I Am So Proud of You: working with rescued animals in British Columbia PT. 1

This trip and these journal entries are dedicated to all the non-humyn animals who have managed to escape and survive slaughterhouses, dairy farms, vivisection labs, rodeos and circuses. Every rescued animal that I've met in the past few years has such an amazing story to tell about the life that they had led up to that point, and I am so fucking amazed by their strength and bravery. I've chosen to help out a friend in Canada on her farm for the month of August to give her a hand with all of her "kids", as she affectionately calls them. These animals, and every animal deserves a chance at a good life; one that's free of unnecessary suffering, pain and anguish. One that's far from the reach of humyn greed and capitalism. Animals in sanctuaries manage to forgive humyns after all that our species has done to them, and that's something I'm not sure I could do. I am so proud of them for what they've made it through, and I am so proud of the humyns that dedicate their lives to helping and providing for them. Support animal sanctuaries!

7/26

it was a full moon the night before I left Portland. Some friends and I had a fire going in their front yard, and every time I leave here it gets more and more difficult. I gave going back to a relatively stable life a fair go, but either I did it wrong or I was rejected.. either way I felt like I needed to leave. So, with a broken heart and trying to fight feelings of resentment, I left with Justin and Shawna on their way up to Canada. I made some plans to spend time with a friend on her farm on Vancouver Island, helping her take care of the animals she's rescued and spending the month in BC taking some time off for myself.

Our first day was spent driving up the Olympic Peninsula, stopping to check out 4 of the worlds largest trees; one of them being the worlds largest Western Red Cedar and also the worlds largest Sitka Spruce. As well as the Kalaloch Cedar, one of the most evil trees that I have ever seen in my life. Trees are amazing (if you didn't already know).

After our tree stops we spent some time on the coast, and while I was peeing amongst some driftwood I heard Justin yelling and I saw the most unbelievable thing: A bald eagle carrying a dead Cormorant in it's talons flying about 5 feet off of the sand down the beach. We all started yelling and Shawna managed to snap off a couple photos. We ran down the beach to get a closer look (but not too close) and while we were watching the eagle devour this bird we saw a fisherman run up, throw a rock and chase him off. It was fucked up. Shawna confronted him but there was a language barrier so after some awkward moments he just packed up and left. We kept our distance from the bird and watched as the eagle came back to finish after a bit, while having to fight off other scavenger birds that were trying to get at his prey.

That night we drove up to a campground called Heart O' the Hills, which we kept jokingly asking if it was anywhere near "Land O' Lakes". haha, so dumb. Anyways, we didn't have exact change for the campground, and we decided to just not pay unless the ranger came by and harassed us (yes, asking us to pay for things is harassment). It started to get dark, and still no sign of the ranger, so I went into the wood shed next to our campsite and grabbed a stack of wood for the fire. FYI everyone, the honor system about paying for things is not very appealing when it benefits the bullshit forest service that sells off millions of trees every year to logging companies that don't give a fuck about the environment and the devastation they leave in their wake. but yeah, we were also just psyched to save $17.

7/27


Went for a 4 hour hike at an amazing place called Hurricane Ridge on the Olympic Peninsula. Had a beautiful view of Mt. Olympus and the Olympic Range all day, and were there early enough to avoid having to deal with all the asshole tourists and their loud, inane conversations. Watched some people trample the protected meadows for a photo op, and witnessed morons leaving litter in their wake. Sorry, but I lose more and more hope in the humyn race every time I encounter people on a hiking trail. Saw a baby bear and it's mama crossing the road on the way up as well, and were able to snap a couple of shots of them before they disappeared into the woods. That totally made our day.
Afterward we drove to the ferry crossing in Port Angeles, and a short boat ride later arrived in Victoria, BC. We were pulled over for some "extra questions" and were held there for at least 45 minutes, the entire time being completely positive they weren't going to let us in. They finally came over and gave us permission to enter after we were found out as being dishonest about our arrest records. I was amazed that we got through. Shit's crazy.

Drove a couple hours to our friend Chuck's farm, though she was at work by the time we got there. I gave her permission to wake me up at 2 am to go to the river to swim, but exhausted from the day of hiking I just read to her out of a horrifying book I recently picked up called "Communion" by Whitley Strieber that's about his alien abduction experience. Leaving us both feeling terrified we headed off to bed and somehow managed to drag ourselves up the next morning for our next day of activities.

