Reflective Journal

I am so happy to sit down with a cup of tea and read (and sometimes re-read) something I would choose to pick up on my own- for a class! In high school, I would always chose animal rights-based arguments for debates and this would give me an opportunity to read and speak about the things that truly interested me amongst my peers at school. However, taking such a course in college is especially exciting because I am reading with a slightly different context, trying to absorb the information slower, instead of quickly drinking up all of the exciting information of opinions and like-minded individuals. Again, this context is different because in the class room, I am discussing such topics with more open-minded individuals who are at least somewhat intruiged in these topics instead of simply talking at a class full of stubborn meat and potatoes lovers.

As soon as my book came, I cracked it and began reading Regan who was someone I had always heard my friends discussing, but had never read myself. I found it very different from most of the other animal rights literature I had read in the past, and found that it most closely resembled some of the abstract and lofty philosophers I've had experience with. Yet, I am glad that we started with Regan, followed by Cohen's response. Cavalieri was also someone I was somewhat unfamiliar with. I enjoyed her experpt and alway remember to place the feminist lens on philosophical writings, so the fact that a woman wrote "Are Human Rights Human?", along with the observation that everyone in our class (apart from our professor) is female gave me one more layer to look at as I read.

Alas, when I reached Singer, I was overjoyed. Reading "Practical Ethics" brought me back to one of the first times I ever read someone with a like minded view on the interactions between human and non-human animals. I had always felt pretty alone in my personal philosophies, and was one of a few vegetarians in grade school who stuck with the diet, and was sometimes ridiculed for the way I thought. Upon going vegan, after many fights with my parents and school nurse, an older friend handed me a copy of "Animal Liberation". since then I've been hooked, on-and-off, on reading about alternative ways of living that are not as harmful to the planet, other individuals, and myself. I find that it is hard to always remain a really active vegan (taking responsibility not just through my inactions, but also through informing other people about what they can do to help the rest of the world and themselves out) without the occasional reading or discussing of said topics.

That being said, I cannot wait until we dig into more specific topics as a class.

As for my visit to the SPCA: Lately, I've been imagining a world where humans never thought to utilize or domesticate non-human animals in any way, and going to the SPCA made me realize how invisible that world is even in my mind. Sadly, we are so far from that utopia that I cannot even imagine it. Frankly, I found my trip to the PSPCA to be quite a downer, however it made me really excited to help out in all of the ways that I am able to, and inspired me to think of other ways I can help out individually as well. Gotta stay active!

PS I'd love to discuss any of these topics with you guys out of class as well- I feel like we all have so much to say and not really enough time to say it most classes, especially now that we are dissecting some pretty heavy pieces. Let me know if you're down!