Happy Birthday to Me!

I’m 23 24 today.  It’s times like these that one begins to reflect on what they have achieved thus far in their life.  It’s a kind of self-checkup that helps determine where things are going.  Let’s see:

- I’ve been to 48 states (many of them more than a dozen times), and 18 countries, on 3 continents (with tickets booked to visit my 4th this May).

- I’ve got a nice apartment, a new Vespa scooter, a girlfriend of almost 5 years, and I’m typing this on a new laptop.

- I’m a college graduate, despite all expectations to the contrary during middle and high school.

- I haven’t been sick in years, and have a seemingly limitless amount of energy (unless I’m watching a movie late at night, at which point I swiftly fall asleep on the couch).

- I’ve got a job I love, and I’m meeting up with some of my co-workers for a potluck tonight, followed by board games.

I think I’m doing pretty alright.

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I’m Coming to Your Town!

...well, maybe.  With the spring semester in full swing, I'm doing a bunch of travelling these days.  Here are a few of the highlights from the past couple of weeks, and a glimpse into what's ahead.

Two weekends ago, the peta2 crew flew down to Austin, TX for the Take Action Conference in town.  I helped organize the event, and also spoke at it, so here are a few shots from that:

Me speaking @ the conference to an audience of about 75 young people

During one of the breakaway group sessions, w/ the Austin skyline in the background

peta2 head honcho, Dan Shannon, leading a KFC protest after the conference

The following weekend, I made my way up to Baltimore for the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Media Conference.  peta2 was running a booth at the event, which meant that we got to speak with the student journalists, and I was interviewed by a few media outlets.

One of the student journalists even took the liberty of editing my interview into a video for YouTube.  You can check out what he put together by clicking on this image:

WHAT'S COMING UP:

2/21 - 2/23 - Tabling the Northeast Sorority Leadership Conference in Hartford, CT

2/28 - 3/1 - Tabling the ACP National College Newspaper Convention in San Francisco, CA

3/9 - peta2 Take Action Conference in Chicago!

4/5 - peta2 Take Action Conference in Toronto!

5/11 - 5/25 - VACATION IN EGYPT! :)  Much more to come on this later, but it's going to be awesome!

So if you are near any of the cities I'm coming to in the near future, drop me a line!  See you soon!

9:15 AM - 7 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Celebrating On Campus!

One of the perks of being the College Campaign Coordinator here at peta2 is that I often get to travel to specific schools to work with activists and eat some freakin' delicious food.  This trip was no exception!

Since Northwestern University and the University of Toronto won the titles for the Most Vegetarian-Friendly Colleges in the U.S. and Canada, respectively, they had the distinct honor of being visited by none other than yours truly!  I got to fly to each school to officially present them with their awards and show off some of the delicious dishes that helped them win the top spot. 

Yes, life is tough.   The full list of the winning schools can be found HERE!

Of course, it wouldn't be a peta2 party if there weren't activists in costumes...

Here I am after I finished my speech, presenting the Regional Director of Northwestern University Dining Services with his framed certificate in front of a full dining hall (he asked for 5 more copies so he could put one in each cafeteria).

Ok enough of that.  As for the most important part, here is an example of the food served (falafel and stir-fry seitan over rice noodles):

As for the University of Toronto, they were so excited at winning the award, they even had custom banners and a cake made (not vegan, but impressive nonetheless)! 

So all in all, a fun little whirlwind trip.  See you soon!

1:51 PM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Hey, how's it goin'? It's been a while. Too long...

What month is it?  November?

And when was the last time I wrote a MySpace blog?  July?  Unacceptable.

Rest assured though, if ever I had a skill, it's the ability to summarize months of work and traveling into a single highlights blog entry.  So here we go!

Summer:

- Finished the book "No Logo" by Naomi Klein

- Revised the peta2 college site

- Spent a couple weeks on Warped Tour gathering petition signatures, hanging out with punk bands, and talking to humorously ignorant tough guys (shown below):

Fall:

- Corresponded with thousands of college activists to help them run campaigns on their campuses for the fall semester.

- Spent a week in Boston preparing for the peta2 Take Action Conference at Harvard University where I and my fellow staffers spoke.

- Spent 9 days in Japan with the ladyfriend on vacation (all of the pics from the trip can be found HERE)

- Tabled and attended conferences in Chicago, Boston, DC, NY, MI, and many other places.

- Was interviewed and quoted in newspapers across the country, including The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Yale Daily News, The Washington Square News (NYU), and The Georgetown Hoya.

Winter plans so far:

- Now that we have announced the winners of our "Most Vegetarian-Friendly Colleges" contest (Northwestern University in the U.S. and the University of Toronto in Canada), I get to travel to fly to both campuses the week after Thanksgiving to give them their awards and hold on-campus food giveaways.  Mmmm... vegan lasagna...

