Some Changes:
I’m expanding the scope of my Substack.
Dear Subscribers and Followers,
When I started Celebrating Connectedness, my main motivation was to convince readers to become vegan or at least vegetarian. Have I been at all successful? I have no idea. I know that some subscribers are vegans or vegetarians, while others are not – and that’s totally fine. Personally, my commitment to a plant based diet has broadened, because I’ve learned that animal agriculture (factory farming) is a major contributor to climate change, besides being immensely cruel.
My early posts examined some of the fundamental reasons for a vegan diet: comparing the resources needed in order to produce a certain amount of nutrients, protein for example. How much land, how much water was needed to get a pound of beef versus a pound of tofu or beans? I talked about the health hazards connected with animal consumption, the destruction of the rainforest because of cattle ranching. I wrote about the immense suffering caused by the dairy industry and the inhumane conditions that chickens have to endure during their short lives, both egg-laying hens and male chickens destined for consumption (while newly-hatched male chicks in the egg industry end up in the meat grinder right away. No kidding, look up maceration.).
I had less than ten subscribers when I published the three pieces I linked above. Needless to say, hardly any of my current readers saw them. When I started this Substack, they were supposed to be the foundation, together with a few other posts. Sort of like the “required reading” when you take a class in college. I thought of re-writing these articles every six months or so, because they seemed to be something like the core of my Substack. But that didn’t sound like much fun. Instead, I will extend the core.
Actually, its scope always was quite broad since it is my firm belief that all creatures, things, thoughts etc. are connected to each other in countless ways. So, here’s my new goal: I’ll continue writing about the benefits of a plant-based diet; it’s better for your health, it’s better for the environment and the planet, and it cultivates compassion. But I’ll also write about philosophy and politics, about adventures I had in my past, about animals I have loved, about movies and TV shows I find significant. For example, at the moment I’m re-watching Treme, an HBO series about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. It’s absolutely brilliant.
And I’ll keep you informed about endangered species, famous vegans, evil factory farming, melting glaciers, and the occasional “good news”.
Today, I’ll share a little story I wrote a while ago about a dog some friends of mine rescued. They named her Bonnie and tried to find a permanent home for her. I considered taking her, but my two dogs, Mieze and Stella, wouldn’t have any of it. I wrote it with Stella’s voice, she’s the one telling the story.
My cousin Bonnie
She’s not even a year old, but my look-alike Bonnie has already made it through at least four different homes. The first one, she ran away from — barely three months old. No idea where she thought she was heading to, but she was running around on this busy street; maybe she wanted to hitch a ride, more likely she was getting herself run over by a car in no time. Well, a kind soul took pity on her and took her in, after many fruitless attempts to find her owners.
Like many homeless creatures, Bonnie had to live in a car for a while. Only for a short while though, until her rescuers found what seemed like the perfect home for her. This person had a furry Best Friend and she was looking for a companion for him. Seemed like the perfect deal; Bonnie went to check it out, got along fabulously with the dog and was hoping to become the other Best Friend, and everything was going just fine for about a month, until the person decided she’d rather have a brown dog. Maybe Bonnie didn’t match the furniture. But back she was, homeless once more…
Change, adventure, excitement — maybe some creatures actually like this. Me, not so much. At the tender age of eight weeks, some cruel person tore me away from my Mom and my brothers and sisters and dumped me in this vast empty lot. Luckily, my pitiful cries alerted the right person and ever since then the adventures in my life are restricted to the fun variety. My sister Mieze taught me all kinds of useful stuff, how to escape for example. We used to live in a house with a fence around, and you should have seen her jumping over it, no matter how high our human would build it. Me, I was too small for this, so I wriggled through the space underneath the gate and I got out too. Lots of fun.
These days, I love to dress up — like a cow, for example.
I bet you can’t tell which one is me!
Oh yes, about Bonnie. They even tried to add her to our family, but me and my sister Mieze soon made it very clear that we didn’t want any newcomers, no way. What really got on my nerves was that everybody always said how much she looked like me. “It’s amazing! She looks just like Stella!” Again and again. Now you have to know that I’m also known as Stella-Bella, and not without reason. I AM rather pretty, if I may say so. Can you imagine Natalie Portman or Emma Stone — not that I care much for them, but I’m making a point here — if people would say that so-and-so looked just like them? Don’t you think they’d be a bit miffed? Well, there you have it.
Uh, back to Bonnie. I have nothing against her (as long as she doesn’t move in with us) and I do wish her well, really. So I was glad to hear that she’s become the Best Friend of a young couple who don’t have any kids and who pamper and adore her. Let’s hope she’ll go with their interior decorating! Actually, they’re Russians; maybe she’ll learn to bark in a foreign language! Sounds like fun; I still can’t say “Moo”, and I have no idea what it means…
Bonnie is adorable! And of course, so are you, Stella.