Leafletting

It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

I don't like approaching people I don't know. In fact, I have trouble with people in general. I'm an introvert and find social interaction to be exhausting. It's not that I don't enjoy it, because sometimes I really do, but it's something that I have to work at and that leaves me ready for a lengthy nap.

Accordingly, I never fancied myself as a person who would do outreach with strangers. My sister is one of those people and has spent the past few years touring with musical acts and talking to kids and teenagers about animal rights. That sounds terrifying to me.

But really, how bad can it be? A few hours approaching strangers? Even if they're completely rude to you, that's about the worst you can expect to happen. That's why I committed to buying fliers from Vegan Outreach last August when Erik Marcus posted that month's list for Commitment Tuesday. I immediately and publicly committed to buying, reading and donating the books. That was easy.

It took a few days, but I settled on buying some fliers to have on hand when people asked me questions. But it didn't quite work out that way. The Vegan Outreach team got in touch to make sure that I knew what resources were available to me, and how to find on-going leafleting in my area. Then, I received an email from Jon Camp, Outreach Coordinator, saying that he'd be leafleting at Bowie State University, which is just down the road from my house, if I wanted to join.

That was the game-changer. I read The Animal Activist's Handbook, which was invaluable in its advice, but the opportunity to go with a veteran for my first time really motivated me.

In my email exchanges with Jon, he said something that made all the difference in the world:

I should also note that I'm not some great extrovert. But I found there to be a great need for those who do outreach and I've been overwhelmed by how positive it can be and what great feedback we receive as a result of it. So it's important to remember that the hardest booklet to hand out is the first. And it gets easier and easier from there. So if you don't think much about the first booklet, you should be good to go.

So I made arrangements to leave work early one cool November Monday, and set off to Bowie State with one of my favorite vegan buddies to join Jon.

Jon was a nice guy who gave us a few pointers. I think he could tell I was nervous, so he said, "I'm just going to let you go ahead and give out that first one." So I did. Jon relinquished his spot to us, and headed a few yards away to reach another segment of traffic.

Honestly, the first 20 minutes crawled by. I felt apprehensive and weird and kept glancing at the huge tower clock above me, hoping that the hour I'd promised would fly by.

But the source of my pain was not the passersby. Everyone was nice to me. The worst I got was an occasional, and polite, "No, thank you." One man did walk by, loudly saying, "Birds are such bastards and should be dipped in acid," but he wasn't saying it to us. He was being passive-aggressive and that doesn't upset me.

In fact, the response was largely positive. People took fliers happily, read them, talked about them, and a few even sought me out and asked about them. People expressed love for animals and dismay at the information in the pamphlets. It was a rewarding event in the end.

Honestly I don't think I'll become the star leafleter of any organization, but between the three of us, we handed out over 300 leaflets on that campus, and that's a start. Even if I never become comfortable with it, isn't an hour or two a month of discomfort worth it to educate people about the cause I love?

So how about you? Do you think you could approach strangers with a smile on your face and ask them if they'd be interested in some "info to help animals?" I think you can. So why don't you check out the resources below and give it a shot. If there's an organization you really like, why not ask them if they do leafleting and get involved? If the thought of leafleting leaves you queasy, why not order a few to have on hand for when someone asks about your ethics? Answering a few questions is great, but putting information in their hands is even better.

Even if you think you know what to do, read this first. The Animal Activist's Handbook will answer so many questions, give you good ideas, and help you understand how to approach and talk to people. I can talk to people well, despite being an introvert, but this book really opened my eyes to effective outreach techniques.


Handing out leaflets requires one thing above all others - leaflets. Vegan Outreach has a few different designs, so look for one that suits you. I really like "Compassionate Choices." A lot of people expressed adoration for the happy animals on the front, and then realized once they looked inside that such adoration made the reality of factory farming more difficult to face. I also handed out "Even If You Like Meat" and Jon gave me some "Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating" for people who had questions.



If working with Vegan Outreach is appealing to you, and you live near a college, check out their Adopt A College program. College kids have the time to stand around and talk to you, and so many schools have established programs that you can probably join some experienced leafleters.

As scary as leafleting may seem, it really is one of the quickest and most effective ways to spread your message. Give it a go once. Worst case scenario you decide not to do it again, but my bet is that you'll be happy to have done it and be looking forward to doing it again.

A Month of Activism

Happy New Year! Have you made any resolutions yet? One of my non-New Year's resolutions was to step up my activism game, so this month I am dedicated to blogging daily about it.

Vegan MoFo was a lot of fun - so much fun it ruined me for blogging for a month, apparently. I didn't do a lot of planning, but was still able to post about food every day for the month of November. I made a lot of food during December, and meant to share it, but never got around to it.

I love sharing the food I make - both in the blog and with people in life - and I've won many pessimistic souls over to more adventurous palettes and even, in some cases, to a vegan lifestyle.

Food brings people together. Our gatherings and holidays are often conducted around meals, and many of us have traditional or cultural dishes that we are proud to share. We bring each other food to commemorate, to congratulate, and to console. It's only natural then, that the best gateway to vegan living is the food. Challenging the myths about deprivation, protein, and absent flavors helps people to see that it's not a massive sacrifice, and that can help to alleviate guilt and denial that we so often see in those confronted with their choices.

