Vegan Potluck, September 2013

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Huntsville Vegan and Animal Rights League is having its September potluck at Jamie’s house in Madison [317 Harvestwood Court, Madison AL 35758]! Bring a dish or two, no particular theme– whatever you think would be enjoyable. 

Look for signs on the street and a balloon or two on the mailbox! 

 

Important note about parking from Jamie:

 Just a quick note people. We have a new rule enforced in the neighborhood…City has posted DO NOT PARK AT ANY TIME signs on the south bound side of the road leading into the park. You MAY NOT park across the street any longer. The police routinely visit the neighborhood on Saturdays and Sundays and are writing tickets for those parked on that side of the street. I will park my car in the garage. There is room for at least 4 cars if the first two park as close to the garage door as possible, leaving room for two behind. There is a least room for three vehicles in front of my home on the side walk. If more of you decide to come, we will have to have you park in a space at the park and walk up. Its not a bad walk…the park is only about 7 houses down from my house. I know its a pain…but they did this because emergency responders couldn’t make a quick call to a house down the street without getting stuck in a dodge car game.

NOTE: Please prepare your food before coming to the potluck! If you need to heat up dishes, that’s totally cool. But *please* do your cooking before coming out. Thanks everyone!

Map (google): http://goo.gl/maps/uHCJP
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If you’ve never been to a potluck, here’s a page with some potluck etiquette (by the wonderful vegan chef Isa Chandra):
http://tinyurl.com/7sazm4p 

Basically, 1) bring some food! 2) If you’re not sure about something, ask the organizers/hosts. 3) Be nice to whoever opens their home for the potluck, the public area that we’re using (clean up!), and the people around us, and 4) HAVE FUN.

Recipe inspiration:
http://vegweb.com/
http://www.theppk.com/
http://theveganstoner.blogspot.com/

Whatever anyone brings will be appreciated. If you are tired/poor/busy/etc. It’ll be okay if you come without bringing something, but it’s not a potluck if no one brings food! So we strongly urge you to bring a dish. If you’re not sure how much to bring, imagine that you’re making food to feed a dish to eight friends. If you bring more, that’s wonderful, but this should be a good guideline. Ready-made vegan food is available from Earth Fare and is always welcome if you run out of time to cook. Look for the part of the tag that says “Vegan” in the deli section, bakery, and on the hot bar. When terribly in doubt, fruit is always welcome and appreciated and beautiful.

We’d prefer everyone to come at four, but if you can’t make it ’til five, so be it. Six? We’ll still be hanging out being awesome. If you can just stop by, meet everyone, see if there’s some food left (and hopefully there will be plenty) and run away, well, we’ll be happy to have met you.

Please bring your recipe or an ingredient list with your dish. We’ll have some utensils handy, just in case.

Bring a musical instrument and we’ll have a rhythm jam (we mean it)! Organizer Mike and others will bring guitars and other instruments. Please get in on the jam. We’ll bring a turkish hand-drum. Bring some others! Dogs (or any other non-human animal) are welcome, kids are welcome.

If you have any questions about the potluck, or want to bring something but don’t know the first thing about vegan cooking, please email us at huntsvilleveg@gmail.com. Message Mike at (256)585-5946 if you need help. We look forward to meeting all of you!

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Book Club: Rain Without Thunder by Gary Francione

 

Are you an abolitionist or a welfarist vegan? 

Huntsville Vegans will host a discussion of the book Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement by Gary Francione on Thursday, September 19, 2013 beginning at 7:00PM at Alex and Natalia’s house in Madison. Please send an email to huntsvilleveg@gmail.com for directions to their home. 

We’ll have coffee and light snacks and lots of great, friendly discussion on the ideas raised by the book. Feel free to join us even if you are unable to read the book in time. 

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About the book: 

Are ‘animal welfare’ supporters indistinguishable from the animal exploiters they oppose? Do reformist measures reaffirm the underlying principles that make animal exploitation possible in the first place? In this provocative book, Gary L. Francione argues that the modern animal rights movement has become indistinguishable from a century-old concern with the welfare of animals that in no way prevents them from being exploited. Francione maintains that advocating humane treatment of animals retains a sense of them as instrumental to human ends. When they are considered dispensable property, he says, they are left fundamentally without ‘rights’. Until the seventies, Francione claims, this was the paradigm within which the Animal Rights Movement operated, as demonstrated by laws such as the Federal Humane Slaughter Act of 1958. In this wide-ranging book, Francione takes the reader through the philosophical and intellectual debates surrounding animal welfare to make clear the difference between animal rights and animal welfare. Through case studies such as campaigns against animal shelters, animal laboratories, and the wearing of fur, Francione demonstrates the selectiveness and confusion inherent in reformist programs that target fur, for example, but leave wool and leather alone. The solution to this dilemma, Francione argues, is not in a liberal position that espouses the humane treatment of animals, but in a more radical acceptance of the fundamental inalienability of animal rights. Author note: Gary L. Francione is Professor of Law and Nicholas de B. Katzenbach Scholar of Law at Rutgers University Law School, Newark. He is the co-director of the “Rutgers Animal Rights Law Center” and the author of “Animals, Property, and the Law” (Temple).

 

For more information on Gary Francione, visit his website