The Power to Make a Difference

Today I received an email from the Humane Society of the United States, about Fay, a fighting dog whose lips were cut off by the thing who had her (this is as polite a description as I can muster). Fay was rescued. In a sense, she was "lucky." How many other dogs (cats, pets, animals) - Michael Vick's come to mind - don't get rescued, or are so damaged (psychologically and/or physically) that the only merciful act is euthanasia?

Fay's story, most of which I could not read, made me sad, of course. And made me think about all the suffering imposed on animals, whether they are companion or farmed or otherwise used, by people. And honestly, in this season of good tidings, I cannot muster up the compassion needed to forgive or understand what was done to Fay, what has been and is being done to other animals - and if wishing were doing, there'd be 6 billion less people on this earth right now.

But while I am not all-powerful, I am certainly not powerless - and, yes, voice of the voiceless comes to mind. I can and do speak up. I read to learn more. I do my best to eat compassionately. I volunteer with animal rescues. I adopt my pets and don't buy them. And finally, I give.

And that brings me to the subject of today's post - charity, or how Fay's story inspired me to blog a list of the organizations I support. Here they are:

1. Animal Legal Defense Fund - because impact litigation has the power to make a difference for animals.

2. Animal Haven - because it's important to support a local rescue.

3. UC Berkeley - because I wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't gone to the best public university in the country.

4. CCR - because they pioneered impact litigation and creative lawyering and have never been afraid to channel David against any Goliath to fight the good fight.

5. City at Peace - because I need hope that there will be a next generation able and willing to take on the cause of social justice work.

6. Humane Farming Association - because someone needs to stand up to the abuses of the factory farming industry and stop them.

7. Island Dog - because Americans should not countenance grotesque animal abuses on U.S. territory.

8. New York League of Humane Voters - because politicians should be held accountable to our collective interests.

9. Medical Students for Choice - because the right to choose depends on access to the everyday heroes who are abortion providers.

10. Vegan Outreach - because militancy never changed anyone's diet.

11. WNYC - because knowledge is power.

12. Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary - because preaching compassion can be fun.

I hope you will think of ways that you can make a difference in the coming year.

Peace.

A Vegan in Paris

Paris was the best part of my European vacation - I loved the sites, the people (much to my surprise - the reputation of the Parisians should in fact NOT precede them) and the company, and I even got a chance to practice my high school French! Which was very limited, mind you, but in the end sufficient ("may I see the wine list, please").

It was a ladies' weekend of old friends and new, good times made even better by countless glasses of the newly released Beaujolais Nouveau 2009. A simple and inexpensive wine that makes for a perfect refresher when taking sightseeing breaks.

I probably consumed more BN09 than I ate, which is less a testament to how much I liked the wine than it is to how committed I was to meeting the challenge of eating vegan in Paris. (no small feat!). Needless to say, food options in traditional French eateries were not great - and I never considered them all that great in the first place when my diet was slightly less restrictive as a vegetarian.

Mostly I bought pre-made tabbouleh salads in grocery stores and mixed those with nuts and all veg pre-made salads (cooked beets...grated carrots...) and olives - ingenious, I know. :)

Cafe noir to start the day.

Roasted chestnuts from street vendors to snack on.

I did pretty well, I think.

And now, here are a few of the awesome pictures I took, starting with Notre Dame at night.

The Winged Victory of Samath Race (do you know how hard it was to get this shot without a random tourist ruining my pic?!).


Sacre Coeur!


I will spare you a shot of the hotel room. We stayed near the Place de la Bastille, and I am convinced that the prison was not actually razed but instead converted into our hotel. I was happy to bid that place adieu - but of course very sad to say goodbye to my friends and our wonderful weekend together. Hopefully it won't be too long before our next rendezvous.

Rome

My favorite city in the world. This was my 8th visit in 8 years, but this time it was mostly to see friends, not to sight-see or use Rome as base camp for adventures farther afield.

Which is not to say that I didn't take advantage of the trip to visit some of my favorite spots - the Enotec'Antica on the Via delle Croce (near the Spanish Steps) ... a glass of Barbera d'Alba + some bruschette make for a lovely, lovely snack.

The Campo de'Fiori for a negroni (two days in a row!), though sadly, my favorite place - the Taverna del Campo - has been turned into a CHAIN "mozzarella bar." Sacrilege.

A walk in the footsteps of the gladiators...

The Palatine Hill at dusk...

And the Vittorio Emanuele II monument...

Sadly, after just four short days (and plenty more pizze rosse), it was time to go, but more adventures and friends awaited me in Paris...

Milan

I am back from my European adventures! Surprisingly, I am quite happy to have returned (in part, because I missed Casper, my adorable, stuffed animal-like Turkish Angora-mix...no comment on the OTHER cat, who knocked over a brand new Xmas decoration this morning as soon as I put it up...grrr), which would, perhaps, not be the case if I didn't live in New York City. But I do, so...it's good to be home again. Plus, I'm tired of improvising vegan meals (ugh) and happy to be eating well (and diversely) again.

Milan. Dreary, overcast, cold, and decidedly NOT spectacular. Essentially, the city met my expectations - sorry, Milanesi (not that I know any personally).

I landed at Malpensa Friday morning before Thanksgiving, made my way to the central train station (an imposing and magnificent structure straight out of Fascist Italy), then to my hotel. And conveniently located a few doors down was...a bakery! Woohoo. I made several trips to that little bakery over the next few days for my pizza rossa (pizza with tomato sauce) and focaccine - little focaccia, topped with: olives, or tomato/tomato sauce, or onions, or potato. I tried all of them. And then went back for seconds and thirds. YUM. (Lest you worry, I also found a supermarket nearby where I was able to buy barley-malt flavored soymilk (mmm), tangerines, arugula salad, etc. - and learned that you are supposed to weigh your produce before getting in line otherwise you get really angry stares from the other people in line who have to wait while the cashier goes and weighs your items for you - oops!)

Then I was off to the city center to have a negroni before my appointment to see the Last Supper. THAT was impressive - a mural, not a small painting as I assumed.

The next day, I visited the Duomo. And took a picture. This, sadly, was the most significant structure in town, and there wasn't much else to see.

A castle/fort (Castello Sforzesco) - photos on Facebook - and La Scala, picturesque image below.

On Sunday, I happily made my way back to the train station for my four-hour Eurostar ride to the Eternal City, where warmer weather and friends awaited me...