As you know I’ve been interning at Mercy For Animals in Chicago for the last 2 ½ weeks now. I love it! I’ve already finished my hours for the third week. I have one more week to go. After the one month commitment, I do not know what will happen after that. I’m eager to talk to my boss to see what will happen after that.

This past weekend I volunteered at an event with Pete called Riot Fest. It’s a huge rock band party in a park. It wasn’t my kind of music but it was really neat to volunteer. MFA interns teamed up with FarmUSA to help them out at their paid per view event. They have a giant truck with 10 screens and multiple headphones so we were able to connect with multiple at once. Some people just want the dollar and their eating choices aren’t affected by the video they see. Some will try and scam you by not listening with the headphones on their head and will be texting, in which case they do not receive a dollar. And others are completely moved and one lady even ran away from the video crying.

I love doing paid per view events, an event where you get paid a certain amount of money to watch a video, because I love watching people’s reactions. If you like people-watching, then you’d definitely enjoy paid per view events and even leafleting. People’s responses always get me there as well.

I’m still signed up for google alerts where I receive an alert about a pertinent article regarding veganism, animal cruelty, factory farming, etc. and I read and respond to it. I’m still scanning the papers for articles for letters to the editor. That is probably the thing I have the hardest time with. Lastly I’m helping Phil on his Walmart Cruelty Campaign against gestational crates for mother pigs. Phil Letten is on a nationwide tour and I look for veggie groups and animal advocacy groups to send letters to let them know when and where Phil will be campaigning in their area.

The internship so far has taught me to be a better vegan….a kinder and more joyful vegan. I’m no longer the vegan that’s ready to ram carrots down your throat like I was when I wrote the Would Eat Your Dog and Drink Your Wife’s Breast Milk post. Although, to date, that’s still my favorite post, I understand why it’s so hard. Being on the other side I experience people that literally have no idea where their food comes from and it’s part of my job to educate them. If I’m successful at that job then I’m grateful for that. It’s not a victory but a joyfulness inside that I feel. This isn’t a game. It’s a journey for others to change and I’m glad I’m changing too!

Sara Sawochka

When I was going to my MFA internship on the first day I was approached by a person on the street holding a binder of children from 3rd world countries. He started explaining his organization which was ChildFund International right away, not giving me a second to speak. His name was Paul. Paul changed my life that day.

Paul asked me if I’d seen the TV ads at 3am, when you’re watching TV and cannot sleep, about children who are starving in 3rd world countries who are starving and can be saved for just $1.00 a day. I told him yes and he asked me if I would like to sponsor Miriam. He gave me a picture of Miriam.

Miriam Chebet is a femail from Kenya. I asked and all of the proceeds go directly to Miriam. I told Paul I would sign up. Holding that picture in your hand somehow makes it very real. Paul told me I could call and cancel within two weeks if I decided I didn’t want to sponsor her for a dollar a day. My first selfish thought was, “He’s doing the same thing I’ll be doing on my internship (leafleting). So I may as well show him some support and signup and I’ll just cancel later. I have two weeks to think about it.” Two weeks have nearly passed now and I’ve decided to keep Miriam and will sponsor her. I have a dollar a day. I make more than that in an hour and can can certainly afford to sponsor her.

One thing that is cool about ChildFund is the kids write letters to their sponsors and send pictures. What’s even cooler is that I can write back. I read that it could take 16 weeks or so for the letters to get delivered but that’s okay. It just makes Miriam’s letter that much more precious. There are translators that will translate her letters to me and vice versa. So in effect I have a young pen pal!

I’ve been grown and transforming so much this year and this is part of my growth process: doing something completely unselfish…not thinking of myself for once and thinking of someone else that I’ve never even met.

Here are some pictures of Miriam and click here to go directly to ChildFund’s website for more information.

The picture of Miriam that Paul gave me that changed my life.

The packet! I put her up at my desk at my job to remind me who I’m working for. It’s not just me anymore.

An upclose and personal take on Mriam’s information!

I feel so proud for what I am doing and I wanted to share it with you all. I have no children but I can at least sponsor one, even though it’s not my own child. It’s one way I can make a difference.

Sara Sawochka

This past Saturday 9/4/2012, I volunteered as part of my internship to work the table (hence the word tabling) for Mercy For Animals at the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago.

