PETA Hired Me!!!!!!!

It's been ages since I've blogged, but I have been busy. . . being hired by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)!!! :) I applied for a Corporate Liaison position in late June, and in mid-July, PETA brought me up to Norfolk, VA to interview. Last week, I recieved the call that I'd been selected for the job! I start August 17th!!!!!!!

My dream was always to work for a non-profit, "saving the world". After college, Bank of America made me a good offer, and I signed on and worked on the trading floor for a year, and eventually became a business continuity consultant. A couple years later, I joined Wachovia, in Operational Risk, again specializing in business continuity and Microsoft SharePoint web development. When Wells Fargo took over Wachovia this year in the merger, I was blessed to be offered another position with the new, combined organization, again, in Operational Risk. Around that time, I saw the position with PETA posted, and I decided to go for it. I've always hated math, never been interested in the least in banking and really, this economy is rather depressing if you ask me.

I'd been telling myself since college that I really was
"saving the world" by being a business continuity consultant, as we prepare the bank for disasters - situations ranging from a snowstorm where buildings are inaccessible, to 9/11-type terrorist attacks, to pandemic flu. Truth be told, I've felt for the last four years that all I've done since college is push data around.

The two days I spent in Norfolk, VA interviewing with PETA were incredible. I worked my butt off (it was a volunteer working interview), and felt so satisfied with what I completed, but at the same time, craving more projects. Returning to Wachovia was miserable for me. Sitting in my bank cubicle was tortorous, with the knowledge that I could be doing so much to help end the suffering of animals during those eight hours each day, but instead I was just inputing data. . . and often dealing with office "drama". And boy have chic hormones been flying since the integration started. I've had two quotes hanging up in my cube to "ward off" some of the negativity:
"The reason why dogs have so many friends
is that they wag their tails and not their tongues."
-Anonomyous

"The only thing worse than being talked about
is not being talked about."
-Oscare Wilde
July 30th was one of the happiest days of my life. I can only describe the feeling I had as though I'd just been released from a jail sentence. . . like I'd escaped from a career I had no passion for, and into the freedom of waking up and doing what I feel God created me to do. I've been miserable, the more I came to realize the irony that so many of us spend the majority of our waking hours doing something we don't really like.

Really, think of the breakdown of an average work week:

1.5hrs - Get ready for work
45min - Commute to work
9hrs - Work
45min - Commute from work
8hrs - Sleep to rest up for work

That leaves 5hrs of free time. Twelve hours of our day, each day, revolves around work, commuting to work or getting ready for work. That's half our day! Throw in sleep, and that's 75% of our day revolving around our careers.

Stay tuned in about a week. . . when I start saving animals full-time. :)

8/08/2009 04:23:00 PM | Category: | 0 comments
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USDA Animal Kill Counter Visual
Sobering... a visual from the USDA NASS Livestock Slaughter 2008 Summary. The animals you see passing along your screen right now, and the numbers tallying up represent the number of animals killed - in the United States alone - since you pulled up my blog.

Please re-post on your own blogs, Facebook, MySpace, etc, and give a voice to the voiceless. For inspiration on cruelty-free living, please visit my site: www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com.


6/23/2009 11:38:00 PM | Category: , | 0 comments
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Dairy Milk Bearish... The Concept is Bull

While pulling Operational Risk articles for work this morning, I came across this:

“Dairy-Cow Kill to Double Milk Price on Biggest Slump Since 1980”

So basically, the National Milk Producers Federation located in Arlington, VA is going to pay dairy farms to slaughter 103,000 cows across the United States in the next few months. Milk prices will double in the next year to cover the cost of the slaughter and the loss of “equity.” Farmers are “culling” herds because of plunging exports and the increased cost of corn (funny… aren’t cows supposed to eat grass and not grain anyway?).

According to a Wells Fargo senior economist (Wells Fargo is my new company), “No one is making money producing milk. The milk price remains well below the total cost of production.” Meanwhile, the poor cows are pumping out, on average, over 1,800 pounds of milk each, per year, a new USDA record.

One dairy farmer said, “We are in a depression right now. I have to be an optimist that the dairy farmers can get together and find a way to reduce the cow herd about 5 percent so that prices can recover quickly.”

The article drones on to provide endless statistics on these commodities, as if they are lumps of coal, pools of oil or hunks of gold.




In reality, cows living, breathing creatures that experience the emotions that your pet does… joy, happiness, excitement, loneliness, sadness, fear. At what economic price point does life become an expendable commodity? And better yet, at what point DID life become a matter of profit and loss for a businessman’s balance sheets? If an alternative to suffering exists, why not use it and eliminate suffering? We are the only creatures that drink milk from other animals. Dairy milk alternatives are much more appealing when you think about it… milk from a plant, such as almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk or cashew milk. Why do we insist on cow milk as if it’s the end-all?

Do your health a favor, and your pocketbook, and quit drinking dairy milk and switch to plant milk. It’s healthier, more sanitary and cruelty-free. Seems a simple and straightforward decision. Personally, I don’t miss dairy milk at all, in fact the mere thought of it grosses me out. I enjoy the variety and cleanliness of the various plant milks, and of discovering which are my favorites.

The following is a PETA article on dairy cows:

“The 9 million cows living on dairy farms in the United States spend most of their lives in large sheds or on feces-caked mud lots, where disease is rampant. Cows raised for their milk are repeatedly impregnated. Their babies are taken away so that humans can drink the milk intended for the calves. When their exhausted bodies can no longer provide enough milk, they are sent to slaughter and ground up for hamburgers.

Cows produce milk for the same reason that humans do: to nourish their babies. In order to force the animals to continue giving milk, factory farmers impregnate them using artificial insemination every year. Calves are generally taken from their mothers within a day of being born—males are destined for veal crates, and females are sentenced to the same fate as their mothers.

Mother cows on dairy farms can often be seen searching and calling for their calves long after they have been separated. Author Oliver Sacks, M.D., wrote of a visit that he and cattle expert Dr. Temple Grandin made to a dairy farm and of the great tumult of bellowing that they heard when they arrived: “‘They must have separated the calves from the cows this morning,’ Temple said, and, indeed, this was what had happened. We saw one cow outside the stockade, roaming, looking for her calf, and bellowing. ‘That’s not a happy cow,’ Temple said. ‘That’s one sad, unhappy, upset cow. She wants her baby. Bellowing for it, hunting for it. She’ll forget for a while, then start again. It’s like grieving, mourning—not much written about it. People don’t like to allow them thoughts or feelings.’

After their calves are taken from them, mother cows are hooked up, several times a day, to machines that take the milk intended for their babies. Using genetic manipulation, powerful hormones, and intensive milking, factory farmers force cows to produce about 10 times as much milk as they naturally would. Animals are pumped full of bovine growth hormone (BGH), which contributes to painful inflammation of the udder known as “mastitis.” (BGH is used throughout the U.S., but has been banned in Europe and Canada because of concerns over human health and animal welfare.) According to the industry’s own figures, between 30 and 50 percent of dairy cows suffer from mastitis, an extremely painful condition.

A cow’s natural lifespan is 25 years, but cows used by the dairy industry are killed after only four or five years. An industry study reports that by the time they are killed, nearly 40 percent of dairy cows are lame because of the filth, intensive confinement, and the strain of constantly being pregnant and giving milk. Dairy cows are turned into soup, companion animal food, or low-grade hamburger meat because their bodies are too “spent” to be used for anything else.”

6/22/2009 11:27:00 AM | Category: | 0 comments
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Bobbing boats, dirty napkins and crescent moons
“By plucking her petals,
you do not gather the beauty of the flower.”
-Rabindranath Tagore

It seems that "drama" comes in waves. I feel I spend most of my life relaxing on my proverbial boat, with my not-so-proverbial husband and dog, and bob along tranquil waters, enjoying life.

Becoming lost in God's spectacular creation - endless water, plush grass, stoic mountains, emotional animals, billowy clouds - this is what I breathe. Without the ability to take in nature, I feel I would wither. Then I look around, and find blessings of a husband who loves and accepts me for who I am, and who will do anything to plunk a smile on my face. A dog who's entire existence revolves around receiving a tummy rub from mommy and daddy at the end of a long day's wait. A Mom and Dad who have sacrificed everything to ensure I have every chance to be successful in this world by giving me bottomless opportunity and encouragement. And then sisters, in-laws, extended family and friends from whom I receive priceless support and learn more ways to enjoy life by watching them live out theirs.

Then a wave hits on a side of the boat I wasn't watching. Followed by another, and another and another. Just as I'm cleaning off the unwanted seaweed and occasional soda can from a nasty litterbug on one side of the boat, another wave hits on the opposite side of the boat. I hate drama. It's unnecessary and unsightly litter and causes undue stress on my peaceful little boat.

I like feeling accepted and loved. We all do. So why don't we give that simple gift to each other? It's free, in every possible sense of the word. It doesn't cost money not to criticize. It doesn't cost any time to bite your tongue... in fact, it saves time. Unacceptance is drama. it's completely unecessary and useless to not accept someone for who they are.

I used to try to fit in. Desperately I tried to fit in throughout high school and college. I wanted to blend into the crowd, go relatively unnoticed. I didn't know who I was exactly. I didn't know how to be me.

For some, blending in is who they are. It's what makes them feel satisfied, comfortable and happy. It's about doing what makes you happy. Some of us are happy being and looking different. Others are happy being and looking the same as the majority of people. Do what makes you happy, and be happy for others when they choose to do what makes them happy. I'd rather be around a happy person, than one that's suffocated because they're trying to be someone they're not.

I don't care what style someone selects, or food someone eats, or hobby someone invests in. That's their life, not mine. It merely makes me genuinely happy when someone in my life has found who they are and dives into those waters with entirety. Whether that means they're conservative and traditional, adventurous and risky, or free-spirited and carefree.

When we come home from elementary school, crying because someone made fun of our glasses, or our Transformers lunch box, our parents tell us not to worry, that this is a phase. When we're older, we'll find that our adult friends will be much more accepting of us than our elementary school friends are. Kids pick on other kids because they lack confidence in themselves, and so they like to point their finger at someone else, to distract from their own insecurities. This, we're told, subsides with age and maturity.

I've not found this to be true. It happens as an adult, I'd venture to say, just as much as when you're a kid. Sorry kids, it doesn't get any better. All I can say is this.

Know who you are. (I know too many adults who are still trying to figure this out.)
Accept who you are. (You're your own worst critic... and you can be your biggest fan.)
Be who you are. (Don't change for anyone except for yourself or for God.)

I accept that there will always be unaccepting people in this world... but I also accept and love me for me, more importantly. So when those people do express their unacceptance or criticisim, I know it just doesn't matter.

One of my best friends recently demonstrated this for me. After relaying to her something someone said to me, she said, "Melissa, I want to show you something. Here, take this." She held out a dirty napkin to me. I took it. "Why did you take that???" she asked. I mumbled something like, "well, you gave it to me... I'm not sure actually."

She went on to explain, "Melissa, just because I handed you that piece of trash doesn't mean you had to take it. Life is full of choices. You chose to take that worthless piece of trash from me. It's the same when someone throws some unwarranted criticisim or negative opinion at you. You can choose whether you want to take it. If you see the words are worthless to you, kindly say your 'no thank you' and walk away. But if you see that it's going to make you a better person, you can choose to take it. But choose wisely. Just because someone tells you something, you don't have to take it and carry it around with you. You can walk away from it."

It all starts with knowing who you are, so you can understand and embrace it. I recommend creating a simple list of three things that encompass who you are, and explaining what each item means to you. Understand that those who love you in your life, and are worth your time and effort and affection, won't try to change anything you put on your list.

Here's mine.

I am a follower of Jesus Christ.
This means I live my life in such a way that I strive to make Him proud of me by treating others the way I would like to be treated, and by choosing to honor Him even when no one is looking.
I am a free-spirit.
This means I enjoy experimenting with clothes, makeup and hair styles and am happy looking different. It also means I enjoy differnet forms of entertainment and relaxation, and am proud of my activity and hobby choices.
I am a vegan and an environmentalist.
This means that I do not eat or use products that contain any animal products or that have been tested on animals. It means I believe I have a purpose on this planet to protect animals as well as the other natural resources and beauty in God's creation.


This has been one of my favorite quotes since college. It speaks of confidence.

"Perhaps the crescent moon smiles in doubt
at being told that it is only a fragment awaiting perfection."
-Rabindranath Tagore
6/15/2009 10:38:00 PM | Category: | 0 comments
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Welcome to Visual Melody Marketing!
Visit the new site and take a little trip through a wonderful world of marketing services. Our music for the eyes will take you over the rainbow. Hint, hint.


Visual Melody is a little marketing company I started in October 2007, specializing in print design. My focus was on business cards, wedding and funeral programs, brochures, newspaper ads and copywriting. I pride Visual Melody in our one-on-one client relationships and fresh aesthetic design.

Over the past year and a half, the company has grown at the request of clients to include internet marketing activities. We are currently focusing primarily on web design for clients, and have capabilities to design very simple sites (using GoDaddy.com's Website Tonight software, for example), to beautiful advanced sites (using our resources with DreamTemplate), to mesmerizing full-Flash sites made with Wix.com (such as www.visualmelodymarketing.com and www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com) and Content Management System (CMS) stites (using Microsoft SharePoint or Joomla).

Visual Melody is also (and of course) a vegan company. We never use or promote any animal products. Please contact me at melissa@visualmelodymarketing.com if you have any animal-free projects that need a personal touch from a free-spirited professional. :)
5/30/2009 12:59:00 PM | Category: , | 0 comments
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New Non-Profit of the Month and "Have a Heart" Weekly Action Items on www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com
Visit www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com to be educated and inspired to live a Consistent Life Ethic!

Non-Profit of the Month ("donate" tab) - Project HALO (Helping Animals Live On)

Animals - educate your friends on why never ever to use breeders or pet stores
People - support Nicaraguan children by buying delicious Rio Coco Coffee
Earth - switch to Seventh Generation household cleaning products

The Usual Disclaimer
I don't do any paid blogging... everything I recommend is simply from my heart. :)
5/30/2009 12:35:00 PM | Category: | 0 comments
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Back from Our 3rd Anniversary Trip!
After celebrating three years of marriage with David in Vero Beach and Miami, FL, I'm back! I've posted the pictures from our trip on my Facebook, but for those who won't make the journey out there, here are a few below:






Also, new Have a Heart Action Items on www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com... you've got to actually visit the site to take action... not gonna make it that easy for you! ;)

Animals- Write Oprah and complain about the free KFC (Kentucky Fried Cruelty in PETA's and my books) she's giving away

People- Send a birthday wish via Amnesty to imprisoned American Journalist Roxana Sabari

Earth- Buy an Ech2o filtered stainless steel water bottle. It's worth every penny of the $45.

Reminder... I don't use any paid blogging services... anything I reccomend is strictly because I love the product!!! Just think of me as a friend. :)
5/07/2009 03:26:00 PM | Category: , | 0 comments
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New "Have a Heart" Weekly Action Items on www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com

I received a filled-out contact form from a visitor to www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com last week who had an excellent recommendation. She suggested that I include information about the Canadian Harp Seals. I reached a conundrum, because there are so many different species of animals suffering from specifically cruel treatment, and it’s hard to select just one or a few to focus on.

But her suggestion gave me the idea to start posting weekly “Have a Heart” action items, in which a simple topic and action link are posted to current issues on each of the three main tabs: Animals, People and Earth. This week’s action items (visit www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com for the links… gonna make you leave my blog and go have a look for yourself… haha):

Animals: Help the Canadian Harp Seals!

People: Help the human rights activists in Zimbabwe!

Earth: Sign the pledge to quit drinking bottled water!

I also want to take a bit of space to include the text of the comments from the visitor who suggested I highlight the Canadian Harp Seals, as she took time to give some very good information:

“I saw your site and have only looked at a few pages so far. I think it's really cool that you made a site that's dedicated to being a voice for the animals.

Do you know anything about the Canadian Seal Hunt? (www.harpseals.org). Every year the Canadian fishermen kill 300,000 seals, 98% being as young as 12 days old. There was a study done in which it was found out that 42% of the seals were skinned alive in one year. There fishermen only make %5 of their income from the annual slaughter, the 95% from fishing. The U.S. buys 70% of all seafood exports so the U.S. is a big supporter to the lifestyle of the fishermen. If you want I can set you up for main links for easy ways to help.
Maybe there is some way you can incorporate that into your site. Thanks for reading.”

4/21/2009 11:40:00 AM | Category: | 0 comments
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Date Night, Angeline and Angelina
Every week, my husband and I have one or two date nights, often on Friday and/or Saturday. We've heard it helps keep your relationship a priority by maintaining romance and shared interests. And we've actually noticed a difference when we've become "lazy" with date nights, i.e., skipping them, or doing something more "normal", like sitting on the couch and watching a movie instead of actually getting out and doing something together as a couple. Seems like date night keeps us interesting to each other, and freshly connected. I have to highly recommend any of you out there who are married to start up a weekly tradition. :) Think about it... it can't do anything but help your relationship!

