Let’s talk animal rights!
Animals Rights Coalition: http://animalrightscoalition.com/
Largest and oldest animal rights organization in MN. They do a lot of events and advocating centered on animal rights.
On their main page they list events and news: This story is recent and struck me as concerning:
“ 4 out of 6 Paradise Car Washes in the Twin Cities surrounding areas keep a Macaw as a resident “pet”. The birds live at the Savage, Apple Valley, Eagan, and East Bloomington stores. Their names are Ruby, Peanut, Speedy, and Rainbow. According to employees, the birds are in the car wash 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and have been for their entire lives.
Knowledgeable observers say the birds show signs of stress, exacerbated by being handled by the public (despite signs asking they not be handled) and by the exuberance of children and dogs who come into the car washes. Issues range from behaviors demonstrating depression to excessive feather plucking (sometimes down to bare skin). There appears to be little to no enrichment such as toys and activities provided.
Macaws live in their natural habitat for around 70 years, and they mate for life. These birds deserve a better life, and the companionship of others of their species.”
Vice President: Angie Chesney-Mattison
President: Charlotte Cozzetto-Worked on the campaign that led to the abolition of the U of M’s live dog lab for medical student’s
Contact: Animalrightscoalition@msn.com 317 W. 48th ST. Minneapolis, MN 55419
Phone: (612) 822-6161
The coalition owns the Éthique Nouveau boutique which is attached to their office.
Éthique Nouveau: http://www.ethiquenouveau.com/
Cuddle coats is also based out of this store. They have the same contact info as cuddle coats and the Animal Rights Coalition. A boutique store in Minneapolis with ethical standards that include only selling products without the use of animal testing, ingredients, skins, or furs. All purchases made at their store help fund animal advocacy program
Hours: Sun-Tues: closed. Wed: noon-8 Thurs and Fri: noon-6 Sat: noon-5
Cuddle Coats: http://www.cuddlecoats.com/
An organization that collects fur coats or other fur products from people, and sends them out to organizations that utilize them in the rehabilitation process for animals such as raccoons, squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks that are being released into the wild. They’re Minnesota based and have a store in Minneapolis called Éthique Nouveau and the main contact info for them would be the same as the Animal Rights Coalition. Their organization simply gathers fur products and sends them to the appropriate organization to benefit animals.
Forgo Foie Gras:
Is a movement that the Animal Rights coalition participates in and is responsible for talking to local restaurants to ask them to pledge to not serve foie gras. The problem with Foie Gras, is that the ducks that are killed for the dish endure lives filled with suffering. Part of the process to prepare the duck for the dish foie gras includes overfeeding the ducks with a feeding tube which allows for the ducks livers to expand up to 12 times their normal amount, this creates a lot of pain for the ducks and they have a much shorter life when having to endure this terrible process. The ducks are also in a lot of pain throughout their lives, panting from being overweight, and not being able to move around.
Minnesotan’s Exposing Petland:
They don’t have an official site but they do have a Facebook page with around 2000 followers. This group is dedicated to exposing the store Petland(located in St. Paul) for its practices of purchasing dogs from overpopulated dog breeding mills that are known to prioritize financial income over the dog's health. The Animal Rights Coalition supports this group and works with them, on the Animal Rights Coalition Page is info listing official documents exposing the source of where the dogs being bought by the store Petland are coming from.
Chicken Run Rescue: http://www.chickenrunrescue.org/
A nonprofit organization based in North Minneapolis. Did you know there’s tons of chickens that need homes? No? Me either until now. Many owners don’t care for them properly or abandon them after a short while. I spent quite a while exploring this website, too many cute pictures of chickens, but also a TON of information on chickens and roosters-which are a lot harder to find homes for. I think many of us think of chicken, and think food, whether that be the actual meat or eggs, chickens are viewed as a means to fulfill hunger. From the website I learned that they make great pets when cared for right, they love people, and are very loving animals that are often neglected, mistreated, or live very inhumane lives.
This bit of info really says a lot:
“Chickens...coexist happily with compatible dogs and cats and have life spans of 12 -14 years. Chickens are better adapted to living with us as companions than their exotic kin, parrots, who suffer terrible physical and psychological stress in captivity. A shift in critical thought about who is “food” and who is “pet” could mean a less violent world for the chickens and other animals trapped in a food production hell hidden from view (“free range” and “cage free” birds meet their factory farmed cousins at the same slaughter plants). Each year in the US, over 10 billion chickens suffer from intense confinement, cruel handling and painful terrifying deaths. Although they represent over 95% of the animals raised for agricultural and other purposes, chickens are excluded from protection of anticruelty laws, humane slaughter laws and laws that regulate experimentation.”
Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota: http://www.ragom.org/
An organization involved in rescuing and relocating golden retrievers. They save Golden retrievers from animal shelters. They’re involved in Minnesota as well as the neighboring states.
Contact: 5800 Baker Road, Suite 120 Minnetonka, MN Phone: 952-946-8070 rescue@ragom.org
Feline Rescue: http://felinerescue.org/
An organization focused on helping cats in need find homes. They also have a foster program for animals that need extra care such as mother cats and cats with illness or disabilities
Contact:593 Fairview Avenue North, St. Paul, MN Phone: 651-642-5900
outreach@felinerescue.org
Hours:
Monday-Friday: 10:00 a.m-Noon; 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday:10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Compassionate Action for Animals: https://www.exploreveg.org/
A nonprofit organization focused on educating people on the suffering of farm animals. Their ultimate desire is to encourage people to go vegan as a compassionate way of eating because of this they have a lot of events that include tabling, cooking classes, potlucks, food giveaways, film screenings, etc.