Like a huge nerd, I got up there way too early because I didn’t want to deal with Chicago traffic. I was also worried about being able to find food so I went to my favorite food place, Whole Foods, and got two Upton’s eggplant foccia sandwiches and 1 seitan bbq slaw sandwich plus one cup of coffee. Armed with my products I drove to the Renegade Craft Fair and proceeded to have a fantastic day! I ate two of the eggplant sandwiches and gave the seitan one to Mikael my supervisor. We aren’t supposed to tell Pete about this because Pete loves seitan. But I broke down and told Pete anwyways.

There are a lot of positions to fill when tabling for Mercy For Animals.

1. Holding the sign that says “We will pay you $1.00 to watch a 4 minute video.” Several people asked me if this was a gimmick or if I was serious. Who wouldn’t do anything for a dollar? It’s only four minutes. And it’s great spending money and can buy beer. When I was holding the sign these were the angles I used to try and attract people to our tent to get them to watch the video. This is called a paid-per-view event. We pay you to watch a movie.

Here are pictures of me holding the sign and talking to people to get them to watch the vidoe. I had quite a few takers!

This is me talking to the guy from Zip Car which was the tent next to ours. I got him to watch the video!

Me holding the sign trying to lure people in. I worked and rocked that sign! For a person that was voted quietst in my class, I’m kind of a loud-mouth now!

Something else that has to be done when tabling is actually working the table. This means getting people set up to watch the Farms to Fridge video. It also means passing out literature, getting email sign-ups for the e-mail list, selling t-shirts, giving out bumper stickers and also letting people know what Mercy For Animals is and what we stand for.

Here’s a picture of me behind the table:

This is me giving a high-five to someone that was already a vegetarian. I gave her some recipes from our ChooseVeg magazine to take home with her.

The last thing we did is leaflet. I don’t have a picture of me doing that. Leafleting means passing out brochures to people as they pass by. Some people don’t have a clue what you’re giving them, some people take it and give it back and some people thank you for the information. I gave out a lot of brochures. What I found is asking, “Would you like some information on vegetarianism?” is an easy way to pass out a brochure versus saying, “Help stop factory farming.” or “Help stop animal cruelty.” While these are all causes we support sometimes a softer apporach works well with people to get them interested in what message you are delivering.

Here’s the last picture of me and my fellow interns manning the table at the beginning of the day. What you won’t see is my spectacular sunburn I had by the end of the day!

Pauline, Olivia and myself manning the table before the day started.

Overall it was a really successful day. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot!

Sara Sawochka

Pete has reached the end of his vegan journey.

I’m sorry to say that he has gone back to eating meat and cheese for the time being. He’s insisted that he must eat up the meat and cheese that we have in our house. He says it would be wasteful to throw this food he’s already paid for away. Anyone want some free food? You don’t have to make a donation to any cause. I will even bring you the food!

Pete says that once the meat/cheese laden food is gone he will resume his mostly-vegan diet. Pete can see doing this for moral and compassionate purposes regarding the animals. I believe my internship at Mercy For Animals and also my vegan journey has helped him along his journey to get where he is today. If you’ll remember back when I went vegan, this was the man that told me, “I certainly hope you don’t stay vegan. You’ll never be able to go out to eat anywhere.” I think it’s safe to say Pete has been proven wrong!

I’ve never told anyone this but I’ll tell you now. I liked the vegan diet when I tried it as a project for my blog but I was on the fence about staying with that lifestyle choice. To go from eating meat, dairy and eggs one day and to drop it all the next is a pretty big change. And if you think about it, doing it in only one week is a huge step. It was the words that Pete said to me about not staying vegan that pushed me over the fence. So I have Pete to thank for my veganism and where it brought me. My journey through veganism to now becoming an animal rights activist has been a great one and I have Pete and his challenging words to thank for it.

I’m glad that Pete got a chance to try eating for a week without any meat or cheese. It opened his eyes to the struggles I sometimes face at restaurants. It also forced him to do some label reading to see what was really in his food.

The best part of the project for me was at the very end when Pete went to Costco on Saturday while I was at the Renegade Arts Festival. I came home and he said he had some surprises for me. He said that he found three vegan things at Costco: fruit snacks, pasta sauce and some designer potato chips. Then he broke down and told me he ate ALL of the samples. For Pete’s sake he ate everything! And he enjoyed it of which I’m really glad!

 So there you have it: another successful project completed. The subject will eat up all of the leftover meat in the house and then will resume a mostly vegan diet (some cheese will be included apparently). I’ll take that….for now.

Sara Sawochka

Pete has reached the end of his vegan journey.

I’m sorry to say that he has gone back to eating meat and cheese for the time being. He’s insisted that he must eat up the meat and cheese that we have in our house. He says it would be wasteful to throw this food he’s already paid for away. Anyone want some free food? You don’t have to make a donation to any cause. I will even bring you the food!

Pete says that once the meat/cheese laden food is gone he will resume his mostly-vegan diet. Pete can see doing this for moral and compassionate purposes regarding the animals. I believe my internship at Mercy For Animals and also my vegan journey has helped him along his journey to get where he is today. If you’ll remember back when I went vegan, this was the man that told me, “I certainly hope you don’t stay vegan. You’ll never be able to go out to eat anywhere.” I think it’s safe to say Pete has been proven wrong!

I’ve never told anyone this but I’ll tell you now. I liked the vegan diet when I tried it as a project for my blog but I was on the fence about staying with that lifestyle choice. To go from eating meat, dairy and eggs one day and to drop it all the next is a pretty big change. And if you think about it, doing it in only one week is a huge step. It was the words that Pete said to me about not staying vegan that pushed me over the fence. So I have Pete to thank for my veganism and where it brought me. My journey through veganism to now becoming an animal rights activist has been a great one and I have Pete and his challenging words to thank for it.

I’m glad that Pete got a chance to try eating for a week without any meat or cheese. It opened his eyes to the struggles I sometimes face at restaurants. It also forced him to do some label reading to see what was really in his food.

The best part of the project for me was at the very end when Pete went to Costco on Saturday while I was at the Renegade Arts Festival. I came home and he said he had some surprises for me. He said that he found three vegan things at Costco: fruit snacks, pasta sauce and some designer potato chips. Then he broke down and told me he ate ALL of the samples. For Pete’s sake he ate everything! And he enjoyed it of which I’m really glad!

 So there you have it: another successful project completed. The subject will eat up all of the leftover meat in the house and then will resume a mostly vegan diet (some cheese will be included apparently). I’ll take that….for now.

Sara Sawochka

Week one of my four week internship is nearing completion. I’ll admit it’s been a very stressful week with Pete breaking his collar bone and having to take on a lot more responsibility at the house things have been very stressful.

Here are some of my duties at Mercy:

1. Leafleting when I’m in the Chicago. Leafleting is passing out informational brochures to people on the street in a selected location typically with good lighting and high foot traffic.

2. Scanning articles on the newspapers for Letter to the Editor responses. I check out Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader and The Red Eye in Illinois. I also check out NWI Times, Post Tribune, Journal Gazette, South Bend Tribune and Indianapolis Star scanning the news headlines/stories for anything MFA could react to.

3. I check out google alerts on veganism, vegetarianism, Mercy For Animals and animal cruelty for articles written by online writers and blogs for articles to comment on to get MFA’s name out there. I comment as a citizen and not a MFA intern. I direct people to ChooseVeg.com and MeatVideo.com and make quick comments on their applicable posts.

4. I was assigned to a project where I’m helping Phil who is on an outreach campaign against Walmart’s cruelty towards mother pigs in gestational crates. I google vegan and animal right’s groups in a particular city and send out emails to those groups telling them when Phil will be in their area and that encouraging them to come help out the protest.

5. I go to fairs on the weekends and (wo)man the MFA table along with other interns and volunteers.

6. I get to hang out with Oliver, the office dog on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I go into the office.

This is what I’ve been doing so far and will be doing this weekend. It’s been a full week! I love every minute of it. One thing my mentor/supervisor Mikael constantly tells me is to stay balanced. He says if you don’t take care of yourself then you can’t help the animals and he’s right.

One thing I did with teaching dance was I put every extra ounce of time I had and gave it to my students. I would say I would come in and teach every Saturday when I really had no desire to do that. I felt like I gave so much and never got any appreciation back. This is different because it’s a selfless act. I know that even if I put in 5 minutes a day an animal will be helped somehow, someway, somewhere. I can make an impact and difference because I want to.

If you want to see what animal activism is all about I highly recommend either this 20 hour per week part-time internship or simply volunteering a few hours to leaflet or table at an event. MFA couldn’t exist without their interns and volunteers.

I’ll be at the Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park in Chicago from 10:30am-3:30pm this weekend helping out at the MFA table. Please come join me and volunteer if you wish. I’d love to see you there. Animal activism is a great way to make a difference in an animal’s life and whether they have one or not.

I’ll admit that the internship being in Chicago is just amazing. I love the drive and seeing city twice a week. The office is right down the street from Trader Joe’s and very close to The Chicago Diner!!! If you’ve ever had their mac n cheese or shakes then you know what I’m talking about…delish!

It’s been a great first week! I’ll post on my progress next Friday for week two!

Sara Sawochka

I know you’re thinking one of three things right now:

1. She takes off all her clothes and swings around on a pole. How could anyone talking about such an inappropriate subject on a blog?

2. Pole dancing is so cool. I wish I had the courage to take a class like that.

3. I want to take a pole dance class but I don’t know what they do in the class and if it would be appropriate for me.

To start with the clothes do stay on. However, I do wear a leotard and a short pair of workout shorts. You really need your skin to help you stick to the pole to do anything basic. You don’t have to wear a midriff top to start however the more advanced you get it would definitely be helpful. If you have a problem wearing shorts and a tank-style top then I wouldn’t recommend a pole dance class.

Now to address the inappropriate subject: I get a lot of reactions when I tell people I’m taking a pole dance class. It’s like they think pole isn’t real dancing. I’m here to tell you that it is. It requires a lot of athleticism, core and overall body strength plus grace. You need to be strong to climb up the pole and have a strong core to do the aerial tricks and the grace and knowledge of dance helps with body awareness. You need to know where your body is and where all the parts of your body are at one time when you’re taking a pole dance class.

Now the best part of taking: it’s so fun! Don’t be embarrassed to take this class by yourself ladies. Get some confidence. No one in my class knows another person in the class yet we’ve all made friends and encourage each other along the way. So the excuse of “I can’t sign up because my friends won’t sign up with me” is bullshit. Sign up and go. You’ll regret not signing up. You’ll get a great workout and work muscles you never knew existed.

Here’s what we do in the class: we start with a warm up (crunches, shoulder and neck rolls, etc.) to get our muscles and core warmed up. Then we stretch to get everything loose. Next we do our warm-ups on the pole itself to get our forearms, biceps, triceps, shoulders and back warmed up. Then we usually practice our spins on the pole like the fireman spin, the carousel, etc. After spins we usually practice climbing the pole to get up to the top. I’m can only do one climb so far. The goal is to do the crucifix where you do one climb, wrap your legs around the pole to hug it and let go with both hands so you and the pole are vertical and you are hugging the pole. After climbing we will practice handstands and inversions. Then we usually work on our pole dance routine to put everything together. Any dancer will tell you that an amalgamation is a great way to practice everything you’ve been working on the class. The repetitiveness reinforces everything you’ve been learning to memory. Routines are very helpful for any student. When I leave class I’m sore and have had a great time.

Will your significant other think this is sexy? Yes. Pete thinks this is sexy. It sure doesn’t feel sexy being covered in bruises and looking at myself in the mirror struggle to climb up the pole!

I’ve learned from taking this class that I really do still love dance. It’s nice to get back into it in a way that’s vegan (no suede shoes) and is a totally different workout than what I’m used to. It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut of going to the gym or going for your daily run. It’s a great way to break out your shell. You’ll even get marks or bruises to show your right of passage into the pole world as you break your skin in on new pole moves.

Remember…what happens on the pole stays on the pole…and the bruises will show up tomorrow morning!

Sara Sawochka

What would you do if your dad called you “a whore”? What would you do if your mom called you “his prostitute”? These are my parents. So what would you do? Would you shuck them from your life or would you try and get them to love you again no matter how much they criticized you and hurt you?

Here’s what I’ve done:

When I first started dating Pete this is what happened they called me his whore and his prostitute. There was something about this person that they’d never met that really bothered them. I sought my parents’ approval fiercely as a child. I define myself as a child from birth until the age of 30. That’s how long it took me to grow up. It wasn’t until my parents and I had a horrible fight at Christmas 2011 that I decided to find a better life for myself which was one without them in it. I deserved better than what they could give me for my own mental health.

At age 31, I’m finally coming into my own. I was 23 when I started dating Pete. We’d been dating for three months and we moved in together because my parent’s gave me an ultimatum: break up or get out. For the first time in my life I made my own decision. I moved out. Pete and I haven’t had the easiest relationship. We got married and life is much better for us now than it was back then. Our relationship has grown stronger. But it’s gotten stronger as I become my own person and not a reflection of my parents.

