Interview with Wendy Linton - Chalktivist

Wendy Linton is an anti-oppression activist, whose vegan activism is part of a larger focus on liberation and justice for ALL bodies, both human and nonhuman. Her evolution as an activist has seen her through the obligatory "angry activist" phase to a place of compassion and love. One of her favorite forms of activism is to create beautiful messages in public spaces, using chalk (also known as chalktivism) - she finds people are craving positive and loving messages in these times of division and outrage, and she finds her creative expression nurtures her own spirit while spreading messages of compassion for animals.

In today's conversation, hear about Wendy's activism journey, why she believes animal, human, and environmental justice are not separate issues, how she nourishes her soul through her activism, and why holding on to a positive vision for the future is so important for activists.

See some of Wendy's lovely chalktivism on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wendy.linton.1806 (or if you're in the Seattle area, you might find her at various places around Greenlake, Ballard and the shores of Lake Washington!)

Interested in trying chalktivism? Pick up some sidewalk chalk at your local Target, Fred Meyer, or online, then check out the Vegan Chalk Challenge Facebook page and get inspired! https://www.facebook.com/groups/veganchalkchallenge

Nick Coughlin wants to help teach young children about tolerance, humility, and compassion towards animals and each other. He created The Good Kid Project to do just that, and to celebrate kids who are doing good for animals in the world. The Good Kid Project currently offers a story series (with accompanying discussion guide and lesson plan) called "We're All Animals" that can be used to have conversations with kids about being kind to all beings. To learn more, visit https://goodkidproject.com/ - I encourage you to buy "We're All Animals" to complement your homeschool efforts during the pandemic, or simply to support you in having conversations with the kids in your life about kindness. Please also consider donating "We're All Animals" to your local library or elementary school, as a resource for those who can benefit from the conversations but who may not have the resources to purchase for themselves.

Everybody is talking about the "new normal" - as if any of us know what that is. Nothing feels any kind of normal right now, for a lot of people - and that's scary.

The truth is, even when we choose change; even when change is a good thing, we're still losing something to move forward. And when that change is thrust upon us; when we're not given any say in the loss, it feels somehow bigger.

In my previous lives as a Recruiter and an HR Manager, competencies were a great tool to ensure strong hiring decisions and effective performance management or employee development conversations. One of my favorites was “Dealing with Ambiguity.” In our fast-paced corporate world, proficiency in that competency could have a very real impact on career trajectory.

Dealing with Ambiguity at its most basic means:

Being able to cope with change and shift gears quickly when necessary,

Not having to have all the information in order to make a decision or take action, and

Tolerating risk and uncertainty

Today's episode features three AMAZING people doing incredible work in the world - Dallas Rising, Stacy Lopresti-Goodman, and Paul Gorski, who co-authored a research paper titled, "Nobody’s paying me to cry”: the causes of activist burnout in United States animal rights activists." This expands on a substantial body of work around burnout in social justice activists and highlights some unique elements to animal rights activist burnout.

WATCH to learn what they discovered in their research.

READ the paper: http://edchange.org/publications/activist-burnout-animal-rights-liberation.pdf

ACT:  
Challenge racism, sexism, and other activist-on-activist aggressions in your movement.
Stop celebrating martyrdom and start practicing community care.
Lead by example - be kind to yourself and each other!

RELATED - how white anti-racists activists contribute to burnout for activists of color: http://edchange.org/publications/White-Activists-Causing-Burnout-Racial-Justice-Activists-Gorski-Erakat.pdf

More about my illustrious guests:
Paul Gorski is the founder of the Equity Literacy Institute and EdChange. He is a lifelong activist spanning many social justice issues and conducts research on social justice education and activist burnout.

Stacy Lopresti-Goodman has been involved in the animal rights movement since the mid-1990s. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Honors Program at Marymount University. She teaches a variety of courses, including Food, Ethics, and Society and Abnormal Primate Psychology. Her research focuses on understanding the enduring impact that confinement, social isolation, and physical abuse have on the psychological well-being of nonhuman animals rescued from laboratories. She also studies alternatives to the use of animals in psychology education

Dallas Rising is a long-time ally of other species with experience in anti-speciesism education, direct intervention, policy, and strategy relating to animal liberation. After experiencing burnout herself, she stepped away from direct activism and is currently teaching yoga and mindfulness with an emphasis on equity and inclusion.

Are you watching the stock market right now? The drop at market opening triggered a "circuit breaker" on the trading floor - an enforced break to interrupt the panic selling.

Similarly, supermarkets are having to put a limit on how much toilet paper people buy in one go, because - well, panic.

Giving someone your undivided attention can be the greatest gift of kindness - one that can shift all sorts of things.

In today's episode I talk about something that we can all learn from Mr. Rogers.

If you could live a happier, more hopeful, more effective life simply by changing one or two behaviors, why wouldn't you?

In this episode I share some observations and explore this question, join me...

When I was deciding to leave my corporate job and be an entrepreneur, I was torn - I wanted to have a more direct impact on people's lives, but I was concerned my aggregate impact on the world would be less - after all, a multinational corporation can change millions of lives; I could donate more with a big salary and company matching... so I had to learn to look at impact differently. Many people discount the impact they're having - but what if you're changing the world by doing exactly what you're doing, where you are right now?

Anger is a common - and VALID - emotion that we encounter as activists. What we do with it can energize us and make us more effective, or it can burn us out and leave us bitter. Here's one way to process your rage!