Speak for the Animals magazine

PREMIERE ISSUE Animals in Art Vet Talk 6 TIPS To avoid heat exhaustion

Humane News Activists Speak Out MAY 2017 / VOL. 1 NO. 1

FREE

WELCOME TO THE VERY FIRST

SPEAK

ISSUE OF SPEAK!

FOR THE ANIMALS

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK Our mission statement is: “Speak for the Animals” provides humane education and advocacy, promotes the health and welfare of, and encourages activism for, the benefit of all sentient beings.

In our premiere issue, we are featuring a very special art exhibition at The Animal Museum in the Arts District of Los Angeles. This exhibit is known as SPOM, and it features 14 women artists whose work has been inspired by the writings of Carol Adams. To be more specific, these artists all read her seminal work, The Sexual Politics of Meat. And Ms. Adams has graciously let us interview her, so that our readers might get a peek into the intellect that created the book with the provocative title.

In every FREE issue we will be providing an awesome mix of features addressing subjects such as veterinary advice, animal shelter news, plant-based restaurant reviews, exclusive interviews, exciting tales of animal rescuers and fosters, spotlights on activists, animals and the arts – too many features to list. And, we’re just getting started!

Please feel free to email me (at mary. speakmagazine@gmail.com) with article queries, suggestions for topics, and feedback of any kind.

Tell all your friends about us – they’re going to love us too.

For the animals, Mary Holmes, Editor

PICM/SPEAK Disclaimer: All reader submissions and photos are voluntarily submitted without expectation of compensation. All opinions of the Authors in this Magazine are those of the writer or contributor and are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher. The publisher has not confirmed the accuracy of information contained in the articles. PICM/SPEAK reserves the right to edit, alter, modify the submitted article to the extent we deem necessary.

PUBLISHER PCIM Publishing, LLC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Deborah Myers EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mary Holmes CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Patricia Denys Dande

content 02 From the Editor’s Desk 04 Product Review 05 Animal Welfare News 06 Meet Our Readers 08 Vet Talk 10 Shelter News 12 Feature 14 Calendar 15 Hints and Tips 16 Dog-Friendly Spots 17 Book Review 18 Activists Speak:

Exclusive Carol Adams Interview 22 Beach Blanket Bow Wows 23 Do Your Part

A RESCUE PLEA: PICM/SPEAK is dedicated to and encourages rescuing companion animals of all types. There are thousands of animals in California and across our nation needing a forever home. If you are interested in rescuing a companion animal there are hundreds of rescue organizations in California. A good resource is petfinder.com, a database for companion animals of all types. A rescued animal can add a great deal to your family and provide you with undying gratitude.

PICM/SPEAK for the Animals Magazine © 2017 is an independent, free monthly magazine published by PICM Publishing. For information regarding Speak for the Animals Magazine, visit www.petsinthecitymagazine.com.

2 | SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | MAY 2017

Walter White

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michelle Sathe, Best Friends Norman Seat, DVM ART DIRCTOR Karlie Kawa COVER Andy at the Animal Museum, Los Angeles Photo: Karlie Kawa CIRCULATION Lane Pellinger Circulation Manager AA Distribution L.L.C SALES & ADVERTISING Deborah Myers 801.702.1171 debbiepetsinthecitymagazine@ gmail.com ACCOUNTING Richard Beamer

petsinthecitymagazine.com

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PRODUCT REVIEWS

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BY SPEAK

K9 Carts calls their company the pet mobility experts, and rightly so. If you have a companion animal with any sort of a disability issue, this is the place to go. In the early years, they ran their own veterinary orthopedic referral practice. In this capacity, they watched companion animals and diagnosed their issues for 50 years.

Each K9 Cart is custom-built for your animal. They can be used temporarily for rehabilitation purposes, but are equally suitable for those with permanent disabilities. You can rent or purchase, depending on your needs. Most carts are built for dogs or cats, but K9 Carts can just as easily make them for rabbits, chickens,

4 | SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | MAY 2017

goats, sheep, turkeys, and ducks. If anyone can make a cart, K9 Carts can.

Andy, our cover for this issue, is a K9 Cart user. He is the third dog in his family to become a K9 Carts user. Two of his brothers, both Springer Spaniels, used them with great success in their older years, as they developed weakness and neuropathy in their rear legs.

Andy suffered from a herniated disc in 2011, and uses his cart whenever he leaves his home.

The customer service is tremendous. K9 Carts looks at each animal they serve as a member of their extended family. The staff is always courteous, professional, patient, and caring.

In conclusion, if you have a companion animal with a disability, look no further. K9 Carts will give him or her a new lease on life.

Not only do they provide carts, they have a full line of accessories to fulfill your animal’s special needs. Visit them at www.k9carts.com. Or call Krys Parkes:

Toll Free (US) 800-578-6960 Outside US 206-673-3638 Fax 855-723-2284 And tell her Andy sent you. ◆

9

ANIMAL WELFARE NEWS

AB 485 Being Considered in CA Assembly

BY MARY HOLMES According to a press release dated 4/18/17, AB 485, The Pet Rescue and Adoption Act, has been referred out of the Committee for Business and Professions, and is currently being considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This bill, authored and introduced by Assembly Member Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), according to a press release on O’Donnell’s website, “requires all dogs, cats, and rabbits offered for retail sale in California pet stores to be obtained by an animal shelter or non-profit rescue organization.”

The non-profit group Social Compassion in Legislation sponsors the bill. SCIL was instrumental in getting an ordinance of this nature in Los Angeles in 2012.

