Skip to content

Posts by mary martin

Goodbye, Violet Rays.

I was going to post a photo of Violet after she died. It looks just like this one, taken shortly before she died, but her tongue is slightly protruding. But then I thought some people might find that upsetting, which is odd after all of the gruesome images we’ve seen.

Read more

On SWITCH, by Chip & Dan Heath, and Going Vegan

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been thinking a lot about why people go vegan and why they don’t. I stopped blogging largely because I couldn’t possibly make it a priority, but also because

Read more

On SITUATIONS MATTER and Activism

SITUATIONS MATTER: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World (Riverhead 2011) by Sam Sommers, like the recent other nonfiction books I’ve read (and who am I kidding? The last novel I read was THE LIFE OF PI, and before that . . .

Read more

On Stanley and Family Commitments

He’s 79 pounds of muscle, he sports a tuxedo, he’s got gorgeous teeth (a first for the hounds in our house) and he’s very shy. And afraid of men. On the upside, he’s a mellow youngish guy (he turns four…

Read more

Happy 12th Birthday Violet Rays!

There she is . . . my girl. She has beaten the odds and made it another year. The life expectancy of greyhounds is 12-15 years. If they’ve . . .

Read more

On Dogs and Unconditional Love

Saturday was the one-year anniversary of the tragic death of my Charles Hobson Booger, III and it got me thinking about how easy he . . .

Read more

Where Does Vegan Baby Sky Get Her Protein?

I’m constantly asked about the details of Baby Sky’s life. Where does she get her protein? How are her bones going to grow without cow’s milk? You mean she’s never eaten bacon? Are you a communist? At Baby Sky’s 15…

Read more

On “Imposing” Our Beliefs on Our Children

It’s fascinating, how what 98% of Americans do with their children is called “parenting” and “guidance.” It can also be referred to as “transmission of culture,” with its handing down of the trappings, rituals, holidays and even mutilations of religion…

Read more

Vegan Atheist 40+ Parenting

I was going to change Animal Person to Vegan Atheist 40+ Parenting and come back to blogging. Doesn’t have a ring to it at all, but a young man at Whole . . .

Read more

Hal Herzog’s “Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat”

Hal Herzog’s “Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat” (Harper 2011), though fascinating, is ultimately depressing for vegans and animal rights activists. Over at Animal Rights and AntiOppression, we’ve been discussing tactics and sharing our thoughts and experiences…

Read more

Clarification on Messaging

Vegan education/advocacy for animals is easiest for me when I know my audience. And by “know,” I mean I have a relationship with them and/or I understand what drives them, what they appreciate and what they can tolerate. From there,…

Read more

On Fighting for “Animal Rights”

Being featured on ARZone’s worldwide Live Guest Chat has reinvigorated my thinking about a couple of topics (here’s the transcript). And then I read the “OMG!!!!!OED!!!!!LOL!!!!!” in today’s New York Times, and I couldn’t resist posting. A couple of years…

Read more

Animal Person at ARZone This Saturday

I’m honored to have been asked to be interviewed at the next worldwide Live Guest Chat hosted by ARZone. Questions must be submitted to Carolyn@ARZone.net by midnight GMT on Wednesday. Here’s the link to the page, and I hope to…

Read more

“The Animals We Use,” Revised

As anyone who writes and edits knows, it’s far easier to produce a longer powerful, thorough piece than a shorter one. I intentionally deleted the entire section on the environment, I’m not dealing with the health benefits of not using…

Read more

The Animals We Use

After failing miserably at a long pamphlet in 2007, I decided to shorten it by 50% and focus on a different audience: people who use animals. I think part of the . . .

Read more