Post no. 14

Mob mentality is a strange feature of humanity–– an odd collective of raw human emotion, which I am apparently currently experiencing in part. I'm not talking about this strange tea party phenomenon where people who enjoy wasting a lot of money on tea pollute waterways to symbolically protest wasteful government spending. I don't really get that one. . . at all. It doesn't seem to prove a point, or demonstrate much. And these people don't know what 'representation' means if they think they are being taxed without it. . . Unless they come from D.C.–– then that just sucks.

No, I am writing about the protests that have been raging at The New School as of late. Now, there has been, shall we say, tension, between various groups at the New School since last semester. And by "groups of the New School" I pretty much mean group a: Bob Kerrey and his henchmen vs. group b: everyone else. There was a 95% vote of no confidence by all New School staff (part-time, full-time, tenured alike) in Bob Kerrey back in December, and, around the same time, over 100 students occupied a building demanding Kerrey resign. I don't feel like getting into the details. Basically, we've had a billion and a half provosts since Kerrey's time here. When the last one left he appointed HIMSELF provost, effectively putting all the university's power in the business side of the university and none in the academia. This, on top of losing important student space, was too much. It was covered by the Times and what not. Just Google it, or Wikipedia it.

Well, so, you see, what had happened after these protests was Kerrey started operating in a MORE transparent way. He un-appointed himself as provost. He put staff on the search committee for a new one. He promised the students some more space. He started sending out a billion and a half e-mails about our financials, etc. etc. But, he didn't resign. And this is what the students wanted. So, people are still freaking the frak out.

I didn't really get it at first. (Honestly, I'm still not sure I do.) It is clear Kerrey's contract will not be renewed in 2010. Let's all just chill and let this thing run its course. I guess you could say, after the December vote and protests, I became complacent with the mediocrity of the situation. "Eh, it could be better, it could be worse, so let's just let this all sizzle out quietly" typa attitude. So, I didn't understand the continuation of fuss.

That's why, on Good Friday, when 22 students were arrested, most for breaking and entering into a building, I kinda didn't support them AT ALL. I thought that was a completely ineffective and immature way to go about. . . I wasn't really sure what it was all about. (Honestly, I'm still not sure I do.) [also, that sentence has just gotta end in a preposition 'cause otherwise it sounds silly.] I guess they are protesting the fact that Kerrey has not resigned. I found this an absurd reason to break into a building.

So, I then saw a video of a friend of mine being beat up by the cops. Just flat out pushed on the ground and jumped on by four cops for "obstructing." No, for real, he did not break into the building. He was chilling outside intelligently not risking (or so he presumed) the master's degree he's about to (maybe, hopefully, one can pray) earn in five weeks. He yelled "shame on you" at the police for being violent to another protester. Well, for that he was pushed to the ground and brutally beaten by four officers. I've seen him since then and he's all bruised up. He is charged with "obstructing" and "resisting arrest." This has nothing to do with the New School. He did not break any laws besides 'obstructing' and, for real, if a cop can't do his job while someone is talking to them, the NYPD needs to hire better cops. I don't see how talking to a cop obstructs anything. Furthermore, you can't exactly resist arrest if you are pushed to the ground and attacked. So, my point is, he is suspended from school, and for what? For speaking his mind to a police officer in support of fellow students. This is no reason to get suspended. And pretty much it makes me not support the administration.

Well, I was still iffy on the whole thing, leaning towards "I agree with these students but not with their methods." It seemed a bit extreme to break into a building even if the administration of our school is a sham. The first protest was successful, peaceful, and all-well-and-dandy. This more recent one seemed ineffective, unorganized, and not-oh-so-very-well-and-dandy.

HOWEVER, I am slowly being sucked into the excitement. Today I again ran into said friend who was recently beaten by the cops. I didn't even recognize him cause he was all celebrity like with sunglasses and hat. (haha) They had an emergency assembly today called by the Lang Dean, followed by a march to protest police brutality and the works. So Tabby and I were discussing the situation again, and it is just flat out getting exciting. A Teacher's Assistant he had last semester is in one of the two student groups organizing these protests. She is part of New School in Exile. The other group is The Radical Student Union. (And I am discovering the latter is the ridiculous faction and the former may actually be filled with intelligent human beings.) We watched a video (the second one) of her speaking on Monday and Tabby got excited that she was distinguishing between the protesters inside the building and those outside instead of making a blanket statement that they are all terrorists or all godsends. Also she brought up a great point about our University having some protest policy where they must be pre-approved. .. uh, that's not a protest. Tabby also said he liked her a lot.

Well, THEN I found out Reverend Billy (who I am supporting for Mayor! HURRAH HURRAY!) spoke briefly at tonight's rally. He wasn't really planning on doing that. He had to be at NYU for some Mayor thing-a-ma-bob or NYU protest or something, but the New School protesters marched over to Washington Square Park. ANYway, Rev. Billy excites me. And this is when I felt the mob mentality kick in. I was all Reverend Billy is right, "He criticized what he sees as the corporate structure of the American higher education system." Well, of course there is a problem with the corporate structure of U.S. America's higher education system! So, then I feel myself wanting to blindly support these protesters because I like REVEREND BILLY'S point. . . Not cause I know what the protesters' point exactly is. (I think it has shifted into some weird collage about having the right to protest and not liking police brutality. . . idunno.) But I'm telling you, I was all "see Rev. Billy supports us! . . . I mean them. . . I mean. . . um. . . he said something intelligent about the higher education system that may or may not be related to the protests. . . "

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting moment of mob mentality. And I like the feeling of it and don't want to let it go, even though I know that would be the conscionable thing to do. Instead I wanna be part of this movement that may tear apart my University just because it's fun when a celebrity gets involved; and movements are sometimes cool; and hey, I need some excitement in my life. Strange, huh? I mean, mob mentality is a strange result of too much team spirit, for lack of better term. You know what I mean though, all these people feel like they're on one side against something else. . . And that can breed hostility towards that something else. And I've never particularly liked team spirit, or hometown pride, or patriotism, or any of that business. So, this is an odd moment in my life. What does it say about me? Perhaps I HAVE become too emotional without enough reason. . . but then I wouldn't be reasoning this out, now would I? So, idunno. I guess it is just something to analyze and resist.


A CUTE puppy and me two summers ago. I really need a hair cut! It needs to look like that again.

Post no. 13

Long time no chat,

I was recently accused of using emotion and no reason when arguing my passions. I would first like to direct the accuser to a discussion I had with myself here, in order to explain the way I think and feel about "reason versus emotion" in the first place. Second, s/he should visit the paragraph under the kitty picture of this post to understand that this is not school. It is a blog. Thirdly, I will now demonstrate that I do indeed have supreme reasoning skills in addition to my overly-emotional core: *ahem*

Eating meat is morally wrong. I do not believe this is a matter of opinion or subjectivity, and my reason dictates so (not my emotions.)

It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef. It takes 3 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of chicken. On average, it takes 10 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of meat.

Consider the following: There are people all over the world going hungry; they eat literal mud cakes to fill their stomachs. Many would argue that this is not a problem of food production but a problem of food distribution. However, as developing countries consume more meat, the cost of grain is rising. Why? Because wealthier people are using that grain to feed animals, and essentially losing 9 pounds of food in the process. This higher demand for grain increases the price of it. It is a simple economics question of supply and demand. The result: people who could once afford grains no longer can.

Now, one could argue that meat consumption IN THE UNITED STATES does not drive the cost of grain up overseas. And they would be right in the most literal sense. However, the reason developing countries are consuming more meat is largely because of Western influence. A vegan I know from school who is from India and who is in my Fundraising and Developing class explained how McDonald's is popping up all over the place in India. (McDonald's is so successful because it brands itself as a "family restaurant.") You cannot tell me, with a straight face, that the "convenient," fast-food, excessive meat-consumption culture did not develop in the West. Therefore, indirectly yes, consuming meat even in the United States raises the price of grain overseas. This in turn, causes the starvation of human beings. Causing the starvation of a human being through negligence is immoral.

Furthermore, one may not be worried about a food shortage in the United States, but one should worry, I argue one is morally obligated to worry, about the effects one's food choices have on other people. With respect to the amount of grain used to produce meat, field upon field are devoted to government-subsidized corn. (see the original rant here.) This corn is used to feed animals. (I think this is also immoral as the animals eating corn cannot digest corn properly an we are commanded by God to take care of animals, not abuse them. . . but I will leave the Christian and animal argument out. Those can be found elsewhere on this blog anyway.) This makes both corn and meat CHEAP. So, anyone who, either through necessity or their own decision, buys inexpensive food is buying either products full of corn syrup or meat. The diabetes and obesity rates in this country are absurdly high, largely because of meat and corn syrup consumption. (The human digestive track was not meant to consume animal products in large quantities leading to a whole slew of other health problems as well.)

Every time you purchase meat (or something with corn-syrup in it for that matter) when you have the spending power to purchase something else, you are essentially approving the government's corn-subsidy policy. Healthful foods are more expensive, in part, because not enough of the public is willing to stand against this government policy. Instead, people exasperate the problem by purchasing inexpensive animal products. Healthful foods remain costly, and those who cannot afford to spend a lot of money on food, those living in poverty, pay the price with their health.

Meat does not just hurt other people's health directly through consumption, it harms people indirectly. Industry Factory Farm jobs are some of the most horrendous jobs in the country. Because workers are largely unable to unionize, the pay is awful and the conditions are dangerous. Granted, one could argue it is better to support these farms so that these individuals have SOME employments; clearly it is better to work in dangerous conditions than to be better employed. First, I would argue that many of these same people are opposed to sweatshops overseas, yet the same logic about employment applies. Until they figure out their argument, I won't listen to them. Second, job creation is indeed a problem in this country, and I will not deny that. But there are countless USEFUL jobs that should be created that could easily replace the jobs lost in factory farms. (I am thinking of 'green-collar' work, improving infrastructure work, safer factories that produce inanimate objects that won't act out and ram you in the gut so that we CAN stop importing all our products from sweatshops in China.)

In addition to the workers, communities located near Industry Factory Farms suffer. They are, without fail, polluted. They do not have clean air or clean water. This inevitably leads to health problems.

Speaking of water, according to most estimates, it takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef. According to the beef industry it takes 441 gallons to produce a pound of meat. Now, let's be civil and give the beef industry the benefit of the doubt and say it takes "only" 441 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat. Is this justifiable? Is it morally acceptable to waste 441 gallons of water for one hamburger when clean water is a problem across the globe? When innumerable children are dying from diarrhea because they do not have clean water, can you use a product that wastes so much without a nagging at your conscious? I can't. And I won't.

On a global level the problem of climate change, while stemming from a variety of sources, is effected by meat consumption. Studies show that meat production is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the world's transportation combined. For starters, factories naturally emit a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere. But there are many other reasons for these emissions not as readily understood.

Billions of animals produce a lot of methane. This is through both digestion and because of the cesspools of waste created by factory farms. (the same cesspools polluting local waterways) Methane is more than 20 times as powerful as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. In the United States, animal agriculture is the number one source of methane emissions.

Nitrous oxide is another problem. 65% of the nitrous oxide emissions worldwide come from animal-product industries. And nitrous oxide is a lot more potent of a global warming gas than carbon dioxide is.

Brush, including the RAIN FOREST, is cleared so animals can graze in places like Brazil. Granted, this is not industry factory farming, but this post is about consuming animals. When Brazil recently decided to double their output of cattle, this problem became even worse. Anyone who went to the zoo as a child has learned about the importance of the Rain Forest and the necessity of protecting it. While, consuming meat causes the destruction of the Rain Forest, and, in turn, causes an increase in greenhouse gases as the Rain Forest is not able to absorb as much carbon. (Furthermore, and beside the point of the post, how can destroying God's creation to feed one's gluttony be considered anything but immoral in the first place?)

Additionally, animals are shipped all over the world for consumption. These factors make the meat industry the number one industry in greenhouse gas emissions. For the sake of all humanity, it is better not to contribute to this problem by supporting this industry. In fact, I argue, it is immoral to knowingly contribute to a problem that may cause countless deaths. (Some argue that global warming is already killing people. See Jessica Williams's 50 Facts That Should Change the World 2.0)

To summarize, eating meat supports a dangerous industry. It contributes to global warming, community pollution, the food shortage and the clean water crisis. Knowingly engaging in these acts, without doing everything reasonable to prevent them, is both negligent and immoral.

As alluded to earlier, I have many posts relating to animal welfare and Christianity and vegetarianism if you are interested. Feel free to explore the labels to the right.

May I remind you again, that this is not school. So, I know I do not have many hard statistics or citations. This was only an exercise in reasoning, and a demonstration of my ability to do so. Statistics and citations could easily be copied and pasted if I had the time to re-research all of this information–– which I do not. It is late.

Also, because it is so late, I do not want to proofread this. And so if I have made a fool of myself by not demonstrating my ability to use logic because my arguments are incoherent, feel free to point and laugh. Perhaps I will revise it later.


These are goat friends who live in Arizona at this weird Western-themed amusement park. THEY ARE SOOOOO CUTE. I wanna take them home. :)

P.S. I don't know why all those words are underlined, or how to get them not to be so.

Calla's Sixty-Seventh Post

CHECK OUT John Allison's March 19th comic. (As in the one from today.) scarygoround.com. I kid you NOT, this is him at his pinnacle. Oh Shelley Winters! What would I do without you in my life!? Tabby says i AM Shelley Winters. Because I act like her and sort of look like her because of my green eyes, and even though my hair is boring brown (everyone knows red is the best hair color in the world, followed by black or dark dark brown, then boring brown and last is blond because blond hair is ugly.) it actually has a redish tint in the summer. When I was in England, it was really red. Here: Here is the picture of me looking most like Shelley Winters. Alright. So it turns out this isn't the best picture of me because I look greasy and what not. BUT when we got these pictures (cause Tabby's parents had taken them) we were both like "OMGOODNESS I look like Shelley Winters." It has to do with the vacant stare in my eyes. I have an idea. I will put a cute picture of me at the end of the post so that you know I am not ugly. And then you can imagine the vacant stare with the more reddish hair on the cute picture and perhaps you will think it is more like Shelley since she is oh-so-super cute.

SO, you should look at that comic strip of today. It is pretty much to die for FUNNY. No, for real, it made me laugh three times!!! AHHHH! I love it.

On an unrelated note, I have some pretty horrible news to announce. I am more than half-way done with Spring Break. . . and far less than half way down with my assignments I have to do over Spring Break. Pretty much, I think that this means I am no longer allowed to do what we call, SLEEP. Nope. Pretty sure it will be off limits from here on out until like Next Wed. Can we do it? No, of course not; that's like a week. But, I'll probably have to limit it.

