The Evolving Activist

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! 

THERE WAS A GAP IN THE RESCUE WORLD...

So Jenny Rae stepped in, and founded Rooster Haus Rescue, dedicated to giving neglected and abused farmed animals - particularly roosters - a safe future, free from harm. Roosters are the ultimate underdogs of the rescue world: even if they beat the odds of being ground up, gassed, or suffocated at birth in the hatcheries, they are misunderstood and discriminated against, exploited for their feathers, or used horribly in illegal cockfighting. 

In today's episode, we'll look at whether your burnout is being caused by a poor fit with the work (job work or activism) you're doing? Take a good look and consider some changes if necessary!

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE QUITTING.

Then I remember: those who need people fighting with and for them, for social justice, don't get to quit.

The animals don't get to quit.
People of color don't get to quit.
Indigenous people don't get to quit.
LGBTQIA people don't get to quit.
Women don't get to quit.
Kids in cages don't get to quit.
The planet doesn't get to quit (although I suspect she'll win in the end).

They need allies. People who will listen to them and learn from them. People who won't quit either, even though their privilege gives them license to be indifferent. People who will fight the systems of oppression and supremacy alongside them, even though they have benefited from those very systems.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because these are the last shreds of our humanity, barely tipping the scales from despair to hope.

And because everyone fighting for social justice needs someone in their corner.

Someone who will listen.
Who will hold space for rage, and grief, and terror, and trauma.
Who will bear witness to despair and heartbreak.
And who will shine an exploratory light as hope and healing are excavated from the rubble of dismantled systems.

Do you feel like you need someone in your corner right now? Message me to schedule a conversation to explore how I can support you.

I had a big birthday this week and took the opportunity to look back on the last decade of my life... I've loved and lost some very important people and animal companions, moved 9 times (including 3 interstate moves), left a corporation I loved, started my business (multiple times), navigated some significant health issues, and weathered a bunch of other personal earthquakes. It was a big decade!

Here's my big takeaway.

When life feels like you've bitten off more than you can chew, it's easy to lose perspective. But when you look back at all you've been through, and you realize you're still here, and you're still fighting, celebrate your bad-ass resilience!

The other night I watched an inspiring movie with a persistent question: when will we return to the roots of our spiritual practices and truly embrace compassion - for all beings?

What is your spiritual practice? What are its core tenets or teachings? What do you need to be or do, to live in alignment with them?

Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with saying, "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

Are you on a path of your own making or are you simply walking a road that's been laid in front of you, because everyone else is walking it? Studies on social proof show that people frequently do things without considering their motivation for it, simply because others like them are doing that thing - EVEN IF THAT THING MAKES NO GOOD SENSE.

So I'm inviting you to challenge some of the choices you make, that you haven't questioned. Look closely at the beliefs you hold - are they truly yours, or were they inherited from your family or culture? Do your behaviors, choices, and beliefs truly line up with your personal ethics and values?

I'm OK with following a path as long as it's aligned with my values and ethics. AND - after doing a lot of personal work to get clear on my own values and beliefs - I'm also perfectly OK with stepping off a path when it diverges from my inner compass.

As an evolving activist I love to learn from, and walk in the footsteps of, those who have gone before me. In this episode, I spend some time with my friend Rita Morgan, a long term social justice activist and vegan, who shares her thoughts and why she's optimistic for the future.

Welcome to a conversation about making positive change in the world – for those of us who are still figuring out what that journey looks like for us. 

Do you ever worry that you're not qualified to take a stand on the issues you care about because you're not some super-woke expert on every aspect of intersectional social justice?

Hey me too! But I'm still doing what I can to dismantle oppressive, exploitative and supremacists systems. 

I'm evolving on my activism path. And if you are too, I'd love you to join me in this conversation! Let's evolve and change the world together.