I was an active member for years. And I’m not just talking about making donations – I marched, organized and recruited. It was when I started focusing in on companion animals and made the decision to add fish to my vegetarian diet (I was getting fat on all that cheese) that I was pushed out. It turns out working with companion animals is for little old ladies and eating fish is worse then eating a cow because you’ve got to kill so many more fish to equal that one cow. Strange that no one questioned where all that cheese came from (dairy cows end up going to slaughter too) but that’s PETA for you in my experience. But rather then convincing me not to eat that fish I decided to put the cow back in my diet too (grass fed, of course!).

So I still work with companion animals but I’m not a vegetarian (but I am very careful about where my meat comes from). And PETA has zero chance of winning me back. PETA isn’t the last word in animal rights and it’s a good thing too because I really do think they offend more people then they attract to the cause.

And you tell ‘em, Sarah!

I would imagine this working like ordering contacts through the mail – you need to have a doctor who’s examined you but you don’t have to have seen a doctor that day.

When I used Planned Parenthood it was really hard to get in – not only would I have to work around the PP calendar but my own class schedule was very demanding so I had to work around that too. And not having a car (I was so broke) made it all that much harder. Between finals, semester breaks and all that other 20-something drama I’d often go off the pill for a couple of months before I could get in to see a doctor and get back on them. And I KNOW all that off and on wasn’t treating me right – talk about an emotional roller coaster!

I’m for sure NOT saying that you don’t need a doctor at all. But getting the pill shouldn’t be as difficult as it currently is.

Men don’t have to see a doc once a year. No one is holding their Viagra out like a carrot to make them do it either. And men get STDs and suffer from diseases that can be screened for too.

Honesty – this whole needing to see a doctor each time you get the pill seems like a way to keep poor women down. I know there is a better solution and I’m really surprised that so few posters here are even trying to think of a better way – it seems so classiest and out of touch.

Rather then defining the local food movement they give it a bad name. And I love my farmer’s markets! Living in a city I get a lot out of them. From about May-Nov I easily do about 2/3 of my grocery shopping there. But I still eat tropical fruits and I shop at my local grocery for pantry items and (although it’s free trade and locally roasted) I still drink coffee.

I’ve also decided that it makes the best sense to get my beef (grass fed and finished, of course) from a far away ranch with big skies and humane practices. It turns out my local grass feed beef (often old dairy cows) is corn finished anyway – what I loose in shipping my meat from Montana I gain back in all the energy it takes to grow that corn or ship in that hay.

My point is use your noodle. Some things are best local. Other things it makes sense to fly it in. You don’t have to be a ‘lacavore’ to make a real difference. This isn’t an all or nothing endeavor.

“I've found the key for me is going when it opens, I get the best pick and most of the patrons are elderly immigrants. If I get up too late, it's all yuppies.”

Same here. When you get there early it’s a different market with a much better selection. In my markets people can even use food stamps - but you only see that action first thing in the morning. If you go later in the morning (anything past 9 in my area) the brunch set rolls in and it’s more of a social scene.

I hear a lot of people saying they can’t get out to the markets. I know I’m lucky that I can walk to my market and that it’s not an hour drive. But that’s the same sort of lucky that someone with a lawn that could easily become a garden is lucky. We can all participate in this movement to some extent no matter where we live. I’d shamelessly grow tomatoes on my front lawn in I had one- let the neighbors think I’m trashy.