Vegan in Bellingham

MARCH 16, 2025 There have been so many mornings after long nights of troubled sleep these past eighteen months when I have started my day thinking this was it--this would finally be the moment, the thing, the time the world would awaken and together do what is necessary to end this injustice, to stop this violence, to try to begin to put right so many wrongs which have left permanent scars and mountains of grief that will never be fully processed.  How I have been wrong so many times. How my heart has broken with each wrong day.  With Israel's continue violation of the ceasefire agreement, and constant flagrant violations of every international and humanitarian law, conditions in Gaza continue to be dangerous as they find ways to extend their genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people.  Military aggression and the sadistic violent targeting of people as they try to survive have increased. Since the very beginning of the ceasefire implementation, Israeli forces have conti...

March 9, 2025 This post is dedicated to Fadi , Majd , Mohammed , Muhammad , Arkan ,  Mahmoud , Ibrahim and his siblings , Wassim ,  Ibrahim , Samah , and the student collective who created the #WeHaveToStudy24 hashtag campaign . And to all the other Palestinian students and educators. And to Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil , and the student movement for Palestinian Justice in the U.S. and throughout the world, whose voices will not be silenced. Every day I think about the students in Gaza. I think about the teachers. The educators. The professors, administrators, and staff of the schools, colleges, and universities in Gaza. Those who have been killed by Israel, and those who are still alive but whose school and university buildings have been destroyed. Those whose education and careers have been violently disrupted or ended. Those who are still trying to learn and to teach despite the ongoing genocide.   During last week’s presentation , I talked a littl...

March 7, 2025 Last weekend I gave a presentation for the " Eight Families in Gaza: Amplifying Their Voices " event, offered in affiliation with the Whatcom Coalition for Palestine. I remain grateful to the families who shared so generously shared their photos, their words, their writing, their videos, and their voices.  Everything I presented during this event was developed in collaboration with members of the families who were featured, and it was shared with their permission and blessing.  I have the deepest respect for these families. While I know my presentation was not enough to do them justice, and while I wished to center them, what I shared was also filtered through my own personal feelings and experiences. But I still hope that it brought these families closer to all of us, that the attendees came away from the program changed by what they saw and heard, and that local support for these families and for Palestinian justice will only grow stronger. Thank you to everyo...

  Sunday, March 2, 2025 / Presentation from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.  Optional  Q&A & Discussion Following the Presentation, 2:30 to 3:00 p.m.  In-Person Event  -   " Eight Families in Gaza: Amplifying Their Voices ." Bellingham Public Library Lecture Room (Central Branch) Event Description:  A presentation offering an opportunity to learn about eight families in Gaza who are connected to a local community member (Clarissa) who has received permission to share their stories, words, photos, and other media. This is an opportunity to learn more about their lives, loves, and challenges, and to find out more about ways you can offer meaningful and direct support to Palestinians in Gaza. (This event is affiliated with the Whatcom Coalition for Palestine and is   not   sponsored by the Bellingham Public Library).

February 2, 2025 In a way this isn't an update, because what I am sharing is nothing new. And the urgency I feel and speak of also isn't new. But it continues to grow, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour.  So think of this as more of a reminder, an emphatic expression of urgency, of our required commitment, of our shared responsibility, and of reaffirming my own resolve to do more, say more, share more, in the hopes that the changes that are long overdue will come. And that they will come soon.  The destruction and devastation in Gaza is unlike anything I have ever seen before in my life. And the images and videos and descriptions cannot compare to the physical experience of being there and trying to live through this, trying to survive among the ruins and the rubble, trying to breathe through the dust and the dirt, trying to find life amidst death and deprivation. Trying to keep going despite the overwhelming sense of abandonment sinking like a heavy cloud atop t...

January 12, 2025   I have been so moved by the many Palestinians in Gaza who are supporting their community while also experiencing the same hardship and dangerous conditions as those around them. There are a number of individuals and groups who are doing amazing work, embodying compassion and love in all of their actions. I hope to write about more of them in the coming days. And to start things off tonight, I want to share with you some information about one particular group whose members are doing all they can to take care of both the animals and the people while they are all suffering from the unrelenting violence of this genocide.  They are called the “ Cruelty-Free Kitchen ,” and they were founded by five wonderful people: Walid, Amjad, Abood, Mahmoud, and Mo. From their fundraiser page:  “With support from our donations, the kitchen has successfully distributed thousands of meals, ensuring that hundreds upon hundreds of people—mostly children—are able to leave...

January 11, 2025 Those who are being starved, whose rights to freedom and safety have been stolen, who are under the constant threat of violent attacks, should not also have to fundraise for their very survival.  And we who are not experiencing this, we who reside in relative safety, especially those of us in the countries responsible for sending the weapons and the bombs that fuel this genocide, bear the responsibility to do all we can every day to support the people who are trying to survive. While also doing all we can in every moment to end this violence.   This is the most urgent thing. There are also other important things that we can be doing along side this. But this is the most urgent thing. Because conditions are dire. They surpassed being in a crisis state of emergency long, long ago.  Today I went to a meeting in my community, to try and connect with others who are trying to find more ways to end the genocide, to support Palestine and justice for Palestine. I ...