Naturally, the bill has many supporters. Among those who have weighed in against the bill are the AKC, and a lesser-known lobbying entity called the Calvary Group.

On its website the Calvary Group states the following: “Animal owners and animal related businesses are under attack by those who seek to eliminate animal ownership and eliminate animal enterprise in America.” And further, “Powerful, organized interests are using bully tactics or the force of government to push their radical animal rights agenda on law abiding animal owners and animal related businesses.”

Do you feel that prohibiting inhumane, greedy, filthy puppy mills from being able to sell their “products” in California pet stores is radical? Make your voice heard. Go to Assemblyman O’Donnell’s website at a70.asmdc.org/ join-movement-and-help-end-cruel-animal-breedingmills to register your support for this bill, and contact your Assemblyperson to urge them to vote “aye” when AB 485 reaches the full Assembly. ◆

© HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES USED BY KIND PERMISSION

5

Meet our readers Do you want to share a photo of your companion animal?

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Email your high-resolution photo & your companion animal’s name to patricia. speakmagazine@gmail. com

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6 | SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | MAY 2017

Elton

Sampson

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7

V ETTALK

DR. SEAT’S special areas of interest include Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Endoscopy/ Colonoscopy, Soft Tissue and Orthopedic Surgery. He is a member of AVMA, SCVMA, CVMA, and is an USDA accredited veterinarian.

DOGS & SNAKES How they can peacefully coexist One of the joys of living in Southern California is the opportunity for exploring the great outdoors. Especially this time of year, with the warm weather, and longer days, the temptation to enjoy Mother Nature is particularly strong. If you have a dog or dogs in your family, most likely they want to be a part of this experience too, as well they should. If you want to be a dog parent with a happy, healthy animal, it’s important to take a few precautionary steps when enjoying those numerous outdoor activities. This article will help you keep you and your four-footed loved ones safe from snakebites. Now, don’t get me wrong – snakes have as much right to be here as we do. Showing a little respect for them and their territorial rights will keep us all happy and healthy.

Here are some simple suggestions for keeping your immediate environment snake-free. This is especially important if your property backs up to undeveloped areas, such as fields, canyons, or arroyos. Snakes do not respect property lines; don’t make your back yard a snake oasis. This means keeping your grass short and disposing of tree, shrub, and grass cuttings. Keep the wood for your fire-pit in an enclosed container. Nothing is scarier than picking up a piece of firewood only to find a snake lurking underneath. A tidy yard leaves a snake with nowhere to hide. In addition, don’t leave food lying around, even the remains from last week’s awesome pool party. Food attracts rodents, and rodents attract, you guessed it – snakes!

When you venture further afield, be aware. A plethora of hiking trails out there are both human and dog-friendly. (In fact, look for an article on same in a later issue.) But, remember, in many cases these trails are hacked through animal habitations and thus are more than likely to be frequented by our reptilian friends. Here, a word of caution is in order – keep your eyes moving and expect the unexpected.

Specifically, where your four-footed friend is concerned, no matter his/her preference use a leash. This is not the time to pamper him or her with a long lead; short leads are a necessity in possible snake territory. It’s important to know snakes can strike across a distance about half their body length.

Stay on the trail and avoid tall vegetation and rocks.

Don’t be grabbing that amazing piece of rotting wood or the funky-shaped rock without poking it with a long stick first. How would you react if someone uncovered you in your secret resting spot? Would you be a little cranky? Most snakes act in defense. If you leave them alone, they will respond in kind. That being said, if you have an obedient dog who responds to your commands, and you encounter a snake, have them immediately heel. It goes without saying, if you hear rattles, head away from the sound.

Don’t assume a snake is dead, even if it appears to be so. If you encounter one, walk away. Even if it is dead, snakes are not proper chew toys for your canine friends. Some can still release venom after their demise.

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If you follow all this advice, and are still unlucky enough to have a snake bite your animal, don’t waste any time.

Immediately take it to your veterinarian, or animal emergency hospital for treatment. The results of some snakebites are fairly benign, but others can be fatal. Don’t take chances with your beloved family member.

If you can give the vet a description of the snake, it helps them in treating the animal. There are non-venomous and venomous snakes. Non-venomous snakes generally have a triangular shaped head with a rounded snout and round pupils. Venomous snakes have arrowhead shaped heads (narrow to wide to narrower again) with pointy snouts and elliptical pupils.

Southern California is home to many snake varieties, thirty-three to be exact. Only six of these are venomous.

NORMAN SEAT, DVM - OWNER Antonio Animal Hospital 22461 Antonio Pkwy A120 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 (949) 858-0949 www.antonioah.com

The most common here is the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. If you feel your dog is a likely rattlesnake bite victim, you can vaccinate for snakebites. Like any vaccination, it stimulates your animal’s immunity, thus it is intended to lessen the severity of the snakebite symptoms. This vaccine was developed specifically to treat for Western Diamondback Rattlesnake bites, and is said to have effectiveness against other rattlesnake bites, but to a lesser extent.

Follow the above tips and you can have an enjoyable and safe outdoor experience with your favorite four-legged family members. ◆ — NORMAN SEAT, DVM

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LOVE KITTENS? BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY’S KITTEN NURSERY NEEDS YOU!

BY MICHELLE SATHE

B

est Friends Animal Society’s Kitten Nursery is up and purring for its fourth season, with the goal of caring for 3,000 baby kittens in the coming months. As adorable as that sounds, this time of year is proof there really can be too much of a cute thing. There are many ways our community can participate and help save this year’s kittens. In 2016, approximately 2,600 kittens were cared by Best Friends’ kitten nursery, thanks to hundreds of wonderful volunteers and the kitten nursery staff.

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“

“

SHELTER NEWS

There are many ways to get involved. Hundreds of volunteers are needed each season to help the kittens.

Among the most at-risk animals entering local shelters today are newborn kittens, sometimes called “bottle babies.”

Unfortunately, without additional support, newborn kittens are the animals most likely to be killed in shelters.

Municipal shelters do not have the staff, facilities, volunteers and other resources required to offer around the clock care orphaned kittens require. To help save these little lives, Best Friends’ Kitten Nursery provides a safe haven until these kittens are old enough to be adopted.

Once the kittens reach two pounds or two months and can be spayed or neutered, kittens are highly adoptable and find homes quickly through the Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in Mission Hills and the NKLA Pet Adoption Center in West Los Angeles.

During kitten season, usually March through November, a dedicated team of staff and volunteers at the kitten nursery take care of more than a thousand fragile orphaned kittens, as well as nursing mothers and their litters.

Because orphaned baby kittens are very fragile and need lots of love and care, the facility operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Volunteers work in two-hour shifts and are responsible for bottle-feeding, cage cleaning, socializing kittens, preparing food, laundry and general cleaning.

“Kitten season is, as the name implies, the time of year when unspayed female cats have most of their kittens,” said Dr. Frank McMillan, DVM, director of well-being studies for Best Friends Animal Society. “The reproductive cycle in the cat typically aligns with seasonal changes, and female cats will begin to come into heat—when they become receptive to mating with males--when daylight hours become longer.”

McMillan explained that with the duration of pregnancy being approximately two months, kittens are born in large numbers around the beginning of summer, with large influxes of young kittens into shelters between May and July. The kittens come to the Best Friends nursery in Mission Hills from the six Los Angeles Animal Services shelters.

There are many ways to get involved and help the kittens. Hundreds of volunteers are needed each season to help the kittens. Foster homes are needed for kitten nursery graduates who are old enough to eat independently, but not quite big enough to be spayed or neutered before adoption. Donations of supplies are also welcome, and the kittens appreciate items such as blankets, toys, formula and bottles. For more information, visit www.bestfriendsla.org or contact fosterla@bestfriends.org or volunteerla@bestfriends.org.

“Kitten season is the most vivid lesson as to why spaying and neutering companion animals is so important, and

just what the consequences can be when this isn’t done,” Dr. McMillan said.

Los Angeles animal guardians can take advantage of the low-cost spay/neuter programs that Best Friends Animal Society—Los Angeles has available by contacting (310) 574-5555 or clinicla@bestfriends.org. ◆

MAY 2017 |

SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | 11

FEATURE

SPOM SHOW AT THE MUSEUM OF ANIMAL ART, LOS ANGELES

BY MARY HOLMES

Below: Nava Atlas, Elsie Below right: Patricia Denys, Peep Show

On February 25th, a ground-breaking art exhibition opened in Los Angeles at The Animal Museum – The Sexual Politics of Meat Exhibition, or, as it is commonly known, the SPOM Show. The show, curated by artists Kathryn Eddy, Janell O’Rourke, and L.A. Watson, has art by 14 women artists whose work is inspired by Carol J. Adams’ The Sexual Politics of Meat.

Adams, a prolific author, first published this book in 1990. In brief, the premise of her book is that our patriarchal society objectifies and sexualizes both women and animals; both suffer negative consequences from such thinking. Her seminal work has influenced and enlightened scholars, writers, and many others in the years since this book was first published.

The opening reception on February 25th was well-attended. Eight of the fourteen artists were there, as was Adams.

Refreshments were on hand, and all were entertained by live jazz music, provided by Stray Dog Song. The next afternoon the Museum had a Colloquium, in which Adams presented “The history of The Sexual Politics of Meat slide show: working with ARTISTS, liberating ideas and oppressive images,” followed by a question and answer session, and then a moderated panel discussion, “Women, Animals, and Art,” with participation by Adams, the curators, and the artists.

The show itself was remarkable.

These 14 extraordinary women have each ingested and synthesized Adams’ words and brought them to life in their own unique ways. Media choices run the gamut from video to manufactured objects to molded latex. To quote from the exhibition’s flyer,

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“Through their work, the artists of SPOM examine intersecting oppressions based on gender, race, and species, exploring what objectification means to them personally, politically and poetically.”

Situated in the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles, The Animal Museum was the obvious choice as the venue for this exhibit. It is spacious, well-lit, and adapts well to an exhibition of this type. Three of the artists also functioned as the show’s curators, and it was apparent they spent much time and thought in the installation itself, showcasing each piece to its best advantage.

Suffice it to say, the show was most thought-provoking. Adams’ writing opens a reader’s eyes; one cannot help but see the world in a new way. Similarly, the SPOM pieces inspire new perspectives in the viewer. Interestingly, the art affects most viewers cerebrally first, and later, in a more visceral way.

I spoke to some of the artists regarding their work in general, the SPOM Show and how Carol Adams influenced their art practice. The following are some of their comments: Janell O’Rourke, one of the curators, stated, “Within the complex relationships that exist between nonhuman animal and human animal communities; how can one’s art de-center our anthropocentric tendencies? We can begin by recognizing that all of us are connected to each other; the artists of SPOM embrace difference and seek to find new ways to honor the more than human world that we are all part of.”

Hester Jones remarked on how Adams’ book had influenced her as an artist. “The day I serendipitously stumbled upon The Sexual Politics of Meat several years

PHOTOS © MARY HOLMES 2017

Left: Janell O’Rourke, The Heap

ago in a London bookshop my life changed profoundly. Participating in the SPOM show has been a personal highlight of my career so far. Inspired by the work of Carol J Adams, I feel truly honoured to exhibit my work with this group of talented international artists: united in our determination to overthrow the patriarchal oppression, objectification, and commodification of women and animals in our society.” lynn mowson commented on one of her pieces included in the show, “boobscape is a monstrous amalgamation of paradoxical mammaries, the udders, breasts, nipples, teats, have merged, droopy, perky, full and empty. The pieces grow on the wall like a mould. boobscape deliberately transgresses boundaries between human and non-human animals, it engages with the abject and transgressive possibilities of ‘whose milk?’, ‘whose breast?’ as it is only the milk of a few mammals that is accepted as ‘normal’ and ‘consumable.’ ” “It is my hope that the viewer/listener will walk away from our show with new ideas and an understanding of how linked oppressions operate in a patriarchal society.

By understanding the connections between racism, sexism, and speciesism, we can begin to dismantle the power structure that supports them. AND we can move toward a world of justice for all beings.

We want the work in the SPOM exhibition to disrupt what has become considered normal, the overt objectifying of both women and animals, and motivate the audience to look deeper, ask more questions, and hopefully, see things differently than before.” This was the hope of another one of the curators, Kathryn Eddy.

Maria Lux was another artist specifically commenting on the value and timelessness of Adams’ book. “I think revisiting Adams’ text now is so important, because so many of her arguments have gone unaddressed by our culture,

Front row left to right: Suzy González, Renee Lauzon, Nava Atlas, and Carolyn Merino Mullin (museum director) Back row left to right: L.A. Watson, lynn mowson, Carol Adams (SPOM author), Janell O’Rourke, Kathryn Eddy, and Patricia Denys

and because I think now, more than ever, we need to recognize the linked oppressions of animals and non-human animals in our society. We have the opportunity for a broad and inclusive animal activism and feminism that is sensitive to the specific and connected issues of race, sexual orientation, and other marginalized identities, and Adams shows us in well-supported ways how these issues are indeed connected. Through her work, we can see how cultural conditions that are harmful for some, condone harm for many. If this exhibition reminds people to take a look at Adams’ work once again, I think that’s a big success.”

Nava Atlas comments on how far we have come as a species, or not, “That we’re still striving for human rights, women’s rights, civil rights, worker’s rights, and animal rights indicates that bias and oppression are alive and kicking. Mahatma Gandhi famously (though possibly apocryphally) said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” If this is true — and I do believe it is — the vegan and animal advocacy movements have made a small dent, but we’ve still got a long way to go. The biggest thrill of the SPOM exhibit for me has been to be part of a group of artists who understand the intersectionality of bias intellectually, feel it passionately, and devote their creativity to fostering change.” continued on next page

MAY 2017 |

Top right: Kathryn Eddy, Meat Porn on far wall; Hester Jones, Fillets on small pedestal, L.A. Watson, Patent Pending (two black and white multiple panels back far right wall); Suzy González, Lolita Devoured (three paintings near right wall); and Patricia Denys, Peep Show (in center)

SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | 13

5/6/17

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continued from previous page

Suzy González comments on the art movement itself, “Art historical movements are sometimes named after the fact, but sometimes they are initiated by a group of individuals who don’t see a representation of their perspective. They have no choice but to write it into history themselves, and The Sexual Politics of Meat exhibit does just that.”

Lastly, this quote by Patricia Denys succinctly brings us back to the root of the issue, “My work addresses Carol Adams’ “absent referent;” the space between a sentient being’s life and the meat on one’s plate. Or, ‘How does someone become something?’ ” The artists come from as far away as Australia, and as near as Southern California, with others scattered throughout the United States. Artists participating are: Nava Atlas, Patricia Denys, Kathryn Eddy, Suzy González, Hester Jones, Renee Lauzon, Maria Lux, lynn mowson, Janell O’Rourke, Olaitan Valerie Callender-Scott, Angela Singer, Sunaura Taylor, L.A. Watson, and Yvette Watt.

SPOM will be on display at The Animal Museum through the end of April. The show is meant to be a traveling one. Preliminary discussions are already taking place concerning two other possible venues. The companion book, The Art of the Animal, published by Lantern Books in 2015, is available for purchase at the Museum or directly from the publisher.

This was my first visit to The Animal Museum, which is located at 421 Colyton, Los Angeles, 90013. There’s an abundance of free parking, and the Metro Gold Line stops four blocks away.

I’m eagerly awaiting their next opening. ◆

JUNE

34 &

PAWPARAZZI & SPEAK MAGAZINE LAUNCH PARTY! SIX01 STUDIO in Burbank 630 S. Flower Street 6/24/17 4 pm – 6 pm

SATURDAY JUNE

24

www.six01studio.com/contact Companion animals invited too! email debbiepetsinthecitymagazine@gmail.com or call Deb Myers 801-702-1171. Pre-registration is free by sending the number of people attending and a contact email for the Will Call list. info@ petsinthecitymagazine.com

2017 Summer Corgi Beach Day Saturday, July 1 10:00 am – 3:00 pm Alamitos Beach, Long Beach, CA

14 | SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | MAY 2017

PHOTO © MARY HOLMES 2017

The Animal Museum, Los Angeles

HINTS & TIPS

ANDY SAYS! HELPFUL TIPS TO AVOID HEAT EXHAUSTION ever, leave animals in a parked car. On an 85-deBe sure to walk in the morning or evening when the 1 Never, gree day, a car can reach 102 degrees in 10 minutes. If 3 temperatures have cooled down and limit exercise you see an animal trapped, take down the make, model and license plate of the vehicle and call the local police or animal control and wait for them to arrive. It is legal in California to smash a window to save an animal trapped in a car as of September 2016. The person breaking the window is protected as long as they stay at the car until police arrive.

carry water for your companion animals when 2 Always away from home.

overall in warmer weather.

hot pavement and sidewalks. Remember dogs 4 Avoid sweat primarily through their feet and feet can burn on hot pavement. Asphalt is much hotter than the air temperature. extra care with geriatrics, the very young, or over5 Take weight companion animals. have an emergency plan in place in case of 6 Always power outages for everyone in your family!

TIP

You can download and print a hot car flyer free from the Humane Society of the United States’ web site. http://bit.ly/1I4KaJY

Peace, love and compassion for all animals,

Andy

MAY 2017 |

SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | 15

1

DOG-FRIENDLY SPOTS

LOCATION

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Coldwater Canyon Park 12601 Mulholland Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90210

TREE PEOPLE

Responsible pet owners who clean up after their dogs are welcome. We enforce the leash law as outlined in LAMC 63.44-B, 2, C.

PHOTO © MARY HOLMES 2017

Tree People at City of Los Angeles’ Coldwater Canyon Park is an amazing place to walk your dog and one of the best-kept secrets in Los Angeles.

Situated on the ridgeline between Beverly Hills and Studio City, it has an amazing view of the Valley. Tree People, by its own description, “inspires and supports the people of LA to come together to plant and care for trees, harvest the rain, and renew depleted landscapes.”

You and your dogs will feel like you’re in the treetops. You can walk your dog there seven days a week. The second Saturday of each month they have a Group Dog Walk for $5 per pooch. It’s an hour-long hike on the trails of Coldwater Canyon Park. I guarantee you, once you visit you’ll be back. A word of warning – parking can be scarce.

Your dog can get his or her own Tree People membership for $20 (additional dogs just $10 each). All funds help to maintain the park, and your dog can proudly wear his/her Tree People bandana. In addition, you will receive a monthly online newsletter, bi-annual newsletter and annual report.

Dogs LOVE trees! Take advantage of this great park and help Tree People create a greener, more tree-full world.

Visit their website at https://www.treepeople.org/ and see all this great place has to offer you and your four-legged friends. ◆ — MARY HOLMES

2 DOGS

16 | SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | MAY 2017

A

BOOK REVIEW

THE ART OF THE

NIMAL

The Art of the Animal, published by Lantern Books in 2015, was created as the catalogue for The Sexual Politics of Meat (SPOM) exhibition, which had its premiere at The Animal Museum in Los Angeles, in February 2017. It is clean, well-designed, and contains excellent reproductions, not only of the artwork included in the exhibition, but additional work created by the exhibition participants.

The book was edited by Kathryn Eddy, L. A. Watson, and Janell O’Rourke, who curated the exhibition. It features work by the editors, and artists Nava Atlas, Sunaura Taylor, Yvette Watt, Angela Singer, Hester Jones, Suzy González, Renee Lauzon, Olaitan Callender-Scott, Patricia Denys, Maria Lux, and lynn mowson. Both the book and the exhibition were inspired by The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist Vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams Not only did the artists share their work, which is visually arresting, each contributed an essay to the book. The essays discuss a panoply of issues – the decision-making process behind the making of art, direct responses to Adams’ work, factory farming descriptions, feminist thought, the contrast of subject and object – they run the gamut. The Art of the Animal is both a fascinating read and a unique visual spectacle.

Essays are footnoted, and, like all credible art exhibition catalogues, this one includes a full bibliography. In addition, there is a foreword by Keri Cronin, Associate Professor in the Visual Arts Department at Brock University, Canada, an afterword by Adams,

and an essay by Carolyn Merino Mullin, director of The Animal Museum.

The book is available at The Animal Museum, on Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, as well as directly from the publisher Lantern Books at lanternbooks. presswarehouse.com, who specializes in publishing books “for all wanting to live with greater depth and commitment to the preservation of the natural world.” ◆ — PATRICIA DENYS

“With gratitude to Lantern Books and our dear friend Martin Rowe, Publisher, for generously donating 5 copies of The Art of the Animal for us to raffle off at the Speak/Pawparazzi Launch Party in June.”

MAY 2017 |

seek the light

TM

SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS | 17

ACTIVISTS SPEAK

SPEAK: You talked a little in your Sexual Politics of Meat slide show DVD about the epiphany you had when your pony Jimmy was shot to death, and you went to bite into a hamburger for dinner. Can you elaborate a little on this story?

CAROL J. ADAMS: I grew up in a small village with a population of 900 people. My father was one of two attorneys in this small town, and he had a law office that was a two-room building near the uptown—a very small uptown--and behind his building was a barn, and the local butcher. The barn contained ponies that would be moving through that he would be selling. And he also had a cow. When we were young, in the early 1960s, he would let us watch him butcher. He even let my younger sister run the machine that lowered a dead pig into the hot water. His nickname was Butch, though apparently the nickname preceded his role as butcher.

