peta2 Vs. the Florida College Republicans? November 17, 2009

Posted by Ryan at November 17, 2009 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBack

Put your Awesome Hat on—it's peta2 College Campaign update time!

For starters, our Most Vegetarian-Friendly Colleges contest is really heating up, with less than one week left to vote! This past week saw the massive upset of the little school that could—Oberlin College—overtaking the University of Illinois. Was it Oberlin's seitan pepper steak and vegan barbecue tofu pizza that helped push them over the top? Mayhaps. Will it take them all the way to number one? Possi-be.

Further south, the storm at the University of Florida (UF) continues to brew. As you may recall, peta2 recently hosted an event called "Meet Your Meat" at UF, which was well-attended and got lots of people talking. Unfortunately, it looks like the UF chapter of the College Republicans took the wrong lesson from our talk, because shortly afterwards they decided to host a "People Eating Tasty Animals" barbecue on campus.

Now here at peta2, we don't think cruelty to animals is a partisan topic, but we're also never one to pass up an opportunity to discuss the issues. Indeed, we responded in the student newspaper challenging the club to a debate about whether animals should have rights. Word has it that the group is taking us up on our offer, so stay tuned for the event info on that this spring!

Finally, out west, Adrianne (check out her new staff bio!) brought our provocative Liberation exhibit to the campus of Arizona State University (yup—that same ASU.) She worked with the student group there to educate thousands of Sun Devils about why animal rights is the most important social justice issue of our time.





Well, that's it from us! Stay tuned for next week, when we take California, and turn it upside-down ...

Barbecue Tofu Pizza, Colleges, and Texans ... Oh My! November 10, 2009

Posted by Ryan at November 10, 2009 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBack

It's that time of the week—your regularly-scheduled peta2 College Campaign update, and boy does this one pack a punch ...

For starters, we're right in the thick of our highly-anticipated "Most Vegetarian-Friendly Colleges" competition, and the contest is really heating up! Voters have already narrowed down our list of U.S. colleges from 32 nominees to 8 semifinalists, including last year's winner American University and returning finalists Oberlin College and UC Santa Cruz.

We're not talking about PB&J here. These schools offer some of the finest vegan options found anywhere in the country, including ... *inhales deeply* ... tempeh cacciatore, fried buffalo tofu, vegan scallion mashed potatoes, veggie chicken red curry with steamed broccolini and organic jasmine rice, vegan barbecue tofu pizza, vegan sausage patties, almond seitan, and veggie barbecue riblets on a French roll, just to name a few.

Incredible, right? Well, click on the image below to check out the current standings, and to cast your ballot!

Also this week, our Liberation exhibit crew rolled deep into the heart of Texas to set up the provocative animal rights display in the middle of the University of Texas campus.

Working alongside the peta2-award-winning campus group, Students Against Cruelty to Animals, we spoke to thousands of Texans about why we reckon the state's cattle-ranching industry will soon be a thing of the past, just as so many human atrocities throughout history have come to an end. Even the student newspaper, The Daily Texan, came out to cover our visit. Yee haw!





Well, that's it from us for now. Farewell from the Lone Star State!

peta2 Continues Cross Country Fight Against McCruelty November 4, 2009

Posted by Marta at November 4, 2009 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBack

Hey there peta2 guys and gals!

Renee here on the K.O.D. Tech N9ne tour. We've been working our way down through the central plains over to Texas. We had a great time this Halloween in Wichita, KS, at The Cotillion. Rob and his new friends are definitely down with the wicked clown!

We then headed over to the historic Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, OK.


Throughout the tour we've gained a lot of support against the way McDonald's suppliers torture and slaughter billions of chickens each year.

Keep it real and keep helping animals!

