Recommended: Sea World and the Circus?!?!?!?!

It's only been in recent years where I have become more aware of 'life things' so to speak. I feel many of us (I know I was) were and are very sheltered as children from some of the not so nice things in this world. As good as our elders intentions probably are, I can't help but feel that this leads to us believing in a distortion of the truth. We trust these people and have faith in what they say and so we do not always question the things they tell us. This often means that we can go many years doing things that some may consider unfair, unkind or unethical without knowing it could even be an issue. I certainly do not resent my parents for trying to 'protect' me from these evil truths. But ignorance does not make them any less true, nor any less evil. 

I now understand where my meat and dairy meals came from and I learnt to associate the process of slaughter and loss of life with certain foods I was eating. This led me to make the choice to stop doing this. This learning process spanned many years… many years I wish I had spend already practising the vegan lifestyle. Although I cannot dwell on the past, I do wish I had been made aware of the truth as soon as I was able to comprehend, perhaps not fully, but introduce it as a concept and a process, like all the other things I was slowly taught. The only reason I can logically see for these ethically questionable truths being avoided whilst I grew up is the shame of those who knew and the ignorance of those who did not. It is very easy to be ignorant in modern society because we are so far detached from the process and the 'behind the scenes' of these industries. 

The point of this post however, is that in my journey of discovery that lead me to veganism, I have seen and learnt some incredible things… most of them incredibly horrific. Until I became vegan actually, I did not really watch anything particularly graphic because I am very sensitive and found it too distressing, now I understand this may have been guilt, too. I know people are often averted to these sorts of images, but we must stop and think, these images are only available because they have come from the slaughter houses, farms, zoo's, circuses etc and that is the truths they convey. People exposing these images I am sure would prefer there to be no images to show at all, but it can't be hidden away anymore and we can't turn away simply because it us unpleasant and distressing to see. It is a double standard we must confront and overcome. 

I would like to share with you a couple of documentaries that I found inspiring, informative, evocative and capable of making a difference. 

Blackfish and Earthlings…  Both hard to watch? Yes. Necessary to see? Yes, I do believe. 

I shall be filming a slightly more in-depth review of both these docu-films and popping that on Youtube … visit my channel here. 

In the meantime here are IMDB reviews and links to the films themselves…

• Earthlings (Imdb)
• Blackfish (Imdb)
• Blackfish is available on Netflix
• Earthlings can be found on Youtube (but I don't know if this is actually legal, is it?!)
• Blackfish available to buy on Amazon
• Earthlings website

Please, please take some time to watch them… so we can at least make informed decisions and hopefully spread awareness so that we can free, save and protect as many animals as possible.

Thank you and please do watch the Youtube video, too 

Peace out, Unicorns

Emily xxxxxxxx

Being brave...

Evenin'

Here in the UK it is gone three in the morning; I have totally screwed up my sleeping pattern somehow - probably something to do with allowing myself to sleep through a whole day the other day which I HATE doing, but I literally could not seem to help it. It's a really bad symptom of my depression that I oversleep and always feel tired and without energy. It sucks majorly because it just puts you in an awful  downward spiral of feeling guilty about feeling or seeming 'lazy' or 'wasting days away', but I am stuck between these feelings and thinking patterns; well if my body needs to sleep then I have to sleep? But I know there's a bit more to it than that. 

It is something I really want to begin to tackle because I know that in order to recover from depression and all my mental disorders that I have to be more positive and do more positive things, and for me I know that productivity makes me feel better. Therefore, I need to work on my physical health so that I am physically able to make my days more productive and fulfilling which should of course have a beneficial knock on effect towards my mental wellbeing. 

Anyhoo, today's post is about my making the decision to finally bite the bullet, say screw you to my anxiety and start a Youtube channel about recovery, veganism, life, animals and all sorts of things. I have literally put this off for so so sosososososo long, simply because of fear, and I got sick of that and decided to just go for it. I feel sick in my stomach about it even though I doubt many people will really see it and I know the world isn't going to end because of it, but there we have the irrationality of anxiety. 

I hope that I feel confident enough to really take off with it and just do what I wanna do with it. Ultimately, whatever people might do or say about it (which is just a fear and theory right now anyway), they can't stop me from doing it… it's only me that can do that. And why should I?

Here's to being brave *raises glass*!

Here is the link… please do check it out and if you feel so inclined, then do subscribe :) 

My recovery and being brave…

P.S Stayed up till 5 waiting for the video to upload (WHY) and it took something like 200+ minutes… is that normal? Cos that ain't cool, man?! 

So I ended up uploading today instead but you get the gist, right? 

I hope so 

Peace out,
Emily xxxx

Campaigning for animal rights...

So most people have heard of vegetarianism these days (hurrah), but it seems veganism is still trying to catch up in terms of recognition. I think, unfortunately, it also has some pretty negative connotations (see witty memes below… oh chuckle), that kind of brand us as arrogant and preachy. It's rubbish but it is something that from a non vegan point of view is probably quite hard to understand, especially if people aren't fully aware of the reasons perhaps why we may have made this lifestyle choice.

Anyway… I could talk billions about this and probably will at some point. But what I wanted to talk about was the point of people simply not 'getting it'. Most vegans, I believe, make this choice due to ethical beliefs regarding animal welfare and subsequently decided this is the best diet and lifestyle to avoid contributing even more to the cruelty and exploitation of so, so many animals.

