Comments (6)

By kilax, June 27, 2009 9:13 am

Alright, it’s the big question! CourtneyInControl asked, “What made you decide you want to go vegan?”

Disclaimer: My intent is not to convert you to veganism, just to share my feelings on the subject!

I’ve been a vegetarian for over 8 years. The idea of becoming vegan (not eating milk or egg products) did not become intriguing to me until I lived in Rome, in 2006. I volunteered at an animal shelter with a lot of vegans who shared information with me about the lifestyle. I believed in the cause, as well as the health benefits of the diet, but honestly, I was NOT ready to make the change yet. I didn’t want to spend time worrying or caring about what was in  my food, especially when living in Rome! I wanted to be carefree and eat as much pasta and gelato as I could fit in in 7 months (rest assured, I accomplished that)! I didn’t want to go to the trouble of learning even more of the Italian language to read food labels, and ask waiters in Italian, “Does that have dairy or egg in it?” I was just lazy.

Since then though, I made a somewhat conscious decision to cut back on dairy and egg products. I didn’t eat them that often. When I lived by myself, I didn’t even keep those things in my apartment. BUT, I did enjoy the occasional slice of pizza, bowl of ice cream, or scrambled eggs.

Since then, I’ve constantly run across information on factory farming and animal exploitation. Honestly, I do NOT search this information out, because I cannot stomach it. If I read/see/hear something cruel, I CANNOT get it out of my mind. It makes me feel sick.

But since I kept finding myself running into this information, I did force myself to think about it, and came to the conclusion that I must use my actions to voice what I believe:

I believe that animals should not be exploited for our gain. I believe they are sentient beings, who should have the basic right of living a free life. I believe they should not be used for food, clothing, research, or entertainment, even if there is no unnecessary suffering.

I feel like cutting out dairy and eggs is one small step for me. Animals are used for more than just food. There are many ways they are exploited that I do not agree with. But I honestly cannot go on a rampage through my house throwing away all of my leather products, glue, the tires off my car, etc. I can only make small steps towards a more compassionate lifestyle.

I really want to share some of the awful things I’ve learned about animal exploitation, but I don’t want to ruin your day, if you are like me and cannot get the images out of your head, so I am going to share some links below.

Thanks for reading with an open mind.

Continue reading 'Vegan Saturday II | Why go vegan?'»

Comments (19)

By kilax, January 21, 2009 5:57 pm

Last November, when I was offered a new job, I decided to ask my boss out for “coffee” (I don’t drink coffee) to discuss the situation. I wanted to give him a heads up of what was going on, as well as ask his opinion on what I should do. I felt like he was a mentor, as well as a boss, and his opinion was (still is) highly important to me.

Of course… he thought I shouldn’t take it, that I would hate it, and it would ruin my career. Oh well. You’ll have that.

Anyway, we started to discuss my performance in the office. He had a lot of very nice things to say about me, but did mention one thing that bothered him – that I didn’t seem to be doing much research on my own about our profession outside of the office. That I wasn’t reading the trade magazines or coming up to him saying, “Did you read about that project at such and such location? What did you think about the glazing system they used? Blah blah blah.”

He was/is right. I’ve received an issue of Architectural Record every month since I’ve graduated. I never finish reading an issue. Sometimes, I don’t even open it! And I feel kind of guilty. And I feel kind of… not guilty.

I was so burned out at that job that I didn’t feel like devoting any extra time to personal, self-enriching career-related research. I often worked through my lunch break so that I would only have to work an 9-hour day. The last thing I wanted to do was spend what little free time I had thinking about work-related topics.

I kind of asked him when he expected me to be doing this research… because if he wanted me to sit around at work looking at trade magazines and websites, I would be more than happy to. But that wasn’t the case. I explained to him that I got home around 7:30 each night, ate dinner, exercised then went to bed. And yes, I do spend almost 3 hours on the train, but a lot of the time I am sleeping, because I only get 6 hours of sleep a night. So… wah. Wah wah wah.

I didn’t say it to him, but the thing is, I don’t want my career to define who I am. I want it to be a part of me, and I want to discuss it with people, and I want to love what I do (which I DO), but I don’t want to be… THAT architect. The one who lives for architecture. The one who devotes ALL OF THEIR TIME to being an architect. That’s just not me. I have too many other interests in my life that I want to devote my time to: travel, running, bowling, volunteering, restoring the Datsun (are you reading, Steven?), spending time with family and friends… you get the idea.

The funny thing is, now that I have a new job, and don’t feel so overwhelmed all the time, I think I COULD find time to read those trade magazines. And maybe I will.