Herstory - ponderings, passions & politics

powerful rock'n'roll...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 01:23:00 +0000

can't wait for you to come home george...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 09:27:00 +0000

needed to share this again (come on Tim Minchin, another 'updated' song is surely needed!!!) george pell, treasurer of the vatican for the past 3 years, couldn't come home last year as a witness in catholic 'child sexual abuse' cases - committed decades ago (those discovered so far) due to 'ill health', which is when this song was written... well, finally he has been charged (long overdue) here in australia and it appears the vatican is making him come home to 'clear himself'... finally george, justice might be served to the victims of your paedophile priesthood... we can't wait for you to come home george...

a powerful video...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 10:52:00 +0000

Cate Evens - Running scared - such a beautiful, powerful voice, such powerful words...
"This is one of the most important songs that we've ever written. It goes out to every animal on this planet that is being humiliated, tortured and killed by mankind..."

never stay silent... don't look away... they are all someone, not something...

#icantkeepquiet... #womynsmarch...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 11:36:00 +0000

this song is brilliant... "These women practised this amazing song online and performed it during the women's march on Washington"... let's never keep quiet...

my tears are flowing...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 05:48:00 +0000

my best friend of 45 years died today...

at least there is no more pain sweet sister... but i will miss you
with all my heart Irenie...

what the fuck america???

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 13:23:00 +0000

gobsmacked... america chose a misogynist, racist, speciesist, rich white man - anyone other than a womon - what the fuck america???

i read a brilliant piece on feminist current - "...Hillary lost, not because she was a bad candidate, but because she is a woman. White men won this election. Fear won this election — fear of the “other,” fear of losing power, jobs, money, guns, property, and privilege. Hatred won too — of minorities, refugees, people of colour, and, of course, women. The absolute unwillingness, on the parts of white Americans, to consider a woman as president won. Even women voted against themselves — for a man who doesn’t see them as equal, never mind human. Who, quite frankly, hates them." http://www.feministcurrent.com/2016/11/09/america-really-hates-women/

i also came across this stunning, says it all graphic (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwzL_xYVIAA_cLK.jpg) ...

barbara kingsolver wrote a thought-provoking article published in the guardian - End this misogynistic horror show. Put Hillary Clinton in the White House - which is well worth a read...

i'm still stunned, needed to say something because it's horrifying on so many levels - it's just made this world that little more scary - yet again, what the fuck america???

why am i vegan?

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 04:12:00 +0000

Do Animals WANT To Be Eaten?

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Wed, 18 May 2016 10:14:00 +0000

are they complicit in their own enslavement and happy to die for human 'tradition' and consumerism? are you one of those people who believes this absurdity? then check out what emily of bite size vegan has to say - succinct, so very true, as usual just brilliantly articulated...

it's time to change this world, time to stop the disconnect, time to end the cognitive dissonance, time to take the blinkers off and end the horror... veganism is imperative if earth and earth's myriad occupants are to survive... humans are not superior, we are just one of earth's many sentient beings - however we are the earthling species which has placed itself as dominant, participated voluntarily in the subjugation, terror and torture of others and proudly adopted brutality and destruction as our trademark and legacy...

sadly i no longer care if humanity survives - if 'we' don't change how we live and interact with our other-species kin and the planet then we're fucked anyway, but i do care about those we've denied equality to, those we have ensured remain voiceless and choiceless in this speciesist society we have created - we have no right to rapaciously destroy their home and continue to murder them...

please, go vegan for all earthling species, and for earth itself...

(by the way, if you're interested you can find 'suicide food' mentioned in emily's video at http://suicidefood.blogspot.com.au/ and check out 'suicidal tendencies' in the sidebar)

the herd..

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sat, 26 Mar 2016 11:07:00 +0000

known as the first feminist horror movie... "The Herd replaces female cows with female humans, and by doing so hopes to promote a greater understanding of the suffering inflicted upon cows in the dairy industry..."

http://www.whitelies.org.uk/resources/video-footage/herd

stop the disconnect...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 11:13:00 +0000

that 'australia day' ad...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 09:43:00 +0000

this ad, by aussie farms, is the one that should be on television... "...what it really means to eat lamb on Australia Day..." - read more at https://www.facebook.com/AussieFarms/posts/1723952881166679...

i am so over the horrific carnist advertising pushed at any 'celebratory time' (although carnist crap is 'there' all year, it's just so fucking more full on at the moment, coming up to australia/invasion day)... i am so over having dismembered body parts of others in my face wherever i turn and the smell of decaying flesh in my nostrils whenever i breath - walking down the street, shopping at the supermarket, and the staff kitchen is somewhere to stay away from at lunch times - and then there's the smell of burning flesh from the barbecues on balconies and in backyards that surround my home, my sanctuary... help stop the animal holocaust - go vegan...

a beautiful tribute...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 05:11:00 +0000

you may have watched some of bite size vegan's videos - i've shared a few over the years - however this one i'm about to share is one of her most personal stories... you see emily's beautiful companion ooby died last week - a beautiful canine girl, a 'bulldog' born and bred to human specifications, human dictates as to how she should look, regardless of the health problems that designer-breeding would cause...

it is beautiful and yet heart-wrenching... it is a tribute to ooby, and to emily's love and guardianship, yet it is also a sad testament to the horror that the breeding of animals by profiteers to be sold as commodities, chattels, has wrought on many animals...

in emily's words - "This is the story of Ooby the bulldog. It’s a story worth knowing. For every purebred dog suffering from man-made afflictions, for every homeless or abandoned dog out there, let Ooby’s story and her life help change how we treat our companions.

farewell beautiful ooby...

please adopt, don't shop - there are far too many languishing in shelters waiting for their chance to experience love, happiness, companionship...

the vegan revolution is happening...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 09:12:00 +0000

and people say vegans don't have a sense of humour...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 10:49:00 +0000

i just had to share this.... as someone on google+ commented after viewing it - 'it's thug kitchen meets martha stewart'...

please, go vegan - for the animals, the planet and because it's the right thing to do....

draw my life...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 01:09:00 +0000

one of my favourite vegan activists, emily of bite size vegan, has put together the following video which speaks volumes on the short life of farmed turkeys from the viewpoint of one young turkey... it is poignant, moving, eye-opening - there is no 'real life' graphic horror footage here, just a simple illustrated story that hopefully you find thought provoking...

if this touched you, perhaps you may also find the draw my life videos on the vegan break site illustrated by vegan artist sooyeon jang - 'a chickens life', 'a pigs life', 'the life of a dog in south korea' - as impactful as i did - please take the time to view them, they are breathtakingly moving... http://www.veganbreak.com/vegan-draw-my-life/

love, the bond that ties...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 11:17:00 +0000

did you know my mother?

by mary lynn

Did you know my mother?

I'm told her name was Belle.

I don't know what she looked like

but have memories of her smell.

Did you ever hear my mother?

Did her cries pull at your heart?

I remember them quite clearly

when the men pulled us apart.

Did you drink from my mother?

Did you ever taste her milk?

Did you feel her face against yours?

Was her skin as soft as silk?

I've been told I had two brothers,

and my sister's numbered four,

Then my mother went to slaughter

of no value anymore.

Were you there with my mother?

Did you look into her eyes?

Did you see the fear within them?

Did you listen to her cries?

And now MY end is coming,

I am waiting with my friends,

We are huddled close together

In this place where all life ends.

Will you be there at our slaughter?

For the flesh you want to eat.

Will you ever think about us?

When you buy that piece of meat.

It’s my turn now, I’m moving,

I am going to my end.

I am urged with shouts and kicking

and with sticks that never bend.

I am thinking of my mother

and remembering her smell.

And I know we'll meet in Heaven

and forget this life called Hell.

"Crying Mother Cow Greets Lost Baby In Breathtaking Reunion"

as the saying goes...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 02:06:00 +0000

a picture paints a thousand words and these powerful images by dana ellyn brilliantly portray the reality of the sentient beings hidden behind a language that strips them of their species, their uniqueness, their individuality, their lives, to become the victims of human food choices...


eggs & bacon

bacon cheeseburger

four wrongs don't make a right

you can view more of dana's stunning imagery at

http://www.danaellyn.com/portfolio151.html

what will your next meal be? please go vegan, for the animals, the planet and because it's the right thing to do, the moral thing to do, the ethical thing to do...

they go hand in hand...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 08:12:00 +0000

feminism and veganism...

feminism - "The goal of feminism is to dismantle the hierarchical system that values certain groups over others: men over women, whites over blacks, straights over gays and so on. This false hierarchy permits the exploitation of those at the bottom by the powerful at the top. But mainstream feminism is failing to include non-human animals in the equation – and this needs to change..." from 'feminism must stop ignoring animals' by ruby hamad...

veganism - is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude - as far as is possible and practicable - all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty for any reason, including medicine, food, clothing, entertainment or for any other purpose... in dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals. In short, veganism is a philosophical position and not a diet... from 'your vegan fallacy is...', a wonderful new resource that has many articles on the misconceptions surrounding veganism...