Contact: 2100 1st Ave S, Suite 200 Minneapolis, MN Phone: 612-276-2242
info@exploreveg.org
Pet Project Rescue: http://petprojectrescue.com/
A nonprofit Minnesota organization that helps homeless/abandoned cats and dogs in need of adoption by taking them into foster care until they become adopted. The organization also provides spraying/neutering services as ways to reduce overpopulation of cats and dogs.
Contact: Pet Project Rescue PO Box 582861 Minneapolis, MN 55458
Info@PetProjectRescue.com
People and Pets Together: http://www.peopleandpetstogether.org/
Located very close to Bancroft Elementary school, this organization helps gather/provide pet food to send to local food shelves, they also hold vaccination clinics for pets, and help to provide resources on reduced pet vet care.
Contact: 3755 Bloomington Avenue South Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407
peopleandpetstogether@gmail.com
Pet Haven Inc of Minnesota: http://www.pethavenmn.org/
Another organization devoted to helping dogs and cats find homes. This organization takes them into foster homes until they can be adopted, the pets are also sprayed or neutered before being adopted and sent with a cage/kennel, food, leashes, etc.
Contact: Pet Haven, Inc. of Minnesota P.O. Box 19105 Minneapolis, MN (952) 831-3825
Secondhand Hounds: http://secondhandhounds.org/
An organization based out of Eden Prairie, that rescues dogs and cats from shelters where they might be killed, or from homes that can no longer care for them. They then send the animals to foster homes while they wait adoption.
Contact: 10100 Viking Drive Suite 100 Eden Prairie, MN 952-322-7643
Hours: Monday-Friday: 10am-4pm, 6 -8pm Saturday: 10am-2pm Sunday: 11am-2pm
EAT WILD: Farmer’s directory: http://www.eatwild.com/products/minnesota.html
I found this very nicely laid out directory of grassfed meat, dairy, and egg farms in Minnesota, or close by. I know a lot of these farms are a good distance away but there’s quite a lot of them, perhaps one would visit the students at Bancroft. Otherwise their contact information is all listed in the directory and they list information about what each farm is. I should also point out that all the farmers are committed to ethical standards, such as allowing the farm animals to graze in low stress environments without the use of antibiotics or hormones. There’s a whole list of the standards these farms are held to: http://www.eatwild.com/criteria.html
Animal Humane Society of MN: https://www.animalhumanesociety.org/
The animal humane society is involved any many ways of helping animals such as adoption, taking in animals that can no longer be cared for by their owners(surrendered), providing resources to care for animals, dog training classes, behavior information for pets, providing spay/neuter clinics, helping owners reunite with lost pets, and following up on inhumane pet care investigations.
Contact: There’s a few facilities devoted to adoption(the nearest is in St. Paul) but the main administration building is located at: 845 Meadow Ln. N. Golden Valley, MN 55422
763-522-4325
Recap: I think there’s a ton of ways this information I’ve gathered can help! I’ve learned a ton, and feel confident in the resources I’ve found. I’m just very eager to see the direction in which my students took their research and what they discovered. I feel like I have a ton of knowledge on pets, and resources for farm animals. I couldn’t find a ton on animal testing since the U of M stopped that, so I’m hoping my students stray from that path but we’ll see. I’m really liking the farm animal angle, I was pretty into learning about chickens! But ultimately my students will be deciding where they want to focus their lens. I’ve also learned a ton about veganism, lots of organizations support veganism as an ethical way of living and a way to take a stance against killing animals inhumanely for food.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Radical Learner Project Update
I’ve spent around 3-4 hours getting to know how to play the ukulele so far, and at the beginning it felt absolutely hopeless. I thought getting the hang of notes and learning chords was the meat of the requirement, but even strumming the guitar takes finesse and practice. I had trouble adjusting from wanting to strum with my thumb to strumming with my finger, and I kept catching on the strings when I’d try strumming with any speed. Also strumming down vs. strumming up was difficult to adjust to. I’m still intimidated by the realization that there are more complex strumming patterns - down, down up, (pause) up, down, down, down, down, up...etc.
Most recently I stepped a little bit away from actually playing it and have been on an information search. I managed to learn to do a simple tune that I really like (Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes) but am trying to learn the basic fundamentals so I can be thinking of them as I practice. The realization that I knew so little about what goes into the instrument makes me wonder if there are any other huge glaring chunks that I simply haven’t even thought of yet.
A lot of the success from this particular project is going to come from practice - and specifically focused practice. I need to learn about a specific chord, or pattern, and practice that until I get it down. Each little bit is like a tool, so the more bits that I learn the more things I can build.
Overall it feels like there is a lot that I am missing, and the learning curve is steeper than I expected. I think if I’d learned an instrument when I was younger I’d have a lot of this knowledge already, but I simply don’t. So right now the goal is simple: Continue to learn to comfortably strum up and down. Once I can confidently do that I will move on to learning different notes and chords, and a couple more complex techniques that I only recently heard of - but I won’t get into those here.
For now I’ll leave you with this cover that I’ve been practicing of Seven Nation Army:
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
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