In Defense of Intense

I was born a month premature because I had better things to do than sit in a womb all day and waste my time. True story. Although to be clear, my impatience – a quality I’ve yet to outgrow – was not without grand repercussions. In my haste, I arrived in this world “sunny side up” and developed transient tachypnea – a fancy term for rapid breathing caused by an abundance of fluid in the lungs. The punishment? Ten days in an incubator and two very frightened parents – a steep price to pay for a guy who’d only been alive a couple minutes. Still, that measly slap on the wrist wasn’t about to dent my budding precocious spirit or weaken the ever-growing tenacity that was already coursing its way through my veins. It only encouraged me.

The story goes that when the nurse took me from my mother, I closed my eyes in adamant protest. For the next ten days, I laid in that stuffy plastic box with eyes permanently shut, willfully denying what I considered to be unfair treatment. Finally, more than a week later, I was returned to my mother’s arms and only then did I allow my pupils to bask again in the brisk rays of the fluorescent hospital light. Sweet victory was mine! The nurses all agreed: this baby was going to be intense.

Since those first ten days, I’ve been called that seven-letter word more times than I could possibly count. For most of my life I viewed this accusation as a negative and would justly argue the claim. (Word to the wise: Intensely debating your lack of intensity only makes you appear more intense). The truth is that I never found myself to be particularly intense; I still don’t. But my friends do. And the women I date do. And the people I work for and with do. So, based on unanimous feedback from just about everyone, I eventually made the conscious choice to not only accept this word, but to embrace it with the kind of unmitigated fervor that only the truly intense know. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.

In this current “age of cool,” casual nonchalance is far more socially acceptable than ardent ferocity. In a society that too often rewards passivity, vibrant boldness is not always appreciated. One glaring example of said prejudice is the famous Tom Cruise Scientology video that made it’s way around the Internet just a few years ago.

While discussing how Scientology can help relieve many cultural challenges (Author’s note: I have no affiliation with Scientology), Cruise says with laser beam focus, “Look I wish the world was a different place. I’d like to go on vacation … but I can’t. Because I know … I have to do something about it … because I can’t live with myself if I don’t and that really is it. I don’t care if someone thinks it’s hard or easy. You’re either helping and contributing everything you can, or you’re not.”

There’s no question that Cruise’s performance makes him look, well, sort of crazy (the driving music and overdramatic voiceover doesn’t help either), but his words are right on point. So why did the overzealous delivery upstage the message? I’ll give you a clue: It’s the same reason Howard Dean lost the primary in 2004. The most important part of intensity is learning how to accurately adjust one’s internal barometer to effectively achieve the desired results.

My good friend is the parent of a young child who’s constantly getting into trouble at school. The teachers say he’s too rambunctious, overly excitable and unable to stay quiet in class. Sound familiar? After one particular outburst where he lashed out at a student who’d pushed another student off the slide, I sat down and had a word with him.

I explained that being outspoken and passionate (regular symptoms of intensity) is like having a really special superpower. And like all good heroes, one must learn how and when to use their gift. If the Green Lantern just randomly went around blasting rays of energy all over the place, he’d end up doing more hard than good.

I suggested he keep a “Superhero Log” (a journal), and write down all the situations that sparked those intense feelings. Later, he could go through the log with his parents (we called this “Superhero Debriefing”) and learn better ways to channel his energy. He loved the idea and is now an avid journal writer. What’s more, he’s learning how to refine his intensity to create better results for everyone.

While it took me over 20 years to accept this characteristic about myself, today it’s the quality I most value. Intensity is what drives movements and inspires innovation. It’s the battery in the timepiece of progress and has the power, if used correctly, to legitimately help make the world a better place. Gandhi was intense. Martin Luther King was intense. Bill Clinton is intense.

So the next time somebody points out your intensity as a negative, simply jot it down in your Superhero Journal, adjust your internal barometer, and keep going strong. I promise you this, my friends, intensity always wins the day. Always.