7/28


Went to a beautiful private river spot where a friend of Chuck's lives and had an awesome time splashing around and floating on inner tubes. I had been eyeing a cliff that had a drop off into the river when we got there, and Chuck's friend assured me that she had jumped off before and the water was deep enough to be (relatively) safe. We walked up the side of the cliff together, and looking down I asked how high it was. She said she'd tell me after I did it. So I did it and fell for what seemed like forever, the whole time the roar of the wind going past my ears and my vision blurring. I landed as straight as I could, arms at my side, and rectum clenched (that's how you do it, not even kidding. sorry for the vulgarity). After I surfaced I looked up and she shouted down that it was 50 ft. My feet freakin hurt so bad.

Spent the rest of the day goofing off, making food from the garden, and taking care of the animals that live on Chuck's farm. All of them have such funny personalities, and I will give a brief description of all the ones I have met so far:

Natalie Portman is a turkey that was destined for slaughter before Chuck got to him. He's super friendly, and apparently likes when I play my guitar because he gobbles loudly after each song.

Stanley is an ex-racehorse that still bears a cold branded number on his neck just like the numbers the Nazi's tattooed on the Jews. He's 7 years old and loves to be scratched.

Romeo and Timber are the 2 older horses here, and they both got into some hay in the barn that they weren't supposed to eat and soon after I witnessed chuck chasing them away with a broom. So freakin funny.

Mikey, Reggie, Dougie and the 2 twin cats I can't remember the name of are a mix of semi-feral/domesticated cats that live here at the house. Dougie does a really funny bag trick
(that you can see here), and Reggie and Mikey are the kind of cats that don't want you to do anything except keep them on your lap all day.

There are also a bunch of other bunnies and chickens that live here that are too many to name.

Slept on the deck that night and watched the bats fly over my head for who knows how long. Got only a fraction of sleep last night, and woke up at one point to Justin saying to me through the screendoor: "So you're sleeping out there, huh? ...cool." Then stood there for about 3 seconds just staring at me. CREEPER.

7/29

Packed up our gear and drove out to Tofino to possibly go whale watching and camp out. Unfortunately all the boat trips were done for the day, so we drove a good deal back south and found a secluded, free camping spot alongside a lake. We blocked off the trail that led to our site with Chuck's truck, set up our tent, built a fire and just kicked it. I read some more chapters out of Communion for everyone and we all got super freaked out that night and were accidentally scaring each other over and over again in our tent. Talking about my Skinwalker experience didn't help matters either.

Oh, and we saw 2 bears 2 seperate times on the drive, one of them eating berries right next to the road. it was effing awesome!

7/30

After breakfast at the lake, we drove back down to the farm and got all our gear put away. We were greeted by Natalie gobbling at us near the driveway, and hung out with the cats. Tonight we're making some food and I'm going to try and focus on some projects I've been putting off.


I'm trying to set up some shows while I'm up here, but I'd be satisfied in just helping Chuck out at the farm and hanging around for the month. This place is beautiful, the animals are amazing and Chuck so far has been the sweetest and most accommodating host. Maybe I won't come home?*

Love Always,
Mike XVX

*Kidding, I have to come back for court. You can read more about that here: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2010/06/400664.shtml

UPDATES!

So, I've been done with official tours now for over 2 months and it's nice to have some time off. I spent a week on the east coast for a show, and had one other in Southern California but other than that I've been taking it easy with music stuff. Though, I do have some updates for you all:

*Working on a zine about the European tour. It will mostly just be the entries from the blog, but also a little bit more explanation about certain entries because I realize now some of it can be confusing and hard to understand if you weren't present.

*Only have a few shows scheduled for this summer, but in the Fall planning to do another West (Best) Coast/partial Canada tour (though this includes Montana, Utah etc.) so get excited for that!

*Also been working on a zine for NFW! about contributions to the animal rights movement. Interviews, articles and some other stuff. Check out the blog! www.nofuckingwhey.blogspot.com

*Attempting to write some new music, I have a couple new songs that I think very few people have heard so far. I'm pretty psyched on them though, I hope you all will be too.

*Made a ton of new designs and printed a whole mess of stickers. Possibly making shirts again soon but I still have a few leftover from this last tour that I want to get rid of first. Come to a show if you want them! or if you live too far email me your address and we can work it out:
mikexvx [at] gmail.com

Other than that my life has been immersed in AR activities and events, bike rides, river swimming, forest walking, friend hugging, sunshine loving and vegan junk food eating (not such a good idea).

Anyway, Go out and enjoy your summer already!

For Love and Liberation,
Mike XVX

Stand Up, Fight Back (Euro tour with xTrue Naturex): Wrap-up

so i was going to wait until i got home to do the tour wrap-up, but since i've had so much time to myself here in Holland i feel i should write it now.

This tour was unbelievable. I'll start with that. Some incredible turnouts for our shows, both in numbers and in enthusiasm. I constantly question my contributions to the animal liberation movement, and whether what I'm doing makes a difference in peoples lives... but this trip has offered a lot of reassurance that there are some out there that appreciate my honesty and what I feel I have to share. These past 2 months have been exhausting, FREEZING, stressful, crazy, dangerous, exciting, revealing, affirming, hilarious and educational. I could fit a lot more in there, but I think that'll do for now.

Anyways, to break down my thoughts on this trip into a more palatable format I've separated them into sections.

Veganism + the struggle for animal liberation.
One thing I will never waver on is the emphasis of a strict vegan diet. For anyone exposed to the horrors of a slaughterhouse, dairy farm or vivisection lab, for anyone educated to the ecological impact that a meat eating diet has on the planet, and for anyone interested in maintaining a healthy diet and mental balance the choice is obvious. Humyns do not need to kill animals to survive, and anything less than a diet abstaining from all animal byproducts is complicity in the cycle of violence and systematic murder of other sentient beings. Change comes from within us, and if we ethically or financially support such institutions then we are no better than the ones sliding the blade across a cows throat, or tearing a baby calf away from it's mother, or ripping open a living dog to study the side effects of a household cleaning product. GO VEGAN.

I admit changing your diet isn't the ultimate answer for animal liberation, but the fight begins on a personal level of involvement. what's the point of going to an anti-rodeo demo if you're wearing leather shoes? protesting a vivisection lab if you're smoking out in front? fighting for animal liberation if you consume the disrespected and mutilated carcasses of other creatures? Dumpstered meat and dairy is still a product of rape and murder, how can you turn your back on the animals that suffered just so you can try to put a "progressive" spin on your meat-eating diet?

But to get down to the point, the AR movement in Europe is amazing. So much enthusiasm, creativity and perseverance. We've felt welcomed in every city we've traveled to, treated like we were family and got a glimpse of how strong the global movement for animal liberation is. Going home with some new ideas, and reinstating some old ones.


Travel.
I absolutely love to travel. I really do. I find it incredibly difficult to stay in one place for more than a month and even as I write this now I'm planning another adventure. I've seen some pretty awesome and inspiring sights on this trip, ones I was expecting and lot that I wasn't, and there are even more to come in the next few months. Very glad to be traveling with such positive and easy going people as well, it's rough spending 2 months in a small car on a stressful trip with only a few inches of room for yourself, but all in all I think things went really well.

I feel very fortunate for the opportunities that I have, and considering the way that I grew up I'm glad I've been able to make the best of my life with the hand that I was dealt. Though, I should say I recognize I'm a very physically capable person from one of the wealthiest countries in the world... aside from me being male-bodied and white skinned. so maybe overcoming a rough childhood and financial hurdles isn't that impressive; but I think it's important to be proud of ourselves sometimes. Regardless, it doesn't take much to get out there and see the things you want to see, and if you want to make it happen it will. If an opportunity presents itself (and they always do): take it. That's it.

Relationships within my community and self-accountability.
I've discovered that for anyone being direct and honest about things can leave that person in a vulnerable position to others who want to take advantage of that. And these past few months have been a pretty consistent reminder that not everyone is willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, or are looking out for your best interest. Don't get me wrong, I want to be part of a community where people are held accountable for their actions, by themselves and others. It's just disappointing to be part of a society where you have to be deceptive and strategic with your emotions, and when others on the sideline are just waiting for you to show a sign of 'weakness' so they can take a stab. BUT, I believe we can live in an honest, compassionate and trusting world, and I won't let the actions of a few deter me from reaching that goal. Be direct! be honest! and show some fucking compassion!


End note.
It's been going really well for me these past couple months, though my head is still a bit torrential. Trying to get past this last year, and looking forward to the future. Had to cut some people out of my life, made new friends, saw some incredible things and had even more incredible experiences. Life is worth living, and the animals and the earth are worth fighting for. I can't lose sight of what's important.

MDG has driven this whole tour, and very well I might add. His home and his work ethic are definitely a big inspiration to me. In fact as I write this he's doing a massive clean-up job in the kitchen that I need to help with once I finish this. He's opened his home to us, and everyone in his life has been so helpful and courteous. To him, and to then I am very very grateful.

Chonga has been a constant source of positivity and fun for this trip. Always laughing and down to party. Ready for adventure at any time. He's definitely a reminder that you can still run a distro and live a relatively comfortable life while spending most of it out on the road. Oh, and we both love Saves the Day more than life itself.

