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Corey Wrenn, Roanoke Vegan Examiner 21, 2011 - Like this? Subscribe to get instant updates. Add a comment

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In celebration of World Vegan Month, I will be hosting a collection of interviews with vegan abolitionists from across the globe. I'm excited to have this opportunity to showcase vegan activists and give a face to our beautiful movement. Offer of the day Be sure to check back for regular installments throughout the month of November. Hour-Long On- Location Photo Today's featured vegan abolitionist is Interview with Angel Shoot With Image Angel Flinn and Poof Flinn of Gentle World who lives in Hawaii. Credits: Angel Flinn CD Angel, please tell us about yourself. How did you You've been strutting become vegan? What type of activism do you participate down the street posing in? for...

More info $99.00 51% off Iʼm the Outreach Director for Gentle World, which is a 30- year vegan educational organization and 40-year intentional community. Through our classes, seminars, books, visitor program and online outreach (which includes a regularly Food Buzz updated blog and monthly newsletter), Gentle Worldʼs unique See why Thanksgiving dinner will Video: Gentle World approach has inspired many people over the years to cost you more this year. embrace the vegan ethic of . AFBF survey results Related Topics Advertisement More in Food & Drink World Vegan Day Holiday recipes vegan Discover kabocha squash abolition beyond the SoCal with a Hawaiian twist

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http://www.examiner.com/vegan-in-roanoke/interview-with-angel-flinn-of-gentle-world[11/22/11 6:19:49 AM] Interview with Angel Flinn of Gentle World - Roanoke vegan | Examiner.com

I became vegan when I joined forces with the community Put some like buttons on your website to engage eleven years ago. At that time, I was stuck in the paralyzing your users. Details can be found here. Location: Hawaii, US hypocrisy of a ʻpartial vegan lifestyleʼ, in which (due to my awareness of the cruelty involved) I refused to consume most animal products, but was willing to ʻcheatʼ on occasion, and turna blind eye to wearing them on my body. Once the significance of veganism really moved in on me, I became tremendously empowered by my new understanding, which continues to evolve as I become increasingly committed to

this profoundly important social movement. Facebook social plugin

Join Examiner.com on Facebook In addition to the other activities mentioned above, my own advocacy is focused around developing and promoting Gentle Corey Wrenn's Preferred Links Worldʼs website and blog, which is growing into its potential as an authoritative vegan resource, as we continue to build our archive of information and promote it to a wider audience. The Abolitionist Approach My own articles are also published on a different website, Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan called Care2, where they reach a large number of (mostly World nonvegan) people. On Human-Nonhuman Relations

What do you think should be the focus of the non-human NZ Vegan Podcast ? Vegan Essentials

Since widespread veganism is the only way to put an end to Pangea Vegan Products animal exploitation, itʼs so obvious that our focus should be National Vegan Examiner on vegan education. If we put all our resources and energy Unpopular Vegan Essays toward spreading the message that veganism is a moral imperative, and showing people how easy it is (and how to do it), we would be able to create a truly significant movement for social change.

What are some of the biggest obstacles to reaching our goals?

Obviously, the animal industry represents a huge amount of money to certain people, and Iʼm sure that these individuals have no qualms about spending their resources trying to infiltrate our movement and direct it off-course. The popularity of the recent trend toward embracing an model suggests to me that this is exactly what has happened. For that reason, Iʼm inclined to believe that our biggest obstacles are not only the big money behind animal exploitation, but also the big money behind the animal welfare business. Although itʼs true that organizations require funding to survive and carry out their activities, advocates need to realize that we will never achieve our goals by selling out our core values in exchange for donations and other funding. Certain large organizations that make a business (and a joke) out of animal advocacy, and those who compromise on the message in favor of ʻreaching a wider audienceʼ make it much more difficult for us to convince the public that we have a serious message of crucial importance.

How is your activism impacted by where you live?

Gentle World has locations in two parts of the world: Hawaii and New Zealand. Unlike big population centers, our opportunities for outreach in public venues are limited, so we try to create them ourselves, by hosting food sampling events where we talk to people about the importance of being vegan. We also offer free cooking classes and consultations to anyone interested in making the transition, and free meals as

http://www.examiner.com/vegan-in-roanoke/interview-with-angel-flinn-of-gentle-world[11/22/11 6:19:49 AM] Interview with Angel Flinn of Gentle World - Roanoke vegan | Examiner.com

well. Once a year, thereʼs a big local fair here in Hawaii where we raise funds by selling vegan food to hundreds of people. (Incredibly delicious vegan food has always been an essential part of Gentle Worldʼs advocacy efforts!)

What are your thoughts on the power of vegan education?

We recently published an article about the life and philosophy of , the founder of the first Vegan Society. What continues to strike me about this manʼs legacy is how simple this truth was as he perceived it back in 1944. Before factory farming, before the environmental catastrophes of industrialized animal exploitation, before intensive confinement and routine mutilations, and before anyone knew that veganism was healthy or even nutritionally adequate, Watson came to a very simple epiphany: that hurting and killing animals is wrong, whether for meat or for milk, for fur or for leather. Ironically, the farm he was observing was probably a perfect model of the ʻhappy farmʼthat is being promoted today as the answer to the evils of factory farming. The same is true of the realities experienced by Gentle Worldʼs co-founders, when they became vegan back in 1970, over forty years ago. It wasnʼt the mechanized brutality of factory farming that they were horrified by, but merely the profound wrong that is inherent in inflicting violence on innocent beings.

I understand that advocates are frustrated and, in many cases, probably afraid to even hope that the vegan world we long for might ever come to be, but the answer is not to promote a message of half-way measures simply so the public can stomach it. Those of us who know the truth about animal exploitation and have been fortunate enough to have the realization that veganism is the only answer have a duty to share that truth with others, regardless of how many times we are rebuffed and feel belittled or isolated as a result. No matter how many people close their eyes and ears, every now and then someone will understand, and to that person, your message will be absolutely life-changing.

Since we are also an intentional community, our visitor program makes it possible for us to reach out to a lot of people who come to stay with us due to their interest in veganism or communal living. Spending a week in an immersive vegan environment can have a remarkable effect, even for those who contact us initially simply out of their desire to experience life in an intentional community or the beauty of our two locations.

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http://www.examiner.com/vegan-in-roanoke/interview-with-angel-flinn-of-gentle-world[11/22/11 6:19:49 AM] Interview with Angel Flinn of Gentle World - Roanoke vegan | Examiner.com

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By Corey Wrenn Get my newsletter Roanoke Vegan Examiner Get my RSS feed Corey Wrenn is a doctoral candidate in sociology currently Become an Examiner researching the vegan movement. She is an abolitionist vegan Read full bio and is adviser to a...

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