But not everyone will be won over by treats, and eventually, we have to turn off the ovens, put up our mixing bowls, and confront people with the truth.

It's an uncomfortable truth, and most of us are unwilling to be the preachy, annoying vegan. Time and again, people express shock that I'm not trying to force my views on them, but those people don't realize that I don't because I can't.

You can't force anyone to believe what you believe. In fact, the harder you push, the more resistance you're likely to encounter. That's where activism done right becomes your best friend.

Activism should never be about force, but about change through education. That's not easy - I know how angry I am about the brutal treatment of animals and the ignorance or cruelty people express in response. I want to shout, I want to tell people they're awful, but the fact is, I was once awful too. I once knew nothing about the industry, and even when I became a vegetarian, it took years to realize that veganism was not an extreme lifestyle. Rather, it was the only reasonable response to the animal agriculture industry.

And so, I harness my anger the sickness in the pit of my stomach. I strive to approach people in the ways that are most effective. I listen to what they have to say, I provide information, and above all, I never get my temper get the best of me. We have to use our anger and we have to fight, but we have to do it in a way that works.

Activism has always been my bugbear because I am a shy introvert. The idea of approaching strangers to ask directions turns my stomach, so I assumed I couldn't handle any outreach activities. I've always preferred to be a passive-aggressive vegan, distributing cookies to friends and pointing out little nutrition facts to help people reduce their animal product consumption.

I'm not giving up on being that cheerful, cookie-sharing vegan, but I'm going to explore my activist options. The good news is that there are so many ways to help. You don't have to be out on the streets, handing out literature to effect change. My hope is that my exploration of activism will inspire you to try something new.

It's all new to me. I'm not writing these posts as an expert - most of what you read here will be new experiences. I'm looking to find my niche in the world of activism so that I can continue to help all animals (people included).

If you have any tips, ideas, or organizations you think I should explore, please let me know. I’ve made a list and have some ideas, but like I said, this is new ground for me and any help would be appreciated.

Happy 2011 to all of you!

We run on the fumes of injustice,
We'll never die with the fuel that you give us,

Keep it coming 'cause I'm prepared to burn,
Keep running from me at every turn.

Your life around,
(into something true, into something true)
So turn your life around,
(into something true, something true)

-Rise Against, "Bricks"

"We never turn our backs or even bite our tongues."

- Rise Against, "Behind Closed Doors," on The Sufferer & The Witness .

My intention was never to focus exclusively on food. I love it, I cook a lot, but really, simply getting my daily requirement of calories is not terribly challenging.

Quite some time ago, I ran across a sentiment that struck a chord. I want to say it was over at Vegan.com, but I'm not positive. I hate to skip attributions, but it really changed the way my veganism has been working. The idea was a question: if vegan cookbooks sell well, so why don't animal activism books sell just as well?

A lot of us (meaning, we vegans) love to cook, and even more of us love to eat wonderful vegan meals and treats, but loads of us are in it for the animals. So why don't we do more? There are a lot of reasons. For me, veganism is a way to fight all of those horrible, depressing things that keep me up at night and leave me weeping at unpredictable points in the day. But I don't like thinking about those things.

And other people don't want to think about those things. Friends and strangers get defensive fast when confronted with the facts of the animal ag business, but everyone loves my chocolate chip cookies! So it’s just easier to be that chill vegan with wicked snacks to share. Food can be a significant part of your activism, but I can tell you know one has suddenly dropped all animal products after eating one of my cupcakes.

In that vein, I committed to some action on Vegan.com's August Commitment Tuesday. I chose to buy and read the books suggested and to order pamphlets from Vegan Outreach. I wasn't 100% sure about leafleting. I'm not much for approaching strangers, but I was surprised to be contacted by team members of the organization and now I'm joining a veteran to distribute literature. I am grateful, but also impressed to see them truly reaching out to people. I am super excited to step out into real-world activism.

I haven't been a total slouch when it comes to activism. This blog was supposed to be part of it. I wanted to add one more vegan voice to the blogoshpere. Granted, the dearth of posts recently means that this is not my best example. Better examples would include my conversion rate (I've started asking people point blank to eliminate animal products from their diets and it works!), my jumping on opportunities to talk to people and provide guidance, and my daily Take 5 Minutes. These are all first steps (and honestly, pretty low-level in terms of time and commitment), but I want to do more.

So part of that means going beyond very occasionally posting about what I had for dinner. I'll try to stay mindful of that and seek out stories and opportunities to fight the system.

Now, after the talk of how I plan to blog about issues other than food, I'm announcing that I've signed up for Vegan MoFo 2010 (Month of Vegan Food)! I started cooking regularly at the end of October last year, so I missed it, but this year it's in November and I intend to blog it or die trying.

I do have a feeling I can work some activism into this …

Maybe after that, I’ll try a Vegan Month of Activism. Not as catchy, but maybe a good idea.