So, HAIR. YES HAIR. AHHH Greatness and a half for positive! I tried to see Hair this summer in Shakespeare in the Park. And it got rained out. Yes, one of the only three performances, which got rained out, was the one where I waited in life for hours and got all super excited and then had to be so upset that I'm pretty sure I cried. And with good reason because this show was so unbelievably intense that it actually moved from FREE Central Park Performances to $100 + per seat Broadway. It is currently in previews. I had to pay $60 for a ticket. (No i didn't. Tabby's parents paid for it because they don't know what to do with their money besides spoil myself and Tabby and they felt bad I hadn't gotten to see it this past summer.) And man oh man oh man oh man! If I HAD paid the $60 myself, it would've been MORE THAN well worth it!!!!! This was quite possibly the second best show I've ever seen (we all know #1 in my heart is Cry-Baby!!). It made me cry. Not just tear up, CRY. It was that well down. Seriously, when Claude died, I had to hold back, keep myself from losing it, because the acting, singing, and atmosphere were so right on I felt as close to him as Berger or Sheila. I kid you not, it was like losing my best friend. MAN CAN THEY SING. Sometimes you go to shows and you go, well, I could do that. Why am I supposed to be impressed? (maybe most people don't ever say "I could do that," but I had like 5 years of high school, was President of my high school choir, did musicals growing up, etc. etc.) But this musical made me say "OH MAN! I wish I could afford voice lessons again, because I would probably give almost anything to be able to sing like that." And some shows or movies about hippies pretty much make you say "wow, what a bunch of well-intentioned yet misguided youth who didn't really accomplish much of anything, huh?" Not this performance of Hair. I felt like they could enact social change, and I felt like that's what they wanted more than anything else. When Claude said that all he wanted to do was be invisible and perform miracles - well, I, for one, believed him. And I felt like their protests wouldn't be in vain but would actually catch the government's attention. And I felt like their free love was well placed within their social movement, not like their social movement was a decent excuse to practice free love. And then the ending. Well, it was the best ending to a musical EVER. PEOPLE GOT TO GO ON STAGE AND SING AND DANCE. I did not get to, because I was in the Mezzanine. But we had like a sing-a-long after the curtain call. It was fairly brilliant because it made the whole hippie-spirit thing real and not just contrived for a two hour show. Oh it was so amazingly great. I have to go see it again. I need $$$ but I also really need to see it again. With the speed at which Cry-Baby closed, I can't trust this to stay around forever. Granted it is doing better than Cry-Baby, but with the economy in its current state, who can afford Broadway tickets? Godspell (for which I was so psyched!) didn't even materialize. It was announced, and then it just fell through because no one had $$$$. But I guess we only need one hippie musical with a fairly Christian Message at a time on Broadway, right? They'd probably just compete for an audience and both close even sooner.

Alright, so that was my obsessive musical freak rant. We should do a Galactica rant. The people who watch that show are moronic. And I TOLD YOU that Daniel was a plot device to clear up the missing #7 and to show Cavil's personality. Well, in the podcast for the last episode RDM confirmed that all these stupid people babbling about "Starbuck is Daniel's son" are just that, stupid people. Ron Moore was all "I didn't realize Daniel would develop such a following. I shouldn't have put it in there. It was to demonstrate the Cain and Able - like story b/w Cavil and Daniel and nothing more, etc. etc." Well no Ron Moore, you were smart to put it in because I woulda bitched up a storm if that series ended with a MISSING number 7. And all these other people don't have cognitive reasoning or critical thinking skills. Ellen SAYS "its not like D'Anna is permanently disabled, not like what happened to Daniel." Point blank, that should've been enough for fans to understand that Daniel was not COMING BACK. PERMENANTLY DEAD. Furthermore, with opera-house mysteries, and head characters, and the significance of Hera, and "dying" leader that is still not yet dead. . . WHY would they introduce some random character mystery at THE END of the series. . . unless it was to clean up these other secrets. But Galactica is too smart to be forced to utilize deus ex machina devices. Seriously, way too intelligent a show for that.

Alright, there was a mini-galactica rant. I don't think I'll rant too much before the finale ends since I've only seen one of three hours of it. BUT I do want to tell you that I'm especially interested in Baltar. I am wondering if he is similar to Starbuck. Everyone has always questioned his ability to survive the nuclear blast on Caprica seen in the mini-series and theme song with barely a scratch on him. He may yet be a lord of Kobol. Perhaps THE Jealous lord? I hope they make Starbuck's answer conclusive. And I'm also hoping the answer is that she is Aurora because that is what I've been saying from the beginning. But either way, I hope it's not left ambiguous, just because I don't want to deal with fans freaking out about it and continuing to speculate unreasonable theories. (Like SHE'S THE SON OF DANIEL. For Frak's sake, whoever started circulating that rumor shouldn't even be allowed to watch the series finale. It should be their punishment for not understanding how to properly make use of one's reasoning center.)

Alright, more rants? Maybe more rants. Maybe not because I should actually get working on some homework. BOOOO


Alright, here is a better picture of myself. (Though many of you may disagree with that statement. I LIKE my silly face.) It was taken in honor of THOSE BOOTS. I love those boots. I bought them LAST Feb. as in February 2008 not 2009 and thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. They are getting sort of beat up now. :( That makes me sad. UM, they are the brand Novacas (as in no vacas as in no cows as in NOT abusive to animals). Which is verifiably the best brand of shoes ever. I'm not lying and it is not up for debates. I love them. If I was super rich, besides getting voice lessons, I would buy like 17 pairs of Novacas shoes/boots/sandals.

Here's your inanimate animal friend for the day. He is a foxy-woxy cutesy-wootsy animal cracker! I LOVE his bushy tail!!! (I guess I do eat animals!!!! OH NO!)


Love, Calla and Her Kitties.

P.S. Fuffers went to the vet today, and he has lost 2 oz since last year! I will take whatever small victories I can from fatso over here! I love him. He is so heavy (17 lbs 15 oz) that Tabby and I must take turns carrying his carrier and we have to switch like every other second. I LOVE THAT FUFF. The vet said he needs his teeth clean. I'm scared he's gonna die under anesthesia :( I will probably never recover if that is the case.

Calla's Sixty-Fifth Post

Michael Pollan is my arch nemesis. (Is that how you spell his name?) I think he is a moron. I have said this before, but I will say it again. He is not smart. He is illogical. AND THE WORST PART IS, people listen to him and think he has intelligent arguments against veganism. I'm pretty sure I have been over these before. OK, I looked it up. It's Post no. 11 from Jan. 19th. (It really is a swell rebuttal, you should check it out) And I don't have oh so much more to say or anything. I would like to point you to this article to show you how REALLY wrong he is about the "less animals die" illogical point. But even though I don't have oh so very much more to say I do have a little more to say. It has come to my attention that one of Pollan's problems with vegetarians is that they are estranged from culture or something ridiculous. Like, we can't eat Thanksgiving turkeys or hot dogs when we go to (BORING BORING BORING) baseball games. But why would I want to be engulfed by a culture that is unethical? It was the culture in antebellum south to own slaves. Am I supposed to be sorry I missed out on that cultural tradition? Cause, um, I'm NOT. And ALSO, if his overarching argument is to eat LOCAL, what the hell kinda ball park franks is he eating? He is contradictory and I don't like that. And then the other thing I want to say is that people take his argument and pull out what they want from it and leave the rest. So, people use his book, which was written to promote LOCAL omnivorous diets, to justify their current habits. Oh, and also, someone who only eats local (which is good, don't get me wrong) is going to have a much harder time going out to eat with friends than a vegan. There's nearly always something a vegan can get on a menu. I even had them modify something at Applebee's for me once. If you can find something at applebee's you can find something everywhere except McDonald's. So, who is more estranged from culture? The strict vegan or the strict localvore?

Speaking of McDonald's, I hate them. And they also have led me to the realization that I have no clue how to relate to the majority of humanity. So, they have that commercial for the filet o' fish sandwich that makes me want to cry!! There's a dead fish on the wall singing "give me back that filet o' fish. Give me that fish./ give me back that filet o' fish. Give me that fish./ What if it was you hanging up on the wall?/ if it was you in that sandwich/ you wouldn't be happy at all!" And I think, yeah bastard stopping eating dead animals!!! But this is an advertisement FOR McDonald's. That means listening to a dead animal complain that his friend is being eaten ENCOURAGES people to eat dead animals. That is sick and twisted. I do not understand. I do not understand. Someone explain, because I do not understand! Why would that make people WANT to eat fish when it makes me want to cry? I don't understand how people can be so desensitized. Also, there was this commercial on the radio that Tabby read about and told me about where the guy orders two fish sandwiches and says "i'm a fishaterian." And the lady behind him orders two french fries and he says "are you a potatotarian?" and she says "uh no, vegetarian." MCDONALD'S FRENCH FRIES ARE NOT VEGETARIAN!! THEY HAVE BEEF IN THEM!!! They are dirty liars and I hope they get sued again by more vegetarians because of their lying stupid-face commercials!

