weapons of massdistraction

As a long-time vegan I often find myself engaged in the same discussion with different people. About my initial ethical/environmental/health reasons for going vegan and why I remain vegan. Sure, a lot has changed since I first went vegetarian. People seem to be more aware of awful factory farming conditions. Many are opting to consume meat that comes from animals raised more naturally, and locally, on free range farms. This is better for the environment and for the animals but personally? I’ve never looked at other living creatures and thought “mmmmm, meat” - guess my brain is wired differently. But I am glad more people are at least thinking about where their food comes from. This has been encouraging. Because somewhere along the way, in just the last couple of generations, a pretty huge disconnect has grown between the food on our plates and its point of origin. And this has all been on my mind even more after seeing the South Park Quality Meats project, executed by a crafty flickr contact who encourages curiosity in her kids. Her son Enzo wanted to learn more about meat and wound up being a butcher for Halloween, with his very own butcher shop, made out of plush materials.

Tangentially related? Some oddball out there has come up with Domokun butchery. Yes, meat section diagrams of my beloved Domokun and his buddies. And somehow this ties into another topic that came up at work this morning: mellified man aka human mummy confection, “a legendary medicinal substance created by steeping a human cadaver in honey.” Morbid topics on the mind this Wednesday morning.

Now for today’s five good things:

• Oh man, I would LOVE to be in New York for the 7th Annual Arab-American Comedy Festival. Go if you can.
• Cool photo essay on queer kids by photographer Mike Sharkey. Nicely done. Not quite kids anymore, but tonight the Untouchable Girls documentary is showing, about New Zealand’s lesbian yodeling twins, the Topp Twins. Looks fantastic.
• How on earth did I miss the Ben Folds tribute to chat roulette improv pianist Merton?
• Frat boys doing an a capella performance of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. And it’s surprisingly good. In other campy music news, I have always adored Adam Ant. Here’s an interesting snippet of an interview with him, regarding his formative experiences with Malcolm McLaren.
• These 1895 Calendrier Magique Lithographs are simply incredible.
  

  Colored Lithographs by Manuel Orazi. A rare piece of occultist ephemera, printed in an edition of 777 copies to commemorate magic for the coming year of 1896. Each double page spread mimics the Christian calendar in some respect (name days, iconography). The document is at once a spoof and an attempt to chart the year of magic.

In other news…Spring 2010 started off a little bumpy for us but managed to smooth itself out along the way. And things have been pretty grand. But as April is ending and May begins (this Saturday!) I’m slightly on edge about next school year. The St. Paul School District has been too preoccupied with proposed school closings to send out confirmations regarding school choices for Fall. I still have my fingers crossed for the arts magnet for my (big) little man. Only time will tell, I guess.