- Attending several conferences, from DC to Santa Monica, CA.

- Simultaneously celebrating "Fur-Free Friday" and "Buy Nothing Day"

- Watching HBO's new documentary about Ingrid Newkirk and PETA, called "I Am An Animal" (premieres this Monday at 8pm - watch it)

So you get the idea.  Times are busy, but fun as always. 

Gotta run! 

Currently listening : Black And White Album By The Hives Release date: 13 November, 2007

5:06 PM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Warped Tour: Part Deux!

NOTE: This is re-posted from the peta2 blog, so sorry for posting any content twice. :) 

Warped Tour is unquestionably the longest, hottest, and most exhausting traveling festival you'll find around.  But with peta2 on the road, it's also the most fun!

This summer, we're focusing on our "I Am Not a Nugget" campaign and everyone loves it!  Sometimes people need to hear the word "free" to get their attention though…

Another guy who was aching to support our campaign was the lead singer of Fabulous Rudies, whose lead singer wore our shirt on stage for all to see!

Warped Tour 2007: Part One!

Greetings from Vancouver!

Yes, it's true.  Here we are at the fourth show of Warped Tour, and we're off to a rockin' good start!  Our "I Am Not a Nugget" campaign is officially underway, and if you haven't checked out the web feature yet, you really need to.  It took months to put together, but it was totally worth it.

On to the road pics!

Out tent has been one of the busiest on the tour, since by now everybody on the planet has heard of peta2.  Here's our Street Teamer/vegan cage fighter Chris holding down the fort in San Francisco.

Sometimes though, you have to get a little creative to bring people in.  Here's me testing out one of our new approaches:

And let's not forget about the best part of being on the road… the food!!  How about a vegan ham, pineapple, and cheese calzone from Juliano's in Seattle?

Well, time to get back to the show.  If you're coming out to a show on Warped make sure to stop by our tent and say hi! 

P.S. – Don't forget to wear suntan lotion.  I learned this the hard way…

1:09 PM - 6 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

Leaving on a jet plane

Well, the time has finally come.  4 days after the rest of the Warped Tour crew has left for California, I will be flying out to meet them today in LA, and will be on the tour for the following 2 weeks (all of the dates can be found HERE).  But before I go, here's a quick wrap-up of the past few days:

Sunday was the much anticipated visit of the Rise Against/Silverstein tour which Eric and several other peta2 staffers are on.  In celebration of the occasion, we held a special peta2 autograph signing with both bands at Volume Records in VA Beach.  Sexy sexy!

Then, on Tuesday, I joined my buddy Pulin to attend the Campus Progress National Student Conference in DC, featuring notable speakers such as Ralph Nader and Nancy Pelosi.  Needless to say, peta2 was there to table the event, and we were very warmly received by the progressive crowd. 

We even got lunch from the legendary vegan DC bakery, Sticky Fingers, who provided us with a much-needed sugar rush.

So now this afternoon I'll fly from my humble abode in Norfolk to LA for the first Warped show on Friday.  Stay tuned, because the fun is just beginning!!

8:15 AM - 4 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

TOUR DATES!!!

Hey everybody!

Sorry I've been absent for so long.  I've been working hard on the peta2 college campaign, and making preparations for our page re-launch this fall.  Here is a re-enactment photo of me in my fictitious laboratory:

In the meantime, it's time to travel!

The MySpace Calendar is being annoying, and not posting all of the dates that I plug into it, so here's my schedule for the next little while:

June 21^st – Protesting the Running of the Bulls at the Spanish Embassy in DC

June 23^rd – Attending the Richmond Vegetarian Festival, Richmond, VA

June 24^th – Leaving for LA to start my 2-week stint on Warped Tour

June 29^th – Warped Tour, Pomona, CA

June 30^th – Warped Tour, Ventura, CA

July 1^st – Warped Tour, Mountain View, CA

July 3^rd – Warped Tour, Vancouver, BC

July 5^th – Warped Tour, Calgary, AB

July 7^th – Warped Tour, Salt Lake City, UT

July 8^th – Warped Tour, Denver, CO

July 11^th – Warped Tour, Phoenix, AZ

(dates cont'd...)

July 28^th – Rock the Bells Festival (featuring Rage Against the Machine!)

July 29^th – Rock the Bells Festival

Sept. 22^nd – CollegeFest in Boston

Sept. 23^rd – CollegeFest in Boston

October 5^th – October 14^th - Going to JAPAN on vacation w/ the girlfriend!!

So this is all very exciting.  Look forward to the return of the Tour Blog starting next Sunday!

See you soon!!

1:28 PM - 7 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

The peta2 Take Action Conference!

