When Your Wish is a Vegan Dish!

This past Saturday was eventful, meaningful, and delicious!

I got to cater at an entirely vegan wedding!  It was wonderous!

Miss Rachel of Miss Rachel's Pantry was awesome enough to take me on board and in a sense, under her wing.  I am in awe of her hard work, talent, and niceness!

Miss Rachel's Pantry is an entirely vegan business run by a real vegan.  Miss Rachel started her business a few years ago and has been amazing vegans and non-vegans alike with her creativity and her consistency to serve things that are oh, so good!

On Saturday, she and three other lovely ladies, and myself, worked to prepare and serve a small-ish wedding which took place on a gorgeous horse farm.  I got to see horses roll around in the grass and kick their feet up in delight!  I've never seen that before!

The food consisted of about 10 plates (not including Hors D'Oeuvres) for 10 tables.  With each warming of food there was a new, mouth-watering smell in the kitchen, with each placing of the plates on the tables there were "Ooos and Ahhs!", and with each dish there was a lot of walking back and forth.  This part would have been easier if I could have found shoes that were more exactly my size (6-1/2 Wide) but wide sizes are harder to come by.

At any rate, it was all worth it when people were done eating and the team could sit down and chow down.  The food was perfect!

After our meal, we started cleaning up and I heard the Mother-of-the-Bride tell Miss Rachel that she was now thinking of ditching her current "veg" lifestyle and just going vegan because of how impressed she was with the food!  I got teary I was so touched!

I want to do more work like this.

"I want more!"

27 Random Things I Like

1. Floral print bedding that looks a little grandmother-y.  
2. Lisa Simpson's laugh.
3. Touching cats' paws.
4. Painting my toenails orange and more specifically putting my feet on a ground in the morning with orange toenails.
5. Motown music.
6. Moral Consistency.
7. Doing my hair when it is wet.
8. Wes Anderson's music choices.
9. Songs that make me want to smoke something.
10. Smoking imaginary cigarettes.  
11. Board games.
12. Getting off of work before 10:30pm.
13. Helping others.  
14. Little kids with unibrows.
15. Buying hygiene products.  I love the smell of new shampoo!  
16. Lists.
17. Driving into the city late at night with good music playing.  
18. Riding Megabus to New Cit-tay!
19. Annoying my roommate. 
20. When a totally awesome song comes on the radio.
21. Vegan ice cream.
22. Vegan pizza.
23. Writing letters and making cards.
24. Arts & Crafts.
25. Trying a song for the first time on the ukulele.
26. An orchestra tuning.
27. Finding cool/funny things on computer when I'm trying to sort stuff on it. 

PAN Handling

On Saturday, I went to PAN's (Peace Advocacy Network) Gala. I had been looking forward to this event  because I love PAN, everyone a part of it, and I love being around other vegans.

A Gala, for those who don't know like I didn't, is a fancy fundraising event. There are usually raffle tickets for sale, silent auctions, donation envelopes, and all of this revolves around a fancy dinner and lively dancing.

My date ended up being sick so I invited a friend in his place and had a great time. As silly as it sounds, I felt like a grown up there. A silly, broke grown up, but a grown up all the same. I still got a bunch of vegan icing on my dress. It all came out though.

While dancing on the dance floor with the other vegans I thought to myself, "Damn! We make veganism look good!" While I ate me spinach and strawberry salad and vegan crab cakes, I thought, "Mmmmmmmm!" While I helped myself to seconds on vegan cake, I didn't feel the least bit apologetic.

I also made a speech of sorts about how PAN has changed my life for the better. I meant to think more about what I wanted to say but I basically just thought up five things I wanted to share, kept meaning to plan how I was going to say them, but then not focusing. I more or less winged my speech but I didn't embarrass myself. I'm just glad that I went before this guy, because his speech was beautiful!

So Far and Yet So Close...

I often feel like I must be a terrible friend/person for things to have ended the way that they did between me and an old friend.  This comforts me.  I'm not all bad, right?

I Met The Greatest Living Legend You've Probably Never Heard Of

Gary Francione.  I met Gary Francione.  I told you you haven't ever heard of him.  Or maybe you remember the name vaguely because you are the one person who reads this and one of the people I live with and has to constantly hear about my rants and raves about animal rights.  Or maybe you've heard this name because you are one of my online vegan friends.  Or maybe you've heard the name because you are very in touch with the animal rights world.  But chances are you haven't heard this name and my excitement about meeting this person makes me an odd kind of nerd that you've never met before.  You didn't know there could be animal rights nerds, did you?  I didn't either until I discovered Gary and his following of sorts.   

An interview by The Believer.

On the first day of PAN vegan pledge, I introduced myself to the group a vegan mentor.  I told everyone that I was an abolitionist and I recommended that everyone check out the site.  The site is produced by Gary Francione who is in my opinion, the true father of the animal rights movement.  When it comes to the movement, he is my guiding star.  While I'm not a blind follower of the man, I have a hard time talking to others about veganism and related issues without echoing what I have heard Gary so many times before.  I strive to say things in my own way with new analogies and examples but truthfully, no one says things better than Gary.  No one I've discovered yet anyway.

Soon after my introduction, I mingled with the other mentees and mentors.  A young women about my age told me that Gary was coming to Philly to talk!  To Philly!  I had been dreaming of seeing him talk in real life!  Could this really be?

I found out the details and learned that Grindcore House, a South Philly Vegan coffeehouse, was going to be having Gary discuss his new book on February 5th.  I shared this news with people on the PAN Google group.  On this board, my friend and President of PAN posted that Gary would be talking to our pledge group earlier in that same day!  For real?!

I requested off of work for the entire day and eagerly waited for the day to come!

That Saturday, I was anxious.  I had been up late the night before baking cookies I had volunteered to make.  Because I wanted them to be perfect for Gary, as well as perfect for veganism, I taste tested each of the 6 trays that I baked.  This of course sounds fun, but by the end of the night I was an-overdosed-cookie-monster-mess.  I was stuffing cookies in my face with my eyes half-closed.  I was full and sleepy and I couldn't tell if the cookies would firm up properly with more time sitting or if I should put them back in the oven.  I now know letting them sit would have been better but I kept putting them back in the oven.  Some got hard, but most of them were still good, particularly when dipped in tea.

I got to the PAN meeting tired, excited, and ready to help people setup for the cooking demo.  The cooking demo came and went.  The young woman who runs Miss Rachel's Pantry was teaching us.  Miss Rachel was wonderful and completely lovable!  So knowledgeable and inspiring.  The food was mouthwatering and ready and mentees filed upstairs to eat what we had all made together.  Mentors and volunteers helped clean up.  I was more anxious.  Gary would be here at any moment.

Soon, I heard his voice at the door.  I don't remember what he said.  Probably something person-like, like "Hello! How are you?"  I just remember thinking, "It's him!  I've heard his voice a hundred times and now I'm hearing it live!"  Gary entered the church, popped his head in where we volunteers were wrapping up cleaning duty.  He said, "Hello!" and proceeded upstairs.

I brought my food up and then I got to listen to him speak.  "How lucky am I?" I thought.  Listening to him speak, I was delighted to discover how funny he was.  Despite talking about something so serious, he kept people laughing while never downplaying the seriousness of the issue.  This is such an admirable skill and accomplishment.  As I watched, I wished I had brought my camera to record this.  I feel positive, that is to say, absolutely sure that Gary will be in history books.  I couldn't be more sure of this.  At one point, vegan desserts were passed around the table.  My cookies were passed to him, but he politely turned them down saying, "No thank you.  But they look good!"  That was truly enough for me!  I know from listening to him that he isn't a big sweets person and had he actually tried one I don't think I could stand the wait for his verdict.  At the end of his talk, I had goosebumps.  He said something like, "This world would really be great if we just made up our minds to make it that way!"  I agree.

After the talk, I waited to talk to him.  When I got to talk to him, I introduced myself as my abolitionist forum name, DumbledoresAmy, because I figured he'd know me somewhat from that.  He did, and said, "Oh, that's you!" And talked about how funny it is when you are finally able to place a real face with an single thumbnail image and posts.

Then, I gave him my vegan "business" cards.  They have his website at the top, followed by my vegan blog, and then a quote by him.

He read it and said, "Oh look, that's my website!"  He read a bit further and said, "Oh, that's a quote by me!"  I felt a bit like a child showing her uncle something she had created at school.

We made our way out the door because the church would need the space very soon.  I start talking about a mutual friend we have, and he was interested in what she was up to since I talk to her more online than he has a chance to.

I walked home with my new vegan friends, gabbing incessantly.  This is something I find I do around other vegans.  I wish I could stop myself but I have so many thoughts that I withhold as an effort to not discomfort my non-vegan friends that once I get to talk to a vegan, my excitement is uncontainable and possibly, mildly annoying.

--

I got to the second Gary Francione event later than intended.  The address of the coffeehouse confused me.  Directions and locations are not my strongest suit.  Gary's talk was great.  I worried that everyone there was already vegan.  I'm not sure if they were or weren't.  My hopes were that new people would be added to our 1% population.

Go to here.

In the middle of the 2-hour talk I had to pee.  Damn that tea!  The bathroom was in the same space as the discussion room and I found the idea of Gary Francione hearing me pee to be too familiar for someone I looked up to so much.  But soon, I had to face facts, and I headed to the bathroom trying to embrace the idea as a way to comfort myself.  To my relief, the bathroom light was attached to one of those loud fans and my mind was put at ease.

Once the talk was finished, Gary answered questions and then signed his books.  I had two copies.  One for our mutual friend and the other for myself.  Gary told me between the talks, he was looking at the vegan card I had given him and he had gotten teary-eyed because he was so touched.  How sweet!  This is a precious life memory for me that I will always keep safe.  Thank you Gary for coming.  Thank you PAN for making it possible.  And thank you me, for being passionate, weird, and fun and making the unusual worth living, experiencing, and writing about.  I don't think many people are this excited about this many things and it's too bad.  It's a good time! 

I was worried that searching for images of "self love" on Google would lead me to a bunch of masturbation pictures, but this is quite lovely.   

     

Vegan Pledge

Peace Advocacy Network

This month I have been participating in a 30-day vegan pledge program with PAN (Peace Advocacy Network).  It has been good for me to be around other vegans.  Although Philadelphia is a good place to be vegan, I'm not good at getting out. I need to work on that.

At any rate, the non-profit group PAN, works to help people who want to go vegan but who are still a little nervous.  I am a mentor to someone who like me, started as a long-time vegetarian and wanted to make the change to go vegan.  My biggest hope was that this person would stay vegan and this week she sent me an email saying she was committed to making the life change.  How exciting!

As I am becoming more aware of what other people are doing, I feel like I am not doing nearly enough.  I listen to podcasts, read blogs, and now have real-life contact with people who are really getting the movement going, and what am I doing?  I'm just barely getting by.  I need a better job so I can be a better activist.  I have plans but not the resources to create them.  How do people work, live, and create social change?  Do you have to pick and choose?  I would like to pick and choose live and create social change but that doesn't seem to be an option.

  

Wood You Come to My Birthday?

Yesterday was my birthday.  I turned 24 and had a wonderful time in the process.

For one thing, I finally have a full-time job!  I now work at grocery 
store that is a 7-minute walk from my house.  Everyone I have worked with so far is very nice and I'm glad that I will at last be able to have some stability.  I even get paid every week instead of every other week.  When I first thought of working at South Square, I thought how the job would offend my vegan-self.  I still have these thoughts.  You should see me as I gingerly pick up the very tips of a cheese or meat package to scan it.  I also worry about how my paycheck is partially coming from animal exploitation.  It's not an ideal job for me in this respect but the way things have been for about a year now, I've barely been getting by.  I've been surviving more than living but this is more than I can say for the animals' whose body parts and products I slide across my scanner and announce the price of.  What would my thighs go for?  What about my life?

Sadly, the job that I was barely getting by with ended and I needed another job.  This was the first one that I could find that would pay my bills.  I will continue to look for better options for me but in looking at the situation as it is, I see an excellent opportunity to do some activism.  Here I am, being presented with pieces of people's lives.  I recently listened to a debate between Gary Francione and Erik Marcus and Gary mentioned he always starts the conversation by asking about people's pets.  At my job, I'm ringing up their cat and/or dog food.  What a perfect lead in!  I've ordered some free business cards for The Abolitionist Approach and as soon as I'm finished my training I'm going to start talking to people about veganism and giving them cards at the end of our conversations.  I'll probably get myself into some kind of trouble but as long as I'm not selling anything, I don't see what's so wrong about having a conversation made relevant by a person's pets.  So, I'll see.

For my birthday, I worked and then I went back to my apartment where my boyfriend was waiting for me.  He got me tasty vegan pizza and a delicious vegan dessert.  After eating, he gave me a present which was a ukulele!  How exciting!

Then, I dragged my roommates, friends, and boyfriend to Woody's, a wonderful, gay bar and I think that everyone had a good time.  I had a good time.  Sunday is 80's night meaning some drinks are 80 cents and there is lots of 80's music.  I love Woody's!  Everyone there is so full of joy and there's so much love in the room!  This sounds corny but I don't care.

Oh, and P.S. I got a popcorn maker as a birthday gift!  Hooray!  The lid turns into a bowl!

Sigh.

Feeling a bit like Sisyphus. 

The most notable thing I did this week was think.  Maybe I shouldn't think too much.  In this week's case, more than anything, I feel like a failure.

I've been a college graduate for nearly a year now and I don't feel any closer to my goals now than I was a year ago. 

Feeling a bit like Rob Gordon.  

More importantly to me, I've been vegan for almost one year (January 8th, 2010) and I haven't got even one person to go vegan.  Not one person!  Not my family, not my friends, and not any strangers.

I am hereby claiming responsibility for this year's failures.  I didn't get anyone to go vegan this year because I wasn't confident enough when I talked to people about it, if I was brave enough to talk to them at all.  I didn't want to offend anyone and I didn't want to seem like I was looking down on anyone.  As a result, I have not contributed at all to "the shift of the paradigm" as Gary Francione puts it.  I have also been lazy this year and this the biggest contributor to my unhappiness in the personal and professional sense as well as my lack in vegan conversions.  I need to seize every career opportunity.  I also need to grab every chance to talk to others about veganism because this kind of every day activism is the right thing to do.  Only by practicing every day does a person become an expert and if I could be an expert vegan activist, I would be happy.  Also, I need to make up my mind to be happy.  I need to do all of these things and I will.  

Send Me On My Way

After looking for jobs for months, I suddenly have three solid possibilities open to me.  Although I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, I have hope that one of these things will work out.

About a week ago, a friend of mine told me that a paper they work at has positions open for paid internships.  Although I don't have an English or Journalism degree, I have always loved writing, particularly now that I am writing more days than not.  In an effort to counter the fact that I don't have a more applicable degree, I started to write three sample articles.  One article on wedding planning in our current financial climate, one article about veganism, and one article on a foreign exchange program my friend is in.

I setup interviews via Facebook with friends of mine who were engaged or were married.  It's a bit crazy to me that people my age are getting married.  Am I at that age already?  During the interview process, I was humbled by how much detail my friends went into.  It was more than I could have asked for and at the same time what I asked.  In doing this I also realized, I could do this for a living.  I find it interesting, creative, and fun.  Everything something should be that takes up most of a person's time.

After working on the wedding article, I got to work on the foreign exchange article.  My friend from grade school is currently in Korea teaching young kids English.  I asked her about it and in doing so, I got interested.  So I went to the website and signed up.  Soon after, I got an email and then a phone call.  Going to Korea to teach for a year seems like a far away possibility that is quickly becoming more likely.  I've thought from time to time that I would like to teach.  I'd like to help people on an everyday basis.  With teaching I could do that.  While I am hesitant to go for a whole year, if the opportunity presented itself I couldn't turn it down.  I would go in a heart beat and I know that I would love it!

While emails and phone calls were being exchanged about this Korean teaching program, I got a response to a job inquiry I sent out almost three weeks ago.  This job was for a part-time position at a New York Hostel.  The job was to check people in and out, make beds, and other minor chores.  After the hostel owner emailed me, I called the number he provided.  We talked about what type of person he was looking for and I brought up my idea which was working part-time in exchange for place to stay.  The man thought it over and felt that this could be arranged.  We've gotten in touch since then and found that we have a similar diet (he's on a mostly raw diet and I'm vegan).  If this job worked out the way that I am hoping, I will work at the hostel 20-hours a week and be able to spend the rest of my time looking for a full-time job.  This could be great for me!

Things seem to be looking up.  It's funny that all these gigs presented themselves at the same time but I can't say I'm surprised.  And I'm embarrassed to say that after all this, I know that I will miss things that I have taken for granted.  C'est La Vie. 



P.S.  Blogger changed their picture uploader and I haven't been able to add images since.  Boo!       

Changes

The feeling of changing seasons is a feeling that reminds me that I am alive.  The temperature, aromas, and the difference in the air is unshakable proof that whether or not I am living the dream, I am still living and a part of the human experience.  Or just a sentient experience since animals very well could sense these changes.  In fact, probably more so than people...Oy vey, I'm such a vegan.  And a Jew apparently.   

At any rate, Fall seems to be in full force.  Soon, I will have to buy tickets for Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the year will snowball to my sister and my birthday and into holidays.  Where does the time go?  Into Google searches perhaps.

