Grumpy Vegan

With just two weeks to go before the Grumpy Vegan and human and feline companions leave for England, we’re in the midst of the long goodbye. Our first was with the Canton Garden Association, one of two neighborhood associations we were involved with. CGA, proudly proclaimed as “not your mother’s garden association,” was a terrific bunch of people who worked hard on a number of community projects, including the Canton Dog Park (sadly still the only official dog park in Baltimore), the Reading Garden at the Canton Library (sadly the remaining branch of the four originals that operates as a library) and Two Rivers Park, which is when CGA and the Canton Community Association succeeded in converting a proposed city lot from being sold to developers and turned it into a pocket park. Then, there were the home and garden tours and the educational programs for local schools that we were also involved with. Notwithstanding all this hard volunteered work we always made sure that we had a good time.

Less than three weeks to go before the Grumpy Vegan and his human and feline companions leave the United States for the United Kingdom. Because we weren’t wiling to put our cat, Emmy, in the hold of an airplane (transatlantic flights won’t allow animals in the cabin even when they’re in a carrier under the seat), we’re returning on the Queen Mary. Honest! The cat made us do it!

The Queen Mary has a kennels for (I think) 12 cats and dogs. Emmy will have to stay in the kennel throughout the voyage but we’ll be able to visit him every morning and afternoon. It’s quite a rigmorale to go through to get his “pet passport” but it’s better than six month’s quarantine. In the bumpf that Cunard gives you it says that the liner has wireless Internet access. So, I think the Grumpy Vegan is going to be the first, well, grumpy vegan who will blog daily as we cross the Atlantic. And, no, we don’t make any stops along the way.

These past few months have been particularly hectic and stressful as we close the chapter and open another. We leave the United States enriched by the experience and truly grateful for the opportunity. But England is home and it’s time to go back. A big part of why we’re returning is that we both want to make changes in our lives related to the work we do. For me, I no longer want to be the executive director with the responsibility of raising money and managing an organization. My new role will be as an independent scholar, author, speaker and consultant to animal advocacy organizations. My role with the Animals and Society Institute will change from full-time co-executive director to European Director as a part-time consultant. I return to the U.S. at the end of September to speak at the annual animal law conference at
Lewis & Clark University and our own conference, Becoming the Change, which we coproduce with Tom Regan and the Culture and Animals Foundation. Presently, I’m also working on relaunching the ASI’s Web site, which I will continue to do from England.

A consequence to these life changes has been a neglect of the Grumpy Vegan Web site. But I’m hopeful that as my circumstances change I will have more time to post even more nonsense!