Herbivore Magazine - Editor's Blog

Alright y’all, Chad, Pulin, and I have been busting ass getting this event together and it’s going to be a lot of fun and surely something we could all stand to be a lot better at: effectively communicating with different types of people about our beliefs. The write up is below, please do come. It will be entertaining I assure you. Our guest speaker is Pulin Modi who, for a living, deals with the hostile, the condescending, the doubtful, and the curious about animal rights and vegetarianism. He’s no doubt been asked every jackass question anti-animal people have ever come up with and he’s going to share his experiences with us. We’re also going to play a game of “Stump Pulin” to see just how good he is at calmly talking the talk.

The What What:

Earn Your Black-Belt in Verbal Self-Defense!
A workshop to help you effectively advocate for animal rights

When:
Saturday, March 10th, 2007.
1-5pm

Where:
Clinton Street Theater
2522 SE Clinton St., Portland, OR 97202

Cost:
Free (but you have to promise to mix it up and participate)

Summary:
A workshop for animal rights advocates to help them hone their debating and outreach skills. Emphasis will be on improving confidence and effectiveness in day to day scenarios. Speaker Pulin Modi (College Campaign Coordinator, peta2.com) will cover frequently asked questions and help participants frame and practice effective answers and debating techniques. He will also touch on tabling and handling more public settings. In addition to the presentation, there will be a “practice” session where participants can engage in mock debate.

Speaker:
Pulin Modi (http://www.peta2.com/staff_pulin.asp) has been active in the animal rights movement for nearly ten years doing everything from organizing demonstrations and tabling on the grassroots level with the Animal Defense League to getting media attention for demonstrations and media oriented campaigns. He graduated from Vassar College in 2002 with a B.A. in Ecology of Social Change via the school’s Independent Program, as well as correlate sequences in Geography and Anthropology. Pulin has toured the country for peta2.com, the youth division of PETA, doing outreach at concerts and festivals, been banned from several malls for dressing up as a giant rabbit to protest fur, and traveled to college campuses with controversial exhibits like Holocaust on Your Plate and Animal Liberation Project for PETA.

Currently Pulin serves as peta2.com’s College Campaign Coordinator where he corresponds with college activists, generates campus media in local and national outlets, and develops resources to reach the enormous number of university students about animal rights.

Sponsors:
Food Fight! Grocery, Herbivore Magazine, Blossoming Lotus, NW Veg, Scapegoat Tattoo, and peta2.com.