*this is the latest vegan street meme - why not check out the vegan street blog,* *formerly known as vegan feminist agitator*

do you call yourself a feminist? do you believe in equality for all? do you believe in reproductive rights? do you believe our bodies belong to us? have you made the connection yet? then surely you believe in every sentient beings right to live their lives free from harm, free from enslavement, free from exploitation... if so your next logical step has to be veganism, it is a moral imperative, the ethical baseline that really will change this world...

want some 'brain food' - check out the blog 'there's an elephant in the room' - just brilliant...

another farewell...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sat, 18 Apr 2015 03:37:00 +0000

and the end of an era for me...

5.5.1926 - 13.4.2015

eileen, 'aunty eil', my mother's best friend of 80 years, died on monday, april 13 at 11.05am... she was such a strong presence throughout my life... she was feisty, funny, one of a kind and i love her deeply...

she was recently diagnosed with secondary liver cancer, given 2 months to live, but she didn't last that long, dying 2 weeks after diagnosis... she lost her spark long before that though - she was heartbroken when my mother died 9 months ago - she'd lost her lifelong friend, her confidante, her 'soulmate'... i will miss her terribly but am thankful she never lingered to suffer at length..

her funeral was yesterday and lots of stories and laughs were shared and many tears shed, and we all got a giggle as she made her final journey to the soundtrack of the number 96 tram that went past her building every day... eileen and judy lived on the esplanade in st kilda opposite the beach, with a tram stop virtually out the front for the last 20 years of their lives - they loved their flats and never felt comfortable if they couldn't see the beach and hear the trams - those two things epitomised home to them both so it was a classic, fitting farewell...

bye eil, you were always there for me... i'll miss our conversations and laughs together, i'll miss the shoulder you always offered in my times of need, i'll miss you wonderful womonxxx

stop the excuses...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 21:19:00 +0000

for more VeganStreet memes go to http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme.html#Archive

the real matrix...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 01:11:00 +0000

i've been meaning to post this video for a while now... presented by james wildman of the animal rights foundation of florida 'the real matrix - 101 reasons to go vegan' is 1 hour and 8 minutes of thought-provoking time well spent...

sit down, take a load off, and become absorbed in james' informative, entertaining, fascinating and compelling talk covering tradition, culture, inherited choices and health...

if 1 hour and 8 minutes is too long for you, perhaps melanie joy's talk fits your time scale better - 20 minutes in which she talks about inherited choices...

personally, i recommend both - similar messages, different styles of presentation, both articulate, passionate speakers - i could have watched each speaker for far longer than both videos ran...

"if we could live happy and healthy lives without harming others… why wouldn't we?" ... edgar's mission

wish i could take the credit for this...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 07:29:00 +0000

but i can't... what i can do is share the wit and wisdom of marla from vegan feminist agitator as she articulates what many vegans think and feel with her sixth annual disgruntled vegan alphabet...

from vegan feminist agitator

A is for Another flaky “former vegan” celebrity just went on a talk show and is now on the paleo bandwagon so could we please stop already with the celebrity worship? Pretty please? It never ends well.

B is for “But what about the Inuit? But what about the Native Americans? But what about the lions? But what about the microscopic insects you kill? But what about soy? But what about eating humane meat? But I’m part Italian. But eating meat is how I honor my ancestors. But I was raised eating meat. But I give a blessing. But I give thanks. But my guru said it was okay. But I need the protein. But I am allergic to soy, wheat, all grains, all fruits and all vegetables except for celery. But I need the iron. But I just eat a little meat. But I don’t eat red meat. But I only support the best farms. But…”

C is for Cough in front of the wrong person and it is incontrovertible proof that I have a vegan-induced nutritional deficiency.

D is for Delusion, because apparently there is a just and compassionate way to needlessly slaughter other sensitive beings as long as you have an unlimited supply of it.

E is for the Eerie silence that happens whenever I get stopped by a Greenpeace canvasser or the Sierra Club calls and I ask them about their organization’s public position on eating animals.

F is for For once, could I either opt out of the Secret Santa exchange at work or get someone who doesn’t give me a basket of alpaca milk soaps from her brother-in-law’s farm?

