Random Questions From Green Bay Vegan

1. Why are words so upsetting?

2. Why can't vegetarians see the problems in milk and eggs?

3. Why is everyone so concerned with what I am eating?

4. Why was the kale in my pasta bitter?

5. Why can't I make myself go to the gym?

6. Does it have to be 87 degrees in fucking May? WTF is it going to be like in July.

7. Why do I care?

How do you explain?

Back on Mothers Day, I posted about my experience and expressed some pissed-offedness (ha) that my dad made the comment that my veganism was a "phase".

This got me thinking. Which as many of you know is a dangerous thing. I have gone through a lot of phases. (Jenna and Bob Torres talk about this in their excellent book Vegan Freak http://www.veganfreak.net/, which I highly recommend everyone read). I did go through a lot of phases, as we all did. I even tried going vegan once before with not much success. (I didn't plan well and ended up eating a lot of crap).

All vegans know there is a sort of sha-zam moment when you know you are going to go vegan and stay vegan. It is hard to explain for those who have never experienced it. Which leads me to the question in this blog title. How do you explain it? If I would have tried to explain it to my dad, he would have grinned and shrugged me off. And unfortunately, I can't blame him.

Fortunately, I know too much now to ever turn back, but if any one has any suggestions for explainin my moment of "vegzen", let me know.

Sanity or My Loss of It

Okay - I will break it down for you and I am pretty crabby so you are going to see fuck a lot.

I work with a woman, who I consider a pretty good friend. Today she brought in donuts, and I declined. (Part of this story is my fucking fault. I should have just said "no thanks". Instead I said, "Donuts have milk and eggs in them". I am a dumb ass, I know).

So later, she comes to my desk and starts on this big spiel about the bagel I ate and that had eggs or milk in it. I calmly explained, they didn't because I emailed the company for their ingredient list. She then started rambling off a fucking laundry list of foods that had milk or dairy in them. For fun and so every one else has to suffer, I will list them with my response.

1. Noodles have eggs. - No, pasta has eggs, noodles do not. I check the labels when I buy them.

2. Bread has milk and eggs. - Again, I check the labels when I buy bread, and when I bake it at home I use recipes that don't call for eggs and sub the milk.

3. Your tator tots have egg in the breading. - Again, I have contacted the company and they don't have eggs in the breading.

4. The tortilla shell has to have milk or something - FUCKING SEE ABOVE.

Okay, this may not sound like much, but she kept going on and fucking on. And then when I would give one of my responses she would quickly say "No, all bread has milk".

And - the vegan icing on the vegan cake that I made so I know all the fucking ingredients - she openly admitted that she just was waiting for me to slip up.

I have decided I can't win.

New Foster

This doesn't have much to do with me being vegan, but DH and I picked up a new foster yesterday. This is the first time in a long time we have had four dogs. Our house looks a little like a dog day care.

Here is the new guy. He is verrrry cute and sweet. Cosmo hates him. Razz is tolerating him and bossing him around and I am not sure Spot knows there is another dog in the house.

Spot is so fucking cool. I love him.

Puppy Mills...again

Tonight our local news did another story on puppy mills. They investigated Puppy Haven in Manitowoc with hidden cameras and the whole shebang. It was sad and disgusting. I am appalled at the way the owner of the mill lied in the face of hard evidence. It saddened me to no end. It is hurtful to know that is the situation Cosmo (one of my pups) would have ended up in had his mother not come into rescue.

Here is the link: http://www.nbc26.com/news/local/7571552.html

There have been a number of different features on puppy mills in the state of WI. We have no laws regulating the breeding of animals. I am glad that people have latched onto this as a big issue and one of importance.

But (and there is always a but)

I don't get the schizophrenia (thanks Jenna and Bob Torres, and I believe Gary Francione for that term). How can one logically (LOGICALLY) look at dogs living in these conditions and say it is wrong, but don't see any problem with all the chickens, pigs, cows, and other "live stock" living in the same and sometimes worse conditions (holy run-on sentence)? I don't understand why the connection is so hard to make. In one of the stories a woman commented "They are treating these dogs like chickens, but expecting them to act like dogs". I screamed at the TV: "WHY IS OKAY FOR CHICKENS TO LIVE THAT WAY?"

