Theater Festival Sabotaged by Animal Rights Activists

July 31, 2008

Last Sunday I joined a Bay Area Vegetarians leafleting event:

http://www.bayareaveg.org/blog/2008/05/31/wishing-for-more-vegns/

Kristie, Mark, Tammy and I met at noon at the Powell Street Cable Car

Turnaround. Tammy organized the event. I brought a cart full of 750

VSK's (http://www.vegstarterkit.com/), and Kristie and Mark each had a bag

full of PETA2 guides

(http://petaliterature.com/prodinfo.asp?number=STU211). This seemed to

work out well for all involved. Tammy has the farthest to travel so it's

nice when she doesn't have to bring anything, and since she took care of

organizing the event, she shouldn't *have* to bring anything!

I got there first and studied the masses of meat-eaters who were still

oblivious to their inner vegetarian. Not for long, I thought, not for

long.

Sure enough, Kristie and Mark started handing out veggie info within

minutes of their arrival. Every person that walked away with a booklet

about yummy veg food and icky slaughterhouses was a person changed.

Tammy and I had an emergency conference about exactly where we should

leaflet, since Mark and Kristie were making us look bad with their quick

successes. Plus I needed an extra minute to finish my PB & J before I

could start asking people if they wanted free recipes. I volunteered to

go to Yerba Buena Gardens, 2 blocks away, where I knew they were having a

big theater festival. Tammy took the corner in front of Old Navy.

Yerba Buena Gardens is a gorgeous park any day of the week, but this time

it was really fun. There were small stages all over the park. Hundreds

of people were there to either perform or be entertained. Everyone was in

a really good mood, laughing and open, and it was incredibly easy to hand

out Vegetarian Starter Kits. I started off standing at one of the

entrances, but I was so curious about the festival that I went on in and

wandered through the crowds. Often I would hand someone a VSK and then

have 3 others come up to me saying, “Can I have one too?” Actors gave me

free DVD’s of local comedy skits and improv comments such as, “Vegetarian!

Oh, to be vegetarian! I am not yet, but soon may be!” Now THAT made me

smile. After a while I found myself back where I first started wandering

and I realized that many people on the ground, waiting between skits, were

quietly reading the VSK I had given them earlier.

I have to admit that I could have handed out more leaflets by standing in

one very busy place, such as Market and 3rd or Powell Street Station.

Sometimes I’ll do that because it feels good to get a whole bunch done at

once (and then we finish sooner and that means eating lunch sooner!). I

sort of cheated this past Sunday. I knew Kristie and Mark and Tammy were

handing them out lickety-split up on Market, so I took the more relaxing

route of festival wandering. Besides, I had that PB & J to tide me over if

lunch was 20 minutes late.

We handed out 1,200 Vegetarian brochures, in less than two hours! We

definitely earned our delicious post-leafleting lunch and gab session. At

lunch Tammy told me she started early...she handed out Why Vegans at Daly

City BART as she waited for her train!

I would still be eating animals, and paying others to hurt and kill

animals for my meals, if nobody had taken the time to let me know about

slaughterhouses. So I like to offer others the same information.

Leafleting is a fun, efficient and successful way to spread the veg word.

Thank you, Tammy, for organizing these events. See you in August!

Alex

And a big thank you to Ann and Anabela for stamping thousands of VSK's

with the local BAV info--that is incredibly helpful, and believe me, all

those guides are being handed out!

August 7, 2008

Hi all,Alex, thanks for posting about our last leafleting. I can tell by your subject line that you are still feeling the effects of the outdoor theater festival :-)I wanted to add a few comments to what you said ....> I got there first and studied the masses of meat-eaters who were still oblivious to their inner vegetarian. Lots of folks walking by in pairs. Often one person would say no, and the other would reach out and take it. I had one person say no, and then emphatically rush back to ask if he could still have one.One woman took one, posed for a picture with it, and then discarded it in an empty newspaper rack. I just retrieved it up and gave it to someone else. (As we leaflet at the cable car turnaround, a tourist attraction, I wonder if visitors think being leafleted is part of the San Francisco charm!) > I have to admit that I could have handed out more leaflets by standing in one very busy place, such as Market and 3rd or Powell Street Station.> At lunch Tammy told me she started early...she handed out Why Vegans at Daly City BART as she waited for her train!For folks who have beeen waiting for a weekday leafleting opportunity, you can create one anytime just by going to your local BART or busy public transit stop. There's LOTS of people at commute hour. Even on a Saturday, whenever I am waiting at BART (typically Daly City BART or for a transfer at Oakland 12th Street station) I can easily pass out 10-20 leaflets in just a few minutes. Of course there isn't much to do while waiting for the train or riding the train so people read the booklets. :-)We are planning to organize weekday "Adopt a BART" leafleting opportunities so if you are interested, drop me a line with what station you're near so we can team people up.> We handed out 1,200 Vegetarian brochures, in less than two hours!Cheers,Tammy

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