Volunteer for CAA's MN College Leafleting Day!

Join CAA on Monday, April 23 (the day after Earth Day),for a historic full day of leafleting at various colleges all across Minnesota! This is a great opportunity to alert young adults to the cruelties that animals endure in factory farms, so please join us either as a leafleter, on-site coordinator, or driver. This will be CAA's biggest event this season, and many participants are even taking the day off of school or work to help.

While leafleters will volunteer anywhere from an hour to several hours, on-site coordinators will pick a college to attend for the whole day, helping other volunteers at that specific college with leaflets and refreshments. In order to make MN College Leafleting Day a success, CAA also needs drivers to help transport volunteers to their college of choice. Later in the evening, CAA plans to celebrate by throwing a free pizza party (with great prizes) for anyone involved in the day!

The following is a listing of cities we are hoping to have a presence in:

• Brainerd
• Duluth
• Mankato
• Minneapolis (and surrounding area)
• Morris
• Northfield
• Rochester
• St. Cloud
• St. Paul (and surrounding area)
• Winona

If you are interested in helping with any aspect of MN College Leafleting Day or have any questions, please send an e-mail to Ivan at ivan@ExploreVeg.org. Also include names of any specific Minnesota colleges where you'd like to volunteer.

Time: Monday, April 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Rain date: April 24)
Location: Various colleges and universities across the Twin Cities and Minnesota

For more information, click here.

Featured Restaurant: Ecopolitan

By Rebecca Ford

The Ecopolitan restaurant is one of Minneapolis's best-kept secrets, offering the freshest flavors that have ever crossed your palate. The only all-vegan restaurant in the Twin Cities, it serves 100% raw, organic food. There is also a great juice bar, where you can get delicious smoothies and juices, and the largest organic, no-sulfite-added vegan wine list in town.

Recommended items include the Lasagna, which consists of vegan cashew cheese and fresh tomato-basil marinara sauce layered with spinach, portobello mushrooms, and thin slices of zucchini, and The Flaxseed Tostadas, which are flax tostada shells topped with spicy sprouted-lentil taco meat, marinated mushrooms, onions, black olives, cashew sour cream, and hot sauce and served with guacamole and salsa. Also check out Ecopolitan's Cashew Cheese Rolls and the new spicy "Not-cho" appetizer!

Sure to please appetites of all dietary persuasions, Ecopolitan is a great place to do some culinary activism or just enjoy a nice night out to dinner. Don't forget to save room for dessert!

Read more about Ecoplitan and reviews on VegGuide.Org

Article: Anger, Humor, and Advocacy

Being a vegan isn't about deprivation, sobriety, and wallowing in misery.

By Matt Ball, executive director of Vegan Outreach

Some people have asked how we can make jokes when the animals are suffering so terribly, when we're supposed to be focused on animal liberation, the moral imperative of our time. We believe that having a sense of humor is in the animals' best interest, because not only does it make our example more appealing, but it aids in avoiding burnout. In the cumulative ~50 years we've been active, Jack [Norris], Anne [Green], and I have known literally hundreds of activists who have given up -- many of whom have even gone back to eating meat! On the other hand, the most successful activists we've known almost always have a sustaining sense of humor.

As a reaction to what goes on in factory farms and slaughterhouses, very strong feelings are understandable and entirely justified. But I believe that our inability---individually and as a movement---to deal with our anger in a constructive manner is one of the greatest hindrances to the advancement of animal liberation.

Read the full essay here.