Keegan booked 90% of this tour and has done a ton of work keeping it together and getting us organized. While at the same time having enough energy to rock out every night, and goof off with the rest of us. Always supportive, always willing to give constructive criticism and compliments. It's been awesome to have someone along where I can agree and stand behind nearly everything he says during his set. I got his back and he's got mine.

Endless thank you's to everyone who booked a show, gave us a place to sleep, fed us, kept us warm, argued with us, gave us criticism, sang along and just generally rocked out. If it wasn't for everyones gracious hospitality this tour wouldn't have been possible, though I fail to think of anything that could be possible without the support of your friends and comrades. Hope to see you all again and keep up the fight!

For Love and Liberation,
Mike XVX

p.s. for those of you that hadn't guessed: I've intentionally changed the names of a lot of people written about in this blog, as well as omitted certain events, conversations or whatever else. For my protection and theirs. Practice good security culture!

Stand Up, Fight Back (Euro tour with xTrue Naturex): A strange turn of events.

"You know my love goes with you as your love stays with me, it's just the way it changes like the shoreline and the sea" -Leonard Cohen

So, finished up our last shows in Holland and were ready for our flight out the next morning. but, the volcano in Iceland that hasn't erupted in 200 years decides that it doesn't want any planes flying around Europe for the next week... so now I'm stuck at the squat in Emmen until Friday. Not so bad though, we went for a bike ride today to the woods and saw a few graves that were about 7,000 years old. pretty crazy, huh? (photos again on my myspace). went off some sweet jumps on our bikes out in the woods, and Chira (the dog) fell into a pond and heroic Chonga had to go and save her. so funny.

killing time till I have to go home still. planning on doing a lot of reading and finally catching up on e-mails. yep, exciting.

for love and liberation,
mike xvx

Stand Up, Fight Back (Euro tour with xTrue Naturex): Emmen, NL / Den Bosch, NL / Hengelo, NL

"It's Escapist shit of a feeble kind, a fucked up institution for fucked up minds" -Rudimentary Peni

Had a couple of well deserved days off at the squat in Emmen, NL. Luckily the sun was out and we got to lay around on the roof for most of time. Spent some time at the skatepark, went shopping, cooked food and tried our best to kill time before our next show. Here is an example...

skating on some rubbish I found out back:



Had to drag ourselves back into tour mode to finish off these last 5 shows, so we loaded up the car and headed out to Hengelo, NL. The whole town had a really bizarre smell to it, and we couldn't figure out what it was. But incidentally there was a factory that produced cat food directly behind the building we played and stayed at, so that gave us a surprising and disgusting explanation. so gross! Anyways, played for a small group of people, forgot words to my own songs, and was incredibly distracted. sorry, but 46 European shows (plus my Australia tour) are starting to take their toll. Had a nice full night of sleep, had breakfast, and read Derrick Jensen's "As the World Burns" graphic novel in it's entirety. I don't necessarily recommend it, though maybe if you have a friend that's never read a Jensen book before it would be informative; but I found it to be the same recycled ideas in all of his other novels. The next morning spent some time leafleting, went for a walk and then headed out.

Drove back north to Den Bosch, NL for our show at another pretty rad squat. It was relatively warm, sunny and the grass was green - it reminded me a lot of southern california and it made me miss home. Had some pretty good chili sin carne (which Chonga and I begin to call "Chili Sin Dios" - I think it fits better haha), and hung out in the garden. went skating for a little while, explored around the neighborhood and then played our show. A short hour drive back to Emmen that night, and we stopped off at a town called Rectum, NL - I'm not even joking, it's a real place. we have photos. Also, you'd think it would be a matter of translation but Rectum means the same in Dutch as it does in English. Damn near killed 'em.

Lounging in the sun and making pasta today. maybe going to go skate on some more trash later as well. 2 more days until I'm home, can't wait.

for love and liberation,
mike xvx

Stand Up, Fight Back (Euro tour with xTrue Naturex): Malmo, SE / Kobenhavn, DK / Fredericia, DK / Kiel, DE / Munster, DE / Bremen, DE

"sons are like birds, flying upward over the mountain." -Iron & Wine

So it's been some time since I've updated this, I apologize. I hate it because now I have to recap a bunch of days and I'm not sure if I'll remember everything. I'll try my best.

There are a lot of hipsters in Sweden. I want to start off with that. It was crazy though, right when we got out of the car literally everyone had a flat-brimmed hat, or an American Apparel hoodie (I should talk), or a shirt with big, loud stripes on it. A bit overwhelming. but, the kid who booked us the show was from san diego, and apparently was living there the same time that I was and we both volunteered at the same venue. How did we not meet? As strange as it was to be staying with an American in Sweden, it was still a fun day filled with food, knucks and a totally rad skatepark. also, the day of our arrival we got to take the ferry over from Germany which I was REALLY excited about. and I seemed to be the only one that was pumped about it after I announced at the show that we "rode a boat" that day and everyone gave me a blank stare. eh whatever.

