A week in the life of a gay vegan

My wonderful husband was not too happy (this is an understatement) when I came home Thursday night with another foster dog. As you know, we share our lives with five dogs plus have Ashton the foster. Wonderful Simon is now number seven. Mike had understood that I was NOT bringing home another foster. I misunderstood. Honestly. Regardless, he was not happy. Then Simon, not neutered, lifted his leg in the TV room and Mike was done.

Fast forward to today, Sunday, and Simon is very much settled in, Mike is not mad, and I am working hard to get both Ashton and Simon adopted. Plus one of my best friends is getting married today so we get to go up into the mountains for a fall road trip.

Communication in a marriage, or any relationship, is vital. I am normally pretty good at it. And I admit, I just wanted to save another dog. I know I can't save them all. And I have to take care of my family first.

Last post I wrote about cutting up credit cards. I got a ton of feedback from that post. Mike and I took our cards and froze them. We are two of millions who make a monthly payment on our credit card debt. Occupy Wall Street has helped us in realizing that we are part of the problem. No more credit card charges for us. We are making a huge effort to pay off the debt so we can stop supporting these gigantic banking systems that seem to not give a crap about us.

We continue to follow the news of Occupy folks all over the world. In Denver it has become a sad yelling match between a few protesters (of thousands) and battle-ready police in full riot dress. There is NO press coverage about why people are in the streets, only about a few folks yelling at an overdressed police force. Meanwhile so many are looking for a job, so many are not able to eat without some kind of support, and so many us of us are supporting businesses and banks that seem to only care about our money (and of course what tough times mean to animal shelters as well as the millions of animals tortured to support mega-companies that profit off of killing animals).

Oh, and elections (local) are coming up! I'll save that for the next post!

Thanks for reading about my week!

Are you doing to anything to support the Occupy movement? I would love to hear everyone's thoughts!

Thinking of Occupy Wall Street - Goodbye credit card

My intention was in the right place: go to the Occupy Denver march. Then it got cold. And then it rained. And rained. As I got my raincoat on and went outside to see how it felt, I realized that I did not want to go march in the cold and the rain.

The march was successful. I even saw coverage on TV. On "Sunday Morning", a news program we watch, they had a great spot about Occupy Wall Street.

Occupy Denver has a website which lets folks know what they need. I'll drop supplies off this week. I'll keep posting their hash tag on Twitter and promoting the idea that 99% of our population still have a voice. That's how I can help.

NOTE: I'm not impressed with those discounting the protests due to "lack of message". I think people get the message.

I believe that all of those protesting can go many more steps further. One of those steps would be to stop using their credit card.

WHAT!

I said it. This 45 year old gay vegan who loves to shop, loves his Mac, loves his cup of coffee and is part of the spending machine is actually suggesting that we cut up our credit cards. NOTE: If you don't have one, good for you. You can advance to another step in support of the protest.

What would it look like for the powers that be, those credit card carriers execs, although giving people money they don't have, make a fortune off of us. Me, I get it, I use a credit card to buy something I don't need. It's been a long time since I used though, and I keep thinking about what it might look like if 1,000 folks stopped using credit cards? 10,000?

A credit card burning protest? Maybe not. Yet in the quiet of one's home, with their family or a significant other, we can make a decision that will send a clear message: I'm done with you. Our relationship no longer works. The fees, the ever-changing interest rate, and your politics, no longer work for me. I want to break up.

We can start a savings account at our local credit union or local bank. I got that idea from a sign at the NYC protest. We can then use that account "for emergencies". Not a credit card that continually pays into a system that we most likely want nothing to do with.

Would anyone listen if we started to do this? Are people in a position that they can stop using their card to purchase groceries? Am I speaking from privilege when I suggest this?

I would LOVE every one's thoughts! What can we do in our daily lives to support Occupy Wall Street?

Thanks for reading.