After enjoying a dinner at some sort of Asian restaurant (Thai, Indian, Chinese... all very vegan-friendly!), our favorite date night activity spot lately has been book stores, where we grab soy lattes, chat and browse books for a couple of hours. Our latest find is V Cuisine, a deliciously intriguing vegan/vegetarian cookbook. We've been collecting quite the array lately, but this one has been the most unique we've found so far. We sat in Barnes and Noble drooling over the most ingenious recipes we've encountered lately. Angeline Lineardis's tongue-in-cheek explanations and creative concoctions will have you salivating.


Speaking of Angeline... I have long been a fan of Angelina Jolie. Now, I am well aware she is often shrouded by controversy, particularly by those loyal fans of Jennifer Anniston. My "fanship" of Angelina has nothing to do with her relationship with Mr. Pitt. I've simply always thought she was the most beautiful woman on the planet, and have appreciated her individuality and non-conformist style and attitude. I've also done a great deal of study into her international service, and am profoundly humbled. So between the natural beauty, the incredibly unique aura and the charity work, I'm a huge fan.

I wanted to recommend a movie Angelina was in recently, Changeling. For those who may have less-than-gleaming opinions of her, I think seeing her work in this film will, at the very least, give people a new perspective on this tattooed, sexy action figure. Directed by Clint Eastwood, Changeling is the true story of an incredibly bizarre case of mistaken identity, police crime, child abuse, serial murder and psych wards.

Believe me, you will be left with your jaw hanging open the entire two and a half hours of this movie. If it weren't a true story, I would have complained during the movie that the story was too unrealistic to be believable. Anyone interested in women's rights, psychiatric patient rights, child abuse or police injustice will find this movie unforgettable. I'm simply baffled. I will warn you the storyline is incredibly disturbing, however poetically handled. It's by far one of the best movies I've seen in my life, and one of the most terrifying, heartbreaking, inspiring true stories I've ever learned.

4/19/2009 05:22:00 PM | Category: , | 0 comments
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Anyone Need Vegan Recipes?
I've been asked a lot about where to find good vegan recipes. The truth is, they're all over, and easier to find than you think. So the absolute hands-down best vegan recipe resource in my husband's and my opinion is Recipezaar.


Here's why:
- 12,692 vegan recipes and counting
- extensive nutrition information for every single recipe
- detailed recipe sifter allows tag-style recipe filtering (time, ingredient, prep, etc)
- most recipes have a picture or multiple user-submitted pictures
- ratings tell you what people really thing about the recipes

Here's one of our favorites we've found so far on this site:

Tempeh "Chicken" Salad (4 sandwiches )
- 12 ounces tempeh, cubed
- 1 stalk celery, minced
- 2 tablespoons red bell peppers, minced
- 1 large dill pickles, minced
- 2-3 scallions, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup soy mayonnaise or regular mayonnaise (more or less to taste)
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard (spicy golden brown is nice too)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Place the cubed tempeh in a saucepan of boiling, salted water.
2. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 12 minutes, drain and set aside to cool.
3. I usually toss it in the fridge.
4. In a large bowl, combine the celery, pepper, pickle, scallion and parsley.
5. Run a knife through the cubed tempeh, just to give it a rough chop (optional, the cubes work fine too)
6. Add chopped tempeh to the bowl, along with the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon, salt and pepper.
7. Fold everything together, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors combine.
8. This will keep covered in the fridge for 2-3 days. This salad goes great on wheat toast, in a pita pocket, or in a lavash wrap.


Here are a few more great vegan recipe sites we use (more can be found on the "links" page on www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com):
- VegCooking
- ChooseVeg
- Vegan Food

And our favorite vegan cookbooks:
- The Joy of Vegan Baking
- Vegan Planet
- You Won't Believe It's Vegan!
- Skinny Bitch in the Kitch
- Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

And a good overall book on vegan anything and everything is The Vegan Sourcebook.

Remember, I don't do any paid blogging AT ALL. Anything I recommend ever is a recommendation simply from my own personal obsession with the product. :)

4/10/2009 01:41:00 PM | Category: | 2 comments
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