The winning streak continues for peta2 college outreach. This is Daniel reporting in from Oxford, Mississippi, home of the Ole Miss Rebels. Considering that northern Mississippi is relatively uncharted terrain for animal rights outreach, we've been surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to our campaign to introduce more vegan options in the Ole Miss dining halls. But I guess we were fools to expect any other reaction from people here—this part of the country is well known for 'southern hospitality.'


Our time in Miami at Florida International University last week was also a great success. The student body there was very fond of our McCruelty petition. More than 2,000 students stood up to make a statement against what happens to chickens in American slaughterhouses.


It was a long ride to Mississippi from southern Florida, so we had to prepare ourselves properly. First we had to stop in to fuel up at our favorite Miami-area vegan restaurant, Garden Eat'in, which serves some of the best Jamaican vegan food we've ever had (Jamiacan jerk fish, curry and coconut pumpkin, 5 spice tofu, and more!).


Then we took a nice dip in the warm turquoise waters of Hallandale Beach. As always, we're livin' large and helping animals on the road. We hope you had a fun and animal-friendly Halloween!

Hey kids! This is Joey reporting from California to let you know about our Halloween. We worked at the Halos and Horns show in Costa Mesa, CA, to inform the event's attendees about McCruelty. We got a lot of support from the crowd, and they definitely loved the creepy masks we brought along with us.


Thanks for stopping by guys!

-Renee, Daniel and Joey

peta2 + Florida Colleges = <3 (PICTURES!) November 3, 2009

Posted by Ryan at November 3, 2009 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 6 ) | TrackBack

The peta2 College Campaigns division has really been running at full throttle over the past couple of weeks, so we figured it was time for an update! Sure, you've heard about our all-star campus outreach crews, dominating colleges from coast to coast, but what else have we been up to?

Well, for starters, I traveled deep into the heart of Swamp territory to visit the University of Florida. Working with the superstar student group at UF, called EnVeg, peta2 helped host PETA vice president Bruce Friedrich for an on-campus talk titled "Meet Your Meat." The event even featured free vegan ice cream!

Of course, as anyone who has ever seen our "Start a Buzz" video knows, it takes more than flyers to ensure a large event turnout. We had to pull out the sidewalk chalk! Enter the students of EnVeg, taking over the campus in the middle of the night ...



As expected, we caused so much of a stir that a packed room of UF students turned out to hear what all of the fuss was about!



The event even caught the attention of the student newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator, which wrote a great article, helping us to reach thousands more students.

Elsewhere in the state though, my buddy Adrianne was holding down peta2's Liberation display at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the University of South Florida (USF). For those who haven't checked it out, Liberation is a traveling educational exhibit that draws the parallels between the abuses humans have inflicted on each other, with the abuses we currently inflict on animals.

While at UCF, our crew couldn't resist the opportunity to join the student group, BARC, at the legendary vegan hotspot, Ethos Vegan Kitchen. Here's our buddy Kortney enjoying a delicious curry tofu wrap ("one of the best things on the menu, next to Yo' Mamma's Lasagna").



At USF, we worked with the student group, SPEAK, to really focus on animal testing issues. Some students on campus even admitted to performing cruel tests on hammerhead sharks! Who does that?



Well, that's it for this week. Stay tuned for more updates soon. You never know where peta2 is going to pop up next!

A Creepy Clown and Vegan Ice Cream October 29, 2009

Posted by Marta at October 29, 2009 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBack

Greetings, everyone. Daniel reporting in from southern Florida. It's been a strenuous but rewarding week of college outreach since the last blog. We were in Kent, Ohio, at Kent State University helping students expand vegan options in their dining halls. The campaign was an overwhelming success, as we gathered over 2,500 signatures from KSU students in two days. Faculty and dining service personnel were accepting and enthusiastic about our campaign as well.

From Ohio, we had a long trek down to humid Florida. On the way down we stopped to treat ourselves at the renowned Karma Cream near the University of Florida campus. Karma Cream is a 24 hour ice cream shop which makes life in Gainesville just a bit sweeter by featuring 16 flavors of vegan ice cream! As always, it wouldn't be a peta2 tour if we weren't stopping to indulge in some kind of vegan decadence.


We now find ourselves in Boca Raton, Florida, where we've been helping the student group at Florida Atlantic University to push forward with an intense campaign to get FAU to cease involvement with a neighboring lab that does cruel experiments on primates. We're raising awareness about the cruelty and futility of animal testing on the wider scale. According to the lab itself, one of its experiments involved intentionally infecting macaque monkeys with Mad Cow Disease and then killing them and dissecting their brains. Clearly, this must be stopped. This campaign has certainly sparked some heated debates about animal testing here on the FAU campus, but overall the students at FAU have been supportive and sympathetic to our monkey friends in the laboratories. Of course, we will continue to kick ass and take names to prevent this kind of madness from continuing wherever we find it.


Hey everyone! This is Renee and I have to tell you ... every night of Tech N9ne keeps getting better and better! We hit up the lines at The Marquee Theatre in Tempe, AZ, and found something a little interesting ...


Ronald stopped by! This little clown of a man represents the millions of brutal deaths to our chicken friends each and every year. The peta2 tour crew is working hard to let the country know what really happens in the slaughterhouses of McDonald's suppliers. Fortunately, this wasn't the real creep Ronald McDonald ... just our fellow tour leader, Joey, helping out our crew.

We've already gathered thousands of signatures demanding that McDonald's put an end to the suffering.

See you next week ... who knows what will happen by then!

—Daniel and Renee

peta2 Loves Slaughterhouse? October 23, 2009

Posted by Marta at October 23, 2009 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBack

Hey there ladies and gents! Renee here, on the road with Tech N9ne. We've been combing our way out west through Seattle, Spokane, and Portland on our way to California. We've met a lot of interesting people along the way ...

The hard work is paying off in our efforts to promote awareness of the suffering that occurs in McDonald's suppliers' slaughterhouses. I'm hatin' it! Each night we make new friends and couldn't be happier with the amazing guys in Slaughterhouse. The guys were cool enough to stop by to check out the table and say hello!


The road has been treating us well ... off to Cali!

Greetings everyone. Daniel here! Glad to be back on the road with peta2. It's been a rowdy week since I've been back with the team doing college outreach. First we hit up Hunter College in Manhattan, New York, to help students expand the vegan options in their dining halls, and we even risked our health passing out McCruelty leaflets outside of McDonald's in the cold rain.


While in NYC we were able to catch some great eats all around town. We visited the unearthly Foodswings vegan fast food joint in Brooklyn on multiple occasions for some intense faux-wing eating sessions. On Friday Joey, Franny, Tyler, and I all participated in a food challenge of gluttonous proportions: Back to back vegan lunches at the world famous Red Bamboo and Vegetarian's Paradise 2 restaurants in Greenwich Village. This consisted of delicious soul-chicken sandwiches, malaysian mango chicken, and pepper steak dishes, to name a few. Tyler and I officially won the challenge because we topped off our two hefty meals with vegan Oreo cheesecake. Our travels then took us to Columbus, Ohio, where we reached out to the Buckeyes at Ohio State University about what happens to chickens in McDonald's suppliers' slaughterhouses.


We fueled ourselves for these outreach operations with the great pastries, cookies, and muffins of Pattycake vegan bakery just up the road from the school. We passed through Akron, Ohio, earlier on our way to Kent State University, and we had some hearty vegan pizza at the elegant Vegiterranean restaurant.


Life is good out on the road. We're reaching people everyday for the animals and we're downing some serious meals all along the way—which goes to show that being vegan is fun and easy no matter where you are. Get stuffed!

-Renee and Daniel

peta2 <3's College Outreach, Tech N9ne, and You! October 15, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at October 15, 2009 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBack

Hey friends!

It's Joey from the college peta2 tour crew, and we've spent all week in the great state of New York! We've been on afew different campuses with a few different petitions—at Binghamton University, we were hard at working trying to get more veg options in their dining halls, and the students were very supportive! We'll keep you in the loop with the results. By the way, how are the veg options at your school? If you're not satisfied, check this out!

We also visited Stony Brook University, in Long Island to inform the students of our McCruelty campaign. Most of them were appalled to learn chickens who end up killed for McDonald's are hung upside down in shackles and have their throats slit—while they're still fully conscious. That's gross and cruel, but it's really easy to help stop this torture by getting involved.

While we were around Brooklyn, we HAD to stop at to get some delicious vegan wings. Check this site out to find out what awesome vegan restaurant is near you!



Before I hand it off to Renee on the Tech N9ne tour, I'd like to throw some attention towards an awesome activist and leader. Heather "H-Bomb" Norwood has been touring with us for the past year and a half, and at the beginning of the week she started her new position at PETA—as an Activist Liaison with Issues on Animals in Entertainment—geez, try saying that three times fast! I've toured with Heather the majority of the time I've been on the road with peta2 and I've learned so much from her. She's an incredibly hard working, driven and strong willed animal activist who cares a lot about the welfare and safety of animals everywhere. She will be missed out on the road with us, but she's definitely going to do an amazing job at her new position.



That's it for me this week. I'll drop this blog here and Renee should be by shortly to pick it up. Thanks for reading guys!

Thanks Joey! We have been traveling through the mid west and it keeps getting colder! This doesn't stop those people that care about animals.



We've hit up the marvelous Knitting Factory in Boise, ID, as well as back to back shows at The Wilma in Missoula, MT.

Tech N9ne fans know how to have a good time! We'll continue our on our journey to shed light on our ongoing McCruelty campaign.

Keep it real and we'll see you soon! Go Veg!

Thanks!

Joey and Renee

Liberation Comes to Brown University and GMU! October 14, 2009

Posted by Ryan at October 14, 2009 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 5 ) | TrackBack

A few days ago, we told you about the exciting events we've been hosting on college campuses recently, but that was just one piece of the story! Also taking the country by a storm is Adrianne, who coordinates peta2's Liberation Project exhibit. The traveling display draws the parallels between the abuses humans have inflicted on each other throughout history, with the abuses we currently inflict on animals.

She's been traveling all semester to different college campuses, talking about animal rights issues, and helping people understand how the decisions they make in their lives have a very real impact on whether animals suffer or not.

Earlier in the fall, she visited Michigan State University, followed by Concordia University in Montreal (home of The People's Potato—a vegan soup kitchen on campus!)

The past two weeks though, she's been hammering the message home at two key East Coast schools: Brown University and George Mason.

At Brown—an Ivy League university—the display was hosted by the Brown Animals Rights Club (BARC). Some students were skeptical about the message at first, but after speaking with Adrianne and the student group members, people really started to think about the issues more critically.

In fact, the student newspaper editors wrote a fantastic piece about the display, in which they said:

"Brown students, keep an open mind. The display may be shocking, but the care its creators put into it turns what could be offensive into something potentially of great value. A short stop at the conversation booth might be well worth your time."

At GMU, the display was hosted be the brand-new Animal Rights Collective on campus—which gained 140 new members over the course of the week!



At the end of the week, we also hosted a screening of our short film, titled "Liberation". What's that? You haven't watched it yet? Well, get on it!

The tour has been a huge success so far, but we've still got tons of states to hit, so keep your eyes out!

What do you think: How would people at your school react to our animal rights display?

peta2 Brings Veganism to Tech N9ne & Penn State October 8, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at October 8, 2009 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBack

What's up guys and gals? We've a solid week of touring here at peta2—check out what we've been up to!

Traveling through the mid-west with Tech N9ne has been a blast! There is a lot of support out here for people that care deeply about animals. Rob is working his magic and spreading the word about the chickens that are suffering for McDonald's.

One of the best things about being on tour with peta2—besides saving the lives of millions of animals—is definitely the food! We're lucky enough to hit up amazing vegan food all over the U.S. of A!



From a veggie and hummus wrap to a scrumptious Buddah Bowl packed with tasties, we've had it all! Each city has its own unique vibe, and we're definitely hitting it up! We always trust HappyCow.net with finding all the best veg food around!

West-ward we go!

Hey kids! It's Joey from the college crew to tell you about an exciting event that happened this past Tuesday night! Bruce Friedrich—the Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs at Peta—came to Penn State University to have an open forum with their students and facility. We had originally requested a debate between Friedrich and a member of PSU's Dairy and Agricultural Department but after months and months of us calling and sending emails, they never responded! During the two days before the event, we stormed the campus with our friend the chicken, leafleting and talking to people about the event.



Around 300 students showed up to the forum where Friedrich focused his time on why it is unethical to eat meat. His speech was followed up by a Q&A session where the students attempted to drill him. Friedrich of course schooled them! It was a very successful event, hosted by PSU's Vegetarian Society student animal rights group, with many students approaching us afterward inquiring on vegetarianism and how to do it on a college student budget. The easiest way of course is to pick up one of these babies!



I'm gonna jet guys! Thanks for reading and see ya next week ...

Renee and Joey

New Season, New Colleges, New Crew Members! September 23, 2009

Posted by Marta at September 23, 2009 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBack

Hey friends!

This is Joey returning to the road with a whole new crew of eager and passionate fellow animal activists to spread the word about animal rights! We started off the autumn touring season by hitting up two colleges in Maryland. First up was the University of Maryland where we worked with their animal rights group, VegTerps, to let students know about McCruelty. This is our campaign asking McDonald's to demand their chicken suppliers adopt less cruel methods of slaughter. The majority of the students we spoke with were appalled to learn these suppliers slit the throats of fully conscious chickens, and they agreed that these practices needed to be stopped. Our friend Nugget even made an appearance to show students that chickens are to be loved not brutalized.

Our next stop was Towson University to get more veg options added to their dining hall menus. The majority of the students we spoke with were more than down to help out their fellow veg friends. Who knows—maybe they'll try out the options and go down the veg trail too.




Well that's it from me for now but I'm going to hand it over to my girl Heather so she can give you guys the word on what's been going down on her end. Take care guys! Take it away H-Bomb!

Thanks, Joey! So, I began this touring season in style, travelling to Ontario, Canada, in our trusty, "Meat's Not Green" RV with some familiar faces from the summer.




Y'all remember Renee, Mickey, Ian, and, myself, right? Well, even if you don't, I know for sure that Brock University will. We helped their student AR group gather over 2,100 petition signatures asking the school to provide more veg options for dining on campus. Meal plans are EXPENSIVE and everyone pays the same amount, so naturally every student should be able to get the same bang for their buck, right? Right. We also stopped by the University of Toronto to meet up with one of our former peta2 interns, Charlotte. She helped us gather a ton of signatures against the annual Canadian seal slaughter, where off-season fishermen orchestrate the bloody mass murder of helpless seals—as young as 12 days old. Fuckers.

Sadly, this is my last blog on behalf of the peta2 Road Warriors; but don't get it twisted, I'm still here for animals and for you! I'm just trying something new. Y'all can catch up with me on the PETA outreach team. I'll be the nerdy newbie with the glasses showing Ringling Bros., and all those other circus freaks, where exactly they can put their bullhooks! During the 1.5 years I've spent on the road with peta2, I got a chance to meet so many of you (you rule) across the US and Canada while doing what I love the most—using my (loud) voice in defense of animals. Thanks for listening, and participating, and going veg! It's been real!


Oh, and watch out for Renee, she'll be all up over this blog starting next week! Stay Active!

Joey and Heather
+ the Road Warriors