“It’s so hot out here! Yup, those are vegan, everything is vegan. Yeah, just pull up two of those chairs over there. Sorry, we’re organized, but disorganized, ya know?”

“Um, Allen, maybe we could ask if anyone wants to sit inside? Like, maybe the outside is problematic if someone has allergies?”

“Oh yeah, sorry, I didn’t ask. Is the location comfortable for everyone . . .? Good! Good to see everyone again! Thanks so much for showing up today, and uh, supporting our mission. I really think we have a lot of forward momentum. The student body, or at least the right parts of the student body, are energized. They see what’s going on. Everyone by now has heard about the occupation we did in the neuroscience class. I was there. A lot of cries for justice, the faculty didn’t know what to do, the department didn’t know what to do. The professor was so funny, he was like—‘What?’ He tried to say stuff and talk to us about animal research but we were all banging on the tables. Disrupt and Disseminate. That’s stage one.”

“Achoo!”

“Bless you! So anyways, we’ve got, well, let’s just do introductions for the two new members, or potential members. Feel free to introduce yourselves, just say maybe why you’re interested in SAAR and what brought you to New York.”

“Hey everybody, we’re both seniors at NYU, and, oh yeah, my name is Jim, by the way, hey everybody.”

“—and I’m Carol.”

“Hi!”

“And we’re both—”

“We’re both interested in the scene, you guys have been a pretty effective force, which is rare, you know, like where I was before I transferred, they just don’t take this really seriously so it’s nice to find a place where people do. We heard about you because of the occupation.”

“Carol, where’d you transfer from?”

“Oh, from UMass Amherst, it’s in like, the middle of Massachusetts.”

“And Jim?”

“I’ve been at NYU for three years but I’ve only recently gotten like, morally serious about this issue. But I’ve kind of always been into animal rights. I actually ran a chapter of PETA in high school.”

“That’s great. That’s actually exactly what I did, I also ran a chapter but it was in Brooklyn, where were you at?”

“Um, New Hampshire, actually.”

“I didn’t know it was widespread enough to have branches there.”

“I think it’s rare but I was lucky. Lucky Jim, that’s me.”

“Okay, great, well, so Carol, how’d you become interested in this stuff?”