If you haven’t read this article, please go do that now then continue reading this.

I’ll try to address this post from a few different angles: my inner fat kid, my inner advertiser and my blunt side.

My Inner Fat Kid

I was never severely overweight but at times in my life I probably looked similar to this kid on the left. It sucked, being a chunky kid. My mom bought me “husky” jeans and I was never as fast or as strong as any of my other friends, so it seemed. I can remember some of the insults hurled my way by one particular redneck kid (who probably got busted for making meth later in life). He’d say things like, “Fag,” “Faggot,” “Gay,” or “Gay-wad.” Kids can be cruel. Luckily I never let this dude get to me too much but that’s not the case for other kids. The guy insulting me had no basis for those insults except I was a chunky, timid kid. I can’t imagine it’s gotten any easier for kids these days. I never really lost that weight until I started playing soccer in high school and began running a lot. It made me feel good about myself. Losing that weight improved my self image. It sucks that losing weight made my self image improve. I should’ve been okay with myself no matter what. It did make me realize that being okay with yourself doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to be better physically, mentally, and emotionally.

All that to say, I’ve still never really gotten over feeling like a fat kid. In my head I’m still that kid, sometimes, and that isn’t easy. I know what it’s like to be the kid in these images. Looking back I know that the reason I was chunky is because my mom let me order & eat two Sonic cheeseburgers when I was 8 years old. It wasn’t my fault at that age. Once I became aware of how to control eating that much food & the affects exercise had on my body it became my responsibility to be a healthier person.

My inner fat kid really isn’t bothered by these ads. It’s hard to be reflective and view it from a child’s stance but I can only hope that it sparks a conversation between kids like myself and their parents. I can only hope that other kids who pick on the chunky kids will see that these kids don’t understand why they are the way they are anymore than the skinny kids do.

My Inner Advertiser

I’m in love with this ad. It pushes the boundaries. It challenges us. It gets conversation started, probably more than those really nice, “My pretend friend Shrek likes to go outside & play so I should do the same!” billboards because guess what, exercise isn’t the only key to being healthy. Many people go on exercise plans and completely ignore their diet. Yes, there are a number of different reasons for people’s excess in weight but I’m willing to guess that at nearly 90% of overweight children could see change in their bodies with a change in their diet.

This campaign leaves nothing to question, the point is made and done so quickly. As a graphic designer/advertiser I get it. It makes sense to me. It’s way more interesting than just about anything else they could’ve done. I also understand that positive reinforcement is generally a better idea than negativity, but I kind of see it like this: so far our positive, neat little messages aren’t working, so it’s time for someone to step the game up, start conversations, and create some change.

My Blunt Side

I’m all for having a positive body image and getting rid of the stigma towards overweight individuals, but at some point we have to stop coddling and say, “Enough is enough. You’re overweight and that’s unhealthy. If it’s absolutely something you can’t help, then I’m sorry, you’re kind of screwed in the whole thing & I hope that people don’t judge you based on that. However, if it is something you can change, it needs to change.” Being overweight isn’t healthy. Whether it’s caused by your diet, your genetics, medication side effects, disease, whatever, it’s just not healthy. At some point it’s going to take a toll on your body. Your heart is going to get pissed, your organs will stop functioning properly , your muscles will get weaker, and you’ll die. That happens to all of us but being overweight only increases the chances of those things happening at a faster rate.

And I know, we don’t all need to be skinny-minnies because that’s not healthy either. Girls, especially girls, I’m not saying you need to be tiny to be sexy or healthy, that’s just not true. I know plenty of people who aren’t skinny that are really sexy, healthy individuals and I don’t want to rip you of that or make you feel like something needs to change because it doesn’t. Guys as well, we don’t have to be cut with six packs and bulging biceps to be healthy, sexy people. It’s just not true, it’s a media stigma that we need to let go of.

So, This Guy Sounds Like a Butthole, What Does He Think Should Be Done?

Education, education, education. If nothing else let’s hope these types of ad campaigns spark good conversation, conversations about our health and what we can do to make that better. Conversations about school lunches being healthier, parents having a better understanding of nutrition, making it easier for those in different socio-economic brackets to have access to healthy food. Education my friends. That’s the name of the game for me. I think that with education we can create a shift in our society. It won’t be easy, especially since we’re so far gone, but I believe it’s not too late. Let’s reach out to our friends and family. Let’s educate each other. It’s possible to eat healthy on a budget, even if you’re only option is Walmart. It. Is. Possible.

