HERCULANEUM

He's looking up at the title all like, "Whaa? Who ME?"

YES, YOU!! YOU CRAZY BISH!

See? I mean this is cool. Fo sho.

And then, you're all half-naked here,

And COMPLETELY NEKKID HERE,

SSHAAZZAAMM!! WOO-HOO! (Bish, where's your peeper? Did you tuck it? Well, you DO have a big hand... And you know what that means... Big gloves.)

But, what REALLY makes you a "total badass" in the book of Herculaneum?

Your convictions.

New York Knicks power forward Amar'e Stoudemire makes a slam-dunk for animals by boycotting fur and posing for PETA's "Ink, Not Mink" campaign. This former NBA Rookie of the Year got involved with PETA in order to raise awareness of cruelty to animals and is baring his skin to help animals keep theirs.

Amar'e explains, "I wouldn't want to see anything cruel happen to any animals just for fashion." Animals used in the fur industry often suffer gruesome deaths. To avoid damaging the animals' pelts, workers frequently electrocute and poison these furry creatures and peel their skin off while the animals are still alive.

"I wouldn't want to see anything cruel happen to any animal just for a fashion."

Imagine...

*** Special thanks to our own local, total badass Janice, who contributed the Amar'e Stoudemire video clip. Thank you, my friend! (source)

*** Warning - Graphic: The Website the Meat Industry Does NOT Want You To See

I came across the above link today and I was warned as well. I wasn't going to click on it to watch, because... Well, I'm sure you know why I was so hesitant. Thus, the need for the "warning". And then, I stopped. And I looked around at my surroundings here at home: a beautiful Queen Anne desk and chair, marble-covered radiators, persian rugs, well-framed gorgeous paintings, an Italianate, marble fireplace, velvet sofa and chair, antique lamps and five foot statues... and masks and wood-carvings I've collected from my travels over-seas, from my FORTUNATE travels over-seas. And then, I thought again. And I thought, I'm NOT going to watch this graphic video because WHY???

Because I'm fucking SPOILED. That's why.

So, I watched it. And I was horrified. It showed me what I knew. But, seeing it... REALLY seeing it, not out of my blurry mind's eye, but out of my own tear-filled eyes... It went through me. Had I not been sitting down, I would've collapsed. And as mortified as I am, as heart-broken and sick as I am, I'm glad I saw it. Because I don't want to be some numb, pampered ass that goes through life afraid to look at what I'm doing. At what I AM DOING.

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