Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Marissa: The Weekend That Changed My Life

This weekend I was invited by the VP of the Farm Animal Protection Campaign at the Humane Society of the United States, Paul Shapiro, to work on a campaign in NJ. This campaign seeks to override a recent veto by Gov. Christie to ban the extreme confinement of pigs in gestation crates. Despite the fact that pigs have been proven to be smarter than dogs, and even smarter than some primates, a female pig in a factory farm is artificially inseminated and put into this gestation crate where she cannot even turn around. Then she is pulled out to give birth, and get artificially inseminated again, and the whole process repeats itself for her entire life, until she dies from malnutrition, exhaustion and/or disease. Already 9 states have banned these crates. (more info here: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/facts/gestation_crates.html



The HSUS has been renting a giant beach house on the Jersey Shore to house 20+ employees and volunteers from the HSUS, ASPCA, Mercy For Animals and others. I just had to find a way to get there, and public transportation wasn't really an option. 

Luckily, a friend of mine let me borrow his car, though I don’t know why, because I hadn’t driven for the last year, and had never driven for longer than about an hour. But I did it! Drove about 5 hours to north New Jersey to meet the group at a rally at a local shelter. A freshman that I had only met once at our first GW Animal Advocates Meeting replied to an email I sent out and wanted to come with. So he was my co-pilot, and helped with directions during the drive. After the rally, we went to a neighborhood and canvassed for a few hours. (I received such a positive reception from almost every door that I knocked on! I will talk more about this later).

Then we went to the house. The front door had a sign that said “Welcome, Animal Advocates!” Immediately, we knew we had found the right place. We walked right in and were greeted by everyone with a chant “Marissa and Neil! Marissa and Neil!...” Apparently everyone knew who I was because everyone was around when Paul Shapiro answered my phone call the night before. They all would not stop thanking us for being there, while I couldn't stop thanking them for having me!


People were sleeping on couches, sharing beds and using air mattresses. The dining room had been turned into a command center – the giant table had a large desktop computer at one end with an industrial-sized printer. Laptops and papers covered the rest of the table.

Once everyone had made it back to the house, we had the nightly meeting where everyone went around with updates and highlights from the day’s campaigning. I shared a story where I was invited inside a house to talk about the issue. There happened to be several neighbors all gathered in this one home. They were disgusted at the way pigs are treated and full-heartily agreed to call all of their senators and assembly people. Then, one woman told me all about her pit bull type dog who has been discriminated against for no good reason. He loves children and saved this woman’s life once – she was against to have a deadly seizure but before this happened, he went and woke up her mother. Her mother was able to rush her to the hospital where she had to have brain surgery! She asked me what she could do to fight local Breed Discriminatory Legislation (also known by it’s supporters as Breed Specific Legislation).

Canvassing team!

Everyone cheered when they heard my story, and many had equally as exciting and inspiring stories from the front line. One volunteer came in late with her dog, whom we all cheered for as well “Jake! Jake! Jake! Jake!”. Then it was time for dinner. A small group had been working in the kitchen making a giant meal of spaghetti with vegetables and a fresh salad. I could barely eat, though, as I was so distracted by talking to all of these amazing activists. Many of them are older than I, and work for the HSUS. They gave me tons of advice and suggestions – most notably, do NOT go to law school. Half of them said that if you really want to help animals, doing this type of campaigning, as well as meeting with influential people/companies, keeping your self educated and informed, and doing grassroots organizing. I haven’t yet made that final decision, but I do believe that I want to work for HSUS for a bit after I graduate. One HSUS employee has worked with the army base of Fort Lee, VA to only use cage-free eggs. I told him that my father, though a Marine, works at Fort Lee! They are now in contact to create Meatless Mondays on the base.

Later that night I sat on the roof with some younger volunteers (one a college student from Vassar and the other a wanderer), while they smoked their medicinal drugs, and talked about life, relationships, and the fleeting and temporary nature of emotions, particularly negative ones.

I shared a bed with someone, slept in a room full of people, and never felt more at peace and safe. The next morning I awoke earlier than normal, excited to start the day. I shuffled over to Paul’s room across the hall where I received a lovely greeting, as well as all of the breakfast options downstairs. There were many different types of healthy, fiber-filled cereals, bags of frozen berries and about five different kinds of soymilk, almond milk, and coconut milks. Oh, and that there was a pot of coffee already made. J (Obviously everyone in the house is vegan! And health-conscious: most people were up at 7am running around the neighborhood and working out. Love it!)

We had our morning meeting, while we were preparing the palm cards that we would give out door-to-door. Teams were made, neighborhoods were assigned, and we were off. The second day of canvassing was even more positive than the first. It’s incredible the connections I was able to make with people whom I never thought I would. Several houses were huge animal people. Many people said that they would not only call their senator to vote for this bill, but they would make their friends and family do the same. One old man, a former Marine, was weary of me, but once I explained I wasn’t selling anything, he quickly got on board with helping the pigs. He even let us play with his baby bulldog. <3

GW Animal Advocates with Paul Shapiro! (A large part of my life is spent fan-girling over Paul Shapiro)


The vote on the bill S.1921 to ban gestation crates in NJ was supposed to happen on Monday, Nov. 18th. However, last minute some senators changed their vote, and the sponsor knew it wouldn’t get passed so he had to pull it. He is reintroducing it Dec. 19th. The fight continues! I plan on spending

more time up there.


I made so many great connections this weekend, and was inspired by so many healthy, happy, fun and effective animal advocates. There is a quote for Martin Luther King, Jr. that helps describe my decision to dedicate my life to speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves: “There comes a time when one must take a position that's neither safe, nor political, nor popular. But he must take that position because his conscience tells him that it's right.”


As well as another quote from him that gives me the courage to do this:


“Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”


One former a clearance diver in the navy, and then a special operations sniper, has many insights on the animal protection cause. He says choosing to dedicate his life to this cause is the bravest thing he’s ever done. His TEDTalk is here: 

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