FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT

It's hard being vegan.

Okay, that's actually a blatant lie. It's not hard. At all.

Especially now. It was hard way back in 1998 when I started being vegan, when Long Life Veggie House and Evergreen were the only two vegan restaurants, no one knew anything about healthy eating, and there was no Whole Foods (or even a Wild Oats, for that matter) in Salt Lake. THEN it was hard to be vegan.

Now? Not so much.

The only hard part about it is finding good vegan shoes. That's a pain in the ass. Sure there are places online that sell 100% vegan shoes, but I hate ordering online because all shoes are different, and I might be anywhere between a 9 and a 10.5. It's frustrating. I know you can exchange online purchases, but I really hate doing that. I'd much rather just get it right at a store and be done with it. Unfortunatley, that's not really an option most of the time.

However, yesterday I overcame my fear of ordering shoes online because I found this really awesome pair that Adam Horovitz (Ad Rock) helped design. They're totally vegan, supposedly warm (which, in snow-covered Salt Lake from November through March, I desperately need), and best of all, for a good cause.

Keep x Ad Rock

Ever since the election, I've been trying to help out where I can, and somewhere that's going to need a lot of help over the next little while is Planned Parenthood. Horovitz and Keep (the company that's producing the shoe) are donating the proceeds from the sale to Planned Parenthood, and I'm all about it.

The downside here is that these are pre-orders, and they're expected to ship in "late February" which we all know probably means March or April, which probably means I'll be waiting until winter of 2017 to see if they actually keep my feet warm and dry during the winter.

Mostly I'm just happy that Horovitz is doing something productive and beneficial right now. I liked the Beastie Boys, but never loved them. I can't say I miss them, either. I think it's hard to be a rapper or a punk rocker when you get older, because I know you're full of shit if you talk about struggling.

Rap is especially hard in that area. The up-and-coming rappers are always the best because they're trying to make it. Once you know they've made it, none of it feels authentic anymore. That's why rock music sustains. It's easier to be authentic, but it's boring and safe authenticity. Rap, punk, hardcore—they're all different. You need that chip on your shoulder, and need to be struggling against the current. When what you're doing becomes the current, it's over.

The best rappers get rich and famous much quicker now, punk bands are the new dad-rock bands, and hardcore died when Jamie Jasta brought back Headbanger's Ball and MTV saw a revenue stream in it.

The Beastie Boys were a small part of all of those things. Plus, as time went on, they just became rich white guys. It's hard to rail against a system that was set up specifically to benefit them.

That's why I'm glad that Horovitz is using what he has and putting his might behind these shoes.

I just hope they keep my feet warm next winter.

THE NEW STYLE...

Hi.

First off, I just want to thank anyone that checked out the voting guide I published earlier this month (or maybe it was late October), or shared it, or commented on it, or used it while filling out your ballot. I really appreciate it, and hope that it gave you a little better understanding of who was running for office.

Unfortunately, the good guys didn't have much luck in this past election. If you're as disheartened as I am with the way things turned out on November 8th (locally and to a much larger extent, nationally), I really hope you see how learning about politics is a good thing, and voting is an even better thing.

The most important thing though, is to never give up. Things are going to be rough for the next little while, which is why it's important to help out where you can, and when you can. There are a lot of people in far worse situations than you might be, and they may need your support. Keep your eyes open, and pitch it when and where you can.

Second, I don't have a job anymore.

Don't be alarmed. I didn't get laid off, or fired, so don't worry. I went back to serving earlier this year, after the cafe I managed closed down, but I hit a wall and needed a break. So now that I'm on sabbatical (or FUN-employment, as I like to say), I've got a few things I'm trying to accomplish—goals, if you will.

My main goal is to get back in the habit of writing, and that's where this comes in. I want to try and write a little bit every day, and the easiest way to do that is to use this. If you thought this blog was at all interesting before, you still might. If you never did and thought it was a waste of time, you definitely still will.

The way this is going to work is that I'll pick one thing and write about it. It could literally be anything that caught my attention that morning, the day before, whatever. Maybe it'll be a movie or a TV show I watched and I'll just rant/rave about it for a minute. Maybe it'll be a news story that I have a few comments on. Maybe it'll be a video I found doing research for another project, and I just need a place to gather some thoughts on it. They won't be very long, they may not be very funny or all that informative, but it will be content that you can use to pass the time.

Basically, this is a roundabout way of warning you that you're reading a blog. It's like a stay-at-home-parent blog without complaining about diapers or whatever gets written about on those.

If you never visit again, I won't be mad. If you do stick around, let me know, leave comments, whatever you want. Let's have some fun.