating, Healthy World? Or maybe Super Immunity? Her guest reviews have given us such a well-rounded look at these books, which focus on the benefits of a plant-based diet, that we asked her to join our flock. Carrie already has two more book reviews in the works. In addition to being the voice behind one of my go-to food blogs, Carrie On Vegan (her healthy and delectable concoctions are responsible for a large chunk of my recipe collection), Carrie is currently working on a master’s degree in public health (MPH) in nutrition, and finishing the coursework to become a registered dietitian. So you should listen to her. Even though her background is in health, like JL, Carrie brings a revitalizing (and incredibly important) perspective to her discussions of plant-based food, in that she relates it back to her animal advocacy. And, as Mariann and I won’t stop chirping about, in order to be the best activists we can, our own health and well-being should be amongst our priorities. So keep an eye out for Carrie’s reviews. Like us, you’ll probably learn a thing or two.

Danielle Legg

Lastly, we have a part-time coordinator! I last squawked about Danielle Legg last year, when I told you about her Buffalo, New York film screening that brought in the veg-curious, and paid non-vegetarians cash money so that they could eat delicious vegan food, and watch Mercy for Animals’ short film, Fowl Play. Danielle has stayed on our radar, and I find myself constantly enamored by her positivity, dedication, and passion. We’re elated to have Danielle on board, helping us out with, among other things, our Etsy page, as well as some of the day to day happenings here in Our Hen House.

We are, to say the least, lucky hens. These new chicks are helping us to build our nest, not to mention our voice. Read more about these women, and the rest of our team, as you Meet Our Flock.

You’re also extremely integral to the work we do. With our mission being to mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, it is indeed up to each of us to do our part. It’s not my hen house or her hen house or your hen house, it’s Our Hen House — and that’s because we hope that Our Hen House is a place to find our way to change the world for animals. Hens, of course, are the most hideously exploited animals of them all. When you speak of animal rights, you are mostly speaking of chickens — because over 9 of the 10 billion land animals killed in the U.S. each year are birds. They are among our icon animals, too, showing bravery, humor, and strong social ties. With these precious beings representing, to us, the huge massive world of animals, and with each of our voices speaking up for them in a way that makes sense for us, we can change the world for animals. So thank you for being a part of this movement, and for using your voice to speak up for those who don’t have one.

As always, if you would like to help us grow our flock, and spread our voice, we would be ever so grateful for anything you can afford. Donations are, or course, tax deductible as allowed by law. In any case, thanks for being part of our flock.

***

Growing up on Long Island, I heard tales of the spooky experiments that took place on Plum Island, a livestock disease research facility off the coast. While on my family’s boat, we would pass the island, looking for the smoke that often floated up from the large buildings and the rumored animal-monsters that they created in their labs.

"Primacy" by J.E. Fishman

Perhaps this link between Long Island and animal testing was part of the inspiration for J. E. Fishman’s thriller, Primacy, which takes place, in part, in Pentalon, a fictional animal testing facility in Farmingdale, New York, not far from where I grew up on Long Island. Behind Pentalon’s walls, animals of all kinds are subjected to genetic and disease testing that causes pain, distress and, for some, death. But what if one of these animals could speak to the scientists who were subjecting them to those tests? Would those researchers reexamine the purpose of their actions? Would the whole system of animal testing break down? These are the questions that Fishman tackles.

Primacy follows the story of Liane Vinson, an animal researcher at Pentalon who is fully aware of the rules of detachment that employees must follow in order to keep themselves numb from the cruel harm they inflict on animals. However, for Liane, when it comes to a pair of twin bonobos, whom she has named and grown attached to, somehow those rules don’t matter. When one of them, Bea, who, like her twin brother, was born with unique vocal chords, suddenly begins to speak, uttering Liane’s name — Liane’s world is, naturally, turned upside down. Bea’s brother is soon subjected to a brutal laryngectomy to study his vocal chords, and it is then that Liane knows that she must save Bea from Pentalon’s clutches. Thus begins a journey that will forever change her life and her beliefs about animal sentience.

In her desperation, Liane turns to her ex-boyfriend, Corey Harrow, a member of FAULT (“Folks Against Unnecessary Lab Testing”), which is known for protesting outside of Pentalon’s gates, and torching animal testing labs. It soon becomes clear that Corey and Liane have very different goals for Bea. Liane wants to release Bea back into the wilds of Africa, while Corey wants to cultivate Bea’s language skills so that she might become a mascot for the movement, appearing on television to plead the case against the exploitation of animals. Liane sees this plan as further exploitation of Bea, and argues that what Bea would want more than anything is the chance to once again just be a bonobo, and live among her own kind in the jungle. Corey counters that no one can know what Bea truly wants, and that with his plan, she will be well cared for while still being of great use to the movement toward total animal liberation. She will be an ambassador for her kind.

In the mean time, while Liane is on the run from the Pentalon forces, and while she’s also trying to get Bea away from the animal rights activists, we are introduced to Dikembe Kasa, who lives in Congo. Grief stricken by the loss of his wife to a hemorrhagic fever, caused by her ingestion of bush meat, Dikembe sets out, with his son, to right a wrong that he committed. He believes that his decision to sell twin bonobos that he caught in the wild – thereby making him a participant in the cruel animal trade – gave him bad karma, ultimately causing the fever that killed his wife. Dikembe sets off to explore his own connection to Bea, the talking bonobo.

One of the great things about Primacy is that these characters, and their stories, create the opportunity for the author to bring up many important questions for anyone who has ever cared about an animal. For the most part, he doesn’t shy away from these issues. An example of this is Corey, who makes cogent arguments against animal testing, specifically regarding its cruelty, monetary motivations, and ineffectiveness. Dikembe’s rejection of poaching in Africa, and the portrayal of the exotic animal dealers, also send a strong conservationist message. And, most of all, Bea is portrayed as a sentient creature with a full range of emotions. Icing on the cake is that each section of the book begins with a quote relating to animal rights.

Unfortunately, however, while the animal rights activists who make up the membership of FAULT are not portrayed as the enemy, or as complete crazies, they nonetheless come across as misguided. Their stance for total liberation of animals at any cost – rather than focusing on what is best for an individual animal – is, in my experience, totally uncharacteristic of animal rights activists, who truly value each individual (as well as total liberation). This flawed portrayal is, perhaps, not surprising, since Fishman, disappointingly, is careful to assert in the epilogue that he is not an animal rights activist, while asking readers to do their own research on the subject of animal testing.

Perhaps telling of Fishman’s ambivalent, even contradictory, attitudes toward our proper relationship with animals is the fact that the book does not adequately go there when it comes to food, and the torture of animals on factory farms. At one point in the story, Liane is eating hamburgers, and notes the irony of it, while Corey is a proud vegan. But, unlike the issues regarding animal research, these issues are never fully developed, nor in any way resolved. They are simply glossed over, leaving a wasted opportunity for interesting discussion among the book’s protagonists.

Still, it’s a breath of fresh air to get a chance to read compelling fiction that addresses harm to animals in a serious and largely thoughtful way. While not every character in the book ended up a vegan activist – an outcome that would have seemed ideal, even obvious, to any animal rights activist reading it – Primacy is nonetheless not only a page-turner, complete with enough violence and adventure to compel any thriller fan, but it exposes the truth about the cruel experiments that are performed on millions of animals in laboratories. It discusses the very real situation of how they are fed toxins to see how long it takes them to die, how they have their bodies cut into in order to study their organs, and how their brains are painfully attached to wires so we can study their brain waves. As an animal activist, the best part of this book, to me, is the fact that readers who would never think to pick up a book obviously focused on animal rights will be exposed to these horrors in the context of this very entertaining read.

In today’s episode, we gripe about the recent NYC subway ads that center around reducing your portion size as a way to reduce disease. We also give you our thoughts on everything from the film, Dive: Living Off America’s Waste, to the sushi rolls at Pure Food and Wine, to the Wellness Club brunch we got to try at a nearby Whole Foods, to Paula Deen.

Joining us today is longtime activist and author, Erik Marcus, the mastermind behind Vegan.com. Erik will talk to us about everything from the strengths and limitations of the health and environmental arguments for veganism, to how to make a truly persuasive ethical argument for living cruelty-free, to how to effectively use social networking tools for advocacy, and a heckuva lot more. You won’t want to miss this interview with the voice behind so many articles and books that speak up for animals (including The Ultimate Vegan Guide, which is available for only 99 cents in digital form).

Tatiana Pavela as Dian Fossey in "Leakey's Ladies." Photo by Shell Sheddy.

For our review, we’ll share with you our thoughts on the play, Leakey’s Ladies, which explores the lives and work of Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall, and Birute Galdikas. This play is the most recent merging of theatre and advocacy to come across our radar, and we’re eager to share with you our experiences of watching these stories of animal ambassadors come to life.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Are Animal Actors Protected? The Future of Animals in Hollywood” from TIME Magazine
• “Mystery Surrounding Abandoned Horses Finally Solved” from HumaneSpot.org 
• “They Bark, They Fetch, and Their Humans Vote” from The New York Times
• “Vegan Bakery Sticky Fingers Beats Out Traditional Sweets on Food Network’s ‘Cupcake Wars All-Stars’” from The Huffington Post
• “The Evidence for a Vegan Diet” from The Atlantic (featuring Our Hen House!)

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” –Robert Louis Stevenson

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

Animal Welfare Trust

Past grant recipients have included a doctoral student who worked with the FBI to conduct a study on the link between animal cruelty and personal violence, a law student who interned at Neighborhood Cats to draft a model TNR ordinance, and a vet student who developed a program on alternatives to the use of live animals in surgical training in vet school curriculums.

The deadline is March, 2012. If you are in graduate school, or you know someone who is who deeply cares about animals, this is too good an opportunity to pass up.

The full-length one-act ride is actually comprised of three short plays, by three different playwrights, all interwoven into one — giving the audience the opportunity to delve into the work that groundbreaking primatologists Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas did with, respectively, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.

Animals were never seen the same way again.

The origin of the title, Leakey’s Ladies — which was the one part of the play that I intensely disliked (more on that later) — is in the fact that all three of these women were inspired originally to do their work by anthropologist and game-changer, Louis Leakey. Beyond just a professional relationship, the personal connection that Leakey shared with all three women — the fondness they had for him, the mentorship and friendship he provided — was abundantly clear (and incredibly touching) throughout the play.

However, though Leakey had the foresight to get them started on their paths, his underlying goal was for the three women to study these animals in order to shed light on the human condition, and human origins; the animals themselves, and their sentience, were not his focus. In fact, the work of Fossey, Goodall, and Galdikas ended up going far beyond Leakey’s original mission.

As visualized throughout the play, frequently through the use of moving and effective puppetry, the women connect deeply to the animals — each in different, yet equally profound, ways. The women also become enmeshed in the political situations that surround, and often threaten, them and their work. Not surprisingly, the reality on the ground is far distanced from the “Ivory Tower” research project that was imagined prior to their beginning their projects.

It was particularly interesting to see the contrasts among the three women, and the way they approached their journey. The tender but fiercely determined Goodall was by far the most scientific, and was devoted to simply observing — even though even she was criticized vehemently in the scientific community for supposedly interfering with and anthropomorphizing the animals. Of course, the scientific community has always been quick to play the “anthropomorphizing card,” rather than taking the time, and the infinite patience, needed to see the animals as real. Perhaps more than anyone in history, Goodall saw the animals fully, and even when it became painful, refused to look away. She recognized the chimpanzees as individuals with unique personalities, and reported on them as such. Because of this, her contributions are incalculable — both to our understanding of chimpanzees, and of animals in general.

Tatiana Pavela as Dian Fossey (Photo by Shell Sheddy)

Dian Fossey was a much more emotional character who found herself in an extremely dire situation. At one gripping point in the play, there’s a brief but heart-wrenching retelling of how she had been captured and raped when she was in Congo. Fossey’s later work, in Rwanda, was also fraught with political nightmares — both in dealing with the government that wanted to exploit her work, and fighting the poachers, who, of course, ultimately ended her life.

Birute Galdikas, who came across as a bit of a hippie, was depicted as having enculturated herself much more into the Indonesian world in which she was living. Galdikas left her mark with, among other things, incredibly important observational research. What’s more –presented with a crisis situation in which, because of the trade, there were enormous numbers of orphaned orangutans — she founded a sanctuary, saving thousands of lives.

Through stunning puppetry, which was really beautifully done (just as in the play, War Horse, I forgot I was looking at puppets), as well as costumed actors and video projections, the audience was given the unique theatrical experience of seeing the animals themselves. Not only did this effectively show the intense relationship of the women to these animals, but it also displayed the tragedy of some of the animals’ lives, and gave us a glimpse into their sometimes funny, complicated, social, anti-social, and brave personalities. This was epitomized both in Galdikas’ relationship with TP, a male orangutan with whom she formed a real relationship, and in the truly heartbreaking story of Flo and Flint, which, for anyone who knows Goodall’s work, is all too familiar. The puppets also let us see into Dian Fossey’s relationship with one of her orphaned gorillas and witness up close her struggle about whether to take him in and raise him, knowing she might eventually have to turn him over to the government for life in a zoo.

Just as charming as the play itself was the space where it came to life. Dixon Place, the non-profit theatre that aims to, among other things, “contribute to the community” by making itself available “as a meeting place for social change organizations,” has, as one of their focuses, a bent toward LGBT issues and other issues affecting minority groups. Given that, it was refreshing to see a play focusing on the greatest underdogs of all — animals. And the fact that this work also highlighted the stories of three powerful women was icing on the cake for me (my cake, of course, was vegan). That is why I had issue with the title, Leakey’s Ladies. Though not to undercut the revolutionary work of Louis Leakey, and the primary role he played in fostering the work of Goodall, Galdikas, and Fossey, these truly extraordinary women stood their ground on their own, forging ahead despite nearly insurmountable obstacles. True, before anyone else believed in them, Leakey did. But why lump these women into a subsidiary role as this title seems to do? To me, it undermines the independent and trailblazing work of three pioneer women, at a time (late 60′s and early 70′s) when the women’s rights movement was only beginning to grow into a revolution.