The other thing that was entirely frustrating was talk of one of the laws that they wanted passed. "Similar to a lemon law on cars". Not fucking kidding. Comparing a quality animal to a quality car. I don't even know how this is possible. Fuck that.

I don't want to complain because progress is being made. I guess I don't understand why the progress has to be so fucking slow. Why can't every one see the world as I see it? Is that so hard? Animals don't deserve to be used for humans AT ALL. It doesn't matter if they are bred for pets, food, milk, eggs, or fur. Its wrong.

Work with me here people, work with me.

Support the SHAC7

I wrote letters to the SHAC7 last night because the rest of my weekend was so productive (insert sarcasm here). I felt a little bit like a 10 year old writing to a pen pal, but how I feel isn't important.

Even if you aren't vegan, this case should concern you. Click here http://www.shac7.com/ for more information, addresses, and ways to help out.

Wedding

So DH and I had a wedding to go to last night. I wasn't happy about it for a number of reasons, but mainly the food was my concern.

I was actually surprised at how smoothly it went. We got there early enough that I could talk to the wait staff and they were able to bring me out my own bowl of vegetables with out butter on them. (GB weddings are usually family style, meaning they bring out the food on big plates and you serve yourself, um, like I family I guess). The veggies were actually really good. It was an assortment of green and Lima beans, and carrots. They were nice and fresh which made me happy.

So of course, because the waitress set the bowl of vegetables right on my plate, it drew attention to the fact that I wasn't eating all the other food on the table. And the questions started. Which actually weren't bad. I explained what vegan meant and that I was a vegan for animal rights reasons. As the questions continued I said "It's probably best not to talk about this while we are eating. If you have questions about it, I would be happy to answer them later." DH's mouth hit the floor. He was truly shocked at the fact that I wasn't a preachy raving bitch. Maybe I'm growing up...sniff sniff.

Later on I did have a discussion with two of the girls that were asking me questions during dinner. I explained the link between veal and milk. I explained chicken production and why "cage free" isn't any better. I am not sure I got through, they were both kind of drunk. One of the girls did say to me, "I love animals so much". I asked why she still ate them.

My good friend DF made this for me.

She rules.

South Park and How it Relates to Veganism

(No I am not talking about the episode when they save the veal calves)

*I don't know if this needs to be said, but I would like to point out here that I am NOT racist. If you don't understand the humor behind this, please unclench your cheeks and chill out. And if it offends you that bad, don't read it. *

So I am a South Park fanatic. It is horribly politically incorrect and insanely intelligent (some times) at the same time. There have been some very memorable episodes (The Terri Shivo one comes to mind) and some that are just plain wrong.

Last night I was lying in bed and partially watching and partially listening. The episode was about the South Park flag. The "rednecks" wanted the flag to stay the same for history sake. Chef (who is the only black guy in town) wanted it changed. Here is what the South Park flag looks like:





Okay, so how does this relate to veganism? It is truly hilarious. The rednecks want the flag to change because that the way it has always been. They lament that if they change the flag, the Cleveland Indians will have to change their names, etc. etc. This reminded me so much of omni's who continue to defend flesh consumption with "We have always ate meat" or "This is the way of the world" or some other bullshit.

They take this to the mayor of South Park (who is a douche bag). Chef demands the flag be changed. So the mayors assistants go and they change the flag to what they think will make Chef happy. Not kidding...they put a smiley face on the black man that is hanging from the noose. Can any one say Happy Meat? They mayors office couldn't understand why Chef was being so difficult. ABOLITION!

There were some other really funny things about the episode that made me laugh, but I don't know that I could relate them to veganism. The KKK came out to support the rednecks. The rednecks tried to send the KKK away because they didn't want their support. Could vegans be like the KKK to liberals. (Not that we are racist, but that liberals look at us like a bunch of radical whack jobs)???

IDK I just thought it was amusing how veganism has seeped into my life all over.

My friends crack me up....

So I have some pretty fucked up friends. I think I have made it very clear that I do not have one close vegan friend irl (that's in real life, TISNF). I do luckily have a couple of friends that are extremely supportive and very funny. And remember, I do have a pretty fucked up sense of humor.

Here is how it breaks down.

