Anxious Dreams about Steel Bolts and Esther the Wonder Pig

Last night I had a lot of anxious dreams.

I usually don’t stay up at night thinking and stressing about things, but last night I did. I failed a test and that put my mind into a spin.

Right before I went to bed I started thinking about how there were pigs right now waiting to be slaughtered. I had this revelation. I can’t believe it’s real. I can’t believe it’s going to happen. I can’t believe it is happening right now!

I know it’s obvious, but I’m so removed from it…I guess in my half dream state I had forgot that this was oh so real. Murders were going on and would continue to go on now, tomorrow and the next day.

In my dream, when I finally fell asleep I dreamed I was being chased by people with guns who were shooting me and my friends. I eventually managed to get a gun, but I couldn’t figure out how to cock it or whatever. I eventually ended up having to shoot the attacker in self defense. It was the image from the cow slaughterhouse in ghosts in the machine, a steel bolt through the forehead.

This morning I was looking at Facebook and saw posts from Toronto Pig Save about how some guys in an SUV rolled down their windows and threw a piece of bacon at them while they were holding a vigil.

In a beautiful move, the activists buried the piece of bacon.

It reminded me of something I had to read in school a few times, the Ancient Greek tragedy Antigone.

This princess is obsessed with giving her brother who rebelled against the state a proper burial. He was her brother and she loved him. But the king forbid it under penalty of death.

She buries him anyway knowing the price is death.

The activists gave that pig that people reduce to a joke and a piece of bacon a proper burial. They showed the dignity of every life, no matter how trivial it may seem to most to bury a piece of bacon.

I thought it was a beautiful act.

Sometimes at night when i am curled into my covers in my nest of pillows, I get an image of Esther the Wonder Pig in my mind, nestled into her couch with a pig smile on her face and a look of utter contentment. And I feel that I am feeling the exact same emotion, and I know we are the same.

When I look at pictures of Esther the Wonder Pig on Facebook, I often wonder about her. She looks so intelligent, but is so different than us. I wonder what goes on in her mind. And I marvel at the privilege we have to share our lives with other mysterious beings, with mysterious intelligences.

It really is a privilege to share our lives with animals, so much more connected to nature and to our roots and their instincts.

I think it is wonderful. Why do we abuse that. Why do we kill them. I don’t get it.

At lunch the other day, i ate with a vegetarian. We were talking about veganism, and she was saying how she doesn’t eat meat from animals that are smart unlike chickens and unless she knows they were local, sustainably and organically raised.

I struggled figuring out what to do. I wished I had been able to totally refute her in a non confrontational way, but I didn’t want to spend the whole lunch trying to get her to change her ways and understand the immorality of killing based on intelligence levels.

So I just put in a few good words where I could. It’s hard to confront. With her I realized she had just not seen the light yet. I tried to tell her about Toronto Pig Save and she was very receptive.

Is everyone like that? Could the world be changed just by bearing witness? Just by people finally seeing the light?

Or are their darker forces of evil at work. Are there people who hate animals. Who don’t understand animals and don’t respect them.

The anti-animal lovers of the world.

I am an animal lover and always have been. But some people don’t like animals. Maybe they are scared of them. Maybe they are not gentle personalities like I think I am. I think that gives me an edge with animals because I am calm and sensitive and I think they like that and sense I understand them. But some people have no interest in animals.

I don’t know, it is just troubling, is it not?

It is getting to me today.

Have you guys been struggling with thinking about animal rights at all lately? Please share. I’d love to hear what you are worried about lately.  

10 Questions for Mark Bryceland, Creator of Hooves, an Excellent New Vegan Shoe Company

Hello, I have a lot of respect for people who try to start vegan shoe companies. I once tried to start one myself. It was not easy to find the right manufacturer. To be fully transparent, it was very difficult. The samples they made were all wrong. It is hard work. One of the shoes I wanted to make was desert boots. They are a really great style.

(vegan desert boots from vegan shoe company Good Guys Don’t Wear Leather)

They look amazing on men. And very cool on women.

Enter a man by the name of Mark Bryceland who has made us some cool vegan desert boots and made a great vegan company to go along with them by the name of Hooves. I love the name. How cute. He has made a kickstarter campaign that is ending very shortly to get this off the ground. If you support his campaign, you will receive an adorable pair of desert boots. He already has the samples made. Check out his kickstarter vid.  Mark is a very nice person and told me he reads the blog and was a fan–how sweet. He asked if I wanted to do a giveaway and I said I would like to interview him instead and learn about his entrepreneurial journey. He is one of us, searching the web for cool vegan shoes and coming up with hemp twigs…but he took matters into his own hands.  I respect that. So without further ado…

10 Questions for Mark Bryceland, the Creator of Hooves Vegan Shoes

(a natural horse hoof)

1. Could you say a little about yourself in your own words? My name is Mark Bryceland, founder of Hooves. I care deeply about animal welfare and I hope that by providing animal friendly footwear alternatives to leather and suede, Hooves can change minds and help reduce the suffering and exploitation of animals worldwide. That is what motivates me.