Birthday Activism: Making Each Year Count

In the past, I wasn’t particularly keen on celebrating my birthday. As a child, of course, it was always exciting to commune with friends over plates full of greasy pepperoni pizza and frosting-covered yellow birthday cake. But as I got older, the thought of organizing a party to celebrate yet another passing year just seemed…well, sort of unimportant.

Then I turned 25, and everything changed.

My 25th year of living was perhaps the most exacerbating time of my life. Full of disappointments, setbacks and life-altering tragedies, it was as though the Universe had sent a Category 5 hurricane to devastate the very foundation of my existence. At the time, I tried with all my might to resist the brutal storm, to hold on to the few remaining precious scraps of truth that had once sheltered and protected me so. But the world is stronger than the individual. Eventually my grip gave way, and I was thrust violently into a whirlwind of chaos and destruction, left only with a prayer that I would emerge unharmed and with a greater sense of purpose. I’m happy to report that the prayer was answered.

When the winds let up and the darkness faded, my perpetual uncertainty had been replaced with clarity, determination and pure, unleaded gusto. I knew deep down that my life had been clear-cut to make room for something greater than I had ever known. Sometimes destruction must occur before creation can ensue.

Some call what I experienced a quarter-life crisis, but for me it was greater: it was a bloody war brought on by an internal regime change; a personal reformation of the highest order. It was the forced carving of the first sentence of the second chapter of the rest of my life: “And when he awoke, he saw the world for what it was: a vast plain of endless possibilities, a canvas from which to freely create, a world in which to forever change.” It was then that the tradition of Birthday Activism was born.

Birthday Activism is quite simply the act of leveraging one’s special day to help further a cause and create change. And since my 27th birthday is on Monday, April 12, I thought I’d share my homemade recipe for Birthday Activism with you.

Here’s how it works: about two weeks before the big day, start thinking about issues that you find meaningful. For me, veganism is the cornerstone of my ethical make-up and the nucleus of my belief system. I’m also incredibly passionate about the power of citizen action, volunteering, and effective change. So, naturally, I chose to highlight those ideas for my birthday.

Now that you’ve identified your cause, start brainstorming about projects that might complement your issue. Remember, it’s YOUR birthday! This gives you incredible bargaining power with friends and families. You’d be surprised at what individuals will do when asked the right way.

For Birthday 25, I got a large group of friends to volunteer at a local soup kitchen in New York City. Birthday 26 was spent learning about the plight of farm animals at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. This year, I asked all my Facebook friends to go vegan for the day (so far over 200 have agreed), and I got a group of 15 to attend an orientation at New York Cares, thus empowering them to volunteer throughout the year.

The third and final step is to promote your birthday activity. Use Facebook, Twitter or make a few good, old-fashioned phone calls to get people excited about the project. Don’t feel bad about asking anyone and everyone to take part. Volunteering is a lot like getting a massage: it feels fantastic and everyone knows they should do it once in a while, but rarely does one take the initiative. In fact, by participating in Birthday Activism, you’re not only receiving a gift, but also giving one equal in value.

Now, don’t worry—it doesn’t have to be ALL about service. After the project, I always make sure there’s something fun planned nearby at a bar or restaurant. But truth be told, years later my friends aren’t talking about the vodka soda they had that night; instead, they’re reminiscing about the lives they helped touch and the good they helped create.

We may not be able to control how many birthdays we get in this world, but we do have the power to make sure each and every one of those special days truly counts.

3,287 Days of Veganism

Need some powerful pointers this Meatless Monday? Don’t miss Michael’s 5 Easy Breezy Tips for Transition at the end of his blog!

When I was a baby I would eat frozen peas straight from the freezer. They should have known then.

On Saturday, January 23, 2010, I celebrated my ninth year of vegetarianism, which, as I’m sure you’ve deduced from the title, means I’ve been meat-free for 3,287 days.

The extraordinary part of this tale is not the longevity of the commitment, but rather the fact that I never wanted to be vegetarian in the first place. You see I wasn’t one of those characters who purposely worked towards a more compassionate life because of some ethical uneasiness about eating animals. I was never a truth seeker, but rather a truth-stumbler, a by-the-way do-gooder, an accidental moralist.