But I digress. Silly name or not, Leakey’s Ladies is well worth a trip to the Lower East Side. For the most part, the main actors portrayed their characters with the necessary depth and emotion that the story demanded, but it was Tatiana Pavela’s masterful interpretation of Dian Fossey — complete with Pavela’s commanding presence, powerful voice, and surprisingly unabashed vulnerability — that stole the show. That, and the puppets, who were designed meticulously by David Valentine. It was all I could do to not “adopt” one of them on my way out of the theatre, when no one was looking…

In the history of Our Hen House — which is 2 years old almost to the day — we have only had a small handful of opportunities to cover theatrical productions that implicitly or explicitly dealt with animal rights issues. To name a few, there were: The Tragical-Comical Trial of Madame P and Other 4-Legged and Winged Creatures, which covered the medieval animal trials; the one-woman play, I’m Sorry: How a People-Pleasing Apologist Became an Animal-Loving Activist; and Dead Pile, a play that followed the story of an undercover investigator inside a dairy farm. The impetus for the Art of the Animal section was, of course, to highlight such work — as well as provide ideas and inspiration for others to get involved in the powerful arts/advocacy union. As someone with a background as an actor, this merging gives me fever-like chills. There is nothing greater than using the huge capacity of even the tiniest stage, and making it a tool to create change. Directed and designed by Gretchen Van Lente, Leakey’s Ladies, which we will further discuss and review this weekend on our podcast, has the wherewithal to change hearts and minds about animals. If it’s true that all the world’s a stage, then perhaps compassion is more within reach than we think.

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Helping Vegan Parents Navigate the Not-So-Vegan Landscape

By Robyn Moore

I recently read an article that asked the question, “As a vegan, should you raise your child vegan?” To me, that question is absurd on many levels. As parents, we are responsible for making decisions for our kids based on our own sets of values and beliefs. Typically, we do not allow kids to make their own decisions when it comes to things that are dangerous to them physically or developmentally, or that we find morally abhorrent. So if we believe that eating animals and animal products is morally wrong (or unhealthy, or detrimental to the environment), then why would we let our kids engage in that behavior?

Charlotte

As a vegan parent, I encounter messages, and experience situations every day, that contradict what I’m trying to teach my daughter, Charlotte. Some of these (“milk is necessary for strong bones,” “you need meat for protein,” etc.) come directly from the industries whose livelihoods depend on our buying into them. Yet many others come from less obvious places: story time, gym class, music class, books, cartoons, the playground, the toys we buy. Our world revolves around the idea that animals are here for our personal use — this includes food, clothing, products, and entertainment — so being a vegan parent can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.

One example of this is story time at the library. The books that are chosen often center around “blissful” farm and zoo animals — only reinforcing society’s misperceptions about animals in confinement. Many of the books that Charlotte grabs from the shelves show animals in some sort of exploitive situation, such as a circus, or they include pictures of kids eating hot dogs or drinking milk. In music class, kids sing songs such as “Fried Ham,” “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” and “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” In gym and other group settings, toddlers tend to share (or grab) one another’s snacks, so I have to be keep a watchful eye on Charlotte to make sure she doesn’t take somebody else’s goldfish or string cheese. And then, of course, there are the playground and play date conversations with other parents. Food always comes up, and, much to my dismay, I hear about what other kids are eating. More often than not, it’s chicken nuggets, or macaroni and cheese, always accompanied by a big glass of milk.

But if examples like these are what I’m up against, I can handle it. I will trade these minor inconveniences any day for the satisfaction of knowing that my husband and I are raising our child based on principles of integrity and compassion.

Robyn and her family at the NYC Walk for Farm Animals

Still, I’m acutely aware that Charlotte is only a year and a half old. She’s still at the age where I can, for all intents and purposes, control what she eats and drinks, who she plays with, what books she reads. Charlotte is our only child, and, being in the (quickly growing!) vegan minority, we’re also learning as we go. Just as we adults evolve and change, so will Charlotte. That means that, 10 years from now when little Charlotte is in middle school, my challenges as a vegan parent raising a vegan child will radically shift. There will be a whole new set of joys and happiness that we’ll share, and, with that, a whole new set of questions. No doubt things will get more difficult as she becomes an autonomous person. Of course, my hope is that, as Charlotte grows, her values – respecting animals, and not exploiting them – will be so instilled in her, that even as she grows to be a teenager and an adult, she will carry her moral compass and live her life according to these ethics.

Every age has its own set of issues and growing pains, and as a mother of a vegan child, that is something I am looking forward to handling. But if we, as parents – and aunts, uncles, grandparents, and neighbors – trust that we are doing the right thing, then my hope is that everything else will fall into place. It is up to us as parents to be activists not only for the animals, but also for our own kids.

With that in mind, here are few tips to help vegan parents navigate the not-so vegan landscape.

1. Read books and watch movies that affirm and reinforce vegan values. VegBooks lists over 500 titles.
2. Visit an animal sanctuary. Exposing vegan kids to rescued farm animals is so important — it helps them make the connection between their cruelty-free lifestyle and the animals they are saving.
3. Get together with local veg families so that your kids will have the opportunity to meet other like-minded kids, and you’ll get to meet other like-minded parents. If you live in the NYC area, join my meet-up group: NYC Vegetarian and Vegan Families. If a meet-up group like that doesn’t exist in your area, think about starting one.
4. Show your kids the power of activism! If they feel strongly about a specific animal or issue, encourage them to join a protest, write a letter to a newspaper, have a vegan bake sale, hand out literature, or create an art project. This will empower them and teach them to be a voice for the voiceless.
5. Search for websites and blogs about raising veg kids. Many of them, including my own, RaisingVegKids.com, offer resources, articles, and support for vegan families.
6. Make holidays special. Instead of focusing on what kids can’t do or eat, make vegan versions of traditional dishes, and even crafts. For example, make a vegan gingerbread house or egg-free potato latkes, and color papier-mâché Easter eggs.
7. Cook and bake delicious vegan recipes with your kids. Order the book, Vegan Lunchbox.
8. When dining out at a non-vegan restaurant, look to the side dishes (instead of the meat- and dairy-heavy kid’s menu), where you’ll find healthy and yummy choices such as veggies, beans, rice, etc.
9. Adopt a rescued farm animal (virtually). Farm Sanctuary will send you a picture of an animal of your choice with some fun details about him or her. Your kids can frame it and keep it in their room, and even visit their adopted animal at the sanctuary. They can even bring the picture to school and tell their classmates all about it, effectively spreading the message. Of course, if you have the space, adopt a real rescued farm animal whom kids can help care for and love.
10. Be an active parent when it comes to birthday parties and school events. Find out what is being served, and if it’s not vegan, make or buy a similar vegan version so that your child will not feel left out. Make enough for the other kids, too, so that they can see first-hand how delicious compassion can taste.
11. Show your kids that being vegan is fun! Make vegan pancakes on the weekend, or have a vegan pizza party on a school night. Make things like DIY vegan ice cream sundaes, or, on movie night, popcorn with vegan butter.

Embracing veganism is the most effective step a family can take to fight animal cruelty. It’s about teaching your kids to vote with their dollars by boycotting industries that exploit and harm animals. It’s about choosing a side — the animals’ side. Encourage your kids to be proud, confident, and courageous in their family’s decision to respect and value the lives of all others, including animals. Read books about brave people throughout history who were once viewed as being different and in the minority – such as those who worked for the abolition of slavery, for women’s suffrage, for civil rights – but were later viewed as heroes, who, despite challenges, spoke up for what was right.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said:

Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” Vanity asks the question, “Is it popular?” But conscience asks the question, “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.

 ***

Robyn Moore

Robyn Moore is a mom to Charlotte, whom she and her husband, Martin, are raising vegan. Robyn has her master’s degree in education. She is the creator of RaisingVegKids.com, the organizer of NYC Vegetarian and Vegan Families Meetup, and is a book reviewer for VegBooks. Robyn is an avid traveler who has taught English in Nepal, volunteered helping animals in Africa, and lived abroad in Switzerland.

Intern with VegFund!

Now, with this part-time, work-from-home volunteer position (roughly 15-20 hours per week), you can have the opportunity to work with this groundbreaking organization, which was named the “Non-Profit of the Year” in 2009 by VegNews Magazine. Among other duties, the internship gives you the chance to train and coordinate volunteers, maintain and grow VegFund’s resources for grassroots activists, and conduct at least one outreach event per month. You’ll be working with and learning from VegFund’s Director, and for those of you who are students, you might even be able to get class credit. Their ideal candidate for this 3-month position has grassroots experience, strong writing skills, and, obviously, a passion and interest in farmed animal advocacy.

Check out the full listing for this internship, and spread the word to your passionate vegan friends and colleagues.

Internships can, needless to say, be important inroads for those interested in pursuing a career in animal rights. Most people working in the movement had, at one time or another, an internship position. But even for those of you who don’t want to quit your day job, opportunities like this one can utilize your skills and passion, allowing you to grow and learn, all while strongly and effectively working to change the world for animals. I honestly can’t think of many better places to start — or step up — your AR journey, than to work with the visionaries behind VegFund. Have I mentioned I’m a fan?

And head’s up: Stay tuned for a not-to-be-missed interview with VegFund’s co-founder, Zia Terhune, which you will be able to find on our podcast in the coming weeks.

Picture of top of blog: Courtesy of VegFund

***

A Look Inside Unlikely Friendships

Review by Samantha Rosenberg 

Fair warning – get out the tissues. Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom pretty much redefines the word “heartwarming.” Bringing together forty-seven stories about interspecies friendships from all over the world, this beautiful book – appropriate for all ages – is illustrated with amazing photographs that truly capture these hard-to-believe animal unions, often between animals who are normally identified as predator and prey.

"Unlikely Friendships" by Jennifer Holland

As set forth in her introduction, the starting point, and impetus, for this remarkable compilation by Jennifer S. Holland – a science and nature journalist and senior writer for National Geographic magazine – was the conflict in the scientific community between those who reject, and those who embrace, the idea that non-human animals have the capacity to experience emotions similar to humans. Of course, the former view has the benefit of convenience, in that it makes all the torture and confinement performed in the name of science (and appetite) easier to justify. If scientists are able to convince themselves that animals cannot feel emotional pain, the moral dilemma simply disappears. The other school of thought, which hopefully represents a growing majority, holds that emotions are inherent in all sentient beings to some degree, even if they are expressed in different ways. As summarized by evolutionary biologist Marc Bekoff, this position holds that “evolutionary continuity — a concept that came from Charles Darwin — stresses that there are differences in degree rather than in kind between humans and other animals. That applies to emotions. We share many bodily systems, including the limbic system, where emotions are rooted. So if we have joy or sorrow, they have it, too. It isn’t the same joy or the same sorrow. But the differences are shades of gray, not black versus white.”

Unlikely Friendships takes that abstract premise and makes it real. Mindless instinct cannot possibly account for these extraordinary relationships: A dog and a koi meet regularly at a pond to bump noses and connect on a level that makes you question the complexity of a fish’s mind; a cow tied up in a field is visited nightly for months by a wild leopard who seems to want nothing more than a snuggle and a tongue-bath; a momma dog accepts a baby squirrel into her litter; a hamster served to a snake as dinner becomes his friend instead; a lioness protectively watches over her adopted baby Oryx; and too many other remarkable stories to mention, each guaranteed to melt your heart and challenge your preconceptions about animals. Furthermore, while the photographs are stunning, the book is far more than just cute pictures. Each story, although brief, sheds light on the often tragic circumstances that brought the animals together, and into the lives of humans, who were able to witness, and document, the ways the animals related to one another. Despite their sad beginnings, these animals ultimately triumphed, finding solace, joy, and friendship.

A few of my favorite stories include “The African Elephant and the Sheep,” which is about a baby elephant named Themba, whose mother fell off a cliff when Themba was just six months old. To the surprise of the staff at the reserve, none of the other female elephants stepped up to adopt Themba. Recognizing that it was a critical time in Themba’s development of social bonds, one of the workers brought a sheep from a nearby farm, Albert, and put him into Themba’s enclosure. Why a sheep? Not only are they intelligent, but sheep have been shown to form close emotional connections with other animals. It wasn’t an instant fix – the two didn’t hit it off at first. But after a while they became inseparable, sleeping together and even eating the same food. Finally, this lonely little elephant had a friend.

Then there’s “The Bobtailed Dog and the Bobtailed Cat,” which documents a moving friendship that was born in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina, when hundreds of thousands of animals were left to fend for themselves. The bobtailed dog of the title had been left tied up to face the storm, but had managed to break away, dragging with her the remains of her chain. Somehow, she hooked up with a bobtailed cat, and they wandered the city together for weeks. When anyone tried to approach, the dog, later named “Bobbi,” growled protectively. Nevertheless, eventually the two were rescued and taken to a shelter. There, Bobbi let out piercing barks whenever anyone tried to separate her from “Bob Cat.” Realizing that the two needed one another, rescuers caged them together. Only later did they discover that Bob Cat was totally blind! Bobbi had been using barks and bumps with her hind leg to guide Bob Cat around.

Because of the unusual pairings of species, the stories in Unlikely Friendships depict relationships that may be surprising. But anyone who has ever had an animal companion in their life, or has even just observed animals – be it through volunteering at a shelter, visiting a sanctuary, or spending time with a loved one’s pets – will agree that there is no question that they have individual personalities. Indeed, animals of all kinds experience the feel-good emotions that are depicted in this book, and – like us – they also feel sadness, depression, anxiety and grief. They also form relationships in astounding ways that we neither orchestrate nor control.

I have certainly seen that in my own home. My 11-year-old daughter and I have two cats, both feral rescues, who are alone together all day, five days a week. Yet, even after three years of living together, they can barely tolerate each other’s company. Despite the “sibling rivalry” they have, one of the cats has bonded with my daughter in a way that is almost otherworldly. Utterly protective, she perches on my daughter’s back while my daughter sleeps, follows her everywhere, shows her constant affection with unending little kitty kisses, and, whenever she thinks my daughter is hurt, immediately comes running. Who could ask for more in a companion? This kind of deep human-animal connection is relatable to so many of us. It is, after all, an unlikely friendship – but it’s also the best sort.

The fundamental lesson in Unlikely Friendships is, perhaps, that animals interact with other animals – human and non-human – on levels that are not very different from our own. Much like human relationships, motivations for animal unions may be rooted in their need for protection, comfort or companionship. But regardless of the reasons that brought them together, many of the bonds between these animals are the product of a true emotional connection that can only be classified as genuine friendship. These stories are great reminders of how alike animals and humans are. At the end of the day, we are all seeking pleasure in some form. If we’re lucky, we manage to find it in each other.

***

Samantha Rosenberg

Samantha Rosenberg is an attorney  living in Cambridge, MA, with her 11-year-old daughter and two cats. 

In today’s episode, we discuss our foray into Brooklyn to visit the new all-vegan establishment that’s garnering tons of buzz, Dunwell Doughnuts. We’ll also share our thoughts on the hideous piece that we feel is, to say the least, off the mark, “A Dog’s Right to Life?” from the New York Times column, “The Ethicist,” as well as the on-the-mark piece from The Thinking Vegan (written by Kezia Jauron). And we’ll give you the skinny on the new Whole Foods Wellness Club, and the talk that we saw Dr. Fuhrman give this past week.

Today’s episode is full of strong, inspiring, changemaking women! First, Chicago-based jewelry designer, and animal rights activist, Michelle Rubin, will spill the beans about a prank she instigated this week. Let’s just say that Jasmin put her BFA in Acting to the test. Michelle is the talented jeweler behind the sterling silver and hematite necklaces that say “vegan” that we offer on our site in exchange for a donation. Listen closely for your chance to get in on a one-week special that Michelle is offering just to our devoted podcast listeners.

Our feature interview today is with activist and scholar, Lori Gruen, who is – among other things – the author of Ethics and Animals: An Introduction. Lori will discuss with us what’s involved in teaching animal ethics, the crossovers between animal studies and animal activism,  the role that chimpanzees have played with shaping her ethical thought, and her feelings regarding the prevalence of women in the animal protection movement.

For one week, donate $75 to OHH and in addition to getting a silver and hematite necklace stamped "VEGAN," you will also receive this heart pendant, and an additional stone!

For our review, Our Hen House’s protein-prosperous intern, Sally Tamarkin, will give us her thoughts about a subject she feels she was put on this planet to discuss: peanut butter. Sally put several peanut butter brands to the test and has determined the very best one – that is, of the unsalted, crunchy variety.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “DA: State Official Told Butterball Turkey Farm Raid Was Coming” from ABC News
• “COK files lawsuit against California hatchery to stop cruel and unlawful practices” from Compassion Over Killing
• “We’re Eating Less Meat. Why?” from The New York Times
• “A Tighter Leash on Exotic Pets” from The New York Times
• “Natalie Portman Considers Doing Eating Animals: The Movie” from Vegan.com

“When you cease to make a contribution you begin to die.” -Eleanor Roosevelt 

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

When I’ve been in the position of having to select a course of action from a list of possibilities, my response is simply to do it all. Indeed, I want to try every single thing — sometimes all at once — because I am just not sure what the most appropriate tactic may be for my campaign or goal. And testing multiple tactics is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that, in my experience, we pressed-for-time-and-resources changemakers make these decisions on the fly because, frankly, we just aren’t sure what to do next.

In the midst of all this improvising and best-guessing, I’ve thought many times,”Isn’t there just an Organizing for Dummies book?” I just wished for a simple how-to guide with the steps I needed to take to win our campaign.

Of course, advocacy isn’t like that: Most campaigns are waged using a variety of actions and a wide repertoire of tactics. While there are no simple, cut and dried answers here — after all, there really is no one way to mount a successful campaign — the best thing we activists can do is learn from the battles that have already been fought, and allow those successes and challenges to inform the decisions we make going forward.

Light up your changemaking efforts with Animal Impact: Secrets Proven to Achieve Results and Move the World.

The 2011 book, Animal Impact: Secrets Proven to Achieve Results and Move the World, promises to provide a blueprint to do just that. Author Caryn Ginsberg, a longtime animal advocate, asks “Why do some animal protection efforts succeed while others fail?” The answer to this question comes in the form of stories and tips from over 80 advocates working in animal rights. Ginsberg has more than a decade of experience working with leaders of the animal protection movement. The knowledge she has accumulated is vast. I confess that I haven’t yet read this book, but after reading a sample of the book’s front material, introduction, first chapter, and index, I can’t wait to get my hands on it. The sample is so informative and comprehensive, it’s difficult to believe that it represents just a fraction of the resources included in the book.

Animal Impact covers everything from crafting a message, to using social media, to how to pursue advocacy without breaking the bank, to tons more practical tips about creating your change campaign. The best part is that the tips and strategies shared in the book aren’t there because they’re effective in theory. They come from advocates who used them successfully, people who are now spilling the beans on everything they have learned in their own advocacy. This is the how-to guide I have been waiting for!

Whether or not you’re an experienced activist or a brand new changemaker, this book appears to be a must-have. It also comes with a bonus Companion Journal that will help you get your campaign started, allowing you to make the most out of everything you’ve learned from the book.

Animal Legal and Historical Center

The Animal Legal and Historical Center is an absolutely invaluable website for anyone interested in animal law. Founded by Professor David Favre, an eminent and longstanding animal law scholar at Michigan State University School of Law, this voluminous and constantly updated website organizes over 12oo full text cases and 1400 statutes into subject areas. It also includes comprehensive descriptions and explanations of the original sources, original articles, links to articles on every conceivable animal law topic, and news updates on hot topics in animal law. If that weren’t enough, it also includes an international collection of materials.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund has recently released the sixth edition of it’s amazing resource, Animal Protection Laws of the United States of America and Canada. The entire 4000 pages, in searchable form, can be downloaded for free, and will provide you with “a detailed survey of the general animal protection and related statutes for all of the states, principal districts and territories of the United States of America, and for all of Canada; [and] up-to-date versions of each jurisdiction’s laws.”

Many law schools now provide research guides to animal law in their online library guides and, while they may not provide links which outsiders can use to access the materials, they can be a useful starting point for those who want to do research in this area who have access to Lexis or Westlaw, or other ways of accessing the materials. For example, UCLA’s Libguide provides a very useful research guide to animal law. Of particular interest is the section called Getting Started: Suggested Readings for Those New to Animal Law, which compiles articles of interest to those just finding out about animal law to help them in their journey. And, while you’re at it,  you should be aware that Westlaw itself now includes animal law as an individual subject area in its database.

There are now so many animal law journals published by law schools that it’s impossible to keep up! It’s so exciting. They include the venerable Animal Law out of Lewis and Clark, which has been published regularly since 1994(!), the Journal of Animal Law out of Michigan State University, and the Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy.

For less scholarly, and more newsy ways to stay on top of animal law, you might want to regularly peruse new issues of The Animals’ Advocate, published by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Another great resource is the Animal Blawg, which was founded by Professor David Cassuto of Pace Law School, and is updated quite regularly. Or, quickest and easiest, just “like” the facebook page of the Animal Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s TIPS section, where articles of interest to animal lawyers — and animal lovers — are posted on a daily basis.

In addition to these awards for people, there are several awards for particular pieces of work. These include Media of the Year, Undergraduate Paper/Project/Thesis of the Year, Graduate Paper/Project/Dissertation of the Year, and Faculty Paper/Project of the Year. If you are proud of one of your accomplishments in this area, or know someone who has produced stellar work during the past year, check out the requirements and get your nomination in now.

While we’re on the subject, you probably will want to consider submitting a proposal for a presentation to be made at the Institute’s annual conference, which will be held at Canisius College, in Buffalo, on March 2-4. The theme of this year’s conference will be From Greece to Wall St.: Global Economic Revolutions and Critical Animal Studies, and they are seeking presentations from a wide variety of disciplines on a wide variety of topics, including Critical Criminology, Animals in Relations to Religion and Spirituality, Social Networking, and Redefining Nature. The proposal only needs to be 500 words, so even though it’s also due on January 15, there’s no reason not to jump on this and get it in.

As most of you already know, Vegan Mainstream not only “provides marketing solutions” to vegan businesses, but also empowers and supports an eager and thriving vegan community (such as through their Facebook page, which is interactive and full of current AR happenings). The upcoming webinars are one hour long, totally free, and — if you ask me — a much more productive way of spending your lunch hour than playing Snood (which, okay, I also thoroughly enjoy).

Another set of upcoming animal-themed webinars come to us thanks to the ASPCA, are also one hour long and offered at no cost, and focus on the subject of animal abuse, with an emphasis on animal law. They include “The AniCare Approach for Treating Animal Abuse: What it is and how you can use it,” “Non-Human DNA in Criminal Cases,” “The Psychological Aspects of Maltreated Animals,” and “Common Issues Law Enforcement and Prosecutors Confront When Investigating and Litigating ‘Puppy Mill’ Cases.”

Also on the webinar circuit is Julie Lewin, the passionate activist behind the book Get Political for Animals. Though not yet up on the website, we hear through the grapevine that she will next be offering her series of webinars on that same topic starting later this month. On January 21, at 1 pm EST, you can view “Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need in Your Town, City, County or State”; on Sunday, January 29, at 1 pm EST there’s “How the Lawmaking Process Really Works — and How Your Political Group for Animals Impacts Each Step”; and, on Sunday, February 5, at 1 pm EST, you can see, “How to Launch and Run a Political Organization for Animals in Your Town, City, County or State — and the Simple Steps It Takes to Do It.” These sound like the perfect next step for those who were intrigued by what our intern Sally so eloquently talked about last week – changing the law for animals. In addition to the above scheduled webinars, Julie even offers private ones, all as part of the National Institute for Animal Advocacy. To register, first email Julie at jlewin[at]nifaa.org and, once she tells you there’s still an opening, donate what you can afford on the website. Don’t forget to join her email list to stay up to speed about current webinars.

We at Our Hen House have talked about using Webinars for Animal Rights before. Beyond just attending the ones that Vegan Mainstream, the ASPCA, and Julie Lewin are offering — and ones that other advocacy groups have offered in the past, sometimes even as online conferences — maybe you want to go further into webinar world. If you are a person with a unique skill set that can be plugged into changing the world (and we all have one, folks, as we discussed in our recent workshop on activism that is now available online), perhaps its time for you to dust off your webcam and start your own webinar. These can include subjects such as vegan nutrition, using art to speak up for animals, Leafleting 101, animal law, and about a bzillion other pro-animal themed subjects.

Another plus? You don’t have to leave your living room. You can even be naked from the waist down, and no one would know. Which gives me an idea: “Change the World Wearing No More than a Necktie?” Perhaps…

Now, you can view the entire workshop for free on the Lewis & Clark website (just fyi — viewing it requires that your computer be up to date with Silverlight). It’s a good workshop to even have on in the background as you do house chores or the likes. In other words, you only really need to hear it.

Even more exciting for us (since we did, in fact, already attend our own workshop) is that the vast majority of the workshops presented throughout the weekend are now up on the Lewis & Clark site. We are pretty stoked to catch up on some of the ones we missed, and revisit the workshops we already attended. Some highlights include “Drawing Connections Between Animal Law and Other Disciplines” by Taimie Bryant and Maneesha Deckha, “Developing New Legal Theories to Help Animals: Benefits and Limitations” by Kathy Hessler and Matthew Liebman, and “Where Did Your Food Really Come From? A Guide to Food Labeling,” by Carter Dillard and Will Fantle.

In today’s episode, we will discuss what makes some people act in unethical ways. This topic was inspired by a couple we passed “oo-ing” and “ahh-ing” in front of a puppy store, discussing which one to buy. It made us think of this saying by RD Laing:

In order to change something: The range of what we see and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.

We’ll talk about that, and ruminate on how, as animal advocates, we can help people notice that they’re… failing to notice.

We’ll also banter about Portlandia, TOFU Magazine (check out the interview with Jasmin in Issue Six), and the new, raw, NYC restaurant that found its way into our hearts, Gingersnap’s Organic.

Joining us today is longtime activist, Bruce Friedrich, who will tell us about the plans he has with his new role at Farm Sanctuary – including the “Someone, Not Something” campaign, and how he intends to involve local community in ending animal cruelty and adopting a vegan diet.

For our review, Our Hen House’s brilliant intern, Sally Tamarkin, will join us for a fun look at the new board game, Fur & Feathers, which is dedicated to educating children and adults on the importance of remembering how our everyday choices affect the lives of animals. Not to ruin anything, but let’s just say that Jasmin kicked some ass. (And through the end of February, enter code “OURHENHOUSE” when you purchase your very own Fur & Feathers board game, and Our Hen House will get $5 of the purchase!)

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Long awaited legislation outlaws puppy farming in Ireland” from Irish Central
• “Sculptured by Weights and a Strict Vegan Diet” from The New York Times
• “FDA limites 1 class of antibiotics in livestock as public health groups urge gov’t to do more” from The Washington Post
• “Livestock Groups, Egg Industry at Odds Over HSUS Deal” from Food Safety News
• “Justice And A Safe Haven For Chicago’s Court Case Dogs” from Forbes

“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” -Lena Horne

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. If you’re a weekly listener, you might consider making a recurring monthly donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. Plus, we offer some fantastic thank you gifts for your donations. Thank you for helping us to create quality content, and for helping us bring you a new, hour-long podcast each week!

Photo at top of blog: Courtesy of Farm Sanctuary. Photo by Connie Pugh. 

March 30-31, 2012

Of course, humans share their vulnerability not only with other humans, but with all the sentient creatures of this planet. That is why it is exciting to see that the latest project of this Initiative is a workshop entitled, “An Uncomfortable Conversation: Human Use of Animals.” And it’s also exciting to see that it recognizes that, not only do animals share humans’ vulnerability, they are additionally vulnerable to the enormous suffering imposed upon them by humans.

A few of the guiding questions for the workshop are: “Where do our obligations to animals originate — their capacity to suffer or other morally relevant properties; rights; relation to humans, and/or vulnerability to harm?” “What is the significance of the fact that humans create and control the permanent dependency of domestic animals?” and “Are animals made vulnerable by their legal status as property, human creation, or use, and how should individuals, private entities, or the state respond to such vulnerability?”

If these are the kind of questions that intrigue you, a call for papers has been issued, and proposals are due on February 1, 2012. The workshop itself will be held on March 30-31, 2012.