If you feel strongly about any of this, there are ways to get involved:
http://saladbars2schools.org/
http://www.foodfamilyfarming.org/
http://www.wholekidsfoundation.org/
http://www.thelunchbox.org/community/lunch-box-blog
http://www.dunbargarden.org/ (Little Rock local)

At the farmer’s market last weekend I picked up a bag of fresh black eyed peas. I’ve been exploring with them this week and have made some delicious meals out of such a small bag. However, I’m going on a road trip starting tomorrow morning so I needed to find a good way to use up the rest of those peas. My mind immediately went to road trip snacks…hummus…black eyed pea hummus?! Heck yes. I’ve had black bean hummus and I’m generally not a fan so I was a little skeptical of making it with the peas but it turned out delicious. Here’s what you’ll need to make about 16oz of this delicious Southern inspired hummus:

• 1.5 cups cooked black eye peas (save a bit of the leftover broth in case you like a thinner hummus)
• 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
• 1/2″ slice onion roasted
• 1 medium cayenne roasted
• 3 large garlic cloves roasted
• 1 medium red bell pepper roasted
• 1 medium tomato roasted
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• a dash of apple cider vinegar (maybe 1/4 teaspoon)

I roasted my veggies at 250 for about 2 and a half hours. Everything but the garlic, peanuts and spices was local grown so I can’t promise yours will be as good without fresh Arkansas tomatoes and bell peppers! Throw all of that good stuff in your food processor adding more vinegar or pea broth if you like a thinner hummus. You can also use a smaller cayenne pepper if you’re not into spice as this adds a bit of a kick.

I’ve put together some marinated tofu wraps using this stuff and plan on eating it with carrots and chips. Enjoy!

July 1 was good ol Canada Day. I’ve got 2 great friends living on opposite coasts of Canada so I always try to do something in their honor. Didn’t get to crack open any Canadian beer, Moosehead and LaBatt Blue being my favorites, but I did get to chow down on this delicious relationship of fries, gravy and cheese. Typically this is made with beef gravy so even as a vegetarian I never got to try the “real” thing but I’m not too hurt. I did used to combine white gravy and processed american cheese atop fries at the country club I worked at. I gained some weight that year. Anyway, you’re more interested in how to make this, so let’s get to it!

• prep time: 5 minutes
• cook time: approx 30 minutes
• serves 2, or one really hungry Canadian

• 5-6 Gardein beef tips, diced up
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 cups veggie broth (a bit of a guesstimate)
• 1 T flour
• 1/8 cup water
• 15oz Alexia Yukon Gold Fries (or make your own or whatever kind you like)
• 1 cup Daiya Mozzarella Cheese
• Salt/Pepper to taste

1. Bake french fries according to directions. Wait until you have about 7-10 minutes left on the timer before you begin the gravy. When fries are done leave oven at temp.
2. Sauté the beef tips and garlic until beef tips are turning dark brown
3. make a “slurry” from the flower and water, stir well.
4. Add 1/2 cup veggie broth to beef tips/garlic and let most of the veggie broth cook off
5. Add the remaining cup of veggie broth
6. Add the slurry mixture to your gravy mix remembering to stir constantly as you add. Make sure you get all of the flour out.
7. Bring to a boil quickly then reduce and place on low heat.
8. Allow to simmer until desired thickness is reached. You may choose to add more broth or more slurry. I find mixing the flour into the water keeps it from clumping in the gravy.
9. Pour the gravy over the fries in a round or square baking pan, something with a little depth.
10. Add Daiya mozzarella cheese to the top, bake for 5-10 minutes until cheese is at desired consistency.

Boom, that’s it.

We found very gracious hosts in Sean Cannon (of Buzzgrinder fame) and his wife (thanks again!). They gave us some tips on the city like where to eat good vegan food and places to grab a good drink. We all ended up being super impressed with Louisville as a city. Sean kept telling us to just move there. I wouldn’t mind! We hit up a QDoba for a burrito at like 1:30am Friday night, had a killer vegan reuben at Third Ave Cafe on Saturday and then some delish pizza from Papalino’s on Saturday night. I highly recommend any of those joints.

