Thanksgiving Dilemmas: Family, Tension, Killing, and Compassion

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: CageFree and FreeRange, Farm Animals, Food and Recipes, Oppression Connections, Slaughter, Vegan

Published November 24, 2009 @ 09:34AM PT

Thanksgiving. Two days to go. I have a hard time with this day. For one, I have issues with it that resemble my issues with Columbus Day. And when you're discomfited by a holiday's origins, and its current traditions are overwhelmingly exploitative and violent too, it can be difficult as a progressive, antioppression-minded animal advocate to decide how you want to approach this day.

Nevertheless, I am going to a family gathering on Thursday, like I do every year, with three dozen other people -- grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins and their spouses, and cousins' kids. I am from the heartland, from a close-knit family in the rural Midwest. And you don't miss family holiday gatherings unless you have to. But holidays are difficult. The jokes about what I do eat -- and whom I don't eat -- are hard to take. Watching my mother cut up a dead bird isn't the highlight of my day. Envisioning who that bird used to be and what she went through is not a happy, thankful experience. If it weren't for my grandparents, maybe I wouldn't feel the need to put myself through such occasions, but my beloved grandparents are still here with us, and that is something for which, yes, I do give thanks.

So I am going. And I will be expected to keep my mouth shut, to not tell my family about the animal whose flesh they're tearing into, to not dispel their illusions, to not make them feel guilt over the suffering they've funded and over which they're laughing. If I so much as roll my eyes or make a snide remark under my breath, I will be considered rude and pushy about my "beliefs." If they stick a fork in my face with a piece of animal hanging from it or make jokes about the dead animal they're eating, that will be considered acceptable and "good-natured."

Rape. Mutilation and amputation. Broken legs. Heart attacks. Terror. Slit throats. Yes, so many reasons to be thankful for the carcass on the table.

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Silliness to Distract You from Work

by Stephanie Ernst

Published November 24, 2009 @ 07:12AM PT

Running late today. While I put together the Big Thanksgiving Post, please entertain yourself with Defensive Omnivore Bingo, which is popping up all over the online vegan world, and the below playful elk video, shared by Susannah.

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Supersized Roundup: Dairy Censors, Feminists, Horses vs. Ranchers, and More

by Stephanie Ernst

category: Animals in the Blogs roundups

Published November 23, 2009 @ 08:47AM PT

I haven't compiled a roundup in about two and a half weeks, but animal-advocating bloggers haven't slowed down, so this one's a doozy. These are listed in no particular order, so be sure to scroll through the whole list. We have everything from the power of animal ag advertising dollars to the resignation of a notorious dog warden with a lot of animals' blood on his hands to deception and spin in the animal research sector and much, much more. Happy reading.

Dairy Industry Silences Vegan Cookbook Author from Doris at About.com

Divine Turkey Talk from Animal Place Sanctuary

Introverts as Activists from Invisible Voices

Tom "Dog Killer" Skeldon Resigns from For the Pits

The "Best Science" from Primate Freedom

Yes, I Do Think Feminists Who Eat Meat and Consume Dairy Are Misguided, Why Do You Ask? from I, Bonobo

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Imagining Their Pain

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Hunting, Videos, Wildlife/FreeLiving Animals

Published November 22, 2009 @ 03:23PM PT

For all those who were killed this weekend, not respectfully as their killers like to claim, but brutally, with the standard whoops and hollers exchanged as they lay there dying. For all those whose bloody bodies were thrown into the back of trucks, their failed attempts to escape death bragged about. For all the many, many who ran off with arrows and bullets in their bellies, backs, chests, legs, and face but were not found, who fled in terror and suffered slow, excruciating deaths. For that one particular terrified animal, who died one of those slow, suffering deaths, whose brutal end was gleefully recounted and celebrated by some members of my family last night but cried over by others.

Shared last year and shared again this year:

What Kind of a Person Eats Katie the Lamb?

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: CageFree and FreeRange, Dairy and Eggs, Farm Animals, Slaughter

Published November 21, 2009 @ 06:35AM PT

When Chad Miller of Food Fight! Vegan Grocery in Portland, OR, shared this image last month, I immediately wanted to share it with you, but it wasn't yet available in its intended form -- as a t-shirt -- so I waited. Now that the shirt is here in all its glory, I'm glad to share. It's funny, sad, adorable, and somewhat coarse all at the same time. I love it.

And it's interesting how much difference one tiny word -- one article, "a" -- can make, isn't it? People don't talk about eating "a lamb." They don't envision that. They distance themselves and talk about eating "lamb." And "chicken" and "fish" and "turkey" -- as if these are all just substances, not the bodies of individual thinking and feeling beings. But what if each body in each grocery store, farmer's market, butcher's shop, or restaurant came with a name and a story -- maybe even a photo? How much do people really want to know whom -- not just where -- their so-called food comes from?

"What does the chef recommend -- Katie the lamb or Sandy the chicken? They both look delicious."

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Friday Food: Pot Pies, Stuffing, Cakes, Scones, and Tarts

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Food and Recipes, Friday Food

Published November 20, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

The first section of this week's Friday Food fest includes several autumny, holiday-ish vegan recipes if you're still looking for ideas for compassionate contributions to gatherings with family and friends next week. There will be more related to the upcoming holiday(s) later, of course, but for now, the weekly roundup:

Celebration Pot Pie with Pumpkin Biscuit Crust from FatFree Vegan Kitchen (photo at left courtesy of Susan at FFVK)

Apple Cake With Caramel-Pecan Glaze from Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes

Grandpa Earl's Stuffing from Rhymes With Vegan

5 Step Pumpkin Platter: Thanksgiving Vegan Protein from Healthy. Happy. Life.

Apple Ginger Scones from BitterSweet

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Inflatable, Creative Pro-Turkey Activism

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Activism and Actions, Farm Animals

Published November 19, 2009 @ 06:34AM PT

Trying to come up with creative new ways to advocate for animals can be exhausting, especially when the prevailing view of animals -- as lesser beings or even objects here for us to do with what we want -- is so ingrained in our society and traditions that we are faced with it everywhere, particularly around the holidays.

So this morning, I want to point out the awesomeness of -- and hope maybe you'll take inspiration from? -- my Chicago area-based pal Marla, aka the Vegan Feminist Agitator. I've been inspired and amused ever since I saw Marla mention her family's three-year-running Thanksgiving tradition last week: If you were to drive by Marla's house today, you would see a giant inflatable turkey hanging out in the front yard, next to a sign pleading with passersby, "Please don't eat me!" And accompanying the giant turkey is, of course, a supply of vegetarian (titled vegetarian, but actually vegan, I'm sure, as is often the case with starter kits) starter kits for anyone who wants to pick one up.

I love, love, love this. I have to endure giant inflatable pumpkins, snowmen, Santa Clauses, snow globes, and more in my St. Louis neighborhood every fall and winter, and if I could get my hands on a cheap giant plastic turkey (or maybe a pig as Christmas approaches? and an egg as Easter approaches?), I'd consider copying my friend's creative idea.

You can see a picture of Marla's setup here.

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Photo above by Flickr user RadioFish