V for Vegan: easyVegan.info » LOLZ

Speciesism-Denying Humans

Kelly Garbato — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:29:52 +0000

is the name of a new vegan meme / tumblr blog by @VeganMudblood, which you should totes check out. Also: like (favorite? friend? I’m not down with the tumblr speak.*), share, add to, etc., etc., etc.

Here’s my submission. The first of many, no doubt. (Expect a slew to appear the next time I’m feeling particularly lazy, aimless, or in need of a good procrastinating.)

To be fair, the speciesism-denying human pictured above never actually proffered this defense on her own behalf – though at least one commenter on her popular feminist blog did. (No, really!) And yes, it is in point o’ facts a square in the upcoming Speciesist Feminist Bingo II.

* Speaking of which, I tried to create a tumblr account so I could follow Speciesism-Denying Humans, but my both of my blog names are already taken! Looks like I’m gonna have to think on this for a bit. URLs are a weighty decision, you know.

Updated to add: I blame the kyriarchy. IBTK, for short.

Shiny Happy Site Updates for a Shiny Happy New Year

Kelly Garbato — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:06:26 +0000

2010 was, for reasons I’d rather not go into, a rather crappy year all around. But with the flip of a calendar page comes a new year filled with hope and change and puppies and unicorns. (Nobama though, I don’t much care for that dude. So much so that I’m now repeating Republican slogans in spite of myself. Yuck.)

Also: site updates and goals! I know this sounds like it’s gonna be a boring admin-type post, but it’s not. Okay so maybe it is, but do me a shiny and read it anyway, mkay.

Tags!: There’s now a teeny-tiny tag cloud, located in the sidebar (just below the post categories and above the purple Petfinder widget), where there was none before! While updating my “greatest hits” page last month, I realized that I needed a better way of organizing post series (e.g., Consuming Women, Sexy Meat) and linking posts which focused on the same narrow, oft-discussed topics (PETA, abortion). Thus, I finally decided to add a few select tags after 4 1/2 years of making do without them.

As these are really just meant to supplement the already-bloated post category system, I’m keeping the tags simple and focused. Currently, they include:

Consuming Women
Sexy Meat
Intersectionality ‘Round the Interwebs
Disaster Hub
PETA
“fur hag”; and
abortion

Maybe it’s just because I’m hungry, but I’m also thinking about adding a tag for ICE CREAM! (Caps cuz WE ALL SCREAM!, amirite folks?)

Consuming Women & Sexy Meat!: Speaking of post series, it became painfully obvious to me whilst tagging the aforementioned posts that I haven’t paid the Consuming Women and Sexy Meat series the attention that they so very much deserve! I hereby resolve to correct this oversight in 2011.

Furthermore, this is me admitting that I can be, at times, terribly wordy (channeling: Jon Stewart’s John Kerry impression), and that such verbosity negatively impacts the number (and sometimes quality) of posts that I’m able to complete. So less talky, more looky, particularly when it comes to images of women carved up into cuts of meat. Or pictures of cows dressed to look like sex workers. Because really, how many different ways can one say that these images exploit women and nonhuman animals alike, turning their bodies into objects available for public consumption? (Not so many, it turns out!)

Bingo Cards!: Since my bingo cards are starting to see some link love, I decided to give them their own page! Don’t they look pretty, without all my extraneous, babbling commentary to distract from the snark? Also, I’ve totally slacked in my goal to link each square to a rebuttal and/or refutation of the silliness contained within. I promise to remedy this in 2011 (Look! I’ve already begun!), though it might take some time: the Speciesist Feminist and Anti-Feminist Vegetarian Bingo cards are so “special interest” (hate that term!) that I may have to write some of the counter-arguments myself. At least I’ll have some inspiration in 2011, yes?

POP! goes The Vegan.: Also planned for 2011 is an overhaul of POP! goes The Vegan., another awesome and unique (if I do say so myself, and I do!) project that I neglected during the Great Malaise of 2010. The “Vegan (Re)views” database will be relocated to the front page where it belongs, and the blog will get its own space. Contact forms will make it easier for users to submit movies, tv shows, reviews and the like, and on the back end, the database will receive a good spit and shine so that I can more finely organize and sort the entries. Birds will sing, my dogs will shit gold, and vegan ice cream the world over will cease to have any of the fat, and yet magically retain all of the taste. Life is/will be good.

Until then, I’ve resumed blogging at POP! after a three-month absence. Stop by and give me a read; recent topics include Guillermo Del Toro’s vampire novel The Strain; George A. Romero’s zombie flick Survival of the Dead; and an excerpt from Karen Davis’s Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs.

