Blogs and Animals are Finally Running Again...

Okay, okay. I've been blogstipated. Blame it on the bananas in my life.
In situations like that, the best thing to get things flowing again can
be a few good dates. And here I am again.

Last week I was busy (to say the least) with working on events around Gene Baur's
new book, Farm Sanctuary:
Changing Hearts and Minds about Animals and Food. This book
tells the story of how Farm Sanctuary began.
It was funded by selling tofu dogs at Grateful Dead concerts, and was
run from an oldschool bus . Gene was a visionary hippie then (well,
okay, he still is), and his crazy new idea became the farm animal
protection movement. Now, Farm Sanctuary has 2 sanctuaries--one in
Watkins Glen, NY, and the other in Orland, California. In addition to
providing rescue and rehabilitation for farmed animals who would
otherwise be sent to slaughter, Farm Sanctuary advocates on a national
level--providing education and outreach, and working to pass laws to
protect these animals. I am lucky enough to be the outreach coordinator
based in NYC. I say to myself every day: I cannot imagine doing
anything else.

My 83-year-old Grandma, along with my mother
and step-father, went to one of Gene's book-signings in NJ. My grandma
bought the book and said to me later that she wants to read it so she
can understand what I'm so passionate about. She was merely a few pages
in when she called me and said "I understand what you're so passionate
about! I'm going to telleveryone about this..."

My favorite
part of the book are the animal stories, which conclude every chapter.
They tell the individual stories of the animals who wind up at the
farm--their story, their escape, their survival, and their quirks and
charms.

At all events last week, the book sold out. I think
that Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds about Animals and Food,
has the potential to change the world.

In other news...my tooth hurts. I loathe the dentist. I hate the dentist. I abhor
the dentist. I don't understand what I have done in my life to deserve
the emotional and physical trauma of sitting in that chair with rubber
gloves in my mouth, the sound of drilling and buzzing permeating my
ears. (MyPrivilege -Watch Voice now says: Shut up, Jasmin! Look at how
lucky you are going to the dentist! My Martyr Voice responds: YOU shut
up! I want to complain!)

I have this theory that since we have to be subjected to the dentist anyway, why not do it at the same time as the gyno?
Get it all through in one go. One doctor at one end, the other doctor
at the other. And for fun, we can also get a manicure at the same time,
just to distract us slightly.

I mean, why not?