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Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--vegan Guest wordsmith Matt Ball (veganpa at comcast.net) writes: Growing up, I was a big fan of Carl Sagan, and I dreamed of exploring the universe, expanding the frontier of human knowledge and vision. I started my college to become a rocket scientist, with the plan of working for NASA. But fate intervened on the first day of college when I met my roommate, a big, strong guy, who was not shy about explaining his vegetarianism or what hidden realities my eating meat supported. After a false start, I went vegetarian -- I simply found the cruelties of meat production too severe to continue to rationalize away. Shortly thereafter, I met Jack Norris and started learning more about animal exploitation in this world. I decided I needed to do more than be a vegetarian. With ten other activists, Jack and I held a three-day Fast for Farm Animals in front of a Cincinnati slaughterhouse (three days being the amount of time farmed animals often go without food before slaughter). After the fast, Jack and I formed a group which eventually became Vegan Outreach, dedicated to preventing the most suffering possible. You can order a free copy of our Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating. (This week's guest wordsmith Matt Ball is co-founder and executive director of the non-profit organization Vegan Outreach.) vegan (VEE-guhn) noun One who does not consume animal products. adjective Made with no animal ingredients. [Coined in 1944 by Donald Watson (1910-2005) to describe a "non-dairy vegetarian"; formed from the first three and last two letters of the word vegetarian.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. "Kitsch, lively and glamorous, Canadian food writer Sarah Kramer bucks all the vegan stereotypes." Leonie Cooper; The Garden of Vegan; The Guardian (London, UK); Feb 6, 2008. X-Bonus The fire which enlightens is the same fire which consumes. -Henri Frederic Amiel, philosopher and writer (1821-1881)

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