It’s an exciting thing to be grown up and to make your own decisions. It’s an emancipating feeling to know that they can’t control me anymore. I will always love my parents and think of them. I’m grateful for the life they gave me. I will still send them birthday cards and Christmas cards to let them know I think of them.

One day will come when they will not be here anymore. I will bleed love for them. I bled love when they called me a whore and a prostitute. When the day comes that they pass away, I will bleed love that they are gone. But I will bleed love because I truly love them no matter how much they’ve hurt me. I’ve let them go and they’ve let me go.

When I got a text message for my 31st birthday this year with no card or phone call I realized that they were truly out of my life. The odd part of it is that I didn’t bleed love. I expected that’s what would happen and moved on. I’m no longer their daughter. They don’t see that they have a daughter despite that I still see them as the parents who I once allowed to control my cognitive and emotional behaviors.

Bleeding love in my eyes means to cry. I will not bleed for someone who doesn’t bleed for me.

When I was bitten by a pit bull last year, something my psychologist said to me 7 years ago rang so true to the bite and also to this situation. She told me to think about an open wound and how vulnerable and weak it is at first. Then think of the wound after it has healed. What is the strongest part of the skin? The scar is. The scars my parents have left me with have made me so strong. For that I have to thank them even if I don’t have them in my life anymore.

If something like this happened to you, would you bleed love and move on or just stay where you are keep opening the wound? I did both. Moving on was much better for me.

Sara Sawochka

Here’s an interview with my guinea pig for my 2nd vegan project:

Sara Sawochka: How do you like your vegan project so far?

Pete: It’s interesting. It’s doable. I don’t know if I could go long-term with it and make it a permanent thing….at least not yet.

Sara Sawochka: What’s the most interesting factoid you’ve learned being a vegan this week?

Pete: Nutter Butters are vegan. It’s a scary but interesting. Also I learned that Whole Fruit Sorbet is made with GMO high fructose corn syrup.

Sara Sawochka: What’s your favorite blog post that Sara’s done so far on the vegan project?

Pete: The Hot Vegan Night in Noblesville and Happy Lunch on 9/1/2012

Sara Sawochka: Do you notice a change in how you feel ethically towards animal rights after being a vegan for nearly a week?

Pete: I’m maybe a little more conscious of it.

Sara Sawochka: What’s the best meal you’ve eaten so far as a vegan?

Pete: The meal Elizabeth Howell made for us. That was the best!

Sara Sawochka: What made you decide to go along with Sara’s plan for this project? Did you have any objections? Did you have a choice?

Pete: I didn’t really have much of a choice. It wasn’t the best time to do this project in retrospect. I needed someone willing to prepare food for me for the next two weeks and she was willing to prepare vegan food for me. I had non-vegan food setting around the house that is going to go bad, but I decided to go full throttle with the project: all vegan food all the time!

Sara Sawochka: Will you stay with the project or will you go back to being a non-vegan or a vegetarian?

Pete: I’ll go back to being a non-vegan for a time to eat up the non-vegan food we have for financial reasons. Why waste perfectly good food? It’s already been produced and those animals have already died to make the food. Why waste it? I’m not like Sara Sawochka and could just give it up cold turkey and get rid of the non-vegan food. Once that food is gone I will re-evaluate my decision to be a vegan or non-vegan if I can eat a healthy and enjoyable way on a budget. I may be a GMO vegan but that may be better than not being a vegan at all.

Sara Sawochka: What food would be the hardest to give up if you became a vegan and why?

Pete: Specifically cheese and more generally dairy like ice cream and milk. Meat wouldn’t be that hard except every now and then I think I’d have a craving for it.

Sara Sawochka: Thanksgiving is coming up and you’re the chef. What food will you cook for Sara on Thanksgiving for dinner? Will you eat that meal with her or will you have turkey?

Pete: Of course I’ll make a vegan meal for her. I’ll eat elements of the meal with her. I haven’t completely decided on what I’m going to do so this question is hard to answer for me. Tofurkey anybody?

Sara Sawochka: No Tofurkey Pete!

Closing thoughts on the interview with Pete from Sara: Like this post if you think Pete should stay vegan!! Make comments to encourage him along. We know he wants to. I can see him on the ledge hovering and he just needs a good shove over into vegan-land.

Sara Sawochka