Laura Lee
Basics...
- Birth date: May 3, 1988
- Gender: Female
- Roots: German, Lebanese, Scottish
- Appearance: 5'6" / curly brown hair / greenish eyes / tattooed!
- Personality: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - INTJ (Introverted, intuitive, thinking, judging)
- Marital Status: In a Relationship with Joshua (7/16/07)
- Religion: None
- Politics: Liberal
- Diet: Vegan
- Education: Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Political Science
- Occupation: PETA Special Projects Coordinator
General interests...
Animal rights, animals, arts, avocados, bagpipes, bassoon, bicycles, body modification, civil disobedience, clarinet, coffee, crafts, environmentalism, eyes, feminism, figure skating, fire, freebies, Hawaii, Henry David Thoreau, indie music, lesbians, liberalism, long hair, love, mail trucks, manatees, millipedes, Monk, the moon, movies, mushrooms, mysteries, nature, nightlife, nonconformity, organization, originality, Peter Singer, philosophy, photography, poetry, politics, rain, reading, secrets, sewing, snails, stars, sushi, swings, tattoos, vegan cooking, veganism, vegetarianism, Wall-E, weather, webdesign
Music... 10 Years, 3 Doors Down, 3OH!3, Adele, Alanis Morissette, Anberlin, Ani DiFranco, Avril Lavigne, The Beatles, Black Eyed Peas, Blue October, Breaking Benjamin, The Calling, Chevelle, Coheed and Cambria, Coldplay, Count Your Blessings, Crossfade, Dashboard Confessional, Daughtry, Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cutie, Dido, Disturbed, Emilie Autumn, Eminem, Enya, Evanescence, Finger 11, Flyleaf, Foo Fighters, Framing Hanley, The Fray, Frou Frou, Gavin DeGraw, Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Gregory and the Hawk, Hellogoodbye, Hinder, The Hush Sound, Imogen Heap, Incubus, Ingrid Michaelson, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Jimmy Eat World, John Legend, John Mayer, Kate Voegele, Katy Perry, Keane, Kimya Dawson, Kings of Leon, Lacuna Coil, Lady Gaga, Lenny Kravitz, Lily Allen, Lifehouse, Lostprophets, Lydia, Mae, Matchbox 20, Metric, Mika, Miley Cyrus, My Chemical Romance, Nelly Furtado, Nickelback, Nightwish, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, No Doubt, OK Go, Our Lady Peace, Owl City, Panic at the Disco, Paramore, Phoenix, Plain White T's, Postal Service, Queen, Ratatat, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Regina Spektor, Revis, Rise Against, Rob Thomas, Rob Zombie, Rooney, Saliva, Say Anything, The Scene Aesthetic, Seether, Serj Tankian, She and Him, Shinedown, The Shins, Shiny Toy Guns, Silversun Pickups, Sixx:A.M., Smashing Pumpkins, Smile Empty Soul, Snow Patrol, The Sort, The Sounds, Staind, Stone Sour, Switchfoot, System of a Down, Tegan and Sara, U2, Uh Huh Her, Uncle Kracker, The Veronicas, Within Temptation
Movies... Across the Universe, American History X, Anger Management, Babe, Batman Begins, A Beautiful Mind, Bingo, Birds of America, Bolt, Bridge to Terabithia, The Butterfly Effect, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, City of Ember, The Cove, Crash, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Dirty Dancing, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Earthlings, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Frequency, Gattaca, The Golden Compass, Harriet the Spy, Imagine Me and You, An Inconvenient Truth, The Invisible, Jumanji, Juno, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lilo and Stitch, The Lion King, A Little Princess, Lost and Delirious, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Meet the Parents, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Missing, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Holland's Opus, My Girl, National Treasure, The Neverending Story, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Paulie, The Power of One, The Prestige, Rent, Reqiuem for a Dream, The Road to El Dorado, The Salton Sea, Save the Last Dance, Saw, The Secret Garden, Seven Pounds, Shaun of the Dead, Silence of the Lambs, Solaris, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Star Wars, The Strangers, Sweeney Todd, Thirteen, Titanic, Traffic, Troy, Up, The Upside of Anger, V for Vendetta, The Village, Wall-E, What Dreams May Come, Year of the Dog
Television... The 4400, 7th Heaven, Bewitched, Big Love, Boy Meets World, Catdog, Friends, Heroes, House, I Dream of Jeannie, Invasion, The L Word, Law and Order: SVU, Make It or Break It, Monk, The Office, Planet Earth, Pretty Little Liars, Real World, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, South of Nowhere, The Wonder Years, Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Books...
- Asprin, Robert - The Myth Adventures
- Baldacci, David - Wish You Well
- Bookchin, Murray - Social Ecology and Communalism
- Bradbury, Ray - Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles
- Brown, Dan - Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code
- Cameron, Eleanor - The Mushroom Planet Series
- Dahl, Roald - The BFG, Matilda
- Dumas, Alexandre - The Count of Monte Cristo
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
- Grogan, John - Marley and Me
- Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
- Lewis, C.S. - The Chronicles of Narnia
- Orwell, George - 1984, Animal Farm
- Rowling, J.K. - Harry Potter Series
- Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Singer, Peter - Animal Liberation
- Steig, William - Abel's Island
- Steinbeck, John - Of Mice and Men
- Tolkien, JRR - The Lord of the Rings
- Unknown - Go Ask Alice
- Walsh, Jill Paton - The Green Book
- White, E.B. - Charlotte's Web
- Wiesel, Elie - Night
- Wrede, Patricia C. - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Quotes...
