The things I learned this week in grad school:
-Nonslip flooring is ESSENTIAL!
-Animals think visually
-Everyone should think about the woman who works at Wal-Mart whenever getting gas. And I mean every. time.
Ok, now in all seriousness. This week was the first week of grad school classes and to put it simply, the things I learned were baby stats and Temple Grandin. That's because the only course that was actually normal was Quantitative Methods and my classmates and I spent six hours straight with Temple Grandin on Thursday. If you don't know who Temple Grandin is, shame on you! No, not really. She's just one of the most influential people in the field of Animal Welfare, specifically on the agriculture side. So influential in fact that she was listed in the 2010 edition of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people. She has been working for 40 years to improve the welfare and treatment of farm animals. Her biggest contributions are the livestock handling facilities that she designed and the objective scoring system she developed for meat packing plant auditors. Her facilities are used all around the world, including the US, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand. She is also a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. What sets her apart from other well-known advocates, and what she attributes her success to, is the fact that she is autistic. She believes that she is better able to understand the way animals think and act because autism makes her think and act in a similar way. 
Honesty, I must admit that I'm not the biggest fan of Temple Grandin. I respect her work, I applaud her efforts, but I have never been enamored by her success or placed her on the list of personal heroes who I would love to meet, talk to, and/or work with. In part I find her abrasive, even in her books, which might be due in part to her autism. Another reason is that I disagree with her on some fundamental beliefs. For example (not surprisingly), we disagree strongly on dietary practices. In the lectures and small group discussions on Thursday, she had nothing good to say about vegan diets and even placed vegetarian diets below meat-eating ones. Also, she believes the practice of consuming local foods rather than purchasing food from the large commercialized system is only possible for the upper classes. I definitely got the feeling that her support for urban farming and a return to local was very, very weak. A local, diverse, balanced vegetarian diet is what I would say I'm most passionate about and to have her belittle that was disappointing. Instead of arguing with her and trying to make her see my point, I sat back and swallowed my pride. Why? First of all, she's been working in her field for 40 years, simply put: there's not a great chance of her changing her ways now. But, more importantly: the work she does is not work I would be able to do but it has improved animal welfare. Everyone in the field contributes their own little bit to the process and for me, meeting Temple Grandin was a real-world illustration of how changing the world can best be accomplished by us accepting everyone else's role in the process and doing our part rather than bickering about what view is "right". Maybe there really is a "bickering" role but it definitely isn't mine. I like to make a difference through actions rather than words. So, how I see it is that now that Temple Grandin's filled the position of improving the welfare of animals heading to slaughter, the next generation can step in and maybe take it one, or two, or even three steps further. Thanks to Temple Grandin we have a foot in the door with the agricultural giants, not something that the extreme animal rights activists who attack all meat-eaters can say. The activists have their work to do, Temple Grandin has hers, and I have mine. 
Speaking of we all have our work to do, here's a little example of mine. As I said, most important for me is to live a local, diverse, balanced, and vegetarian lifestyle and I'm proud to report that after the Temple Grandin fest I went out and did exactly that. First up was the Grafton Public Library. I got a library card last week and immediately checked out a movie and four books. On Thursday I went back to return the movie and get two more. So, local? Check. Also, I could probably add "not wasteful" to my list, because instead of buying books and movies that I may only read/watch once and will then have to drag willy-nilly with me when I move, I am utilizing a community service that allows me to be more selective about the materials I buy, choosing from experience only the ones that I'll read/watch over and over and over again. Case in point: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I haven't even finished the book yet and I'm already hooked. The second stop of the afternoon was the local farmer's market which happens every Thursday from 2-6:30 pm on the Grafton Common, which is this wonderful circle of green in the middle of the tiny "downtown" of Grafton. So, I went there with the goal of buying a little bit of fruit and just to investigate, see what the farmer's market here was all about. Half an hour later, I had an entire bag of fruits, veggies, and a locally-made, vegan version of nutella (yum yum yum!) AND I had struck up conversations with multiple people as I perused their wares. Yes, yes, all of you can pick your jaws off the ground now. I struck up conversations. I didn't just respond in monosyllables and run for cover the first chance I got. For example, I talked to one guy about his farm, the mass amount of tomatoes everyone is harvesting, and how our dogs keep stealing our vegetables (mine eats tomatoes, his eats corn) among other things. Needless to say I'm in love (with the farmer's market, not the guy...), and I will be going back as often as possible. Just look at the yumminess I collected. Joy, I tell you, pure joy!
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