Guest posts are sorely needed, as even I – as much of a couch potato as I am – cannot consume and regurgitate all of the pop culture on the airwaves and intertubes myself. Hit me up at easyvegan [at] gmail.com, mkay? Or just send me a link to a piece you published elsewhere. I’m flexible, yo.

Animal-Friendly Women’s and Homeless Shelters: HALP! I’m trying to compile a list of animal-friendly women’s (i.e., domestic violence) shelters and programs. This might include shelters that house humans and nonhumans in the same facilities, or human-only shelters that partner with local animal rescue groups to temporarily place nonhuman victims in a network of foster homes. In my research, I keep finding references to AHA’s list – but the page has since moved, and I can’t for the life of me find it. The resources I have found are listed in the blogroll, under Animal-Friendly DV Shelters.

I also hope to make a similar list of homeless shelters; see Animal-Friendly Homeless Shelters in the blogroll.

Send me your links at easyvegan [at] gmail.com or, better yet, leave ‘em in the comments!

Survey: What is it like to be vegan?: Not mine, but you should totes participate anyhow. It’ll only take you a few minutes, and it’s important stuff. You’re doing god’s work, people! And by “god” I mean “science.”

Have I convinced you yet? Oh, good! Survey sez ->

FYI: HAPPY FUCKING NEW YEAR cake (vegan! with a vengeance !) & beer photo via Flickr user gregvanbrug.

Your reward for sticking with me ’til the end (or at least until the end of this post):

Muahahahaha!

domestic terraist doggehs selebrate crifsmas wit toefoo nog (like duh!)

Kelly Garbato — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 00:25:46 +0000

domestic terraist bear is one of teh kewl girls.
Left to right: Kaylee, Jayne, O-Ren and the pirate-polar-vegan-terrorist criFSMas bear.
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Initially, I’d planned on doing a sort of “domestic terrorist” theme for this year’s holiday (read: criFSMas) cards, using the “domestic terrorist” apron from Green is the New Red as the centerpiece. (Product description: “‘Domestic.’ Terrorist. Get it? There’s nothing funny about the FBI labeling environmental and animal advocates the ‘number one domestic terrorism threat.’ But with the Feds attempting to infiltrate vegan potlucks, why not accessorize? [...] Happy ‘terrorizing’! But be careful in the kitchen. Did you know tofu makes you gay?” Vegan chefs are scary, yo! Also: my dog-kids consume a fair amount of tofu. Additionally, they are super-psyched about today’s repeal of DADT. Draw your own conclusions, mkay.)

While my idea was solid, its execution was not: the apron proved way too large for the dogs (which was to be expected, even though it looks super-tiny – not to mention satiny – on the model), so at first I tried putting it on our pirate polar bear.

I think you’ll agree that she looks super-snazzy in it

but she’s also, well, kind of a big girl. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you; she’s vegan and totes in shape. But it proved next to impossible to fit both her and a dog in the camera frame. And so I re-staged the set, hanging the apron from the tree and surrounding it with fake fruits and veggies and a vase filled with pasta-related kitchen utensils.

(Ignore the white fur on the black apron. Living with four white dogs and a mostly-white cat, it cannot be helped.)

Better, but once I went back and examined the photos on my computer monitor, I realized that the paddles looked really odd and stupid. Tremendously so. Plus, there was still a lot of floor and wall showing. Dislike.

So on day #2 of shooting, I ditched the setup and instead opted for a sea of book piles, coupled with a vase filled with angel hair pasta, and complemented with a sparkly “peace” ornament and baby flying spaghetti monster. The new theme? Peace and pasta.

That taste? Perfection!

Not wanting the domestic terrorist photos to go to waste, I decided to make a series of (VEGAN!) lol dogs out of them. And so I give you: domestic terraist doggehs! (And one kitteh, who barely sat still long enough for me to take three pictures of him. His caption is most fitting.)

title: lol ozzy – is a terror allright
caption: “domestic terraist kitteh” is a redundancy
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title: lol ralphie – thot u said petdown
caption: domestic terraist doggeh will take that patdown now, mkay
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title: lol peedee – go boom
caption: domestic terraist doggeh be a walkin’ thyme bomb
(idea shameless borrowed from a blog of the same name)
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title: lol rennie – be happy 2 show u her mitts
caption: domestic terraist doggeh be hostin a v-gun potluck next week
(u bring teh loaded taters kay?)
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title: lol kaylee – kills wit spiceness
caption: domestic terraist doggeh is about 2 es’splode ur taste budz
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title: lol jayne – is be busted
caption: domestic terraist doggeh pleads deh lish
(hint: if you don’t get it, sound it out loud!)
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In many ways, I think I like this series better than the “real” card I ended up with (and the outtakes I made for each dog; yes, I’ve been a busy bee). But hey, there’s always next year. Well, not really. I’ve already got plans for 2011, and they involve Kaylee, Jayne and Joss Fucking Whedon. (One hint: SPACE PIRATES!) 2012, perhaps. I’m sure the theme will still be relevant then, unfortunately.