As much as (I assume) many vegans might want to convince people to do the same, I actually see it much the same way as what I have learnt about trying to get smokers to stop smoking; you tell them, you warn them, you nag at them and they switch off, become defensive and ultimately do not make a change. It's hard (and not always fair) to tell people what to do; no one really likes it (I don't) and it is rarely effective. Over time I have started to believe that the best way to (I don't know the best way to phrase it) talk about your lifestyle change with people, without sounding like you want them to 'convert' so to speak, is to tackle one of the most inhibiting issues preventing more people from considering a more compassionate lifestyle, and that is: ignorance.

'The greatest threat to people is ignorance.

The greatest threat to animals is ignorant people.'   

This quote summarises what I mean really and is from the guide that I have been using a lot recently to help get me started on my quest of beginning more performance based campaigning for animal rights. 

Basically, I am a huge advocate of spreading awareness, in any way. In whatever way and to whatever degree, we can all have an impact upon people's understanding of these issues and that's the way to do it. Nothing spreads a message and makes a change more than word of mouth. We tend to trust those who we respect so sometimes all we need to do is talk to friends, family and colleagues (if they want to) and if they are moved, learn something and begin to see things in a new light, the chances are the message will begin to spread. 

And for those who perhaps want to do something bigger then I wanted to share with you the guide that I have found. Not only for those who want to campaign, as it has a lot to teach about the adverse effects the way humans live are having upon the planet, but an invaluable tool for those wanting to be involved  in or begin campaigning. 

Now I have my own problems to tackle, which is, how can I do a performance/ exhibition etc, without seeming like I am doing the whole preachy thing that I just suggested one might try and avoid? I have some ideas, but would appreciate suggestions. As it stands, I want to do a performance piece which focuses on the treatment of animals in modern society. This is not to focus on and promote a change to veganism, but to expose a truth to an audience, much like a lot of modern art and theatre. And I am not one to shy away from making an audience feel uncomfortable, no matter what the subject matter!

I think it is important to say that I don't dislike or look down at meat eaters or non vegans (both my parents and boyfriend eat meat), that is not the key issue in my eyes. For me, it is the knowledge that so many people just do the societal norm. It is what (especially the Western) world is used to. But without proper and full understanding. It's almost a reflex, something that is not mindful. In a way, I just want to know that people have at least put two and two together, an animal was slaughtered for this meal, and have gone on to make an informed decision. 

Of course I would love everyone to share the same viewpoint as me, but that's unrealistic and unachievable, and I don't see that as defeatist, I just see this (ethical beliefs) as being another of many things in this life that cause a divide of opinions, and we know the entire population of the world will never share religious, economical, political beliefs or beliefs about sexuality. But that knowledge doesn't stop people from wanting to learn, wanting to share and wanting to experiment. It doesn't stop people from making art and theatre about it. This is just a little more rare, and I believe I might have some quite strong opposing barriers to break through before it is accepted as art, rather than just a ploy to make people another crazy vegan monster thing! 

I got a bit carried away there, but I just want it to be clear that I (at least I think) am realistic about it all. 

I shall leave you with the links to the guide by Ben Isacat: How to do animal rights…

Online guide: http://www.animalethics.org.uk/How-to-Do-Animal-Rights-2013.pdf

To buy the full book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Animal-Rights-Ben-Isacat/dp/1291015922/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413673461&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+do+animal+rights

Website of: http://www.animalethics.org.uk

and… 

hohoho 

Peace and hugs

Emily xxxxxxxx

                                               

What might you find here?

Hi.
My name is Emily Rose Joyce Crosby.
I am a studying actress in my third year of university doing a degree entitled: Professional Studies (Performing Arts).
It's pretty cool. It's basically training me to become a freelance, self employed individual within the creative industry.
I have a lot of free reign over the content of my course this year and I am moving towards a much clearer vision of what kind of career I want to develop.
I am vegan, relatively new, just over a year in and it has been super enlightening.
I have been diagnosed with depression and bulimia and we (doctors and I) are still figuring out the rest.
My personal choices, beliefs and experiences impact heavily upon my creative choices and the subject matter of most of the performance work I want to do centers around the ideas of mental health and ethical issues, predominantly animal rights.

I've (kind of reluctantly) gotten rid of all the previous content from this blog and am wiping the slate clean so to speak. This blog space has now found itself being the focal place where I shall spill my guts about everything to do with what I want to do... which at the moment looks to be ...

Ethical campaigning through the medium of performance art.

Hopefully this place may become a useful resource to some, containing:
- Quotes and references
- Reviews/recommendations (I like films - weird disturbing shit mostly)
- Advice? Possibly? May take the form of moaning...
- This is my place to set myself goals, to track my progression and development as an individual as well as a professional so it is likely my personal experiences will find their way into this too. I have found that, despite the whole requirement for actors to 'leave their problems at the door', it's kinda' easier said than done - so yahhhhh

I'll leave ya with this [look down] as I am currently hiding in the corner of a pub reading (Art and Agenda - Political Art and Activism by noone apparently, so that will be great when I need to reference this) and doing uni work. Just found the quote below and am gonna buy the book (when I get paid, oh wahhh, woe be me).


“The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer, The Basis of Morality


Peace
Emily