great stuff waylon! maybe edit out some of the outtakes? personally i am listening while doing work so the video part is minimized.

really enjoyed the candid conversation about michael's background and thinking about eating.

Hi Laurie,

Thanks for commenting. I agree it can really become a nightmare figuring out what you can and cannot eat, especially as you start investigating further about what it actually in our food. Personally I am not Vegan for ethical or religious reasons. It is primarily for health. If I unknowingly eat something with Whey in it I will not beat myself up over it.

Respectfully Jack I have to disagree with you here. Writing for the web is a different animal from writing for print. With print there is an issue with resource limitation so you need to write wide appealing content to reach the largest audience possible so that you can then monetize to the max.

With the web the only limit is time. You can put out as much content as you want and never worry about running out of space or using up bandwidth. This also means that competition has exploded exponentially and the concept of grabbing a significant percentage of any vertical evaporates.

In regards to the reader we are selfish, we choose to read and comment if we want. If a story gets low traffic or no comments then the writer needs to take note an make comparisons with stories that get lots of traffic and comments. This is the true measure of effective content. Waylon saw this recently with the Yoga Journal Conference where the content was interesting but not compelling enough to drive traffic.

I suggest that Waylon open the firehose and start to really let us have it. Obviously there is a draw to at least some of the content here. I would argue that it doesnt go far enough with the selfishness and really let me know who is writing it and why.

The internet is the ultimate gateway for the cult of personality, if you think you operate above or outside of this you are deluding yourself. You make friends with people not only because of what they know and talk about but also because of how they say it. The internet is simply an extension of this and for Elephant to grow into it it has to toss aside the shackles of traditional media and let loose with more not less.

Wow Freda you really know how to sweet talk don't ya?

Long live being a Kid! Who the hell wants to be a grown up anyway? Sounds serious, like cancer.

Waylon I have to go with Siona and Gwen here, not just because they are much better looking but because they are right. You have a great charisma and like it or not that is what people are looking for today. We are done with the mega media structures with titles that contain Post, Times or Standard, and instead want a personal voice that we get to know as a person.

You chose to get rid of the print version because you wanted to save the environment. Thinking that this means simply transitioning the same model to online is going to result in the same fate that Conde Nast is experiencing. The effect doesnt transfer across mediums. This is because online is a two way street. We can comment on your posts or write up a post of our own on our site. This puts the writer at the focus as much as what is being writen. You need to own this and put your big ugly mug or name on it and say that you approve this message and all that jive. Stop acting like a magazine that is only online, and become an online media outlet.

This means you also need to play with video and audio and post it here. Video is where everything is headed. If you want me to read your writing then write me a book. If you want me to join the conversation give me a 3 minute video and I will post written and video comments all day long. You are doing the talk show which is awesome, but I cant wait for once a month. I need multiple times a week if not daily. Check out winelibrary.tv, Gary is tearing shit up.

Its as much a burden for the teacher as it is for the student as to whether or not the student looks beyond the physical aspect of Yoga. The teacher has to go beyond just the poses and introduce breath control and meditation if they hope to take students beyond exercise.

At least getting them to the mat for yoga practice is a huge step over going nowhere on a stairmaster or lifting weights to place them back where you got them. This is at minimal a subconscious realization for people as Yoga creates situations that the body is not familiar with or used to and the mind has to calm itself, especially in balancing poses.

Plus as the article points out losing some weight can't hurt this Hungry Hungry Hippo nation.

Hey Timmy,
Thanks for the feedback. I am glad that you are finding some use out of the post. I came to Veganism from the health aspect as well but the longer I am one the more the other issues begin to resonate. Keep it up and feel free to reach out to me anytime.

Roger
@halfacat - on twitter

hey Chris, Lovliebutterfly, and Brandon! Thanks for the comments and encouragement!

Brandon I totally agree with what you have said here. My focus for this article is just getting people to see how easy it is to get started. I highly suggest that they continue further and explore things like getting a food allergy test done to see what else they need to watch out for. I am working on additional posts to cover food allergies and getting even healthier.

Thanks Chris and Sarah! You two are rockers! Do you have any tips for newbie vegans?