McDonald's is evil. They give people heart attacks. I've never seen super size me, but I'm pretty sure if I had, I woulda been convinced that one should never eat McDonald's. . . Because I already am convinced of that. But maybe you should watch it so you can be convinced too. And none of this "everything in moderation" bull-shit. Why would you put poison in your body in moderation? DUMB.

Um, there was more to say, but I don't feel like it right now. I used to be so great at writing on this everyday, and now I'm not. BUT, I will probably write about Galactica later cause it was on last night and it was amazing. And I will put some senior work stuff on here in a minute for real this time. I did a midterm on Thurs and Fri and am supposed to be starting another one right now, but I don't want to want to want to. I don't want to want to at all!!!! I will do it soon though probably.

Oh, and Michael Pollan is dumb. He said "don't eat anything your grandparents wouldn't recognize as food." But different people's grandparents recognize different things as food, firstly. Secondly, why are there cultural norms better than ours? Thirdly, does this metaphor carry to other aspects of life? Should I not wear anything my grandparents wouldn't recognize as clothing? Is that clothing too "unnatural?" hahahahahhahahaa. Bye.

Love,
Calla and FUFFERS IS NEXT TO HER. Where is the Mama?



Fake animal friends Tabby bought me for Christmas

Calla's Sixty-Fourth Post

I am now officially on Spring Break. . . But I have so much a lot to do:
1) by Sat the 14th a have one midterm due
2) by Fri the 20th I have another midterm due
3) by Sun the 22nd I have an outline thing-y due.
4) I need to do all the interviews for my senior work, and don't even know how to go about it all
5) I need to start a draft (and preferably finish a draft) of my senior work.

Oh, I never even told you what my senior work was. I'll put it up in a minute. I'll put up the proposal and initial outline or something. It'll be swell (and probably boring to everyone who is not me.)

So, this is not a spring break. This is a spring I-have-more-to-do-now-than-I-do-when-it's-not-spring-"break." That is stupid. For real and for sure stupid.

Aw well. C'est la vie. (that is probably not how you spell that phrase. I don't know any French at all.)

It turns out I am really tired. I have a sort-of-flu thing going on. I wanted to write about all sorts of amazingly interesting things, like:
Revelation
LGBT - marriage?
Filet of Fish
Stupid Quote From a Yogi Tea Bag

More Michael pollan
37% divorce thingy
real life gataca


That is a list I was keeping for myself on Text Edit. Probably it means nothing to you. But it means something to me. So that is a list of 7 and I will talk about one right now and then go to sleepy-time-bed-time and put up the papers tomorrow as well.

I am going to tell you that in a poll 37% of marital/divorce lawyer people said they have seen fewer divorces since the recession. OK, this statistic is the dumbest statistic I maybe ever heard. It tells you (and me) nothing about the divorce rate. It tells you (and me) nothing about what the majority of those divorce lawyer people think. For all I know, after hearing that pointless stat, 63% of those people reported MORE divorces. Do you see the NOT LOGIC here? We are supposed to assume that the recession is keeping people from getting divorced. But the statistic doesn't even imply as much, and I don't know why everyone in this nation is so so dumb.

The end for now.

Love,
US PEOPLE AND ANIMALS


These are animals. But they're not my cats unfortunately. They are also made of metal.

Calla's Sixty-Third Post

I am writing this sentence to remind you: I don't edit this stuff. I just ramble. It's not cause I'm dumb. Its cause blogs aren't homework. They're a place to rant. I ranted A LOT below this. Consider yourself warned.

So, ignorant people ANNOY me. We were talking about Opportunity NYC in class today, ya know the Conditional Cash Transfer program currently in it's pilot stages in New York City, and my goodness me are there social conservatives at my school!! Now, Opportunity NYC has a lot a lot of problems. It can be criticized from both the left and the right, and I will criticize it from the left momentarily, but I did not expect to hear all these people criticizing it from the right in my "Making a Difference" class. Why these people went to The New School is pretty much beyond me. And why they were let in is also beyond me. But, Tabby said you have to let diverse people into a school and what not, right? And I understand the merits of diversity in institutions; I do. Especially if it is an undergraduate institution. But I think when someone is in a graduate program at the NEW SCHOOL should be somewhat more progressive. (seriously, if you don't believe me, look it up.) I mean, the stupid class I was in "Making a Difference: Global, Organizational and Individual Perspective on Social Change" was conceived as a college-wide REQUIRED class so we could all be indoctrinated on how important a progressive ideology is. (The creators of the class, of course, won't admit this. But sit in on one class and you will know it is true.) So, my point is: why are all these students with adverse ideologies accepted into a school with a mission to, and I quote FROM the New School's website, " prepare and inspire its 9,400 undergraduate and graduate students to bring actual, positive change to the world." Private Universities ARE nonprofits. They exist to serve a specific purpose. The New School's purpose is clearly stated. It seems like Mission Drift to let all these social conservatives into the University.

Well, perhaps I might maybe explain what happened. So, Opportunity NYC is SUPPOSEDLY based on Mexico's Oportunidades (formerly Progresa). These are programs which offer money, not subsidies or vouchers–– actual money, to those living in poverty as long as the program participants fulfill given obligations. Well, I'm not going to get into the merits of Oportunidades, because the program is highly successful; I mean 1 in every 4 Mexicans benefiting from it highly successful. Also, from the 2 book chapters and 3 articles I read about it, I don't see anything wrong with it. Seriously, it's not controversial. No one in my class even talked about it. Opportunity NYC is the controversial one.

I first saw mention of Opportunity NYC when CNN did it's whole "Black in America" thing and those 4th graders were getting paid to do well on tests. So, the program requires parents to stay employed, school-aged kids to go to school and DO WELL in it, + the normal things like go to the doctors regularly, go to Parent-Teacher conferences etc. Probably, if you have the least bit critical mind, you are seeing a problem with this program, because right or left, there ARE PROBLEMS. Well, I sit here, and I think about how horrendous it is that we are putting blame on children for not doing well in school instead of on the failing school systems, and how the worst possible thing a person could do is raise the stakes even MORE when it comes to tests. (I think there might be a post about this somewhere, but I don't know.) Basically, high stakes testing is a total joke already. The tests are written with an unintended bias towards white middle-class students. The tests don't prove that children can learn, but that they can memorize. The culture they create in classrooms–– one of route memorization, the banking system, irrelevant subject matter, stressful work environment, isolated subjects, lack of creativity, and no critical thinking skills–– is both detrimental and dehumanizing. Furthermore, it has been shown through studies done by Friere and the likes, that tests don't actually test aptitude. Your SAT scores don't actually reflect how well you will do in college. Oh, and the requiring parents to keep a job to get paid, that is counterintuitive. If a parent loses his/her job through no fault of his/her own and can't find another one because of a job shortage like the one we are currently experiencing, well, the last thing that individual needs is the Opportunity NYC money to stop flowing. Am I right? So, this is what I thought we would find objectionable in Mayor Bloomberg's plan. That and I thought perhaps some well-meaning individuals would find it condescending to imply poor people need extra motivation to do the right thing while middle class or wealthy people don't. (I don't think that is at all what is implied by the program, but ya know, overly-sensitive, liberal, straight, white, males who are always trying to overcompensate for their undue privilege by acting offended for everyone else's sake probably would say that.) But, much to my shock and gag-reflex people were all:

I think it's wrong to pay people for what they should be doing anyway.

Parents are supposed to be invested in their children's life without getting paid.

I understand Mayor Bloomberg is trying to force all these parents to be good parents, but you can't make people do what's right.

I don't personally understand the culture of poor people not taking care of their kids properly because I'm white and from a farm and have always had opportunities and a steady career, but since that's the way it is, I think it's good that this program is in place to inspire people to care for their children someway. (I KID YOU NOT THAT IS A SUMMARY OF WHAT SOMEONE SAID. . . he was a white male, but I'm not sure if he's straight.)

