Digging Up the Past - An Introduction

I used to pride myself as a long-time vegetarian. Ten years total and of those, five years vegan. My early twenties were spent transitioning to veganism and finding anything and everything I could do to get more involved in animal rights and rescue. Protests, envelope stuffing, handing out fliers, undercover abuse investigation, bringing vegan goodies to potlucks, going to meetings, you name it. If there was something going on to help animals, I was there. My work and dedication was subsequently acknowledged when I was asked to become a part of the board of directors for the Northwest Animal Rights Network (NARN) in Seattle.

I was happy to help in the big city, but I felt like Seattle was already heavily saturated with plenty of activists so I used my resources to start a chapter of NARN in the south end of Seattle including south King County and north Pierce County. An area where I grew up and feel strongly connected to. At the time, I had a good-paying corporate job and used the money to get my own 2-bedroom apartment in the city of Kent. I made the master bedroom into an office and declared my place the headquarters for NARN south end chapter.

My role as the south end coordinator allowed me to expand the movement through bringing people together in a community to create plans for protests and carry out projects under the umbrella of animal rights. I found absolute joy in trailblazing the way for an awareness of compassion in a new frontier. Bringing questions to peoples' minds that might be trying to run from them by living on the outskirts of the city was something that got me up in the morning. I was a fearless leader... Fearless until the wee hours of the morning on October 17, 2002.