Vegan Freak Intro

Yesterday I submitted my Intro to the Vegan Freak forum: www.veganfreak.net you have to write about your decision and a little about yourself in order to get entry to the forum. I found this to be helpful personally.

Joining the forum is my way of taking the next step to understanding this new stance and coming to terms with the commitment I made August 28th 2007 when I saw Earthlings for the first time.

Over these last few months since August I done a lot of reading. Even though I've known since then that dairy is just as bad as eating meat I wasn't really owning up to it. If my stance is that commodifing animals the way we do is wrong than I'm not practicing what I preach by eating cheese and thus also perpetuating the meat industry. So here I am. Facing Veganism.

It seems profound. It seems radical. It seems hardcore. Yes, I feel unsure. Yes, I worry about failure. Yes, I'm afraid I'll suddenly stop caring completely but the thing is I know I'll try again because I can't be that person. I can't be that apathetic or ignorant person anymore. Who the fuck am I kidding? Being a vegetarian is hardly better then an omnivore. ....So, I worry BUT, in the true scheme of my life what am I really changing?

Not much:

• I could never imagine eating flesh again.
• I never ate eggs except in baked form because they always made me sick and it is easy to bake and find baked goods without dairy.
• I gave up milk a while ago (something I thought I could NEVER do and now I recoil at the thought of drinking it.)
• I've been buying margarine over butter for years.
• I have no issues with buying vegan clothing from now on

What is really changing is cheese and reading labels for bullshit
unnecessarily added crap that isn't good for anyone anyway. It's just like what I've said about going vegetarian, I can't think of a good reason not to.

What I really worry about is missing the nights Dan and I go to Penguin Pizza and devour a large together with Chimay in hand. .... actually now that I write that out, the thought of "devouring an entire large pizza" sounds really gross. .....hrrrm. Well, I think we'll be able to find other places to create fond memories that don't include huge quantities of cheese. lol.

But it is similar moments like this I feel I might miss that always seem to involve pizza....... Thankgoodness Falafel Palace is open late in Cambridge.

Without more ado here is the Intro I wrote to the Vegan Freaks in the hopes that they will take me in and help me in my weak and angry moments with the world.

I titled it Getting Real
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Hello,

I'm here because I know it is time for me to get real about my values. I've haven't been a vegetarian for long and I'm realizing over the last month or so that I'm completely missing the point unless I go vegan.

I went vegetarian on August 28th 2007. This was the day I saw Earthlings. Ever since that day I haven't been able to look at the meat aisle without total contempt. I've had numerous vegetarian friends over the years and in addition I was with my vegetarian boyfriend for about a year at the time (still together). I never once considered becoming a vegetarian myself until I saw that movie.

I was so enthralled by that movie I scribbled many things down that Joaquin said. This particularly rang through for me:

""It is not the inability to find out what is going on as much as a desire not to know about facts that may lay heavy on one's conscience that is responsible for this lack of awareness...."

that stung. That was me. It was hard to own up to and made me feel terrible. I've looked back at that statement this last month and realized I haven't been true to the realization it all brought me to. Calling myself a vegetarian has been a pleasant facade so far and I know it. I have to get real and go vegan.

Ever since I saw the movie I often feel like I'm falling down a rabbit hole. I went on to watch all of PETA / HSUS / IDA videos. I read everything. I got Animal Liberation and The Dreaded Comparison out of the library (Vegan Freak is overdue! Whoever has it better return it!). I read The Omnivore's Dilemma. I started cooking out of How It All Vegan. I joined M.A.R.C. (Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition) and started to attend protests (all fur). I got Garden of Vegan and Making A Killing for X-mas. I have to say Making A Killing really did it for me and is what brought me to this website and forum. All of it has been this total explosion of information and immersion since last August.

Some people are slow to get into a new interest. I stick my head in and breathe it, pushing my limits of feeling overwhelmed (and yes I do feel so overwhelmed). So, here I am. I know PETA/HSUS are backwards organizations. I see now what Blue Penguin was trying to tell me on the Boston Vegan Association forum (shout out to Blue Penguin!) when I posted about a fur protest (a discussion to continue at a later time). I'm ready to take this to the next step.

Luckily for me I've always been allergic to eggs in a plain state anyway (strangely I could tolerate them in baked goods only). I switched to soy milk before I went vegetarian (due to my boyfriend's influence) and usually use vegetable spreads. So, truly, my hold up has been cheese, chocolate treats that are around my office and then those sneaky dairy additives.


In any case, life history and revelations aside, I've been
starting each day with my bowl of oatmeal and I think to myself "today is vegan" and I go from there. Most days are successful but there are few where I loose and beat myself up. Perhaps, this is where you guys come in.

***In Addition***
While reading a few more posts from other Newbies I realized I haven't talked about the other aspects of my life. Currently I have no companion animals. I am allergic to most of them but I've always been fond of hamsters and lost dear Crammo last year. I'm allergic to hamsters as well but not nearly as much as rabbits, cats, or other furry friends. I cannot devote myself to one right now.

I have been doing Tae Kwon Do for a couple years now and only one belt level stands between me and my black belt. I hope to achieve it later this year. Doing Tae Kwon Do got me in good shape, helped me quit smoking, and generally helped me feel that I can do anything. Martial Arts are wonderful hobbies.

I have a very active social life since my boyfriend and a majority of my friends are DJs who focus mostly on the Drum & Bass and DubStep style which is what I like to listen and dance to. So, I'm out at a bar three times a week. I keep things balanced by not drinking more than one beverage and during the week I go home around midnight.

I've been out of school for 5 years and starting to think about going back for a Masters but I cannot seem to make up my mind. In the mean time I have a cushy corporate job that I excel at and I'm generally happy there. My co-workers like to joke around with me about my vegginess and are never mean spirited. Judging from blogs and etc. I think I'm lucky in that way.

I also sew when the feeling hits me, recently it was a hat. Sometimes I watercolor. Lately I've been trying to come up with a fun Vegan t-shirt idea and screen printing it. My boyfriend is totally against TV so we spend a lot of time doing projects like these together which is completely awesome.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. It felt good to recap all of it for myself too. I hope it wasn't a total bore to read.

I look forward to writing with all of you.