Great news for animals! A letter from Jasmin Singer of Our Hen House

Good morning, friends!  Today I’m sharing a letter to me – and you – from the remarkable Jasmin Singer of Our Hen House. It’s filled with wonderful news!

Hi JL (and my fellow readers of “JL Goes Vegan” – ain’t she fabulous?!),

Here I am to spill the beans (don’t worry – I fully intend to cook them with a pressure cooker!) about what’s going on over at Our Hen House! We’re devoted to covering ideas, opportunities, and inspiring stories for anyone who wants to change the world for animals. We produce podcast episodes (this weekend is our 118^th consecutive weekly episode), blog entries (we write one every day), videos (perhaps my favorite is last year’s NYC Vegan Weekend on a Budget), reviews, and live workshops at conferences, VegFests, etc. (These are a hoot, and I even made a video last year showing off some of our faves.) We have a lot of fun. And by “we” I mean me and my life partner, Mariann Sullivan – the official brains behind our organization. As you know, we think it’s clucking fantastic that you are on our advisory board. We are big, big fans of the voice and the passion that you bring to the vegan world, and to animal issues.

So here’s what’s going on.  As Our Hen House continues to grow, we are creating (drum roll please!) an online magazine. This will give us a more dynamic way to feature our current multimedia efforts, and add features articles, editorials, more audio and video, contests, giveaways, communities, you name it. As always, we will continue to have a strong bent on the arts (Look, Mom! That BFA in Acting was not for naught… Sort of!).

We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (so donations are tax-deductible) and we’ve been fortunate to have been able to raise most of the money we need through donations. In fact, we’re currently on the last $5000 leg of fundraising and we’re 70% there. So we just need to raise at least $1,514, and we can meet with the developer and begin this process. Last December, we were lucky enough to be named by VegNews the “Indie Media Powerhouse,” and the article even stated that Our Hen House is “poised to become a media force in the next year, as its loyal audience responds to the brilliant commentary, intelligent structure, and envelope-pushing creativity of its founders.” Excuse me as I cut eye-holes in the paper bag I have now placed over my head…

All jokes aside, we want to become that media force, because with 286 land animals dying to become food every second, 24/7, in the U.S. alone, there is literally no time to waste. In order to truly change the world for animals – animals who right now are living in misery of unimaginable proportions – we have got to each do our part. We want Our Hen House to be at the vanguard, helping people to find their way, providing inspiration, ideas, and community. We hope that our new platform will make that happen, and we hope that you and your readers will consider supporting us in any way possible.

There’s one other thing I wanted to share with you, something that makes me nothing short of giddy. I mentioned Mariann a moment ago. What I didn’t mention is that she is an esteemed lawyer with a specialty in animal law, and for several years now, has been teaching animal law at some of the best law schools in the country, based here in NYC where we live. Here comes the exciting part: This fall, the esteemed  Lewis & Clark Law School’s Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS), in none other than Portland, OR, is expanding its lineup to include an impressive visiting professor and – you guessed it – it’s Mariann! This summer, we’re packing up our juicer and our pit bull, driving cross-country, and making Portland our temporary home — the Pacific Northwest satellite office for Our Hen House. From July until December, we will either be on the road or in The City of Roses (appropriate, given our dog, Rose, who has always wanted to see the West Coast, and fully expected that wherever we landed would be a city all about her). The press release is chock-full of information about this amazing move (literally!), and we’ll ruminate about it on this weekend’s podcast, which will also feature an eye-opening interview with Timothy Pachirat, author of Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight

So that’s the current news from Our Hen House! As always, we are following your wise words, trying your delicious recipes, and eagerly anticipating our next hang-out session.

Sending love and gratitude from Our Hen House,

Jasmin

Wonderful, wonderful news, Jasmin! I am delighted to contribute to your new efforts (readers, you can, too, right here!) and cannot wait to see what you an Mariann will do to continue to change the world for animals. xo

Tags: our hen house

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