FROM THE EDITOR

WE’RE BACK. It sure comes around fast, although we do know that for some of you it doesn’t come fast enough, like the subscriber who told us she collected the mag from her letterbox, sat down in the grass and spent the next few hours reading it. Such flattery. We do aim to be riveting and challenging, and you might have noticed our patience is not what it was. From feedback received, I don’t think anyone’s is. Most of us are thoroughly fed up.

Always at this time of year it feels like life has been on hold, a non-event; that the world is in a state of suspended animation waiting for someone to breathe and start up some action. It’s the calm before the storm. I suppose people believe that if they don’t think about it, climate breakdown will go away and give itself a makeover. While waiting for things to erupt, we at VV have been quietly working away, muttering to ourselves and trying to get out a whole lot of information that we hope isn’t going to be ignored. We just hate to think of ourselves being tossed into someone’s rubbish bin without even being read.

We often send VV out to non-vegetarians, those we feel might be up for it. Rarely do we hear back from anyone. It makes you wonder what effect you’re actually having, if any. We wonder whether those who eat animals feel guilt and remorse, or whether we’re talking to the proverbial brick wall. Maybe we’re planting seeds that need time to grow. Maybe we’re wasting our time, because there isn’t any time or indeed inclination. These are the things I spend my time dwelling on. Meanwhile we do our best to stay sane and keep the information flowing. I’m not a very patient person, but I’ve had to learn.

Some vegans will say, “Well, most of us were once meat eaters and we don’t have the right to lecture people.” I was once a meat eater and I wish someone had lectured me. If just one person had explained to me what it was I was doing, I would’ve stopped. And I did stop. As soon as someone told me, I stopped. Still, it wasn’t soon enough.

I was 16 years old. I wasn’t living at home in the suburbs anymore. I was in the kitchen of some hippie acquaintances, Neil and Denise, helping them make dinner. I can’t remember the question, but I remember the answer. “We don’t eat animals.” That was all they said but it changed my life. That one short sentence made more sense to me than just about anything I’d ever heard. I became vegetarian immediately. I only wish I hadn’t had to wait such a long time before hearing the word vegan.

Some of us have got vegan partners to whinge to. We’re fortunate, because if you don’t let it out it’ll eat you up. Anyone who isn’t vegan simply doesn’t comprehend what we’ve done to nonhumans – sentient beings just like us. They don’t get the language, the sentiment, the horror. And it is a horror. For we have taken everything from them: their homes, their children, their land, their families, their dignity, their joy, their sanity, their liberty, and their lives. Try telling that to your average meat eater, and watch them glaze over.

In this issue we aim to please, to educate, to inspire and to upset. First up we have Ruby Roth, children’s author and illustrator, who chats enthusiastically about compassionate education in the classroom and at home. She tells us that a steady diet of good vegan food keeps her spirits buoyant in the face of adversity. Ruby is a woman on a mission and we’re looking forward eagerly to her next book.

Amy Barker is another young woman who educated herself and went vegan. So did her husband. Ethical education: the mighty, mighty weapon. It’s no wonder society in general doesn’t like to do too much with it, in case it causes an unprecedented outbreak of intelligence and empathy.

An intensely grateful Lyndal Greenslade found some vegans lurking on her own street. She’s still not recovered from the shock and felt driven to tell everyone her happy story. Lyndal’s also got a not-so-happy story about her visit to an animal sanctuary in India and how she found herself disillusioned by human illogic. She’s now a sadder, wiser person, with a little anger thrown in for good measure.

VV was honoured to speak to the bleakly funny human that is Bob Chorush. Bob’s been everywhere, done everything – indeed back in the day Bob seems to have wandered Zelig-like into every counterculture happening going down. Now he’s a reclusive animal rights provocateur who lives in the middle of a field and tells jokes to his dog. Probably. Sounds idyllic, you think?

M. Butterflies Katz feels that some people are trying to water down the true meaning of veganism and animal rights. She argues passionately from an abolitionist standpoint why that must not happen. Veganism is humankind’s next evolutionary step, she writes (having slightly more faith in the species than we do).

Janice Stanger has spent years studying the research and writing a book about perfect foods for humans. No death involved. How could we not publicise it?

Liberationist Jason Miller fell into the fires of hell and burned there for a time, from which vantage point he decided to shed his old skin and start anew. His passion and dedication speak for themselves.

Happy reading.

Sienna

Read more from the editor in our Mar–May 2010 issue, out mid-February.