July 06, 2004
First Entry!
Hi!
I'm not very good at this whole blogging thing because I'm usually kind of shy. However, when I heard about the opportunity to offer a lifestyle blog, I couldn't pass up the chance. I'm 21 and a vegan, and don't know very many other young vegans. I often get a lot of guff about my lifestyle from friends, but I don't mind too much. I know that by talking about my choices, even if people tease me, there are people who hear me. I'm hoping that people will begin to understand why I am a vegan and maybe even look into following in my footsteps!
I've only been vegan since February 1, 2003, which is 1 year 6 months and five days to date. I began my (lengthy) transition about ten years ago, though. When I was young, I loved cows very much, and still do. One day I put together the burger on my plate with the cows I saw on television and in pictures, and stopped eating beef almost immediately. Pork was not far behind.
My mother was opposed to her 11 year old becoming a vegetarian, but support my choice as long as I still consumed "white meats" (poultry and fish). When I was 15 I dropped poultry, but still ate fish until I was about 18. I made the transition to vegan as a 2003 New Years' Resolution. I'd always wanted to be vegan but did not know how to start.
I found fair resources on veganism limited. I tend to disagree with a lot of what PeTA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: www.peta.org) do, and I found some of their information to be biased. Internet searches yield similar results. My main question was: WHERE ARE ALL THE NORMAL VEGANS? You know the type I mean: young, healthy, and fair?
I wanted feedback that didn't tell me being vegan would be perfectly easy. I wanted someone to warn me about all the hidden ingredients to look for. I wanted someone to tell me how to make sure I got enough Iron, Calcium and B-12. I wanted fair, unbiased information that was not JUST pushing an agenda, but really trying to help me make this work.
The best organization I found by far was the Vegan Outreach. When I was first toeing the vegan waters, I was really concerned about not being "good enough." A lot of sites I found were "beginner than thou" and critiqued people for the things they failed to do rather than applaud them for what they were doing.
The Vegan Outreach had some great articles about what it means to be a vegan. To them, and to me, vegan is an attempt to end animal suffering, not a never ending quest for perfection. This helped make things so much clearer to me. Every day, I try to end animal suffering. There are areas I do fall short in: I refuse to stop using film (which contains gelatin) because I am not very good with computers and cannot afford to buy a digital camera. I still use tires on my car and a computer in my home, though I've heard neither is a completely vegan product. Most importantly, I did not throw out my old leather shoes, handbags and belts. Instead, I simply look for leather alternatives in new purchases. The damage of my previous purchase is done, and I am not going to throw out a perfectly good belt just because it goes against my NEW ethics. Instead, I'll buy faux leather and cloth belts, and wait for my old leather to wear out. But I refuse to waste. I was glad that I found this compromise within myself.
This is just a brief introduction to who I am and why I am vegan. As a college student, however, I feel like introductions are not enough! :-D I feel like I need a purpose... a thesis statement for this blog, if you will.
So, here goes:
I hope that this blog helps others like me understand what it is to be a real vegan out there living in the world, and not the "paper vegans" that are presented to you in pamphlets and on websites. No, it's not always easy, particularly in college. But at the end of the day, I fall asleep with a sense of satisfaction knowing that every day I am changing the world I live in, one animal life at a time. I try to influence people, put a bug in their ear, but not harass my friends about their eating habits. I am just as likely to sit down at the dinner table with someone eating a steak as I am with someone eating a salad. To me, your food choices are your own business. However, I AM very likely to cook delicious vegan meals for friends. I hope that, if nothing else, this little diary helps others understand who vegans are and what we're about. Maybe it will even help a few of you make the switch? Who knows...
I hope you'll stay with me.
...and now, back to the studio...
Posted by Mallory | Filed under:
