Thursday, September 26, 2019

Vegan Overload


Niche op-ed, initiated...for Vegans and...our Allies!

Veganism is a growing movement and millions of people everywhere are embracing this movement for a variety of hopeful reasons.

Plant-based health vegans devour gargantuan, nutrition rich, leafy-green salads daily. Abolitionist vegans march for the trillions of sentient animals forgotten. Environmental vegans minimize their carbon footprint with zeal. Rational vegans extol the ethics of compassionate reason. New age vegans glowingly build the collective soul of Gaia. Gustatory vegans celebrate the variety of delicious veggie cuisine. Animal-lover vegans cuddle with creatures big and small. Conservationist vegans reclaim habitat wildlands. Humanist vegans support developing country needs by encouraging plant agriculture.

The list goes on and on, yet so often we vegans in our attempt to live better lives and influence others to choose a better path can often manifest an arrogant righteousness that harms caring human relationships, our inner spirit, the vegan movement, and ultimately the very world we're attempting to improve.

Veganism alone is not the solution to everything, but it can be a major component to creating a sustainable, beautiful planet for humans and all of Earth's living things. Were vegans a tad more tolerant, a tad more eloquent and empathic toward non-vegans, and generally a tad more thick skinned, our efforts could be even more effective.

Most of us have transitioned from the carnist culture, an should contemplate how long it took for each of us to make the change.  Yes, it's human to be impatient when other resist even looking at the harm carnist culture does, but we must work for long term solutions alongside immediate ones. No we don't have to give up our ideals, let's just take a deep breath and work on the path that is both effective and compassionate. Some of our energy will need to be put toward forgiveness of others if only to nurture our own self to permit perseverance as we contribute to changing the world positively.

Figure out a joyful way to plant vegan seeds! Cook a meal weekly for your family, share an apple with a homeless person, make a plant-based contribution to a soup kitchen, volunteer at a nature preserve, share a vegan recipe book with a friend or a stranger, start a blog or youtube channel, just keep the joyful change rolling!

With that I'll simply harken:

"Joyful Vegans Unite!"

"Loving Humans Consider!"

"Living Earthlings Thrive!"

"

Thursday, September 19, 2019

.endpoints.



the Beginning i cannot recall
yet for some reason i accept
a beginning must (?) exist

i (!) breathe in the insubstantial
without full Knowledge i thrive, i suffer
i exhale the substance of experience

the Ending i cannot fathom
and yet (.)


(alternate title: punctuation resides within)

Thursday, September 5, 2019

States of Change: Chapter 22: Yellowhammer (Alabama)


States of Change is an ongoing work of serial fiction.
The speculative story-line seeks to inspire thought on ethics, culture and our planet's future.

The year is 2076, decades after Oosa's defederalization. 
Fifty independent States have forged their societies from revolutionary technology and ideology.
Prominently, The Augment, a real-time, virtual overlay of sensory data 
has become widely available for personal use throughout many of the post-fed nation-states.







"Ready Gina?"

"Let's do this, my love."

On the e-room settee, Leo gives Gina a kiss on her cheek and then taps the Yellowhammer citizen e-patch on his wrist. His wife does the same.

Wireless protocols bind to their VisARs allowing them to navigate spindown menus within their augmented reality interfaces. Each negotiates through the rotating forest of configuration options. Spiraling past State Alerts, Personal Schedules, Information Access, and Database Storage they access Body Security. Drilling down through Enforced Policies and Paired Transactions they open their separate but linked Personal Relationship configuration pages.

Slipping off his stylish Emerald City glasses, Leo smirks.

"Okay, the rest of the process we have to do in Full Real with proximity-sync, since this will be a major relationship protocol change."

Gina shakes her head while chuckling.

"So silly the State doesn't trust its own scorching blockchain security in Aay Arr."

"I think it's more about giving Alabama citizens the confidence that their rights are real and not just a virtual abstraction."

"If you say so. Let's get this over with. Having my VisAR overlays down makes me feel agoraphobic."

"Sure thing, Cinnamon Scroll."

Gina smirks at the use of her pet name, then shifts her golden brown wrist holding Leo's freckled forearm to align the Yellowhammer sensors. Both patches radiate the bright lettering of nanoLED body ink bestowed to each citizen at age twenty-five.

"There. See, our consensual sex protocols are in full sync with the monogamy option invoked in August of seventy-one. Wow has it really been five years?"

"Christ in a crypt Leo, you know that's the minimum time lag before State Conception Permits are approvable."

"Yeah, I know Gee, it just gets me how five years with you has sped by at joyful light-speed."

Gina huffs softly and shakes her head, then with a follow-on sigh she runs her fingers through his long strawberry blonde hair.

"Yes, yes, my sweet Agave Leaf, for me too, but it's also been like walking on Hawaiian brimstone since day one. You know I've wanted to get pregnant since our trial marriage status got upgraded."

"Shen ji, Gee," chuckles Leo self-aware of his wordplay. "I'm looking forward to being a parent too, but you know as well as I do Alabama's procreation policy has been damn effective at preventing unwanted births. I can hardly believe back in Oosa times, abortion was even a thing. Fucking Six Nines contraception tech is the most Christian development since the communion wafer."

"Will you shut up with the politics and religion and sync with me. I want your cock in me...light-speed, doing what God created it to do."

Leo snort-laughs as if he'd taken a hit of nitrous oxide.

"You still catch me off guard every now and again, Gee!"

He holds his e-patch, still glowing the yellow of interim status, up to Gina's. With an archaic beep, emphasizing the conception permit's authorization, both e-patches turn dayglo green and scroll identical outputs.

[Transaction AL6&BT*X2 Registered]

[Consensual Sex Contract AL5Y!UR^R4 for Sexual Procreation Between Regina Alderan Honshu (RAH324) and Leonardo Davinci Johnston (LDJ987) Approved ]

[Permit Active for Ten Months. Two Renewals Remaining]

[Validated in AL State Blockchain Record 30.08.2076]

"Formalities complete, no glitches. Of course, it'll take a week for our implants to ramp down contraceptive hormone levels. I should research whether..."

Before he could get in another word, she spins onto his lap, straddling him, and buries a victorious, silencing smile into his.