Meet the peta2 Staff: Paul

Hometown: Sheridan, Indiana (a tiny farm town of 2,000 in the middle of Indiana)

Fave bands: In the Face of War, Paint It Black, Lifetime, Descendents, Verse, Hope Conspiracy, The Movielife, and, last but not least, The Goo Goo Dolls.

About me: I became a peta2 Street Teamer when I was 19. Shortly after, I started tabling local hardcore/punk shows two or three times a week. After doing that for a while, I started touring with local bands and doing merch for them (bringing, of course, all my animal rights lit along with me). After that, I applied for a peta2 summer outreach job. Once on board with peta2, I toured with Goldfinger, Moby, Aiden, Silverstein, The Start, Sounds of the Underground, and Warped Tour. Now I am a Street Team coordinator, and I’m focused on getting more people involved with animal rights.

I like: I like when people stand up against injustice. As Martin L. King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

I hate: Eating in the dark.

Why you went veg: All my friends were veg, and I saw how easy it was. I looked into it a bit more and was pretty disgusted by what I found, but I still wasn’t sure if I believed it all. So I decided to visit a pig farm for myself, and it was a billion times worse than any of the PETA videos I had seen. After that, I went vegan and became an activist for animals.

Funniest thing you’ve ever done for peta2: When peta2 had the Wet Seal campaign going, Pulin and I were in L.A. for about a week protesting the retailer. One day, we decided to put on our rabbit costumes and drive to all the Wet Seals in the area. We would go into a Wet Seal, pass out leaflets and DVDs, and get kicked out within minutes. Since it was almost Easter, everyone in the mall was like, “Why are you kicking out the Easter Bunny?”

What you love best about being vegan: The food (just read the labels). Like at Taco Bell, get the Double Decker Taco with beans (not meat), ask for it “fresco style,” and replace the tortilla with the flat bread. Or get the beef-and-potato burrito, but ask for beans instead of the beef, order it “fresco style,” and have them grill it—always have them grill it!