@Forest Nymph
I would love to hear about your activism. Please share some of your favorite moments as an activist.
Well my absolutely favorite moments as an activist were definitely with DXE. When we marched in Berkeley and protested inside the Berkeley Bowl, then on a different day went to a rich neighborhood in San Francisco and peacefully hijacked a Whole Foods. I've considered moving to the Bay Area just because I know I'd be able to do these things (and more) on a regular basis if I moved there. To the expensive, crowded, noisy, materialistic... there.
But I've also done DXE locally, I'm the town organizer right now, and I had some warm fuzzy moments meeting local people who wanted to get involved. We haven't done a lot yet though, we're supposed to do our first action in February.
I did the National Animal Rights Day in Venice Beach a few years ago on my birthday, which was cool enough, but Moby was also there, which was even cooler.
I think mostly what annoys these local guys I've met is we live in a small hippie town, and I'm a major mouthpiece for the Vegan Club, trying to get people to come to events and stuff. I also just ...do things. Like tell people not to bring animal body parts in our house. Being a vegetarian is one thing but get your dead chicken out of my living space. I also wear a lot of activist shirts out and about, and pipe up when I find something seriously concerning. I debated quite a bit with the people in the rural part of the county about their animal husbandry when we went there last August as a grad school class. Isn't that the whole purpose of college? To debate and learn? I wasn't mean or disrespectful. I mean - I'm in my 30s, I'm not going to hide in my teacher's skirts. "Experiential learning" has a price, and I chose this college for reason. I'll squeeze every dollar out of what I've paid for, to be sure.
Oh, and I along with officers from Vegan Club had meetings with the director of campus Dining. That was meaningful. I also created my pamphlet in a graphic design class, which the club passed out for at least a year.
Being an activist is such a part of who I am that I barely think about it. I think that's what's bothering these guys, they're imagining the next 25-50 years with someone who sees an opportunity to evangelize weekly, if not daily.
I really should move to Berkeley. I just don't want to.