- "Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." -Albert Schweitzer
- "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." -John Muir
- "All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering the animals are our equals." -Peter Singer
- "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves." -Henry David Thoreau
- "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian." -Paul McCartney
- "For every action there is an equal and opposite government program." -Bob Wells
- "Faith is but a birthmark with which we are born, an impalpable umbilicus to time and place, which we rarely ponder to cut." -Nick Tosches (In the Hand of Dante)
- "Little snail, dreaming you go, weather and rose is all you know. Weather and rose is all you see, drinking the dewdrop's mystery." -Langston Hughes
- "What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the faculty of reason or perhaps the faculty of discourse? But a full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as more conversable animal, than an infant of a day or a week or even a month old. But suppose they were otherwise, what would it avail? the question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" -Jeremy Bentham
- "The giant oak is an acorn that held its ground."
More about me...
My name's Laura Lee and I was born on May 3, 1988. I have greenish eyes and curly brown hair. I have a collection of tattoos that is still growing, representing my passions and various aspects of my life. I'm an animal lover and a tree hugger and enjoy walking around outside barefoot. People have called me a hippie from time to time. I have been a vegetarian since the age of 12, and in 2008 I made one of the greatest decisions of my life by transitioning to veganism (no consumption or use of animal products). A lot of my energy is focused around educating people about the ways in which animals are exploited for human benefit, and the humane and compassionate alternatives to these abuses. In general, I'm quite progressive in my beliefs and simply feel that acceptance and respect for differences can go a long way. I believe in love that can transcend normal gender, cultural, and societal lines. I just wish the world could become more open to love. I am particularly fond of Henry David Thoreau's ideas of civil disobedience and way of living, as well as Peter Singer's philosophical work on animal liberation. Also, I'm pretty much an atheist, although nature is my form of spirituality.
I am dating a wonderful guy named Joshua who is a huge part of my world. We've gone down a rocky road to get where we are now, but I am excited for our future together. I love traveling the world with him and finding the beauty around us. I had a wonderful childhood full of some of the fondest memories of my life, especially with my grandpa, who passed away in 1997 of brain cancer, and my grandma, who died in 2009, also of cancer. I have no siblings but always have had a great deal of animal companions, primarily rescue animals, including parakeets, cockatiels, a cockatoo, a rabbit, a millipede, a dove, a lovebird, mice, rats, dogs, hermit crabs, a hamster, fish, and snails, all of whom have touched my life greatly. I currently live with two dogs who make my life so much brighter. Despite my lifelong love of interacting with members of other species, I spent much of my childhood as an introvert and only began to truly appreciate the companionship of my peers in my adult life. I also possess obsessive compulsive tendencies and am extremely focused on organization and cleanliness, though I've learned to manage it fairly well.
Going to college helped me grow out of my shell a lot, because I used to be quite the opposite of adventurous. I attended Randolph-Macon College, majoring in Environmental Studies and Political Science. The school itself is quite tiny and conservative, but I think it motivated me even more to overcome obstacles and fear. I was always a mostly straight-A student, compelled by some sort of inherent need to succeed. My liberal arts education gave me the chance to explore so many different fields of knowledge, such as environmental politics and ethics, the animal mind, and political processes. I even had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica to study the rainforest, as well as consult with local government and environmental organizations to design watershed plans. In the summer of 2007 I participated in the Greenpeace Organizing Term, traveling and organizing campaigns on issues such as global warming. It was quite a rewarding experience and secured my desires to become an activist. I have also worked as an intern for Friends of the Rappahannock to help protect the river and volunteer as the Press Spokesperson for Richmond Friends of Animals, a group that speaks out for animals. After college, I took on a full time job with PETA working on the Canadian seal slaughter and fur campaigns, and in 2010 transitioning to the McDonald's and KFC campaigns.
I love creative expression. I play bassoon and clarinet, as well as the bagpipes to a small degree. Crafting, sewing, and crocheting are also exciting for me; I enjoy creating unique things and selling them. Music helps me survive, especially rock and indie music. I am fascinated by any portrayal of ideas through writing or paintings or photography. The only sport I really have participated in is figure skating, but of course, I also enjoy outdoor activities in nature, like hiking or caving. I write Spanish almost fluently and I can speak a bit of German, but I want to learn so many more languages. My heritage includes German, Scottish, and Lebanese roots. I have visited Costa Rica and Slovakia twice, as well as the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Canada each one time... I love traveling and seeing the world. My parents own a second home in Hawaii on the big island, and that is where I truly feel at home. I am a left-handed person. I enjoy website design and have been using HTML to design sites since the age of 13. I think the internet is a great way to share ideas. I am hoping with this domain to really open up and put forth my thoughts, beliefs, lifestyle, etc. for the world to see. Hopefully somehow I can make a difference.
Things to do before I die...(A list I've kept for a number of years)
Become a vegan and live healthily. (April 2008)
- Help abolish factory farming and animal exploitation, while achieving legal rights for animals.
- Live to see a day with equal rights for LGBTQ individuals.
- Become a steward for the environment to help improve humanity's sustainability.
- Publish a book that will change the world.
Participate in a real protest.
- Discover the meaning of life and love.
- Move to Hawaii.
- Master Spanish.
Get a tattoo of a snail. (May 6, 2006)
- Go hang gliding.
- Swim with manatees.
- Be an extra in a movie.
Beat the expert level of Minesweeper. (September 3, 2005)
- Learn to play bagpipes. (In progress)
- Become flexible enough to do the splits.
- Visit as many countries as possible, including something on each continent.
- Finish learning German.
- Adopt a pot bellied pig.
- Invent something useful and acquire a patent.
- Meet Tony Shalhoub (and offer him an individually wrapped toothpick).
Attend a concert for one of my favorite bands. (Paramore, Tegan and Sara)
- Participate in a figure skating competition.
- Drive a mail truck.
- Overcome my social phobia.
- Acquire a hybrid vehicle.
- Stop biting my nails... for good!
- Dance... all the time.