Boring management crap.

Kelly Garbato — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:31:13 +0000

So I’ve decided to scrap the easyVegan Weekend Activist – or, at the very least, shelve it for awhile. Gradually it started to suck up more and more of my time, to the point where I was spending at least as much time compiling links as I was writing actual content each week. Plus, I never really was sure how many readers made use of it. When I look back at which posts receive the most traffic, the longer essays and/or pieces on intersectionality almost always come out on top – and, since it’s more enjoyable for me, I think I’d rather concentrate my efforts on these topics for now.

Perhaps I’ll revisit and revise the link roundup in 2010 – cull my email subscriptions so that the only newsletters that make their way to my inbox are from genuinely pro-animal organizations, as opposed to much of the welfare crap I was posting (with caveats!) previously. I’m feeling rather burned out on the triage work, and extremely frustrated with a majority of animal and environmental advocacy groups. (Talk about stating the obvious, huh?) Or maybe I’ll draw up a link roundup using bitly, so I can see how many readers actually utilize the action alerts. Until then, feel free to sign up to receive email alerts from any of these human/animal/enviro advocacy groups.

As for the frequency of posting, I hope to pick up the pace in coming weeks. Normally an already-anxious/depressive personality type, the change in time and season has hit me especially hard this year. Even with my trusty sun lamp, I can feel the rain clouds sucking the energy out of me. Come 5PM sunset, I’m ready for dinner and bed. (Lethargy, I has it!) But I’m all caught up on the year-long backlog of paperwork I had to tackle for work, so I should be able to squeeze in some more blogging. I’m also hard at work on another project, which I’ll be ready to unveil in a few weeks. (Until then, if you’d like a hint….)

So anyway, that’s where I’m at. And you?

“Candied” Chai Pears

Kelly Garbato — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:21:44 +0000

Last week, I shared a recipe for Herbal Tofu with Apples and Pears, a yummy dish for dogs and people. This week, I decided to try out a slightly different version, sans tofu and with loads of caffeine-laden tea. The result? “Candied” Chai Pears. (“Candied” in scare quotes because they’re candy-esque, not really “candied.”)

“Candied” Chai Pears

Ingredients

5 cups water
5 tea bags, in a Chai tea flavor
10+ fresh, ripe pears
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Cloves
Brown sugar

Directions

1. Bring five cups of water to boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat.

2. Place your tea bags in the hot (but no longer boiling) water and let steep for approximately 30 minutes.

3. Peel, core and quarter your pears. Use at least 10, but if you’ve got extra room in your baking pan, use it! Fill to the brim with pears, especially if you’ve got oodles of fresh pears, like moi.

4. Remove the tea bags from the (now warm) water. Add the Chai tea to the pears.

5. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to taste.

6. Bake, uncovered, at 275 degrees for two hours (or 350 degrees for one hour). When the pears are sufficiently soft for your palate, open the oven door and allow the pears to cook until the tea has evaporated. If you’d like your pears with a little Chai tea, skip this step.

7. Enjoy warm – but don’t let your furry friends have a taste, no matter how much they beg, whine and connive.

(Crossposted to.)

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Tagged: recipe recipes vegan veganism vegetarian vegetarianism pears cinnamon cloves brown sugar baked tea chai chai tea nutmeg candied pears caffeine dog canine rat terrier my furbabies o-ren lol lolz flickr photos pet companion animal

Happy Blogiversary, Me!

Kelly Garbato — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:57:33 +0000

Today marks two years of blogging at easyVegan.info! Veg*n champagne, anyone?

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Tagged: blogiversary lol lolz lol cat

Not-So-Random Friday Activist Music: DOG loves “appeasers”

Kelly Garbato — Fri, 23 May 2008 20:33:36 +0000

Since Memorial Day is this weekend, for this week’s lineup, I’m posting a few classic anti-war songs: I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag by Country Joe McDonald; War by Edwin Starr; and Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols (Is this the m.p.l.a / Or is this the u.d.a / Or is this the i.r.a / I thought it was the u.k or just / Another country).

While you’re out there soaking up the sun and Boca Burgers, remember:

On Memorial Day we’ll hear about men who gave their lives for their country, but many lives were not given, they were taken, and taken stupidly and carelessly. And there has been great public piety about those men and their “sacrifice” on the part of politicians who blithely sacrificed them.