I'm back!  Sorry about the month-plus absense of bloggery.  I can assure you, it was spent wisely, as I begin meticulously working on the peta2 college campaign.  Fortunately for you though, I took a weekend off from secretly plotting grand new ideas in my underground bunker, to fly out for the peta2 Take Action Conference at UCLA!  Let's go for a trip down memory lane, shall we?

Upon settling down, I made my way over to my own personal mecca, in the form of HBO studios.  That's right, after my years of faithful podcast-listening and exploitation of my parents' Tivo, I finally got to see "Real Time w/ Bill Maher" taped live!  Yes, that Bill Maher.  And yes, he is really that short in person.

The next morning, bright and early, we made our way to the UCLA campus.  After months of planning, the full-day animal rights youth activist extravaganza was finally underway!  Here is a shot of peta2 manager, Dan, doing what he does best. 

For those who are curious why there are malnourished African children on the screen next to Dan, I have a website you'll want to check out. 

Then, as an added bonus, punk rock legend and lead singer of the band Goldfinger, John Feldmann (yes, that John Feldmann) came in to perform his iconic song "Free Me" for the crowd.  Seriously, the guy is freakin' incredible.  (Seriously)

That's when things started to get interesting.  John is also a famed producer (ever hear of a little band called The Used?).  He's currently in the studio with another little band called Atreyu, who were, as it turns out, in need of 3 solid people to perform background stomping and clapping sounds for the record!  Due to our organization's lengthy history of kicking the crap out of professional douches like Col. Sanders, we figured our feet might fit the bill.  As it turned out, John concurred and we ventured up to Bel Air to his home/studio.  I'll let you know when I receive the royalty checks from this exemplory performance. 

AS IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH, he then invited us to join him and his family for dinner at the famed Madeleine Bistro, where John even has a dish named after him called "The Feldmann" (it's a vegan cordon bleu). 

Check us out!  It was like the Last Supper, but way tastier (and with less crucifiction afterwards).

If I explained every amazing dish, and awesome situation that happened this weekend, you could be here all night.  In summary, it was a freakin' ridiculous couple of days.  Who knows, maybe we'll bring the next conference to your town, eh? 

So now I'm back in Norfolk, a little hazy from my 30 minutes of sleep last night, and powered by the fuel of Boca burritos.  Welcome to the life of an activist.

Rawk.

11:25 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Tour Finished. World Veganized.

Well folks, we did it. Taste of Chaos 2007 has finally come to a close. What a tour, what a tour. Let's have a look at the numbers shall we?

Number of days on the tour: 49
Number of shows within those days: 39
Number of times Jeph from The Used whipped out his balls during an interview with Dylan and I: 1
Number of sign-ups it takes to fill up a page of our petition: 30
Number of petition sign-ups for the tour: 57,905
Percentage of those who signed up that will end up going vegetarian
within a year (according to research data): 1 in 4
Number of animals saved each year (on average) by vegetarians just by
not eating them: 100
Number of animals who will not be beaten, caged, crated, pushed, hit, kicked, proded, cut, scalded, and bled to death JUST THIS YEAR, because of these new Taste of Chaos vegetarians: 1,447,625.

It's pretty amazing to think about. Every one of those 57,905 kids who signed our petition now knows about how KFC boils many of their animals alive and chops all of their beaks off, amongst other things. This could not, should not, and would not have happened without the help of some very special people though. I would like to give special thanks to...

- To all of the Wal-Mart, Flying J, and TA travel centers, who unknowingly gave us a place to sleep in their parking lots when we so direly needed it. This also goes for all of the Panera Bread, Starbucks, and Krystal locations from whom I leeched free wi-fi internet. Without you, this very blog would not exist.

- To the absolutely INCREDIBLE Street Teamers who helped us each night of the tour. These numbers would not nearly have reached the levels they did without the contribution of each and every one of you. We thank you endlessly for it.

- To my fellow travelmates, Cody, Dylan, Eric, and Ed for putting up with my incessant rushing and stress-balancing. We made it, gents.

- Last but most certainly not least, I would like to send a special "thank you" to the fine folks of KFC. You see, thanks to your diabolical methods of breeding and slaughtering your animals, millions of people have learned what really goes on, not just in your factory farms, but in ALL major animal factories. It goes without saying that when even the most callous person learns of the standard practices involved in raising, and killing animals for food, many of them choose to leave meat off their plates for good. It's funny, in your efforts to maximize profits at the expense of billions of animals, you have not only shot yourself in the foot. You blew your legs right off.

So that's all, folks. I don't post blogs while I'm stationary (it's not that exciting), so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming tour dates and traveling on my MySpace.

Take care, kids. Don't do anything I wouldn't do....

4:34 AM - 12 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment