Thesis Mantra!

“Thus, rendering gender and masculinity visible offers a challenge to existing power relations and their continuing reiteration.”

– Beasley, Men & Masculinities (2008)

YES!

Eulogy

"Dylan Ravenfox was an incredible soul. I had the honor of living and working with Dylan at Farm Sanctuary during the summer of 2009. We became great friends right from the start and he taught me so many life lessons over the course of a few months, over so many dishes of red quinoa stir fries, over bowls of the local vegan ice cream, over nutritional yeast popcorn.

When I arrived at Farm Sanctuary as an admittedly disillusioned activist, Dylan gave me so much hope for the future. If people were as committed to changing the world as he was, maybe we could make a difference after all. His work in the Education Department had him giving tours of the farm to newcomers, and even when my housemate and I unsuspectingly snuck onto a tour to try to divert him from his task -- as pesky friends often enjoy doing -- we couldn’t do it. In spite of our best comical intentions, when he opened his mouth, the calm and sincere voice was not an employee reciting a tour by rote; here was as man who deeply believed in the words he was saying and saw Farm Sanctuary as a means of resisting structures of oppression. It was only at the end of the tour that I realized we hadn’t just gotten a tour of the farm; we had gotten a glimpse of Dylan in his element. Dylan’s drive to bring justice to the lives of animals was a flame that never burned out.

But he was more than an activist; at the very core, he was an artist. He was a skilled writer and anyone who knew Dylan knows that art just poured out of him. He carried his passion for art, for pottery, for language, for critical thought with him to every activist endeavor I saw him undertake. He reminded me how much art and social justice can overlap in beautiful ways and how we can sustain each other through art.

And though he’s gone, I know that flame is still burning, for he has passed it on to so many others. I miss him so much, but I know he will be with me forever, always inspiring me, pushing me forward, teaching me to be a better person and a more passionate voice for the animals."

Delivered Sunday October 3rd, 2010 at Haverford College.