During that time, I was the lead organizer and coordinator of a coalition called ctEQUALITY. We were a group of over 40 organizations who were leading a campaign to pass a transgender non-discrimination bill in Connecticut. The coalition had been at it for several years — the bill had been raised repeatedly and died at some point during the legislative session each time — but we felt like 2011 was our year. And it was.

Change the world for animals... through legislation.

In October 2011, Connecticut became the 15th state to include gender identity and gender expression in its non-discrimination laws. This was a hard-earned, satisfying, and important victory. One of things that made it so meaningful was the number of people — everyday Connecticut folks — who got involved in our effort by talking to their legislators about why our bill was so important to them, their families, and their communities. And the legislators listened. There is little I’ve experienced that is as rewarding as watching a legislator stand up during a vote and, in remarks to her colleagues about why she will support your bill, reference a meeting with a constituent that educated her on our issue, thereby persuading her to cast a vote in our favor. Call me a nerd, but democracy in action is pretty darn cool.

Over the course of 2010 and 2011, I evolved into a brazen advocate. While I was once shy about even talking to my state senator’s aide over the phone, I turned into a loudmouth who wouldn’t hesitate to tap a legislator on the shoulder while in line at the Legislative Office Building’s cafeteria. I knew my issue and talking points so well that I actually relished any opportunity I had to make a case for my bill.

Now that I am almost six months vegan (5 months and 23 days, to be exact), I am itching to use my passion for legislative advocacy to change the world for animals. I’ve read about the changes that can be made at the state level, whether through ballot initiatives, like California’s Prop 2, also known as the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which prospectively eliminates veal crates, gestation crates, and battery cages, or through the legislature, like Oregon’s SB 616, which, when it was signed into law this past June, allowed judges to include companion animals when protecting domestic abuse survivors via restraining orders. These are just two examples of successful state laws passed for animals.

However, while it’s clear that my interest in animal rights can be easily funneled into legislative advocacy, I have been pretty intimidated at the thought of going there because I’ve only ever really talked to people I know about my veganism, and about my interest in animal protection.

Then something dawned on me. Legislators are people I know. They’re my neighbors, people I follow on Twitter, my Facebook friends, the folks I run into at the farmers’ market. I must’ve made this same point a bazillion time when I was trying to persuade ctEQUALITY’s prospective volunteers and citizen activists to reach out to their legislators. If I can articulate to a peer, colleague or neighbor why a certain issue is important to me and my community, I’m basically 75% of the way to lobbying my state representative!

If you’re like me and are either new to animal rights or new to legislative advocacy, I invite you to make 2012 the year you tune into how animals are faring in your community and state, and start talking about it with the people you elected to represent you. With that in mind, I have a couple of steps that might help ease you through the process.

This place is full of your friends and neighbors.

1. Find out who your state representative and senator are. My favorite way to do this is to visit Project VoteSmart and look up my reps by my 9 digit ZIP code. (You will need those extra 4 digits that come after your ZIP code, which you can quickly look up at the USPS website.) Project VoteSmart should tell you who all of your elected officials are. For finding your state legislators, you will want to click on “State Legislative.”

2. Find their contact info. In most cases, Project VoteSmart is great about linking you to all kinds of contact info. However, if it’s not telling you how to contact your legislators, you can find out easily enough by going to the website of your state legislature, which you can find using the super handy database at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

3. Familiarize yourself with the issue. Google around. Find out what organizations are already advocating on this issue, and then ask them for their talking points and tips about how to approach your legislator. Animal Legal Defense Fund offers a handy tool to tell you what the laws are like in your state, and the Humane Society of the United States will tell you about much of the animal-related legislation currently pending in your state. The best part is that, as a citizen activist, you’re not expected to know tons of heady legal information or wonky policy data about whatever issue you want to discuss. You’re expected to know the issue, sure, but more importantly, to be able to passionately assert why something is so important to you. And you can expand “you” to include your family, friends, children, community, etc.

4. Get in touch. In-person contact is best, but a phone call, email, tweet or Facebook message is a great start. I really like this list of pointers when it comes to the actual conversation you’re going to have with your legislators. Take a look to give you a sense of how the meeting should go. Once you  make contact, you can make your case over the phone or in an email, or you can make an appointment to visit your legislator’s office or meet in the district somewhere — maybe over a soy latte at a nearby coffee house, or in a local park. If you have likeminded friends and neighbors, so much the better — invite your legislator to a local home where you will all be gathered (don’t forget the vegan cupcakes). Remember that legislators are most persuaded by those who have the power to vote them in (or out) of office, so gathering people from other districts, or talking with legislators outside of your district, will be less effective.

These are just a few tips to start getting involved in policy advocacy in your community. For most people, it just takes getting over the initial hump of not knowing who their legislators are and/or being intimidated about making contact. Remember that laws in our communities are made by passionate advocates who are persistent and committed, and aren’t afraid to let those with the power to make laws know it.

If you’re intrigued by legislative advocacy to benefit animals, you might also check out Julie Lewin’s book, Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need, which is a must-read for any animal advocate interested in lobbying for change. Farm Sanctuary also has some helpful pointers on their website, including “How to Lobby for Farm Animals in Your State Legislature and in Congress,” “A Resource Guide to Bill Drafting,” “Raise Farm Animal Awareness at a Town Hall Meeting,” and, for our Northern neighbors, “Advocating for Farm Animals in Canada.”

As for myself, I certainly didn’t start out as a teacher. I am a lawyer, and have been for longer than I care to admit in this blog entry. But law was one of the first areas of academia to focus on animal issues in a serious way, and law schools were eager to find people with some expertise in the brand new field of animal law to teach courses. Thus, about 5 years ago, my teaching career was born.

These days, when I’m not running Our Hen House with Jasmin, I teach animal law as an adjunct at 3 law schools in New York City — positions I hold near to my heart, even if it has caused me a few grey hairs in the process. Incidentally, those grey hairs are thanks to the nature of the work itself, given that I am, since birth, an introvert. It has nothing to do with my incredible and eager students, nor does it involve the coursework, which I frequently find riveting. There are so many aspects of teaching that I love — but, let me tell you, I never thought I would be the one standing at the podium. I have found that, sometimes, animal advocacy combines with life in an unusual and unpredictable way. I am, indeed, “the professor and Mariann.” (If you are too young to get that reference, I don’t even want to know about it.)

If you’ve never taught before, it may — at first, anyway — seem a bit daunting. It certainly did for me (and, truth be told, it still has its moments). In order to ease your way in, one way to start fairly small is to explore the adult education resources in your area. Perhaps there is a formal adult education program at your local community college, or your nearby high school. Or perhaps your community library has adult ed programs. Or there may be a private provider of continuing education courses, such as New York’s Open Center. Look at the current course offerings and think about what sort of class you would want to pitch that would fit in with the type of courses they offer. One idea might be a broad introduction to the issues involved in animal rights. Another idea is a focus on animals in food production. Or, if you’re a lawyer, you could teach one on the fundamentals of animal law. That could be a great opportunity to inform people on the laws concerning some of the everyday issues that confront them regarding their pets, while also broadening their knowledge-base about animal exploitation.

Can you cook? (If so, feel free to drop by for dinner.) A course in the fundamentals of vegan cooking is one of the most valuable things you could offer someone who wants to live more compassionately, but doesn’t know where to start. And such a course could give you the entrée (pun intended) to offer people some much-needed information about vegan nutrition. People are hungry for this information (pun intended again), and, as you make it available to them, you can literally save their lives — along with the animals. How’s that for food for thought?

If you have some academic credentials, you might want to think about moving beyond adult education. Animal studies is now a growing and vibrant part of almost every academic field, as the New York Times has recently recognized, and undergraduate courses in animal studies are booming, as is also evident from the directory kept by the Animals and Society Institute. Our friend David Wolfson, who has taught animal law for many years, is now teaching an undergraduate Animals and Public Policy course at New York University, as part of their minor in Animal Studies. These kinds of opportunities are going to be growing by leaps and bounds, and there are not that many people with the expertise to fill them. Moreover, we certainly don’t want to see the field of animal studies coopted by industry, or by people with a shortsighted view of the issues.

Needless to say, undergraduate teaching gigs may be difficult to get for the beginner. However, community colleges could certainly be a possibility. It’s 2012 — the year of taking chances! That’s according to me, anyhow — and I just made that up right now. But, hey, let’s go with it. If teaching is something you’ve always wanted to do, but it seems scary to you, that’s because it’s a Big Deal. But it’s also a totally necessary step in terms of long-term change for animals, and there are ways of approaching it that are both attainable and fulfilling. It doesn’t have to be terrifying. Don’t make it harder than it is.

While we’re on the subject, if you are, like me, a lawyer, remember that there are still not a lot of people out there with an expertise in animal law, and there are a ton of law schools adding courses — so the possibility of getting an adjunct professorship is very real. If there’s already a course at your local law school, think about pitching a separate course on, say, companion animal law, or farmed animal law, or some kind of other subset of animal law. Or, if all of this seems way too daunting, think about hooking up with your bar association to teach a Continuing Legal Education program on your area of expertise. Believe me, one thing can lead to another!

Maybe teaching feels outside your comfort zone. If so, try to rethink. While you may have to brush up your public speaking skills (Toastmasters, anyone?) or overcome your shyness (if I can do it, anyone can), you already possess the most important thing that any teacher can have — the truth.

Whether or not you’re into New Year’s resolutions per se, early January — the time when the holiday mayhem is over (and yes, that was me shouting it from the rooftop this morning) — is the perfect time to size up our pro-animal projects, and perhaps get out the drafting paper for some new ones. Or revamp the ones we’ve got. It’s time to take stock and act accordingly.

I am also a big fan of reassessing. I think an ongoing discussion we should all be having with ourselves is: “Self, what are my life goals? In what ways am I working toward them? Through my job? My volunteer work? Both? Is there anything I need to adjust in order to better work toward my life goal?”

With all of this in mind, the post-holiday season is ideal for reevaluating our animal activism, and figuring out where we can and should step it up. Tied into that is, of course, the sustainability factor — and I’m not talking about hemp socks or hybrid cars. I’m talking about our own sustainability. The animals need us to be in this for the long run. Are we positioned to stick around? While the fact that in the U.S. alone, 286 chickens are killed every second, may make this a life-threatening emergency that must be addressed RIGHT NOW, are we nevertheless fighting the good fight in a way that takes care of our own needs, too?

Below are 10 questions that might help you take stock of where your advocacy is as we start 2012. As always, check in daily with Our Hen House (and weekly with our podcast) for ideas and opportunities to change the world for animals.

10 Questions Animal Advocates Should Ask Themselves 

1. Am I effectively doing what I can in my life to change the world for animals?
2. Am I appropriately putting my talents and skills into use with regards to my animal activism?
3. Am I feeling fulfilled in the process? Is there anything I can do to feel more fulfilled?
4. Even though working in animal rights can be hideously depressing and infuriating, am I noticing the tiny victories along the way? Am I seeing the good stuff?
5. Is my activism sustainable or am I on the fast-track to burnout? If it’s not sustainable, why not? What do I need to do to change it up? Perhaps that means temporarily shifting my focus, whether to a different animal issue, or a different tactic?
6. Do I have a safe space around me — through my romantic relationship or my social circles, or even online — in which to express my fears and desires as they pertain to my animal activism?
7. Is there a dream I have for promoting animal rights that I am ready to work toward?
8. Am I taking care of myself? Do I have enough energy? Am I getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods, and getting enough exercise?
9. Am I learning something new every day that will further enrich my own knowledge and insights regarding animal issues?
10. Am I remembering that, just as I have mentors, I am probably a mentor to someone else — even if I don’t know to whom? Therefore, am I setting a good example?

With that in mind, we felt that the appropriate way to start 2012 is with a review of Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. Sharing her wisdom once again with us is guest reviewer, Carrie Forrest. This is Carrie’s second book review for Our Hen House. When she is not studying for her graduate degree in public health nutrition, and finishing the coursework to become a registered dietitian, Carrie loves to visit farmers’ markets around California’s central coast, and post healthy, plant-based recipes on her popular blog, Carrie on Vegan (which is one of our absolute favorite go-to places for healthy vegan recipes). 

In addition to taking care of ourselves, gifting books that focus on plant-based foods can be just the ticket to get our Aunt Ida to try on vegan for size. Even though the gift-giving season is officially over, the season of sharing scrumptious, nutritious vegan food is year-round. Super Immunity is yet another resource for us in terms of making headway with the health argument for veganism. Hook ‘em with health, and while they are enjoying the benefits that come from eating this way, slip them a copy of, say, Eating Animals, and you have your very own activist in the making.

And don’t miss your very own opportunity to win a copy of Super Immunity. Read on for details (and for a healthy cake recipe that you absolutely must try). 

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Eating Your Way to Super Immunity

Review by Carrie Forrest

For a multitude of reasons, I was one of those kids who was often sick. Starting every year in late fall, I found myself battling cold after cold, missing school and going to the doctor  – only to be prescribed another round of antibiotics. Up until my early 30′s, a plane ride inevitably meant the onset of a virus upon reaching my destination.

Finally, a few years ago, I started making the connections between diet and health. The turning point in taking charge of my health destiny was discovering the Eat to Live program (and the book by the same title by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D). As many of you may already know, Dr. Fuhrman — who has been featured on Our Hen House’s podcast — is a family-practice physician who advocates a diet based on the scientific evidence that shows eating a diet rich in micronutrients from whole, plant-based foods is optimal for human health.

In late 2011, Dr. Fuhrman released a new book, Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free, which offers more evidence showing how we can transform our immune system from weak or damaged (thanks to the Standard American Diet), to one that is of a “superhero” quality, and can ward off dangerous bacteria, viruses, and — in some cases — even cancer.

In fact, the bulk of Dr. Fuhrman’s advice in this book is about fighting cancer and building the strongest defenses possible against that risk. In Super Immunity, he cites research that “the lifetime probability of being diagnosed with an invasive cancer is 44 percent for men and 37 percent for women. However, because of the earlier median age of diagnosis for breast cancer compared with other major cancers, women have a slightly higher probability of developing cancer before the age of sixty. Currently, one in four deaths in the United States is due to cancer.”