My story begins nine years ago at an upscale seaside restaurant in St. Petersburg, Florida. The setting was lovely, with freshly starched table clothes and artfully prepared cuisine. It was the kind of restaurant where a big city foodie might dine if he had missed his connecting flight and was stuck in a place like St. Petersburg, Florida.

That particular evening I had chosen a rather pricey dish of chicken bathed in cream sauce to satisfy my hunger. My girlfriend at the time was vegetarian and was therefore subjected to a dreadful medley of over-steamed vegetables nestled in a bed (or rather futon) of desperately uninspired grains.

“Damn vegetarians,” I thought. “They ruin everything.”

When the food arrived, I grabbed my utensils, cut into the succulent breast, raised it to my mouth and…almost threw up? Wait, what?!

This once delicious morsel was no longer a morsel at all. The brilliant dinner had somehow gone from chicken to Chicken. My internal alarm was activated and I immediately began to panic. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t eat this food.

The next morning, in a desperate attempt to reclaim my barbarian ways, I tried to scarf down the heftiest turkey sandwich I could find. No go. Somehow that cute vegetarian girl with the steamed vegetables had gotten through my thick skull. The damage had been done.

I wanted to understand these inconvenient feelings and so I headed to the bookstore to read everything I could about vegetarianism and animal agriculture—a subject I literally knew nothing about.

Oh my God, every minute of every day, a land area equivalent to seven football fields is destroyed in the Amazon basin for animal production? Wait, vegetarians have only 40 percent the cancer rate of meat-eaters? Hold up, in the Unites States alone, 10 billion farm animals are slaughtered each year for food? What the what?!

After only a couple hours of ferocious reading, vegetarianism was no longer acceptable—it was vegan or bust for this guy! I didn’t know how I was going to do it, only that I would do it and I’d be damn good at it. I am nothing if not tenacious.

As I began to eliminate animal products from my diet, I noticed that something pretty miraculous was beginning to happen. The acne I had struggled with throughout adolescence disappeared overnight. My eyes got brighter. My body felt stronger. I started to feel good—really, really good.

Almost nine years later and 85 pounds lighter I still feel absolutely fantastic. The days of chicken and cream have been replaced with tempeh and steamed vegetables. The eye rolls I once so generously doled out to vegetarians have been transformed to grins and good conversation. And perhaps most importantly, the harm I once unknowingly caused has been replaced with compassion and thoughtful action.

After nine years of plant-based living, I can say with crystal clear confidence that adopting a vegan lifestyle is the single best decision I’ve ever made.

You know, Gandhi told me to be the change I wish to see in the world. Well, G, 3,287 days down, thousands and thousands more to go!

Top 5 Tips to an Easy Breezy Transition

1. Patience is a Virtue – “Wait! ‘Whey’ is a dairy product?!!! I had no idea!!!” When you first start eating a vegan diet, you’re going to discover that animal products have many a mysterious name and can be found in the strangest of places. Be patient, dragonfly! Transitioning to a new way of living takes time and a side order of patience will serve you well!

2. Respect the Process - “There’s no way I could ever give up cheese. Not a chance.” OK, so don’t give up cheese…for now. Just because I went vegan almost over night, doesn’t mean you have to! Compassionate eating isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Respect the process and allow yourself the courtesy to transition at a comfortable pace. The destination should be veganism, the roadmap should be your own.

3. Try the Eggplant - Even before I’d ever tasted eggplant I just knew I was going to hate it. And I was right! I think it’s one of the grossest foods on the planet. But the point is: I tried the ugly vegetable. When you begin transitioning to a vegan diet, you’re going to discover an array of foods you’ve never tasted. Don’t be afraid! Even if it’s a little scary, try the dang eggplant (or whatever your version of eggplant is). You just might love it!

4. Self-Educate for Success – You probably didn’t learn about veganism in school or at home, so how are you supposed to achieve success? The answer: self-educate for success. Grab a book or visit a website. Learn as much as you can about your new way of life and incorporate the new information as you go. Knowledge is power and power is rad!

5. Reach Out, Reach Out, Reach Out – I loathe asking for help, but sometimes it must be done. You’re not going to be an expert on vegan living right away, so find someone who is. Ask a friend, contact an organization or reach out to someone new. There’s no such thing as a stupid question, so hang up your pride and reach out, reach out, reach out.

Interview: “Eating Animals” Author Jonathan Safran Foer

On Sunday, I spent my afternoon at Tavern on the Green for Farm Sanctuary’s “Celebration for the Turkeys”– an annual event aimed to protect turkeys and promote compassionate Thanksgiving traditions.

The event featured delicious food by Candle 79, a silent auction with tons of cruelty-free products, and a slew of special guests, including: Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Peter Max, Ally Sheedy and author Jonathan Safran Foer.

I had the chance to sit down with Foer to discuss his latest book, Eating Animals, and find out why he chooses to support the efforts of Farm Sanctuary. Check out the interview below!

Michael Parrish DuDell: Why are you here today supporting Farm Sanctuary?

Jonathan Safran Foer: Farm Sanctuary was the first place I went when I did my research for this book. I had a really wonderful day. In many ways it established a tone for the rest of my research, which was that these issues all depend on how you tell them—how you present them. It’s not the case that the world needs new values, it just needs a new story—a story that more accurately reflects what’s going on in the world and more directly connects it to who we already are, not who we want to be, just who we already are.

I think Gene [Baur] does a really nice job of that. When people think of Farm Sanctuary, I think they imagine a place where rescued farm animals get to spend out their life. But that’s not really the point of the place. The point of the place is to push legislation, to lobby, but also just to tell stories—to tell better stories than the ones that are floating around. So that was a real inspiration for me and not only am I happy to help in anyway I can, I feel like I owe something.

MPD: Many people believe that your book has the power to set a new tone for the movement. What kind of reactions have you received thus far about Eating Animals?

JSF: The awesome thing, the really awesome thing is, with the exception of one, not a single review has questioned the importance of the conversation. Plenty of people think that I’m an asshole, plenty of people think that the style should have been different, but there’s been about 150 or 200 reviews of the book and exactly one has said, “This is not something we need to think about.” And it just confirms what I was suspecting, or at least hoping, which is that everyone cares about this—they really, really do. It’s just a question of connecting the dots in a certain way. I think we need to move away from the dichotomy of, “you are either a vegetarian or you are not,” to “you are either someone who cares about this or you are not”—because in fact everyone cares about it. We just have to find a way to appeal to this broad consensus.

The meat industry goes to such lengths to conceal their actions. Does anybody really think it’s right to put pregnant pigs in crates? Nobody does. Nobody really thinks it’s right to put egg-laying hens in tiny cages for their entire lives.

I think the movement has lost something in the last couple of years with the infighting and divisiveness. It is important whether you are fundamentally against the consumption of animals or not, but it’s not as important as all of these overlaps. Everyone agrees on ninety-nine percent of farming, and then there’s great disagreement about the other one percent. So why are we losing time with the one percent when we could be gaining so much with the ninety-nine percent?

MPD: If you could get one famous person to go vegetarian this Thanksgiving, who would it be?

JSF: I don’t know if I think of it in quite those terms. Like I was saying, there’s something that seems dichotomist about that—like turkey or no turkey. Look, someone like Glenn Beck could not have a turkey and that’s fine, but what I would so strongly prefer is that he had a week-long series about animal agriculture in America. I have no interest in prying a turkey from his hands. Frankly, he could do so much more good in the world then his individual choice.

I was on Martha Stewart the other day and she did a whole show devoted to the problems with the meat industry. It was so incredibly brave. She got on television and said, “The meat industry is bad. The meat industry is secretive. We don’t want these products.” She said she’s having a vegetarian thanksgiving. This issue’s going to tip by people acting like that.

You know, Glenn Beck already cares about this stuff, he does. I mean these are very traditional American values—they’re even conservative. I would love to engage him in a conversation where that became apparent, where he left not feeling angry with me, but angry at this industry that’s taking advantage of his values. It’s all about finding ways to mainstream this and to make all these alliances visible, and then maybe one day we’ll have the luxury of getting into arguments over that one percent.

