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National Animal Rights Day 2013 Los Angeles

Opening ceremony for National Animal Rights Day in Los Angeles, California on June 9th, 2013

Opening ceremony for National Animal Rights Day in Los Angeles, California on June 9th, 2013 [image credit: Sarah Jane Hardt]

Sunday, June 9th, 2013 is a day that will be remembered by many as a turning point in their lives.  At the 3rd annual National Animal Rights Day in Los Angeles, CA, activists from far and wide came together for a historical demonstration of compassion, remembrance and solidarity.  It was the first time a demonstration of its kind had ever been done on U.S. soil.  A demonstration that had made a life-altering impact on the people of Spain, Australia, Israel and others before, and sent shock waves around the world in the form of social media and word of mouth powerfully telling the world “we demand equality for animals NOW”.

I was so deeply moved and inspired by the commitment and strength of my vegan brothers and sisters, standing united under the cause of animal rights, paying our respects to the animals we held in our hands.  Animals who had every right to be alive but had been deprived of that right by the greed, gluttony and vanity of humankind.  We broke down, we cried on each other’s shoulders, we held each other up — we came together.  We were one.

eva gutierrez holding a dead baby rabbit at NARD 2013 in LA

We earthlings are impermanent, but our message is immortal. [image credit: Sara Jane Hardt]

For me, it was the culmination of months of emotionally trying work that had finally reached its transformational conclusion.  Acquiring animals from slaughterhouses for the ceremony, carrying the physical and emotional weight of their deaths back with me at work and at home was no easy task but it had to be done and I am so thankful that I was able to fill that role.  During the ceremony, as I walked back for another animal to hand to the activists, feelings I had tried so hard to keep bottled up for so long had grown to such intense proportions that when the levee broke and I could hold them in no longer, they hit me all at once like an flood of pure emotion in waves of sorrow, gratitude, awe and relief so intense I almost fell to my knees.  To see on the faces of fellow activists the impact this event had on them moved me to tears.  To look at them looking down at the animals clasped in their hands with tears streaming down their faces, a mix of sorrow, pity, shame, despair, anger and resolve.  It was beautiful and profound in its bottomless sadness.  As I handed animals to Brenda Calvillo, Eva Gutierrez, Jessica Schlueter, Carol Glasser and others, I thanked each of them for their strength and dedication to the animals and for sharing such a powerful moment with each other and the world.

Nothing would have been accomplished if not for the hard work and dedication of all of my fellow organizers who for the past five months have been diligently and uncomplainingly working to make this event possible. Aylam Orian, Vida Jafari, Brenda Calvillo, Dave Simon, Robyn Hicks, Jill Ryther, Christine Hess — these people did the lion’s share of the work and deserve a medal for their hard work and dedication. Read more of this post

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Fear Doesn’t Scare Me Anymore

no one is free when others are oppressedI’ve lost track of my priorities lately.  Things that don’t matter to me are higher on my priorities list than things that do matter to me.  A perfect example is my prioritizing of my job that pays the bills as a sales rep at AT&T over my animal rights activism.  It seems like the two are at constant odds with each other.  I can’t seem to find the balance.  I work long hours and commute over 60 miles a day to a job that I feel doesn’t do any good for the world.  (I guess that’s why they have to pay me to show up.) The benefits are good, the money is great and I get to go home to a full refrigerator, electricity and a sense of security.

But why is security such a high priority?  Could there be more important things in the world than security?  Shouldn’t those things be higher on my list of priorities?  And what good is having a bunch of stuff I don’t have time or energy to enjoy?  A house, a car, a bunch of stuff collecting dust.  I think security is one of the most overrated things in existence.  This doesn’t mean I take security for granted.  So many living beings in the world don’t even have their basic needs met.  Food, water, health, living a life free from exploitation.  As a person who is privileged enough to be in the position to help others, I believe it is not only my obligation to do so, but my duty.

This doesn’t mean I’m going to quit my job and foreclose on my house.  All this means is that I’m just not going to prioritize my job over things that are more important to me.  Things like attending animal rights demos, doing vegan outreach, or even just driving in my car for the sake of driving and not caring where I end up (what ever happened to those days?).  I’m no longer content being a part-time activist.  I’m no longer content being a part-time person.  I’ve closed myself off from the world and become this AT&T robot.  No more. Read more of this post

Detox Your Life: How to Responsibly Get Rid of Your Non-Vegan Crap

leather beltsSooner or later on your road to veganism you’ll wonder, “what on earth do I do with all of these frozen steaks / leather shoes, purses and belts / non-vegan alcoholic beverages / pints of ice cream / wool blankets / non-vegan household cleaners and personal hygiene products / etc. in my house?”.  Parting with your non-vegan stuff can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be.  The good news is there are a bunch of options for you to get rid of your non-vegan junk.

Have a yard sale

Yard sales are a great way to quickly get rid of non-vegan items like furniture, clothing and even jewelry.  It’s also nice to have some money left over afterward that you can use to buy some new awesome vegan stuff.

Sell to friends and family

Friends and family are the easiest people to sell to.  Just make sure they’re actually buying it and not just going to try to give it back to you as a gift.

Sell online

Websites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist are great ways to turn your old, gross non-vegan stuff into cash, but they need a bit of setting-up.  You might need to set up a PayPal account if you don’t already have one.

