Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.
Even when we’re dealing with tough truths, I kept thinking that we, and all vegans everywhere, can be such lights in the world.
This summer, we’re doing the Main Street Vegan Academy program, training Vegan Lifestyle Coaches and Educators, online for the first time. We’re on Zoom so classes are live, but not in person in my home in New York City, as was the case for the first twenty-nine courses, starting in 2012. I’m impressed by how “real” the connections can be in this format, and the camaraderie in this diverse group of people from five countries is beautiful.
Below is taken from the letter I sent the students after our second weekend together, when classes included a couple of heavy ones — Martin Rowe and Dr. Milton Mills.
Martin Rowe, of Lantern Books and Brighter Green environmental action
tank
Milton Mills, MD, critical care physician, member of the Seventh Day
Adventist church, and authority on dietary racism
Even when we’re dealing with tough truths, I kept thinking that we, and
all vegans everywhere, can be such lights in the world. During our graduate
panel when previously certified Vegan Lifestyle Coaches and Educators shared
about their businesses, I noted that two of them have the word “bright” in
their titles. We heard from Lita Dwight, VLCE, of
Brytlife Foods,
vegan cheese and yogurt, based in New York; and from Laura Callan of
Bright zine and
Bright Store
(ethical shopping, coffee shop, and event space in London).
To me, it’s no coincidence that these very different vegan companies would
both include in their names such a hopeful word, because that’s really what
we’re doing: brightening things up, shedding light on problems, yes, and
then coming in with uplifting solutions. When we juxtapose the solutions we
provide — a new vegan cheese, a thought-provoking article, an hour with a
client helping them learn to cook or shop or feel safe about protein — with
the huge problems in the world, they may not look like much, but when you
add them all together, their power is astounding.
Exquisite yogurt from Brytlife foods, the brainchild of Lita Dwight,
VLCE. Brytlife crafts luscious artisanal cheeses, as well.
These bright businesses got me thinking about my own young life. I’d
graduated high school at 17, worked for ten months, and made the break to a
place that seemed magical, then and now: London. I’d enrolled in a fashion
course but didn’t like it. I’d thought it would prepare to be an editor at
Vogue magazine, but it was rather about design and garment crafting for
which I had no inclination. I stopped going to school and took a volunteer
position in the East End, charged with teaching tween girls “poise and
grooming.”
At that time, 1968, the East End was the poorest part of London. Heavily
bombed during World War II, many areas were still blighted, yet to be
rebuilt, and many of the people who lived there never left the neighborhood.
I was working with girls eleven, twelve, and thirteen who lived in one of
the most magnificent cities on earth, but who had never laid eyes on what
any tourist would see in a few days — Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Harrods
department store, the Victoria and Albert. So I took it upon myself to be
sure that they experienced all these and more. We’d do a cursory lesson on
poise and grooming, and I’d load my little group onto an Underground train
for exploration of the city. I can still see their eyes and their faces, the
wonder of realizing how much magnificence was so nearby, and how much more
the world might hold.
Bright Zine — a print and online magazine viewing contemporary
culture thru a vegan lens – was the first vegan venture of Laura Callan,
VLCE.
One August morning as I walked from the Whitechapel tube station to the
community center where our class met, I felt that I was an emissary of
something light and bright and good. It was an unusual feeling because my
self-esteem was not in great shape. I despised myself for being overweight,
having recurrent acne, and difficult hair. I felt ashamed for those parts of
my face that showed my Italian heritage, taking on my father’s embarrassment
that his parents had come to America with no money or education, and that
his mother never learned English. And I further felt “wrong” because of my
mother’s roots in rural poverty. Her passion to “rise above her raisin’,” to
make something of herself no matter what, was admirable, and yet to me as
her child, the intensity of it had been frightening.
That morning in the East End, however, the mortification I often felt for
just being who I was, lifted, and I was instead a blessed being, able to
show a dozen young women what they might aspire to. In retrospect, I realize
I was showing that to myself, as well. This is what all of us do as we live
our lives as vegans. We’ve made changes in our lives that have give us
clarity and hope and promise. When we can free ourselves from self-doubt and
the discouragement that the problems are too huge to tackle, that clarity
and hope and promise show in our essence and in the energy we bring to each
situation. I say to you as a vegan: even before you do something positive,
your mere presence can be something positive.
Another of Laura Callan’s bright ventures – cafe and events in London’s
now thriving (and uber-vegan-friendly) East End.
As we show up to do the work that’s before us, let’s show up bright. We need to take care of ourselves, be well fed, well rested, adequately exercised, and well prayed up (or meditated or chanted or whatever your means of spiritual connection might be). It is incumbent upon us to be thoughtful, taking care before we act or speak or press “send” or “enter.” Let’s not aim to be so heroic that we fail to ask for help when we need it, or to put ourselves first when that’s appropriate, or to allow others to change the world for a time when there is an individual close to us whose world only we can change. As we set high standards for ourselves, can we perhaps give others a bit of slack? We can’t know what someone else has experienced, and if they fail to live up to our ideals, let’s be sure before jumping to criticize that we’re living up to them ourselves. Let’s make a difference by what we do, of course, and, perhaps even more, by who we are, and who we’re able to become.
Victoria with Forbes, rescued and cherished
Victoria Moran is an author, podcaster, and founder and director of Main Street Vegan Academy, training Vegan Lifestyle Coaches and Educators in both MSV-Zoom and MSV-Elite (in person in NYC) iterations. She will teach a public Zoom class, “Zero to Plant-Based in No Time at All” Tuesday, August 4th, 7:30 pm U.S. Eastern Time, and again Saturday, September 19, 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time. These are free, but registration is required. She will also host a delightful and productive weekend retreat via Zoom (ticketed) on Saturday and Sunday, September 25 and 26. The topic: “Acing Age with Ayurveda” — and, come on, whatever your age, it never hurts to be a little bit younger.
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