Tag: Peter Schreiner

Veganism 101

On Saturday Lisa and I met Peter Schreiner and his lovely family for an incomparable vegan celebration at their home. Anyone fortunate enough to know Peter’s steady mindful support for animal rights and the wisdom of veganism knows that this would become a singular moment. Of course it was much more than a wonderful experience, it was immensely fruitful and vegetable-full.
Here is a reblog from October 2016 that speaks to the power of Mr. Schreiner’s voice. Written a bit over a year ago, the sentiments still reverberate.
Dedicated here to all sentient creatures gifted with this planet.

Peter Schreiner is the voice of Crows Head Soup. His post Animal Welfare is stirring enthusiasm for the pillars of Veganism and the bedrock supporting those pillars.

veganism-is-not-a-sacrifice

Veganism happens one human at a time, one awesome realization at a time. As Peter suggests, the information is out there. And so is well funded disinformation.

Caveat emptor

I have found that adopting a vegan lifestyle is not privation. It’s not like “giving up something” at all, unless you view toxins as dietary supplements. Detoxing is uncomfortable and wearying. Eating a portion of animal or animal byproduct provides short term relief. It’s like waking up in the morning with a coughing fit that goes away when you light up the first cigarette of the day.

Nicotine is also a cough suppressant. But it takes a while for nicotine to excrete completely. Withdrawal is agony. I am an ex-smoker as well as an ex-drinker, I actually told myself that tobacco and alcohol were at least vegan. Craving will twist reason into whatever contortion necessary to rationalize consumption of more and more (and more) of the toxin that tastes and feels good. Thanksgiving?

Mad Men of the 50’s and the cigarettes they peddled. “Chesterfields are smoked by more doctors than any other cigarette.” The ads were Norman Rockwellesque. All the while the enormo-gigantic corporations losing customers to “quitting” can recoup losses by shifting capital into other craved crap. Philip Morris purchased Kraft (it’s the cheesiest).

meat-is-life-mad-men
Hey Bill, my body must be deficient of something found in Johnsonville sausages. Maybe my body is trying to tell me to eat more, due to a deficiency or something like that.  Anyway, my opinion is as good as your fact in this new post-truth era. I crave them so much, my dietary system knows it needs it. And I always feel better after eating four or six. I mean, it’s only natural, you know what I mean? Yes. comfort foods are satisfying heritages. Eat some more turkey and let’s retire to the parlor and light up a couple big-ass cigars! 

Palm oil is one such line item on a Nutrition Label that provides no nutrients. It simply excites a pleasure center in the brain, a chemical that induces a satisfying sensation for the palate. Must.eat.more.must… Eating just one is cheating.

palm-oil-carbon

Thanks for reading.

Sudden Solitude in a Crowded Desert

Here I elaborate on a poem by Peter Schreiner: “Earth.”  Its text, contained in the graphic below, is available on Schreiner’s web-site Crows Head Soup. A state of being viewed with the vegan in mind. Awareness replaces normalcy, the gentle side of being aware is naturally repelled by flesh, fur and bone when known as resources, nourishment, craving. Normality is the unquestioning exploitation of fellow sentient beings alive today on this planet. 99% “living” in factory-fresh farms.

earth-was-never-my-home

Borrowing a favorite phrase from a seldom followed play of T.S. Eliot,  The Family Reunion. A Greek chorus explains the characters contained on the theater stage.

Sudden Solitude in a Crowded Desert

The concept became a byline for me one day while listening to the audio for this play. I was on the back porch, it was the late 90’s. Days of very early social media connected my life with others by a 1200 baud modem. Three States and a river. OH IN KY.

Very few Google searches yield much information on the Unix box located in a small room at the local phone company, TriState Online.

This link takes you to the full text at archive.org. You can search for “sudden solitude” there.

sir-alec-family-reunion
Sir Alec Guinness’ excerpt is central to the theme of the play.

Sudden Solitude played into a concept in that poem “Earth.” The mashup that occurs when you imagine the inexplicable in everyday life.  Things unquestioned in a polite society proud of its dominion. All matters familiar, ordinary and comforting (comfort food) in a moment of unexpected insight. A spinning coin flipped skyward that reveals the unanticipated: solitude/crowded.

Privileged consumer of all things animal from marrow to fur, then quite suddenly you become a witness, then a consumer of no thing animal.

Cognitive dissonance sets in when you identify enlightenment from the vegan point of view. At this point I fervently hope that readers remaining to read this far are not already convicted vegans. Dismissal out of hand is something you must expect when promoting marginal epiphanies. billziegler1947 is a tribute to the music of the crickets, I’m actually proud of that tribute.

My comment on “Earth”:

“Secular lands” evokes imposed national borders for me. Each sentient being I meet opens a complex but complete universe contained in one transient body: distinct personages/animalages. Borders are as much cage bars as they are expressions of nationality, but they are all arbitrary. Anyway that’s my reader reaction. Hope it makes sense to readers of these words.

It feels good to revive Sudden Solitude in a Crowded Desert, a thread to weave into the discussion here.

Thanks for reading.