Veggie Pride Parades

Los Angeles Veggie Pride Parade for vegans and vegetarians and veg-friendly folks:
http://veggiepridela.com/
Sunday, April 26, 11 am – 4 pm

New York City Veggie Pride Parade for vegans and vegetarians and veg-friendly folks:
http://www.veggieprideparade.org/
SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2009

A pride parade is to express and experience community. It's to participate in something fun. And it's to raise awareness.

When we march down the street with signs that say "go vegan" or "stop eating animals" or "proud vegan" or "eat like you give a damn" we're showing the world that:

• we don't look like they imagined we did; we come in various sizes, shapes, colors, and age
• we are joyous and fun-loving
• we are organized and powerful
• our numbers are growing; more and more people are going vegetarian or vegan every day
  

Not only are we showing the world, we're showing each other that we're a diverse community of people who care about three things: people, animals, and the planet. But more than just caring, we DO something about it. We LIVE our values. We're the vegetarians and vegans.

Having participated in last years NYC parade and planning to attend this year's LA parade, I can tell you that part of my reason for attending is to be a part of history. We WILL make a difference. These parades will grow and grow and so will our movement. Just watch.

Share Their Stories

Two things:



1) By now we all know about foreclosure pets, the animals left behind when a family loses their home. But there's another tragic story behind some dogs' homelessness: suicide. A friend of a friend committed suicide recently. His weimaraner , Smokey, now needs a new home. She is spayed and has up-to-date vaccinations. She's a little older and she's a little overweight. If you or someone you know can adopt her, please comment here and I'll forward the info along. Thank you.

(Image above is NOT Smokey. I don't have a picture of her yet. But this is basically what she looks like. The image is Savannah, a weimaraner whose picture I found on DC Area Weimaraner Rescue.)

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2) The above story, though it doesn't say much about Smokey, relays enough information for most people to feel sympathy for her. Some of those people will go out of their way to help find a home for her. Simply stated, the above TRUE story is an example of "selling compassion."

Nathan Winograd makes the point (in Redemption) that one of the most successful methods of finding homes for homeless animals is to personalize the animals: share their stories. If animal shelters share an animals' story, that animal is more likely to be adopted and thus spared euthanasia.

There's something about us that makes us care more about individuals whom we get to know than about strangers. Sharing an animals' personal story is one way of making that animal less of a stranger and more of a part of the family.

Whether we're trying to get people to care about dogs or care about cows, sharing the animals' story goes a LONG way: