Staying Positive

For some reason, American Prez, Obama "pardoned" two turkeys this year, for  Americans' Thanksgiving. In everything I've read, there was no mention of why he chose to spare the life of two beautiful creatures. Surely he's not a vegetarian, that wouldn't fit the profile of what America expects from it's leaders. For many his being of colour is still difficult to swallow, maybe it would go down better with a dead mammal?

Turkeys' are beautiful. I'm glad I’m moving more and more towards a vegetarian and to some extent vegan diet. 

---

The other day, I watched an episode of The Golden Girls, wherein Blanche's brother came to visit with his  and I quote, "special friend". The show was about how the brother and his very gay looking—(his moustache was so late 80s) boyfriend wanted to get married, and Blanche's homophobia. When he told Blanche that the reason he had come to Miami was to tell her their big plans, the real audience  watching the taping, burst out laughing. Cue Blanche's totally baffled expression. Even though the GG was tackling big deal issues, it was still, after all, a comedy show, hence the apt topic.

The final scene had Blanche go into the bedroom the boys had been staying in, to try and wend her way through her feelings of uneasiness. She asked the bf if he loved her brother, he said he did, and then they hugged, and her brother joined them, being careful to do no more than give a manly slap on the back to his bf in the hug circle.

The reason I mention this episode, is because that was in my lifetime, and still in my lifetime I have seen my own country change the laws to recognize queer people as people with rights and dignity who may choose to marry, legally.

Therefore, Obama’s small, and to many, seemingly silly act of “pardoning”—which is the wrong word, but he knows people will react to political martial language, versus heart-centered , and correct language, such as: saving, respecting, etc., two beings is a beginning.

Just recently, here in Toronto, the city banned the sale of shark fins. At first Toronto dug it’s feet in, and refused to join the growing worldwide movement to ban shark fins. Finally, with mounting pressure, my city has done the right thing for sharks.

I believe that our consciousness is changing, slowly, in some cases. Granted, not everyone’s; I’m thinking of the magazines who have refused to have me write articles promoting animal rights and respects in Canada, in order to promote my petition.

I’m sure when that episode of the GG aired back in the late 80s, early 90s, mainstream types thought marriage between people of the same gender was as funny, and impossible as seeing pigs fly. Queer people were seen much like animals still are, with fear, suspicion, and a sense of “why should we give them their rights? They aren’t like us, they don’t have the right to have rights”

In one generation, we have gone from maintaining the status quo to seeing the walls of hate, intolerance and limitations come tumbling down. My generation has attended queer weddings, marched in Pride Parades, and is taking an active part in helping to change consciousness.

Be The Change!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/put-animal-rights-into-the-constitution/

Vitality Magazine is not the only alternative health magazine that talks shit; saying it supports the environment and wanting to tread lightly but refusing to promote my petition to have animal rights become part of Canada's constitution. To the growing list of shit-talkers, I can now add: Tonic Toronto, another supposedly health-based free rag and,  Alternatives: Environmental Ideas + Actions, who have told me the main reason they refuse to support my article proposal is because a large percentage of their readers are American, and, they said, Americans just aren't the interested in Canadian causes. 

Seriously, that's the best they could come up with!

When I initially wrote to them, to inquire about writing an article to promote the issue of animal rights in Canada and my petition, they had this to say:

"Thanks for the offer, but our magazine covers issues such as animal rights when written by someone with some independence from the issue. Our goal is to analyze the broader issue.
Good luck with your efforts. Nicola" (Nicola Ross, Editor In Chief)

What the hell kind of response is that, though? It just sounds like a a really crappy excuse, so I responded with this:

Nicola,

I'm not even sure I understand what it is you are trying to convey. Why would you not want someone who is passionate about animal rights and interconnectivity to write an article about those very issues? When your magazine covers issues such as veganism, alternative diets, etc, are the writers of those articles actually meat-eaters who are posing as journalists?

___________

Ugh!!!

Frustration is setting in. I must remember to breathe deeply, and not let petty idiots deter me from the big(ger) picture, that being rights and respects for animals, starting here, where I live.
 

 

Vitality Magazine is a two-faced hypocrite

I have been writing to different alternative health magazines from in and around Toronto, in order to be able to plug my petition on Animal Rights and Respect to be included in our constitution, and to reach a wider audience of people interested in changing their consciousness. I keep getting told that these so-called alternative health rags don't write about animal rights. As Vitality magazine's chief editor put it, 
"We don’t do features on animal rights in Vitality because it’s not our beat."

Not our beat. What the fuck does that mean? Whose beat is it then? 

To my initial inquiry, regarding an article proposal to Vitality Magazine, here is what Vitality's assistant editor responded with:

"As a magazine focused on human health, we don’t often publish articles on animal rights topics. We do wish you the best of luck in your pursuits."
Best,

Drew Halfnight
 To that idiotic response, I then wrote the following: 

How can you separate the issues of human and animal health?  We are all beings, and the issues of rights, consciousness and vegetarianism should ring true for your readers.

That seems completely antithetical to the "holistic" health movement, which purports to be interested in connectivity.

The reason why progressions and revolutions won't happen in the in areas of animal rights and respects is because of people like you who continue to compartmentalize issues, and refuse to acknowledge that all of us are connected. Your magazine is filled with articles and recipes about 'alternative' diets; people interested in animal-free eating, so why would you not connect the dots and encourage an activist like me to write an article in your magazine speaking directly to the issues of raising our consciousness and respecting all forms of life?
I encourage you to reconsider your initial decision to separate the issues of human and animal health and put my article in Vitality.

---
  To the above response letter, see the crap about animal rights not being their beat. We will never move forward if all we do is compartmentalize and continually create schisms of Us and Them.