Recap of the Last Week
It'd be silly of me to try to find a common theme for everything that's occurred in the last week. So here it is: a miscellaneous post!
* On Tuesday, I attended a City Council meeting regarding an ordinance that will ban the chaining of dogs for more than three consecutive hours. (The old law, which was difficult to enforce, said that dogs couldn't be chained for more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period.) I was one of more than 20 people signed up to speak in favor of the ordinance, but the mayor made it clear that all of us didn't need to speak. The ordinance passed unanimously.
* On Wednesday, I went to a Cirque du Soleil performance for the first time. I've been protesting the Ringling and Shrine circuses for more than five years, and I've always used the line "Go to a circus that doesn't use animals, like Cirque du Soleil." The wait was worth it! From stilt-walking to amazing dance numbers to an amazing hula-hoop routine, it was an impressive human spectacle that certainly didn't need to abuse tigers and elephants to dazzle the crowd. So go check out a circus that doesn't use animals, like Cirque du Soleil or any of the others listed here!
* On Thursday, my parents (who were in town for the week) and I attended a massive vegan Thanksgiving potluck. We had stuffing, Tofurky, many potato and vegetable dishes, and lots of desserts--a fantastic feast with everything but a bird's carcass!
* On Friday, my mom and I participated in a Fur-Free Friday demo. This year's event was meant to highlight the abuse of animals not only for fur but for leather and wool as well. The demo was very well received by passing cars, many of which gave us supportive honks. We reached quite a few people because it took place outside a mall on the busiest shopping day of the year.
* This evening, I purchased a nice variety of nuts in their shells for Tu B'Shvat. True, Tu B'shvat is still more than two months away. But I had trouble finding nuts in their shells last year, and I wanted to buy them now, when they're out in the supermarkets, before it's too late. I'm greatly looking forward to Hanukkah (and I have some terrific posts in mind for next month), but Tu B'Shvat is my favorite holiday and it's already on my mind.
* On Tuesday, I attended a City Council meeting regarding an ordinance that will ban the chaining of dogs for more than three consecutive hours. (The old law, which was difficult to enforce, said that dogs couldn't be chained for more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period.) I was one of more than 20 people signed up to speak in favor of the ordinance, but the mayor made it clear that all of us didn't need to speak. The ordinance passed unanimously.
* On Wednesday, I went to a Cirque du Soleil performance for the first time. I've been protesting the Ringling and Shrine circuses for more than five years, and I've always used the line "Go to a circus that doesn't use animals, like Cirque du Soleil." The wait was worth it! From stilt-walking to amazing dance numbers to an amazing hula-hoop routine, it was an impressive human spectacle that certainly didn't need to abuse tigers and elephants to dazzle the crowd. So go check out a circus that doesn't use animals, like Cirque du Soleil or any of the others listed here!
* On Thursday, my parents (who were in town for the week) and I attended a massive vegan Thanksgiving potluck. We had stuffing, Tofurky, many potato and vegetable dishes, and lots of desserts--a fantastic feast with everything but a bird's carcass!
* On Friday, my mom and I participated in a Fur-Free Friday demo. This year's event was meant to highlight the abuse of animals not only for fur but for leather and wool as well. The demo was very well received by passing cars, many of which gave us supportive honks. We reached quite a few people because it took place outside a mall on the busiest shopping day of the year.
* This evening, I purchased a nice variety of nuts in their shells for Tu B'Shvat. True, Tu B'shvat is still more than two months away. But I had trouble finding nuts in their shells last year, and I wanted to buy them now, when they're out in the supermarkets, before it's too late. I'm greatly looking forward to Hanukkah (and I have some terrific posts in mind for next month), but Tu B'Shvat is my favorite holiday and it's already on my mind.
posted by heebnvegan @ 11/25/2006 08:11:00 PM
5 Comments:
At 11/25/2006 10:08 PM,
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
At 11/25/2006 10:24 PM,
heebnvegan said…
I'm all for freedom of speech, but I'd like to explain why I deleted a comment here. First of all, it was left anonymously with no contact info. Second of all, it contained factual errors.
The post accused me of being a hypocrite for opposing animal circuses but supporting Cirque du Soleil. As far as I know, Cirque du Soleil does not use animals in any of its productions and the show that the person referenced was simply a parody mentioned on an episode of South Park. If there's something I'm missing, please let me know and include your name and contact info.
Additionally, the person claimed that studies have shown that vegetarian diets kill more animals (e.g., field mice and rabbits) than meat-based diets. While I've heard this inaccurate claim before from the "People Eating Tasty Animals" types, I highly doubt that this claim has come from any legitimate studies. Is this to say that meat-eaters don't eat any vegetables? That we don't raise a ton more grains and vegetables to feed to farmed animals than if we didn't have to raise so many farmed animals for food? That it's somehow worse for animals to accidentally be killed by farm equipment than to purposely deprive animals of everything that's natural and important to them by keeping them in factory farms?
In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have even wasted my breath explaining why I deleted this nonsensical comment.
At 11/25/2006 10:29 PM,
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
At 11/25/2006 10:53 PM,
heebnvegan said…
To the person who posted the above comment:
I have deleted your second comment because of its inappropriate tone and factual inaccuracies as well as your refusal to identify yourself.
Regarding Cavalia, I was unable to navigate the link you sent because of a program that's needed. However, I did some Googling and I see no evidence that Cavaila is a Cirque du Soleil production. It was created by Normand Latourelle, who was involved in founding Cirque du Soleil back in the day, but it appears to be a separate entity.
Thank you for sending me the Time article. You claimed that Davis' study was one of multiple studies that indicate that a meat-and-potatoes diet kills fewer animals than a vegetarian diet. It really doesn't seem that Davis' study is making such a grand claim/comparison. He's saying that many animals are killed in the process of harvesting crops, but he doesn't contend that these crops aren't consumed by farmed animals or nonvegetarian human beings. I direct you to the three questions in my last comment.
If you want to continue this conversation, please e-mail me privately at mcroland@gmail.com. I promise not to share your e-mail address on my blog.
At 11/28/2006 9:06 PM,
Anonymous said…
You confused me for a moment there w/the Tu B'shvat reference! I was thinking, "It's that time already???" :)
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