Pilgrim Way Salon: Lab Dogs, Ethics, and the Hidden World of Animal Research

Pilgrim Way Salons
Monthly | 7–9pm | Drinks & Appetizers to Start

Suggested donation: $10

What makes a life worth living? What does it mean to seek what is good, beautiful, and true?

Once a month, we gather around these questions—not to debate, but to dwell. Our Pilgrim Way Salons are curated evenings of conversation, hospitality, and reflection hosted in a welcoming space, with drinks and light fare to begin.

"What’s a salon?"
It’s not just a haircut—or a fancy term. Historically, salons were intimate gatherings in homes where people explored big ideas through civil, spirited conversation. That’s what we’re reclaiming.

Each evening features a guest speaker or expert voice, followed by guided dialogue and generous Q&A. Whether you’re skeptical, spiritual, curious, or convicted, come pull up a chair. There’s room at the table.
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Salon: Lab Dog — Love, Ethics, and the Hidden World of Animal Research

with journalist Melanie D.G. Kaplan

What happens when love for one animal leads you into a moral maze that implicates millions of others?

In Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research, journalist Melanie D.G. Kaplan weaves together memoir, investigative reporting, and ethical inquiry. The story begins with a beagle she loves—and unfolds into a searching exploration of the scientific, legal, and moral systems that shape how animals are used in research.

As a former MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow and Vermont Law School Animal Law Media Fellow, Kaplan brings rare access and clarity to a world most of us never see: laboratories, regulatory bodies, scientists, activists, and the quiet contradictions many well-meaning people live with when care, progress, suffering, and necessity collide.

This salon will explore questions that resist easy answers:

• How do we hold compassion and complexity at the same time?
• What does it mean to care deeply while participating—directly or indirectly—in systems that cause harm?
• Where do love, science, ethics, and responsibility intersect in a modern world built on tradeoffs?

About the Author
Melanie D.G. Kaplan is an award-winning journalist whose work focuses on science, ethics, and the human stories beneath complex systems.
– 2021–22 MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow
– 2022 Vermont Law School Animal Law Media Fellow

Books will be available for purchase.