Monthly Archives: May 2013

Hippie Vegan Bull$#!*

This morning finds me sitting at Austin Bergstrom having one last taco before I get on a plane to New York. I’m tired! I’m not sure if I spelled Bergstrom right and I’m so tired that I’m not even willing to double check so laugh at me if you must. If I wasn’t going out of town I would definitely be up for some hippie vegan bullshit and you should all check it out, Jake Rich clued us in on the details:

Hippie Vegan Bull$#!* is a free, family-friendly event on Saturday, May 25 from 12pm-7pm, celebrating everything peaceful, organic, and weird in Austin. From food vendors and artists to yoga classes and drum spheres, the Empire Control Room & Garage will give Austinites young and old something to vibe out to.
The Empire parking lot will be home to a local vegan marketplace featuring food trucks by Roaming Hunger, a farmers market, and vendors selling miscellaneous hippie bull$#!* including custom t-shirt screen printing and professional tie-dying. The garage will serve as our bicycle & skateboard valet as well as the home of our massive group finger painting mural.

The patio will host a yoga class by Wanderlust with musical accompaniment by Jeff Liffman, drum sphere by Xandali, slack line demos by Keep Austin Slacklining, hackeysack and frisbee. The Control Room will transform into the Crash Pad where music-lovers can enjoy positive music & vibes courtesy of DJ Edica + and participate in an improvised jam on-stage (so bring your instruments!) Those who want to chill can enjoy the show from the comfort of bean bag chairs, all while surrounded by 300 degrees of trippy, psychedelic projections.

Here’s the facebook event - http://hippieveganbs.com

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Another One Bites the Dust: This is the last week for the Longhorn Food Court

You know what I think would be awesome? What if we tore down every single thing that makes living in Austin great and replaced it with condos and hotels. That way we could have even more people and more traffic, we are only 4th on the list of worse traffic in the US, we can make this happen people!!!

I understand that trailers are by their nature somewhat mobile and that trailer parks are owned by developers just waiting to turn their land into something more profitable because this is America goddammit. I sighed when I read a couple weeks ago that the landmark south congress trailers are this time really really closing. But I was beyond PISSED when I heard the vegetarian friendly trailer park that is five blocks from my office is closing to make room for condos. I’m the freaking mayor for godsakes. There aren’t that many walkable happy places to eat in this hood. I can get tacos at a place called Bacon. I can get a nine dollar smoothie at a gym. I can get a shitty bagel from a corporate behemoth or I can brave the crowds and mobs of babies at Whole Foods if I want to go somewhere for lunch without hopping in my car to the Wheatsville promise land. The Longhorn food court was like a dream come true.

I can clearly remember the first time I went to conscious cravings and soon after got my whole office hooked on the spicy chickpea wrap and the chimmichurri seitan. My coworkers even all ask for the vegan cheese! It fills my vegan heart with glee. We all make bad jokes about how we are consciously craving it.

And then when Capital City Bakery opened up I was able to turn everyone on to the wonder that can be vegan baked goods from the best in the biz. I think I also gained 10 pounds but it was all worth it! Whatever, I’m going to be glad I have it when the collapse of civilization comes and you all are regretting those juice cleanses.

And Moses Falafel is the only place I know of in the world that will substitute FRENCH FRIES in your falafel if you don’t like lettuce. And they even have falafel tacos. It’s so good.

The people that “own” the land, the people that these trailers pay money to every month, didn’t even bother to give the trailer owners 30 days notice. They were told they had to get out in a week. When I went yesterday none of the trailers knew what to do yet. They guy at Moses told me that hearing the news and having his credit card machine break down on the same day made it the worst day of his life. He said he is going to have to close for a while and reassess. Cap City and Conscious Cravings are both looking for new spots. Probably east. URGH. I’m so depressed. I vowed to eat there all week. Some vegans are even getting together for a last Hurrah this Friday. And meanwhile Republicans are out there trying to get rid of the weekend. What a world.

UPDATE: Conscious Cravings will be moving north to 5715 Burnet Rd (right next to the Mister Car Wash)

You can help Lucky the Elephant!

https://www.change.org/petitions/tell-aza-that-elephant-lucky-cannot-be-kept-alone-again

Sometimes it feels like I read nothing but bad news. I read all week (month? year? my whole lifetime?) about the republicans attempts to deregulate everything and help ruin all life on earth. Today I read they are working hard on destroying the rest of the manatee in Florida. I also learned that “conservatives” are less likely to buy the same lightbulbs if you tell them it will help the environment.

Instead of wallowing in depression I’m going to try and raise some awareness for Lucky the elephant. Lucky was a wild elephant who was captured in Thailand and brought to the San Antonio zoo. Over the years she has watched as her companions have all died and now she is the last of her kind. Female elephants aren’t supposed to ever be alone. In the wild they always travel in packs. When they pass a spot where one of their number died, they stop and take a moment to mourn. Here is a video where you can watch them. Even many years later they will stop at the same spot. Elephants are giant animals and they also need a lot of space. In the jungle they actually make the paths that all the other animals follow on their never ending quests for food.

The San Antonio zoo doesn’t really have enough room for one elephant, much less two. It could be that these substandard arrangements have led to the death of so many of Luck’s companions. They are trying to petition their own trade organization to break it’s rules and keep Lucky by herself from now on.

One World Conservation says “According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) guidelines, elephants should not be kept alone in captivity. It’s emotionally traumatizing. That’s why we’re asking that Lucky be removed from the San Antonio Zoo and sent to a facility that offers social grouping, natural substrates, strictly enforced protected contact management, high-end veterinary care, and the space to better meet the needs of her species.”

If you would like to help the first step is to sign the Change.org petition. There is also a link to call and email the AZA directly because they are going to be making this decision on whether or not to grant the San Antonio Zoo’s request very soon. There is also going to be a demonstration outside the zoo in San Antonio this Saturday, if you can make it they will even have signs and stuff available. You can also invite your friends on facebook to join the cause.

This is an animal that we can help.