2 memes and 1 plea

A big thanks to Jackie from The Vegan Diet who bestowed the title "Creative Blogger" on me. This was totally unexpected, and I'm very thankful. Now I'm supposed to tag creative fellow bloggers. The two names that immediately come to mind are:

Peggy the Veggie (of Vegan Teen Cuisine) - this talented chef is literally half my age, and already more fearless with cooking than I am. Homemade injera, anyone?

Hannah (of BitterSweet) - I recently discovered this blog, and I love it! A double threat: talented crafter *and* talented cook- vegan meringue anyone?!

The next meme comes to me courtesy of Hannah herself:

Curious to learn more about me?

Here are the “official” rules:

# Players must list one fact, word, or tidbit that is somehow relevant to their life for each letter of your first or middle name.
# When you are tagged you need to write your own post containing your first or middle name game facts, word, or tidbit.
# At the end of your post choose one person for each letter of your name to tag.
# Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them ,they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
# If I’ve tagged YOU, please join in on the fun!

I think I will use "Bazu" because while it isn't my real name, it is a nickname and now a word I identify with deeply. So here goes...

B - Basic. Our family's first computer was a crazy Samsung. There wasn't much fun to be had on it, but you could listen to a song about... computer programming. Sung to the tune of "La Cucaracha" it went something like this: "La cucaracha, la cucaracha, Archie is a friend of mine. La cucaracha, la cucaracha, a finer friend you'll never find! If software bugs you, if software bugs you, you can give yourself a break. Use Structured Basic, use Structured Basic, do it right for heaven's sake!"

A - Anywhere. I want to travel, and there are a lot of places I want to visit, experience, and even live in. Anywhere means I'm not choosy- if you want to give me a ticket to Nigeria or Laos or Chile, or a place closer to home like Maine, I will not decline!

Z - Zanesville, Ohio. One of the scariest places I have ever spent the night. However, this also makes me think of my love of road trips and travel, and how it's worth it to stay in a few creepy places because of all the possibilities and discoveries that getting in a car without a map or a plan allow.

U - United Nations. Ever since I was very little, I've had a fascination with the U.N. My dad used to go to conferences there and bring me back t-shirts with the logo. If I could pick any fantasy career outside my chosen field, I would choose to work at the United Nations. I believe in the ideals that it represents, and that The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the closest humanity's come to real justice. In a cool twist of fate, I ended up living right across the East River from the U.N. and got to look at it from my window every day for almost 2 years.

Bazu, 1984


View from Bazu's apartment, 2002 (The U.N. building is the flat blue one in the center)

For this meme I tag:

Emmie of VegBitch
Jackie of the Vegan Diet
Vegan_Noodle of Walking the Vegan Line
Veganista of Veganista

* * *

Finally, a plea. I went to see a talk by a wildlife rescuer and rehabilitator last night, and she said one of the biggest problems facing wildlife today is... house cats! She gave us a statistic that astounded me- how many birds do you think are killed by house cats in the United States every day?

(a) 2,300
(b) 23,000
(c) 230,000
(d) 2,300,000


If you guessed (d) 2.3 million birds a day, you are right! Isn't that horrible? The speaker said that cat owners are being urged to keep their cats indoors at all times. Not only does this save all those millions of birds from being needlessly tortured and killed, but it extends the life and health of our cats too.

Now before you say that it's "natural" for domestic cats to hunt and kill, consider that there is nothing natural about cats being kept as pets. They are safe, well-fed, and long-lived. They do not need to hunt to survive, and indeed, they don't really eat the birds and rodents they kill. To me, that argument is akin to saying that it's "natural" to milk cows. As vegans, we should know better than anyone that there is no "natural" when it comes to our interactions with animals, and that it is our responsibility to decrease suffering wherever we can. If you have a kitten or young cat, please train it to stay indoors. The little birdies will thank you!

P.S. Here is an added incentive. I don't know about other states, but in New York, there is a law on the books that says that any cat caught killing (or even stalking) a protected species can be put down! Now, obviously, this law isn't put into practice very often, but wouldn't it be horrible if this happened to your beloved kitty?

2 memes and 1 plea