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I
Am Vegetarian, Hear Me Roar I don't claim to be a writer or a journalist. I am a salesman by trade and an activist at heart. But I figure if Sally Sheklow can write about being a lesbian, then I can write about being a vegetarian. For the last seven years my passion has been expressed by giving voice to the voiceless and defending the rights of those who cannot defend themselves. My passion is animal rights. Animal rights may not be your cup o' tea, and I don't blame you. It takes a lot to think about someone other than yourself. It's harder to live a compassionate lifestyle than it is to hit the drive-thru at McDonalds. It's hard to look at a prepackaged cut of beef wrapped neatly in cellophane and make the connection that it once was a cute cow, an animal subjected to a miserable life on a factory farm who suffered a great deal while it was pumped full of hormones, then brutally slaughtered. I have tried everything I can think of to get through to people: debating, protesting, sidewalk demonstrations, graphic pictures and videos. Some of it has worked. Often it has fallen on deaf ears. So now I'm resorting to shameless bribery! It's contest time, boys and girls! I have a $100 gift certificate towards a rafting trip on the McKenzie River with High Country Expeditions that could be yours if you answer a few questions. The gift certificate is only valid until May 14 so if you win, plan on freezing your ass off in the frigid waters of the McKenzie. I know from experience the guides at High Country will take good care of you. Whoever answers the most questions correctly claims the prize! A purely arbitrary decision based on your answer to Question 11 will determine the winner in the case of a tie. While you try to answer these questions, I hope you will learn a little something about the plight of our animal friends. Take a moment to consider the impact your life has on the world around you. By adopting a vegetarian lifestyle (even a few days a week) your body, the environment and the animals will thank you. For help with these answers, pick up a Vegetarian Starter Kit outside of Flicks n' Picks outside the downtown post office, on UO campus, or visit www.peta.org
1. In the U.S. _____ animals are killed per hour for food. a. 3 million b. 100 thousand c. 10 thousand 2. On factory farms, chickens have their _____ sliced off with a hot blade, pigs have their _____ chopped off and their _____ pulled with pliers, and bulls and pigs are castrated — all without ____. 3. Tropical rainforests are being decimated to create grazing land for cattle. The space equivalent to _____ is destroyed every minute. a. 7 football fields b. George W. Bush's brain c. A Hummer H2 4. In one year an estimated _____ dogs and cats will be euthanized in animal shelters across the county. (To help this problem, spay and neuter your companion animal and do not buy animals from pet stores! Support your local animal shelter.) a. 1 million b. 7 million c. 13.5 million 5. Animals raised for food produce the excrement of _____ the entire human population — 87,000 pounds per second! (Farms have now replaced factories as the biggest polluters of America's waterways.) a. Equal to b. 50 times c. 130 times 6. In the U.S., animals raised for food are fed _____ of the corn, wheat and other grains we grow. The world's cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people — more than the entire human population. a. None b. 70 percent c. 30 percent 7. The animal welfare act does not apply to animals raised for food. True___ False ___ 8. Pick four famous people who never eat animals: Pamela Anderson, Moby, Natalie Portman, Alec Baldwin, Shania Twain, George W. Bush 9. Meat-eaters have nearly ___ times the incidents of high blood pressure than vegetarians. a. 10 b. 5 c. 3 10. What common animal product that supposedly "does our bodies good" has been linked to common health problems (runny noses, allergies, ear infections, recurrent bronchitis, asthma, etc.), is laced with foreign allergy-inciting bovine protein, and often contains hydrocarbon pesticides and other chemical contaminants? a. Sausage b. Eggs c. Milk 11. Did you learn anything answering these questions? If yes, how do you feel about what you learned? Send answers to Eugene Weekly, Attention Go Veggie, 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401; e-mail to mark@eugeneweekly.com, or fax to 484-4044. All entries must be received by 5 pm, Friday, March 25. The winner will be announced in the March 31 EW.
Band-Aid
Activism Sometimes, when our sense of personal power wears thin, we need to remind ourselves that we can make a difference. We've got the depressing reality of the smirking chimp in the White House, white supremacists running rampant, and an all-out right-wing assault on Sponge Bob. Yet our activist hearts drive us to step up, come out, and change something — anything. Consider last Sunday. I was getting over a nasty cold and trying to muster the wherewithal to face another day under red-state rule. Determined to focus on something more uplifting than "friendly fire," I figured I'd catch up on household responsibilities. I needed a chore I could accomplish despite my low energy. I was about to change the kitty litter when my domestic partner piped up with, "Let's tackle the bathroom cabinets." That particular project rarely approaches the top of my priority list. Especially these days with all the meetings, marches, and lobbying for LGBTQ equality that the state of the union has forced me to add to my already-busy schedule. Who has time for cupboard cleaning? But Wifey was raring to go, motivated, inspired. How could I refuse her? Why not flow with her determination to organize? Working together, I reminded myself, we could face anything. The people united will never be defeated. Multiply love by the power of two. We can do it. A few days earlier, when I was burning up with fever, I couldn't even find the damned thermometer. I was in no condition to confront the tangle of tweezers, Q-Tips, loose Band-Aids, Band-Aids in boxes, and random empty Band-Aid boxes. The next time I come down with something, I'd rather not have to wade through all those bent-bristled toothbrushes, used up salves, creams, and ointments just to take my temperature. Retrieving a wash cloth to cool a fevered brow shouldn't require wrestling a snarl of disorderly towels and myriad lavatory detritus. I could do without a shelf full of past-date prescription bottles and a sticky glaze of unidentifiable dusty goo. Mess is daunting. Our assorted loose tampons and pads left over from our golden days of ovulation are useless if we can't locate them when we have a fertile houseguest in need. Everything we might want is impossible to get with the current state of the cabinet — domestic and presidential. Sooner or later everyone has to sort out their Ace bandages, gauze rolls, athletic tape, shampoo bottles, poison oak wash, and sundry back, knee, wrist, and ankle braces. We all need accessible support in the event of unexpected twists and strains. At some point we must make a difference. Don't mourn, organize. If not now, when? Never underestimate the power of women. We heard the call to action and we responded. We sorted, tossed, recycled, and scrubbed. We voted out extraneous and expired has-beens. We cleaned up. Our medicine cabinet is now sparkling and tidy. I am especially proud of the orderly new Band-Aid file, arranged from tiny to large, more than plenty to secure all skin wounds well into the next Democratic administration — may it come soon. Our cupboard stands united. The washcloths are neatly squared and ready for easy retrieval, towels folded and sorted by size. Braces and wraps are stowed up high in a first aid basket with other only occasionally needed items such as the vaporizer and our heaven-sent, vulva-cupping "female" urinal, an item that should be routinely offered, but isn't — much like equal protection under the law. We did it. Our shelves are clean and organized and we got rid of a lot of unnecessary junk — a process we are now free to pursue on a more global scale. Collaborating with my darling mate left me feeling successful and inspired enough to take on other challenging tasks. Today the kitty litter, tomorrow the world. Living Out has appeared monthly in Eugene Weekly since 1999. To enroll in Sally's April 23 "Ignite Your Creative Spirit" workshop at Tamarack Wellness Center, e-mail sally@wymprov.com
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