Sunday 7/3 WORKING ON SUNDAY?: I know that a typical intern does not work on Sundays, but I am a very determined and passionate intern and I really want to help save animals every day that I can. So, myself and four other interns went out in front of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) with a Glass Walls Panel and a box of DVDs and Vegetarian/Vegan Starter Kits. However, I have never had a worse day. People (mostly tourists from the midwest and the south) were so horrible to us. I have never been laughed at, insulted, ignored and mocked so many times in one day. The people who did take our information did it as a big joke because we later saw a bunch of the information we handed out thrown in the trash. One horrible mean person told my friend that she was no better than a Nazi because she takes orders from our boss and he kept yelling (very loudly) that we were extremists and we wouldn't let him enjoy his hot dog. At the end of six hours of trying to educate people about what happens to animals in factory farms we felt extremely defeated and torn apart. I just kept thinking to myself that I could not let these people hold me back from doing something that I feel extremely strong about.
Monday 7/4 - Happy 4th of July, Have Some Veggie Dogs: Obviously the PETA office was closed for the 4th of July, but that did not stop me from attempting to transform Americans into vegans and our outreach event was very successful in opening people's minds from across the country to vegan food. I needed a good positive day after my awful negative Sunday. We went out to Constitution Avenue (by the National Archives Gallery) with 50 hot veggie dogs between the hours of 1:30pm and 4pm. There were four of us interns (two were in patriotic bikinis, but I was not one of them). The 50 veggie dogs were gone in under 15 mins and people who were not even close to being vegetarian loved them! I mean really loved them! They could not believe the veggie dogs were vegan and of course they left with a free vegan starter kit. After the veggie dogs were gone, people kept coming up and wanting to take pictures with the girls in the patriotic bikinis and of course they too left with a vegan starter kit. The day was such a success and I felt so good and motivated after. We definitely turned a few people vegan.
Tuesday 7/5: Extreme Heat + Morning City Outreach: Back to the bump and grind and normal office hours. I continued my social media project and then went out to do some city outreach for a couple of hours. The city outreach was painful because the heat was excruciating and we had no shade and people did not want to take anything from us. However, thinking about the animals kept me going strong. My office project was interesting and daunting. I had to make phone calls to a number of EMS training centers across the country and make sure that they were not using live animals in the their training classes. I am very lucking that a couple other interns were working on the same project, otherwise it would have taken an extremely long time since there were over 1,800 centers.
Wednesday 7/6: Happy 76th Birthday, Dalai Lama: What an incredible day! The morning started off as usual, morning media meeting, social media project, etc., but then I was told that I got to go to the Dalai Lama's birthday party and do some outreach. The people at the party and in the parade were so happy to see us. We gave so many DVDs and vegan starter kits away. Many people there were already vegetarians and thanked me and the other four interns for doing what we were doing. I spoke to a female monk from India who was already vegetarian, but she was curious about going vegan. I told her about the book by Dr. Colin T. Campbell called the China Study and she was very excited to read it. I know deep down that she will become vegan and I am so excited about it!
Thursday 7/7: Welcome Back To Glass Walls On The National Mall: Today marked the end of our city outreach and our return to the National Mall right in front of the Smithsonian Natural History museum where we will be coexisting with the Folk Life Festival and therefore reaching out to a wide range of people. I worked the Glass Walls exhibit from 9:30-1:30. It was a good return people were very positive and nobody said anything nasty. A majority of the people took our stuff and it was great! My highlight was that a young guy from the UK came over and was asking me my ethical reasons for being vegan for the past five years. I answered all of his questions with very strong answers and he really started thinking. I told him about the time that I went to an animal sanctuary and bonded with a pig and how the pig gave kisses and snuggled like dogs do, how the cows recognized and remembered me like my dogs recognize and remember me. He did say that he heard that chickens do not feel fear, but I forgot to tell him about the time at the animal sanctuary where a hen came running to me and hid under my legs because a rooster was chasing her. For the rest of the afternoon I worked in the office on my Twitter project and was then assigned to a Four Square project (more social media!) Lunch was vegan pizza, vegan chocolate chip cookies, vegan brownies, vegan cinnamon buns and vegan snack cakes. I think the interns were being rewarded!
Friday 7/8: Big NEWS: Today I found out that I will be going to Mumbai, India to work for PETA in January after I graduate. I spoke to the president of PETA and the head of PETA India. I am excited beyond words!
