Episode 173: “…being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances…”

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Welcome to the 173^rd episode of Our Hen House, 2013 Official Honoree of the Webby Awards. Today’s episode features Iris Ho, with special appearances by Jay Astafa and Ari Solomon.

In today’s episode, we tell you about an 8-course vegan popup restaurant that we attended here in New York City, and we’ll chat with the dynamite 20-year-old chef, Jay Astafa. Find out what ingredient caused him to appropriately name one of his dishes “dragon’s breath.” We’ll also talk about animal rights poet Gretchen Primack, whose new book, Kind, gives us shivers, and hope. Jasmin will tell you about Kind’s book launch party which she attended. And, inspired by a documentary we saw at the Tribeca Film Festival called Out of Print, we’ll ruminate on digital books versus three-dimensional ones, and what implications the future of publishing have for animal rights and veganism. And we’ll discuss the role that animal exploitation plays in religion, and why things aren’t different in that regard. (Read more about that in our recent article for Elephant Journal, “Do Religious Traditions Condone Animal Suffering?“)

Speaking of which, today we’ll be joined by Iris Ho, the person who heads up Humane Society International’s campaign to end mercy release and educate the public about this cruel practice, which, ironically, was originally motivated by compassion for animals. Iris will tell us all about mercy release and her efforts to bring lasting change to animals.

For our review, we’ll be joined by Our Hen House reviewer Ari Solomon, who will give us his take on the new HBO documentary, An Apology to Elephants. Don’t miss Ari’s eye-opening take on this film. His review might just surprise you.

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

For a list of the news items we discuss in today’s episode, and then some, take a look at the breaking news ticker at the top of ourhenhouse.org, and also check out our list of archived news items.

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“This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” -George Bernard Shaw