He felt that butchering was a part of life and there was nothing wrong with kids seeing it. So of course, we saw it. But we also loved the ponies. One day a client

that Jimmy was dead. We could still hear the guns going in the forest. The forest bordered the pasture.

I went to the barn and got a halter to bring Nicky into the barn so that he would be safe. We finally found the kids; they had been target practicing. They claimed they never hit Jimmy. But they had been target practicing right by the edge of the woods. I had tried to call my father.

My mother was with my sister who had just given birth in Boston. I was crying and weeping. I know that at the courthouse (he was now a county judge), when I called and was weeping everybody thought something had happened to my sister’s baby. When my father got home—I hadn’t been able to reach him-- I told him what happened. He thought helping me focus on something else might help.

He said, “Well, why don’t you just get some ground chuck uptown, and we’ll have hamburgers for supper? And why don’t you invite Susie?” Susie was the daughter of the man who had the local grocery store and she had just lost a foal. There was a lot of death of equines in the air, as it were. And now she kept her horses in the barn behind my father’s former law office. Now they owned it and now this

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH

CAROL J. ADAMS

PART 01

BY MARY HOLMES

waiting to see my father in his office asked my father’s secretary, “Who are those cute girls running next to the building and where are they going?” She said, “Those are your attorney’s daughters and they’re going to look at a pony. They ride these ponies.” He decided to give us the pony we were riding. That was when I was in sixth grade, around the time just before girls transition into puberty, the pre-teen years when in a sense your identity is so fungible as a young girl. We had ponies and horses that just delighted us. I like to say that the person I am was shaped, not just by my parents, and not just by my friends, but by the natural world, and the other-than-human world that represented some of the friendships I had in life.

We went away to college. My father took care of the ponies. He started being the one to clean out their stalls and they became like pets. After college I went to Yale Divinity School and when I was done with my first year at Yale Divinity School I’d come home…I hadn’t even unpacked. I was upstairs and heard a knock at the door. It was a neighbor and he said, “Someone has just shot your pony. I saw your pony fall. I was in my back yard!” I ran with him out to the pasture and there was Jimmy lying dead.

What I noticed – the other pony, Nicky, was running all around him neighing and pawing, and clearly recognizing

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is where her horses were. And a foal had just died.

It was a pretty dismal dinner to begin with. We prepared the hamburgers and when I bit into the hamburger I suddenly flashed on Jimmy’s dead body and that I was eating a dead cow. And I realized that I was a hypocrite: I would not eat Jimmy’s body which was still up on the other pasture. A farmer was going to come with a backhoe the next day to bury him. I would not eat Jimmy, why was I eating a cow? Was it animals I did not know who weren’t protected from my meat eating? And I just knew I had to stop eating animals.

One of the things that helped me think this way was my feminism. I was a feminist. I’d already participated in consciousness-raising groups; I’d already been part of the New Haven Women’s Liberation Collective and knew the importance of processing, of how the personal is political.

There’s a statement from philosopher Sandra Bartky that feminists don’t see different things than other people; they see the same things differently. That night, I saw the hamburger differently. It was no longer just “meat.” It was someone’s life.

SPEAK: I’ve known of your writings for many years, but it came as a surprise to me that you are a graduate of Yale Divinity School. What prompted you to attend

divinity school, and how have your divinity school studies informed your work as a feminist/animal rights activist/ human rights activist/vegan/philosopher?

ADAMS: I always loved language, and words, and English literature, and when I was a senior in college I thought that question--common to seniors--“What do I want to do with my life?” And I thought, “I don’t want to go to English graduate school. I don’t want to teach this material as though it’s something distant; as though it’s something that we just look at. This is something that influences me.

How do I talk about my beliefs?” Then I wondered about divinity school. In some ways, it might be said that I made a mistake. I did not really imagine myself as a minister.

Because in many ways divinity school is a professional school for ministers. But, for someone like me who’s a little less following that path, it was hard. That was hard for me and it was also hard as a feminist in 1972, when I was trying tried to figure out, “How does feminism inform my beliefs, my spirituality, my theology?” This was just when feminist engagement with theological issues was starting to appear. There wasn’t a lot to help me.

My senior year at college I was nominated for something called a “Rockefeller Trial Year in Seminary Award.”

At that time, it was given to people to consider going into the ministry. Talented people who might not consider this route, but maybe would if they had a year at seminary.

I was awarded that, and went off to Yale, met some other feminists, really struggled in some of the traditional classes but flourished in the non-traditional classes. That’s how I ended up at the New Haven Women’s Liberation Center. We took a course in which we did feminist field work, and the field work assignment was there and at an abortion clinic run by Yale-New Haven Hospital. You could have abortions if it was declared by medical doctors to be needed for the woman’s medical health. They found a way to work within the Connecticut law that criminalized most abortions (this was before Roe v Wade). That’s actually where I was when I learned about the Roe v Wade decision; I was at an abortion clinic. I remember tearing up – I couldn’t believe that abortion could be legalized just like that!

For me, I think there are several things that are takeaways from those years of seminary. The first year I was at Yale; the next year I did an internship at the University of Pennsylvania as the women’s, or feminist, intern. The next year I was amidst the feminist revolution, having moved to Cambridge. I took courses with feminist philosopher Mary Daly and took courses at Harvard Divinity School on women’s religious history and I truly flourished. It’s in Cambridge where I had the idea for The Sexual Politics of Meat. Being in a nurturing environment of diverse feminists exploring so many intersecting issues helped me birth my own ideas.

