Guest wordsmith Matt Ball (veganpa at comcast.net) writes: Growing up, I was a big fan of Carl Sagan, and I dreamed of exploring the universe, expanding the frontier of human knowledge and vision. I started my college to become a rocket scientist, with the plan of working for NASA.
But fate intervened on the first day of college when I met my roommate, a big, strong guy, who was not shy about explaining his vegetarianism or what hidden realities my eating meat supported. After a false start, I went vegetarian -- I simply found the cruelties of meat production too severe to continue to rationalize away. Shortly thereafter, I met Jack Norris and started learning more about animal exploitation in this world. I decided I needed to do more than be a vegetarian. With ten other activists, Jack and I held a three-day Fast for Farm Animals in front of a Cincinnati slaughterhouse (three days being the amount of time farmed animals often go without food before slaughter). After the fast, Jack and I formed a group which eventually became Vegan Outreach, dedicated to preventing the most suffering possible. You can order a free copy of our Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating at: http://veganoutreach.org/starterpack/ (This week's guest wordsmith Matt Ball is co-founder and executive director of the non-profit organization Vegan Outreach.) vegan (VEE-guhn) noun One who does not consume animal products. adjective Made with no animal ingredients. [Coined in 1944 by Donald Watson (1910-2005) to describe a "non-dairy vegetarian"; formed from the first three and last two letters of the word vegetarian.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=vegan "Kitsch, lively and glamorous, Canadian food writer Sarah Kramer bucks all the vegan stereotypes." Leonie Cooper; The Garden of Vegan; The Guardian (London, UK); Feb 6, 2008. Sponsored by: Get revenge on Scrabble nerds and silly short odd words. Play WildWords. Stop memorizing lists. Long words are fun to play. http://wildwords.us The University of Scranton is NCATE-accredited, 100% online and ready to help you earn your Master's in Education. Visit http://uscranton.com/WS Enjoy being fit, healthy? Like guilt free eating? Make animals friends and not your food. Check out http://stutigargblog.blogspot.com ............................................................................ The fire which enlightens is the same fire which consumes. -Henri Frederic Amiel, philosopher and writer (1821-1881) Discuss this week's words on our bulletin board: http://wordsmith.org/board Remove, change address, gift subs: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Today: Join us in an online chat with Michael Erard, author of "Um...: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean" Mon, Mar 17, 6pm Pacific at http://wordsmith.org/chat Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/vegan.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/vegan.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/vegan.html This message was sent to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]".