2. Why did you decide to start this company? Since deciding to stop wearing leather it’s been difficult to find non-leather footwear that both looks good and is affordable. And after wearing plimsolls for two years, even through two particularly cold London winters, I decided to start my own vegan shoe company and make the kind of shoes that I wanted to wear. (Enjoy this Steve McQueen desert boot inspiration pic)

3. Are you a vegan or vegetarian, and if so, how did you learn about it and decide to become one? Growing up, some of my friends were inspired to become vegetarians by Morrissey and The Smiths’ ‘Meat is Murder’ album. It was only years later, when my vegetarian flatmate and I cooked for each other, I realised that I no longer ate much meat nor missed it. I never really made a conscious decision to stop eating animals but just drifted slowly into vegetarianism over a period of years. Although, during this time, I did start to wake up and become sensitised to the unimaginable scale of suffering inflicted upon animals by humans. The transition to veganism was different in that I made a conscious decision in 2008, after reading Peter Singer’s Practical Ethics, to start avoiding animal products altogether.   4. Was it very difficult to start this company? (I know from personal experience starting a vegan shoe company is not easy, I tried and failed myself ha) Getting started has had its difficulties, but it has been a lot of fun too. Seeking out manufacturers, sourcing materials, and settling on a particular design was both frustrating at times yet enjoyable and rewarding at others. Organisation, motivation and time are all important factors in starting a business as, with any business, there are lots of things to do. Some of them are fun and interesting like visiting a photographer, modelling in T-shirts and making the Kickstarter video. But many tasks are not such fun. For example, I’ve spent hours cropping photos, inputting shipping rates into the website and keeping spreadsheets. But it’s been good for the soul. I’ve honestly enjoyed the whole process and the feeling of working towards launching my own shoe brand has been very satisfying. And now that Hooves is just about to launch, I feel the real hard work is just about to begin.

5. What was a low point for you in your journey to start a biz. Did you ever feel like giving up?  I’m generally pretty optimistic and thick skinned so I never felt like giving up. There have been plenty of setbacks, discouragements, disappointments and obstacles along the way even though Hooves is only just starting out! Finally finding the right product and manufacturer generated a lot of enthusiasm and momentum to keep going. 6. Were there any exhilarating high points for you? Every day brings high points at the moment! Our Kickstarter campaign has just launched and will close in the first days of March 2014. We’re generating a lot of interest and receiving a lot of positive and encouraging feedback, which is very pleasing. I’m really pleased too with the quality of the boots and it’ll be a real high to see people wearing them about town.

7. What are your visions of the company for the future?  My ultimate aims when starting out were to show others that there are alternatives to wearing leather. I also wanted to change minds about animal friendly footwear just by manufacturing great quality, genuinely attractive and keenly priced products. I don’t see Hooves having a large product range. Rather, I’d prefer to focus on offering a few classic staples that are widely and perennially popular. Ideally, Hooves will become a well established provider of animal friendly shoes, not just to vegetarians and vegans, but to everyone everywhere.

8. How did you decide on Desert boots?  I bought my first pair of Desert Boots when I was 17 and wore out many pairs until I decided to stop wearing leather and suede in 2008. Launching Hooves with the Desert Boot wasn’t a difficult decision to make. The Desert Boot is my favourite footwear design and it felt like a natural and personal choice. Desert Boots have been popular for decades. They are stylish, smart and casual all at the same time and look great with just about anything. I’ve been wearing a sample pair every day for months and they still look and feel great.

(Steve McQueen in desert boots)

9. What are some of your other interests and hobbies?  I’m a music fanatic. I play guitar and love listening to music from Indie to Jazz and Exotica at the moment. I also volunteer regularly for a local no-kill cat charity in London, which rescues, rehabilitates and re-homes hundreds of cats and kittens every year. I run, work out and play tennis regularly too and have taken part in a couple of fundraising half-marathons for the charity over the last two years. I’m hoping to run the London Marathon for them one day soon.

(london marathon)

10. What do you think about the state of vegan shoes, as a former vegan shoe blogger I’d love to hear your thoughts We live in an age where there are so many vegan options; yet, in my experience, buying animal friendly shoes always seems to involve some compromise between affordability, quality and aesthetic appeal, especially for men. Admittedly there are more attractive, good quality non-leather shoes out there at the moment than ever before, I’d say. But they can also be quite expensive, which is understandable given the generally small scale of the businesses. There are also plenty of options in the form of nice, inexpensive plimsolls by Vans and Superga and trainers are increasingly being manufactured using synthetics. It’s difficult for vegan shoe companies to thrive in what is already a niche market with so many mass-produced alternatives available. That doesn’t mean small companies like Hooves can’t establish themselves in this climate, but it does mean we have to work harder. Thank you very much, Mark. I like hearing that every vegan shoe lover is still having difficulty finding cool vegan shoes. There is a lot of room for us to grow. It is very exciting. I am very excited to have this great new vegan shoe company on the horizon.  Go to the kickstarter to get a pair of desert boots and support Hooves.