G is for Gotcha moments, and, no, you didn’t “get me” with your inquiry about what my shoes or coat are made of but try again, sport, because this endless game of pin-the-tail-on-the-hypocrite never gets old or predictable.

H is for Har-har-har, writing People Eating Tasty Animals in the middle of a debate never fails to make an original and devastating counter-argument. Touché! How could anyone ever recover from such a salient point?

I is for Ick, no, I really don’t miss eating corpses. Do I look like Hannibal Lecter or something? Fava beans and a nice chianti, though, those would be fine.

J is for that Junk science video you posted about “plants feeling pain.” If this is more persuasive to you than, I don’t know, the lack of a central nervous system and an evolutionary incentive for pain reception and you ignore the fact that far more plants are consumed when eating a diet that includes animals, I am going to have to question if you are really sincere about your convictions.

K is for karma because sometimes that is all we can hope for in life and we have all heard about her general disposition.

L is for Logical Fallacies because whether were are talking about a strawman argument (“Vegans hate people and only care about animals!”), the slippery slope argument (“If we stop eating animals, they will take over the world!”) the tu quoque approach (“How can you talk about animal suffering when you are stepping on bugs, hmm?”) and an anecdote (“My cousin was vegan for two weeks and she almost died from a protein deficiency!”), these are all examples of the logical fallacies people who want to continue eating animals will wrap themselves in like a warm blanket. A blanket with a bunch of holes in it nonetheless.

M is for the Massive meltdown that happens when a vegan asks her affluent grass-fed, organic paleo cousin how many worlds we’d need in order to sustain the world’s population with his way of eating.

N is for the Namaste-spouting New Agers who try to justify eating animals and are so self-involved as to claim that “judgments” are worse than unnecessary violence and destroying the planet. Altogether now: om…

O is for Okay, do you honestly believe that vegans are pushing their views on you? Have you looked at the world through the lens of someone who doesn’t think that animals are “food” lately? Have you tried to look at the world through the lens of a being who is born and raised solely for the purpose of being eaten lately?

P is for Paranoia, as in, “I said soy milk, right? Because if my coffee has cow’s milk in it I will be really upset and disgusted. Okay, wait, I see you’ve charged me extra because apparently destroying our planet is not enough for animal product consumers, now they should be able to get what they want without any penalties at all and when is a vegan coffee shop finally going to open around here??? So, anyway, how do I know the barista didn’t make a mistake?”

Q is for having exceeded my annual Quota of weird looks and passive-aggressive remarks about my meatless roast at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner within five minutes of being there. Because family…

R is for Really, I don’t want to hear about how much you love animals but vegans “just take it too far” because, you know, this is kind of idiotic if you think about it without your ego getting in the way.

S is for being Self-righteous because it’s better than being self-wrongteous.

T is for Turducken because what kind of twisted, Caligula-minded sadist invented this grotesquery?

U is for the Universal sign of warm weather, which means that when I can finally open my windows for a few months, the smell of charred, tortured flesh filling the air greets me. Yay.

V is for getting Verklempt at the Vicarious thrill we enjoy when one of our protégés goes off and becomes an awesome little vegan agitator in his or her own right. Fly, little bird. Fly! Oh, wait. This was supposed to be complaining. Okay, V is for Vasectomy because, please, 98% of humanity, let’s look into it. Snip, snip, done.

W is for Wings as in do you know that people actually sit around and eat a bird’s severed limbs and then dump the bones in a bowl and, um, tofu is gross? Oooookay, then.

X is for the Xenophobes who think that Asian cultures that eat dogs are barbaric while they themselves eat dead chickens and cows. Um, what???

Y is for the boiled Yellow squash plate vegans are served at our cousin’s wedding that no amount of salt, pepper, denial or wishful thinking will be able to remedy. This is why an emergency nutrition bar should always be in the glove compartment.

Z is for the Zany situations that turn your life into a tragicomedy that will make for an excellent screenplay for a film that roughly two percent of the population might be willing to see one day."

i've got nothing to add... marla has said it all...(but you can read her previous alphabets - sixth annual airing of grievances (each word is a link to one of her earlier alphabets)...

animal justice party...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 02:03:00 +0000

it's state election time here in victoria, and there's a new party on the political scene - the animal justice party...

i haven't voted in so long - there hasn't been any one or any party that offered any hope for change - but i knew with the arrival of the ajp that i needed to make my voice heard for the nonhumans today...

it's not the perfect solution to the horrors perpetrated against them, but it shows me there is a growing awareness that animal nations are not here for human use, abuse and 'benefit' - they are sentient beings that deserve to be treated with respect - they are equal to us, not less than - and they need a voice in government...

the ajp is standing 25 candidates across victoria, and even if one of those representatives gets voted in, it's a start - it won't change things overnight - but it's finally a voice for the voiceless of this speciesist society... this is their very first election and i hope for the nonhumans that they make an impact...

