A Circus of a Day
30 Oct
I planned on taking a whole day of food photos yesterday, but of course, I forgot to take a photo of my oatmeal 
It wasn’t that exciting anyway, just cinnamon oatmeal with a big scoop of White Chocolate Wonderful.
I spent much of the morning making a poster to bring to the circus demonstration that was at night. I finally broke for lunch and had this fabulous kale, pickle, and hummus wrap with an apple and rice and beans on the side. YUM. It was amazing. I loaded up on more rice and beans because I was not sure when I’d be able to grab dinner. Anyway, yeah.. pickles make anything taste good. I love them! I even used to have a screen name that was ILovePickles8. Ha!
I’m a bad daily food blogger! I forgot to take a photo until I was done eating this apple. I was rushing around all day and thankfully I had bought this apple and a clif bar, because I would not have had time to eat! After running errands in downtown New Haven for quite some time, I rushed over to pick up my friend and head over to Bridgeport. On my way there, I noshed on this carrot cake clif bar. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had a clif bar, and it was pretty darn good! I kind of got burnt out on them earlier in the year, but it was a tasty, quick bite.
Mmmm. Anyway, so I picked up my friend and we headed down to Bridgeport for an Anti-Circus Demonstration. When we got there, we walked down to scope out the area and saw some signs. We assumed these were the peope we were meeting and headed towards them.. their signs started coming into focus..
What? This is not true! These are not the droids we’re looking for (hehe). Anyway, we found out Anti-Circus friends and started setting up. We walked back to the car to get my buddy dressed in the elephant costume.
The demonstration went well, I think. We got our message across and everything stayed peaceful. It was quite comical with the mix of Ringling employees and their signs, and us. I was so glad to see so many animal rights activists coming out! We’ll be back every single performance until Ringling leaves. I am so glad that I can give a voice to the animals in the circus that have none.
Since it’s relevant at the moment, I’ll post a letter that I wrote to the Connecticut Post about Ringling cruelty.
“While it may seem “cool” to see elephants walk down the street, I know for sure that it is far from “cool” for the elephants and other animals involved. Before those animals are paraded down the street, they spend anywhere from, on average, 26 to 100 hours at a time in crowded boxcars to travel to each location. If the horrid traveling conditions aren’t enough, the animals are forced to perform night after night. A 2009 PETA investigation of Ringling videotaped many circus employees abusing the animals with bull hooks, and other terrible instruments, until they screamed in pain. The video footage also shows Tonka, a circus elephant, who clearly suffers from extreme psychological distress, from the inhumane and cruel treatment from Ringling trainers.
Ringling has also been cited numerous times by the USDA for not meeting the minimum standard of animal care of the Animal Welfare Act. The USDA currently has at least 6 investigations of Ringling for animal abuse.
It outrages me that Bridgeport would support such cruelty. If you choose to attend the circus, you are supporting an extremely cruel institution. Without our support, Ringling will not be able to continue abusing animals. The animals involved in the circus do not deserve such treatment and belong in a sanctuary where they are safe and are able to live out their lives happily and without pain, just as you and I deserve. There are plenty of other circuses that do not use animals for entertainment that we can and should support, rather than Ringling.
Please, do not support the circus this upcoming week! We need to get the message across to Ringling that we will not support animal abuse!
For more information on Ringling cruelty and to see the video for yourself, visit circuses.com.”
Gosh, so, after the demo we drove back to New Haven so we could catch a show at Toad’s Place! We were there to see The Get Up Kids and Kevin Devine! We even got to see Ralph Nader speaking in a bookstore next door. Pretty cool! The show was great. Both bands were awesome. I especially love Kevin Devine, I think I’ve seen him every time he’s come to Connecticut!
After the show I was exhausted and tried to write this entry, but fell asleep! I’ve got an incredibly busy couple of days coming up and I am so excited for it!
Check out my article about the anti- circus demonstration on Examiner.com!
Hey Nicole! I just discovered your blog and was surprised to find out that you live in CT, too! That’s awesome! I look forward to reading your blog more and reading about this great state (sarcasm?)
Haha! Where in CT are you from? I actually love Connecticut! Well, maybe not all of it. Mostly New Haven!
I’m from Southington. I like CT, too, but every once in a while I get bored. I haven’t spent much time in New Haven. I’ve pretty much only gone to Southern to visit friends that go to school there. I’m lame, I need to get out more haha.
I get bored a lot too. Well, if you are ever in New Haven, let me know! I like making new friends
I go to Southern!
How cool to do a demonstration like this! I just noticed the other day that the Wii is coming out with a Ringling Bros Circus game, it may even be out.
Interesting wrap!
How cool is that? I think it’s awesome that you participated in a demonstration like that!
Ah I didn’t see your comment til this morning! I went to bed at 10 – don’t judge. I’m glad to hear everything went okay last night though!
I left the comment today! I’ll be there everyday this week!
It’s great how politically/socially active you are, Nicole! I really admire it.
The concert sounds fun, and your pickle burrito, is, um, crazy? Haha still trying to decide how I feel about it.
I recently picked up a pumpkin spice Clif bar and have been looking forward to trying it.
interesting. So, you are against circus’ because of the way the animals are treated? I had never thought about that, but now that you mention it I’ve seen a couple Dateline specials where they talk about how elephants are treated like crap in the circus. What do you think about zoos? Aren’t they treated badly there too?
Yep. I’m against circuses because of that and because they don’t have a choice, you know? They’re forced to perform unnatural acts or face beatings. I just don’t think that animals should be used for entertainment. I don’t support zoos and I don’t support people making money off of exploiting animals. There are a lot of places that seem like they’d be okay, but really, zoos are usually just to make money and the animals are treated like a product or commodity and I’m not down with that.
Bravo for an outspoken and well written, peaceful yet powerful letter. I think you are right, 100%. I always have felt bad for those animals. The conditions alone are just so dirty! Not natural in the LEAST. Glad the demonstration went well and you had fun after!