A big thank you to Jonathan Safran Foer for spending time with us and to Farm Sanctuary for hosting this event. Make sure you pickup a copy of Eating Animals, and don’t forget to visit FarmSanctuary.org to find out more about all their Thanksgiving events.

This interview was also posted at Ecorazzi.com.

The Man with the Plan: A Vegan Awareness Month Tribute

Donald Watson, Vegan Activist

“Honey, be careful with that orange juice, but why not have some of this chicken soup? I left out the noodles just for you.”

My grandmother’s confused. Nestled in a dimly lit dining room somewhere in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida sits my father, ex-girlfriend and myself. Grandma Helen is jogging back and forth from the kitchen with a schmorgesborg of food she’s prepared just for our visit. Somehow she missed the memo about the whole “I’m a vegan” thing. Correction: the memo was received — just read backwards.

You see, my eighty-five year old grandmother was/is under the impression that veganism (or as she pronounces it: vay-gun-ism) is some kind of twisted spin-off of the Atkins Diet. I’m not exactly sure where she got this idea, but I suspect it has something to do with a faulty hearing aid, her posse of misinformed yentes and a mahjong game that went terribly, terribly wrong.

For those who don’t know, the word vegan (actually pronounced vee-gan) is defined by Webster as: “a strict vegetarian who consumes no animal food or dairy products; also: one who abstains from using animal products.” And it just so happens to be one of the world’s fastest growing movements.

November is Vegan Awareness Month and I believe it deserves – if only for the confused Jewish grandmothers out there – a moment of a silence and a big nod to the man who started it all.

Donald Watson – a British woodworker – recognized the cruelty involved in raising animals for both meat and dairy and desired to create a movement of like-minded people who abstained from consuming all animal products – not just flesh. Watson believed that vegetarianism was “only a stepping stone between meat eating and veganism” and wanted to invent a new word that would properly define this comprehensive approach to compassionate living. But what should this motley crew of plant-eaters be called? The word “vegetarian” already existed, and “non-dairy vegetarian” just didn’t have that new word smell to it.

Watson reached out to his fellow supporters who offered suggestions like “dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivoreand beaumangeur,” but in November of 1944, Watson composed the word himself: “vegan” – a marriage of the first three and last two letters of the already established term, “vegetarian.”

Shortly after, Watson formed the Vegan Society to help spread his message of peace, and began publishing the Vegan News, a “quarterly magazine of non-dairy vegetarians.” Its circulation was humble – the first issue had a mere 25 subscribers – but its content was revolutionary and is now considered a legitimate piece of history. In the first issue, he writes:

“The unquestionable cruelty associated with the production of dairy produce has made it clear that lacto-vegetarianism is but a half-way house between flesh-eating and a truly humane, civilised diet, and we think, therefore, that during our life on earth we should try to evolve sufficiently to make the ‘full journey’.”

Watson spent the remainder of his life helping others make that journey, working with the Cumbrian Vegetarian Society in his home of Keswick, Cumbria. For sixty-one years, the man who christened the vegan movement saw it blossom and grow into a vibrant pack of dedicated citizens.

On November 16, 2005, Donald Watson passed away at the ripe old age of ninety-five. His longevity bewildered naysaying critics and proved that one can not only survive on a plant-based diet, but thrive with brilliance and vitality. During one of Watson’s last interviews, he took a moment to share a message with today’s vegans.

“Take the broad view of what veganism stands for,” Watson said. “Realise that you’re on to something really big, something that hadn’t been tried until sixty years ago, and something which is meeting every reasonable criticism that anyone can level against it. And this doesn’t involve weeks or months of studying diet charts or reading books by so-called experts – it means grasping a few simple facts and applying them.”

So during Vegan Awareness Month let us all remember the man who possessed the courage to stand when others remained seated, the compassion to speak for those with no voice, and the foresight and dedication to help birth a movement of peace and kindness. In loving memory of the man with the plan, I wish you all a very happy and healthy Vegan Awareness Month.