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I began blogging in May of 2006 with “Barbaro Made Me Do It” and continued daily, and sometimes twice a day, for about four years. Though I went vegan in the 1980s, I also became an ex-vegan for almost two years. Fortunately, I evolved into that rare breed, the ex-ex-vegan. “You were never vegan in the first place,” they say. I have no energy for that discussion. People have their opinions and are welcome to them.

My original tagline was: Mary Martin, PhD deconstructs the language, ethics, and economics of our relationship with nonhuman animals, and it was apropos most of the time. The doctorate I earned from New York University in the 1990s was just one symptom of my lifelong preoccupation with language and learning. But I also wrote about:

• atheism
• the abolition versus welfare debate, which in my opinion I spent far too much time on
• Project Treadstone, which was the TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) effort I accidentally started in 2009
• “Thinking Critically About The Animals We Use” (pages for translations are above)
• my greyhounds and greyhound racing
• canine diabetes (Violet Rays was diabetic)
• my daughter and raising a vegan baby.

That’s a lot, but I mention it all because the Search box is your best friend. If you’re new to Animal Person you now know the topics I wrote about most frequently. It really is the fastest way to locate possible matches for what you want if you want to look around. When it comes to language as a topic, things are a bit trickier, and I suggest searching for the exact word or phrase you think I may have addressed (“humane,” “compassionate,” etc…). I’ve also written book reviews and discussed veganism as a social justice issue, and how it intersects with environmentalism and other issues.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mary Martin, PhD

Animal Person

PS – It’s now 2024, and I’m figuring out what to do with this site. I still get emails about its impact, so I don’t want to deactivate it, yet I’m also not updating it. I’m torn. If you’re reading this, thank you, and I’m also at www.marymartinphd.com, where I write about mindfulness and translate the latest neuroscience. I also wrote a book. It was a disaster so I don’t promote it, and there’s a tragic, cautionary tale in there that I will leave for another time.