My senior year I commuted from Yale to Cambridge to finish my degree, and, a friend of mine said later that Yale

Carol Adams at the SPOM exhibit.

PHOTO © PATRICIA DENYS

had the grace to recognize that they could not teach me what I needed to know and so they let me devise my own course of study. I think that’s very true. I was very lucky, I took many interesting courses, for instance, a course on Women in the Old Testament. (Now, we would call it the Hebrew Scriptures.) And for that course I remember I did a paper on the Rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13). Susan Brownmiller’s book on rape had just come out, Against Our Will. I used Brownmiller’s points out how rapes are planned, often involve others, the traumatic aspect of rape, to discuss the Rape of Tamar. This was before there was much from feminist scholars on this text. (For

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ACTIVISTS SPEAK

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This antidomestic violence work exposed the ways women and animals were treated in interconnected ways through domestic violence.

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instance, I found some commentaries blaming the victim for being raped.)

The Master of Divinity I received from Yale gave me the credentials for my work that evolved regarding domestic violence and religion. I soon started doing trainings for clergy around domestic violence. A friend of mine (Marie Fortune) was doing this work, and I worked with her in developing programs for clergy in rural areas.

Throughout my career I’ve done that work. I had the skills to do the interpretation, and to talk about pastoral care from within the Christian tradition, and—this was important--the legitimacy of a degree. I’ve written a book called Woman-Battering, which is in the pastoral care and counseling series from a Lutheran press (Fortress Press), trying to reach out to ministers who make many terrible (and sometimes fatal) mistakes in counseling batterers and battered women.

This anti-domestic violence work exposed the ways women and animals were treated in interconnected ways through domestic violence. This prompted an essay on “Woman Battering and Harm to Animals” that first appeared in 1995, trying to explore why batterers harm other animals and is in The Carol J. Adams Reader which came out in the fall of 2016.

I think in some ways my life has had two paths that I followed at the same time. One was around religion: religion and animals, religion and women, feminist analysis of theology, feminist analysis of faith, how we talk about God, and at the same time looking at how we talk about animals, animals in the Bible, religious justification for eating animals. There’s that track, because there’s a part of

Carol Adams at the SPOM Colloquium with the artists, The Animal Museum.

me that believes very strongly that there is more to this world than material reality. I believe in a non-material reality. For me Christianity is a metaphor, or a way that makes some sense of the experience of non-material reality. Christianity doesn’t have to be the only way to make

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sense of non-material reality but it just happens to be the way that I have found works for me because of my own experience.

The other path, that was happening at the same time was trying to create a feminist-vegetarian, feminist-vegan theory, drawing on feminist literary criticism and my sense of the oppression of animals. This became The Sexual Politics of Meat, and all of the work that has followed that first book.

I might speculate that there was a third path-- social justice activism, grass roots activism, which was spiritually and theologically informed in the 80s: suing a city for racism in their housing programs, starting a hotline for battered women, starting a soup kitchen, helping to create New York State’s first mobile home cooperative, etc.

SPEAK: I understand you were involved in the anti-war movement and feminine rights as an undergrad. What was your impetus for getting into these movements? Did your parents raise you to have this level of consciousness or did you develop it independently? Did your vegetarianism lead you to your activism in these other issues, or vice versa?

ADAMS: My mother and her sister were raised by a woman who I think experienced some workplace sexual harassment in 1910. She worked for a farmer, and she described to my mother how he had chased her around the kitchen table. I think she decided that she was vulnerable and so she picked this older Minnesota bachelor carpenter to marry and get her out of this situation. I don’t think my grandfather knew what hit him. He was much older than she. My mother was born in 1914 and my aunt in 1915 and they also had a younger brother. The younger brother was allowed to do anything. He could bicycle anywhere. He could go out with friends. But my mother and her sister had to come home immediately after school. Their mother was so strict.

The two of them came up with a plan to get out of this small Minnesota town, Fergus Falls after graduating from high school. The plan was remarkable, especially because they recognized it would take both of them to work together to get out. My mother would take a job as a school teacher and she would put her sister through Minneapolis Business College, which was a secretarial school, and then my aunt would do the same for my mother. Three years my mother worked in a small, oneroom school during the height of the Depression to get my aunt through this secretarial school. And then my aunt

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did the same for my mother. But my aunt could stay in Minneapolis, she landed a wonderful job. My mother ended up in Minneapolis, and they loved being in the city together. They thrived; two independent women and they had so much fun. (They hid their liquor in their golf clubs when their strict mother visited.) My mother, too, landed a great job at General Mills. Part of her job was answering letters for Betty Crocker.

Then the war hit. My aunt joined the WACs, the Women’s Army Corp, and my mother the Red Cross. My mother was shipped to Honolulu to help servicemen, where she met my father. After the war, my father went to Yale Law School, she had a child, and then they ended up in western New York.

My mother had all the passion of someone who recognizes injustice because she knew the injustice of her own experience, seeing her brother get preferential treatment because he was a boy. I think the 50s were hard for her. She couldn’t figure out what her niche was – should she help with the Girl Scouts, the Easter Seals, the PTA? I mean, she did those things, but then, in the early 60s, she learned about the state of migrant workers living in our county and got involved in a local migrant committee.

