Simultaneously Sadistic and Whimsical

Horrible bag of sound.

I hold up all of my wings and I make more layers of me.

I snapple-pap my feet all up and down the town for terrible reasons

You are all the way stood up, all the way confused, all the way overalls and no ideas.

I make a fight between yourself and your memory.

I have all I need in my wicked goose-body, and also I have your radio.

My body is the softest triangle with a hose attached.

Here I am coming, with the good news of me, and you hate it.

Officer: *Emerges from the water with a grunt* You there, Sir!! I certainly hope you’ve got a fishing license!

Guy: *Panicking* Wha, no, I don’t!

Officer: Oh no?

Guy: *Screaming*

It’s not “vegan wool”, it’s plastic.

It’s not “vegan leather”, it’s plastic.

It’s not “vegan fur”, it’s fucking plastic. It’s all plastic.

It’s all fucking plastic, and every time you wash it, or damage it, or try to dispose of it, that plastic winds up in the water, in the earth, in the air.

Hell, the damage has already done when the fucking thing’s been made. As the OP says, it’s all oil and oil products; it creates pollution just to produce synthetic fabrics and materials, even before you try to throw them away, which, I mean, good luck with that.

A lot of vegan ideology is built up around a very superficial set of ethics that are supposedly about protecting animals, wildlife and the environment, but they fall apart when you look even a little bit below the surface. Every time you eschew an animal-based product in favour of something “synthetic” for the sake of “saving an animal’s life”, you’re creating pollution and trash that won’t go away for thousands of years, damaging the Earth and making life so much worse for countless animals and people.

Wild rice isn’t actually rice-it’s a grass seed that grows naturally in lakes in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and it’s been an indigenous staple food for many, many centuries. Although some corporations have taken and grown “wild rice” in paddies, it is not the same thing- it is actually a hybrid seed that is not the same quality and often sold for a higher price anyways.

Not only is the wild rice a sacred food, but is a form of Indigenous science that lets you know how healthy the water is (or isn’t), because water is life and affects the health of all people, plants, and animals that live with it. This has been belatedly acknowledged by very recent research from the University of Minnesota that the health of the wild rice can predict all health of lakes and streams.

I buy my wild rice from the Red Lake Nation and the White Earth Nation.

The cool thing about buying from the White Earth Nation is that they also have videos showing the traditional processes involved in harvesting and parching the rice, and they offer stuff like gift baskets, chokecherry preserves, maple candy, soup & pancake mix, and cookbooks which make great gifts!

What I like about buying from the Red Lake Nation is there is a massive variety and quantity of different wild rice products at many different prices! They are aware that the broken grains are not as quality, but it doesn’t go to waste-you can buy the broken grains for “Soup Bits” ($3.49) which are an inexpensive way to add flavor & nutrition to soups and stews. They also offer “Quick Cook” wild rice ($5.69), which is prepared from a lighter roast/parch process that allows the grains to cook in a shorter amount of time and has a rich, traditional flavor.

You can also buy syrups and jellies made from hand harvested hawthorn, chokecherry, and highbush cranberry there.

BUT! If you’re worried about shipping costs or like me, are disabled/have limited mobility and can’t always get to the store like you might prefer,Red Lake Nation also sells their rice through Amazon, eligible for Prime shipping. This is also good for those, Native or not, who are struggling in the community and share their wishlists for help purchasing food.(Also please know this post is only meant to share information, not to make anyone feel bad or imply they’re eating “inferior” food.)

Ken Nwadiogbu, drawing with pencil

If you haven’t seen this story, look up his name: Francisco Galicia. 

Galicia says he lost 26 pounds during that time in a South Texas immigrant detention center because officers didn’t provide him with enough food.

He said he wasn’t allowed to shower and his skin was dry and dirty.

He and 60 other men were crammed into an overcrowded holding area where they slept on the floor and were given only aluminum-foil blankets, he said. Some men had to sleep on the restroom area floor.

Ticks bit some of the men and some were very sick, Galicia said. But many were afraid to ask to go to the doctor because CBP officers told them their stay would start over if they did, he said.

I would remind you that concentration camps are actually real. 

“I told them we had rights and asked to make a phone call. But they told us, ‘You don’t have rights to anything’,” Francisco Galicia said.

My latest comic for The Nib was written by my friend Mike Thompson- it’s his first published comics work! 

The Nib has been a steady source of income and a huge support to me and many other indie cartoonists for years. They publish amazing work, but will be cut loose by their financial backer in July. You can read the official post about it from editor Matt Bors here.  They are still running their kickstarter-funded print magazine, but have to put digital publishing on hiatus until they figure out their next steps. If you’ve been thinking about supporting their membership program, now would be a good time. They have levels from $2 to $40 per month. I really don’t want this to be my last Nib piece!