Pawn

You definitely won’t get a fair price, as pawn shops need to turn a profit to stay in business, so this should be a last resort.  Pawn shops can be rather picky too, so stick to your safe bets: jewelry, valuable trinkets and really, really old stuff.

Give gifts

Unless you’re giving away something terrible, most people are happy to get free stuff regardless of how little they may actually like it. Read more of this post

Go Vegan, Save the World: 8 Similarities Between Animal Rights Activists and Superheroes

marvel and dc superheroesWe admire superheroes for their unwavering belief in the power of compassion and the inherent goodness of humanity.  We look up to them, idolize them, and champion them as role models for youth to emulate and aspire to.  In the face of adversity, superheroes never give up, they never give in, and they never compromise their ideals.  Superheroes have taught us that “with great power comes great responsibility” among many other valuable lessons for treating each other with kindness.  But have we actually learned anything from them?

We need to see the connection between villains using their power to harm humans, and humans using our power to harm animals.  The following are eight similarities between animal rights activists and superheroes and how you can help save the world by adopting a vegan lifestyle and becoming an animal rights activist.

1. Superheroes use their power for good

“With great power comes great responsibility.” ~ Voltaire (and later, Uncle Ben from Spiderman)

animal man, dc comics

Animal Man (aka Buddy Baker) is a vegan animal rights activist superhero of the DC Universe. He has the power to assume the abilities of animals, such as the flight of a bird, the wall-climbing of a spider, the color changing of a chameleon, and the regenerating of a worm, among many others.  Although he has been a long-time minor character in the DC universe, Animal Man’s story has recently been relaunched to much critical acclaim.  Other vegan and vegetarian superheroes include Beast Boy, Aquaman, and in some depictions, Superman.

The most basic difference between superheroes and villains is that superheroes use their power for good, while villains use their power for evil.  Superheroes believe in truth, justice and compassion while villains believe in chaos, violence and greed.  Though certain villains may believe they are fighting for truth and justice, their version of justice and their means of obtaining it are twisted and immoral.

Superheroes believe in standing up for the underdog and use their power to speak on behalf of those without power.  Unlike villains, they don’t view those without power as inferior beings and they don’t use their power as a reason to inflict pain to others just because they can’t fight back.

While a villain sees people without powers as a massive herd to dominate and rule over, a superhero sees people without powers as individuals to protect and care for.

Animal rights activists remove themselves from all avoidable acts of cruelty done to other sentient creatures on their behalf.  When they learn of injustices to animals, they empathize, inform others and fight for justice.  Animal rights activists are compassionate to all sentient life forms because they believe that treating others with respect is simply the right thing to do.

“I decided early that I would never take a life. Right around the time I decided that I wanted to live. It wasn’t an arbitrary decision and it was more than moral. It’s about identity. As long as you can choose that, choose who you are in the world… you can choose to call yourself sane.” ~ Batman

2. Superheroes dare to dream

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us. And on my soul I swear… until my dream of a world where dignity, honor and justice becomes the reality we all share… I’ll never stop fighting. Ever.” ~ Superman

Superheroes aren’t afraid to dream of a better world.  While others are content to accept things as they are, superheroes dream of something better.  Villains dream as well, but they don’t dream of a better world the way superheroes do.   Villains’ twisted dreams of a better world are ones in which they are the ruler of a slave race (the human race) or even suicidal dreams of total annihilation of the universe and apocalyptic destruction causing the death of all life, including even themselves.

Superheroes are idealists and dreamers, but they are not delusional.  They understand perfectly well the hard work, the sleepless nights, and the shed tears it will take to make their dream a reality.  But they understand that some of the biggest ethical leaps forward society has taken throughout history at first didn’t seem possible.  They all started with that one person who thought “but what if it is?” Read more of this post

I’m Quitting Veganism To Be a Level 5 Paleo

vegetarian indian word for lousy hunter, philosoraptor Everyone, I have a confession to make… I decided that I don’t want to be vegan anymore.  It’s boring to me now.  It was fun for a while, but ultimately just a phase.  I had a realization the other day while watching my meat-eating co-workers eat lunch.  They all got McDonalds and it looked and smelled so good.  They were all laughing and having a good time without me.  I started wondering, “why do they get to have all the fun?”.  It just didn’t seem fair.  So I finally made the decision to quit being vegan.

I’m going to start my paleo diet today with a big steak, not even cooked, and I’m going to eat it like the cavemen did, with my bare hands.  And I’m not even going to wash my hands before I eat.  Or brush my teeth after.  And what are you gonna do about it?  Then probably about a week or so later, I’m going to crap that steak out in the woods like my caveman ancestors did.  I won’t even wipe with a leaf.  I’m an animal — RAWR!  I’ll just rub my butt on a tree trunk ’cause that’s how tough I am.

And for all you who are going to write your hateful blog posts about me, I’ll have you know that our bodies are different.  Maybe yours doesn’t need meat but mine does, okay?  I have these canines for a reason, you know.  And these sweet hunting skills I learned from playing Call of Duty, knifing noobs and stuff.  And lions eat cows so why can’t I?  It’s not like it’s illegal or anything.  Come on. Read more of this post

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