This was her passion and her life, and she--whether we wanted it or not--dragged us along to a variety of activities to help ameliorate the lives of migrant workers. These were contract migrant workers who came in from Puerto Rico. My father would often be the lawyer who would help her solve a problem and he took pro bono cases and

I think he cared deeply about the community. She also was on the committee to bring family planning to our county. She was reading what my sister was reading as she prepared to go Vassar – The Feminine Mystique, and The Second Sex. There were three daughters, and we were all encouraged to have our own opinions. My mother’s feminism was there right from the start. By my father, we were encouraged to argue and hold our ground. By the time I went to college – I think the challenge for me for most of my adult life was not how to do social activism, it was how to justify not doing social activism. The challenge was, how do I write a book, when there’s so much that I could be doing in terms of social justice? The model was – you’re out there and you’re really doing the hands-on grassroots stuff. I did do that in the 80s. I returned to western New York and I actually worked with my mother, which was great. But I was so aware of what I wasn’t doing, as well.

I wasn’t writing the book whose ideas I had had in 1974.

I’d pull an all-nighter for a grant for subsidized housing or funding for a domestic violence program, but I would not pull an all-nighter for my own book idea. Throughout the 80s it was not completed. But by being an activist, and working against racism and domestic violence, and against hunger, it gave me a foundation in “praxis” as we would say in divinity school. That became so much a part of The Sexual Politics of Meat, so when I talked about “interconnected oppressions” I wasn’t talking theoretically; I was talking out of my experience. ◆

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Beach Blanket

BOW WOWS PHOTOS © JON & KARLIE KAWA 2017

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If your dog is new to the beach, take it slow. Keep them on their leash until you can be sure of how they will react to the sand, sea, and especially other dogs and people.

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Does your dog love to run on the sand, romp in the surf, chase Frisbees – unencumbered by a leash? There’s good news and bad news – Southern CA beaches aren’t all that dog friendly – that’s the bad news. The good news is there are five beaches where your canine companion can be off-lead. From Long Beach to San Diego, we’re going to show you where to go. In this issue we’re going to talk about the ones in Los Angeles County and Orange County. Next issue we’ll have information on the three San Diego beaches. So, pack up the balls, Frisbees, towels, water bowls, and sunblock, and let’s go on a sandy surffilled adventure.

Long Beach is home to Rosie’s Dog Beach at Granada Beach. Not all of Granada Beach is open to unleashed canines. The Dog Beach section is marked with cones and basically runs between Roycroft and Argonne Avenues.

There’s plenty of off-street parking. There are beach volleyball courts, a bike path, restrooms, showers, and a lifeguard. Other activities that are commonly seen on this stretch of beach, besides dog walking and biking, are windsurfing and kiteboarding. Rosie’s Dog Beach is

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located at 5000 E. Ocean Blvd. in the Belmont Shore section of Long Beach and dogs are allowed off-leash from 6am to 8pm daily.

Not too far up the road, in Huntington Beach, is Orange County’s only dog-friendly beach. Huntington Dog Beach is situated at the north end of Huntington Beach City Beach. Dogs are allowed between Seapoint Street and 21st Street. Posted signs in the area state dogs must be on a 6-foot lead, but in truth off-leash dog owners will only be cited if dogs are behaving inappropriately.

Off-street parking is also available here. Like Long Beach, there’s a bike path. This beach has more amenities than Rosie’s, including a grass park area and picnic tables. Here you are more likely to encounter cyclists and surfers.

Huntington Beach City Beach is located at the intersection of East Pacific Coast Highway and Goldenwest. After the beach, head to Bodhi Tree Café, 501 Main, Suite E, for a wonderful vegan meal on the patio. ◆

DO YOUR PART

VOLUNTEER

A T LOS ANGELES ANIMAL SERVICES

D

o you care about the abandoned and orphan animals in your community? Do you want to make a difference in those animals’ lives? LA Animal Services has the perfect job for you – become a part of the LA Animal Services Volunteer Team. Volunteers serve many functions, the most typical being assisting the public and working with staff at the Animal Shelters, and helping at off-site adoption events.

How do you qualify? First, be friendly, outgoing and personable. Second, for insurance purposes – be 18 or over. (If 16-17, a parent or guardian must be present to attend the initial orientation and then execute the necessary forms on the minor’s behalf.) Third, fill out a Volunteer Application, available online at www.laanimalservices. com/volunteer. And last, attend a volunteer orientation at one of our six Animal Shelters.

You may attend the orientation that is the most convenient for you. In May there is one orientation at each of the Animal Shelters. All orientations start at 5:30pm and run approximately 2 ½ hours. Bring your completed Volunteer Application and a government-issued ID when you come. Los Angeles Animal Services looks forward to having you become a member of the team. Once you have completed orientation, coordinate with your center of choice and set your own hours.

The reward of volunteer work PHOTO © PATRICIA DENYS

Orientation dates and places are as follows: May 3, 2017 May 4, 2017 May 10, 2017 May 11, 2017 May 17, 2017 May 18, 2017

North Central Shelter | 3201 Lacy Street | Los Angeles, CA 90031 Harbor Shelter | 957 N. Gaffey Street | San Pedro, CA 90731 West Valley Shelter | 20655 Plummer | Street Los Angeles, CA 91311 East Valley Shelter | 14409 Vanowen | Street Van Nuys, CA 91405 South La Shelter | 1850 W. 60Th Street | Los Angeles, CA 90047 West La Shelter | 11361 W. Pico Blvd. | Los Angeles, CA 90064

Any questions, please contact the volunteer office: 323-224-2350 | North Central Shelter | 3201 Lacy Street | Los Angeles, CA 90031 MAY 2017 |

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