Paper Fruit

I gave some big ups to Josh at Herbivore the other day, regarding how awesome he and his wife Michelle are and all the positive things they do for veganism and for animals. I am always struck by their commitment to the movement, it is very humbling and inspiring at the same time. But today I want to maybe darken up that sunshine with a cloud for a little while in order to make it seem all the brighter once that cloud has, uh, evaporated, or whatever happens to clouds when they go away.

A few years ago Josh was pretty viciously screwed out of thousands of dollars and many, many hours of work by a money-hungry cookbook author who I will not name here.* This person found another publisher (but far worse designer, given the cover of her book– ah, schadenfreude) and so good for her! She lost nothing and gained everything at the expense of people who work every day to make the world a better place. Fantastic!

But here’s the thing– because of her very selfish actions and profound misunderstanding of the way the publishing industry works, Josh had to eat all of the costs of the layouts and the cost of pulling out of the printing contract at the last minute, and additionally he had to foot the bill for all the promotional costs (he had printed up really cute flyers and had been giving them out at vegan/vegetarian festivals around the country before all this). Because Josh is ethical and does the right thing he also promptly refunded all the pre-orders for the book, and that’s kind of a big thing for a small business owner. So that’s why I’m encouraging everyone to buy something from Joshivore on September 16th, the date of the “official” release of this other cookbook.

What’s done is done. I just think it would be great for people who care about independent publishers, small business ethics, and punk rock trust to support Herbivore Clothing Company. I will most likely be buying a t-shirt because I am frivolous and there is a new one with a little girl and butterflies on it. YES!

If you know a vegan or vegetarian do your holiday shopping early! Buy a birthday present! It will be awesome.

*If you care about not purchasing a cookbook written by an unethical, un-nice person who doesn’t deserve your dollars then message me and I will tell you the title so she doesn’t get anything else free, not publicity or advertising or anything.

Penelope has been sick. I guess she’s been sick for a while and I didn’t realize. She’s lost two pounds in about a month and isn’t eating well. Her liver enzymes are elevated and the vet doesn’t know why so Tuesday we are going to get her an ultrasound to see if we can determine what is up on her insides.

Today was better. She ate nearly a whole can of tuna and drank a lot of the tuna-water after a few days of only nibbling at her proper cat food, so good for her! Her eyes are brighter.

We are taking it one day at a time. I love her very much and so I am worried, but hopefully things will get better for her. I think the tunafish stimulated her appetite– she used to love drinking the tuna water when I used to eat fish, and she went the hungry cat equivalent of blood simple when she smelled it.

Poor Pod. She’s so grand.

I have apparently lost my beloved, much written-in copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It was only a paperback, with the cheesiest cover (pre-Raphaelites FTW), but it had three semesters worth of notes that I used to teach with at FSU, as well as personal commentary on some of my favorite sections. I used that copy to research for my previous project as well as my current one, and I am pretty unhappy. I have another translation for quick reference, but I don’t like it as much. Humphries is such a vivid, gentle translator. He gives back Ovid’s humor without sounding brash or cheeky or overly modern, and is poet enough to capture Ovid’s pathos without sounding maudlin or overly melodramatic. Here’s hoping it turns up.

Read Humphries here, as I am doing (until the old copy shows up or I break down and buy a new one).