I'm glad you're still on the board. Hope everything's been good.

Trauma! Welcome back! I've been wondering how you've been doing, since you seemed to drop off the face of the earth. I'm still here, as you can see. I have survived my first year at MB! :D I hope all's well.

Hi, Jake/Trauma,

Thanks for your reply! I don't meet many vegans here in Iowa, and particularly at Iowa State University, home of Animal Agriculture (pigs out-number people in this state)...and so it is always nice to meet someone who is not just understanding of vegan philosophy, but also *is* actively trying to reduce harm to sentient beings!

After this public message I'll put them in your private message box...but I will say this here for the public record: before e-mailing you I read several of your posts, such as your haiku in which you created a metaphor to describe a literary figure's suicide. The response you received from the Forum, I felt, did not appear to show much appreciation for haiku as an artform, which I felt was disappointing, because haiku in my opinion can be among the best and most touching of structured poems. Their brevity requires creativity during both the writing and the reading.

Well hi there!
Thanks for messaging me.
There aren't a whole lot of people (in my opinion) on this site that support those ideals we seem to share, so it's nice to meet someone who does.
By the way, thanks for visiting my website.
I liked your joke and understand what you mean, I've been vegan for about a year now and it's a very misunderstood moral decision.
Don't worry, I don't think you'll eat me!
I'll probably talk to you if you stick around so don't be a stranger.

Hi, Jake/Trauma,
I visited your webpage as well as your link to the feminist blog you listed, and saw that you like animals and appear to support equal rights for people (regardless of gender)...two issues that resonate with me. I thought I would introduce myself to you in case you'd like to share "Music Banter friendship."

I, too, like animals, and...I am also on the skinny side! Now, it is true I am vegan, which I think causes needless fear in many people (but hopefully not you). Reasons not to fear my veganism...
(1) I always try to treat humans kindly and respectfully (we are animals, too, after all), and,
(2) I won't ever try to kill and eat you :-).
I personally find (2) to be a rather reassuring feature of vegans I know, and thought you might, too. Of course, this is a joke, because most people, whether vegan or not, won't kill and eat other humans under any circumstances.