Last week, on April 24th, I hosted an Open Mic at the Village Book Shop in Glendora. I was surprised at the turnout. We had about 6 people come, and for a first time event, that was wonderful! Sadly, I was the only one to read, but my audience was quite wonderful, and loved my story, Agatha’s Soup, which is currently being processed by www.everydayfiction.com. Everyone at the reading said it was good, so I’m pleased by that. I’m glad I brought something to read! Anyways, I felt for a first event, it went well.
Before doing the open mic, I was on KSGV talk radio for a show! I was interviewed about writing. You can listen to the broadcast here Shelf Talker. The listen button may not work, so if you’d like, you can download the program and listen to it from your computer. The file is about 41MB. Please check it out!
For more about me, or events that I may be doing, add me on twitter, @snowppl or check out my website www.snowppl.com.
24 April 2010
23 April 2010
Life for Life
I once knew a vegan man, who insisted he ate the way he ate to protect the pain animals experience. He didn’t want to eat something that he could identify with: animals. Plants on the other hand feel so genuinely alien to us. And that leads me to ask, do plants experience pain? We eat life, or what once lived, excepting a few things.
Almost everything considered life kills and eats others for survival. Cows eat grass (but mostly corn now-a-days), wolves eat deer, chickens, etc. To live, means something else has to die. Native American cultures knew this (as we do, but ignore), yet they put different emphasis particularly acknowledging that a plant or animal died so they might live. That is the key difference. We go to the supermarket, and don’t put much thought on the life we eat to live.
I’m not advocating starvation! Far from it, but it is a worthwhile pursuit to think of where and how the food we eat ends up on our plates and in our stomaches. Acknowledge that your nutrition comes from something that once lived, and perhaps lived in the prime of its life, whether vegetable, meat, or fruit.
Not all food has at one time lived. Milk hasn’t lived per se, but offers life to calves. Cheese lives (based on the bacteria cultures). Fruits were alive at one point but don’t kill the plant, it’s like eating eggs in a way, excepting the seed is the “yolk” and the fruit the “egg white.” Many vegetables are like fruit-the new “baby” plants. However both fruits and vegetables once lived, and are now not.
What does it all mean? The next time you sit down to eat something, know that you eat something that lived, or had the potential to live and grow and truly be grateful that you get to eat, that you are not on the plate. This will empower to choose better foods, healthier options, and to experience nature everyday.
Almost everything considered life kills and eats others for survival. Cows eat grass (but mostly corn now-a-days), wolves eat deer, chickens, etc. To live, means something else has to die. Native American cultures knew this (as we do, but ignore), yet they put different emphasis particularly acknowledging that a plant or animal died so they might live. That is the key difference. We go to the supermarket, and don’t put much thought on the life we eat to live.
I’m not advocating starvation! Far from it, but it is a worthwhile pursuit to think of where and how the food we eat ends up on our plates and in our stomaches. Acknowledge that your nutrition comes from something that once lived, and perhaps lived in the prime of its life, whether vegetable, meat, or fruit.
Not all food has at one time lived. Milk hasn’t lived per se, but offers life to calves. Cheese lives (based on the bacteria cultures). Fruits were alive at one point but don’t kill the plant, it’s like eating eggs in a way, excepting the seed is the “yolk” and the fruit the “egg white.” Many vegetables are like fruit-the new “baby” plants. However both fruits and vegetables once lived, and are now not.
What does it all mean? The next time you sit down to eat something, know that you eat something that lived, or had the potential to live and grow and truly be grateful that you get to eat, that you are not on the plate. This will empower to choose better foods, healthier options, and to experience nature everyday.
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