The Vegan Bus will be heading to Philadelphia this Fourth of July for our first road trip of the summer. We are teaming up with two different Philadelphia groups, Public Eye: Artists for Animals and Vegan Drinks Philly, to put on two very different events. During the day we will be in Clark Park with Public Eye’s Kid’s Club to have a vegan barbeque along with kids activities that teach compassion. The second event will be for adults, as we meet up with Vegan Drinks at the New Harmony Vegan Restaurant

Kids Club Vegan Barbeque July 4th from 11:00am-3:00pm

Join the Vegan Bus and Public Eye: Artists for Animals for a down-home vegan BBQ with hula hoops, lawn games, musical instruments, and art projects. The Bus will park at Clark Park, a lovely setting in University City with trees and a playground. Please bring a vegan/vegetarian picnic lunch, blanket/lawn chairs, and drinks for your family. We will provide additional items (veggie dogs, burgers, etc.) for the BBQ! Friendly dogs are welcome at Clark Park. Public Eye requests an RSVP with the number and ages of your children.

Thanks to Lightlife for donating 96 vegan burgers to us for the event! Coincidentally, 96 is the number of animals one person can save each year by going vegan… Lightlife’s headquarters are in Turners Falls Massachusetts, only about 1/2 hour from the home of the Vegan Bus!
View Larger Map	Clark Park? Chester Ave Philadelphia, PA 19104

Vegan Drinks 4th of July Extravaganzaa from 6:00pm-11:00pm

The Vegan Bus will be meeting up with Vegan Drinks Philly at the New Harmony Vegetarian Restaurant for a vegan dim sum feast along with BYOB drinks. The event costs $20 and a portion of the proceeds will go to The Vegan Bus and Public Eye: Artists for Animals. The restaurant is a short walk from great spots to view fireworks, and the bus will be parked nearby for the bus-curious. For more details check out the Vegan Drinks Blog or join Vegan Drinks on Facebook. Please RSVP to Ed Coffin if you plan to attend (856.803.3816 or ed(at)vegandrinksphilly.com).

Its too bad computers don’t transmit scents (yet), because part of the horror of factory farms is the acrid stench of urine and excrement that collects, but this “Virtual Battery Cage” does a great job of helping you imagine what it is like to be a chicken in an intensive confinement system. The sounds are from a real factory farm. Check it out…

The Vegan Bus is pleased to announce the next phase of our education and outreach efforts – THE VEGAN BUS ZINE!

As we travel from town to town and from event to event we would like to hand out literature that will help open hearts and minds to the benefits of veganism and sustainable living. I have long believed that the best way to do this is artistically. Art is a direct transmission of ideas that can exceed the limits of language. A picture can tell a thousand words, and an artistic image can do even more. And words themselves are of course more powerful when they are crafted together artistically. This is why we are choosing to create zines rather than mere pamphlets and brochures, which sound rather hum drum to me.

THE VEGAN BUS WANTS YOU!

We envision the Vegan Bus as a tribal community, made up of a core group of members who travel with the bus as well as a network of members who support us in our efforts. The Zine project will rely on contributions from artists and writers who believe in what we do. We are now officially asking for contributions of all sorts. We do not want to stifle creative possibilities by stating what we will publish, but here are some guidelines for the types of art and writing we would like to include:

Personal Stories
How did you become vegan? How do you try to limit your impact on the planet’s resources? How does your garden grow? Metaphors and surrealism are welcome.

Editorials:
We are looking for well-written articles about veganism and animal rights. We have an abolitionist approach and believe that the main thrust of the AR movement should be towards converting people to veganism, so keep that in mind. We also would like to feature articles about sustainable living – solar and wind energy, alternative fuels, organic agriculture, etc.

Art:
Photographs, paintings, woodblock prints, collage, anything that will reproduce well in black and white. We may have color cover art as well. Themes that address veganism, animal rights, sustainability, or even the existential angst that capitalism and materialism brings about. The art can be uplifting or confrontational. Comic strips would be really great too!

Vegan Recipes:
Part of helping people move towards veganism is helping them find alternatives to their meat-centric diets. We want the zine to give them the tools, and recipes are a big part of that. We would like recipes that are delicious but also that are easy to make and don’t have ingredients non-vegans aren’t familiar with. Bonus points if the recipe uses ingredients that are inexpensive so that people living on low income can easily prepare them.

DIY Instructions:
We would like to include at least one DIY project in each issue. Things that can help people live sustainably. Examples would be solar cookers, solar dehydrators, worm compost, clothing, etc. Written instruction along with photos or diagrams would be great.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
The zine will be used to help raise money and therefore we can not pay for contributions. If you are looking for money then you probably aren’t in line with our mission anyway… However, we will give each person whose contributions are used several copies of the zine they are published in. If your art makes the cover, we will give you a Vegan Bus tee shirt along with 50 copies of the zine!

ADVERTISING…
We want to give the zine out for free so that the most people can benefit from it. It will be an ongoing project with many issues, and hopefully larger and larger print runs as we go. The way we hope to do this is to offer advertising in the zine. This can often be a slippery slope, but we feel there are plenty of companies who are providing services that are in line with our ethics and ambitions who will be willing to advertise. We will also of course feature ads from non-profit organizations. If you fall into one of the above categories and are interested in advertising please contact us about rates.

CONTRIBUTING…
We are hoping to have the first issue published by the end of August. We would like to have a sample with content to take to potential advertisers by mid August. We are asking for contributions as soon as possible. If you are interested in contributing please contact us!