Amy profile picture

Amy

amyspiders

About Me

My Motto: Do not question why, only DO.
My Other Motto: What is not forbidden is allowed.

I've been vegetarian since June of 1997, vegan since Feb 2007. I can't believe how easy it is to live this healthy and feel this good. People might think that being vegan is very limiting, but I am finding that it is really about opening myself to the wildly diverse seasonal possibilities the produce section has to offer. Of course, I cook up a storm--mung bean dahl, lentil soup, pesto, broiled tofu, quinoa, stuffed portobellos, vegetable maki, miso soup, polenta stuffed peppers, mushroom risotto, roasted beets, squash casserole, pumpkin bisque, roasted garlic, handmade pasta, homemade breads & grilled pizza being some of the staples around here. And I like to whip up a batch of cookies or muffins every week.
Woo Hoo!! With a time of 4 hours and 32 minutes, I ran my first marathon on October 21, 2007!!!
I paint.
And I procrastinate about painting.
I enjoy playing any kind of game. I love volleyball, sheepshead, Scrabble, chess.
I believe that cancer is mostly preventable! Estimates are 1 out of every 2 persons will get cancer in their lifetime. We have terrible legislation for food and beauty product ingredient safety. Many things we are allowed to ingest are carcinogenic and/or harmful to the nervous and reproductive systems. Here's my boilled down list of the bad shit:
Plastics #3, #6, and #7.
MSG, monosodium glutamate, aspartame, and any fake sugars.
Hotdogs, franks, sausages, & brats because they contain nitrites and nitrates.
Milk. Yes, milk. For containing estrogens, antibiotics, and growth hormone. At least buy organic if you must drink the lactation of another mammal.
Nail polish and nail polish remover contains 3 bad chems--acetone, phthalate and formaldahyde.
Talc, talcum powder
Most commercial cleansers, but Lysol disinfectant sprays and Ajax are known to contain carcinogens.
Products with added "fragrance," parabens, or artificial colors. Including perfume.
I enjoy sarcasm and irony. I love a good argument and a good piece of fiction. I love a movie whose ending I didn't see from a mile away, um, or in the trailer. I like helping people pick out paint swatches. I like showing co-op shoppers how the peanut butter machine works.

See More of My Paintings:
www.geocities.com/amyspiders


My Interests

Art, art shows, museums, galleries, vegan and vegetarian cooking, travel, making art, painting, drawing, organic farming, recyling, reusing, reducing, war protests, bird watching, and being green.

I'd like to meet:

People who want to buy my art and/or hire me to teach their kids to draw and paint.

Music:

Gillian Welch, Neko Case, Regina Spektor, Aimee Mann, Nick Drake, Joanna Newsome, The Shins, Modest Mouse, The Ramones, Wilco, Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwirght, Belle and Sebastian, Pixies, OK Go, Tom Waits, Johnny Cash (particularly the American Recordings), Mermaid Avenue

Movies:

The Science of Sleep, An Inconvenient Truth, The Best of Youth (Italy, 2005), I Heart Huckabees, Junebug, Frida, Lost in Translation, Goodbye Lenin, Amelie, The Lives of Others (Die Leben der Anderen), How to Draw a Bunny, The Station Agent, The Motorcycle Diaries, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Get Shorty, Garden State, The Goonies, The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956), Donnie Darko, Magnolia, A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)

Television:

Haven't watched TV since 1996

Books:

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk; Moon Palace by Paul Auster; White Noise by Don Delilo; Choke by Chuck Palahniuk; Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe; Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund; The Jungle by Upton Sinclair; The Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole; The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami; Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko; The New York Trilogies by Paul Auster, Like Water for Chocolate

Heroes:

Frida Kahlo, Alice Neel, Chuck Close, Modigliani, Kathe Kollwitz, and my husband whom I adore! And Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who post-punked the vegan scene.

My Blog

no nutritional requirement for the milk of another animal

Cow's Milk: A Substitute for Human MilkBy Colleen Patrick-Goudreau Jul 19, 2007People often refer to non-dairy milks, such as soy and rice, as "alternatives to" or "substitutes for" cow's milk, and th...
Posted by Amy on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:45:00 PST

Gelatin

Gelatin (also gelatine, from French gélatine) is a translucent brittle solid substance, colorless or slightly yellow, nearly tasteless and odorless, extracted from the collagen inside animals' connect...
Posted by Amy on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:29:00 PST

Phthalates Everywhere

DIBUTYL PHTHALATE=Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive). One of the worst ingredients in ...
Posted by Amy on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 09:20:00 PST

Are Your Cosmetics Safe?

This website rocks! Go grab all your favorite make ups, body lotions, shampoos, and sun screens. This website will tell you what's in them, if it's bad for you or not, AND WHY. I love it! I found ...
Posted by Amy on Fri, 25 May 2007 03:45:00 PST

Columbus Earth Day 2007, Volunteers Needed

Columbus Earth Day 2007Here is a link to the Columbus Earth Day activites.
Posted by Amy on Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:56:00 PST

Animal Rennet

Here I've been a vegetarian for nearly 10 years. Why haven't I been paying more attention?!?! Animal Rennet is clearly not vegetarian. It is an enzyme taken from the stomach of killed calves and us...
Posted by Amy on Thu, 08 Mar 2007 07:58:00 PST

3,351 US soldiers & 54,000 Iraqi civilians

These people are dead because of George W. Bush. He is the worst president in US history, and I'll be glad to see him scurry his little butt back to Texas and do absolutely nothing with the priviledg...
Posted by Amy on Sat, 20 Jan 2007 04:18:00 PST

Gummi Bears are not vegetarian!!!

No, I'm sorry to inform you, gummi bears (especially Haribo) are not vegetarian. Gelatin, beeswax, and crushed bugs, if you are wondering.....
Posted by Amy on Wed, 15 Nov 2006 12:35:00 PST

List of Non-Vegetarian Food Additives

Key to the colour-coded table below: Definitely of animal origin Possibly of animal origin Red background indicates additives which are always derived from animals. Those in grey boxes are addit...
Posted by Amy on Sat, 30 Sep 2006 07:43:00 PST

Secrets to Appraising your Art & Antiques

Secrets to Appraising your Art & Antiques   PART ONE   You probably don't need to spend $150 per hour on an art appraiser.  In my 6-month stint as an assistant to a prominent art...
Posted by Amy on Tue, 19 Sep 2006 10:06:00 PST