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Broken legs are probably a horse person's greatest fear. Unlike most dogs, horses don't do all that well with amputations, so I'm completely fascinated by the story of Riley, a mare living at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary whose leg injuries finally resulted in an experimental prosthesis - which is working out swimmingly. 

I don't actually have a soapbox, but I've considered getting one from time to time because I think there's valuable humor in whipping out an actual box and standing on it while chatting about vegan-typed stuff. If I'm going to be referred to as 'that vegan girl' in the derogatory sense, I might as well get some giggles out of it. I'm glad to see someone else shares the feeling that a soapbox isn't necessarily a bad thing, even if it's just a metaphorical one. I'm talking about the purveyor of Vegan Soapbox, who was once told to "get off your soapbox" by an omnivore, much like my mom tells me to on a regular basis. Instead of getting off one, she decided to go the opposite route and create an online version. 

One of my favorite things about Vegan Soapbox is the variety of stuff that's on the site - everything from food to theory to news, activism and resources. It's an amazing collective of things-every-vegan-should-know-or-at-least-see in one place, which I really appreciate because in my old age and laziness, I like my search for brain fodder to leave as much time for Facebook stalking as possible. 

What is it about the death of an animal we find so aesthetic? There is nothing beautiful about the torturous, slow, agonizing death of starving, just like there is nothing beautiful about the brutal murder that goes into the 'production' of fur. Perhaps there is a haunting beauty in a natural death, but there is nothing attractive, nothing beautiful, nothing worthwhile about senseless, pointless, useless murder. Perhaps art isn't meant to be beautiful. In many cases, it could be argued that art should cause discomfort - to the VIEWER. Provocative though this might be, to walk through this 'gallery' and see a dog look at you, suffering, and to do nothing more than sip your champagne and talk industry is nothing short of purely callous. It is an example of all that is wrong with out treatment of animals, how we treat them as nothing more than pieces of art to be disposed of as suits the artists' fickle pleasures. It doesn't matter that he's a dog - if he were a pig, a duck, a freakin' giraffe, it would remain inexcusable.