While these statistics are scary, Dr. Fuhrman counters them with recommendations that can significantly reduce the risk of cancer development, along with reducing the risk for many of the other diet-related diseases that commonly kill Americans. In short, his immune-building advice centers around consuming a diet that is plant-based, consisting of primarily vegetables (especially green ones), fruits, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains.

My favorite section of this book is the one entitled “Super Foods for Super Immunity” because it describes the research and mechanisms that give certain foods properties to fight both cancer and infections. The most immune-enhancing foods are cruciferous vegetables, mushrooms, onions, garlic, pomegranates, berries and seeds. The point is to consume generous amounts of these foods because “phytochemicals are the fuel that run our body’s anticancer defenses.”

In the chapter regarding how to fight colds and flu, Dr. Fuhrman reviews the evidence regarding some common remedies, some of which he shows have not been proven to be effective. One example — the traditional “chicken soup” remedy has no scientific basis and, in fact, could slow the recovery process because the body has to work harder to digest animal protein. Other unproven strategies include taking vitamin C, using a humidifier, irrigating the nose, and taking echinacea. Dr. Fuhrman’s advice for when you are ill is to avoid unnecessary medications and supplements and to simply rest, reduce food intake, and let your body heal naturally.

Dr. Fuhrman’s comments on the flu vaccine are thought-provoking, too. As a future health professional, I’ve always advocated on behalf of vaccines. His point is that “the flu is not a dangerous disease in healthy individuals,” and that the evidence that the vaccine actually reduces the number of people hospitalized or missing work is shaky. Also, besides the fact that there are known risks to any vaccination — including the flu shot — the vaccine usually covers less than 10 percent of the viruses circulating. Other controversial topics he tackles include folic acid intake for pregnant women, the health benefits (or lack thereof) of coffee, pesticides in our food supply, and the safety of soy products.

In the chapter “Healthy Carbs, Fats and Proteins,” Dr. Fuhrman explains how a nutrient-rich diet contributes overall to a superior immune system. He addresses common nutritional myths that a very low-fat diet is healthiest (it’s not!), and that sea salt is not as dangerous as regular salt (it is!). As a vegan and future registered dietitian, I was fascinated by the research he presented on protein, including how animal protein increases insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in the body, which has associations with increased rates of cancer.

Overall, Super Immunity offers a wealth of information for anyone wanting to reduce his or her risk against disease. Dr. Fuhrman distills the complex, scientific research into clear suggestions for the healthiest way to proceed. He concludes the book with a section devoted to recipes, using many of the superfoods he describes.

One of my favorite all-time recipes by Dr. Fuhrman is the one for a “Healthy Chocolate Cake,” which you’ll find below. While it is intended to be consumed on special occasions, it is indeed made from health-promoting ingredients and, in fact, is absolutely delicious. I have found Dr. Fuhrman’s recipes in general to be outstanding. If you are new to this way of cooking and eating, it takes a little while to adjust to the lack of salt and oil. However, I encourage you to read his books, check out his website, and discover for yourself how what you eat can drastically change your health for the better.

And keep scrolling for your chance to win your own copy of Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

***

Healthy Chocolate Cake (re-printed with permission from the publisher)

Serves: 12

For the Cake:

1 ¾ cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons baking soda

3 ½ cups pitted dates, divided

1 cup pineapple chunks in own juice, drained

1 banana

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup shredded raw beets

¾ cup shredded raw carrots

½ cup shredded raw zucchini

3 tablespoons natural, nonalkalized cocoa powder

½ cup currants

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 ½ cups water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Nut Icing:

1 cup raw macadamia nuts and/or raw cashews

1 cup vanilla soy, hemp or almond milk

2/3 cup pitted dates

1/3 cup brazil nuts or hazelnuts

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Unbaked cake...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside. In blender or food processor, puree 3 cups of the dates, pineapple, banana and applesauce. Slice remaining ½ cup dates into ¼-inch pieces. In large bowl, mix sliced dates, beets, carrots, zucchini, cocoa powder, currants, walnuts, water, vanilla and flour mixture. Add the blended mixture and mix well. Spread in a 9 x 13-inch nonstick baking pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For the icing, use a high-powered blender and combine all icing ingredients until smooth and creamy. Spread on cooled cake.

Final cake with icing. YUM!

***

The publisher has kindly agreed to send a copy to one lucky reader! To enter to win a copy, simply make a comment on this post telling us why, as an animal advocate, it is important to you to stay healthy — and what techniques you use to do so. This can also include healthy resolutions or hopes you have for the New Year. A random winner will be chosen after Monday, January 9, 2012, at midnight, EST — which is when the contest ends.

In today’s episode, we are putting aside our stomach virus and sharing with you – not our virus – but our feelings about the recent 42 million dollar donation to Heifer International, our experiences being perceived as the difficult vegans at our Christmas dinner, and our hopes for the New Year, vis a vis changes to our attitudes.

Joining us on this extra special episode – the last of 2011 – is nutritionist and writer, Gena Hamshaw. Gena, who is the mastermind behind the uber-popular blog, Choosing Raw, will let us in on how much raw food vegans should ideally have in their diets. She’ll also talk about how she incorporates animal activism into her mostly food-centric platform. And she’ll discuss disordered eating, and how veganism can act as a healing mechanism for people who have struggled with these issues. Gena will discuss loads more, too. You won’t want to miss this year-end interview with an incredibly articulate and insightful woman who is on the road to taking the medical profession by storm, the vegan way.

Then, Our Hen House’s Hollywood correspondent, Ari Solomon (of “Shit Vegans Say” fame), will be joining us for a very special musical tribute to some of the vegan and AR highlights of 2011. We flex our vocal chords too. Don’t miss this.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “Leaving Animals Out of the Cosmetics Picture” from the New York Times
• “Butterball Turkey Raided Amid Animal Abuse Allegations” from ABC News
• “How Smart Is This Bird? Let It Count the Ways” from the New York Times
• “An Idyllic Picture of Serenity, but Only If You’re Not Inside” from the New York Times
• “Liberty, the last battery hen in Britian, is set free” from Metro
• “Fur Coats Banned at Animal Lover’s East Side Bars” from DNAinfo.com

“Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet.” -Alice Walker

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can listen and subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! Don’t forget — we’re reader and listener supported. And through the end of the year, if you set up a recurring donation of at least $10 a month, you will receive a free, ethically-sourced Our Hen House tote bag. And also through the end of the year, if you donate a minimum of $250, we’ll send you a signed copy of a “Riot of the Hens” poster by legendary artist Sue Coe!

Thanks for helping to build Our Hen House!

Photo at top of blog from Choosing Raw.

There are dozens and dozens of job openings at PETA.

As for me, though it was my friend Marisa Miller Wolfson (of Vegucated) who, 8 years ago, showed me some footage of factory farming, effectively turning my long-time vegetarianism into full-fledged, passionate veganism — it was the subsequent week-long volunteer trip I took to PETA that brought my activism into full-swing.

If you’re in the market for a job in animal rights, there are currently 41 openings with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in the U.S. alone. They fit every category you can think of, including administration, media, communications, campaigning, science, and investigations. And the domestic openings span the country — from NYC, to Washington, DC, to Norfolk, VA, to Los Angeles, to even a few telecommuting positions. There are also ample PETA positions overseas, such as in Asia, Australia, India, and the UK.

In browsing around, some of the highlights of these positions included, for me anyway, Media Officers, both in NYC and in DC, a Production Artist in Norfolk, a Celebrity Marketing Coordinator in PETA’s brand-spanking new office in LA, a Translator for PETA Asia, and a Campaign Coordinator in either PETA India or in Japan. There are literally dozens more.

I am, to say the least, in absolute awe of the amount of materials PETA produces, and, as is evidenced by our first paragraph, the amount of  influential changemakers it has created (superstar phenomenon Maggie Q is one of thousands of celebrities who also attributes her animal rights and vegan awakening to PETA). Even though many of them have gone on to have their own spin on their activism and outlook, there is no question as to who was at the root of their awakening.

All of this said, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and again and again): You do not need to work for an animal rights organization, or a vegan restaurant, or a vegan PR firm, in order to create change for animals. Truly, one of the most powerful things you can do for animals is to spread the message of non-violence and compassion in your everyday lives in a way that works for you. That is clearly the essence of what we talk about here in Our Hen House. Changemakers come in all shapes and sizes. We hope that the multimedia tools and resources we offer daily help you to figure out what shape and size you are, and how to plug that into animal activism.

But for those of you whose hearts desire nothing greater than a job in animal rights — I get that. I spent years working for AR organizations, including as the campaigns manager at Farm Sanctuary (by the way, they are also hiring) – a job I held very close to my heart, and a position that allowed my activism to grow by leaps and bounds. And, of course, I am lucky enough to write for my favorite publication on the planet, VegNews Magazine (shameless plug: keep an eye out for my article, “Veganism Saved My Life,” in the February 2012 issue). And, as you can see, I started my own advocacy organization. So if there’s one thing I understand, it’s the unrelenting gnawing at your heartstrings that leaves you no other choice but to pursue a career in vegan advocacy and animal rights. Just know that you don’t have to go down that road to change the world for animals. But if you do, I hope that some of the resources we highlighted this week are helpful to you. And I wish you the best of luck in your search, and a happy, healthy, compassionate, changemaking New Year.

So it’s no wonder that so many of those who care about animals are eager to get involved in legal work. Of course, many, many lawyers who care about animals don’t make animal law their career. Instead, they help out animal organizations by doing pro bono work whenever they can. Or, even better, by bringing lawsuits that do good for the animals and make them a lot of money at the same time. But for those who want to do this full-time, there are some opportunities out there. Here are a few current ones:

For law students, an upaid summer internship with an animal protection organization is the most valuable experience that you can get, regardless of whether you ultimately make animal law your full-time career, or your part-time passion. Compassion Over Killing is seeking legal interns for this summer and I can’t think of a better learning opportunity than working with Cheryl Leahy, COK’s general counsel and one of the best and the brightest that animal law has to offer. For more information, contact COK at legal[at]cok.net. The Humane Society of the United States is also seeking interns for their crack legal department.

On the professor front, Lewis and Clark University currently has a few outstanding opportunities. They are seeking a visiting faculty member to teach animal law starting in the 2012-2013 academic year . They are also seeking an administrator (with teaching responsibilities) for their brand spanking new LLM program in animal law. And even if you’re not a professor, if you have an expertise in animal law, don’t hesitate to check out whether you local law school has a course in animal law. If not, you may be just the person they are looking for to start one up.

Careers in Animal Law

Lawyers who want a job practicing law with an animal protection organization have to look to organizations large enough to have a legal department, or at least a general counsel, and these will not always be organizations with a specifically vegan philosophy. But, as long as the job doesn’t involve work that you actually don’t believe in, that can actually present a wonderful opportunity to bring a vegan philosophy into your workplace. These jobs can be hard to find, but they’re out there. One organization that is looking right now is the ASPCA, which wants to fill two remote positions, Legal Advocacy Counsel, which will involve the provision of back-up and hands-on assistance to prosecutors and investigators involved in animal cruelty cases across the country, and State Legislative Director. Another possibility is to look for an opportunity on the environmental side of animal law. For example, Defenders of Wildlife is currently seeking an Endangered Species Policy Associate, and Earthjustice is seeking associate attorneys in its offices in Florida and Alaska.

For further ideas on how to find a job in animal law, or to fit animal law into your career, you might want to check out Yolanda Eisenstein’s new book, Careers in Animal Law.

How you spend your day is how you spend your life.

I realize that it sounds obvious or like simple common sense, but this quote is something I come back to every so often when I need to be reminded that although jobs that are disconnected from my values might be more plentiful (not to mention more lucrative), I know that for me, it’s important to marry the gig that pays my bills with the beliefs that make me who I am, because, to whatever extent I can, I want to spend my days and therefore my life promoting social justice.

If your mind runs in the same direction, there is an incredible opportunity at Vegan Mainstream, which provides marketing services for vegan professionals (bloggers, authors, business owners, entrepreneurs, and so on). And don’t let “marketing” make you think this isn’t a kind of social justice work. Anytime we can bring attention to the amazing folks promoting a vegan lifestyle, we’re changing the world for animals.

The position that caught my eye is Public Relations Outreach Manager. It is a part-time gig (5-10 hours per week) for anyone located in Atlanta, San Francisco, Portland, Washington DC, Austin, Chicago, or Philadelphia. The position’s main responsibility is “getting the agency and its work featured in various press and trade publications as well as distributing and managing releases.”

Vegan Mainstream does fantastic work (for one thing, they run the vegan job board that listed this position), and helping them help vegan professionals spread their products, services, and advocacy is a win-win!

With vegan restaurants popping up throughout the country (and beyond), prospects for chef jobs are, too. Anyone who is interested in creating cruelty-free cuisine should be developing this delicious skill. Not only will it help you to make a mean vegan roast at your family’s holiday meal (well, a kind one, actually), but perhaps that dream of yours — to turn your savvy knife skills and propensity toward made-from-scratch seitan into a career — is not as far-fetched as you’ve been convincing yourself.

Listen closely... Your computer is telling you to become a vegan chef!

Though you should continue to make it a point to consistently search your nearest Craigslist‘s job openings for the word “vegan” (you’ll be surprised by what comes up) — as well as the resources we told you about yesterday, which frequently list chef jobs — here are three possibilities for talented food-lovers who are interested in extending their skills in a compassionate — and paid — direction:

In perhaps what is the most coveted position for anyone looking to become a vegan chef, bestselling vegan cookbook author, powerhouse Isa Chandra Moskowitz (who was featured on our 100th podcast episode), is not only opening a vegan restaurant in her new hometown of Omaha (!), but is looking for a chef to help execute the seasonal vegan menu. The opportunity to work with Isa is one that most compassionate-minded cooks can only dream of. It could definitely be worth a move to Omaha, which, as Isa discussed when she was on our 100th episode, is way cooler than that shocked look on your face implies. (Incidentally, my two previous associations with Nebraska are the thrifting excursion I took there when I was 16 and performing in a play in Lincoln — I got a really cute vintage jacket — and the mention of Omaha in the incredibly depressing but intensely moving Bette Midler song, “Hello in There.” Though these two already put us at 2 for 2 in Nebraska-positive associations, adding a new Isa-flavored vegan restaurant to the mix is nothing short of a vacation-waiting-to-happen.)

