Today (4/21/12) is my 6 month anniversary eating a plant-based diet. I thought it was time to take a look back at the last six months.
Chickpea Magazine
If you are looking for inspiring articles on vegan lifestyle issues and great recipes, look no further than Chickpea Magazine. This quote from their mission statement captures the spirit of the magazine:
chickpea is intended to be a community-supported venture. each season of the year, we put a call out to everyone we know, and they submit the best photography, artwork, recipes, articles, stories, and products they’ve got. not only do we get to know our vegan community better, but we’re supporting one another as well.
rather than going the traditional route of advertising in the magazine, we want to support fellow vegan etsy shop owners, and/or support those who may not be vegan but sympathize and still sell high quality vegan products.
the focus of the magazine itself is to show all aspects of veganism, in an aesthetically pleasing, easily accessible format. the online magazine will be totally free, and designed by us as well as fellow vegan designers and artists. (http://chickpea-magazine.tumblr.com/mission, retrieved 12/16/11)
Chickpea has a visual appeal. The writing may not always be grammatically correct (neither is mine!), but the authors are clearly passionate about their subjects. With only one issue available, I find myself wanting more.
I miss Ascent
Ascent was a yoga magazine and so much more. I may be romanticizing, but it was a yoga magazine that cared about yoga, yogis, enlightenment, meditation, and compassion. It didn’t care about the latest yoga trends, clothes, gadgets, or whatever else the mainstream yoga press blathers on about. It introduced me to Noah Levine, for which I will be eternally grateful. (Read more about Noah here, here, and here.)
You can still find all the online content here. Don’t miss Kuan Yin’s Kitchen for delicious vegan recipes. If you find a magazine you love, subscribe and cherish each word as if it was the last.
I am vegan. That is all.
Okay, so that’s not all – how can one declare, “I am vegan,” after a lifetime of eating meat with gusto without offering an explanation. Well, I’m a new vegan and I am still finding my voice. So for now, I’m following the model offered by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau – speak your truth and meet both questions and criticisms (rational or otherwise) with compassion. If you have 37 minutes, I would encourage you to watch this:
And if you are still interested, you can watch the Q&A; it’s good stuff.
Amazing – Made in Iceland
So I’m super-envious of the hike that lead to Klara Harden’s Vimeo Made in Iceland.
If you have any love for nature, you must watch. It’s a visually stunning and surprisingly intimate video essay of Klara’s hike across Iceland. I can’t say enough. Watch, then plan your next hike. Make it someplace lush and green. Stretch a bit, scare yourself, record the whole thing – and dance like you’ve never danced before. If you watch the credits, you’ll appreciate that last sentence more.
Going back, going forward
I am back on the campus of my alma mater, Kalamazoo College, for a graduate recruiting event I helped to coordinate.
In the past, I have come here with a subtle agenda a contract with and sometimes a contract against myself – to make amends and to find some redemption for the suffering I caused as a young man.
This time it is different. This time there is no agenda. This time there is no contract. This time there is just awareness and compassion for that confused young man. There is still sadness related to some of those behaviors, but I have given up any hope for a better past.
I am simply here in the library, waiting to see an old friend and mentor. I am absorbing the environment – the social justice and sustainability conversation behind me, the barely followed conversation in Spanish across the room – and following my breath.
There is nothing else to do.
Day 1 continues
So I have this habit of scraping up against things when I drive U-Haul trucks. This time I scraped up against Brian’s driver’s side tail lights. I am impressed that I got away with only a minor scratch…
We go into Becca and Guy’s place outside Cincinnati just after midnight. They were wonderful hosts!!!