I receive an email from DF today with the subject line "I should apply for this job". I thought maybe it was an internal job and I open it. Hmmm. It is a job for a beef processing company here in Green Bay. I thought she was just being an asshole, but I learned it was much more thought out then this.

*I think it is important to note that DF is one of very few people (omni's) I will let get away with poking fun at me. I know she understands the cause, and is intelligent. I hate it when arse-tarts poke fun*

So, I give DF a call and say "Um, you're kidding right?" And she proceeds to let me know it is all part of her new undercover operation. See, if DF worked in a facility like that, the first thing she would make new employees do is eat a steak. That way, she would know that it wasn't an animal rights person coming in. She stated that if we (the AR people) sent in a meat eater to film and such, they would never be suspect.

I am not sure why, but this made me laugh very hard. It is fucked up logic, and maybe that is why I laughed.

*I am going to point this out one more time. DF is one of 3, yes I counted, 3 people who could get away with this. I share her sense of humor and I know she supports and defends me.

Rock on DF - You rule!

Mothers Day

Well mothers day was yesterday and it went off pretty much with out a hitch. They did do a barbecue, and I would be lying if I said it didn't bug me. What really got me was when my formerly vegetarian brother ate a double cheese and flesh burger.

I was in charge of making the potato salad. Every one loved it and we didn't tell them it was vegan until we finished. Yum. I also made two dips and a loaf of Misanthropy's famous tomato bread. Yum, yum, yum. I will post some pictures of my yummy food later.

It did get kind of annoying because my father still insists that I am going through a phase. Never mind that I am thirty, married, a home owner etc. Its a phase. There friend was also mispronouncing Spanish names on purpose, just to be an ass. Such as pronouncing the J in all Spanish names. It was just irritating and not really funny.

Other than that it was a pretty good day, I survived the family, I was even able to explain why I don't eat honey with out a huge issue. They liked the food so all was good.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages...

I just thought I would share some pics I like...

This is Spot and Cosmo playing with a rabbit (they aren't vegan) when Cosmo was just a little babe.

This is me and my bff DK. She's cool. I am the large one.

This is me and the fam.

Puppy Mill Investigation

Wow, people do care about animals sometimes.

Our local tv station did a puppy mill investigation and it was pretty hard hitting. You can check it out here: http://www.nbc26.com/news/local/7409851.html

I have been crazy blogger girl today and I still need to frost a cake. Peace out.

Disgusting

I was driving next to a cattle truck today on the way home from work. It makes my stomach turn. The worst is when their eyes stare out at you.

w00t to me!

This doesn't have very much to do with me being vegan, but I actually got out of bed around 5 today and took Cosmut for a 35 minute walk.

I actually feel pretty good, and now I don't have to go to the gym tonight. Exercise is out of the way - hurray.

(I like poems)

But, I really like such and such....

I hear this a lot.

And these people are missing the point.

Just because you really like something, doesn't make it right.

Just because something tastes good doesn't mean you have the right to kill it.

Just because "God gave us the animals" doesn't give you the right to kill, abuse, or take away any form of natural life from them.

Just because that is what we have always done, doesn't make it right or even good for you.

Just because I am eating something different from everyone else, doesn't mean I want to talk about it.

Just because I don't eat animal products doesn't mean that I judge you for doing so.

All I ask is that you think before asking questions and justifying your animal consumption to me.

What I Have Learned as a Vegan - Chapter Two

Companion Animals

_________________________________________________

Companion Animals and Breed Selection

Well, first I have learned it is not really nice to call them pets. They are companion animals, which I am cool with. But this whole veganism thing really makes me think about a lot of shit which was second nature before.

I have been thinking a lot about different dog breeds and how they relate to a selection of a dog. I do purebred rescue (Boxers) and I will always have a boxer. I recently said that I don’t have much of a problem with some one stating they would like a specific color or gender of a dog. (For example, if you already have a female boxer, it is with in your best interest to get a male). Would I prefer that people just meet the dogs and work from their personality? Yes. But a person that prefers a fawn boxer to a brindle on is just like some one who liked to date people with blue eyes. We all have a preference and a type.