Since the weather is changing, I seem to be reflecting on lot of changes in myself.  I need to re-tune and recharge I think.  I've got some things I need to fix.

Firstly, I've been looking for a decent job for over a year now.  The fact that I haven't been able to find one seems to have taken a toll on my self-esteem.  I'm more negative than I used to be.  On one hand, I give other people a lot of credit and think they are all generally trying their hardest and are good, smart, worthwhile people.  Yet, I rarely extend this kind of understanding to myself.  I need to judge myself lightly. 

For another thing, I hardly ever see things in black and white anymore.  Even when I'm inclined to do so.  I usually think about what ever issue is on my mind until I've analyzed each side of it completely.  By this time I have a strong opinion but also a thorough understanding of the other sides.  On one hand, I think that other people would benefit from this kind of thought process.  On the other hand, this kind of contemplation is exhausting.

Another sad change is how much I think about money because of the fact that I never have it.  I have scribbled on the back of countless pieces of scrap paper how much I'll bring home a certain week and how much I will need to stay afloat.  The fact that I also want to be sociable or at least feel the need to want to be sociable, adds further costs and feelings of desperation.

I think the most upsetting change in me is I've lost my love of life.  I've gotten into a mode of just going through the motions.  I'm going to fix this.



I recently re-watched some videos that have stuck with me since I first watched them almost 9 months ago.  The topics discussed are confidence and self-esteem.  Some of the wisest points include sifting through the bullshit and paying attention to the things you tell yourself.  At the end of the pep-talk, this YouTuber assigns homework.  She advices the viewer to think about the positive things about themselves and think, "Cool.  I'm a good person."  So here's my little list:

1.)  I try my hardest to do the right thing.
2.)  I am wildly creative.
3.)  I am interesting.
4.)  I would be friends with me.
5.)  I have awesome taste in stuff.

Cool.  I'm a good person.

Give Me a Break!

This Monday marks the first time I've had more than a day off in a row since The 4th of July.  This break is much needed!

Currently, I work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  While it is nice to have Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday off, there's a lot that can be said for having two days to unwind.  On this lovely Monday, I feel like a new woman.  The Labor Day Weekend is only half of the reason why.

I don't think I ever desired to be popular.  At least, I hope I never have.  I recall popularity being a thought in my mind in middle school but by the time I got to high school, the issue dissolved.  I never saw a high school movie that I really identified with.  I love some of them (Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Mean Girls) but when I was in high school people seemed to be worrying about different things.  That was my perspective at least.  Maybe just I was worried about other things.  I was a pretty involved student.  I was in marching band, jazz band, concert band, orchestra, Odyssey of the Mind, The Gay-Straight Alliance, and I always had a part-time job.

Ever since I became a vegan, specifically, ever since I became an abolitionist vegan, I've been secretly driven to be a major contributor to the movement.  Part of this is because I think to myself, "Every moment that passes, I already too late for literally thousands of animals!"  I try to stray myself from this way of thinking because it doesn't do much to help either myself or the animals suffering from what I wish to free them from.

The other reason I want to contribute is I've always been drawn to things I strongly believe in.  In high school, I had a friend tell me she found a flier I had drawn saying "Save the Tigers" from when we were in elementary school together.  Once I graduated college though, I didn't really have anything like that anymore.  This shouldn't suggest that I blindly jumped on the vegan wagon without proper research.  I just needed something to believe in and as luck would have it, I stumbled upon some convincing vegan arguments.

A third reason is, on occasion I think to myself, "There's something very great in you."  You might be thinking, "That's called crazy" and maybe you're right, but people generally don't make any real changes in the world acting the same as everyone else.  If I could get whatever this great thing inside me to add some sparkle to the veganism movement, I would be at peace with myself.  I want people to "get it".  I want everyone to enjoy the feeling of contributing to great social change instead of the feeling of  "I'm just one person and what I do doesn't matter."  That reasoning always makes me sad.  I want everyone to realize the power they have on their own.  I want to make things better for everyone.  My veganism isn't about feeling better than others.  It's just about feeling better and making things better.    

So, this is just a long, round about way to say that I am now featured on a website that I have mucho respect for.  I feel closer to being a part of a circle that I admire.  I feels strange for me to desire to be part of something.  In this case, it also feels right.

So, excuse me as I jump around the room but this is kind of a big deal for me!  Did I say kind of?  I meant a really big deal for me!  Thanks Randy!