For the Canadians among us, there is also a vegan restaurant in East Vancouver searching for a vegan chef (neat, eh?). One thing that struck me about the posting for this job, in addition to their strong leaning toward the organic, sustainable, and natural health realms, was that the employer specifically asks that those interested in the position include in their application their ”motive” (as well as, of course, their “experiences with organic, vegan, and raw foods cuisine”). Though the posting doesn’t explicitly state this, it seems to me that an interest in the ethical and environmental motivations for pursuing this kind of work would only help your chances of getting hired — as long as you can also offer a deep understanding of the healing properties of healthy, vegan food (and, needless to say, talent for cooking). By the way, Vancouver is one of my favorite places on earth, as is evidenced by the journal I kept almost 3 years ago, during my vacation there. I still have dreams of Kitsalano Beach. And with the emergence of new vegan stores like Nice Shoes, you basically can’t go wrong with making British Columbia part of your future.

For those of you in the Chicago area, there is an opening for a cook at a “juice bar/vegetarian restaurant.” The position is part-time (with the possibility of becoming full-time), so it’s perfect for you midwesterners who are still trying to figure out if a future as a vegan chef is your speed. Plus, you’ll almost certainly need something physically-exerting (which being a cook is) to distract you from the blustery cold winters there (ah yes, I remember it well).

I can’t tell you how many times my friends have confided to me their lingering dreams to be a vegan chef. “If only…” they say, the end of their sentence almost always trailing off into another direction, the one that “reality” so frequently squelches.

Maybe 2012 will finish that sentence for you… and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Perhaps you can indeed have your vegan cake and eat it too — after you bake it, of course.

Good luck!

While we at Our Hen House are mostly in the business of helping people create change for animals within their everyday lives, regardless of what they do “for a living,” we certainly hope that some of you will make the move into animal-friendly jobs this year. With that in mind, we will spend this week, leading into the New Year, highlighting some jobs that just happen to be looking for talented individuals (like you?) to come fill them.

We are starting the week with news of a whole range of exciting positions, from physician to web designer, that are available with Dr. Joel Fuhrman, one of our very favorite health gurus. The fact that Dr. Furhman is looking for so many people to join his team is proof positive of the exploding success of his approach to health, which is largely based on the health-giving properties of plants. If you are anywhere near Flemington, New Jersey, a dynamic and exciting future may await you there. The positions currently available are:

Full-time family physician or internist – specializing in nutritional and natural methods to join Dr. Fuhrman’s Medical Associates. Candidate must be a practicing nutritarian.

Full-time Motivational/Food Addiction Counselor – PhD, Masters in Social Work or similar degree required. We are looking for a highly motivated, dynamic individual. Experience in nutrition and motivational speaking would be a plus. Job duties will include assessment, result tracking, maintaining compliance and motivating new clients in both corporate and private as well as motivational speaking on nutrition and food addiction at events.

Full-time Video Production Specialist- seeking professional with experience in all aspects of video production – including camera work, lighting, audio setups, editing, encoding. Candidate must possess the ability to manage video projects from conception to production; strong working knowledge of video formats and playback codecs, editing and best practices; proficiency in After Effects, Avid, Final Cut Pro, or Premier Pro. Plan, develop, and execute pre, studio/field, and post production to create a variety of video products for broadcast, DVD distribution, webcasting, and video streaming. Must include a link to your reel along with resume.

Full-time Web Designer – Experienced creative and technical designer to develop a variety of web sites and content adaptable to a variety of screen sizes, i.e. mobile devices – phones and tablets. Proficient in HTML, CSS, Javascript, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Understanding of content management systems, wireframing, user experience, and testing. Manage multiple projects under tight deadlines. Knowledge of current web-design trends and techniques. Must possess strong visual, verbal, and written communication skills.

Full-time Product Manager – Responsible for lifecycle management of products including product planning, development and marketing. Develop core positioning and messaging. Communicate effectively across all areas of the company. Experience with consumer products, specifically food and supplements preferred.

If you are interested in any of these positions, send a resume and cover letter to jobs[at]drfuhrman.com. But if these don’t tickle your fancy, stay tuned to our posts for the rest of the week. With any luck, we’ll come up with something that’s just right for you.

Also on the subject of what to do with the rest of your life, don’t miss our post from last summer, entitled “In the Market for a (Vegan) Job?” Among other things, it talked about incredibly helpful resources for the compassionate job-seeker, like the jobs section of the popular website, Vegan Mainstream. VegNews.com also has a thorough job listings page. And be sure to “like” the Vegan Jobs page on Facebook.

In today’s episode, as Christmas approaches, we are doing our best to be nice and not naughty… but we’re failing miserably. We will share with you our retort to one website’s question regarding whether feminists should be vegan. And we’ll vent a little regarding the latest piece in The Atlantic that promoted eating animals (the act of it, not the book). On the nicer side, though, we’ll also share with you the incredibly exciting news regarding our latest video on Sue Coe.

Joining us today is powerhouse Jamie Kilstein, half of the brains behind the wildly popular podcast, Citizen Radio. Jamie’s extended interview will include his ramblings about how he began Citizen Radio, his thoughts about reaching the lefty crowd with the vegan message, his ruminations on his experiences performing vegan jokes in his stand-up comedy act, and tons more.

For our review, Our Hen House’s Hollywood correspondent, Ari Solomon, will give us his thoughts on the forthcoming Stephen Spielberg film, War Horse. Ari will discuss with us not only the film itself, but some of the issues regarding the use of animals in film. (Also see: “Animal Stories in Film: Inherently Exploitative? Potentially Eye-Opening?“)

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “U.S. Will Not Finance New Research on Chimps” from the New York Times
• “State senator brings back ‘Ag Gag’ bill” from The Florida Independent
• “Lawsuit challenges animal enterprise terror law as unconstitutional” from the Los Angeles Times
• “FBI Says Activists Who Investigate Factory Farms Can Be Prosecuted as Terrorists” from Green is the New Red
• “Animal-Rights Activists and Commissioners Win One for the Circus Elephants in Margate” from Broward Palm Beach New Times
• “India to cut out animal dissection” from Nature.com
• “Jay-Z Joins Beyonce’s Pregnancy Diet” from US Weekly
• “Vegan Crowned Toughest Woman” from VegNews.com

 “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” -Henry David Thoreau 

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! And through the end of the year, if you set up a recurring donation of at least $10 a month, you will receive a free, ethically-sourced Our Hen House tote bag. Thanks!

Thank you thank you thank you… And don’t forget to subscribe to Dr. Mary MD.

ONCE AGAIN, HERE IS THE LINK TO VOTE! IT WILL LITERALLY TAKE YOU 3 SECONDS.

***

Our Hen House: First off, tell us how long you’ve been vegan.

Andy Tabar: I celebrated 4 years vegan in August!

OHH: How did the idea for Compassion Co. come about? And who else is involved?

AT: Compassion Co. is a project that I had been formulating in my head for the past three years or so but . . . it wasn’t until recently that I was in a stable enough position to actually make it a reality. The idea came about because I had become vegan and was looking to buy shirts that related to veganism or animal rights, but I couldn’t find anything that I would actually want to wear — either because the design wasn’t appealing or the message on the shirt didn’t reflect how I wanted to present my views to the world. . . . I wanted shirts that, first and foremost, had beautiful, interesting, aesthetically pleasing designs. I wanted shirts that could be a conversation piece, but didn’t start the conversation about the vegan lifestyle in a negative or hostile place. I also wanted to have a company that followed through with the underlying message of veganism in not only the physical product, but also the production and operation of the company. . . . All of the printing and design work is done by several close friends.

Compassion Calf tee

OHH: Compassion Co. seems to function as social justice work. What are your thoughts about engaging in this kind of “for-profit activism?”

AT: I know a lot of people feel ownership over the term “activism,” and I wouldn’t want anyone that is actually out there rescuing animals or participating in demonstrations to feel their work lessened by being lumped in with a guy selling t-shirts, but ultimately, yes I would consider Compassion Co. a form of activism. The battle for animal rights is one that is fought on many different grounds, and I think that the more aspects of daily life that vegan messages and ethics find their way into, the better. I think if we had to relegate animal rights activism to  .  .  . the non-profit sector, it would just serve to further reinforce the view that veganism is this weird fringe movement.

OHH: I follow your personal blog (expandedcircle.tumblr.com) and am impressed with how thoroughly, accurately and compassionately you address criticisms about veganism there. It seems like compassion is a throughline for you. Can you talk about your approach to vegan advocacy?

AT: The way that I conduct myself when engaging others with issues regarding animal rights and veganism comes from what I have observed over the past few years to be the most effective means of helping animals. Outside of direct action, the simplest and most effective means of helping animals is to adopt a vegan lifestyle and then help others to do the same. I have not once convinced someone to go vegan by yelling at them, shaming them, berating them or even winning an argument against them. I have, however, had more friends than I can count go vegan because they spend time with me, eat the food I prepare, and see how I conduct myself and they realize how easy and rewarding veganism can be. I believe that leading by example is the most effective means of change. . . .

I think that the most important thing we can do as activists is to remember where we were, mentally, 5 years before we went vegan. Would the methods we are employing now help our younger self go vegan? You might think that every meat-eater deserves to be punched in the face, but do you think you deserved to be punched in the face then? Even if you do, would that have made you go vegan?

Cruelty Free tee

OHH: Being fair-trade and sweatshop-free is important to you, too. Can you talk about why and how this fits in with veganism for you?

AT: To me, the two issues are inseparable. Many of the garment workers in sweatshops are being held as slaves or in slave-like conditions. This isn’t something that any vegan would endorse if it were animals, so I don’t see how our stance should be any different when it comes to humans. This is an issue that everyone should be concerned with, vegan or not. . . . The current system of production is really stacked against the consumer that wants to have ethical consideration for animals and humans. Part of my goal with Compassion Co. is to make it just a little bit easier to shop ethically. To me, being vegan represents working towards a larger conscience shift — one that gives proper consideration for humans, animals and the environment, and I don’t see how we could possibly make that shift without embracing the human rights struggle as well.

OHH: Do you have any tips for people interested in started a vegan business/for-profit business venture? Or, can you talk about any of what’s come up since you launched that’s been unexpected or difficult? 

AT: My advice for anyone looking to start a vegan oriented business is go for it. You’re gonna be great, and the world needs you! After that, I’d say you really need to be okay with being broke for a long time. Also, do a lot of research about the business end of things, learn as much as you possibly can, and then try and find out some more because there will always be things that come up that you didn’t anticipate. To be honest, the hardest part for me is the nuts and bolts business end of things. I don’t find it particularly interesting, and I’d rather spend my time dealing with the creative aspect of it, as well as interacting with people. The second hardest part of the whole experience was learning just how expensive it is to do business legitimately and ethically. . . . Ultimately though, the hardest part has just been getting people to see our designs. I have to work really hard to create awareness of the company.

"Not giving a fuck just isn't cool anymore."

OHH: Thanks so much for your time, Andy. We love what you’re doing to change the world for animals!

AT: Thanks for the opportunity to help spread the good word.

Antennae rocks my world

I, for one, am nothing short of stirred and tickled to learn about this incredibly in-depth and thought-provoking resource, and I’m already wondering how I’m going to finish my Christmahanusolstikwanzikuh shopping, when I have all of these back issues to catch up on! I know that many of you will also be titillated, since my inbox is frequently bursting with emails from you wondering how to get further involved with speaking up for animals through the arts. Well, lucky for you, Antennae is seeking submissions for publication.

And in the interest of shameless self-promotion (’tis the season, right?), I wanted to point out a few pieces that Our Hen House has created for our Art of the Animal series, focusing on some of the same creative activists that Antennae is also shedding light on. Last year, we made a video about visual artist Jonathan Horowitz, and his “Go Vegan” exhibit. Two weeks ago, we featured Peter Singer on our 100th podcast episode (which is also available, as always, on iTunes). And, in what is perhaps the video I am most proud of, a couple days ago we brought you our newest installment of the Art of the Animal video series, this time featuring one of our heroes, Sue Coe. Our Art of the Animal series, which is hardly as academic as Antennae (I’m not sure anything I’ve ever written can be described as such), features artists who speak up for animals through their art form, and you can you learn more by browsing that section of our website.

Vegan scholarships make me happy.

If you’re a high school student and you’re reading this, I realize that compassion is your driving force. But this scholarship is a sweet impetus for stepping up your advocacy, and making sure that your fellow students are being reached with the reasons to go vegan and change the world for animals (there are so many countless ways to do that, even if you’re in school).

Do they have a spot in the yearbook for “Most Ethical?” You’ve got that pegged, young friend…

Queenie Poster by Sue Coe

Our video-short takes you on a journey narrated by Sue herself, and features selections from her vast body of work. In it, she describes the impetus behind her life’s work – growing up next door to a hog farm and hearing the hogs’ screaming as they were led to slaughter. These experiences left an indelible mark on her. In turn, she leaves her own mark on the hearts and minds of anyone who views her images, which have been shown in galleries and museums all over the world. The unapologetically graphic nature of her work results in us, the viewers, bearing witness to suffering – a fate that began for Sue so many years ago – yet also leaves us feeling inspired to create change. For Sue Coe, and for many of us who take in her images, complacency is no longer an option. Though many vegans and animal rights advocates are already aware of these realities, even seasoned activists will be moved and inspired by Coe’s artistic explorations of animal suffering.

Now, we invite you to experience the revelatory images that document the reality of animal exploitation, and to learn first-hand from Sue Coe how her journey into this oftentimes dark, but very real world, manifested.

UPDATE:

Keep your eyes open for Sue Coe’s book, Cruel, which will be available from www.orbooks.com in Spring 2012.

But despite the good intentions, there’s almost always the dark underbelly associated with making any film that centers around animals — the inherent exploitation therein. So, while I love to see people being informed about, say, the indescribably cruel treatment of circus animals, don’t even get me started on the horrific irony of taking a book that is so right on in terms of its messaging — I’m talking about Water for Elephants, which I loved reading — and turning it into a huge, massive exploitation festival, Hollywood-style.