Where the problem starts coming in is when you start to read the AKC Breed Standards. (http://www.akc.org/). If we used this type of language to describe people, I can’t imagine what would happen. For example here is the breed description of a Chow Chow:

Temperament: Keen intelligence, an independent spirit and innate dignity give the Chow an aura of aloofness. It is a Chow’s nature to be reserved and discerning with strangers. Displays of aggression or timidity are unacceptable. Because of its deep set eyes the Chow has limited peripheral vision and is best approached from the front.

Would we ever use this type of language to describe a human? It is the very basis for racism. Temperament: A general feeling of superiority gives white people a rather aloof nature. What The Fuck. (In case any one was wondering, I used white as an example because I am white.) I have read numerous times that there is a parallel between racism and speciesism, but for some odd reason this screams at me loud and clear.

The problem is, I don’t know that these descriptions of dogs are wrong. I do know from a lot of my dog education (har) that each dog has to be treated as an individual. For example, not all Boarder Collies are natural herders. Or not all American Pit Bull Terriers are dog aggressive. Forget that, bad example. There may be Golden Retrievers that are not good with kids. So each dog has to be viewed as an individual. But, because these dogs have been bred with specific traits in mind, you can generalize. Or can you? Is it fair for us as humans to generalize on dog breeds? This is obviously just a step away from us generalizing about people and races and religions.

Companion Animals and Euthanasia

Here is where things get really icky (which is a very technical term). Before I get into the war that goes on in my head, I should give you just a little back ground on where I stand on certain issues. First, I am anti-death penalty. Next, I am pro-choice. Many people don’t understand how I can believe in two things that seemingly look like they should match (In other words, I should either be pro-death penalty or pro-life). Let me be clear on something here, I am not pro-abortion. In fact, I doubt it is something that I could ever do. But, I have never stood in any one else’s shoes and I am not going to pretend to know every situation that every woman has gone through. I can’t pretend that all unplanned pregnancies can be solved with adoption. I will always be anti-death penalty, because it doesn’t make sense to me. We are saying that murder is wrong, but yet that is how we punish the murderer?

So, this is what got me thinking. I have had to euthanize dogs in the past. One for aggression and one for quality of life (she had horrible cancer). I am wondering how I can justify euthanizing an aggressive dog, but can be against the death penalty. Let me be very clear, the dog I euthanized for aggression was dangerous; he tried to bite me in the stomach (this is an extremely aggressive move). It was fucking scary. This is the only dog I have had in my house that I was actually scared of. Could I very well place that dog in the general public? I think most peoples answer to this would be no, I couldn’t. Something deep inside this dog was broken and would never be fixed.

The thing is, it wasn’t the dogs fault (or imo any aggressive dogs) that he was this way. He was either raised improperly or was the product of poor breeding. More than likely, it was a combination of these two issues. So humans made him this way. It is unfortunate that the only way we have to “solve” this is euthanasia. In a perfect world (one I am still not sure I can grasp) the dogs wouldn’t have been bred in the first place, so the aggression wouldn’t have existed.

A while back An Animal Friendly Life (http://www.ananimalfriendlylife.com/) posted a story about California’s new spay and neuter law. (You can read about it here http://ananimalfriendlylife.com/2007/04/committee-passes-mandatory-spayneuter.html). I had posted that I thought this could be drastic. Eric (the owner of this fabulous blog) let me know that what really is drastic is the fact that we have to put half a million (or more) to death every year. If mandatory spay an neuter laws were in place, I would hope that more owners would make responsible choices. I would hope that they would take better care of their animals. I would hope that a law like this would take the responsibility and burden off of rescues and shelters to have to make these decisions.

I am not sure where any of this leads, and I obviously don’t have any answers, just more questions.

I almost forgot

Hurray, hurray, the first of May, outdoor screwing starts today.


(I couldn't resist. I am such a dork)

I am a good cook....

I admit it. And I like cooking. Guilty as charged.

Tonight, I was experimenting with spinach and this is what I did.

1. Sauteed some garlic in some cooking spray
2. Added some cremini mushrooms
3. Added a jar of artichoke hearts (marinated)
4. Added the spinach
5. Added cornstarch because it was too "liquidy"
6. Added water because I added to much cornstarch.
7. Added some oregano for good measure.
8. Ate it over pasta

YUM. It was really good.

I also made some banana bread with chocolate chips. I will have to let you know how that turns out. It's still in the oven.