Apparently Costco just jumped on the vegan band wagon; check it out:
Tag Archives: san fernando valley
Happy Mother’s Day
I’m sitting on the recliner; it’s green, musty, and someone’s donation to the goodwill. I have sat on this recliner few times since its inception into the living room. But today, the summer heat is swelling the walls with desert like death rays and delegating me to depend on the fan blowing breezes across my face on this green musty chair.
I feel the hamstring on the left tighten; an old sport’s inquiry wrenches my stomach like the sight on of an old foe. The sweat drizzles in the fissure of my chest towards the base of my rib cage. Central air is down. America and its luxuries are down. First world temperature control is out of my hands and sitting somewhere on a spreadsheet labeled “work orders.”
After dropping off two fruit tart cakes on the east side of the Sf valley, I nestle back into this ancient fabric, feeling like an evaporating haze in the street’s horizon, suspended in time and distorted.
I sit here and turnover the last few days as if they were greasy eggs on a frying pan. I flip over the idea of being in Texas for six scolding summer weeks for training. This eggy idea is premature and slips away into the heat. I scrap the corners of the new townhouse I’m moving into with my partner, Henry, on June and this idea is ripe, almost ready to join the plate of finished products but not quite yet there. I must place it in the corner of the mind to marinate for a few more weeks. I fumble around the edges of the design of our new town home, tapping against the furnishings that need to be assembled like Henry’s robotic lamp arm, his soldering station, the table for watercolor painting, and the space for the big black writing desk. The glass of water is pouring sweat through its glass flesh; the relief of the Virgin Mary unmoved by this heat.
I wander around the palette of herbs and fish for ideas to paint a centerpiece for the new place, to hang above a gray sectional couch that will sit below this water colored painting that has yet to shape in the rising heat.
I straddle the laptop mouse and navigate the change of living space using the images online as blueprints for our own living room; dissatisfied I move on to reading about lucid dreaming, playing with old toys again.
I sit in the heat, beside Henry and his lion like posture, waiting for the yearning’s cessation to settle inside the veins of this mania. Knowing myself too well, I shift my gears into the expanse of the blank canvas and spill Sunday’s psychobabble into the keyboard of an iPhone; all the while hoping there are no elderly people being strangled by this desert heat; all the while wondering how my mother felt when she saw fruit mounting over the custard pie; all the while wondering when I will hold, in the cusps of my hands, the 3-D print Alain sculpted for me as a gift; all the while the universe calls me a hypocrite through the slurred consonants of Zizek as I flip through what is not yet ready to be eaten.
Beatboxer Vincent Bantasan: Vegan Vs Meat Eating?
A couple months back, Vince posed a question about veganism, carnivores, and eating raw food. Vincent Bantasan came through for a Raw Possibility event delivering a stellar performance of vocal gestation. The interspersed beats, hooks, vocals, and a plethora of sound effects emitted by Vincent’s talented throat were impressive and the fact that he is a vegan made it all the more fitting for the event. Here is my response: The western diet, meat and dairy, has scientifically been proven to cause disease. The China Study is the utmost authoritative study about the effects of meat and dairy on the human body. It’s been around for a decade, the results of the study, and still people continue to graze over their meat filled plates at the dinning room table. This is because we are omnivores; as homo sapiens we can eat meat, plants, and stuff that can kill us. It’s up to us to choose. We have stomachs that can break down both flesh and plants, and use it to maintain our body’s alkaline balance (expressed as pH). I mention this because we were raised to believe that meat is good. You ate it. You didn’t claim to be “carnivorous.” You didn’t know about “trans-fat,” “carbs,” or “fats.” You simply ate meat; it was food. Before the organic hippie movement, it was just a taco, a hamburger, or a hot-pocket. But times have changed, and food has become a hot topic for our generation especially since cancer is killing us like a virus. The cure for cancer is not on the shelves, and the cause of it is still lurking in the dark. Just like the denial of global warming, the officials are denying any direct “cause and effect” relationship between meat and disease. But then again, politicians and legislators are not scientist. The scientist that have studied the effects of dairy and meat, in the China Study for example, have shown significant statistical links between dairy and meat t to disease.
The reason the USDA and the Western diet is the way it is (i.e. the food pyramid) is because they have been bought out by corporations and industry lobbyist. They want you to buy what they are selling so they can profit. It’s a business, not a religion, not a family, and this is why it dominates our diets.
On the other hand, plants and vegetables didn’t rise to fame like meat did. At fast-food drive-throughs, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions are the only veggies that made the cut. Plants did not get governement money the way meat did. Meat is highly subsidized, so it’s everywhere and cheap. Nowadays, ordering meat is cheaper than the veggie alternative. On the other side of the issue are plants which give their life when you eat them but not the same way that animals do when they are killed in the slaughterhouse. Why should you choose plants over animals? Because plants do not tax your body the way meat does. Plants consume energy and their food from the sun, they absorb nutrients through the soil, and when we eat them they release the nutrients we need for good health. Like green vegetables that nourish our cardiovascular systems with a vitality necessary to maintain blood pressure. But of course, everything has to be done in moderation. Why take a natural supplement if you don’t need it? Anything in excess can become toxic. People buy Vitamin E and shove them down their throats on a daily basis without getting the green light from a licensed nutritionist or a medical professional. This entire topic of vegetarianism and veganism can be a bit complex when you think of all the business’ trying to ride the trendy wave of “natural” foods. It isn’t natural to eat meat every day. It is isn’t natural to have a vitamin supplement you don’t need everyday. Food is natural. Vegetables and water is natural but how much of it and what it contains are becoming the challenging questions. I advocate the vegan diet because it’s a choice I make at every meal. Veganism: Veganism is no joke. It’s a tough step to take. I was only able to go that far out after I had been vegetarian for years. I was the first vegetarian that I intimately knew. A few things I figured out right away is that to be a healthy vegetarian or vegan, I had to have B-12s (found in meat), Vitamins, and Omega-3s. Going vegan is a wonderful lifestyle if you live in California. Every emerging cafe and contemporary restaurant has a vegan option now a days. The health benefits alone outweigh any of the pros of meat. Humans are evolving and so is their diet. I think veganism is an evolved diet. It keeps you in great shape when it’s done right. It is a daily choice and a right everyone reserves and can practice on the West Coast. Going raw is the next level. Raw foods offer a treasure chest of nutrients for our human body suit. Raw foods infuse our organs with a potent source of nutrients. The crunch and freshness of raw foods is unique. Given that we are moving so fast as a human species because of major progress in science and technology, I think it’s time to rethink our food in-take and veganism is that idea but into action.