I think it skews people's values. People need to value education for what it is, not because it pays. What are these kids gonna do when they graduate and aren't getting paid to go to college, are they going to go?

Since in poor communities education isn't valued properly, I think it works to put a monetary value on it, so individuals can tell what it's worth.

Alright, two of those weren't even criticisms, they were praises of the program but for DISGUISTING reasons. THESE PEOPLE ARE MORONS. Here is what I gathered their opinions are: poor people don't care about their kids, we must pay poor people to do the 'proper' thing, poor people don't understand the value of education. Alright bitches, I bet all of them can understand the value of education better than you can because you probably took it for granted your whole life where these parents, who are struggling to pay bills, pay the rent, keep their kids out of trouble, WISH they could have what you have so that life WOULDN'T be so hard. Not to generalize because I'm sure some people in my class are from low income families and communities, but, my gods, these people in class blabbing about how poor people don't know the value of education most likely don't understand the value of it themselves because they've never had to struggle without one. Furthermore, how DARE they accuse parents of not wanting what's best for their children because they don't have time to go to a frakken PTA meeting. I mean really, if you are a single parent working multiple jobs and you have the choice between going to work to make money so your electricity doesn't get cut off or going to a Parent-Teacher conference, well, I guess that's up to you what you would do. But I'm damn sure gonna make sure my babies have electricity and running water and a safe place to come home to before I'm gonna sit down and chat with their teachers. My babies can tell me themselves how they're doing in school, and we won't end up in transitional housing or a homeless shelter, thank-you-very-much! But, if you pay me $25 for that hour of my time, hell ya! That's more than I'd be making at work anyway, and yes I'd gladly be MORE involved in my child's life if I had the means to do so. . . And, maybe I already WAS making every effort and going to these meetings, but at the cost of less nutritional meals 'cause all I could afford after missing that hour of work was HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP filled food. Oh and now we all have diabetes.

OK, you get my point. These people are not ok with me. I don't know outa what world they fell, but they need to go back. . . NOW. And Tabby and I were talking about how probably they are not Republican. Probably they do not consider themselves conservative. Maybe they consider themselves fiscally or socially liberal. BUT they are, in part, social conservatives. You saw all that "pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" bullshit, did you not? Somehow, because these parents don't have time to go to conferences, don't have the resources to make annual doctor's appointments, they are bad parents? They don't CARE about their kids? bullshit. You know its bullshit. We aren't necessarily talking about abusive crack-head parents, and even if we were I bet I could make a case for them caring about their kids anyway. We are talking about people who grew up in the ghetto, and who are raising their kids in the ghetto, who have no hope of getting out of the ghetto because that's where their moms were raised too. We are talking about multi-generational poverty brought on by unfortunate and despicable social problems and failed policy solutions. Living in poverty does not make you a bad parent. It makes you damn busy. PLUS, a lot of these parents probably already WERE doing these things. It's not like Bloomberg targeted people who weren't doing these things. He targeted poverty-stricken families who may or may not have been doing these things, but why should that matter? Why NOT redistribute the wealth in their favor? They are working harder than all those damn morons in the financial sector who make millions and billions.

BTW, my parents DID have the means and time to take me to the doctor's and dentist and they still didn't. I have been to the dentist 3 times in my life and once was after I had already graduated high school. This has nothing to do with not caring. It has to do with certain a level of organization that many people lack. So yes, I understand most children are covered by health insurance, but if people don't have basic organizational skills, and why would they necessarily have ever gained these skills if they themselves did not have the opportunity to finish school and balance college and a job at the same time (Most people who do finish school and finish college still come out lacking in the organizational department), why should they be expected to remember to make a doctor's appointment when they are worried about how they're gonna get their next meal? THEN, how should they find the time to get their child to it? I am so rambly. I am repeating myself a lot, I know. It just really really bothered me.

Love,
Calla and her Kitties. (MEOW)


(I need to take more pictures)

Calla's Sixty-First Post

Hi. It's Calla. (As it ALMOST always is.) Tabby is writing a blog post. I'm going to write one also! But I don't think I have any kitty cat pictures. This is bad news bears. I will make do somehow. He is writing in his ethical journal, which he must keep for school. He is always confused about what to write in it. So, I am always trying to help him. He seems to think my ideas are always silly-face!!

For example, about a week and a day ago, (no, exactly a week and a day ago.) we ate at Sacred Chow in the West Village near Washington Square Park with Tabby's parents after Church. Now, my food (vegan blueberry French Toast, which turned out to be more like a huge chunk of blueberry bread that happened to be warm and a little bit fried.) came out super-de-duperdy LATE. And the waitress said, "I'm sorry. This is way too late. I'm going to take it off the bill." Now, we came home and Tabby was all "Ahh, I've only written two ethical journal entries so far and I'm supposed to've written 4!" (btw, he is on his third as of present.) So, as I am an extremely helpful girlfriend/fiancé/life-partner/whatever-I-am-considered-after-living-with-him-for-over-two-years, and I am also oh-so-good at noticing how almost every action we make involves an ethical decision, I said "Oh, write about how that waitress took my food off the bill." He thought this was dumb, and not an ethical decision. But it was. That was not her food. It belonged to the restaurant. By taking it off the bill, she essentially stole it. However, by making a customer wait an exorbitant amount a time for her food, the waitress was ethically inclined to right this wrong. She chose to do so by offering me a free meal. . . that, in reality, wasn't hers to offer. This is an ethical decision. Tabby thought it was dumb. So here was a list of other things about which I told him to write. (None of which he did.)

1. Buying things in sweatshops - to support a poor family's livelihood, or to boycott the abuse to which family members are subjected?

2. Eating at restaurants that serve meat - to order vegan food, thus showing the manager there is a market for it, or to spend your money supporting restaurants that do not spend money to support cruel practices?

3. A related note: Tom's of Maine was bought by Colgate and The Body Shop by L'Oreal: Do you buy from them since they've signed pledges to continue their ethical practices? Are you indirectly supporting animal testing, or are you showing the parent companies that cruelty free products sell better than that other crap they produce?

4. Donating to cancer/aids research - obviously these products are tested on animals. Many people would argue it is ethical to do so. They value the lives of humans above the lives of animals. However, with documented cases of the gov. testing phase 1 and phase 2 drugs on FOSTER CHILDREN, one cannot be sure that there money is only going to animal tests (which I oppose anyway.)

5. Organic vs. local? - Organic local food is ideal, but when you can buy local food that is not grown organically, or food shipped from across the country or globe that is, which do you choose?

6. When you give money to church or a homeless outreach, or nearly any nonprofit that is not associated with animal welfare, that money is probably going to some items (food and cleaning supplies for SURE) that are in opposition to your own morals.

7. Is it better to buy non-vegan food from a company that is dedicated to promoting healthful and sustainable diets, or vegan food from a company that processes all sorts of crap, but happens to have made something that is vegan? Probably it is best to avoid BOTH of these situations, honestly. [This was not a suggestion I gave to Tabby. I just thought of it now. Well, no, I had a conversation with Tabby about it one time in a grocery store, but re-thought about it now.]

Um, I don't know if I suggested other things. Maybe I did. It was over a week ago, so I don't remember. But regardless, he did not like any of my suggestions. HOWEVER, now he is writing about vegetarianism and Christianity, specifically is it pertains to Bartian theology. So clearly, he cannot escape the animal rights activism! :) I love what I created in him. hehehe. He had said how he didn't want all his posts to be about animal welfare, but I think they will be. Once you are this deep into something, you cannot pretend like it does not consume all of your moral opinions. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. I know there are other pressing issues, such as racism, homophobia, sexism, genocides, etc. And I do not think people should ignore these. And I, myself, stand up against these and often offer financial support to groups attempting to rectify these wrongs. However, my heart, and thus my time, is spent on animals. When a society has gotten to a point where sentient beings are treated as commodities, stripped of basic care, subject to hostile abuse simply because they are less evolved. . . Well, that attitude and culture taints the rest of society's assumptions and values. It is not OK to say "oh it's only a horse, who cares if it is abused?" That is one of GOD'S CREATURES. One should not treat it as though it were an OBJECT of PLEASURE created for MANKIND. Um, no. And to view the world through such a lens is DANGEROUS and TROUBLE (with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for Pool. haha. No. The Music Man has nothing to do with this. . . at all. But it's pretty good, right?)

