Mike Benedetti's blog

Photo: zenera (Flickr) At Step It Up I was pleased to meet Christina Triplett of the Worcester Vegan Society. She told me one of the WVS’s projects is making Worcester a foie gras-free city. Chicago went so far as to ban foie gras sales, with mixed results. According to the WVS’s materials, only 2 restaurants in Worcester serve the stuff: Block 5 (which uses it to garnish steak) and Bocado (which serves it on a sandwich). What’s more, they have the same chef! So making Worcester foie gras-free would be no more complicated than one man tweaking his menus. Wolfgang Puck recently removed foie gras from his offerings, and in a statement said:

Our guests are interested in the same environmental issues that have long concerned us—sustainable farming and fishing, humane treatment of farm animals and reducing the amount of hormones, antibiotics, preservatives and pesticides in the food we eat.

YouTube video of Wolfgang Puck

This year's Princeton Review entry on WPI claims that WPI is politically apathetic, that they scored lowest on the question "How popular are political/activist groups?" (The link requires registration, but they don't confirm your e-mail, so you can fake it.) The five most apathetic colleges, according to this question, are:

1. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
2. Quinnipiac University
3. Bradley University
4. University of Delaware
5. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey--New Brunswick/Piscataway Campus

They are pleasantly candid about their methodology:

One last note: Our survey is qualitative and anecdotal rather than quantitative.

(NB: I am not a WPI alum or otherwise affiliated, though I do live in the neighborhood. When I was in college, I remember reading the Princeton Review essay on our school—and snickering.) For more on collegiate activism in Worcester, see Cous-cous.

Worcester's US Rep, Jim McGovern, is sponsoring two notable bills at the moment.

• H.R.1707, "To suspend the authority for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (the successor institution to the United States Army School of the Americas) in the Department of Defense, and for other purposes."
• H.R.1755, "To limit the use, sale, and transfer of cluster munitions."

So Drew Wilson was on WCCA TV13 talking about the WPI "no battery eggs" campaign, and since it was posted to the web it was picked up by noted vegan activist Erik Marcus, who praised it to the heavens on his podcast Erik's Diner:

This thing's really worth watching, because this is a young college activist who, I would imagine, has very little experience being on TV, but he was magnificent! You gotta watch this guy!

Download the podcast (mp3)

• It's not clear if anything can be done to keep Wal-Mart out of Worcester. The time for that kind of action may be past.
• On the other hand, it's not like they'll be opening next month. People are following up on leads, connecting with allies, and looking for money so someone can be hired to do a real economic assessment of Wal-Mart's possible impact.
• I'm looking into the details of the "big box ordinances" that many cities have passed to keep these sorts of retailers out. An ordinance like this wouldn't affect the Quinsig Village Wal-Mart, but it would guide the city towards real economic growth in the future.

My biggest challenge so far has been communicating with people about my concerns. If I talk to someone about global warming, they may not agree with me, and they may not know much about it, but they're aware it's an issue. When I bring up Wal-Mart, and saying that it could have a negative economic impact, they have no idea what I'm talking about. So in the very short term I'm interested in developing an "elevator pitch" on this issue, and in educating my friends.

Saturday's anti-war march was spectacular; and obviously, things can't stop here. What's next? I hereby solicit suggestions. I'm hesitant to offer my own, because I think there's lots of anti-war work to be done, and the work you choose depends on your politics and your resources. If you're looking for something to do, you should stop by one of the weekly peace demonstrations, where you can talk with people who are active locally and who can help you brainstorm ideas. The weekly vigils are Tuesdays at 3:30pm in Lincoln Square, and Wednesdays at 7pm on the corner of Park Avenue and Highland Street.

Check out Indymedia reports of yesterday's downtown anti-war march and rally, which included as many as 250 people.

What with nice mentions in the Telegram & Gazette and Worcester Magazine, Saturday's march and rally to end the war might draw a real crowd. Marchers are converging on City Hall from Lincoln Square, WPI, and Clark University. I hope that an event like this persuades some fence-sitters to come out against the war, and helps other war opponents realize they are not alone. If you feel like you should be doing more on this issue, the rally will also be a fine opportunity to meet some of the people doing serious peace work in Worcester. Maybe you can chat with them and discover a course of action that fits with your skills and schedule.

The new go-to site for info on the Worcester Wal-Mart is WorcesterFirst.org.

One week in February, Jenna Calabrese of Vegan Outreach was in town. I got to spend some time helping her distribute "Even If You Like Meat" pamphlets at WPI on Feb 22. She reports 550 were handed out--pretty cool. Me, a student, and a pamphlet. Photo by Jenna Calabrese. There's currently a campaign to encourage Morningstar Farms to stop using eggs in their products. Their stuff is already vegetarian, and a lot of it is vegan, so this isn't much of a stretch. Today I wrote them a postcard. Sometimes I think the local veg community is a bit fragmented, at least the parts I'm in contact with.