Enjoy your three-day weekend.

Wur n Piece lolz after teh jump:

(Crossposted.)

Previous editions:
Not-So-Random Friday Activist Music: Meat & Murder
Friday Activist Musak: Cursing the two-party system
Friday Activist Vlogging: Teh wimmins of cuntry (and clams, too!)
Friday Activist Vlogging: Stuff Honkies Heart
Friday Veggie Vlogging: What’s Your Cut?
Friday Veggie Vlogging (Zoop!)
Friday Veggie Vlogging (”3fer” ed.)
Friday Veggie Vlogging (”My Retro Boyfriend” ed.)
Friday Veggie Vlogging (”You are what you eat” ed.)

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Tagged: friday veggie vlogging friday activist vlogging youtube memorial day support the troops war war on terra protest songs I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag Country Joe McDonald Edwin Starr Anarchy in the UK Sex Pistols lolz lol cats lol dogs

Not-So-Random Friday Activist Music: Meat & Murder

Kelly Garbato — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:46:02 +0000

I have two not-so-random songs for your listening pleasure tonight: Morrissey’s Meat is Murder and Me and a Gun by Tori Amos. The first video has some fairly graphic images of animal abuse, and the comments thread for the second is riddled with misogynist trolls. So watch and/or browse with caution.

And since these are both somewhat depressing choices, some loldogz after the jump. Smile, it be Friday, yo!

Previous editions:
Friday Activist Musak: Cursing the two-party system
Friday Activist Vlogging: Teh wimmins of cuntry (and clams, too!)
Friday Activist Vlogging: Stuff Honkies Heart
Friday Veggie Vlogging: What’s Your Cut?
Friday Veggie Vlogging (Zoop!)
Friday Veggie Vlogging (”3fer” ed.)
Friday Veggie Vlogging (”My Retro Boyfriend” ed.)
Friday Veggie Vlogging (”You are what you eat” ed.)

(Crossposted.)

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Tagged: friday veggie vlogging friday activist vlogging youtube Morrissey yje smiths meat is murder tori amos me and a gun rape misogyny speciesism lol lolz

On a lighter note…

Kelly Garbato — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:09:43 +0000

Not that such a sign would have prevented NOPD from murdering Jax, but I do recommend that all animal guardians post something similar on their premises. The ASPCA offers free “in case of emergency, rescue my pet” stickers, and they’re readily available elsewhere for a small fee. (It’s probably a good idea to post one at every entrance to your home.) And if you leave your animals outdoors in a fenced area, a “beware of dog” or “do not open gate” sign is a good idea, too. We got ours from signswithanattitude.com, and have one posted on each set of gate doors.

Not that these babies will fuck anyone up…more likely they’ll make a mad dash for freedom and chase a bird right down the street. The hawks are circling for Rennie, methinks.

(Crossposted from.)

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Tagged: lol lolz my furbabies dachshund wiener dog rat terrier Jack Russell terrier Ralphie Peedee O-Ren Kaylee Jayne signs signage dog canine pet companion animal

i can has soya ice creem now?

Kelly Garbato — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:05:20 +0000

So I’m back, mostly at least. The surgery went well; the laughing gas and sedatives knocked me on my arse more than anything else. The whole first day I couldn’t keep much of anything down, not even liquids and Vicodin, and so I spent all of Thursday alternating between napping and puking. (A stomach empty save for Dr. Pepper makes for surprisingly interesting vomit. No, for reals.) By Friday my back was seized up from laying around, but I was too dazed to do much of anything else. Same for Saturday. Yesterday I was restless enough that I dragged my but into the office and slogged through my email. Not fun, but at least I got to sit upright for a bit. Yoga felt soooo goood this morning, I almost did it twice.

All in all, the whole experience was not as fun as I’d hoped. I’d had grandiose visions of spending a weekend catching up on Netflix movies, reading a book or two, and just generally milking the sympathy. Not so much. And the caffeine withdrawal (there was a 36 hour stretch where I couldn’t eat *at all*) sure didn’t help matters.

Aside from the four gaping holes in my mouth, I’m good. Good enough to make some lolz, anyways. Here’s a Kaylee series, after she had six teeth removed last March. Her old “owners” sucked ass, but the only thing we can do about that now is love on her and laugh about it as best we can. And edumakate others. So, take your animals to the vet, people, otherwise this is what happens.

Such a sweet face, even with those crazy teefs!

(Crossposted from.)

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Tagged: my furbabies lol lolz loldog kaylee rat terrier jack russell terrier teeth dental dental surgery your featherhead dental extractions dentist neglect flickr photos