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On Applied Linguistics and Vegan Education

I revel in those few moments each year when I get to use the education I paid so dearly for through both work (doctoral fellowship) and loans. You can always tell if you’ve miscommunicated by the responses you receive. It’s…

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2 Things to do Today

Today’s post was too long and will likely be a 2-parter, which is fitting. End 2008 and start 2009 with it. It’s probably the most important thing we can all do on a daily basis, other than be vegan: educate…

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On the Seemingly Silly Questions I Ask

I’ve asked what you read (/if you read) as a child, if your parents or any other grown-ups were vegan, whether you had an affinity for animals, and what I’m looking for in probably the most inefficient, ineffective way possible,…

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On Obama’s Food Agenda

Susan directed me to “A food agenda for Obama” by Christopher D. Cook of the Christian Science Monitor. Cook suggests nine elements for Obama’s food policy: 1. New public investments targeting sustainable agriculture, defined as organic, small- to mid-sized, diversified…

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PeTA: A Hit and a Miss

Though it’s been years since I gave PeTA any money, I’m still on their mailing list and when I saw the Sea Kittens campaign my initial reaction was: Well done! They found a way to quickly, easily make the connection…

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On Alligator “Programs”

I received an e-mail from Israel Dupont, a naturalist and alligator expert in Florida who thought I might be interested in his site due to my frequent posting on alligator “attacks.” His site is called “Living With Alligators” and I…

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An Iditarod to Endorse

Did you see “Sport Meets Survival: An Iditarod Without Dogs” in the New York Times? It is promoted as the longest, most remote winter ultrarace in the world, a slog across century-old marshland trails from the outpost of Knik over…

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A Christmas Miracle for Project Treadstone

I really wish I had kept track of the dozen-plus people I’ve spoken with regarding potential help for Project Treadstone. I stopped taking notes after a while, beaten down by all of the similar responses I was getting that rhyme…

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On That Doggy in the Window

We all tell people that if they want a puppy, they should go to a shelter or a rescue group, right? Well, someone who shall remain nameless asked me about that doggy in the window, and what makes that doggy,…

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On “Free-Range Research”

Here’s a potentially Gray Matter for you brought to you by Deb Durant. In Wired, “Free-Range Research Could Save Chimps–and Our Conscience,” by Brandon Keim, introduces (to me, at least) the idea of free-range research sanctuaries. Think Save the Chimps…

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On Birthdays and the Protocol of Grieving

Happy 42nd Birthday to me! Sublime was the location of my birthday dinner, and I brought my camera so I could take pictures of all of the gorgeous, scrumptious food and promptly forgot to take even one of the appetizers,…

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A Note from China

In response to Thursday’s Good News/Bad News, Chris sent the following (from China) and I posted it, but it disappeared. So here it is again: Several overlapping groups of “cat lovers”, and animal rights activists are involved in anti-cat meat…

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Huffington Post Posts Vegan “Projects”

Because there are only 5 comments, it might be nice to go on over to Huffington Post’s “Vegan Holiday Baking Projects” article and have a say. Why the heck they’re called “projects,” I’ll never figure out. If they were nonvegan,…

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I Dare You Not to Smile for Two Minutes

Things can get very serious around here, so I thought I’d try to get a smile out of you . . . Thanks to dutch cousin Jennifer for . . . Bailey the Unknown Reindeer. Remember the volume, as the…

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Good News from China, Bad News from New York

Yes, you read that correctly; the good news is from China (and some of you might not see it as good news, but I don’t think you can categorize it as bad news). I’ll do the bad news first so…

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