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Last night I set up a table at the Deer Tick show in the Grind at Clark. I put out some leaflets from Vegan Outreach and some of those adorable stickers from peta2. It was great, I really like Clark kids. A lot of them were already vegetarian and some others said they were interested. (Thanks to Randa from Barely Legal Baked Goods for helping with the table!)

I wish I’d brought a video to show on my laptop. I’ve done that in the past and I think it really helps draw people over to the table. The music at shows is always loud, it’s a little dark, and it’s hard to talk to people. But images and video are universal. I remember that one of the things that got me interested in animal rights and that eventually made me decide to go vegan was watching video footage of the extreme cruelty that happens everyday in factory farms and in slaughterhouses.

I know it’s tough to watch animal cruelty, but I think it’s important that people see what’s going on. I don’t want to watch videos like Meet Your Meat anymore than the next person, but seeing the
images of how animals are mistreated in animal agriculture has a way of bringing the issue home. Sometimes it’s hard to be compelled only by facts. Seeing the images of cruelty in factory farms can be compelling and inspire people to change their lifestyles. It worked for me!

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Just in time for the Winter gift-giving time, Erik Marcus has just released his new book, The Ultimate Vegan Guide: Compassionate Living Without Sacrifice. Erik’s books are guaranteed to please. He’s the author of Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money, and blogs daily at vegan.com.

Sometimes he gets a little too worked up about abolitionists like Gary Facione. I wish he had more of a respect for a diversity of tactics within the animal rights and vegan movement, but otherwise his writing is pretty upbeat. His podcasts are always interesting and topical. (He even put out a podcast every day during Oprah’s 21 day vegan challenge.)

Anyway, I’m looking forward to reading The Ultimate Vegan Guide. It sounds like it’s a great book for new vegans looking for advice. I’ll definitely post my comments on it once I get a my hands on a copy.

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There’s a lot going on this weekend. There’s the Annual Boston Veg Food Fest on Saturday (facebook event) and the Maple Farm Open House on Sunday (facebook event) which is also where the Worcester Vegan Meetup is having their November lunch. Exciting, huh?

The Boston Food Fest is going to rock. It happens every year at the same venue, the Reggie Lewis Center at Roxbury Community College (map). The organizers really ought to start considering booking a bigger venue. The place is always packed tight. It’s probably the single largest vegetarian food fest. The Toronto Veg Fest is the only one that may come close to beating it by drawing a bigger crowd. But who cares about Toronto, you live in Worcester. Boston’s only a commuter-rail ride away from you.

This year there’s a pretty solid line-up of speakers. I’m pysched about Hannah Kaminsky’s presentation, in part because she is a one-time Clark student and in part because I’m a sugar-addict and love desert. I’ll also definitely swing by the Vegan Travel Tips workshop led by Sarah Kramer.

I’ve gone to the past 3 Boston veg fests and I’ve always had a great time. In addition to all the workshops, there’s a gymnasium full of vegetarian and vegan food vendors with free samples, new restaurants, top-notch authors from the vegetarian and animal rights community, a bunch of local animal and environmental groups, and tons of cool people.

So check the commuter rail schedule and catch a train this Saturday. You’ll have a great time, guaranteed. Or you can have your money back. (Oh yeah, it’s free.) For more info, check the Boston Vegetarian Society website, join the facebook group, or download one of the event flyers.

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The voting is now open for this year’s most veg friendly college competition. The bad news is that not one school in Worcester made it into the finals this year. The closest colleges that did make it, geographically speaking, are Wesleyan in Middletown, Connecticut and University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI. Yale and Brandeis also made it onto the short-list; Brandeis is just outside Boston and Yale’s down in New Haven.

It’s a shame that no school in Worcester made it onto the list. We do have 13 colleges in town, one of them has a pretty well known vegetarian culinary arts program. If you didn’t click that link yet, here’s a hint: it’s the Seventh Day Adventist one. WPI and Clark have both made major strides in recent years to accommodate the growing number of vegetarians.

Clark’s cafeteria is great. They have some seriously good veg entrees. And if you’re lucky they’ll have some vegan cakes too. I’ve also heard rumors that Assumption College is taking some big steps towards improving the vegan selection on campus.

So, what do you think about the college food situation in Worcester? We can definitely do better, but come on! The veg options at WPI and Clark must be better than the University of Montana. Come on! Even they made it into the semi-finals.

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