Alright, so that was one of my animal rants for the week. It is almost like I have a quota for those things, huh? And it's ridiculous, because I'm pretty sure they are kind of repetitive.

BUT, for lent I decided I need to do something for the animals EVERY DAY. Seeing as I should be doing more than whining about injustice every day anyway, I'm hoping this conviction sticks long past Lent. Well, I didn't think of this until Saturday night, unfortunately. And so I missed two days! But Wed. I went to a Farm Sanctuary Activist Meeting. Saturday I protested Foi Gras again at two different restaurants. And one of them is looking good. The other guy (Fork and Knife) is pretty much going out of business at this point, [Yet another ethical decision.] which is pretty sad, but also his own fault. Sign the pledge, and the protests will stop, you'll get more customers, less ducks will suffer. Everyone wins. Sunday I delivered literature about Farm Sanctuary to S'Nice. BUT I also left some at my church. Now, I am a fairly anti-social human being, as we have discussed in prior posts. So, though I have been attending St. Luke's for approximately an ENTIRE YEAR, I don't talk to anyone and I don't get involved. Well, I said in the morning, to Tabby I said, "Do you think I can leave some of these at Church?" And he said "I don't know." And then we got to church and all that was out on the table and bulletin board were church related items. So I thought, no. No point in asking. It will just be embarrassing. Well, I noticed in the announcements they had started a new "community' bulletin board that posted items unrelated to church in which people could get involved. And I had to get courage to ask about leaving some Farm Sanctuary lit. So, as a side note, I've been feeling so super guilty for not doing more in the realm of animal rights lately. God has given me this passion. It has been indwelt since I was four. . . or perhaps earlier. But four, the age I went vegetarian without the prompting of an adult or a group of peers, is a clear indication of such passion at work. My 6th grade persuasive essay against animal testing is another. Clearly, this is something that has been with me since a young age. God has also BLESSED me with both creativity and intellect. I have both the brains and the visionary-drive to really amount to something. Unfortunately, I was also given an unnatural anti-social tendency and an uncanny ability to get embarrassed at the drop of a hat! So, these character-flaws (if flaws are what they are) prevent me from using my gifts to their fullest. And lately, that has been plaguing at my soul. OK, well, I had to get courage. And this was a rather distracting revelation. I thought about what I would say all service. I was pretty glad Mother Mary was not giving the sermon, 'cause I had been weird and friended her on Facebook. I was already embarrassed about that fact, and didn't want to draw attention to myself by asking her strange questions. So, Mother Caroline was giving the sermon, and I, for some reason, am less comfortable around her than around Mary or Hugh, so it was still going to be strange asking her about the Farm Sanctuary Lit. Well, in her sermon, she briefly mentioned how saints and Christ and such were friends of the animals. Biblically speaking, a friend of the animals is someone who is Godly. So, I figured that was good. Even though it wasn't the POINT of the sermon, I figured she couldn't possibly say "no" after mentioning that fact. So, after service, I held up the line to leave to ask her about the Farm Sanctuary Lit. And she said, "Well, we can't post every worthy cause, but I don't see why we can't pin one up and leave a few." YAY! So, I only gave her a few. Like 7 probably or 8. I didn't want to overwhelm her or seem unappreciative or pushy. But, if she is pinning on up, even if the Lit. disappears, people will see the flyer and can still visit the website. So, I did that for the animals. And it was hard and SO EMBARRASSING. But I did it. And, unfortunately, it did not relieve me and make me feel like it would be easy to interact with people if it was for the animals. I think, instead, this will be a life-long struggle because of my weirdness. Like Moses, thinking he can't talk in front of people.

So, anyway, today I wrote Obama for the animals. I thanked him for cutting subsidies to factory farms, and encouraged him to give subsidies to farms with "humane" and environmentally friendly practices. I suggested he look at the farms certified by the nonprofit Humane Farm Animal Care. (I don't think any animal should be slaughtered, but raising animals humanely BEFORE you brutally, and with no regard for their feelings, take their lives away is a step in the proper direction.) So, if you like eating carcass, but are feeling either guilty or disgusted about the way that carcass was treated when s/he was a living, breathing being, check out this website. www.certifiedhumane.com/

This is now going to be unrelated to animal rights, at least this little part: I HAD A SNOW DAY TODAY! It is the only one I had during my undergraduate career. And snow days are a BEAUTIFUL thing. It is so so so so so so cold and SNOWY outside. I had to go out to buy my kitty cats food. But instead of going to the pet food store to which I like to go because it is a small business, I went to whole foods because it was closer. If I have to support a Big Box store, I guess Whole Foods is the way to go, right? But other than that trip, I have been INSIDE. I drank co-co, and it was yummy. I pretty much ENTIRELY wasted the day. Like it is nearly 11:00 p.m. and I didn't do anything productive. This is probably bad. But oh well.

SO, my sister has been a vegetarian since, like, I dunno, 2 months? It is good good good of her. She is having trouble giving up eggs, so I told her about the humanley raised people. And, actually, I don't know, for sure, what would be wrong with eating eggs from chickens humanley raised? Perhaps something to do with male chicks that hatch? I don't know if the nonprofit looks at that. I think I'll write to them asking about male chicks on layer-hen farms and veal calves on dairy-farms. Yeah, I have to go do that. But it was wonderful chatting with you. BYE.

Love,
Calla and her kitties. (NO PICTURE!?) I will find a picture of SOMETHING to put here. . . hmmm. . .



This is a GORGEOUS butterfly friend from the Ren. fair this summer. Can you believe people kill bugs instead of capturing them and letting them out the window? (Probably, 'cause probably you do that.) It makes me sad to go in the laundry room in the basement because there is fly tape hanging from the ceiling with dead bugs on it. :( IF YOU LIVE IN THE SUBURBS OR COUNTRY NEAR BATS, NEVER USE FLY PAPER. The wonderful batfriends get stuck in it. :( This makes me want to cry because bats are my most favorite animals. (Yes, I play favorites, but I treat them all with respect and love.)

Calla's Fifty-Third Post

There are actual things I need to write about in here. . . and I forget what they are. . . But I really quickly need to complain about Code 46. This movie is stupid stupid stupid. I'm 32 minutes into it. That's 1/3rd through. And nothing is interesting. The tone and style is like Blade Runner, but not as well done. The concept is like Gataca (how was it spelled? Ethan Hawke was in it when I was 11. I saw it in the movie theaters and really liked it. . . but I was 11, so maybe it's bad) combined with 1984. But much more boring than both of them. Well, the main girl isn't even cute. And I just watched them have such unrealistic sex. It was stupid. It wasn't unrealistic like too crazy, I mean they weren't movie in a way where you're like "how could he even be in her!?" . . . It was unrealistic like TOO DULL. No one has sex like that. And it's like Blade Runner before the good director cut version because there's cheesy voice overs. I am required to watch it for a class. Whatever high-concept idea I am supposed to be exploring about surveillance or government control or unrealistic future beliefs that the sun is bad for you (ALL THESE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE VITAMIN D DEFICIENCIES AND DIE!), I could be doing without this movie. . . and more enjoyably. Now I'm 41 minutes into it and OH NO, this man didn't report the counterfeit cover so now this guy died. . . Oh the guilt. Oh the confusion. What is right? What is wrong? What is ethical? OH NOW THE OVERKILL METAPHORS "Did I leave you a clue like Hanzel and Gretal?. . . "

This is dumb. Does he have to go find this chick? STUPID. . . This movie is boring, unoriginal, slowmoving, poorly scripted (you shouldn't need this many sucky voiceovers to make a movie), lame, and it TRIES WAY TOO HARD to be both artsy and intellectual. . . and it fails at both.

Why is this so Bladerunner. . . Oh no I'm like in love with this girl that is supposed to be the thing against which I am fighting. . . blah, blah, blah,

GET OVER YOURSELF.

That is my advice to this movie.

NO YOU DID NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH HER. . . YOU WERE ON A FRAKKIN EMPATHY VIRUS!!

Paper : Four

You should read the post entitled Calla's Fifty-First Post for an explanation of the following assignment. Thanks.

Calla Wright
Fundraising and Development
Professor Eleanor
Cicerchi February 11, 2009

FARM SANCTUARY CASE STATEMENT

WHY WE EXIST

Every year in the United States, over ten billion animals are kept in inhumane conditions. In mass, they live out their lives in dark crates, pens, or overcrowded rooms where they are unable to stretch, turn around, or walk. They are forced to live in their own waste, fed diets they cannot digest, exposed to disease but not to proper veterinary care, held in isolation or held in such congested conditions that some are regularly trampled. If these were cats or dogs, legislation would protect them against these practices. But as it stands farm animals are treated as mere commodities, not like the intelligent, emotional, sentient beings that they are. Farm Sanctuary is working to change this reality.

IN THE BEGINNING

Incorporated in 1986, Farm Sanctuary’s co-founders, Gene and Lorri Baur, were initially unsure of their exact mission beyond that they wanted to combat factory farming through advocacy and education. They immediately began producing advocacy literature, however no plans were in place for a physical sanctuary. That same year the Baurs rescued Hilda from Lancaster Stockyard’s dead pile. The Baurs were investigating conditions at the stockyard and taking photos of the dead pile, when a sheep, presumed to have died in the back of a truck during transport, lifted her head and looked up at the co-founders. Unable to leave the animal to die, and without thinking about the legal ramifications of theft, the two lifted Hilda into the back of the Baurs’ car. They took her to a vet, and then back to Farm Sanctuary’s headquarters, then located in Wilmington, Delaware. With Hilda safely being nursed back to health in a shed in the backyard, the vision of Farm Sanctuary shifted: this was to be an actual safe-haven for the abused and forgotten. What began with a whim of co-founder, board member and president Gene Baur has turned into the nation's leading farm animal protection organization; over 100,000 members strong. Farm Sanctuary has become a 501(c)(3) whose mission is three-pronged: rescue, education and advocacy.

WHAT WE DO AND WHAT WE OFFER

Rescue:
Farm Sanctuary operates the largest North American rescue and refuge network for farm animals. With two large shelters, 175-acres in upstate New York and 300-acres in northern California, Farm Sanctuary is able to give animals the chance to live out their natural lives in spacious, healthful environments.

In addition to these shelters, Farm Sanctuary operates an entire adoption network made up of smaller shelters and individuals with proper facilities to house farm animals. Coast-to-coast, Farm Sanctuary works to adopt out animals to vegetarian and vegan volunteers when its facilities are full. These animals must always be adopted in pairs to spare them the experience of social isolation.

Farm Sanctuary has also been a savior for animals during many of the nation’s largest disaster relief efforts. From Hurricane Katrina, to the Midwest flood disaster, to long-forgotten tornadoes and cases of mass animal neglect, for the past twenty years, Farm Sanctuary has been an essential resource during hundreds of animal rescue projects.

Education:
Farm Sanctuary strives to educate people through varied methods. Internships are available at both the New York and California shelters as well as in Farm Sanctuary’s New York City offices. Shelters are open to visitors for informative guided tours and overnight stays. Annual events such as the 4th of July Pignic and the Country Hoe Down are held in an effort to educate participants. Projects such as the adopt-a-turkey program and the walk-for-farm-animals also help to raise public consciousness to the plight of farm animals. Finally, Farm Sanctuary does not underestimate the impact of documentaries, public service announcements, books and other literature and often uses such mediums to create a stronger public awareness.

Advocacy:
The Federal Animal Welfare Act does not cover farm animals, nor do the majority of anti-cruelty laws at the state level. Farm Sanctuary works to encourage legal reforms in the area of farm animal welfare at both the Federal level and state-by-state. Beginning in 1986 with a No-Downers Campaign, Farm Sanctuary’s efforts for legislative reform have been continuous. New campaigns and new ballot initiatives are introduced during opportune times.

MILESTONES

Over the years Farm Sanctuary has played a part in substantive gains for farm animals. Most recently, Farm Sanctuary co-led a campaign in California, known as proposition 2, to outlaw battery cages, veal crates and gestation crates by the year 2015. In 2008, prop 2 passed with 63% of voter support. Also in 2008, Farm Sanctuary gained the trust of the Iowa State Department of Agriculture who formally invited Farm Sanctuary to rescue animals left for dead during the Midwest flood disaster. In 2007, one of Farm Sanctuary’s educational campaigns was featured on the front page of the New York Times. That same year, Farm Sanctuary rescued over 200 animals from live markets in New York City, received word that Wolfgang Puck would remove foie gras and crated veal from his menus in response to a Farm Sanctuary campaign, and successfully pressed charges against New Holland Sales Stables on three counts of animal cruelty leading to a guilty verdict. A comprehensive list of victories dating back to 1986 can be found online at http://www.farmsanctuary.org/about/milestones/

OUR CURRENT EFFORTS

Though this progress has been exciting, it in no way belittles the goals yet to be accomplished in the field of farm animal welfare. With your contribution Farm Sanctuary can continue its efforts in the areas of advocacy, education and rescue. Currently, Farm Sanctuary is working on campaigns to end the cruel force-feeding practices that are necessary for the production of Foie Gras, and to eradicate the endless cycle of impregnation, birth, and lactation that dairy cows suffer, made possible by the immediate loss of their calves to the veal industry. Farm Sanctuary is also involved in the Sentient Beings Campaign chaired by Mary Tyler Moore. Additionally, Farm Sanctuary’s educational Veg-for-Life campaign is an ongoing effort that promotes a vegan lifestyle, and provides resources to get individuals started on that path. Furthermore, Farm Sanctuary will continue its rescue and adoption programs and remain on-call for any emergency relief efforts.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Operating on a $5-million budget, 80% of Farm Sanctuary’s expenditures go directly towards its programming. Since much of the work at the New York City office and at both shelters is performed by volunteers, you can be confident your money is not going towards support services, but to fundraising and programming. 90% of Farm Sanctuary’s operating budget comes from its members, individuals like you who can make a positive impact in the lives of innocent animals. Your donations support legal advocacy, legislative projects, cruelty investigations, media outreach, public awareness and education projects, and direct rescue and shelter efforts.

Also, this might suck. It is not yet graded. I'm ripping more pictures off their website for you.


Escaped the horrors of Foie Gras * Poor Veal Calf Baby!

Love,
Calla and the Farm Sanctuary Animals (all thousands of them!!)

Calla's Fifty-First Post

So, there is oh-so-much to catch up on! Whatever will we do? Well. . . the goatfather is a wine made from the Goats du Roam people in South Africa. They make vegan wines and the goats lead them to the fruit to use. . . or something dysfunctionally cute like that. Perhaps you did not know that some wines are not vegan. This is true of beer as well. Some wines are refined with eggs, or fish blood or other gross things. They are just fined with said products, the said products AREN'T IN THE WINES AND BEERS. . . So, that was a nice bit of information, huh?

Um, so that's the goats.

What else is happening is I am so so so so so so so so so so so so sad about the veal calf friends! I don't know why, but last night I got super depressed about them, and it will not go away. I am sad for the Mommies too!! The babies are just ripped away from the mommies and the mommies cry out until their voice is horse and the whole while they are being endlessly milked for human consumption. This is not right. This is actually sort of pretty much evil. I cry over it a lot. I am going to protest Foie Gras on Valentine's day. That is evil too. Jesus does not like us abusing his creation and acting as if such sentient beings were placed on earth for our pleasure when they were actually placed on earth for God's pleasure. Ruthless Dominion is no way to rule. :( Tabby wrote a thing that I will make him copy and paste here as a guest post. I agree with like 96% of it or something. There is a little with which I don't agree, but all and all he is pretty good at life and writing so it will be swell to put up here. You should also read the book Is God a Vegetarian? I think that book is also swell even though the answer is no. . . because Jesus ate Fish. But the conclusion is that we should be. . . So i like it cause I don't like hurting the baby moos. :(

Um, more things happen all the time, but I can't remember them all. I know that I will put up this case statement I had to write. It is for my fundraising and development class. I had to pick a nonprofit on which to base all my projects for the semester, and I, OBVIOUSLY, picked Farm Sanctuary because they are the bestest people in the world! So, I had to write a case statement that was due today at 8:00 p.m. and it might be sucky cause I really don't know so much about fundraising yet since it is only three weeks into the semester. . . But I will put it up here anyway because I love the animals!!! Some of it is a little plagiarized off their website and mission statements and thingys because my teacher said that was OK since we are supposed to be pretending like we work for the company anyway. . . So, it's not like I lifted paragraphs or anything. Just some lists I have are the same as the website's. . . Only, I don't remember what (or actually if anything at all) is plagiarized. Next time I will keep track. Today this girl asked if there was someway we could cite stuff so we didn't feel guilty and my professor said "sure, put sentences you didn't write in red or something, I don't care." So, next time I will put sentences not of my own creation in red. But I didn't do that this time. I hope I don't get sued or something.

My senior thesis is going to suck so hardcore that it is like we are in a blackhole! (haha, that's funny because it is an entirely inaccurate description of what a blackhole does. . . I took a physics class once for the fun of it. . . I don't remember what it was called. I'll look it up. I looked it up. But not in a transcript, just on an assignment I turned in once. It said "contemporary physics." I don't know if that was the full title. The point is. . . I learned that that is not what a blackhole does!) So this is why it sucks: my pre-proposal is due on Friday but I am not good at life, so I have not done enough research to write a pre-proposal. That is what I have to do all of tomorrow. BLAH BLAH BLAH. When the actual proposal is due 16 days from now, I'll put it up here so you can see what I am doing and maybe even help me!!!

So, it was someone special's birthday today. (But really yesterday, as in Feb 11th because I am writing after midnight. But she lives in Arizona so it is still her birthday there. But she was born in Ohio which is the same time zone as New York which is where I live now. . . So, who knows!?) Also, no one remembers at what time exactly she was born! haha. We know Christopher was born at 5:45. We just know Callista was born sometime in the afternoon. . . It was after I was done with school 'cause I know that 'cause I saw her come out of Christin's vagina. EWWW. No, know what was gross? Not the blood. . . THE STRETCH MARKS. This is graphic. Christin might not like that this is up here. Seriously though Callista was born five years ago and it was the cutest day ever! (No it wasn't. She looked ugly as an infant. .. let's not kid ourselves.) BUT, it turned into the cutest day ever because she is cute now!!! I wonder if I'm allowed to put a picture of her up instead of one of my cats up. Would Christin let me? I have her on Facebook, so this really isn't much different. I will ask. In the mean-time, this post will remain vacant of pictures! .

Um, I'm sure there is more, but I'm not sure what it is. Oh yes I am. Tabby has class with stupid people that think they control reality based on how they treat the objects around them. For example, Mama Kitty becomes a cow when I treat her like a cow. . . That is the idea. They are dumb. (that is not the example they gave though, because they don't know Mama and they don't know that she is really a cow.)

Ok, now that is all for now. I will put up the case study and make Tabby put up the guest post.

Love,
Calla and her kitties. (They are both asleep in their beds that they love!)

Calla's Forty-Eighth Post

I am procrastinating. I have to write this review of this academic article. And it is boring and stupid and about ska. So, I don't want to write it. But I am listening to No Doubt now (third wave ska and what not). And that makes me mad because of my loss of CDs. :( So what happened is as follows: I never really had a permanent home. My parents got divorced when I was 7. So I guess I had one before that. So, the judge gave them joint custody. This was like as joint as it could get, as in my dad had us Thursday, Friday and every other weekend, my mom had us Mon-Wed and every other weekend. That was the school year. During the summer, it was split right down the middle half and half. Though my dad claimed he was supposed to have us every weekend to make up for the discrepancy during the school year. . . But he didn't start claiming this until, I dunno, I was ten or twelve or something. . . So, I don't know if that's true or not, but regardless we didn't follow it. So my point is this. My dad moved like every other year. When he finally moved into a house he supposedly liked we had to rent another house for like ever anyway as he and one of my crazy ex-stepmoms put a million dollars into remodeling the other house. So anyway, I NEVER knew where my stuff was growing up. This was, to say the least, obnoxious. It is also the reason I never want to leave the East Village despite the expense and the whole gentrification thing that has been going on since the 1980s of which I am clearly a part. 'Cause here is where I finally felt I had a permanent home, ya know? To have only ONE home and live in it all the time and to have kitties and a boyfriend you get to see EVERYDAY and then to work in the same neighborhood and to like to go to the park to look at the puppies and wish you could have a dog as well as two cats. . . well, that is what having an actual home feels like. So, back to the CDs. I took all my favorite CDs to college with me my first year, right? And so what happened was I lived in school housing. This small apartment right on Union Square with 8 of us inside it. RIDICULOUS. Probably, you will hear more about the ridiculousness someday. The kitchen was like 10 square feet the four bedrooms were the size of walk in closets literally. . . SO, it sucked. So I also had to move out right away in May. And I stored some stuff with Tabby (where I live now! It was stupid cause I moved the stuff out of this apartment in September and right back in in January!) OK, so, some stuff I stored with Claudette. . . who I then stopped talking to. . . I hope she is enjoying my green blanket, green lamp with flowered lampshade, laundry basket etc. So the rest of my stuff I managed to lug back to Ohio in two overweight suitcases. Well, there were my CDs. And I had them at my dad's house (the one that had been redone.) And I meant to load them all onto my computer, but didn't get around to it. So, I left them there when I went back to New York because I was trying to bring back every single book I owned, and so there wasn't room for music. (Isn't that depressing, to choose between music and literature!?) OK, so I didn't go back to Ohio until 2 years later. That was this past summer for Cristina's wedding. The summer before, I was supposed to go for a weekend, but my plane got all delayed and then cancelled and Tabby's dad had to get me from the airport at like 3 a.m. OK. So, that one year later I didn't have a chance to get those CDs. By the time I got back to Ohio again, my dad had divorced crazy stepmom #2 and that stupidly expensive house was on the market. While, crazy ex-stepmom had changed the locks on the house, so I couldn't get the CDs. So, that same weekend my dad called and asked if I needed anything from the house because he would be there the next weekend. I told him I needed my CDs. But he never called me and never mentioned them again, so I think it is safe to say he either forgot or they were already gone. Well, I get sad quite often that music collection has vanished. But I still have Tragic Kingdom because Christin rebought it or something and I put it on my computer one time in Arizona. But where is the rest of No Doubt, Outkast, Jewel, TFK, Nickel Creek, etc? (Yes, I have elcectic taste.) I am sad.

Well, I don't have any kitty pictures right now because I have to load them from the camera onto the computer. And I didn't yet. Just deal with it. I'll add two sets to the next post to make up for it. (THE NEXT POST WILL PROBABLY BE ABOUT GALACTICA)

You're only sixteen
Try to cross the line
But your little wings are intertwined no whoa no
Yeah you're only sixteen
And you're such a tease
And there's nothing you do
That can really please no whoa no

love, Calla and her kitties