Seated next to his girlfriend, Karen, also vegan, at the home of a Chicago activist, Warwak said he does not regret his actions.
The purpose of art is to provide new ways of seeing things says Warwak who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago as a young child, and State of Illinois Education policies clearly mandate teaching humane education and "character development."
Locally the contretemps has drawn support from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who sent a letter to Principal Mahaffy stating, "Students in every school should have teachers like Mr. Warwak to tell them that the 'chicken nuggets' they consume in the cafeteria were once living, breathing animals who were crammed into filthy sheds and pumped full of drugs before having their throats slit while they're still conscious."
But postings on community blogs and newspaper web sites lean toward the shut-up-and-teach variety with the I-love-animals...next-to-the-mashed-potatoes! jokes that inevitably follow animal welfare articles.
Even the Chicago Tribune weighed in on the issue calling Warwak's stance--"that you can't teach kids to appreciate art till you get them to think about life"--"not a bad point" and allowing that "Those of us who haven't turned vegetarian aren't wholly ignorant of where our meat comes from."
But there was a but.
"[P]arents of middle-schoolers also know how hard it is to work all the necessary nutrients into the diet of a picky tweener...[if you [t]ake away the milk and the chicken nuggets and all the other things vegans object to."
Chicken nuggets provide nutrients? Sounds like the Tribune has drunk the food's industry's Kool-Aid.