Unless you’re going to put dogs in a film and not direct them — like the brilliant filmmakers behind Bold Native did when they filmed around where the dogs walked and what the dogs did (they used their own dogs, by the way) – you can basically bet your tofu dinner that the animal actors in that big Hollywood movie are being misused, and that their natural needs are being put second to the producers’ unnatural ones.

While it’s probably true that not all animal handlers involved in Hollywood films, or all productions using animal actors, are equal, the way I see it, there is basically no way around the exploitation. And, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, for those of us who care about ending animal cruelty, the American Humane Association’s stamp of approval (“There were no animals harmed during the making of this film”) is about as reliable as a meat-eater tossing around labels like “humane certified” and “free-range,” and thinking that means that there’s nothing more to worry about.

Still, though… There is something to be said about the huge mainstream movie-going audience sitting in front of their favorite stars and learning that animals have feelings, too. So, although in my ideal world I don’t want any animals to appear on the big screen, when they do, I want to believe in the message that the film is trying to convey. I suppose it’s the lesser of two evils, and I think that the potential reward — the possibility of awakening someone to animal issues — can have profoundly positive implications.

Take yet another upcoming animal-themed Hollywood film, Big Miracle, starring — yup — Drew Barrymore, as a passionate, whale-loving activist who is trying her darnedest to save three trapped gray whales. Big Miracle is based on Operation Breakthrough, an international effort in 1988 to free several trapped whales from ice in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea. Set to be released in early February, this film has been reportedly made “ethically,” according to The Humane Society of the United States. I don’t have more specifics than that on the treatment of the whales used in the film, and, while that does ease my concerns more than an American Humane Association sign-off would, I doubt I will be paying money to see this movie. My bottom line is that whales were used, period.

Or take War Horse, which I can without question say was the best Broadway play I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen hundreds). We discussed the power of this theatrical production on our podcast a few months ago. It was one of those pieces of art that changed our lives, that touched us in ways that are almost beyond description. The Lincoln Center production of War Horse – which, happily, uses puppets in extraordinary, expressive ways instead of actual animals – was not only a powerful social justice story about an animal who prevailed against all odds, but was proof positive that you don’t have to exploit animals in order to effectively tell their story. (Another recent example of the ability of artistry to portray animals authentically without exploiting them is, of course, the use of computer generated apes in The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.)

But now, the film version of War Horse — a Spielberg production – is about to be released, and this powerful story will be told using real horses. The trailer makes Mariann weep copiously. Still, despite our deep love for this story, we won’t be seeing War Horse. Our podcast’s Hollywood correspondent, the brilliant Ari Solomon, was given free tickets to a screening of the film, and will give us his take on this movie — as well as his thoughts on the use of animals in film — on this Saturday’s 102nd podcast episode. So don’t miss that.

This is not all cut and dried. I do see the other point of view. I get that you might want to take your kid to see Big Miracle or War Horse, and that, as a result, she might gain understanding that these precious beings are indeed sentient and deserve to live free of exploitation and suffering. And, indeed, it’s undeniable that the role that animals have played in film has, in many ways, helped to shape our attitudes for the better. As eloquently discussed by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau — whose recent talk, Animals in the Arts, was both fascinating and thought-provoking — viewing our relationships with animals through the lens of a filmmaker, or the brushstroke of a painter, can inform and inspire our views in powerful ways. We can watch old movies like The Misfits and Lassie Come Home, and from those, we can grow.

But as our culture, and our technology, have evolved to understand that it is possible to share positive stories of animals — minus the demoralization — at what point do we as a society move on from animal exploitation? And at what point does Hollywood catch on?

In today’s episode, we discuss our recent foray into de-tchotchke-ifying our lives, and our need for nesting. We also talk about health – including some ruminations on the differences between a junk food vegan diet and a whole foods based vegan diet. We’ll tell you about the home study we’ve been doing throughout our current juice fast.

Joining us today is Liuba Grechen, owner and founder of  Sweet Cheeks Vegan Bakery – a new cruelty-free company in NYC. Liuba will talk about for-profit activism, how she feels the tide is turning for vegan businesses, and what you need to know if you want to start your own.

Jasmin eating a cupcake from Sweet Cheeks Vegan Bakery. Photo by Anthony Two Moons.

Then, as a special addition to today’s episode, we will play for you the story of how vegan artist extraordinaire, Sue Coe, met her first dog.

For our review, our Hollywood Correspondent Ari Solomon will be joining us to give us his take on the book, An Eagle Named Freedom.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “‘They would wince, scream, tremble and shake’: U.S. lab investigated for horrific abuse of test monkeys” from Daily Mail
• “University of Michigan ceases use of cats in Survival Flight training” from AnnArbor.com 
• “Chimps bid farewell: Last of Coulston primates leave for Florida” from Alamogordo Daily News
• “South Vietnam rescue begins” from Animals Asia
• “Quorn Launches First Vegan Product” from PR Newswire
• “Last Hope for Horses” from The Humane Society of the United States

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”  -Bruce Lee

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! And through the end of the year, if you set up a recurring donation of at least $10 a month, you will receive a free, ethically-sourced Our Hen House tote bag. Thanks!

Photo at top of blog: Sweet Cheeks Vegan Bakery sponsored the Our Hen House Hen Party last month! Those were their delicious concoctions. Photo by Anthony Two Moons. 

Here’s the short version of how this venture started: Writer and filmmaker Lucy Cooke fell in love with Taz, a baby sloth who (get this!) she first learned about while watching a Youtube video! So Cooke traveled 5,000 miles to Costa Rica to meet him, which is when she got to witness, first-hand, the extremely touching stories of the world’s only sloth orphanage. According to Cooke, as reported on her website, at this orphanage, “Orphaned baby sloths whose mothers have been zapped by power lines or hit by cars are brought to the sanctuary to be cared for by legendary sloth whisperer Judy Arroyo.” Inspired and moved (duh!), Cooke made a short video called Meet the Sloths, which immediately became a huge success — so much so that it was covered in major media outlets worldwide, including making it into New York Magazine’s much revered ”Approval Matrix.” The next steps for Cooke in her quest to raise awareness about these glorious (and off-the-radar adorable) sloths was clearly a book deal (hello, Simon and Schuster!), and a full-length documentary based on her original short video, which is airing on Animal Planet in the United States tomorrow, Saturday, December 17, at 8 p.m. EST.

Is this an Our Hen House dream story, or what? Here you have a woman who was touched and moved by an animal story, so she took it upon herself to create smart, independent media about it. Awareness was raised (um, understatement of the year), the media caught on, and now, I’d imagine that The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica will have a few donations coming in for the holidays (speaking of which…). And, most importantly, people (like me!) are learning about these precious creatures (prehistoric sloths stood up to 7 meters tall!). By the way, if you’re starting to think about your 2012 vacation, you might consider offering your services at the sanctuary’s volunteer program, which provides both room and board (not sure about the veganness of it, but obviously if they’re not there yet, that’s obviously something that you could bring to your conversation with these sloth-heroes).

Check out the trailer for Lucy Cooke’s sloth documentary… But make sure you turn your computer’s cute-meter off, because the needle might break your screen:

Why am I telling you this? Because when I first saw the work of a Turkish photographer named Mehmet Turgut, I thought of that strange early morning encounter and the stranger’s words. Specifically, I thought that Turgut had taken a concept, an idea, and had seen it best and created truly inspiring photographic images.

A stunning image from Turgut's 5199.

The Turkish paper, Today’s Zaman, tells the story of Turgut’s current project, titled “5199,” which refers to Turkey’s animal protection law. Turgut believes that the law, in addition to being weak to begin with, is neither appropriately enforced nor implemented. For “5199,” which will be on display in a public space in Istanbul through December 19 before it moves to another space in a different part of the city, Turgut photographed Turkish celebrities posing as abused or exploited animals. Using recognizable, high profile people to embody the sad, shocking lives of exploited animals is sure to grab attention.

In addition, Turgut manipulated portraits of celebrities to create hybrid human-animal creatures. When I see these images, the destinies of both the animal and the human are swapped, melded, confused, and played with. And since, really, we’re all animals — some human, some non-human — animal suffering is our suffering. Their fate is our fate. Animals are not other unless we choose to see them as such.

As if it weren’t enough to draw the public’s attention to animal exploitation with such striking images, while managing to make a profound statement about current animal law in his country, Turgut is donating proceeds from the sale of his work to the Animal Rights Federation. “I do not intend to give up this issue,” says Turgut, in the aforementioned article. “I will point out this issue on all occasions and for as long as I can.”

Don’t miss more incredible images from the exhibition.

Photo at top of blog is from Turgut’s “5199.”

Does the prospect of spending time with your meat-guzzling family, shopping for presents when you know that no one will ever appreciate that they were carefully selected for their cruelty-free-ness, returning wool sweaters from your Aunt Ida, and listening to people blather on about “peace on earth” while they’re mindlessly contributing to hideous suffering, make your holidays bluer than Elvis’s?

Well, get over yourself. The holidays are supposed to be fun (dammit!), and you are more deserving of a little joy than anyone. So suck it up. It’s time to have fun, whether you want to or not.

The other thing about the holidays is that they are a time when a lot of people take a moment to reflect, be a bit more mindful, and try to be, just, better. Which makes Chrismahanusolstikwanzaka one huge activist opportunity.

First of all, there’s leafleting. There is no time of year when there are more people on the streets, and no time when they are more open to messages of compassion (at least some of them). They are watching heartwarming movies and singing about peace on earth. They are primed. You need to go get them!

If you are nervous about leafleting, remember, the first leaflet is the hardest. We guarantee that the first person who takes one from you and looks satisfied or interested will be well worth the painful anticipation you had prior to leafleting. Striking at the Roots, by Mark Hawthorne, has some great leafleting advice in it. Before the end of the year, commit to leafleting for 15 minutes. You’ll be glad you did (and you might even find you actually like it, and you’ll stay out there for longer).

Next, let’s think about your Christmas office party (or school party, or whatever party). One of our favorite Christmas office parties is the one in the film Desk Set, with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Everyone got drunk on champagne and acted somewhat, but not too, inappropriately. Maybe your office party is a hoot, like that one.Or maybe your office party is just another holiday burden where you’re forced to spend time talking to people you try to avoid during the rest of the year.

Regardless, it’s a huge opportunity for food activism that can’t be passed up. In fact, even if you don’t have a party to bring food to, bringing treats to share is considered totally normal behavior during the holidays. It’s up to you to make sure it’s also an opportunity for people to learn a bit about vegan food.

Of course, the first rule in turning this into activism, rather than just your way of being nice — and this may seem obvious — is to make sure they know it’s vegan. Your goal isn’t just to get them to enjoy your cooking, it’s to enlighten them about the deliciousness of compassion. One nice touch is to print out the recipe (which you want to keep pretty simple) and leave it right by the goodies. Even better, leave out some brochures, such as “25 Reasons to Try Vegetarian” from Mercy for Animals or “Compassionate Choices” from Vegan Outreach.

Tipping can present another opportunity for some holiday vegan outreach. Whenever you have to, or just want to, give a special holiday tip to someone –  your super, your hairdresser, your babysitter, whoever — make sure you accompany it with some delicious vegan baked goods (and make sure they know it’s vegan!).

Another great form of changemaking around the holidays is to engage kids in some vegan fun. Whether you are just having a few of your kids’ friends over to your house, or maybe you want to organize a formal event at your local community center or church or synagogue, or perhaps your nieces and nephews are visiting, you want to think seriously about how to find opportunities to do some cooking with kids. A cooking class — teaching kids how to make healthy, vegan holiday meals — is not only a good time, but can get kids thinking, and talking, about why we shouldn’t have animals on our holiday tables, or any other tables (other than our dog, Rose, of course, who occasionally likes to climb up on the table).

Next, think about family get-togethers. If you can’t rely on your Aunt Ida, or whoever else is hosting the family meal, to supply you with something to eat, you of course need to bring your own. And I know you’re busy, and it’s a pain, but do yourself a favor and really go out of your way to make sure you bring something delicious, so that you aren’t sitting there with second best. And make sure you bring dessert too. Oh, and bring a lot, because others are going to want to try it too (which is both gratifying and annoying at the same time).

During that get-together, if your family wants to talk about veganism in a respectful way, that’s great. If not, don’t let that ruin your day. One thing to remember is that recruiting your family to veganism is not any more important than recruiting anyone else. The animals don’t care whether it’s your Aunt Ida who decided not to eat them, or some stranger you’ll never see again. It may matter more to you when it’s family, but that’s just your ego getting in the way. So if your family is hopeless, just use that as an impetus to do some leafleting over the next few days.

When you’re ready, you might also choose to be the host of the holiday dinner at your own house — obviously making it a completely vegan meal. If you’re afraid that no one will come, have it during the holiday season, not on the actual day. There’s all sorts of subsidiary holiday get-togethers that you can get people to come to, like tree-trimming parties, and dreidel parties, and Three Kings Day. And hey, Hanukkah lasts for 8 days! Remember, while you might want to have some holiday festivities for your vegan friends — and you certainly should — that’s fun, but it’s not activism. You need some aspiring vegans to be there in order to make change.

Another way to spread the word about food around the holidays is through blogging. If you have a blog, or if you want to start one, you can send it to your friends, family, and online circles, and ask them to subscribe. Then, you can create a holiday challenge where you ask them to try one of your holiday recipes. Or you can ask them to give you the gift of going vegan for a day, or week, or a month. Then provide guidance and advice on your blog, and even create a community via the comments section. Invite all the people in your life who are participating in your challenge to make their voices heard.

Before we close, we just want to emphasize, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, that the holidays are not something that vegans should be just surviving. We need to own them. Just as everyone else — from churches and synagogues, to Walmart, to Bergdorf’s, to the Grinch, to Charlie Brown, to your mom, to Aunt Ida, to everyone else — has their 2 cents to offer about what this season is all about, you need to spread your message. Because no one around knows more about what the holidays are really about than you do.

So here’s to you.
And to getting dead birds off the table
And to liberating reindeer,
And to soy candles in the Menorah,
And vegan cookies and almond milk for a healthy and happy Santa,
And to Peace — and we actually really mean Peace – on Earth.

