Posts by Stephanie Ernst
Bidding Change.org Farewell and Embarking on the New
Published December 17, 2009 @ 10:20AM PT
Well, friends, as I'm sure you can figure out from the title, I'm leaving Change.org today, and this will be my last contribution to this space, though as I'll explain in the latter part of this post, I'll be continuing elsewhere and hope you'll visit me there. But first, of course, a look back and some thank-yous:
When I managed to snag this gig a year and a half ago, I'd been aching for a long time to feel like I was contributing something to the world. I truly love running a freelance editing business from home, for many reasons, but I am an activist at heart, and despite loving my work, I additionally wanted to be doing something more meaningful on the side, something that I believed in -- animal rights, in particular. But as an editor and writer living in St. Louis, I wasn't sure how to parlay my particular skill set and location into impactful animal rights activism.
Then this incredible opportunity arose. And suddenly, I had the chance to write about animal rights every day from right where I already was, to daily get information and a message of compassion, respect, and nonviolence out to a mainstream audience -- and even be paid a modest stipend to do it, to boot. I could keep doing the editing I love while also using the written word to advocate for and educate about the most oppressed victims on this planet and for what I know to be the most important movement of our time. I knew this platform could be a life-changing opportunity, not just for me, but for the potential readers and for our fellow animals as well.
From Boston to Saudi, Vegan Eateries Are Showing How Delicious Compassion Can Be
Published December 16, 2009 @ 09:53AM PT
Something that always excites me is seeing awesome, thriving vegan businesses that appeal not only to the vegan community but also to the general not-yet(!)-vegan public, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that vegan food is as delicious as it is compassionate. And I want to give a quick shout-out to two that have launched this year, with much yummy success.
First, we'll head to Boston. Regular readers may recall from this summer's Great Whole Foods Cheese-and-Apple-Pie Adventure that I had my first Daiya pizza in the company of some friends at the AR conference, including my pal Eric, who referred to his gobbling up of the good stuff as "research" -- for what a few months later became the best thing to hit Boston's food scene in a long time: Peace o' Pie, an all-vegan, all-awesome pizza joint about which I've heard nothing but praise since it opened up. But though hearing vegans rave about it -- about everything from the quality of the pizza to the welcoming atmosphere to the eager, friendly staff -- was great, what I really loved was seeing the Boston Globe tell the world that there is "no sacrifice needed" to have amazing, delicious, cruelty-free vegan food. Indeed, when there are even vegan pizza places as good as -- if not better than -- any joints offering pies full of suffering, people quickly start running out of excuses not to ditch the cow's-milk cheese. Move over, vegan cupcakes. It may be time for vegan pizza to take over the world.
But pizza joints aren't the only vegan food businesses rapidly popping up. Vegan bakeries full of comforting smells and sugary goodness are spreading too -- wherever you live. Cities such as San Francisco and New York and D.C. are the usual suspects, of course, but one of the newest vegan bakeries is far from these locales: in Saudi Arabia. If you're among those who regularly drool over the Friday Food roundups, you've seen the Voracious Vegan's recipes and photos appear there regularly. And I was uber-excited for her a couple months ago when I learned that she was moving beyond cooking & baking just for herself and her husband (and sharing yummy recipes with us) to opening up her own bakery, Voracious, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I don't have any plans to visit Saudi, but oh, do her scrumptious photos (including the one above) make me wish I could.
The Joy of Killing and Euphemisms
Published December 15, 2009 @ 06:55AM PT
Took, harvested, bagged, downed, secured, dispatched. A whole lot of euphemisms for one very basic concept: brutal killing.
In this horrifying blog post for "sportsmen" on a Pennsylvania news site, about the joyful "successes" of area bear hunters, the above euphemisms for killing were used 20 times. And animal advocates, I'll warn you now: you may not want to put yourself through reading the story and seeing the bloody photos. The animals' final, frightened, fleeing moments are recounted gleefully, with not a single thought given to what their experience of this "sport" was like.
The callousness and disregard, from both the blogger and the hunters, are disturbing. Take this, for example, which happened minutes after a human dad gunned down a two-year-old female bear, with the help of a "driving gang of 20-25 hunters":
Winograd vs. the Big Orgs: Leveling the Playing Field
Published December 14, 2009 @ 06:55AM PT
I don't always agree with Nathan Winograd, well-known No Kill advocate and author of Redemption; that is, I don't universally agree with every conclusion he comes to or with his assessments of people's motives. But I often do agree with his observations, and his arguments are as worthy of considerations as anyone else's. That said, Winograd's messages don't receive circulation as widespread as the messages of his detractors and those he challenges, in no small part because his powerful counterparts in these conversations have larger platforms, greater resources, and the ability to just refuse to directly answer his (and others') most challenging arguments.
So this is my small contribution toward (and only "toward" because this platform doesn't have nearly the reach of those over whom Winograd is competing to be heard either) leveling the playing field. I will not say much. I will let Winograd's posts speak for themselves. What I will say is this: We don't bestow sainthood on corporations, and putting blind faith in large nonprofits that more or less function as corporations, complete with some of the tactics and self-interest that make us so wary of corporations and their "truths" and intentions, is dangerous. Assuming that those in positions of power and influence are always honest and open and selfless in their intentions is unwise -- and a disservice to our fellow animals.
When we realize that situations, organizations, and people aren't entirely what we thought, that can be not only troubling but even devastating -- I've been there -- but hearing and considering all sides of the argument, even those that challenge what we support, is vital if our loyalty is to our fellow animals. And our loyalty should be to our fellow animals, not to organizations or prominent figures or what-we-want-to-believe. Seeing the good in organizations does not mean (or excuse) ignoring or burying the bad.
Finally, to Winograd, who in these posts covers some issues that deserve to be covered and that have angered me and many others as much as they have infuriated Winograd, even if most people are hesitant to speak out and say that. Winograd is not hesitant to say it.
Betrayal & Deceit at the Humane Society of the United States
Talk Show Hosts Who Know Nothing About Pit Bulls: Please Shut Up
Published December 13, 2009 @ 10:16AM PT
First, we had the oh-so-funny remarks from Chris Rock and Jay Leno dismissing the torture and killing of pit bulls as not so bad because they're not, according to Rock, "real dogs." And now we have "killer pit bull" obnoxiousness from David Letterman.
Actress Kyra Sedgwick was on Letterman's program Friday night and brought up the pit bull puppy she and husband Kevin Bacon have adopted -- "She was left outside Yankee Stadium - really, she was left for dead," Sedgwick said. And Letterman used the opportunity to perpetuate the hurtful and totally incorrect notion of pit bulls as bloodthirsty timebombs. While Sedgwick kept good-naturedly interjecting that this is a myth, and they're actually very sweet dogs who've gotten an undeserved bad rap, Letterman continued, in seemingly only half-joking fashion, with his insistence that they're inherently dangerous creatures who daily chew people's faces off.
God Sent This Calf to Convince You to Kill the Others
Published December 11, 2009 @ 06:48AM PT
No, really. This is what some dairy farmers want you to believe -- and seem to sincerely believe themselves. Recently, a calf on a Connecticut dairy farm was born with a marking on his forehead resembling a cross, so instead of sending him to the slaughterhouse to become veal, which is what happens on all dairy farms to all other male calves and some female calves (i.e., when the latter aren't needed to be new baby/milk-producing machines, replacements for their worn out, destined-to-be-hamburger mothers), the dairy farm owners are sparing this one, at least temporarily.
From L.A. Unleashed:
Breaking Unjust Laws: AETA, Fugitive Slave Acts, and Oppression Connections
Published December 10, 2009 @ 08:08AM PT
Continued from part 1, "Breaking Unjust Laws: Clarence Darrow and Inherit the Wind."
In his essay "Theory of Non-Resistance," Clarence Darrow wrote, "In modern society the controlling forces arrange things as they want them, and provide that certain things are criminal." And in our society, where the majority do not object to oppression of and violence toward our fellow animals -- and indeed, where many even profit from, and much of society is based on, that oppression and violence -- that translates into unjust laws protecting violence and criminalizing, of all things, acts of compassion. Exploitation, abuse, and killing are accepted; rescue, investigation, and free speech opposing the oppression can be prosecuted.
One of my favorite quotations from Darrow fits well with his "controlling forces" statement and is oh-so-relevant for the animal rights movement (and much else) in today's climate:
