In a world that values sunshine over the saturnine and hope over harrumphing, it's hard to be a professional curmudgeon. In the animal rights community (where the competition for Chief Grouch is fierce), that vital role was ably handled by the late Cleveland Amory, whose dyspepsia was a key component of the barbs he so effectively aimed at hunters and other animal exploiters. The banner of bile is now waved by Kim Stallwood, a.k.a. the grumpy vegan, who first refined discontent and dysphoria into an art form in his editing of The Animals' Agenda magazine, and then in two books he edited for Lantern: Speaking Out for Animals and The Primer on Animal Rights.

Actually, I'm kidding. Those two books are inspiring and thoughtful examinations of how one can help animals in distress and through policy changes rather than belly-aching about how awful everything is. Plus, Kim is distressingly sweet-tempered when you get to know him (which, of course, you are thoroughly discouraged from doing), and now that he is back in his native England after doing time in the U.S. for many years, he's distressed to find unwelcome shafts of sunlight brightening the winter of his discontent.

Fortunately, this being the world we live in and our exploitation of other animals showing no sign of stopping any time soon, Kim retains a measure of grouchy glory, blogging and helping to run the excellent Animals and Society Institute. In all these and other endeavors, of course, Lantern wishes him luck, and hope that we don't see him around.

Why is Bruce Friedrich willing to go up against debate teams at the brainiest schools in our nation over and over again? Because his argument (that eating meat doesn't make sense if given even a few minutes of thought) is watertight.

Read all about it at The Huffington Post, and get plenty of tips from Bruce in The Animal Activist's Handbook.

Muzzling a Movement, written by lawyer Dara Lovitz, finds its place in today's activist challenges and conversations, and is reviewed by Political Media Review.

Ever ready with the table to sell our books, Lantern attended the New York screening of Bold Native, a docudrama on the Animal Liberation Front. Bold-face names were in attendance—Russell Simmons, Moby, and Nellie McKay—as well as a who's who of animal activism in New York City. I even connected with some old friends.

Anyway, Bold Native is entertaining, thoughtful, and provocative in all the right ways. It's certainly not as gory as I'd been led to believe, and it makes its case well. I'd recommend it to anyone—not least because of two wonderful things. First off, one of our titles plays a highly visible role, both at the beginning of the film and the end: Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?. The second thing is that at the end, one of the characters, in explaining how he's changed his mind, points to an array of books (including Terrorists). I loved that moment: it wasn't a movie, or magazine article, or shocking video that did it for this character. The persuasiveness of words in the long form proved to be the catalyst for change—and amen say I!

If, like me, you spend all day (or night) in front of a computer, today is your day of action: Use Goodsearch all day today and make money for our friends at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. They're the charity of the day, and our searches create funds for their rescued farm animals.

C'mon Yahoos, you can take a day off from Google!

The Animals & Society Institute 2010 Fellowship recently came to a close, with scholars giving talks on meat promotion and consumption, veterinary school training and vet tech work, homeless people and animals, demographic and ethical issues surrounding animal welfare legislation, human supremacy, cloning, animal-centered psychotherapy, environmental ethics, and animal ethics in literature, film, and children's stories.

Many of those involved are contributors to Lantern's series of HAS books: Social Creatures, Teaching the Animal, and two new books that comprise smaller sections of Teaching the Animal—humanities and social sciences.

All are available from Lantern, of course, or directly from ASI. Stop by ASI's table at the TAFA conference to pick up your copies!

The nineteenth-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass perhaps summed up the philosophy of direct action best: "If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning."

Two recent movements that have decided to thunder and plow the ground are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). Both groups are committed to direct action. They do not believe that the earth or the animals who share the planet with us "belong" to anyone; they do not agree with the law that the earth or animals are our "property." So they break into and/or destroy private property, either covertly or overtly, and rescue animals from mink farms or labs or burn down ski resorts or other places that contribute to environmental destruction. Although their rhetoric may seem violent to some, those who subscribe to the ALF and ELF philosophy do not believe in physically harming any being, including humans.

If you want to know what anyone who is anyone thinks about animals, this is the place to read it. A huge collection of animal images and writing, Creature Quotes includes Lantern authors Carol J. Adams, Judy Carman, Karen Davis, Joan Dunayer, Melanie Joy, and many more.

Clifton Flynn, editor of the [literally] weighty volume, Social Creatures, was previously named a Fellow by the Centre for Animal Ethics at Oxford, and now recently also named a Fellow of the Institute for Human–Animal Connection at the Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver.

Congratulations, Clif!

In Muzzling a Movement lawyer Dara Lovitz presents an in-depth and tightly argued analysis of the case of the SHAC-7. She reveals the history behind the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, examines the tendentious and speculative government case against the SHAC activists, and in so doing shows how the U.S. government has deeply compromised the freedom of speech and protest enshrined in the Constitution.


Check out The Vegan Police review here.

Andrew Linzey's book Creatures of the Same God is a collection of essays centered on animal theology, and was recently reviewed by Gracia Fay Ellwood.

You can read the entire review here: The Peaceable Table.

Stephen Batchelor spoke at the Tattered Cover Bookstore on March 16 plugging his book, "Confession s of a Buddhist Atheist." I was intrigued by his interest in the question of the "historical Buddha," which has rarely been investigated. I asked him whether he (Batchelor) was a vegetarian, whether the historical Buddha was a vegetarian, and how this all related to the first precept (not to take the life of any sentient creature).

Dara Lovitz, author of Muzzling a Movement talks about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and its effect on freedom of speech, activism, and animal advocacy, at NYU Law School, March 23, 2010.

What does it mean to become and then live as a vegetarian?

It might mean nothing at all; or, of course, it might be a step too far for you. Carol Adams has been thinking deeply about vegetarianism for over thirty years in a number of titles that explore feminist theory, critical theory, sexual politics, religion, and environmentalism: all as they relate to the decision no longer to eat animal flesh or use the products of animals.

Now Adams has collaborated with Patti Breitman to explain How to Eat like a Vegetarian Even If You Never Want to Be One. Cutting back on meat but don't know what to serve? Want an easy way to eat healthfully? The lists, charts, and hints in this book will reward you with meals, snacks, and surprises that are as easy to make as they are delicious.

In The Inner Art of Vegetarianism and Meditations on the Inner Art of Vegetarianism, Adams takes two facets of life (what we eat and how we live our day) and brings them together in a unique and fascinating way. The Inner Art is about how the practices that you might have throughout your day (journaling, meditation, yoga, breathing, and conscious living of all sorts) can be allied to your decision no longer to eat animals' bodies. Both involve, to some degree, a remembering of your embodiedness and their bodies, and in that conscious recollection you discover a deeper and more creative sense of being in the world. Meditations provides daily reflections on being a vegetarian and a spiritual practitioner.

Voices from the Garden takes a different approach. In fifty stories, people who became vegetarian talk about the reasons why they did so: whether they had a health crisis that propelled them into reflecting on what they put in their bodies; or whether they were concerned about the health of the planet and decided to reduce their consumption of meat and dairy because of the high costs of producing both for the environment; or whether they were moved by the plight of farmed animals and felt they didn't want to be a part of the system that treated them as commodities. Whatever your interest in being or becoming a vegetarian, these books provide numerous insights into what the vegetarian lifestyle means beyond the cookbooks and the fake meat products, and promise a way for you to live a deeper and more authentic life.

Of course, today wouldn't be today unless we mentioned the incredible work of Karen Davis at United Poultry Concerns and her two books that she's written for us: More than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality and The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale: both of which deal with birds and both of which make a strong case that, at the very least, we should respect these extraordinary animals.

For more on International Respect for Chickens day, click here.

I was just sent this article from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Margo DeMello, in which many of the authors of the essays in our anthology Teaching the Animal are featured. The comments at the end of the article are also worth reading for what they say about the fears the academy has about blurring the lines between scholarship and advocacy, and what or who constitute suitable subjects for study and what or who don't. Overall, however, the article is a good insight into this burgeoning and exciting field of academic study, of which Lantern is pleased to be a part.