Enough about Louisville, back to the fest. First day there, I got off work at 5:30 and was watching Bane by 6:00. What a great Friday, right? Their set was off the chain. Then it was off to see Tigers Jaw and look around the venue space a bit more. We learned earlier in the day that Strike Anywhere had dropped so we weren’t sure how the end of the day would work out but it was pretty sweet: The Bled played inside leaving Against Me! to take the main stage as the final act of the night. I haven’t really kept up with The Bled but during their last song, Red Wedding, James Muñoz said something along the lines of, “Everybody mosh it up for Macho Man Randy Savage!” and I couldn’t resist. Tore it up for that final breakdown then off to Against Me!. Their set was perfect. Everybody was into it, having a good time, singing along, keeping their fists in the air! Later that night we went to the Chestnut Street house for a show with Bane. It was the sweatiest place I’ve been in a long time. Such a rad show even with everyone packed in. Also, who was the guy that got completely naked and head walked? Never forgetting that show.

Second day was a real banger as well. Didn’t get there in time for Former Thieves but I’ll be seeing them twice more this year. Arrived just in time for the beginning of Fireworks set. What a great band. I like them even more every time I see them. At the end of their set they announced they’d be playing a show at a strip club around 11:30pm with Self Defense Family (aka End of a Year) & Make Do and Mend. Eventually a flyer circulated saying it would be Fireworks, Self Defense Family and Bane! Woah! At a strip club? Ended up not going, probably messed up but it’s okay. Anyway, after the Fireworks set walked right over to Defeater. If there was one band I was waiting with bated breath to see, it was them. I just wish they could’ve played a longer set. They were so good. Lemuria was a perfect fit to fall after Defeater as it was a nice time to chill and have a PBR. Later on a large amount of rapture juice (this was the day Harold Camping predicted the rapture) fell from the sky during La Dispute’s set forcing the festival inside for the majority of the evening. They rearranged some set times so following La Dispute was Touché Amoré and Title Fight. Killer line-up there. All 3 bands were nothing less than amazing. Thought I got some sweet video of the pit that erupted during the last Title Fight song/breakdown but my camera was out of memory and I got 1 second…lame. We kinda skipped out on paying a lot of attention to the rest of the bands that night. Ended up sitting down with a friend of a friend we met up with and talked about gmo’s, veganism, music, straight edge, etc. It was pretty rad to sit and talk while listening to a live Hot Water Music show.

Later that night my buddy Reid and I went to Papalinos in the Highlands, as mentioned above, to grab some pizza. Those were some huuuge pizzas, they only do 18 inchers. While they didn’t have any vegan cheese they did have killer toppings like sauteed spinach. One of the best cheese-less pizzas I’ve had.

Since we had such a long drive back our Sunday was cut pretty short. Seemed like everyone else was fairly worn out as well. Our buddy Ethan stayed behind this day while Reid and I went out to see Daytrader and This is Hell. Both great bands. Seems like This is Hell’s support is way down but I still dig what they’re doing. After that it was the 8 hour drive back to Little Rock.

I had the best time at Krazy Fest and was super impressed with the scene in Louisville. Everyone was accommodating and the city was amazing. I look forward to going back next year and maybe even taking a pleasurable trip back up to Louisville sometime this summer. Three wishes for next year’s Krazy Fest:
1) Let us bring in water bottles. Maybe they have to be empty first? I don’t want to pollute with that plastic non-sense.
2) Allow SLR cameras.
3) Up the vegan food commodities on site.

Dig on the pictures below from the fest and see others over at my flickr and then go check out everyone else’s sick photos of the fest to see what you missed (or were a part of):

My Vegan Reuben

Tom Gabel (Against Me!)

Defeater

Anti-Flag

Jeremy from Touché Amoré on stage with La Dispute

La Dispute singer Jordan Dreyer

Title Fight

It seems like I’ve searched and searched for good vegan cornbread recipes. They’ve all fallen a bit short for some reason or another, never really sure to be honest. This week I’m living cheap so I’ve been soaking and cooking lots of beans. I soaked the rest of my black eyed peas and planned on making Hoppin John but decided to give a vegan cornbread one more shot. I had some Bob’s Red Mill cornmeal lying around and decided I’d try to tweak that recipe. Part way through I realized that all I had for alternative milk was vanilla soy milk…”vanilla cornbread? That doesn’t sound good. Oh well, I’ll use it anyway, maybe it won’t be overpowering.”

If it was overpowering I wouldn’t be writing this post. The vanilla coupled with a tablespoon of maple syrup added the perfect amount of sweetness to this somewhat spicy cornbread.

Vegan Spelt Cornbread

prep time:10 minutes
cook time: 20-25 minutes

• 1 cup cornmeal medium grind
• 1 cup spelt flour (you can use wheat or white)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• a few shakes/twists of black pepper
• 3-4 pickled jalapenos diced finely (the ones in the jar with vinegar)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Ener-G Egg Replacer* to 2 tablespoons water
    *i’m guessing this stuff is gonna last forever at the ratio you use it. i think what failed me before in cornbread was not using this. i’ve tried apple sauce and a mixture of plain soy yogurt w/ something else to little success.
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance
• 1 cup vanilla soymilk (any milk sub would be fine)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• earth balance to coat cast iron skillet

1. preheat oven to 425.
2. sift all the dry ingredients together.
3. add the diced jalapeños, egg replacer, earth balance, soymilk and maple syrup. you don’t need to mix this for very long.
4. coat cast iron skillet with a bit of earth balance. pour in mixture & place in 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

Then you eat it like this (throw some collard greens on the side if you got em):

Even if you’re not a vegan I think you’ll enjoy this. Especially if you enjoy caramelized bananas as part of your breakfast.

Vegan French Toast
makes 3 pieces

• half a very ripe banana
• a tablespoon or 2 of coconut ice cream (you could use any milk sub as well)
• 3 slices of bread
• tablespoon or 2 of earth balance for frying

Mash the banana and ice cream together until you have an eggy type wash for your bread. Not too thin, not too thick. Almost like cold syrup.

Heat earth balance in pan.

Dip bread, one at a time, into the wash then lay in pan. Cook until golden brown or slightly crisp on each side.

It’s that easy! I sprinkled mine with cinnamon and drizzled with maple syrup but feel free to expand on that. Maybe add some pecans, walnuts, fruit, powdered sugar, etc.

I glanced over a headline recently that said something about people of faith, predominantly Protestant Evangelical Christians, being fatter or at least the youth being fatter. I found the article here at USA Today’s site. It was brought back to my attention this weekend when I saw a bunch of young kids walking around the city who were in town for a Baptist Youth Convention. What I continually noticed was a trend of unhealthy weight in the kids and adults. Then I remembered a thought I’ve had stuck in my head for awhile that really irks me. Protestant Christianity, with maybe the exception of Methodists, don’t seem to abide by any sort of dietary guidelines. I say Protestant because Catholics observe dietary restrictions during Lent and I believe Methodists do too, don’t quote me on that. Why is that? Why have these religious groups seemingly thrown any dietary guidelines out the window?

The group I meet with every week that is collectively called Eikon has been going through the Beatitudes. Tonight we talked about the verses where Jesus says he came to fulfill the law of Moses, not to abolish it (Matthew 5:17-20). Along with that we examined some of those crazy Levitical dietary laws and one thing that resonated with me was their function of aiding in sanitation/healthfulness. Without proper cooking methods, etc things like eating pork and winged, disease carrying insects could’ve meant death for some of these people. That makes sense to me.

Later on in Matthew Jesus says to love god, love your neighbor as yourself (those 2 being equal and reciprocal) and that all the laws hang on those 2 things. We reason that he means if your neighbor is beat up and sick on the side of the road on the Sabbath, it’s okay to do a little work and help them out. You’d be breaking the law if you didn’t. Whereas the hard nose people of Jesus day would say, “No no no no! You’re working on the Sabbath!” Herein we see the classical term, spirit of the law, in practice. Which brings me to my next point.

If the idea of the law for those dietary guidelines was to keep people healthy then why have we decided to completely ignore that? There’s been study after study after study proving the direct link between meat and cancer, meat and obesity, meat and diabetes, dairy and bone loss (sounds opposite right? go watch the perils of dairy on youtube. dude breaks. it. down.) yet we continue eating without any regard. I’m not about to go on a “God doesn’t want you to be fat!” rant because that’d just be dumb and untrue. Some people are just bigger than others, that’s okay.

Hopefully you understand I’m not saying we should go pick and choose Levitical laws to follow. That’d be crazy. What I am saying is that if part of the spirit of the law lies in healthfulness why do we just seem to not care anymore? Why is it that almost every other religion adheres to some sort of dietary restrictions yet Christians just go all willy nilly and scarf down that barbeque or catfish buffet on sunday after church then leave 50 cents for a minimum wage worker? And before you try to say, “Well the spirit of the law is about love not health…” let me say that health is absolutely reflective of love for yourself and others. If I’m making food for me, another person or a group of people do you think I’m gonna try to feed them the fallen grapes that have turned to mush? The bread that has mold? The meat packed with antibiotics? The milk laced with pus and antibiotics? Absolutely not. That’d be the most unloving thing I could do.

About a month ago my mom told me their pastor was in the hospital for some bypass surgery. Big surgery but rather common these days. Maybe she asked me to pray for him? I don’t know. All I could remember thinking was, “Prayer is stupid right now. This man doesn’t need prayer. He needs a better diet.” I’m all for prayer. I’m not a big praying person myself but I understand its function. However, I get really frustrated at situations like this where the pastor has the power to better himself but for whatever reason hasn’t. That’s willful ignorance and stubbornness. Surely at some point a doctor told him he needed a diet change, right? I mean a heart bypass surgery doesn’t just sneak up on you, right? I’m sorry but in this situation I don’t think prayer’s gonna do this guy much good.

It also absolutely breaks my heart when I am in a grocery store and see some of the things people buy for their families to eat. Bacon, refined bread, packaged meals, twelve packs & 2 liters of soda, ground beef, sausage, ham, turkey, cheesy chips, juice laced with sugar and the list goes on. I’m not judging these people. I would never do that. It breaks my heart because of what I believe and understand from what I’ve read, watched, talked about and learned. Unfortunately the grocery store checkout line isn’t really the place to go confronting a mother of 4 about her food choices. That’d be rude and downright disgusting.

This ultimately comes down to an issue of education and whether or not you believe those studies. If you don’t believe them then that’s cool, go on eating the food that, I believe, will probably kill you. If you do believe them, or think they might have an inkling of truth then start examining the love & spirit of the law going into your food.

While I won’t say, “God doesn’t want you to be fat!!” I will say that I’m pretty sure God, Allah, god, your parents, your family, your friends, your lovers all want you healthy and that’s a sincere form of love.

P.S. There’s a documentary making its way around called “Forks Over Knives” that examines the link between sickness and food. Check out the trailer below and read more on their site. I’m excited to see this when I get a chance.

Yesterday on the Twitters @AJShannon posted her recipe in The Betty Crocker Project for a Whole Wheat Cheesy Focaccia Bread. As part of Lent I’m striving to let go of processed foods and learn to make my own. One of the major things is bread so I jumped at the opportunity to make this focaccia. However, I didn’t really want it whole wheat or cheesy so I modified her recipe to make a more basic focaccia…and it’s incredible! I started by halving the recipe (as mostly I’m cooking for myself and maybe one other person). So here goes:

• 1 1/4 cups white unbleached bread flour (add more if necessary)
• 1/2 Tb rosemary
• 1/2 Tb agave (originally sugar)
• 1/2 Tb salt
• 1/2 packet dry yeast (1 & 1/8 tsp)
• 2 1/2 Tb olive oil
• 1/2 cup very warm water
• yields 1 10-12″ loaf of focaccia

- mix half cup flour, rosemary, salt, yeast, agave, 1.25 tb olive oil, and warm water. mix for 3 minutes
- slowly add rest of flour. (may need dashes of more water or flour). mix well, turn on lightly floured surface and knead for 6 minutes
- form dough into ball, lightly oil the surface of the dough ball. place back in bowl, cover with lid/plastic wrap etc. and let rise in warm place for half an hour (or doubled in size)
- preheat oven to 400 and flour a baking stone or lightly oil pan
- remove dough ball, flatten into disc shape about 10-12″ in diameter. cover again and let rise for 30 minutes
- remove cover. press fingers into dough to make several small indentions
- brush olive oil over surface
- bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown

My dough had some trouble in the initial rise and I just couldn’t wait but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I was able to make a small pizza out of this and pulled out a little bit to have a small focaccia piece about 3-4″ in diameter. The pizza was incredible and I wish I had pictures but I gobbled it up. I’ll tell you what i put on it though:

• - Rao’s Marinara as my base
• - roasted potatoes, garlic, shallot and reconstituted shiitake mushrooms*
  *Reconstituted in hot water, tamari, and liquid smoke
• - Daiya Mozzarella

I used the other piece, pictured above, to eat with homemade hummus and it was incredible! Thanks @AJShannon for the inspiration and overall direction.

More than this post will convey. First, it’s a zine! It looks like a zine, it’s written like a zine and it’s just fantastic. Besides throwing bricks through Starbucks windows (Against Me! nod) what’s more punk than a zine?! As an alum of Harding University I’m just absolutely stoked some students took the time to put this together. My friends and I always wanted to do something this awesome but never got around to it. We were too busy sneaking out of dorms to stay up all night in Waffle House or IHOP.