Since we are now enmeshed in the holidaze — and so much of the holiday season is centered around food — it’s important to use any opportunity to turn this “giving season” into one that is truly compassionate. We can do this by educating the masses about delicious vegan food! Two more ways we like to spread the vegan message is through restaurant outreach and vegan cooking classes.

As for restaurant outreach, this is something Mariann and I discussed on episode 100 of our podcast (which you can also hear on iTunes), and I hope you listen to that, because let’s just say I was able to put my BFA in Acting to the test (think: skits!). But, lucky for us, Unny is joining us again to tell us about the successful campaigns of Compassionate Action for Animals, today focusing on restaurant outreach as well as organizing cooking classes.

***

OHH: Thanks for joining us for a second day in a row, Unny! Today, I’m dying to know: You’ve worked with community restaurants and university cafeterias to make vegan dining more available. What kinds of successes have you had in that area?

UN: We’ve worked with dozens of restaurants that serve excellent vegan food. We created VegGuide.Org, a worldwide guide to veg-friendly restaurants and shopping, and our volunteers have written many reviews to highlight the excellent veg choices in Minnesota and beyond. We’ve received donations and gotten discounts at restaurants, and we’ve done dine-outs, fundraising events, and a chili cook-off at restaurants as well. All of this, and more, has led to a vegan-friendly Twin Cities. I hope that we’ll have more successes to report about in the future with regard to restaurants carrying new vegan foods because of our efforts!

OHH: Regarding approaching restaurants or cafeterias, do you have any tips for an activist who might want to get more vegan options introduced?

UN: The most important thing is to show that there is a market for the products. This can be done by getting people out to a restaurant by publicizing its offerings, and also by showing the restaurants statistics and anecdotes that demonstrate the popularity of veg eating. Secondly, providing ideas and resources — such as mock meats and dairy alternatives — as well as ideas on labeling and marketing, can help restaurants take steps in the right direction. Remember that the operators of restaurants and cafeterias are busy people, but want the business, so be prepared to be persistent.

[For more on restaurant outreach, including how to approach a restaurant where you'll be dining for the holidays to make sure they will offer vegan fare, check out episode 100 of the Our Hen House podcast.]

OHH: Compassionate Action for Animals has also organized cooking classes in the community. I love this idea as a form of activism. Who has led these classes, and what sort of dishes did you prepare?

UN: We’ve had great successes with cooking classes. Our classes have been taught by volunteer chefs, most of whom are people who are part of our group, or somebody we know. We find people who have made great foods for a potluck or other event, and ask them to teach classes. The classes have been interactive, and our chefs are knowledgeable and have a lot to share. We’ve had an incredibly diverse set of classes we’ve taught: Thanksgiving foods, cooking on a budget, soy foods, vegan baking, beginning vegan cooking, and more.

OHH: For someone who is interested in organizing a vegan cooking class, what sort of logistics should she/he consider?

UN: You’ll need to work with your chef to figure out what kind of equipment they have and what kind of equipment is provided at the venue. You’ll also want to consider what works best for a demonstration, and how audience participation in cooking is going to work. Cooking classes usually do not provide enough time to make everything from scratch and serve it, so we’ve had instructors do some prep work in advance. Give the instructor a clear time-frame and have them practice beforehand.

Besides that, advertising and running a smooth event includes welcoming people, giving them literature, having them sign up on your list, filling out evaluation forms, and thanking the instructor afterwards. This will all ensure a successful event.

OHH: What are your favorite kinds of food activism? Do you find that one is more effective than another, or is it a case of different strokes for different folks?

UN: My favorite kind of food activism is the kind that blends together great vegan food with lots of fun, and engages people about the ethics of the way we eat. When we can find the kind of activism that is participatory, and engages people where they’re at, we gain momentum for animals. Weaving together our different activities – food giveaways and potlucks, leafleting and camping trips – gives people lots of opportunities to find the resources, the human connections, and the worldview that helps them move towards a plant-based diet.

OHH: What kinds of projects does Compassionate Action for Animals have up its sleeve for the coming months, and how can people learn more?

UN: This is the hardest question! We’re hoping to do a veg festival in the summer of 2012, and we hope to decide soon. We’ll continue to do many of the same events and projects I described above, but I’m quite uncertain as to what’s next. It would be so much easier to plan if we knew what we’re doing next, but we try to make plans based on what our volunteers are interested in within the framework of our values and strategy. We’re committed to being a volunteer-led organization, and we’ve found that we’ve evolved in ways that weren’t predictable. The best way to find out what we’ll be doing next is by volunteering with us and making it happen! Or, if you don’t live in Minnesota, please do something that inspires us and we’ll copy you! You’re welcome to contact me, Unny at 612-276-2242 or via email at unny[at]exploreveg.org. 

***

Special thanks to Unny Nambudiripad and to Compassionate Action for Animals, for changing the world for animals in Twin Cities, Minnesota! 

If you listen to our podcast (which hopefully you do, otherwise you have 100 past episodes to catch up on), then you know that Mariann and I travel pretty much non-stop. The Midwest is frequently where we land, and we have found that — despite what some may say — vegans are everywhere, as is vegan food. And animal rights activists are everywhere, as is activism focused on ending animal cruelty and raising awareness about compassionate alternatives. Sure, maybe it’s not as concentrated in the Big Apple, but then again, what is? One of my favorite vegan restaurants, FÜD, is in Kansas City, MO. One of my favorite events of 2011 was the Mad City Vegan Fest in Madison, WI (check it out in our VegFest Mash-Up video). And one of my favorite animal rights organizations, Mercy for Animals, was indeed founded in Ohio (we visited them in Chicago last year).

More and more, the great changemaking in our movement is happening in the heartland. Compassionate  Action for Animals, a volunteer-run animal advocacy organization based in Minnesota, is no exception. They are changing the world and starting with their community, engaging in grassroots activism like feed-ins, restaurant outreach, and community-wide vegan cooking classes.

Today and tomorrow, we will be focusing on a Q&A with Compassionate Action for Animals’ co-founder and Executive Director, Unny Nambudiripad. Today, Unny will give us the skinny on feed-ins — free events held in public where free samples of vegan food, along with animal rights literature, are distributed.

My reason for focusing on this form of activism today is because, well, ’tis the season. Food activism like this — specifically, feed-ins — is a terrific form of outreach around the holidays. People are shopping, so you’ve got well-populated areas, and they are usually making far more eye contact than normal, because they are eager and excited. Not to mention, they’re hungry, and they want free food. Why not use this season of self-reflection and giving to enlighten people to the deliciousness of compassion?

For those of you who are intrigued, Unny has some incredible tips and insights for how to implement a successful feed-in. And be sure to check back in with us tomorrow, when we’ll talk to Unny about restaurant outreach and organizing cooking classes — both of which also pack a punch this time of year.

***

Our Hen House: Tell us about Compassionate Action for Animals. What is your mission?

Unny Nambudiripad: First, thank you for asking! I appreciate the excellent work that Our Hen House does. You have been doing a great job to empower activists with the resources and tips they need to be more effective.

OHH: Why, thank you. We’re huge fans of Compassionate Action for Animals, so I guess we’re even.

UN: My name is Unny Nambudiripad, and I’m a co-founder and Executive Director of Compassionate Action for Animals. We’re based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, and we host (mostly) local events and projects to advocate for animals. Since 1998, we’ve been advocating for animals using a nonviolent approach. We believe that by treating everybody with respect, including fellow activists and people in animal industries, we can maximize our change.

We do our work by conducting outreach and education, and also by building community. Our outreach work is focused on bringing in new people who are generally unaware but potentially interested in our perspective. We target young adults; we’ve handed out leaflets, tabled at events and colleges, and conducted many food giveaways. Educational efforts are aimed at getting interested people to the next level: giving them resources on vegan-friendly restaurants, vegan nutrition, cooking tips, and raising the ethical question. Finally, we do community-building, work to keep people engaged, have fun, keep the momentum going, and build social networks so that people support each other in their changes.

OHH: That’s very cool! Now, I know that Compassionate Action for Animals has done its share of food activism in Twin Cities. What have you done in the realm of feed-ins and food giveaways?

UN: We’ve been doing feed-ins for several years, mostly at college campuses, but also at city parks and events. Our feed-ins have been very successful. We have found free vegan products that companies want to promote, and the people who eat the samples are happy to get free food and are open to talking to us about moving towards a plant-based diet. Volunteers also have a great time.

OHH: Sure — what’s not to love about free food?! So what happens during a feed-in? 

UN: During our feed-ins, we hand out Vegan Outreach‘s excellent literature about factory farming and veganism. We don’t require that people read the literature to take the food, and we understand that a certain percentage of the people who take our samples just want the free food. But, the positive atmosphere that we provide is very conducive to folks taking the literature and talking to us. Activists are sometimes accused of being negative and not having solutions, and doing feed-ins provides a great counter-example.

OHH: Can you tell me a bit about your biggest annual feed-in, which takes place at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities? 

UN: We do this one in conjunction with our Veg Week event, and at the feed-in we sign people up to take the Pledge to Be Veg. In the atmosphere of the feed-in, it’s easy to sign people up. Veg Week events have included a speaker, more free vegan food samples, dine-outs, potlucks, and a tour to a local farm animal sanctuary. In short, the feed-in is a great way to bring people into our fold and engage with them further.

OHH: Did you find your food giveaways were difficult to organize? And do you have any tips for someone else who might be interested in organizing a food giveaway?

UN: When we first did food giveaways, we asked restaurants and groceries to donate food samples. We later found it more effective to go straight to the producers of the food products. The logistics of food giveaways includes refrigeration, food preparation, cooking, food permits, volunteers, and lots of hauling. There’s nothing too technical about it besides creating check-lists and following them. VegFund has great resources on how to do food giveaways, and they offer funding. I recommend starting out small, and working towards bigger giveaways. Other tips include:

• Have a lot of volunteers. This work is labor-intensive.
• Relatedly, this event is so much fun for volunteers, so it’s easy to recruit! You can be sure they will have a great time.
• Don’t announce the event publicly. You want to reach people who aren’t looking for you, not the ones who are narrowly focused on getting free food.
• Ask for food donations at least three months in advance, and be prepared to follow-up with companies.

The level of difficulty of organizing a food giveaway is proportionate to its size. That is, small giveaways are easy, but large ones can be more challenging.

OHH: What has been the reaction of the passersby?

UN: People are enthusiastic about free food! I’ve done all kinds of events – protests, leafletings, speaking events, potlucks, etc., and food giveaways are certainly the events where we get the most positive feedback.

***

Here’s some more helpful information on how to organize a feed-in. Special thanks to Unny and Compassionate Action for Animals. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for information from Unny on restaurant outreach and organizing cooking classes! 

In today’s monumental episode, we will talk about the Food Activism for the Holidays workshop we gave last week, and we’ll share with you our thoughts on how to get a good holiday vegan meal at a non-vegan restaurant. We’ll also sing a few original songs – including “The 12 Days of Carnivorous Christmas.”

Happy 100th Episode, Us.

Joining us for episode 100 are two of our favorite past guests: Famed ethicist and author of the groundbreaking book Animal Liberation, Peter Singer, and bestselling vegan cookbook author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Peter will talk with us about his views on the current state of the animal liberation movement, and Isa will talk about what she dubs “baketivism.”

Then, as part of our special 100^th episode, we’ll be answering your questions! You asked us about everything from how to handle kids who want to go to zoos, to how to find inspiration for juice-fasting, to what our plans are for 2012 with Our Hen House. Today, we’ll answer those – and more. At the end of the episode, we’ll announce the very lucky winner of the $100 gift certificate to MooShoes.

Speaking of which, today’s episode is being sponsored by MooShoes. MooShoes proudly offers the largest variety of vegan shoes and accessories in the world. They have men’s and women’s shoes for all occasions as well as bags, purses, belts, jackets, and other fun stuff – all cruelty-free. Visit MooShoes 7 days a week at their physical location in New York City’s Lower East Side, or shop with them online at www.mooshoes.com.

All that, vegan banter, and of course, current events from the world of animal rights.

This week’s news items include:

• “In First for Asia, Taiwan to Ban Shark Finning” from Time Magazine 
• “Hansom Cab Horse Collapses Outside Central Park” from CBS New York
• “200 Bears Killed on First Day of NJ Bear Hunt” from Gothamist 
• “How Many Adults Are Vegan in the U.S.?” from The Vegetarian Resource Group

“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals.” -Walt Whitman 

You can listen to our podcast directly on our blog (below!) or you can subscribe on iTunes. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment!  IN HONOR OF OUR 100TH PODCAST EPISODE, PLEASE HELP US GET TO 100 REVIEWS! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would also consider making a donation. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so it’s tax-deductible! And through the end of the year, if you set up a recurring donation of at least $10 a month, you will receive a free, ethically-sourced Our Hen House tote bag. Thanks!

In Roxborough, a Philadelphia neighborhood, hundreds of toads migrate from nearby woods and gardens to the Roxborough Reservoir. Each year, more than a hundred toads are squished by cars on their way to the Reservoir. In Toad Detour, a community-wide project to save these toads’ lives, the first step was to make people aware of the problem.

Second, the caring people behind the Detour, along with a number of organizations — including the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education and Mobilization For Animals – banded together, got the cooperation of local authorities, and came up with a workable solution. During the migration season, a cadre of volunteers went out on the roads to establish a temporary road detour. Not only did they man (person?) the barricades to avert traffic, they armed themselves with signs and brochures to educate the community about helping the toads migrate safely.

Toad Detour

Third, they didn’t keep it to themselves. They created a website and a facebook page to spread the word.

You might think that all that is enough, but these folks took it to the next level. The fourth step was that filmmaker Burgess Coffield decided to make a film of the project, which will enable so many more people to learn about it and be inspired to apply it in their own communities. If you’re anywhere near Philly, a screening of the film will take place tomorrow, Saturday, December 10.

I am sure you are wondering what could possibly be fifth. Well, there will be refreshments served at the screenings, and all of the food will be vegan. A gentle reminder to all who come to find out about the toads, that all the animals need our caring.

Perfect.