A #vegan Thanksgiving.
Perfect time to talk turkey. Or should I say Tofurkey?
Despite the stress, uncertainty, disappearing revenue, isolation, and, let’s just admit it, fear of these past nine months, I approach Thanksgiving being well aware that I am doing “fine.” That I am lucky. Thanks to all of you for deciding to carve out just a few minutes of your week to spend with me. I appreciate you.
If you’re feeling thankful too and are looking for somewhere to give in honor of Giving Tuesday (besides to the Georgia run-off races, hint hint), my friend Susan McPherson shared this list of 10 great places your money can go to support women and girls.
My most radical belief?
Last week’s episode of The Op-Ed Page with Elisa Camahort Page features an interview with a very out and proud vegan, Jane Velez-Mitchell. You may know her from her days as an anchor on HLN, but now she’s the media mogul behind an animal rights- and climate change-focused media company, Jane UnChained. A couple of good reasons to take a listen:
My own #vegan philosophy
I will tell you most of my political beliefs early and often, but I’m much more circumspect about sharing the philosophy behind my veg*n lifestyle. ( I went vegetarian in 1989, vegan outside my body not long after, and finally fully vegan in 2006.) I often approach the topic through food and cooking. But some of the beliefs driving my decision to be vegan are probably my most radical ones…and I share some of them in this episode.
Jane’s year of transformation and living an authentic life
Within a single year, Jane publicly came out, got sober, and went vegan. And she credits these three acts as being the best things she ever did in her life. Jane has some wise words about authenticity, and about how she stays focused on taking her next steps. She used a phrase I’d never heard about taking the next “indicated step” but separating one’s self from the outcomes or results. I sat with that for a while. You might sith with it and other things she shares too.
The episode also features a segment where I talk about which demographic groups most of the media likes to talk about re: how they vote, and which large, powerful voting bloc no one really seems to want to talk about. Much to my annoyance.
Take a listen, and here comes the standard podcaster request: If you enjoy, please share, subscribe, rate and review!
A great listen
Journalist Kara Swisher has a new podcast with the New York Times called Sway, and this week an episode came out called Why Third Grade Matters. Now, I’ve always had a thing about third grade, because I missed most of it. We moved cross-country in April of my second-grade year, and there was no room in second grade at the progressive go-at-your-own-pace public elementary school that my parents really wanted us to attend. So I got popped into a combo 3rd-4th class for the last couple of months of the school year, and then just carried on into a 4th-5th class and so on. Now, at that time third grade was when you learned, for example, your multiplication tables. And by the way, this east coast school did a whole different kind of math than where we’d come from. I appreciated being advanced; I didn’t mind always being the youngest in a class, but basic math was never as rote for me as for others.
As it turned out, this episode was not at all about anything I experienced in skipping most of third grade. It was instead a fascinating interview with Raj Chetty, the Harvard economist who co-runs a research-oriented non-profit called Opportunity Insights that identifies trends in big data in an effort to de-politicize political hot buttons and identify paths forward to creating a more equitable society. The point of mentioning the third grade is that kids from every background exhibit the same level of innate talents via testing, but their paths later diverge based almost entirely on external factors…race, class, gender. It reflects what happens to the opportunities kid have and have not. It’s a powerful (and honestly depressing) episode, but if we don’t name it…and prove what plenty of people have known in their gut…we can’t change it. And Chetty’s point is that we are losing out as a nation, as a society, as a world. It’s a really good listen.
Also: If you were interested in the Remotely Fireside Chat I did with Dr Terri Givens about using radical empathy to bridge racial divides, you can watch the video here.
Coming this week-ish
A sneak peek of Episode 39 of The Op-Ed Page podcast I’ll be releasing later this week: I’m going to talk about the people I’m now blocking on social media. After years of never blocking, or at worst muting, but not blocking, I’ve decided I’ve done my time. Who I block may surprise you though. I’m also going to talk more about third grade :)
Update: In the wake of the #2020 election drama slowly resolving, my political partner-in-crime Ashwini Anburajan and I have decided to shift to doing our Facebook Live chats about politics once per week now, Tuesdays at 5PM PT. There’s still plenty going on, not least the Georgia Senate run-off, so join us Tuesday evenings, or catch the video later on my Facebook page.
Finally, my next Remotely Fireside Chat will be with author and CEO Robert Glazer, talking about being a values-based leader of remote teams. his company was 100% remote pre-pandemic, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been changes for his team too. It’s taking place Friday December 4th at 12PM PT. You can RSVP for the interactive Zoom here, and you can watch the FB Livestream at Remotely’s page here.
As always I appreciate a share of this newsletter, of my podcast, of my column, The Activist Leader. And I appreciate feedback and hearing from you too.
And if you think I can help you break through the things that are keeping you stuck, you can always set up your first introductory 30-minute consult for free by booking it in my Calendly.
Have a great week-ish!