Kobenhavn (Copenhagen) was fun as well. We played in yet another massive squat, but this one had a pretty recent and amazing story. The city evicted the tenants from the original squat that had been there for several years, so people all across the city went nuts. Eventually so much shit got fucked up that the city agreed it would be cheaper just to GIVE them a house, so they ended up with this massive building (where again we got our own band hotel)!. The whole place is already covered with graffiti, and the words of one local politician that ended up sprayed on the wall says it all: "the cops have completely lost control of this part of the city." fuck yeah.

Drove off of the island where Kobenhavn is located out to Fredericia, DK for our show at a youth center. Again, best thing about this place - they had a skatepark in their parking lot! Granted the wood was weathered, tattered, and everything seem to be falling apart and wobbling whenever you'd go over it... but still! A decent amount of people showed up, and apparently some tough guys that were in attendance wanted to jump me after the show for talking shit on Terror and Throwdown. it never happened though, and even if it did it would still be laughable. I mean, I grew up in Socal listening to and seeing those bands, maybe if anyone has the right to be angry about this sexist and homophobic tough guy hardcore 'movement' surely it must be me? Another interesting part of the night is when we found out the kid we were supposed to be staying with is a butcher. not even kidding, his job is to hack up dead animals. He told us openly at the beginning of the night, and even kind of laughed about it. Keegan had a long talk with him, because sometimes I'm not good at giving people criticism without yelling, and we all decided that we should drive down to Kiel, DE that night instead of staying with him. I gave kind of a long speech during my set about the roles people play in animal abuse, and how any job involving such is a contribution to the torture, rape and eventual murder of those beings. He seemed to understand, and in my opinion has a lot to think about and consider. We left that night on good terms though I think.

Woke up bright and early in Kiel the next morning for a demonstration against speciesism and animal abuse. A pretty good turnout - around 200 people - and the idea of the demo was a pretty good one as well. Started with a massive march from the Hauptbanhoff (central train station) and then split off inside a mall for groups to do smaller demos in front of Fur (fleisch), Leather (Leder) and other similar shops. It was my first experience with a German AR demo, and there was a car driving around with speakers on the roof blasting music, a vegan hip hop artists performed, and even Keegan and I had to play a couple songs near the end of the day. It was like all those videos I've seen on youtube but happening in real life! Pretty great actually. After the demonstration the march led us out of the mall, past the train station and literally DIRECTLY into the venue where Keegan and I were playing that night. I couldn't believe it! it was so funny to see this massive animal rights march being escorted by the police just collectively walk straight into a building to see us play! Not everyone stayed around though, which was understandable because we were all so tired. The show was the same - played songs, made some more awkward jokes, no one laughed etc. etc.

Again had to wake up super early to drive out to Munster, DE for a vegan brunch and matinee show. Sadly there was literally nothing gluten free to eat, save some chocolate pudding but I've had way too much sugar on this tour as it is. Played our show around 3 pm, and was actually nice to end while it was still daylight out. Finally watched EDGE the movie (and saw the back of my head - yeah!) which was pretty awesome. check it out! The next day we spent in a sunny park, where I read my Keith Mann book "From Dust till Dawn" for several hours, and then we headed out.

Finally finished Keith Mann's book while we were in Bremen, DE (650 pages in 3 weeks!) and I felt pretty accomplished. the book was great as well, check it out here. The show was about the same - food, music, nice kids etc. you've read it a million times and I'm sure it's getting old haha. After the show we drove back to Emmen and are currently enjoying our day off here at the bank squat. I'm sure MDG is glad to be home, in fact I know he is because he and his partner were embracing each other so tightly last night, even when he was putting in the password to the WIFI for me!

Just one more week before I'm back in the US again. Kind of wishing the tour ended here in Emmen to be honest, because coming back here kind of feels climactic. but, we have another 4 shows in Holland before we get to leave. I'll finish this strong, and then come home and do nothing for at least a week.

for love and liberation,
mike xvx

I don't have time post a new tour entry right now

BUT if you like this blog, you're going to love the new No Fucking Whey! blog that just launched! it's going to feature interviews with vegan artists, musicians and activists + essays, poetry and other writing. The first featured interview we have is with Matt Gauck aka Next Stop Adventure!

www.nofuckingwhey.blogspot.com

Follow the blog, check back regularly for updates and let us know what you think!