Elephant Journal Reads of the Week: Race, Dancing and Vegetarianism

This week’s top reads from our friends at Elephant Journal. 

Elephant Journal loves serving up green with a side of sass as much as we do. To make sure you get a taste of all the good things they’ve got going over there, we’re going to be bringing you a weekly round-up of their top picks. Grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy.

Dancing Without Fear – Tania Kazi

And like everything you have ever wanted for your entire life, when something you have been awaiting for finally makes an appearance in your life, for a moment you are totally stumped by its enormity, its very presence, and that is what I experienced.

There Are Many Reasons to Be Vegetarian: Which Ones Will Stick? – Jerome Burdi

Ignorance is (fake) bliss and no one wants to ruin their lunch. If they knew the sorrow that went into the animal or animal products they are innocently eating, they may have a change of heart. But an awakening must occur. And it has to come from the individual. Shock tactics don’t always work. People turn their head or change the channel.

Are All Women Mentally Ill? – Rachel Brathen

I’m a raging lunatic. But not all the time. Just sometimes. Once a month, to be more specific. I read in a book once that “a woman’s menstruation is a great time for contemplation, and can be a gateway to enlightenment.” I’m on my period now, and honestly, enlightenment has never been further away. Yes, I just said period. Period, period, period. Does reading this upset you?

Black Boy in a White Land: Urban Safari and the Elephant in the Room – Jackie Summers

Ultimately we shared the same source of ignorance: our parents. To me, my blackness was incidental; it didn’t grant or deny me any special privilege. I was as unaware of my own pigmentation as I was of everyone else’s.

To others, the color of my skin was fundamental; a factor that could determine with a precursory glance my social status, intelligence, and whether or not I was a potential source of danger.

Image: Elephant Journal

Anna Brones

Anna Brones is a food + travel writer with a love for coffee and bikes. She is the author of The Culinary Cyclist and Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break. Catch her weekly column, Foodie Underground.