I could go on and on about the rules at Harding and how it can be oppressive, etc, etc. I won’t, you can read about that elsewhere. What makes me happy about this is that it gives a voice to the unheard. It exercises a right to free speech and if Harding decides to do anything about this publicly it will surely garner some national attention. Unfortunately, I think because Harding is a private school their intolerance and rules really can’t be messed with. In some weird way they sort of reserve the right to be exclusive about who/what/how they let people in or kick them out.

What I can tell you about this zine is that these kids are heartfelt. To me, if you boil down the argument within churches about homosexuality it comes down to whether it’s a choice or if you’re born that way. After you read these entries I’m not sure how you can hold on to the belief that it’s a choice.

My Gay Friend at Harding

I guess it was near my junior year when we had a friend come out to us. I had already heard the rumor and somewhat confirmed it one day when I went to use his computer and upon waking the screen I was staring at gay.com. It didn’t really bother me. I thought to myself, “Oh, ____ probably is gay.” Less than a day later he called me saying he wanted to talk about some stuff and he came out to me. I’m glad he felt comfortable and loved enough in our group of friends to let us all know. Now he wouldn’t be tortured by having to be someone he wasn’t.

Our friend was on a path for nursing and didn’t get into the nursing program. Couple that block with trying to be gay at Harding and he left the next semester and came out to his family. I’m not sure how well they received it. I still talk to him on occasion and make sure he’s doing okay out there in the world.

I’m sure he wasn’t the only kid. There were (are) probably loads more. I heard about one guy, an alumnus, within the past year or so who came out on Facebook and you should have seen the hatefulness directed at him! It was awful.

This is Where I Got Pissed

If you go over to huqueerpress.com and read the zine then one of the first few posts you’ll come across has notes from a Christian Home class taught by Joe Brumfield. Hear this, Joe is a super nice dude. I went to his church a few times my freshman year and felt very welcome there but these notes regarding the way to avoid having a gay child, specifically male, drives me bonkers. See the texts below:

Was this written by a real person? Seriously? You think this is the way to ‘prevent’ gay? By this rationale I and every other fatherless child in this world should be gay. I wasn’t entirely fatherless. My parents divorced when I was 4 leaving me to be raised mostly by my mother. Guess what? I HAD A REALLY STRONG BOND WITH MY MOM AND I’M HETEROSEXUAL. Don’t be ignorant. “Take him fishing…wrestle with him…” What a crock-pot full of crap based on some weird standard of what boys have to be. I was that quiet kid in the corner often times. I’m an artist, I don’t hunt (I have, like twice), I don’t fish (I have like 3 times), I don’t really care for sports (I played soccer in a small southern town that idolized football, imagine the barrage of “Fags!” “Queer bait” and other things I got hurled at me because I didn’t want to tackle people and get hit on the football field), I don’t want to wrestle with people, I don’t eat meat or dairy and I don’t feel emasculated by any of this. I think I’ve turned out alright Mr. Brumfield.

All in All, Kudos To These Students

We can sit around and argue about whether or not homosexuality is a sin or a choice and blah blah blah blah but none of that is what we should be focusing on right now. What we should be focusing on is a better understanding of the scriptures and the issue of free speech. Harding is a weird place. You basically sign over your rights upon attendance. Unless someone is to stage an overthrow of most every teacher, staff member, president and board member I doubt you’ll see much change. They’ve created this odd little space that doesn’t really co-exist with the world going on around it. However, I have hope that the people behind the Queer Press do help change something about Harding. It is in dire need.

*I’ve learned now that the site has been blocked on Harding’s campus, so if you’re reading this from there head over to Midnight Oil or somewhere off campus and read the zine. It’s heartbreaking, genuine and beautiful.

My friend Ryan Dement always says it like that. “Valemptime’s!” It’s stuck in my head. Anyway, the lovely girlfriend, Anna, and I had a fantastic day overall. Unfortunately she’s now at work listening to the laments of the broken-hearted. Above you see the valentine card she made me. It has a nice little poem on the back that you don’t get to read. I also did some cooking today. I made these fantastically easy thumbprint cookies with dollops of strawberry jam.

For dinner on valentine’s day there’s really nothing that beats Italian. One of the lovely girlfriend’s favorite dishes is eggplant parmesan. However, I’m not a big fan of eggplant and I didn’t have any so I opted for a new creation. With the help of some breaded/fried tofu, Daiya Cheese, Rao’s Marinara Sauce and VeganYumYum’s Hurry Up Alfredo we were able to have a delicious tofu parmesan over basil linguine.

To top it all off she got me this rad new keychain:

I got her a necklace from Farm Sanctuary, a place that we both really enjoy learning more and more about. I’ll let her show you that little diddy IRL.