"immorality sanctified by tradition is still immorality" ... bernard e. rollin

raising awareness through art...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 00:10:00 +0000

when jo frederiks paints, she does it with passion and purpose... she has a compelling message to share, evident in this video of her recent exhibition - 'the animal holocaust' - opened by phillp wollen... the art is stunning, breathtaking, heartbreaking, and the words powerful...

while looking for information about jo, who grew up on a remote queensland 'cattle station', became a passionate animal rights activist and a vegan advocate, i came across an interesting article by 'age' columnist sam de brito - 'confessions of a vegan' - in which he shares his vegan awakening (along with some of jo's artwork)...

"Once the light goes on and you realise the food you so blithely eat actually causes massive, life-long, completely avoidable suffering to billions of animals, it’s not an easy epiphany to un-think.

A supermarket never looks the same, butcher shops become very dark places. The perversity of using smiling anthropomorphised animals to advertise packages of their own body parts grows almost chilling."

i find it encouraging, inspiring, uplifting to read of more and more people making the connection, acknowledging the atrocities humans perpetrate against other sentient beings, moving forward, embracing vegan philosophy and sharing what it means to be vegan in mainstream media... veganism is a truth whose time has definitely come...

“In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they're the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought." ― Isaac Bashevis Singer

the truth is out there...

noreply@blogger.com (proud womon) — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 01:08:00 +0000

there's a 'joke' that nonvegans trot out time and time again which goes along the lines of "how do you know when someone's a vegan? don't worry, they'll soon tell you!" believe me, every vegan has heard it, and every vegan is sick and tired of it - considering we live in a society built on speciesism and the idea of human superiority and we are confronted day in and day out with atrocities committed against nonhuman beings enslaved by humans it's no wonder... ads no matter where you turn encourage the buying, wearing, and consumption of body parts, and nonvegans are only too happy to share their 'culinary delights' with all and sundry... the 'entertainment' industry beckons us to witness the broken spirits of those beaten into submission to 'perform'... zoos confine and display nonhumans as 'exhibits' and call it 'educational'... hmmm...

consequently i couldn't resist buying a t-shirt online a few weeks ago from the vegan street store, a "retro design (that) pokes fun at the prevailing attitudes a lot of people hold toward vegans".- my 'splurge' (which i don't get to do very often because i rarely have 'extra cash' to play with)... well my t-shirt arrived just the other day and this is what it says...

realistically, how can i not tell you i'm vegan? as the author of the blog 'there's an elephant in the room' so eloquently puts it...

"How do you know when someone is vegan? Well I’m guilty as charged. I will soon tell you. But the real reason is probably not the one that the ‘joking’ nonvegan finds so amusing.

When we meet others. even in the most casual of circumstances, we share information about ourselves, glean information about those whom we meet. Through this sharing, we find common interests, experiences and outlooks and we subconsciously assess the nature of any future relationship we may have with them or reaffirm our existing bonds. If I were to list the things that I consider are important about me and my experience in life I will tell you that I’m vegan because it’s the main thing there is to know about me. It sums up my values and all the lessons life has taught me. Veganism has become synonymous with who I am as a person and to tell you that I am vegan is baring my soul..." read more in the post knock knock

for those who already know me, all i can hope is that my passionate belief in a non-speciesist world and consequent conversation will encourage you to think about the atrocities committed against others for your food, clothing and entertainment...

"There is absolutely no way for humans to obtain the body parts and secretions of others without causing unspeakable suffering, exploiting their reproductive systems, mutilating and confining them, killing their children and taking from them every single thing that we would define as the things that make our own human lives worth living." ... from the post painful truth or comforting lies - it's up to us...

i grew up on the same lies that everyone else did, i blindly followed the status quo and ate and wore what society sanctioned - until finally i questioned and discovered the answers i needed to open my eyes, mind and heart and realise we are all sentient beings, we all share the quality of self-awareness... please, start asking questions - the answers are easy to find in this age of information... the truth is out there...