tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79845286146097759352024-02-20T09:45:13.048-08:00RantaSarah RexI've got tiny arms and a big mouth.
**The views represented here are not necessarily the views of the Secular Student Alliance.**Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-77974976532785132162013-04-24T09:47:00.004-07:002013-04-24T10:02:35.490-07:00Things I've Done Since Going VeganToday marks the anniversary of my decision to go vegan. I was really nervous about it before I did it. The idea had been percolating in my head since a coworker & her partner talked to me about being vegan, but since I have Crohn's disease & anxiety, changes to my diet usually freak me out.<br />
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I had driven home to Milwaukee for my niece's 2nd birthday, and on my drive back to Columbus, I stopped at a gas station to pick up some dinner on the road. I grabbed a pre-made ham sandwich & some Funyuns and took a bite of my sandwich as I pulled back onto the freeway. As I was chewing, I looked at the vehicle in front of me and realized it was a truck full of pigs (a pretty small truck, with a see through fence as the back railing). I started to gag on my sandwich and spit it out & wasn't able to finish it. I guiltily stashed it in the passenger seat until my next stop, where I threw it out at the next stop without looking at it again.<br />
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Within two days, I had declared myself vegan.<br />
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Of course, this sounds like it was purely an emotional response, and I just like cute little piggies and that's why I gave up meat. Not quite. I am a vegan for ethical reasons, but they aren't just related to animals.<br />
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I could go on and on about the reasons why people (atheists, especially) should be vegan, but if you really want to know, I think <a href="http://vegankit.com/">vegankit.com</a> is a great place to get information. Articles like <a href="http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/11/16/agnostic-carnivores-and-global-warming-why-enviros-go-after-coal-and-not-cows/" target="_blank">this</a> are also great (the fact that "A global vegan diet (of conventional crops) would reduce dietary emissions by 87 percent, compared to a token 8 percent for 'sustainable' meat and dairy." really stuck with me).<br />
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But this post isn't to give you every reason to go vegan. It's to show you the awesome things I've done since go vegan so you can see that vegans lead really cool lives.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Since I went vegan, I've...</span></b><br />
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<b>-Volunteered at <a href="http://www.campquest.org/" target="_blank">Camp Quest</a> (complete with vegan s'mores!)</b><br />
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<b>-Went to Las Vegas for TAM (as a Surly Grant Winner), hung out with awesome people, acted like a shark (?), hung out with my Best Sarah Forever (BSF)</b><b style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.499999046325684px; line-height: 19.19487762451172px;">™</b><br />
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<b>-Bowled for Abortion Access (which I'm <a href="http://bowlathon.nnaf.org/nnafbowl/participantpage.asp?uid=5792&fundid=1537" target="_blank">doing again, and you can support</a>!) and got a mug that says "Ask Me About the Abortion I Paid For" (which is super rad, obviously)</b><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">-<b>Went to DC to be in a documentary, hung out at a fountain with some ducks</b></span></div>
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-<b>Attended Skepticamp Columbus, hung out with @Delyseious and Hemant Mehta, lead the Legion of Sarahs (it's possible that this legion was only made up of two Sarahs)</b></div>
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-<b>Raised $2,000 for the Secular Student Alliance and had to shave my hair into a mohawk on a livestream</b></div>
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-<b>Attended the largest conference the SSA has ever had!</b> </div>
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<span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">-<b style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Dressed up as the one and only Freddie Mercury for Halloween<br /> </b></span><br />
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<b>-Had surgery and <a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-i-got-engaged.html" target="_blank">proposed when I woke up</a>, looking flyyyyyyyy (and was good at texting)</b></div>
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-<b>Designed a badass wedding ring, made of recycled silver and synthetic emeralds and diamonds from <a href="http://www.greenkarat.com/" target="_blank">Green Karat</a></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXn5V_WnpkLKf9HAVfMWdf73yWYmw36zDq7FvMQ1H4PdO3uRU3zts8TBpTEOOEx10bATRk8oGmvPZffrqBhzljT1C6PMVvFZfRTknEpWAUJo_AqMiCDp1gglgR1P3M3wt1XMyrarMGCxB/s1600/ring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXn5V_WnpkLKf9HAVfMWdf73yWYmw36zDq7FvMQ1H4PdO3uRU3zts8TBpTEOOEx10bATRk8oGmvPZffrqBhzljT1C6PMVvFZfRTknEpWAUJo_AqMiCDp1gglgR1P3M3wt1XMyrarMGCxB/s1600/ring.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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-<b>Joined the board of directors of <a href="http://www.govegango.org/" target="_blank">Go Vegan! Go!</a> and went to a fundraiser at Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace for <a href="http://www.sunrisesanctuary.org/" target="_blank">Sunrise Sanctuary</a>. Delicious vegan hot dogs. :)</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLBwwTJThGB_KuOhKHmHXKtkADslg-R3ewizFz8wrcKHZnNnr29bRPivcGRthBHw6cdVUc9DNTiZe0kOseuK4tdj4Ca1RRKghNgR0nb5My-RWs1OlLAEd_fOntYQzkMDJzJ8ENVBX6vcr/s1600/dirty+franks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLBwwTJThGB_KuOhKHmHXKtkADslg-R3ewizFz8wrcKHZnNnr29bRPivcGRthBHw6cdVUc9DNTiZe0kOseuK4tdj4Ca1RRKghNgR0nb5My-RWs1OlLAEd_fOntYQzkMDJzJ8ENVBX6vcr/s1600/dirty+franks.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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<b>-Ate burritos and tacos, always and forever</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFdu9c_YVZnhWPMLXcs6GtKPMVOySqVrERr0dG88vHvCN5_M8m7lhwSsIxbqO37LkwQ4OotjikHoQ5bB8-ON0s-cCYgWeWEzoMSIIqx0InLII7Pn-8F-jR3IxBmhEWBIyT14J61FH7cGf/s1600/burritos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFdu9c_YVZnhWPMLXcs6GtKPMVOySqVrERr0dG88vHvCN5_M8m7lhwSsIxbqO37LkwQ4OotjikHoQ5bB8-ON0s-cCYgWeWEzoMSIIqx0InLII7Pn-8F-jR3IxBmhEWBIyT14J61FH7cGf/s1600/burritos.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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-<b>Ate a lot of cereal & felt like <a href="http://media.heavy.com/post_assets/2010/03/0417/1267743226_stoned-party-dog-original.jpg" target="_blank">that dog with the birthday cake</a> </b><br />
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-<b>Bought sweet swag <a href="http://society6.com/srahhh" target="_blank">from my friend Sarah's store</a></b></div>
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<b>-Had my best friend from Wisconsin visit</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyLyoYFfoJPIRxNOKlRbkUpeLrmJQa_wCg-Y4M2tEBhRion-pJSCGOqYSbDxkkZi_UmNuJ5N7TUJq6fVYl28EKAm6JoLWiqUmDiIuAfPrRFV6XUwylZxBsr5IK-F2wVEIVrpFVT4nD4xg/s1600/megan+and+sarah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyLyoYFfoJPIRxNOKlRbkUpeLrmJQa_wCg-Y4M2tEBhRion-pJSCGOqYSbDxkkZi_UmNuJ5N7TUJq6fVYl28EKAm6JoLWiqUmDiIuAfPrRFV6XUwylZxBsr5IK-F2wVEIVrpFVT4nD4xg/s1600/megan+and+sarah.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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-<b>Got married & had awesome vegan food & cake (catering provided by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/InnerCircleStreetFood?fref=ts" target="_blank">Inner Circle</a>, cake by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/pattycake-bakery/60751671680?fref=ts" target="_blank">Pattycake Bakery</a>)</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSNSHEdBs02VVQ8-Ie5A_f-XwRNQEGWcAJNloGmDzJ6NRbpWDraAPFK8VgxeLkpu-ynb7ktUN3oEXSvVKq39xnt7q8othwMfFQMrEBqezmS8l9E34LmiRl5lbhF2MiBDpfavTjSA46t4RP/s1600/IMG_8155.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSNSHEdBs02VVQ8-Ie5A_f-XwRNQEGWcAJNloGmDzJ6NRbpWDraAPFK8VgxeLkpu-ynb7ktUN3oEXSvVKq39xnt7q8othwMfFQMrEBqezmS8l9E34LmiRl5lbhF2MiBDpfavTjSA46t4RP/s1600/IMG_8155.jpeg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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There's been quite a bit more, but finding where pictures of stuff is has been difficult, so I'll leave you with that. :) In any case, I'm very happy with my decision to go vegan. I'd encourage everyone to check it out. Even if you can't go fully vegan right now (or ever), I think reducing your consumption of animal products is an admirable goal, especially since it may be the only way to save the planet ("<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/eat-less-meat-to-fight-climate-change-ipcc-chief-says" target="_blank">Please eat less meat</a>," asks the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). </div>
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Interested? Check out:<br />
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Vegan Starter Kit: <a href="http://vegankit.com/">http://vegankit.com/</a><br />
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Thirty Day Vegan Challenge: <a href="http://www.the30dayveganchallenge.com/">http://www.the30dayveganchallenge.com/</a><br />
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You can watch <a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/70245084?strkid=2075816842_0_0&trkid=222336&movieid=70245084" target="_blank">Vegucated</a> and <a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/70185045?strkid=220006818_0_0&trkid=222336&movieid=70185045" target="_blank">Forks Over Knives</a> on Netflix Instant or <a href="http://earthlings.com/?page_id=32" target="_blank">Earthlings</a> online.
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-IVhrdP7XKQE%2FUEaDmgXQMZI%2FAAAAAAAACW0%2FaQ2PIfNy46M%2Fs1600%2Fsarah%2Bon%2Bdrugs.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif246D8yAegIZQ4OZQjsSAIwNub3L1FjkQQSp_FLnpgWHi-4kJNmlC4uKZ7a53j2Zcu7a2RHQw1VgHYkRNFpHmPBt8sBLZauNg29hq-TrR3NdZxUpvFYJXtYxwpJSymjn7OxB8FFd7hB_t/s1600/sarah+on+drugs.jpg" -->Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-68240638687442070362013-04-18T13:33:00.003-07:002013-04-18T13:35:55.941-07:00"lol reproductive rights"I imagine that's what most anti-choice legislators would tweet if they could. I have a feeling a lot of them don't quite grasp the concept of Twitter, though. (Too bad they didn't read my <a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-to-use-twitter.html" target="_blank">handy intro to Twitter</a>, they'd be a lot closer to getting it!)<br />
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Anyway, unfortunately for us, there are lots of people who get twitter, and I wish they didn't. Like Jill Stanek, for example. If you aren't familiar with Jill Stanek, she's just <a href="http://www.newshounds.us/2008/08/21/antiabortion_extremist_jill_staneks_questionable_background_excluded_from_fox_news_discussion_accusing_obama_of_supporting_infanticide.php" target="_blank">an awful anti-choicer</a>. She thinks if you murder a doctor who performs abortions, it's wrong, but <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2010/02/123958/" target="_blank">not so wrong</a> that you deserve to be sent to PRISON! That's for like, bad people, and stuff! (What you can glean from the last link: 1. The man who murdered Dr. Tiller "[did] not get [his] fair day in court." 2. The death penalty is okay and should be applied to doctors who perform abortions.)<br />
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I mention Jill Stanek because one day I was talking on twitter about how expensive my health care is & how it is a very real and constant source of stress and worry for me. A few of my friends replied "Oh, I don't have to worry about that in my country!" Which is really great for them, but made me feel a lot worse (because of course I'm pushing for universal healthcare in the US).<br />
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Some of my comments got retweeted, and what do you know, Jill Stanek felt the need to chime in!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[Image of a tweet. The text reads: @JillStanek: So move already. MT @Mowgli3 OK FRIENDS IN COUNTRIES WITH UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE PLEASE STOP BRAGGING. I KNOW YOUR COUNTRY IS BETTER THAN MINE.]</span></div>
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How sweet of her! This woman with a national presence and loads of money felt it necessary to make fun of a 23 year old with a severe chronic illness who care barely afford to pay for her bills. How compassionate! That's some True Christian Love (TM) for you. (<a href="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/4/16/12/anigif_enhanced-buzz-27236-1366128691-7.gif" target="_blank">This</a> is how I feel about it.)<br />
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Now that I'm married & on my partner's insurance, my medical bills are more under control (hooray meeting your deductible by February!), but I can't even imagine what it'd be like to be someone who doesn't have insurance, but needs birth control or an abortion (or even to have insurance, but it's not covered). I remember when I was in college, I had to go without birth control for a while because the stuff I needed cost $70/month--even with my parents' insurance.<br />
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Our society isn't great at making sure no one falls through the cracks of our societal safety net. I have dozens of friends who are adults and have degrees who can't afford basic healthcare needs. If you can't afford to get your car fixed if it breaks down, you can't really afford a kid. This may shock anti-choicers, but funnily enough, most people know when they can't afford a child! <a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html" target="_blank">Three-fourths of the people</a> who received abortions gave not being able to afford a child as a reason for needing their abortion. They don't want to be "welfare moochers" or whatever horrible name the right wing has been using lately for people who receive government benefits.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpuYe9Hv16_wqa8q4BC67ug6w8G_2lqdmKouDezrP7nMnh2a5IjijmPdoY06e-8j_jnJ2MYdr6jM0uSsU8ygEAW_NMqOEn8aGBjK9-UFunNPHjGr99yXprQiR46Xo1QSI9LNMKxT2deTQX/s1600/abortion+bowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpuYe9Hv16_wqa8q4BC67ug6w8G_2lqdmKouDezrP7nMnh2a5IjijmPdoY06e-8j_jnJ2MYdr6jM0uSsU8ygEAW_NMqOEn8aGBjK9-UFunNPHjGr99yXprQiR46Xo1QSI9LNMKxT2deTQX/s1600/abortion+bowl.jpg" height="308" width="400" /></a></div>
Anyway, the Hyde Amendment bans federal dollars from going toward abortions. So, people who need help covering the cost of an abortion need to look elsewhere. That's where the <a href="http://www.fundabortionnow.org/" target="_blank">National Network of Abortion Funds</a> comes in! Every year they do a Bowl-a-thon to get people to raise money to help people who need abortions. You <a href="http://www.fundabortionnow.org/learn/why-abortion-funds" target="_blank">can learn more about why we need abortion funds here</a>.<br />
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I participated last year and had a lot of fun. Then again, my team was called "Coup de Twat," so I'm not sure how I could have NOT had fun.<br />
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I'm <a href="http://bowlathon.nnaf.org/nnafbowl/participantpage.asp?uid=5792&fundid=1537" target="_blank">participating again this year</a>, and I hope you can <a href="http://bowlathon.nnaf.org/nnafbowl/participantpage.asp?uid=5792&fundid=1537" target="_blank">support me</a>. I'm competing against my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/misscherrypi" target="_blank">@MissCherryPi</a> this year though! If <a href="http://bowlathon.nnaf.org/nnafbowl/participantpage.asp?fundid=1506&uid=5572#.UW_9Ls4X3aE.twitter" target="_blank">she raises more money</a> than me, she gets to redecorate my Twitter page for a week, and I have to send her local treats/swag. However, if <a href="http://bowlathon.nnaf.org/nnafbowl/participantpage.asp?uid=5792&fundid=1537" target="_blank">I raise more money</a> than her, I get to redecorate her Twitter page and she has to send me treats. So, obviously, there are important stakes here (I mean, <a href="https://twitter.com/mowgli3" target="_blank">have you looked at my twitter background</a>? No, seriously, <a href="https://twitter.com/mowgli3" target="_blank">go look at it</a>. It's pretty bad ass.) (If you didn't go look, it's my head on the t-rex from Jurassic Park. I told you, bad ass.)<br />
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So, if you want to help support abortion access for all, please consider <a href="http://bowlathon.nnaf.org/nnafbowl/participantpage.asp?uid=5792&fundid=1537" target="_blank">making a donation</a> to my bowl-a-thon page. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(<a href="http://bowlathon.nnaf.org/nnafbowl/participantpage.asp?fundid=1506&uid=5572&fkroledescid=3&nnaffundid=28" target="_blank">or to Elizabeth's page</a>.) </span><br />
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Thanks for supporting everyone's right to reproductive control. :)<br />
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<i>(I tried to use gender neutral language in this post, because I realize not all people who need abortions or birth control identify as women. If I made any errors, I'm sorry and please let me know in the comments.)</i>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-7845141299918610122013-02-05T20:13:00.000-08:002013-02-05T20:23:02.939-08:00How to Use Twitter<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, a lot of people seem really confused about twitter. I've been on twitter for longer than most of you have been alive, so I'm going to explain some things to you.</span><br />
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Keep in mind, while some of these things are true facts, a lot of this is just my subjective experience with the site. My policy is generally to not tell people what to do or say with their lives, but there's gonna be a lot of judgment here, so read with a few grains of salt. </span><br />
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<b>What is Twitter?</b> The definition on Wikipedia is "<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;">an online </span>social networking service<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;"> and </span>microblogging<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;"> service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 </span>characters<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;">, known as '</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;">tweets'</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;">." Obviously, that's really cut and dry. The way I hear most people describe it is "It's like Facebook, but only status updates." That is a terrible definition. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;"><br />Twitter is really what you make of it. To me, it is a social media website that is heavily focused on the news. If you only follow friends who tweet rarely, it's going to be a dead website. If you only follow comedians (like @robdelaney, @mindykaling, </span><span style="line-height: 19.183332443237305px;">@meganamram, </span><span style="line-height: 19.16666603088379px;">@kristenschaaled)</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;">, it'll be just a bunch of short jokes. If you only follow news sites (like @BreakingNews, @AP, </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">@BBCBreaking, @nytimes)</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;">, it'll be a way to stay up on the news. You can follow whoever or whatever you like! I suggest a mix of people to follow, but obviously it's up to you.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1898136138916px;"><b>What are the features/things to know?</b></span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="line-height: 19.183332443237305px;">Hashtags: </b><span style="line-height: 19.183332443237305px;">A word that is preceded by a pound sign (#). You can use a hashtag to describe a common topic of interest (e.g. "I really love this #vegan cheesecake" or "Trying a new medicine soon. Any tips? #Crohns"), because people can search for hashtags (if you click on a hashtag, you'll see lots of other tweets that have been hashtagged with the same word). You can also use a hashtag as a joke (especially as the punchline). Such as, "My husband is cooking dinner for me. #misandry" or "I'm eating cookies and ice cream for dinner. #adulthood." You can't put any punctuation in hashtags, so if you want to include more than one word in a hashtag, just don't use </span><span style="line-height: 19.16666603088379px;">punctuation</span><span style="line-height: 19.183332443237305px;">. For example, "This is an example of a tweet. #ImReallyBoringRightNow" Hashtags are often used to live tweet events. Like during the Superbowl, you could tweet something with the hashtag #SB49 or #BeyonceBowl, depending on what you were into.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.16666603088379px;"><b>Retweets: </b>If you agree with a tweet, or think it's funny, or just want other people to see it, you can retweet it. There's a button on the bottom of a tweet that says "Retweet." Click that. Done. RT before a tweet means retweet, MT before a tweet means Modified Tweet (meaning you changed or shortened it for clarity or space). Don't copy and paste an RT unless you're 800 years old, OR if you want to add a comment to the beginning of it. Such as: "@Fish_nr: Thanks, Obama. RT @Mowgli3 There's only decaf coffee here!!!" <span style="color: red;">LITTLE KNOWN TWITTER FACT</span>: If you like someone's tweets but think they RT too often, you can go to their profile and click the little person symbol next to "following" and click "Turn off retweets." </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.16666603088379px;"><b>The "@" symbol: </b>The @ symbol indicates who you are talking to. If you want to say something to Joe Biden, find his twitter handle (@JoeBiden) and tweet at him. Like "@JoeBiden Please drop another F bomb on TV." <span style="color: red;">LITTLE KNOWN TWITTER FACT:</span> If you begin a tweet with @someone, only people who follow both you and that other person will see it on their timeline. If you want to publicly talk to someone else, either put their @name not at the beginning (for example, "I really liked this blog post by @GretaChristina") or add a period before the @ (for example, ".@GretaChristina I really liked your last blog post!")</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.16666603088379px;"><b>Favorite: </b>On facebook, you can "like" a post. Twitter has a similar feature called the "favorite" button. Click it if you liked someone's post or just want to save it for later (since you can go to your own page and look at things you've favorited). You can see your "most favorited" tweets on FavStar.fm, and you can even pay them to let you give out trophies to people for the "best tweet of the day," but mostly this is 21st century masturbation (to steal a phrase from @Crommunist). </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.16666603088379px;"><b>Follow Friday: </b>On Friday, it's common to recommend other people to follow. Some people do it like this: "#FF </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/ologies" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial !important;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>ologies</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/dELYSEious" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial !important;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>dELYSEious</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/sashapixlee" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial !important;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>sashapixlee</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/enjoyyourbunny" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial !important;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>enjoyyourbunny</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/chaos46692" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial !important;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>chaos46692</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/sondosia" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>sondosia</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/rebeccawatson" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial !important;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>rebeccawatson</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/thelindywest" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial !important;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>thelindywest</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/SpokesGay" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial !important;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>SpokesGay</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span><a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/boring_as_heck" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial;"><s style="text-decoration: initial;">@</s>boring_as_heck</a><span style="line-height: 18px;">" Then, inevitably, throughout the day, somebody will reply to everyone on that list with a "Thank you!" or "TY!" Both of these things are obnoxious and to be avoided (even though all the people on that list are pretty cool and worth following, IMO). The way to do a Follow Friday is by either picking a category and putting 2-4 people on it (like "#FF Vegans: @CarriePoppyYES </span><span class="username js-action-profile-name" style="background-color: white; direction: ltr; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a class="account-group js-user-profile-link" href="https://twitter.com/ManiacWrangler" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial;">@ManiacWrangler</a> @JamieKilstein) or doing one person at a time and mentioning why. "#FF @clairemc because she is the funniest Senator on twitter." Do a few of these. If you overload people, they won't care.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="username js-action-profile-name" style="background-color: white; direction: ltr; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b>Blocking: </b>If someone is irritating you and you don't want to see their tweets anymore...block them! <span style="color: red;">LITTLE KNOWN TWITTER FACT:</span> Someone blocking you actually isn't taking away your free speech, it just means they don't want to see or read you. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Report for Spam: </b>Sometimes you'll be excited to see you got a new follower, only to find out it's @Sexxxxxy42961 who "loves to get down and dirty." As excited as you may be, this person is a fake. Report them for spam, you're doing everyone else a favor. Also, people who tweet at you with great offers like "Selling ipads for $10!!!! <link>" are also spammers. Report them as well.</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, those are the basics of twitter. I was going to include more information on how to not suck at twitter, but I'm tired and bored and so this will do for now. If you have any other twitter tricks, leave them in the comments. Good luck, and tweetspeed.<br /><br />(Oh, and if you're my husband and your twitter handle is @livinginfits, you should start using twitter more often, because you're hilarious and I want other people to see that. Also because I don't talk to you often enough as it is now, we need another platform for communication.)</span>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-36558934071484461932012-12-23T14:34:00.001-08:002012-12-23T14:34:31.073-08:00Why I Care About the Atheist Movement (AKA The Poop Story)<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, lots of people know I talk about poop a lot. This story will be no exception, although in this case it isn't my poop I'll be talking about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Flash back to 2007. I was a conservative Christian who was losing faith (but stubbornly clinging to it, since I knew nothing else), and I was also a high school senior deciding where to go to college. I had visited a tiny Christian college in a small town in Iowa (pop: 10,000) and fallen in love with it and decided to go there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fast forward to 2010: I'm back from a semester spent in Johannesburg, South Africa, very progressive, and an atheist-- and now back in this conservative small town and hyper-religious campus. I was frustrated with how completely pervasive Christianity was on campus (often, I'd be "tricked" into going to religious events-- posters would advertise events such as a campus-wide game of Capture the Flag but wouldn't mention the 30 minutes of "sharing testimony" before we could play-- not that doing that is wrong, simply that I think it is disingenuous to say "open to everyone!" and not mention that it was essentially a Christian group). Wanting to see if there were any other non-theists on campus and to hopefully start a community, I asked Twitter how I could start an atheist club at my school. I was directed to the <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/" target="_blank">Secular Student Alliance</a> (who I now work for, full disclosure). I requested a <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/groupstartingpacket" target="_blank">Group Starting Packet</a>, managed to find a faculty sponsor, and put an announcement on the student announcement page that simply read "Atheist, Agnostic, or generally non-religious? If you're interested in starting a Freethinkers' Club, email me!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Campus blew up. I got emails from staff members (to my pleasant surprise, the staff and administration was very supportive about my right to start the group), fellow atheist students (who had mainly been quiet about their non-beliefs, which explains why I thought I was the only one), and Christians (some of whom were very supportive, and some of whom were <i>very</i> upset). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's an example of what someone who was friends with me on FB said (and one of their friends, followed by my response):<br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxvUYNliQBg4JLD0zh97ti3vS37PFo9_fBTSHcak241TenKs-EKa2SMjRvhGVTFh-cBETIalu2-2Zum-5hG6TeZ4w7B3OgBMM_QSHOyDU2PiW-K5fvg8pPvuGOkLCaHSfdp5RtpRD3QVbn/s1600/FB+angry+freethinkers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxvUYNliQBg4JLD0zh97ti3vS37PFo9_fBTSHcak241TenKs-EKa2SMjRvhGVTFh-cBETIalu2-2Zum-5hG6TeZ4w7B3OgBMM_QSHOyDU2PiW-K5fvg8pPvuGOkLCaHSfdp5RtpRD3QVbn/s1600/FB+angry+freethinkers.JPG" height="50" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSDwq1AuGEy3b_yjnn0jqC50euGHdiFcQPdunEAWbekgz37gjqz86wZfWaCadmqzNeU93m_mNMCCyA3jWCfepH0uPy42KRCcSp-sDrF-WmLAn1ZDc85Y2IeKW1FhQArvBoiUdPEoexGZq/s1600/Fb+angry+freethinkers+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSDwq1AuGEy3b_yjnn0jqC50euGHdiFcQPdunEAWbekgz37gjqz86wZfWaCadmqzNeU93m_mNMCCyA3jWCfepH0uPy42KRCcSp-sDrF-WmLAn1ZDc85Y2IeKW1FhQArvBoiUdPEoexGZq/s1600/Fb+angry+freethinkers+2.JPG" height="90" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7pqjgLtrAuGEX8FlcMTsH7BiXtVlg4Cou2ncxKy1a-pYG6jbD5jH3HmjzZqm-q8rwCPY0QntnuyHJWhrSu4o1XhKFuO7MzXDRohhEd36rYX4H2pdSv5eRPaQOAIlNlb3QtAJQMeexnyn/s1600/Fb+angry+freethinkers+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7pqjgLtrAuGEX8FlcMTsH7BiXtVlg4Cou2ncxKy1a-pYG6jbD5jH3HmjzZqm-q8rwCPY0QntnuyHJWhrSu4o1XhKFuO7MzXDRohhEd36rYX4H2pdSv5eRPaQOAIlNlb3QtAJQMeexnyn/s1600/Fb+angry+freethinkers+3.JPG" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The whole conversation went on for pages, and someone who didn't attend my school (or even know me) stood up for me, but of course everyone kept arguing against him and called me a "jackass." My comment was deleted shortly after it was posted, and so I unfriended the person who made the status (although, to this person's credit, they sent me an email a few days later with a semi-apology, and a year or two after I graduated this person eventually became involved in the SSA at my school. To my knowledge, they are not an atheist, but they are now supportive of secularism/secularists, so that worked out better than expected in the long run). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, conversations were started on campus, and that was what I wanted. In order to start a club at my school, you needed 10 signatures of people who supported the club formation. I think I got somewhere around 35 signatures, all from people who shared my sentiments: campus was not a very friendly place to non-Christians. So, I filed all the necessary paperwork and posted the time and date of the first meeting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So many people showed up to our first meeting! I was thrilled! We had a great, positive meeting, where people talked about how they felt excluded frequently, how they would have pamphlets about Jesus pushed under their doors at night, how people would be rude or dismissive when one of them said they didn't want to participate in a religious ritual, how professors called them out in class for not "believing," and a whole litany of other microaggressions. This group, we all hoped, would change that-- or at the very least, offer a safe space where those microaggressions wouldn't happen and where we could feel safe talking about our lack of beliefs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I left the meeting feeling better than I ever had in my three previous years at the school. The next morning, I woke up, still flying high from the excitement from the meeting. I opened my door to go take a shower...and a garbage can full of liquid fell on me. "This is a minor inconvenience," I thought to myself as I picked up the can-- that's when I realized it wasn't water, but urine. I started crying and texted the Hall Director so the cleaning staff could come by to clean it up, showered, and left for classes that day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I came back that afternoon and felt so discouraged. Why were people reacting like this? A handful of Christians had shown up to the meeting, not to argue, but to show support for us. Why couldn't more people just <i>talk</i> to us so they knew we weren't just sitting around, bashing Christians? Didn't they realize they were the majority on campus (and in the country) and that our tiny little group was in no way threatening to them? It was so frustrating. However, as discouraging as having a bucket of urine fall on me was, it also strengthened my resolve to keep the group going. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, the meetings continued...and so did the harassment. Posters were torn down more often than left up, or they had "fuck you" or "die atheist bitch" written on them, people would leave anonymous notes in my mailbox about how much they hated me and how awful I was for starting the group, my door handle was superglued (so I couldn't get my key in the lock), not to mention the rumors or passive aggressive comments made to me in class (before, of course, refusing to have an actual discussion with me about the group). Nothing topped what happened Easter weekend, though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I went home for Easter weekend (since I lived about 7 hours from campus and didn't have a lot of opportunities to see my family during the year), but only after a very serious deliberation about going to the American Atheists conference in Des Moines that year. I was driving back to campus with a girl who lived in my hometown, and my neighbor (and the girl with whom I shared a bathroom) in my dorm called me. The conversation went like this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Neighbor: "Hey Sarah...are you on campus?"<br />Me: "No, I'm still about 2-3 hours away. Why, what's up?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Neighbor: "Um...somebody did something to our bathroom."<br />Me: "What did they do?"<br />Neighbor: "...It's covered in shit."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: "What do you mean?" <i>(Thinking she meant someone had sprayed our toothpaste everywhere or something, which I had seen done before)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Neighbor: "It's covered in shit."<br />Me: "Yeah, I get that, what kind of shit?"<br />Neighbor: "<i>Actual</i> shit. Like...human."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep. Someone(s) had shit in our bathroom and then smeared it all over my half. On the counter, on the floor, on the mirror, above the light...the real cherry on top was when they put all my soap, shampoo, and toothbrush in it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luckily the cleaning staff had it all cleaned up by the time I got back (and my friend was willing to drive me to Wal-Mart so I could buy new toiletries), but still, the damage was done and the message was clear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By this time, I think the administration was sick of dealing with my problems (and by that I mean the problems people had with me) and they didn't even try to find out who did it. I ran into the head of security a couple days later and asked him how the investigation was going, and he hadn't even heard about the situation (and it was a small enough school that he would have heard of it).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know other members of the group faced harassment as well, but nothing quite as severe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was frustrating, but the group kept going, and is still going today. I like to think I changed some people's minds, but even if I didn't, I made a safe space for people to talk about their lack of beliefs. There were several people who told me I was the only atheist they had ever met, so at the very least I was able to help some people realize atheists are real people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The curious thing I've noticed looking back now (2 years removed) is the response people had to it: almost every single person I told either assured me that most Christians would never do that (which I would never think or claim), or they reacted with anger (either toward Christianity or at my school). The only person (aside from close friends) who I can recall focusing on how I, as a person, reacted and felt about it, was <a href="http://www.facebook.com/stiefelfreethoughtfoundation?fref=ts" target="_blank">Todd Stiefel</a> (at the 2011 Texas Freethought Convention). I remember going to my room after our conversation and crying, because it <i>did </i>still hurt-- yet most people used this story as an opportunity to make it about their agenda (either for or against Christianity).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not going to say the people who did it did it because they were Christians, or because they were "bad Christians" (both arguments I've heard), they did it because they're malicious people who probably felt threatened by someone who thought differently than they did. It was a shitty (ha ha) thing to do, and I would never condone anyone doing something like that to someone. To be honest, it feels pretty dehumanizing to have someone hate you SO MUCH that they willing touch their own feces to smear on your stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wanted to write this story much earlier, but I either felt too mad or hurt about it until about now. My life rocks now, I have a great partner, a job I love, two adorable cats, and we just bought a house. However, I still want to share this story because I want people to know what it can be like to be an atheist (or just to be different) in a small town. It's scary, and it's rough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's why I encourage groups like <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/affiliates" target="_blank">Secular Student Alliance affiliates</a>. A lot of people on places like r/atheism ask "Why would you meet? Atheism isn't a religion!" and my response is this. Because being ostracized because of your beliefs really sucks, and it's nice to have a community that supports you. Funnily enough, even though it was me starting the group that caused the harassment, it was also the group that got me through it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, I guess I'm pretty much over it now. However, if you're moved by my story and want to help, <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/support" target="_blank">donate to the SSA</a>, because somewhere out there there's a student going through what I went through or worse, and we want to help them. Or just share this story. Or just don't poop on anyone's stuff, for any reason, ever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And that's my poop story. Now you know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-10941567276577492412012-12-03T20:41:00.003-08:002012-12-03T20:46:58.956-08:00Why You Don't Really Love Hermione-- But You Should<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I've been re-reading the Harry Potter books for the 10,000th time, and the same thing struck me that always does-- everyone (I'm talking about fans of the books here, not characters within them) talks about how much they love Hermione. Hermione is by far my favorite character in the series, and it might be a bit hipster-ish of me to feel this way ("Ugh, I don't want liking her to be so <i>mainstream!</i>"), but seriously, it drives me up a wall when people talk about how much they love the series and love the character but completely fail to understand her character.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, when I'm talking about fans, I'm usually talking about the people on reddit who post pictures like these: </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHFs_KawMPs_T45YY2VSQ-hRjGxHqIJvYVj_vWoh7LOXCTMxaHDVda9RnZX0Ad_KodXFkBKBKqOFZOLX_90rSdiTepyHgF8YF3H86LByHbelwGwCcZJBtllbX5N5GPcN8K_A7ZmzVIy4YX/s1600/hermione.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHFs_KawMPs_T45YY2VSQ-hRjGxHqIJvYVj_vWoh7LOXCTMxaHDVda9RnZX0Ad_KodXFkBKBKqOFZOLX_90rSdiTepyHgF8YF3H86LByHbelwGwCcZJBtllbX5N5GPcN8K_A7ZmzVIy4YX/s1600/hermione.jpg" height="125" width="200" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmjQvDTs-e7WXXVSEbyZ5HmvK7kikjZmACdhEkmvEGs6gv5rYoOmR1SAo0UreNPDh0gZ8TrV9cMCH3QZDxYmm6hyQpaLf-nnNfPEplyevzIu-uNLHES_0AowwwsgN4drzq60IQDBLqPtXu/s1600/hermione+grown+up.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmjQvDTs-e7WXXVSEbyZ5HmvK7kikjZmACdhEkmvEGs6gv5rYoOmR1SAo0UreNPDh0gZ8TrV9cMCH3QZDxYmm6hyQpaLf-nnNfPEplyevzIu-uNLHES_0AowwwsgN4drzq60IQDBLqPtXu/s1600/hermione+grown+up.png" height="120" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Usually with oh-so-clever titles like "<a href="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxxgocwXmo1qaoauio1_500.png" target="_blank">My, How You've Grown Up, Hermione</a>," or "Hermione the Atheist." (also usually accompanied by the quote: "<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"But that's - I'm sorry but that's completely ridiculous! How can I </span><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">possibly</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> prove it doesn't exist? Do you expect me to get hold of - of all the pebbles in the world and test them? I mean you could claim that </span><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">anything's</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody </span><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">proved</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> it </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">doesn't exist!"). </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, here are my bones to pick with this. First of all, the grown woman in these pictures is Emma Watson, who is an Actual Person and not a fictional character. I'm sure Emma Watson is a lovely person, but that doesn't make her Hermione Granger. Stop sexualizing a child (since, for the majority of the books, Hermione's character is not even 16 years old-- also why I find "Sexy Hermione costumes" to be really creepy). </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ANYWAY...my point here is, Hermione is a strong female character. She is unabashedly intelligent, courageous, kind, and many other traits. The trait I like most about her, however, is her commitment to standing up to bullies and calling them out, and more importantly, standing up for people or creatures who are in the minority and/or are being squashed by the majority.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If we take this and apply it to reality, it means that Hermione does and is all of the things that you hate in a person. She'll correct you when you're wrong-- and all skeptics and atheists react well to that, right? She'll also give you hard truths when you need to hear them, even if you don't want to.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I see Hermione in a lot of the women I respect. She stands up to Umbridge directly when Umbridge starts behaving unfairly toward the students (and jeopardizing their safety by refusing to teach them defensive magic)-- much like my friend Miriam of Brute Reason when </span><a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/brutereason/2012/11/27/dear-northwestern-administration-wake-up/" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" target="_blank">she tells her university's administration to "wake up" in regards to the substandard level of care and attention given to mental health issues on her campus</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">. Sure, a lot of people can grumble about bad administrations, or do things to make the administrator's lives more difficult (like vandalism or making unhelpful remarks), or simply leave the school because they don't want to fight for better things (not that I am in any way blaming someone who would leave the school in order to take care of their mental health)-- but Miriam doesn't do that. <i>She gets shit done.</i> She's now meeting with higher ups at her university to talk about the issues on campus and her suggestions on how to improve mental health issues on campus.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then there's the fact that Hermione is willing to go against what everyone else believes or to call out big and powerful people in her world (like popular sports players or the Minister of Magic). I don't mean something like bragging about how you're an atheist to a generally atheistic crowd, I mean calling out a <a href="http://themerelyreal.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/richard-dawkins-really-just-needs-an-internal-editor/" target="_blank">very famous and well-known atheist author</a> or <a href="http://themerelyreal.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/in-which-geek-culture-is-not-in-fact-perfect-female-role-models/" target="_blank">pointing out the misogyny of popular culture</a> like my friend Chana has (by the way, 'geek culture' is pop culture, as much as you may try to deny it). </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hermione also speaks up for minorities, oppressed, and generally ignored groups. You see this when she starts SPEW (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) that everyone else laughs at, or when she defends Eloise Midgen (the girl who is always referenced as having terrible acne), among other times. I see this in my friend Kate, who takes the time to <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/ashleymiller/2012/11/24/do-something-good/" target="_blank">transcribe videos from conferences</a> so people who are hearing impaired can appreciate them as well. Hermione takes the time to care for those who show not a shred of interest in her (like Kreacher), the same way Kate <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/ashleymiller/2012/11/14/love-letter/" target="_blank">encourages us to care and love for one another</a>.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hermione is like the progressive vegan who reminds you that eating animals is wrong because it is immoral and destroying our planet, like my friend Simon does (she doesn't have a blog, or I'd link it here, but she does this a lot in person, like when she and her partner <a href="http://www.govegango.org/" target="_blank">create a non-profit to make free websites for vegan organizations</a>). Hermione does this time and time again, much to the chagrin of the main characters (and every other character, to be honest), but she's <i>right.</i> She has a strong moral compass, and she follows it at all times, even when it's inconvenient.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, Hermione gets harassed for supporting unpopular positions (like that Voldemort has returned or the importance of SPEW), much like <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/2012/09/goodbye-for-now/" target="_blank">Jen McCreight</a>. We don't often see Hermione break down due to the torment of her peers, but I think that's more due to Harry's inability to deal with other people's emotions than to Hermione's unending perseverance-- although, let's be honest, she's quite a strong woman, just like Jen is).</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">While Hermione is the Reddit Atheist's heroine for pointing out illogical thinking, she also doesn't encourage being a shitlord to people she disagrees with. She goes out of her way to be nice to muggles, the group that wizards regularly look down upon or ignore. She encourages inter-house cooperation, even when tensions between them are running high (see: during Quidditch season), like my friend <a href="http://iamologies.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/girl-unleashed/" target="_blank">Sarah does during the Great Skeptic War of 201</a>2. She goes out of her way to be nice to house elves, to the possible detriment of her own comfort. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Hermione makes a point of not caring about her appearance (she is described as "unrecognizable" when she dresses up for the Yule Ball). If a stereotypical reddit atheist met real-life Hermione, he would hate her and call her a cunt.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I realize all of these analogies aren't perfect. I also realize that I'm leaving out many women I respect, so I'm sorry (it's more me being too tired to write more but also realizing that if I leave this as a draft I'll never finish it, so I'm just gonna hit post). </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the next time you (and by "you," I more mean redditors and/or misogynistic nerds) want to whine about how you'd prefer a girl like Hermione over someone vapid like [insert x popular female celebrity], just remember, there <i>are</i> Hermiones all over the place-- you're just too busy shunning, harassing, mocking, or ignoring them.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>[By the way, I have a feeling I'm gonna get a lot of hate for calling out "reddit atheists"-- I know, not everyone on reddit is an awful person, but let's face it: there are some serious sexism problems on reddit. Pictures of me have frontpaged a handful of times (namely because I work in a job that allows me a lot of opportunities that r/atheism would appreciate), and I'm either told that I'm hot, or ugly, or look annoying, or should be raped, or something like that. It's usually not "wow, congratulations on raising $1,200 for the SSA!" or questions about my job-- nope, it's "wow, check out her rack!" or "god, she looks annoying." So, yes, I know not everyone on reddit is awful, but if you are going to act like there's no problem there, then you're <a href="http://skepchick.org/2011/12/reddit-makes-me-hate-atheists/" target="_blank">just objectively wrong</a>.]</i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So, as most of you know, I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's
disease. There are a lot of misconceptions, well-intentioned but harmful
comments and behaviors, and other things not to do or say to someone with a
chronic illness. So, let's go over some, shall we? (Of course, I don't speak for every person with a chronic illness, as they are all different and people are all different. If someone else with a chronic illness has other thoughts, feel free to add them to the comments and I can adjust this post.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>1)</b></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Being diagnosed <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">≠ when you got the disease.</span></b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I was diagnosed with Crohn's in
May of 2012. I <a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2012/08/hey-im-getting-surgery.html" target="_blank">had surgery for it </a>in August of 2012. Many people have said
to me, "But if you got it in May, why are you having surgery so
soon?" Fun fact: I didn't get Crohn's disease in May. I've had it for
years (possibly my whole life). I just couldn't afford to go to a specialist
to get diagnosed until I was 23. I remember when I was 15, going back and
back and back to my family doctor, who just insisted that I take laxatives
every day (which didn't really help). Then I remember having a flare up my
first week back to college sophomore year, and the hospital told me I probably had ovarian cancer (????), then ran a test and
saw that I didn't, then released me 5 hours later when I stopped vomiting.
Top notch care, that is. By the time I did get diagnosed, permanent damage had been done and less invasive treatments weren't working, so surgery was my most viable option. But on that subject...</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>2)</b> </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">You do not own or control my body</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. Why do people (especially acquaintances/strangers) seem to think they get to have a say in my treatment? "You know surgery is permanent, right?" Whaaaat?! You mean I won't just regenerate 10" of my small bowel?? I had no idea! Thank you, stranger, for letting me know the risks of a surgery that you've never performed and have no experience with. Same goes for medications or other treatments. "That pill is really harsh on your body, are you sure you want to be taking it?" If a doctor has prescribed me a medication or treatment, and I've agreed to it, it means the benefits of it will outweigh the harm (barring something major or unpredictable, like an allergic reaction). If you want to sympathize with me, that's fine. <br /><br />"Oh, you're on prednisone? That's rough, I was on it a few years ago and I hated it. I'm sorry you have to deal with that." = Nice and supportive.<br /><br />"Oh, you're on prednisone? You know it causes [x] side effect, right? You should have your doctor put you on something else." = Not okay.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><b>3)</b> <b>Praying for me is okay.</b> I won't be mad if you say that you're doing that, even if I don't believe that prayer does anything. <b>But know what's better? Offering to help me.</b> Don't be pushy, because sometimes there's not really anything you can do, but there definitely are times when you can help. My partner Sean has been incredibly wonderful and supportive (<a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-i-got-engaged.html" target="_blank">click here</a> if you want to see another entry about how disgustingly cute we are), but he obviously can't be there for me every minute of every day. If you offer to do things for me, like drive me to a doctor's appointment on a day when I can't drive, or to pick up medication from the store for me (or even littler things, like a snack or a book from the library), that is really touching. I may never take you up on the offer (for whatever reason), but simply offering to do that does make me feel like I have a strong support system.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />Don't live close enough to me to do that? Little things help as well. Email me some cute pictures of animals, or play silly little games with me (like Words with Friends). Send me a letter or a nice email. Recommend books or TV shows to watch. Or something. Just letting me know you're thinking of me helps. However...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>4)</b> <b>Don't be mad when I can't do things or don't respond. </b>I read all the messages you send me, I promise. I just don't always have the energy to respond. To you, it may not seem like a lot of effort, but when you only have <a href="http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/" target="_blank">a few spoons left in your daily energy level</a>, everything seems much more difficult. It's nothing personal, I promise.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On that vein, if you invite me out to do things, and it seems like I'm always saying no...I'm sorry. Again, don't take it personally, I just don't always feel capable of going out. Same goes for if I agree to do something, and then flake out later. I probably feel awful about it, but it's just not possible sometimes.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>5)</b> <b>"But you're well enough to do x, why can't you do y?" </b>Some people think that if I'm able to play video games or tweet or update Facebook, I should be well enough to do...I don't know, anything else. This is not always the case. Guess what, I can do almost all of those things from my bed or the bathroom. Or if I am capable of playing Lord of the Rings Online (which you should download; play on Silverlode and I'll send you my character name and we can be buddies), can't I go do something else? Turns out, I can play video games just fine if I'm on heavy painkillers. It doesn't mean I can go drive a car or go out to dinner or hang out with you otherwise.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>6)</b> <b>"Are you addicted to painkillers?" / "Wow, I wouldn't want to be on such heavy drugs for such a long time!"</b> Cool, well when you have a painful chronic illness, you can deal with it in your own way. If you choose to abstain from painkillers, great, good for you. That doesn't make me a bad person for needing them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><b>7) Respect my privacy.</b> I don't always
want to talk about it. I don't always want to tell you all the intimate details of my bodily happenings. I'm a fairly open person, but sometimes, I just really don't want to talk about it. If I say I'm not feeling great, you ask for details, and I'm vague, don't push it. If you do push it (or even if you just ask), and I say something like, "Yep, it basically feels like there's lava coming out of my butthole," don't get mad at me for grossing you out. You asked. (Also, you think it's gross hearing about it? Try living with it.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(PS, anyone who say it's "unladylike" or something to talk about "gross" things like my bowel movements can fuck right off, for several reasons.)</span>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">8) "I have [temporary minor condition]. I totally know what you're going through."</b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> This one might be the one that makes my blood boil the most. Oh, wow, you get diarrhea on occasion, just like </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">every other person on the planet? </i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Gosh, you must know exactly what it's like being me! How about that time you had to go the doctor every single week for several months for invasive, painful, and annoying tests? And what about that medication you had to be on that caused suicidal thoughts? And how did you deal with that time that your incision site from your major surgery got infected and your doctor had to cut open your stitches and drain out the pus before your pain meds even kicked in? Oh, you mean you just took some Pepto-Bismol and you were fine a few hours later? Yeah, those things are totally comparable, good call.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(By the way, all actual things that have happened to me in the past ~6 months.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>9) "My family member had that, and they're fine now. Why aren't you?" </b>Wow, I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that people's bodies are different and illnesses present differently in different people? Think about all the people you know who've had cancer. Probably some have survived and some have not. Have you ever gone to a funeral of someone who died from cancer and said, "Well my aunt survived breast cancer; why did your mom die from it?" </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><b>10) "Have you seen a
doctor?" / "Why didn't you go to a doctor sooner?" </b>To remind you, you don't own my body. Secondly, do you know how expensive doctors are? I couldn't afford to see specialists until almost a year after being employed and on my own insurance. Even now, if I didn't have a partner who had a good income, I would not be able to afford treatments. Every time I go to the doctor, my copay is $50 because I'm seeing specialists (even after I've met my deductible), not to mention the pay I lose from being out of work for weeks at a time. Oh, and add on top of that all of my prescriptions. It's classist to assume everyone can afford seeing a doctor regularly when they are expensive as fuck. It's not like when you have a virus and can stop by the doctor, get some medicine, and bam, you're done. It's a constant process.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span>But also, yes, I have seen a doctor (many, in fact). Not that it is really any of your business.<br /><br /><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><b>11) Have you tried X therapy? I haven't used it, but this totally-not-sketchy website<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>said it's great!" </b>Ulghsldkghsdlgkhdslhgsdlghsd. Why do people think that an article they once saw on Cracked.com is the same thing as actual advice from a medical professional? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">There is a caveat to this, being: if you have the same disease as I do and there's a treatment you tried & liked, you can suggest it to me. <i>However</i>, this does not mean a) you can be pushy about it or b) that it will automatically work for me. Just saying, "Oh, have you heard about this new treatment where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helminthic_therapy" target="_blank">they put fucking gross parasitic worms inside your body</a> to help cure your disease? My doc recommended it and it helped me a lot." is good enough. You don't have to tell me to do it, because I'll probably look into and talk to my doctor about it. We can talk about stuff, you don't need to try to guilt me into it. Mainly because...</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>12) YOU ARE NOT A DOCTOR.</b> And if you are, you aren't MY doctor. I know you have good intentions, but stop. Just stop.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><b>13) Suggest I eat more veggies / exercise
more / sleep more. </b>You know what, you're absolutely right. If I just eat more organic vegetables, work out 30 minutes a day, and get 8 hours of rest a night, my autoimmune disease will just disappear!! Golly, why didn't I think of that before?! You are a genius and have solved all of my issues, congratulations! Have <a href="http://data.whicdn.com/images/14037695/3272841664_30abf67a37_z_thumb.jpg" target="_blank">this cookie</a>. </span><br /><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><b>14) Let me be scared.</b> It isn't
your life on the line. Encourage me, support me, but don't tell </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">me to "not worry." That is literally the least helpful thing you can say to me. Try saying instead, "Your doctors are very competent, but I can understand why you'd be scared. If there's anything I can do, let me know."</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This list was originally going to be much shorter, but I tweeted about my rage and a few other people with chronic illnesses chipped in, and so I added a few more things. If you have a chronic illness, please feel free add your thoughts.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">And remember, I don't speak for all people with illnesses. This is just me, and if other people with long-term medical issues relate, feel free to share it.<br /><br /><b>Edit: </b>I wrote this with physical ailments in mind, but I think a lot of it can apply to people with mental illnesses as well. Just because an illness is invisible doesn't make it any less real, folks.</span></div>
Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-30652999787647768592012-09-04T15:58:00.003-07:002013-08-24T09:57:14.251-07:00How I Got EngagedSo, I feel like I've told everyone in the world, but in case you don't know, I recently got engaged. :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWyG5dLS-N0lUrP5xbPoH6rEAW3n1z4QeIuUwJOl96H9lrUWriuHYpXH6gzTYA9GnXbX6UuVtJFu86YzT-CC1h_URGCjrFeq4_9jUJy1kavbJY0bBqpX_GL7lpIU-QPPi2lHg7PP5P_U/s1600/Sarah+&+Sean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWyG5dLS-N0lUrP5xbPoH6rEAW3n1z4QeIuUwJOl96H9lrUWriuHYpXH6gzTYA9GnXbX6UuVtJFu86YzT-CC1h_URGCjrFeq4_9jUJy1kavbJY0bBqpX_GL7lpIU-QPPi2lHg7PP5P_U/s320/Sarah+&+Sean.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<i>My friend Amanda made us this custom illustration, and I cannot get over how incredibly adorable it is. If you'd like to see more of her work, check out <a href="http://apandastudio.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">her blog</a>.</i></div>
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So some backstory: Sean and I met about a year ago at a Reddit r/Columbus meetup (that I hosted, since I had just moved to the city). We had so much fun at this meetup that we decided to make it a weekly thing, and thus Bar Thursdays were born.<br />
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<i>See, we even sat at the same table :)</i></div>
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I don't really drink, but it was fun to meet up with people every week (for a couple months we played trivia, which I enjoy quite a bit). Sean and I played on the same trivia team quite a few times, but we weren't particularly good friends until I saw a post on r/Columbus about a David Bowie movie that was showing at a local theater. As I was leaving the meetup (early, because I am a fart), I asked if anyone wanted to go see the movie with me. Sean said, "Sure, I'll go see that," and we made plans to get dinner and go see it.<br />
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We met at the Blue Danube, which, as Sean describes it, is a place where you can "get a burger and it won't kill you." Take that as you will. His friend Bart joined us, we had a <strike>nice</strike> dinner, and Sean and I went off to the movie. We sat down and watched it...and sat in silence for the entire movie. Turns out, the movie is awful. We both hated it. I wanted to start cracking jokes within 10 minutes...but I figured Sean was enjoying it, so I kept my mouth shut (turns out, he felt the exact same way). The movie ended, we walked out, and just, "So...that was pretty awful, huh?" and had a good laugh over how bad it was.<br />
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We had a casual friendship after that, grabbing food here and there, texting once in a while (one of my favorite interactions was that he texted me on Thanksgiving to let me know that the undefeated Packers were winning, and not realizing that he knew almost nothing about football, I replied, "Uh, obviously." I didn't know he was trying to impress me at that point. :)...but then two things happened that solidified our friendship.<br />
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The first was a minor emergency that I had. Of course, I call it a minor emergency, anyone else would...probably not call it that. It was November, and since I had moved in to my apartment, my lock had been only working sporadically. I got to my door and couldn't get it open...so, of course, I started crying. I was new to the city, didn't have many friends...and felt very, very stupid for not being able to get my door open. I called a friend of mine who only lived a block or two away, and he didn't answer. I started to panic some more, and mentally ran through a list of people I could call who would help me and who wouldn't mock me terribly for being unable to get my door open. Sean was the only person I could come up with. So I called him, crying, and he agreed to come right over to help me. He finally showed up (I called at 1 PM, so, naturally, I woke him up and he had to shower), and it took him about 30 seconds to open my door. Simultaneously humiliated and relieved, I started to cry. Allowing me to save face, Sean offered to take me to lunch. I had errands to do that day, but I knew I wasn't going to get anything done because if Sean left I'd just cry and hug my cat, so we went off to lunch.<br />
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At lunch, we discovered our shared love for Lord of the Rings. So we planned for the next weekend to be what we call "Steak and Lord of the Rings Day." Sean and I went to the store and bought supplies for cooking steaks, then sat down and watched the Lord of the Rings movies (we only manged to get through 2 of them, but don't judge us). It was fun, and it was that day we really went from being "someone I know from the internet" to "friends." It's amusing to me that this was our solidifying moment, especially since we're both vegan now (but don't worry, we still love Lord of the Rings). There was a Republican party debate on that night, which I wanted to watch and live tweet, but Sean was invited to a party, so he left to go do that. (The funny thing is, both of us were shocked that we didn't want to do the thing with the other person-- but I still give him shit for not sticking around to watch the debate with me, because I still think watching a GOP debating is more fun than going to a party.)<br />
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After that, we started hanging out pretty frequently, drawn together largely by a love of food and a hatred of eating alone. Sean took me around the city, showing me his favorite restaurants, and we got to try some cool places together.<br />
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We very rarely made plans, and I would often be at work and think about how I wanted to relax alone that night...but then as soon as I got home from work, I'd text Sean and suddenly he'd be over, and we'd be watching Parks and Recreation, or playing video games, or just talking. We went to see Fun. together, and Radiohead, and we went to DC together for the documentary that I'm in. He also took a day off work to take care of me after I had a colonoscopy.<br />
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About a week before SSA Con, power went out in most of Columbus, which included my place, but not his. He invited me over to crash the night it happened, but I was stubborn and refused...until the next morning, when I woke up and it was 90+ degrees in my apartment and my cat and I were overheating. We spent the day in his AC'd apartment...until that night, when I ended up having a super bad Crohn's flare up and was hospitalized. They sent me home around 2 AM, with the warning that if I couldn't keep food down, I should come back. Of course, the next day...I was in Puke City. Back to the ER we went!<br />
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I was sitting in my hospital bed, waiting to be seen by a doctor, and holding a puke bag in front of me. I was pretty miserable (being in the hospital, away from family...kind of scary), I was crying and I said, "I'm sick and in the hospital and there's no one in this town who loves me." (because I'm a whiner). Sean said, "But I love you." And then he looked away, naturally. So he didn't realize that I said, "I love you, too" back to him...and I semi-whispered it...we'll say it was because my throat was raw from vomiting, but maybe I was a little nervous, too. Then we had that awkward (or adorable), "Oh...you didn't hear that, did you?" "Wait, what did you say?" conversation...it was all very cute. :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1GIZKK0vbOuh7EIEXAJYdIh1twWtIugcdIlPOk4pqfosegdFwZA7pkTj4pFoTVV-ahrorda7YQAmsnlWuC7kq6xwCGT0hOpZp6IRMKuLn_Q44zgMjG55LLBU01tkmkKnwP0l9OfKBtP6/s1600/sean+and+i+photobooth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1GIZKK0vbOuh7EIEXAJYdIh1twWtIugcdIlPOk4pqfosegdFwZA7pkTj4pFoTVV-ahrorda7YQAmsnlWuC7kq6xwCGT0hOpZp6IRMKuLn_Q44zgMjG55LLBU01tkmkKnwP0l9OfKBtP6/s320/sean+and+i+photobooth.jpg" width="240" /></a>Once Sean and I started dating "officially" (as in, made it happen on fb), he moved in, and of course we started talking about marriage (as you do when you just start dating). It honestly made things easier, because at that point we were at one place or the other every single day, and it was getting difficult to cook because we had to keep track of where certain things were when cooking).<br />
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We kind of both knew we wanted to marry each other, and we'd often make jokes about when and where we'd propose to each other, or how we'd do it (sort of like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMA1R0FHfCs" target="_blank">Jim freaking out Pam on The Office by fake proposing to tie his shoe</a>, etc.). We even went to the mall one day and looked at rings (and commemorated it by getting "just ducky" photos). The discussion turned to which one of us was going to do the proposing-- and Sean said he'd like me to do it. So, I started planning.<br />
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So, fast forward to now. If you read my previous entry, it's about <a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2012/08/hey-im-getting-surgery.html" target="_blank">my surgery</a> (which went mostly well, save for a few hiccups in the post-surgery recovery). If you were following twitter or FB, I mentioned that the person to see for updates was <a href="http://twitter.com/livinginfits" target="_blank">Sean</a> on twitter.<br />
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I woke up from surgery, and they kept me in a shared recovery room, which apparently made me very agitated (I was coming up from anesthesia...keep in mind that I don't remember any of this, it has just been relayed to me). They moved me to my single room, and my parents and Sean were sitting around the bed. Apparently I was very out of it, and my parents said they were going to go back to their hotel room to rest while I slept off the anesthesia (since my parents were nice enough to come down to Ohio from Wisconsin for my surgery).<br />
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I guess this upset me a lot, and I demanded (in a semi-conscious state) that they stay. Confused, but concerned for me, they agreed. Less than five minutes later, I told them I wanted them to leave the room. They said they would go back to the hotel room...but I said that wasn't okay. They needed to leave and come back. I kept suggesting that they go to the cafeteria or go for a walk and come back in a 20 minutes. Seeing how adamant I was, they agreed.<br />
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When they left the room, I turned to Sean (who had been diligently sitting at my side, holding my hand), and told him how much I loved him, how much he meant to me, how he was the most important person in the world to me...and then I asked, "Will you marry me?" and he said yes, and we kissed, and it was awesome. :)<br />
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Except for...I just had Sean proofread this entry, and he said that's not how it went down at all. Here is a more accurate summary from someone who was there and NOT waking up from anesthesia:<br />
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When they left the room, I turned to Sean (who had been diligently sitting at my side, holding my hand), and said, "I gotta ask you a question." (Keep in mind, I am not saying this very clearly, because, you know, drugs.) Sean humored me and said, "Okay..." and I replied, "Will you marry me...for real?" Sean said, "Of course." This is almost too embarrassing to write, but for the sake of honesty (and hilarity), I'm going to tell you. I then asked, "Was that a good enough proposal?" Sean laughed and said, "of course it is." I then druggedly suggested that he tell my parents when they come back, and when they did, we both blurted it out.<br />
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Now, remember that story, and remember that this was my face when I woke up from anesthesia:<br />
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...and he's agreed to marry me. :)</div>
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I have no idea what is wrong with him (okay, well, actually, I have a few ideas), but I couldn't be happier. :)</div>
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Edit: Oh, and the funniest part is...a few days ago, I asked Sean if he was okay with how we got engaged. He said yes, because he could tell I had been planning it for a few days...it was like the "porp." If you don't get that, read this: <a href="http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/09/party.html">http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/09/party.html</a> :)<br />
<br />Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-3932027518200731842012-08-23T21:34:00.004-07:002012-08-30T15:47:38.881-07:00Hey, I'm getting surgery!So, if you follow my Twitter or Facebook, it's no secret that I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in May of this year (if you don't follow either of those and/or you're new, surprise! It was a pretty good birthday present.).<br />
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Turns out, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn's_disease" target="_blank">Crohn's Disease</a> is pretty awful. I'm going to write some gross stuff about it, but for your benefit, I'll highlight them so you can skip over the gross parts if you want to. But if you don't want to read anything of grossness, you probably shouldn't read any of this. Just skip to the very end.<br />
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So, I went to the doctor in April because <span style="background-color: black;">it hurt and bled when I pooped. Diagnosed as anal fissures <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_fissures" target="_blank">(link</a>-- NSFW photo in the link), but the doctor noticed some inflammation at the top of my colon or rectum, </span>so she scheduled a colonoscopy as well.<br />
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So in May I got my colonoscopy, and they found a bunch of gross stuff, like inflammation and ulcers and ick, so they scheduled a small bowel follow-through in June, where I had to drink barium and then they x-ray'd my guts and watched it go through. The doctor look at my x-ray and said, "Yep, textbook case of Crohn's." (Fun fact: <span style="background-color: black;">You poop white after drinking barium. Or as I like to call it, ghost poop!)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">July rolls around, and I was planning the <a href="http://secularstudents.org/2012con/wrapup" target="_blank">SSA's annual conference</a>, where 300 student leaders were expected to show up from around the country. The weekend before the conference, I went out to dinner with some friends...then went home and sobbed from pain, fever, and nausea. I finally called the 24 hour nurse line, and the very helpful nurse informed me I was most likely having a Crohn's flare up, and I needed to go to the ER right now. Went to the ER, got some pain meds and Prednisone, discharged at 2 AM and told to take it easy, but to come back if things got worse.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Of course, they got worse. By 6 PM the next day I hadn't been able to keep anything down (including water), so back to the hospital, this time getting admitted. Ended up spending 4 days there, which was awful, but I got a lot of tests done, a bigger dose of Prednisone, and I also learned that the Ohio State Hospital does not, in fact, know what vegan means, nor do they have any vegan options (they do, however, think turkey burgers are vegetarian and beef or chicken broth are acceptable options for everyone).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Fun (less sad) side story: When I was in the hospital the 2nd time, I was all pukey and gross, and I said something about how I just wanted to die. Sean said, "You can't die, because I love you."...and then looked away. So when I said, "I love you" back, he didn't hear (because my voice was hoarse, and maybe I was quiet because I was nervous!)...and that was a cute and awkward thing. But mostly cute. :)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">So, fast forward to early August-- I had been on a prednisone taper to help shut down the flare up, but turns out it didn't help at all, so my doc scheduled me for another small bowel follow through, and the results of that would determine whether I needed surgery or not (spoiler alert: the answer is yes, I need surgery).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">In the meantime, since I still had the </span><span style="background-color: black;">anal fissures</span><span style="background-color: white;"> that I originally went in for, I had to get surgery to take care of those. That happened this past Monday, and it was pretty awful. (This is super gross,</span> <span style="background-color: black;">but my butt basically won't stop bleeding so I have to wear a pad all the time, and it feels like fucking shards of glass passing through my asshole when I poop. I have cried almost every single bowel movement since the surgery. Oh, and I fill up the toilet with blood, that's fun. I also need to take a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitz_bath" target="_blank">sitz bath</a> after every time I poop, or just three times a day, and those help...but mostly, the pain is outrageously awful. I do not recommend having anal fissures for 3+ years and letting them get so bad you need surgery...but hey, what can you do when you can't afford healthcare, amirite?</span><span style="background-color: white;">)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">So, here I am, getting surgery on Tuesday, August 28th. I'm getting a <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colectomy/MY00141" target="_blank">laproscopic colectomy</a> done. It's good that it's laproscopic, because recovery time will be much quicker than if they had to open me up (although, if something goes wrong or there's more diseased tissue than they thought, they will have to open me up). But yeah, basically they are cutting out my terminal ileum and some of my colon, and they're gonna sew the parts together and hopefully that will help make things better. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">So...that's about where I am now. Trying not to freak out too much. Tomorrow (Friday) is my last day of work, I have Monday to prepare for the surgery, and then I'll be on leave from work for 4-6 weeks (at least).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">So, what can you do to make me feel better? Here are a few options!</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">1)<b> Recommend books, tv shows, movies, documentaries, or video games to me.</b> You can edit this sweet Google Doc! </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AssJ88DUkGJUdEdhbVJWTjJoTWRoejVodUJ6RFJiakE">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AssJ88DUkGJUdEdhbVJWTjJoTWRoejVodUJ6RFJiakE</a><br />
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2) <b>Help create a Spotify playlist!</b> <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/1243536065/playlist/3K82DOQt6dSNyKoWp1QmzH">http://open.spotify.com/user/1243536065/playlist/3K82DOQt6dSNyKoWp1QmzH</a> I like most kinds of music, but please nothing too heavy-- really, no metal or really hard rock. I think I'd prefer chill music, but upbeat is okay...I just will probably be in bed, on drugs, and metal/hard music sounds kind of bad at that time.<br />
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3) <b>Send me a card!</b> You don't even have to mail it! I'll be in the hospital for about 5-7 days (from Tuesday, August 28th - Sunday, Sept. 2nd), and if you go to this link: <a href="http://www.mountcarmelhealth.com/patient-resources/e-cards.html">http://www.mountcarmelhealth.com/patient-resources/e-cards.html</a>, you can type out a message to me and they'll print it and hand deliver it to me. Address it to Sarah Moglia (no nicknames or they won't be able to find me) in <u>Room 325</u>. I'll be at Mount Carmel East. (Please don't write anything offensive or gross-- it will be printed and read by volunteers.)<br />
(If you do want to go above and beyond and send me something in the mail-mail, just message me on FB or twitter and I'll get you my home address. I will be in bed for 4-6 weeks after I get out of the hospital, so no rush, really.)Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-27930383220043329082012-07-29T08:00:00.002-07:002012-07-29T08:02:38.755-07:00My Week at Camp Quest<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I spent the last week at <a href="http://campquest.org/" target="_blank">Camp Quest</a> Michigan. <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17.5px; text-align: left;">What is CQ, you ask? Well, it's an awesome summer camp for children of freethinking parents-- no, this is not an atheist summer camp, just a camp where kids can learn about science, critical thinking skills, and also do all sorts of fun summer things, like swimming, rock climbing, horseback </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 17.5px;">riding, etc. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 17.5px;">We did a lot of cool things. The first night, two campers/CITs pretended to be "minor </span><span style="line-height: 17px;">deities</span><span style="line-height: 17.5px;">" to explain the Invisible Pink Unicorns that live on the campgrounds. You can't see them, or hear them, or smell them, or taste them, or feel them, and they don't leave any footprints, but we know they're real because we have a book that says so, and we dare you to prove that they DON'T exist (this is an actual dare-- if anyone can prove that there are no invisible pink unicorns on camp, they will win a $100 bill from pre-1957 when "in god we trust" was added to currency).</span></span></span></span><br />
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We also made tons of s'mores, duh. And since I'm vegan, I got special vegan marshmallows and chocolate (cause I don't really want dead cow parts in my marshmallows).</div>
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And I made delicious s'mores. Mmmmm.</div>
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Camp Quest Michigan happens on a 4H camp, so there is camp staff there to run activities with us. It's a little different than most Camp Quests, as I've been told, and a little bit more on the physical activity side than other camps. Still, fun!! We did Socrates' Cafe, which is a philosophy discussion-- ours was a lot about the morality of punishment/jail/murder/death penalty-- heavy stuff, but these kids are smart. We also did drama and made our own movie, which was hilarious. There was also canoeing, swimming, rock climbing, zip lining, horseback riding, archery, and a high ropes course (which I completed, although fairly terrified-ly. So scared, in fact, that a camper let me skip him in line to go back down to the ground. He was fine, I was the one who was freaking out. Haha.).</div>
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We also had a carnival, where campers earned tickets for completing games. If they earned 100 tickets, they could "dunk" a counselor of choice (by dunk, I mean pour four buckets of ice cold water on). Guess who got picked? (Okay, actually every counselor did, but I'm gonna show you my photos.)<br />
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Ice freaking cold.</div>
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Jeff Duncan, the camp director, also got dunked.<br />
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There were lots of bugs and toads to be found. The girls from my cabin (see below) found a couple of Preying Mantises (you can only see one in the photo). They were really curious about stuff and it was awesome.</div>
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During archery, we were encouraged to draw monsters and then they were stuck onto the target board. Only one person hit my group's monster...right in the eye. Guess who? :) (To be fair, I used to be an archery instructor, so I had a lot of time to get good at it. The kids did super well for their first day.)</div>
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We also had skits and song parodies. A group of girls did a parody of "Sexy and I Know It." They called it "Thinking And I Know It." It was hilarious. The lyrics were something similar to "Thinking and I know it...girl look at that atheist." If I can get more of the lyrics, I'll post them. I was in stitches, though.<br />
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There was also a LOT of "Call Me Maybe." Almost every camper got up to sing along with it at the end of the talent show. :)<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">Weirdly enough, I think my favorite part of camp was when we went canoeing, we were able to get off on a marshy island and explore and I was able to teach campers a lot about lakes and the creatures that live in that area. It was an unexpected teaching moment, and I really enjoyed sharing things I learned as a kid and from my Environmental Science classes. The kids loved it, too. There's something really cool about teaching kids things when they don't think they're learning. :)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">There were a bunch of things that I'm probably forgetting, but it was a long week and I'm still recovering. I may add more if I think of it. </span></span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 17.5px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In summation, Camp Quest is awesome. They also have a super awesome matching challenge going on, so if you think supporting kids in indoctrination-free environments is important (and it is), <a href="http://www.campquest.org/bloggercontest" target="_blank">you should throw a few bucks their way</a>.</span>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 17.5px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you don't already "like" </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/CampQuest" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">CQ on FB</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, you should do that (and also follow their twitter: </span><a href="http://twitter.com/campquest" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">@CampQuest</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). </span>
</span></div>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-87924473128682737422012-06-16T06:01:00.004-07:002012-06-16T06:01:55.584-07:00LIVESTREAM TIMEOkay, it's livestream time. 9 minutes until I start, so I'd better chug this out quickly.<br />
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Basically, I've already raised $1,000. Which is absolutely awesome! However...<br />
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<b>The rules have changed.</b><br />
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Okay, there was really no need to bold that, I just wanted to be dramatic. Anyway, it's been a really long week at work, and next week is also going to be long (turns out I'm sort of planning a conference that's in like 3 weeks), so I really can't do a 24 hour livestream. Okay, well, I can try, but I'm putting a higher price on it.<br />
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The new goal for me to do 24 hours is $2,500. Part of the fun was going to be raising the money during the livestream, and if I've raised it all before it even begins, where's the fun in that?<br />
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So, all the things you can "buy" to make me do are still listed on my <a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2012/06/update-on-ssa-week-livestream.html" target="_blank">last blog</a>, and the donate button for me is still <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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As far as the day's plans...I'm winging it!<br />
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At 1 PM Eastern, I'm declaring it Cat Parade, so if you want to show off your cat, befriend my on Google+ (my email address is Sarah.Moglia@gmail.com) and we can do a hangout of CATS.<br />
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The Sarah Power Hour will be determined when my other half wakes up and she decided she wants to jump in. Or whenever I text her frantically to wake her up and say HELP I NEED YOU ON HERE I'M GOING CRAZY. Any other things will happen on the fly.<br />
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And now, the final thing...here's the link to my livestream: <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ssa-week">http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ssa-week</a>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-27966098898620779682012-06-09T20:23:00.002-07:002012-06-11T13:42:39.397-07:00Update on SSA Week Livestream!Okay everyone! If you aren't up to speed on what SSA Week is, click <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/ssaweek" target="_blank">here</a>, and if you don't know what my contribution is, click <a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2012/06/ssa-week.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b>On Saturday, June 16th, I will be livestreaming my life from 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM EST in order to raise money for SSA Week.</b><br />
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I did a test run of my livestream tonight for an hour and I am little daunted at doing 12 hours now. But!! I love the SSA, and I made a commitment, so I am going to do it.<br />
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Even more, if <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">I raise $1,000 on my personal fundraising page</a>, I will livestream for 24 hours. So....that's a lot of sleep-deprived talking to the internet.<br />
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In order to help rack in the donations, I am offering to do things for money. I will probably pretty much do anything for donations, with a few caveats:<br />
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1) No nudity (you perverts).<br />
2) I will not consume something non-vegan (I recently went vegan, so yeah). (Also, was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease, so eating/drinking challenges may make me sick and probably should be avoided. :/ )<br />
3) I reserve the right to say no to any request.<br />
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Anyway, here are some ideas!<br />
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<a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">For $5</a>, I will lip-sync to a song of your choice.<br />
<a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">For $10</a>, I will actually sing a song of your choice (VERY poorly, might I add-- I'm no <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/crommunist/2012/06/08/bonus-movie-friday-let-me-rest-in-peace/" target="_blank">Crommunist</a>).<br />
<a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">For $15</a>, I will sing AND dance to a song of your choice.<br />
<a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">For $20</a>, I will make up and sing a song about you (right then and there! Live!).<br />
<a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">For $30</a>, I will hand write you a letter and mail it to you.<br />
<a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">For $50</a>, I will go on a 'date' with you (if you're in Columbus, a for-real date. If you're going to TAM or any other conference that I will be at, then we can meet up there. If you're not anywhere near then, then we can have an hour long Skype date or something. :)<br />
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Other suggestions? Keep in mind, if y'all don't suggest things, I am probably just going to sing "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDzxn66W3uM" target="_blank">Jesus Christ Superstar</a>" songs and "<a href="http://youtu.be/fWNaR-rxAic" target="_blank">Call Me Maybe</a>." So you probably want to suggest things and donate.<br />
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Also during the livestream, we're going to have a cat parade (where we go into a Google+ Hangout and people show off their cats). If you want to show off your cat, let me know!<br />
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I'm also going to have my BFF <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/ologies" target="_blank">@ologies</a> join me for the SARAH POWER HOUR, to help promote the Legion of Sarahs! Also, for entertainment, because two Sarahs are better than one.<br />
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There will also be other guests of honor, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements!!<br />
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I hope you're excited! Remember: if you want 24 hours of MY LIFE, BROADCAST TO THE WORLD...you should <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">donate</a>! (At the time I published this, I have raised $330-- 33% of my goal.)<br />
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<b>Update!!</b>: It has now been decided that if I reach $750 by Saturday at 9 PM, I will buzz all my hair off. If I reach $1,200 by that same time, I will get a mohawk AND maintain it for a month. :) So if you want to see me with funny hair, <a href="https://www.secularstudents.org/civicrm/pcp/info?reset=1&id=4" target="_blank">get donating</a>! (FWIW, this is what my hair looks like right now.)<br />
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<b>Update #2!!! </b>Alright, so since a date with just me is $50, for a mere $100, you can get a date with both me AND Sarah (<a href="http://twitter.com/ologies" target="_blank">@ologies</a>). Two Sarahs for the price of...two!! What a deal! And we'll both be at TAM, so think of a night in Vegas with these two beautiful, smart, witty, skeptical ladies.<br />
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</div>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-27919715785242144812012-06-06T06:15:00.000-07:002012-06-06T06:15:24.530-07:00SSA Week!So! As you all may know, I work for the greatest organization in the history of the earth (I would say the universe, but I feel that's a bit presumptuous considering if we don't even know if there's life out there). Anyway, yes, I do work for the <a href="http://www.secularstudents.org/" target="_blank">Secular Student Alliance</a>, because somehow my life is awesome.<br />
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In order to continue being awesome by doing things like providing travel grants to students to go to conferences, and sending super cool speakers to their campuses, hosting a kick-ass annual conference, providing hands-on support for planning events, talking to resistant administrations, should I go on? Well anyway, in order to continue doing that, we need money! That's why we're having....<a href="http://www.secularstudents.org/ssaweek/about" target="_blank">SSA Week</a>!<br />
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Yay!! So a whole bunch of people are doing things like a blog a thon...and I want to help, but there's going to be a LOT of stuff to read. So, what I'm thinking is I'll do a 12 hour long livestream of my life. I have to come up with details, but I'm thinking I'll do requests of things for some small amount of money...obviously you can come up with whatever, but I can answer questions, or dance to a song of your choice, or tell you my most embarrassing memory...or whatever! You're creative, you can come up with something.<br />
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If I reach a certain goal by the end of my first 12 hours, I'll stay live for 24 hours. Trying to decide what my goal should be...thinking $1,000? Maybe $2,000? I have no idea if I'll make more than $5, so I don't know what's a reasonable goal or not.<br />
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Anyway, there will be some special guest(s??) joining me during the livestream-a-thon, so stay tuned! Maybe I will announce them...maybe I won't!! Who knows?! (A lot of this is going to depend on all of your reactions and suggestions. :)<br />
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What do you think? Any suggestions for what I could do? Keep in mind, my plans so far mostly include: dancing to Queen songs, showing off my cat, ranting about varying topics, chatting with my special guest(s)...you know, an average day in my life.<br />
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I'm not sure how I will do this yet. I've been looking into UStream.tv and Google+ hangouts...I'm not sure. If anyone has any experience with this, I'd appreciate any help at all! I don't know if there are rules or time limits on any of those services where I'd get kicked off for being on too long.<br />
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Anyway, I'm super excited to do this. I hope you're excited as well. :)<br />
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<br />Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-80312071295311624592012-05-05T10:02:00.001-07:002012-05-05T10:02:57.453-07:00Humanism in ActionThis past week has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. I have had a few health problems my whole life, but despite seeing lots of different doctors, no cures have materialized. Now that I live in Ohio, I decided to try to find new doctors and see if they could help. The two biggest problems are with my feet and my intestines/poophole.<br />
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I'm a gainfully employed adult with pretty decent insurance coverage. However, insurance doesn't cover everything. When I decided I wanted to go to a podiatrist and a proctologist, I needed to go to my GP for referrals ($25/a visit). After I was referred, I had to take an entire afternoon off work to drive 20 minutes to my foot doctor ($50 copay/visit). He told me I needed to come back for an MRI before he could conclusively say anything ($450), although odds are, I'll probably need surgery. Fuck.<br />
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Meanwhile, I visited the proctologist and had an exam ($50 copay for that appointment)...only to be told I need a treatment ($50) and a colonoscopy that apparently will not be fully covered, because I haven't reached my $1,500 deductible (although I'm not sure how much it will cost).<br />
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There are more doctors appointments that I will need to have after these treatments (to follow up), and it takes time away from work and also costs me $50 per visit. This is adding up quickly. I may very well meet my deductible within the next month or two. But keep in mind that $1500 is almost 2 paychecks for me. I'm not complaining about how much I make (it's decent pay for entry level non-profit). But...this is scary for me.<br />
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So, I do what I normally do: tell Twitter about my fears. Every time my doctor or receptionist told me, "Okay, you owe this much," I was trying not to cry (and usually failing, because I suck at containing emotions). How was I going to deal with this?<br />
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I took to Twitter and said this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEqanKCtSDH2rGfVmsY_ljgq1RzGgpTx4KaXAY_PblnimacQe9mveuSofvbcYWY5L1DuAe2W5oHcykle7obJYOcQeNVFSPaV4KoBm-lxy76UuSJLLAkQCclCcQxzhzUlyuqMayqexn74D/s1600/America.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEqanKCtSDH2rGfVmsY_ljgq1RzGgpTx4KaXAY_PblnimacQe9mveuSofvbcYWY5L1DuAe2W5oHcykle7obJYOcQeNVFSPaV4KoBm-lxy76UuSJLLAkQCclCcQxzhzUlyuqMayqexn74D/s1600/America.JPG" /></a></div>
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Given the amount of RT's and favorites, it was obviously resonating with people. I am not the only person who worries about this.</div>
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So, while I'm freaking out about everything, my friend Sarah tweets something about a surprise. Since she's a graphic designer, I figured it was a new design of hers, since she <a href="http://society6.com/srahhh" target="_blank">sells her designs online</a>, and they are awesome. But, of course, I hate secrets, so I started badgering her about it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynspsP1IgtReX_sgYMbqK9bq-2gkYGQ0Yl5jdoXBeGgTpFe5X4d9VUmwZ4advI7bUekzudnisfBFASPDazyra1cHUexiGBHM-POsRd57QAxZ_XWSSW_sF3Zsr-ECZX20BbMHc6qeS4izk/s1600/Secrets.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynspsP1IgtReX_sgYMbqK9bq-2gkYGQ0Yl5jdoXBeGgTpFe5X4d9VUmwZ4advI7bUekzudnisfBFASPDazyra1cHUexiGBHM-POsRd57QAxZ_XWSSW_sF3Zsr-ECZX20BbMHc6qeS4izk/s1600/Secrets.JPG" /></a></div>
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That was weird to me. Sarah and Amanda know each other, but why would Amanda know the secret? I use my detective skills to deduce that it must have something to do with Camp Quest (because Amanda is the Executive Director), but I still WANT TO KNOW.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-3psy0z2ZUOLF3VVNjnKoW64TMd3x9fB2_Fc3tBviVPGS85WqtwE-4-_-5EJHAohJs0afTeOGPy5xMlowwNlITrPmnRw4v0TFwdqIaEYcC_zkF7PXsoFnqXE356aBzNQkZ7Uo0NWvw3g/s1600/Secret+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-3psy0z2ZUOLF3VVNjnKoW64TMd3x9fB2_Fc3tBviVPGS85WqtwE-4-_-5EJHAohJs0afTeOGPy5xMlowwNlITrPmnRw4v0TFwdqIaEYcC_zkF7PXsoFnqXE356aBzNQkZ7Uo0NWvw3g/s1600/Secret+2.JPG" /></a></div>
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August knows too. Stupid husband privileges, I think. There's some more banter (including August saying "INCEPTION!," which caused me to snort), and then I go to bed, obviously unconcerned. The next morning, I get to work and Sarah tweets. I respond in a calm and adult manner.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN14fLTIltVDmLzCJllJVrY2o-U-zgkgIFPVqOqwD7J6jcCB80B0IQM8A6YC3kfcAgjNPxly4MhAYhI_RcW-u_58Y1pI0LS6vX72TwaAzgnpmMnN47kodXD_0m08iX2PXj0gct3e0eFlGO/s1600/Surprise.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN14fLTIltVDmLzCJllJVrY2o-U-zgkgIFPVqOqwD7J6jcCB80B0IQM8A6YC3kfcAgjNPxly4MhAYhI_RcW-u_58Y1pI0LS6vX72TwaAzgnpmMnN47kodXD_0m08iX2PXj0gct3e0eFlGO/s1600/Surprise.JPG" /></a></div>
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Keep in mind, at this point, I still think it's a new design of hers. There's some banter, and she asks if I deserve to know the surprise now. I think it's weird that she mentioned me specifically (because I assumed everyone else wanted to know as well), but I figure it's just banter because I want to know the most (oh, I forgot, I also texted Sarah the night before, wanting to know). </div>
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Then Sarah tells me to check my email. Weird, why isn't she just posting it on Twitter? I think. I pick up my phone (since personal emails go straight to my phone) and I see this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7x_OJaMSdTbsdCLpKVK_oVDmw2-g3Z1GJUCXUu0Jv7vtGocSuFpFhNPuGvbuyUY7WsGMBPh8PCTYbKcHmsh5DD0dS2HusD6h7PopAkSvBVtwQoy1WuBbivpGwU6TQkrZ483kssfMavz4/s1600/surprise+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7x_OJaMSdTbsdCLpKVK_oVDmw2-g3Z1GJUCXUu0Jv7vtGocSuFpFhNPuGvbuyUY7WsGMBPh8PCTYbKcHmsh5DD0dS2HusD6h7PopAkSvBVtwQoy1WuBbivpGwU6TQkrZ483kssfMavz4/s640/surprise+2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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(I blanked it out, but it's a considerable sum of money.) I immediately start sobbing in my office. Not just a few tears, full-on sobbing. JT (my office mate) actually rushed over and asked what was wrong. It took a few minutes to calm down to tell him.</div>
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Sarah also drew this amazing card to go along with it:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhyGWgu0jHcYU1Tay8MUJPmG0hlFRsnkBJXIsbIHXJO92Jv8Dpwy3w0hYl3AEBNQ0vNbpivvGOT3PIVN-2Jh-kATOULsbNh9F02_UMT-KcuyrD3bbuCzJYwJ4m6JTTbUzksI2_vGv97vv/s1600/butt+card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhyGWgu0jHcYU1Tay8MUJPmG0hlFRsnkBJXIsbIHXJO92Jv8Dpwy3w0hYl3AEBNQ0vNbpivvGOT3PIVN-2Jh-kATOULsbNh9F02_UMT-KcuyrD3bbuCzJYwJ4m6JTTbUzksI2_vGv97vv/s400/butt+card.jpg" width="321" /></a></div>
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So there you have it. <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/ologies" target="_blank">Sarah</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/catch10110" target="_blank">Rick</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/fortsave" target="_blank">James</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/durgen77" target="_blank">Matt</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/livinginfits" target="_blank">Sean</a>, Andy, Felice, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/metskas" target="_blank">Amanda</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/lucidcarbon" target="_blank">August</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/daylightatheism" target="_blank">Adam</a> are all the best people in the world, and the collective owners of my heart (and all shareholders in my butt now as well, apparently). I linked to all of their twitters, and they're all wonderful and worth following. You should also check out their respective blogs and/or organizations.</div>
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<a href="http://iamologies.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Sarah's art blog</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.jurgendurgen.com/" target="_blank">Matt's blog</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.secularstudents.org/" target="_blank">Andy and August's organization, the SSA</a> (coincidentally, also my organization)</div>
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<a href="http://www.campquest.org/" target="_blank">Amanda's organization, Camp Quest</a>, secular summer camp</div>
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<a href="http://bigthink.com/blogs/daylight-atheism" target="_blank">Adam's blog, Daylight Atheism</a></div>
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So, go check out their stuff. Thank them, hug them, all that. </div>
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I'm going to go pretend I'm not crying again. STUPID FEELINGS.</div>
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But seriously. Thank you to everyone, from the bottom of my heart. Your support, whether financial or emotional, is greatly appreciated. This is truly humanism in action.</div>
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<br /></div>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-78008051809055337302012-04-24T21:07:00.000-07:002012-04-24T21:07:06.049-07:00Why I Don't Call Myself a SkepticOh my goodness, blogger has changed since I last time I posted, and I'm totally freaked out by it, so I hope this blog looks okay format-wise.<br />
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Anyway, I was just having a discussion with Greg Laden on Facebook (of <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/" target="_blank">Greg Laden's blog</a> fame), and we were talking about skepticism and how people are skeptics. I was finally able to articulate why I don't self-identify as a skeptic.<br />
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To me, 'skeptic' is not a noun (okay, well, it is, but I don't like it as a noun). Being a skeptic is not a hard and fast definition-- no one is ever 100% skeptical all the time. I know lots of people who identify as skeptics who don't behave in a skeptical manner most of the time. And I know lots of people who don't identify as skeptics who question and critically think about things. It isn't like the term 'atheist,' which is something you either are or are not. You can't be both a theist and an atheist at the same time-- but you can act skeptically in one situation and not in another.<br />
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To me, skepticism isn't something you are. It's something you <i>do. </i>While yes, we do have words that classify people by things they do (for example, a vegetarian or a hockey player), I don't think skepticism is the same. Well, maybe it is, I guess I just don't like using that as a term of self-identification. I think people should be able to tell that I'm a skeptic by how I behave (do I ask questions? Do I make decisions based on sound evidence?), not by what I call myself.<br />
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I'm not at all saying that people can't or shouldn't identify as skeptics. By all means, do so. Self-identification is a big thing, and if that's the term you want to call yourself, do it. Just like some people prefer 'humanist' versus 'atheist.' Being able to select your identifying terms is a really important and empowering thing. When I'm asked to describe myself, atheist is usually one of the first terms I go to, because so much of my life has been shaped by the things that have happened to me since becoming an atheist, and it also is a huge part of my life right now (it's kind of my job). Maybe in a few years I won't feel that way, and I'll choose another term to be my go-to identification. Who knows?<br />
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Anyway, the point of that last paragraph was just to say that how you identify is completely up to you. This is just why <i>I</i> don't identify a certain way. :)<br />
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And to close, here's an excellent quote by Carl Sagan!<br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas...</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you … On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones." -Carl Sagan, <i>The Burden of Skepticism</i></span></span>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-41044148406533840102012-03-28T21:39:00.001-07:002012-03-28T21:50:47.125-07:00Please Don't Touch MeOkay, I'm going to preface this blog post by trying to convince you that I'm not trying to brag about how good I look or how much male attention I get. (Really, it's not that much at all-- these things have only happened a select few times, if at all...I'm not trying to chastise people so much as be pro-active in getting this to not happen.)<br />
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I am a young woman who works for a professional organization. I frequently travel to conferences (oftentimes by myself) to table. As it happens, I am often at a table by myself. I'm fine with this, I do like talking to people. I love sharing information about the SSA, because I think we're fucking awesome. (We are. If you ever want more info on us, ask me; I'll talk your ear off.)<br />
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I am also a person with a very diminutive stature and a bubbly personality (when I'm not bitingly sarcastic, that is). I smile a lot. I laugh a lot.<br />
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However. This is my job. I am paid to do this. I am a professional. Just because I am young, or small, or smiling, or laughing does <i>not</i> mean you can or should do inappropriate things for my workplace. Things that may seem simple or innocuous to you are uncomfortable to me. You may think you're being my friend or that we're flirting by touching me. I'm not talking about scary sexual assault touching, I'm talking about putting your hand on my shoulder or something like that. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but people already don't take me seriously as a professional adult (because, like I said, small, smiley, giggley).<br />
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When I'm at events, people say things to me like "Little girl, get me a coffee." Sure, I know you wouldn't say that-- but if someone sees you, my friend or something I'm enjoying talking to, touching me...it sends a message to them. It's okay to be overly friendly to her, because she's young and smiling at me. I've noticed that if someone (a close friend) touches my shoulder to guide me somewhere in a public room, many more people want to touch me later that day. I might be overreacting, but I really feel the need to reiterate: I am a professional at work. Do you touch your waitress? Or your concierge? No, of course not (and if you do, please re-evaluate your social behavior).<br />
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Also: please don't flirt with me while I'm tabling. Don't call me "cute" or "adorable." I understand that you are trying to make a connection, and that's great! But really-- I'm at work. I don't want to be seen as less of a professional (by anyone) because I'm flirting when I should be doing my job. Chances are, I'll be walking around the hotel or conference building later. Or getting food at some point (I do like food). Strike up a less-professional conversation with me then. Or hit me up on <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Mowgli3" target="_blank">my twitter</a>! I'll respond on there. Please, just not while I'm working.<br />
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I might be belaboring the point a bit, but I just really feel like I'm constantly fighting an uphill battle to be taken seriously. Of course, within my organization, I'm respected-- but I don't know how people outside of it see me. Yes, I know I have a silly twitter account and blog, and I talk a lot about dinosaurs-- that doesn't mean I don't know my job inside and out. It doesn't make me less capable. That is separate from what I do at work.<br />
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I was at <a href="http://skepticon.org/" target="_blank">Skepticon</a> last year (they have a new website, btw-- go check it out; it's awesome) and after a long day of tabling, I wanted to relax in the hot tub with my new book (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nailed-Christian-Myths-Jesus-Existed/dp/0557709911" target="_blank">"Nailed: Ten Christian Myths Why Jesus Never Existed"</a> by David Fitzgerald, which is amazing, btw, and I highly recommend it). There was a guy already in the hot tub when I got there...okay, fine, he has a right to be there (I'm surprisingly anti-social when I want to relax. Don't take it personally, just me being an introvert.).<br />
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We had some small talk when I got in, and then I said, "Okay, well, I'm not trying to be rude now, but I've had a really long day working, so I think I'm just going to read my book for a while now." *Pull book up in front of face*<br />
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This guy replied, "Oh, you were working at the conference?"<br />
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I said, "Yes, I was tabling for the Secular Student Alliance."<br />
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He replied: "Oh, you were tabling at the conference?"<br />
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I said, "Yes, for the Secular Student Alliance." (a bit of an edge was creeping into my voice at this point)<br />
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He said, after a glance down at my chest and a short pause, "Wow...you must be <i>really</i> talented at your job, because you're definitely<i> </i>not a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotional_model" target="_blank">booth babe</a>." (For those unfamiliar with the term: a "booth babe" is an attractive woman, usually with large breasts and scantily clad, that is paid to look pretty and stand in front of something that men are generally interested in-- like cars or video games-- in order to gain their attention for the product.)<br />
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What am I supposed to say to something like that? "Yep, I'm ugly, so it sure is lucky that I'm smart!" Now, this is NOT your cue to tell me that I am, in fact, cute. That is not the point. The point is (<a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2012/03/05/the-ugliest-of-all-atheists-mencallmethings/" target="_blank">to quote the ever-wonderful Greta Christina</a>) that <i>it should not fucking well matter. </i><br />
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I just want to live in a world where I'm judged based on my professional behavior and aptitude-- not whether I'm fuckable or not. Short of that perfect scenario, I'd at least like to be treated with respect. Here's a quick litmus test you can do to figure out whether you should do or say something to me: would I also say this to a man or a person I am not attracted to? If the answer is no, then please, don't do it for me.<br />
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Just to be clear: I am NOT saying don't be friendly to me, don't joke around with me, or stuff like that at conferences. Please, do so! I love making new friends! But just remember: I am at work. Please treat it as such.<br />
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(I really hope this doesn't come across as "woe is me, I'm such a pretty girl! I have alllll the problems in the world!" I really just wanted to be treated fairly. I realize there are 10 million other, worse problems in the world-- this is just me asking for fair treatment in my workplace.)<br />
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<b>Edit!: </b>Here is also a solution! If there is some reason why you want to touch me-- say you're leaving and you want to give me a hug goodbye-- ask me if it's okay! "Can I hug you?" I will probably say yes! I have a lot of anxieties about being touched by people (mostly because I have been touched without my consent in very serious and damaging ways), but the minute you ask, I feel so much better. Also, if there's ever a reason why you NEED to touch me...like, say, if a meteor is coming my way and you want to shove me out of the way to save my life...well, please do that. :)Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-3085106406979659682012-02-29T20:16:00.000-08:002012-02-29T20:16:17.244-08:00The REAL question about the Reason RallyNow, with the Reason Rally less than a month away, the buzz is really growing. I mean, Richard Dawkins, Tim Minchin, PZ Myers, Taslima Nasrin, James Randi, Adam Savage, Jessica Ahlquist, Greta Christina...and <a href="http://www.reasonrally.org/speakers-2/" target="_blank">so many more</a>! people will be there. It's going to be super exciting!<br />
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But now, there is a real question is weighing in on everyone's minds...what are you going to <b>wear</b> to the Reason Rally?<br />
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I mean, you could go to the <a href="http://www.reasonrallystore.org/" target="_blank">Reason Rally store</a> and get a Reason Rally <a href="http://www.reasonrallystore.org/t-shirt/" target="_blank">shirt</a>, <a href="http://www.reasonrallystore.org/hoodie/" target="_blank">hoodie</a>, and <a href="http://www.reasonrallystore.org/hat/" target="_blank">hat</a>...but let's face, it that's a LOT of red. Why not mix it up with some other gear?<br />
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You could always get some <a href="https://atheists.org/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8" target="_blank">American Atheists gear</a>, and what's more fitting for the Reason Rally than a shirt that says <a href="https://atheists.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=30" target="_blank">"Proud to be an American Atheist?"</a><br />
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Okay, okay, maybe you're NOT proud to be an American atheist (some people aren't nationalists, and others don't identify with the word atheist). That's fine! We have other options. The <a href="http://ffrf.org/shop/" target="_blank">Freedom From Religion Foundation</a> has a plain, but nice, <a href="http://ffrf.org/shop/sweatshirts/freethinker-sweatshirt/" target="_blank">"Freethinker" sweatshirt</a>. Perfectly appropriate for all situations!<br />
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But sure, some people want something a little more exciting than "Freethinker." I get that.What about helping support Jessica Ahlquist's scholarship fund with an <a href="http://www.evillittleshirts.com/" target="_blank">"Evil Little Thing" shirt</a>? Those are pretty schnazzy, and you can get all sorts of colors and your own choice of font. Really can't go wrong with that!<br />
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But woah, wait. Do you really just want to be some boorish person, wearing just clothes? Why not step it up? <a href="http://surlyramics.com/" target="_blank">Surly Amy's store </a> has some super cool designs for jewelry! One of my personal favorites is a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/92661983/this-life-is-enough-ceramic-necklace-in?ga_search_query=reason&ga_search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5185693" target="_blank">"This Life is Enough" necklace</a>, but she's also introduced a line of Surly Scents, which are scented jewelry! Where else can you get a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/91112108/vanilla-scented-ceramic-cupcake-necklace" target="_blank">vanilla scented cupcake necklace</a>? Or for the more chemistry-minded, a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/90746793/jasmine-scented-ceramic-chemistry" target="_blank">necklace with the Jasmine molecular forumla that smells like jasmine</a>? (Having lived in South Africa, where Jasmine grows, I can attest that jasmine smells fucking amazing.) Of course, you can also get <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/94106679/flying-spaghetti-monster-ceramic" target="_blank">earrings</a> or <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/89654007/dna-ceramic-bracelet-bangle-or-cuff-in?ga_search_query=bracelet&ga_search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5185693" target="_blank">bracelets</a> if necklaces aren't your thing.<br />
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But woah! Don't stop there! Say you aren't into jewelry (we're totally beyond conventional gender standards of wearing jewelry, btw)...okay. What about a sweet <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/srahhh/works/8257617-be-my-sagantine?p=iphone-case" target="_blank">Sagantine iPhone case</a>? Or a <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/srahhh/works/8258076-skeptypography?p=sticker" target="_blank">Skeptic sticker</a> to stick on your laptop or car? If you're really into this style (by my good friend <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/ologies" target="_blank">ologies</a>), she even has <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/srahhh/works/8265167-starstuff-ambigram?p=t-shirt" target="_blank">"Starstuff" shirts</a> for sale.<br />
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Since part of the Rally is to show that we're here, we're <strike>queer</strike> atheist, we vote, get used to it, why not show off which political candidate you support? And since most of you don't live on the National Mall, you're going to have to travel to get there...how perfect is this <a href="http://store.barackobama.com/accessories/bags/duffel-bag.html" target="_blank">Obama duffel bag</a>?<br />
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Or, given that we godless are addicted to coffee, what about the <a href="http://www.skepticalrobot.com/pharyngula-travel-mug/" target="_blank">Pharyngula travel mug</a>? (Note: does not come with a real squid.)<br />
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I mean, do you REALLY want to show up to the Reason Rally as the boringest person there? I didn't think so. :) Plus, all of the things I listed support great organizations/causes and/or are made by skeptic artists that we should support!<br />
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If you need help coordinating an outfit, let me know. I can help you out. :)<br />
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Be the hippest person at the Reason Rally! Now the real question is...what am <b>I</b> going to wear to the Reason Rally? You'll have to show up to find out!Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-39677612744527300882012-02-28T21:00:00.000-08:002012-02-28T21:00:10.488-08:00Why You Need To Stop Saying We Have No Reason to Worry<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier today, I resolved to make this a mainly personal blog, where I would just talk about my own, personal experiences.</span><br />
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</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I started talking with people about how I'm worried about Santorum getting elected, and I was consistently told "not to worry about it." because "there's no way he can actually win."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, apparently lots of people haven't seen <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-02-23/swing-states-health-care-obama/53260222/1" target="_blank">this poll</a>, which shows Obama losing to Romney nationally 46%-48% and Obama losing to Santorum 46%-49%. I know, there are other polls that show either candidate losing to Obama...but the point is that it isn't out of the realm of possibility for either GOP candidate to win. This is literally terrifying to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also find it noteworthy that everyone who has told me "not to worry" does not have a uterus and therefore cannot be invaded by Republican policies. Not that I'm saying I think these men are not concerned about women's healthcare, but that it is not a real and present danger to them to be unable to get birth control or an abortion. If it weren't for Planned Parenthood, I wouldn't have been able to afford birth control all throughout college. A Republican president would not help that. In fact, they'd make it illegal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From <a href="http://www.mittromney.com/issues/values" target="_blank">Mitt Romney's own campaign website</a>..."<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;">Mitt believes that life begins at conception and wishes that the laws of our nation reflected that view."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><a href="http://www.ronpaul2012.com/the-issues/abortion/" target="_blank">Ron Paul</a> would "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #383838; line-height: 16px;">Defin[e] life as beginning at conception by passing a 'Sanctity of Life Act'."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #383838; line-height: 16px;">Santorum's campaign website is actually hideous and difficult to find anything on, and I don't think it says anything on contraception or abortion. However, we all know he's super anti-choice, and <a href="http://www.newser.com/story/139777/rick-santorum-birth-control-is-not-ok.html" target="_blank">he recently said this about birth control</a>: "</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">It's not OK, because it's a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. They're supposed to be within marriage, for purposes that are, yes, conjugal... but also procreative." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">I'm not even going to post Gingrich's thoughts, because I see him less as a candidate and more as jowls with a person behind them.</span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">I know none of them are medical doctors (OH WAIT), but do they really not understand the reproductive process? If you've taken a high school biology course, you can skip this, but in case you'd like a refresher, here we go. Fertilization is when the sperm meets the egg and they say, "Let's do this." The pregnancy is not really established until the egg implants in the uterine wall (more info on it can be found </span><a href="http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/S/Sexual_Reproduction.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">). <a href="http://www.babycenter.com/0_understanding-miscarriage_252.bc" target="_blank">Between 50-70% of first trimester pregnancies end in miscarriage</a> (otherwise known as spontaneous abortion), many of them happening because of improper implantation. So under one of these candidates, would that make them murderers? Accomplices to manslaughter?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">That's just on the birth control and abortion issues though. We're not even touching on healthcare reform (which they're all against, despite some of them having previously been for it), gay rights, invading other countries (yeah, yeah, okay, Ron Paul doesn't want to immediately bomb Iran, but the others do), etc. None of these guys are moderates. We need to stop pretending they are. </span> </div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">In any case, if you think so strongly that Obama will win, I want you to think back on why he won in 2008. Was it because Bush sucked and people thought McCain was too close to him? No, because America didn't suddenly get less stupid. It's because <i>people got excited about him</i>. Especially younger people (it was my first election, I was definitely excited. So excited I ran into a door and broke my toe. <a href="http://i.imgur.com/ghQel.jpg" target="_blank">I am not kidding.</a>) </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Remember back in 2004, when everyone said Bush was too dumb to win? Care to tell me what happened after that? I can't quite remember, I have those years blacked out. (Although if I'm being honest, I was a Republican until Bush's second term. I grew up in a really conservative area, took until college to get me to break free from my childhood indoctrination-- you know, Rick Santorum's <a href="http://www.drudge.com/news/153991/santorum-obamas-college-snob" target="_blank">biggest fear</a>.)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">What I'm trying to say is that if you are as scared of Santorum and Romney as I am (and I hope you are) that you need to get out and do something. <a href="https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/o2012-donate-main" target="_blank">Donate</a> to Obama's campaign. <a href="http://store.barackobama.com/" target="_blank">Buy some swag</a> with his name or face on it (I bought a shirt and a collar for my cat today). <a href="https://my.barackobama.com/page/s/become-a-volunteer?source=primary-nav" target="_blank">Become a volunteer</a> for his campaign (I also signed up for that today. Plus if you do that, you get a coupon code for his store.). Don't just sit at home and rely on other reasonable people to get the job done. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">And please don't do the false equivalence thing and say that Obama isn't perfect, so he lost your vote, or that all parties are the same. That is stupid. I know Obama's not perfect, and I'm not thrilled with every single thing he has (or hasn't) done, but that does not mean we should hand the presidency to a guy whose name means frothy mixture. And if you need a reminder, find out <a href="http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/" target="_blank">What the fuck Obama has done so far</a>. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">I feel the same way about atheism. If you want atheists to have equal rights and keep the separation of church and state strong, become a supporter of any number of great secular organizations (my personal favorites are the <a href="http://www.secularstudents.org/" target="_blank">Secular Student Alliance</a> and <a href="http://ffrf.org/" target="_blank">Freedom from Religion Foundation</a>). Go to the <a href="http://www.reasonrally.org/" target="_blank">Reason Rally</a>. Go to the <a href="http://secular.org/reasonlobby" target="_blank">Lobby Day for Reason</a>. Contact your Congresspeople and let them know that you're an atheist and you vote. Come out to your family. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Whatever you do, make sure it's more than nothing. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">(Also, did you know, for a donation of $100 or more, you get a sweater vest from Rick Santorum's campaign? This is really upsetting, because I LIKE SWEATER VESTS.)</span></span></div>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-7614994348692440132012-01-25T17:12:00.000-08:002012-01-25T17:36:35.247-08:00In Which the Catholic Church Refuses to let me Defect<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, well, dear readers. If you remember a few weeks back, I posted a blog about <a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-defection-from-catholic-church.html" target="_blank">my attempted defection from the Catholic Church</a>. A few days ago, I got a letter from the Milwaukee diocese (where I was born/baptized) saying that since I was no longer under their jurisdiction, my letter would be forwarded to the Columbus diocese (where I live now). I didn't think that was noteworthy, so I didn't post anything about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I got a response from the Chancellor of the Columbus Diocese.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7WzZbukUzdVdYID_w4p7yzoTp0lBNUz_IvJuZcmdgHsqujkDiNWRZpR3hIH09JIvqv5wviXUFzEybIfyT2Iu8KCTkjBXJNYglFyTVj4vqArN_y-38sOw9L6ete114cyR6k9Iah130XWH_/s1600/Photo_00003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7WzZbukUzdVdYID_w4p7yzoTp0lBNUz_IvJuZcmdgHsqujkDiNWRZpR3hIH09JIvqv5wviXUFzEybIfyT2Iu8KCTkjBXJNYglFyTVj4vqArN_y-38sOw9L6ete114cyR6k9Iah130XWH_/s320/Photo_00003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
I will transcribe it for you.</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear Sarah:</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your notice of defection from the Catholic Church was forwarded to Bishop Frederick F. Campbell, Bishop of the Diocese of Columbus of which you are now a resident, from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. I have been asked been asked by Bishop Campbell to respond to your declaration of defection on his behalf.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wish to first express my sorrow that you have concluded that you desire to defect from the Catholic Church. It is apparent from your postal and email address that you are a student at The Ohio State University [Me: What?], and so I encourage you to seek to speak with a member of the clergy or staff at the St. Thomas More Newman Center to discuss further your concerns and resolution regarding the Catholic Church.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regarding your notification of defection, I need to explain that it is true that with the implementation of the 1983 Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church there was a process by which a person's notification of defection from the Catholic Church could be received and that notification would have the canonical effect of recognizing and recording such a defection. With the motu proprio <i>Omnium in mentem</i>, dated October 26, 2009, however, this procedure was removed from the Code with the effect that a person's declared defection can no longer be recognized by the Catholic Church. Given that your declaration was made on November 7, 2011, it is not possible for you to receive confirmation that your attempted defection will have canonical effect or be recorded in your baptism record.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of this change in the Canon Law of the Church and the resulting lack of canonical effect, it is equally true that you are prevented from seeking reconciliation with the Church and receiving the sacraments beyond seeking reconciliation with the Church and receiving the sacraments beyond celebrating the Sacrament of Confession. That being stated, any member of the Catholic clergy would certainly respect your declared desire not to receive the ministry of the Church and so it is particularly imporatnt that you communicate your desire to whoever might otherwise contact the Church so long as you persist in the desire declared in your declaration of November 7, 2011.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sincerely yours,</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Very Reverend Shawn D. Corcoran</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So...I have to follow Catholic rules, even though I'm not Catholic? I'm at a crossroads here, dear readers. How should I proceed? I have a few ideas, but I'd like to hear yours. I am considering contacting the clergy member he recommended (or this dude himself) for a face-to-face meeting. Because that would be super fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am also considering writing a letter listing all of things I have done that violate Catholic rules. I think making a comprehensive list would be super fun. If the church won't let me defect, then I will get excommunicated...which will be significantly more fun for me, and probably a lot more annoying for them.<br />
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My letter to them would look something like this.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Reasons to Excommunicate Me</u></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><ul><li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have had premarital sex while using a condom.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I use contraception on a regular basis.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have acted upon homosexual desires (and will do so again).</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I watch pornography.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I support same sex marriage.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I vote pro-choice.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have assisted women in getting to a medical center where they can obtain an abortion.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I actively speak out against the pope's authority.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I refer to belief in god as "silly, superstitious magic."</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have not sought reconciliation for over a decade.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I refused to get confirmed.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do not tithe.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I frequently give money to secular and atheist charities.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I work for an atheist organization.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am an atheist and do not believe in any supernatural deities.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I organized a book tour for Richard Dawkins.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think the Catholic Church is a disgusting and morally reprehensible organization that protects child rapists and has helped spread AIDS in third world countries.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will publicly destroy a Bible and a magic Jesus cracker if you will not excommunicate me.</span></li>
</ul><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is this enough to get me excommunicated, you think? Any other suggestions are totally welcome!<br />
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Suggestions from people:</span><br />
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<ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I masturbate. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am engaged to a person of the same sex.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I deny that the holy spirit exists.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bible is made up nonsense.</span></li>
</ul></div></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"></blockquote>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-82328351400441972882012-01-23T15:50:00.000-08:002012-01-23T15:50:56.418-08:00Intimidation, or: Why We're Going To Win<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not quite sure how to begin this story, so I'm just going to warn you about the link I'm going to post: it's definitely graphic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, the Democratic campaign manager for an Arkansas <span style="line-height: 19px;">congressional candidate <a href="http://www.fortytwotimes.com/346/someone-kills-a-democratic-campaign-managers-cat-writes-liberal-on-the-body/" target="_blank">came home to find his family pet dead on the porch with the word "liberal" written on it</a> (NSFL picture in the link). I really don't have words. Well, I do have words, but I'm not allowed to say them on here. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Really, whoever did this is the scum of humanity. I don't know what would possess a person to murder an innocent animal of someone they disagreed with. I can't stand <a href="http://spreadingsantorum.com/" target="_blank">Rick Santorum</a> but I would never, ever do anything to his pet or innocent family members. What kind of hideous, disgusting person would do such a thing? Honestly...why would you do such a thing? I mean, I know their idea: intimidation. But it's not going to work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Jessica Ahlquist has been intimidated since she first brought up the unconstitutional prayer banner. From people posting her home address on a news article about her, <a href="http://jesusfetusfajitafishsticks.blogspot.com/2012/01/ahlquist-screenshots-if-by-christian.html" target="_blank">sending her harassing messages online</a>, and <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/01/19/sensible-voices-emerge-in-the-wake-of-the-cranston-high-school-west-saga/" target="_blank">booing her and anyone who agrees with her at city meetings</a>. But guess what, everyone? <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/01/11/jessica-ahlquist-has-won-her-lawsuit/" target="_blank">She still won the lawsuit</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">At my college, when I <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/154635074555791/" target="_blank">started an SSA</a>, people tried to intimidate me as well. People posted nasty things about me on Facebook, the student senate tried to stonewall funds, and they vandalized my stuff. But the group is still going strong. In fact, <a href="http://www.secularstudents.org/node/211" target="_blank">Dan Barker</a> of the Freedom From Religion Foundation is going to give his "Losing Faith in Faith" presentation at my college in early February (if you happen to be in rural Iowa, this is not something you should miss!). Of course, all the posters have been torn down at least 5 times (I am not exaggerating, my old advisor messaged me on Facebook to tell me that). But guess what? No matter how many times you tear down the posters, he's still going to show up. And it isn't going to make his presentation any worse or less true. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><u>You cannot silence us.</u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">It reminds me of that Gandhi quote: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Of course, in Jessica's case, I think some people are coming around. Several clergy members will be <a href="http://630wpro.com/Article.asp?id=2378639&spid=37719" target="_blank">holding a press conference</a> to "condemn the treatment and inappropriate language and words used to describe Ahlquist." Good on them. The responsibility isn't on atheists to condemn the the bad behavior of Christians following the lawsuit, it's on Christians. If you want to actually be compassionate people, stop using terrible excuses like "Well they aren't <i>real</i> Christians," and start saying, "Wow, that is completely unacceptable behavior, and no one deserves to be treated like that." (You can also <a href="http://cranston.patch.com/articles/police-patrolling-ahlquist-residence-investigating-threats" target="_blank">report them to the police.</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Remember to take good news from this. Jessica still won the lawsuit, and the prayer has been ruled unconstitutional (by a Catholic judge appointed by Reagan, no less). Remember to keep fighting for what is right. There are victories to be had. Washington state is<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71835.html" target="_blank"> set to legalize same sex marriage</a> very soon. Jessica's scholarship fund <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/01/13/a-fundraiser-for-jessica-ahlquist/" target="_blank">has over $20,000 in it</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">There are good things happening. Just remember that people have to fight to make them happen. Another Gandhi quote to finish up the night: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."</span><br />
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</span></span>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-37780120776749373822011-12-23T10:15:00.000-08:002011-12-23T10:20:14.606-08:00My battle with Cafe Courier<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, dear readers, for those of you who know me, you know that I am a terrible cook. A "oops-I-set-the-kitchen-on-fire" kind of terrible cook. So it should not surprise anyone that I often look to professional food makers to feed me. Since I also don't like going out into the real world (I have Skyrim; why would I need to go outside ever?), I utilize delivery services, which are arguably the greatest thing ever to people like me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I settled on a service called <a href="http://www.cafecourier.com/" target="_blank">Cafe Courier</a>. I was fine with them for the most part, until I received an email from them.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVCDv3j2zoOc0qDhRHJn1KmKTbXCeuLWkfVHqZErPsbwLN90IlxkaKJeTAKX8kozPD_PeOA_6qjYG0xzlLdOilU3X6Z2NsGZIMnIVwnNjTlUqdveR1o9dc5_dREjJUCSd3CGPisc9tDQJ/s1600/Cafe+Courier+Email.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVCDv3j2zoOc0qDhRHJn1KmKTbXCeuLWkfVHqZErPsbwLN90IlxkaKJeTAKX8kozPD_PeOA_6qjYG0xzlLdOilU3X6Z2NsGZIMnIVwnNjTlUqdveR1o9dc5_dREjJUCSd3CGPisc9tDQJ/s320/Cafe+Courier+Email.PNG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It's your standard Christmas email, "peace and prosperity, we'll be closed, safe new year, blah blah blah." I thought it was nice of them (actually, I thought "WHY DO I GET SO MUCH EMAIL?" but if I didn't get 50 emails a day from companies trying to sell me things, I would have thought that). But wait, what's that bit at the bottom? </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;">For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Isaiah 9:6</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Huh. Well that's...something. I got upset. If this had just been one of those "love everyone" or something kind of Bible verses, then whatever, fine. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth but I wouldn't make a big deal of it. However, this reeks of proseltyzation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I did two things: I emailed them and I posted a Facebook status about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My email said: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear Cafe Courier,</span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I just wanted to let you know that you've lost my business due to the Christmas email you sent out. I had been a happy customer for a while, but your addition of a Bible verse in your "thank you" email makes me feel ostracized as a non-Christian. I realize it is your prerogative to include religious messages in your private business dealings, just as it is my prerogative to avoid doing business with a religiously-based business.</span></div></blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> My Facebook status said:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boo. I've been ordering from Cafe Courier a lot since I moved to Columbus, but when they sent me a "thank you" email they included a Bible verse. Ugh. I understand they are free to do that, just as I am free to no longer give them my business.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Facebook status blew up. Comments ranged from confusion and honest questions to understand to hyperbole that I would now start disowning Christian family members to comments about how horrible the Bible is to suggestions that I am intolerant, with many, many comments in between (it's at 98 comments as I type this). Now, despite the popular idea that I'm bullheaded, I actually do take any and all criticize of my ideas seriously. I try very hard to think things through all the way before I make a judgment or decision, but I could miss something and be wrong. So, when someone suggested that this company is <span style="background-color: white;">"</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">not necessarily asking you to believe what they do, they're just saying, 'here's a sentiment that I find lovely, and because I find it lovely I wanted to share it with you'." I kept it as a possibility. Maybe that is what they were doing, even though my initial reaction was to think otherwise.Hey, sometimes I overreact and think emotionally rather than logically. I could be wrong. So I offered up the chance that if their response email (if I got one) was something to that effect, I would keep using this company. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So imagine my (lack of) surprise when I got this email back from them.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU6iYQ3D8G94skFxby9KCfXtYFJNwOJVWrJTctCntQ-nTifdDB8S2Du_lP8ew3uMGf9TxgqwxRFLuBvCaYJHhgMYKDBexWo5f9GLg-a3RTCQsR6uUu_KbdPlt2VkAlC4Ph16DBMf0ajkwT/s1600/John+Allen.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU6iYQ3D8G94skFxby9KCfXtYFJNwOJVWrJTctCntQ-nTifdDB8S2Du_lP8ew3uMGf9TxgqwxRFLuBvCaYJHhgMYKDBexWo5f9GLg-a3RTCQsR6uUu_KbdPlt2VkAlC4Ph16DBMf0ajkwT/s640/John+Allen.PNG" width="640" /></a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(It reads: "Sorry we offended you. We, however, feel it would be offensive to ignore the meaning of the major holiday that 95% of Americans celebrate. Happy Holidays to you!")</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Huh. Well, now that's some condescending, factually incorrect, proselytizing bullshit. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All my madness has been spent for the day (trust me, it takes a lot of energy being mad at everything all the time), so I was debating whether I should respond to the email or not. And if so, how? Do I correct them that Christmas is not, in fact, because of Jesus? Or how shitty of a business practice it is? Luckily, my friends were on it. </span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I posted that response to the status, and one of my friends (who had actually suggested the "maybe they're just sharing because they think it's nice" thing) basically said </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/7KPyF.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="http://i.imgur.com/7KPyF.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She drafted this up and sent it:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #edeff4; line-height: 14px;">To Whom it May Concern,</span><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span>In a recent email to a non-Christian client of yours, you gave the least sincere apology ever for offending her with your inclusion of a Bible verse in your holiday greeting. You informed her that ignoring the “meaning” of the holiday was offensive to you because 95% of Americans celebrate it.<span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span>While you are correct that 95% of Americans celebrate Christmas, 67% of those people say that their enjoyment of this holiday has nothing at all to do with the birth of Jesus Christ. So that “meaning” you speak of is something that less than 30% Americans celebrate. That in itself is an interesting number given that 60 – 76% of Americans call themselves Christians, yet less than 30% of Americans celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas time. I guess that means that 30 – 46% of Americans are bad Christians, huh?<span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span>At any rate, your attempt to foist your religious views on your clientele is unprofessional and offensive not just to the majority of Americans who are not Christians but also to those of us in the 30% minority who do celebrate Christ’s birth. You owe that young lady an apology. A real one this time.<span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span>Now, please provide me with the name and contact information of the owner and/or president of your company, so that this issue may be addressed by more than an anonymous mouthpiece.<span style="line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span>Sincerely, [Sarah's bad ass friend] </span></blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel like she handled it very well. (She's an old friend of mine...in the sense that I've known her for a long time, not that she's <i>old</i>...but I am a bit younger than her so I think the "young lady" part is kind of funny.) I will post updates if anything further happens. I probably will respond to them, however I think I should calm down first (and do laundry, because I am still in pajamas).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do you think? Did I overreact? Are they being shitty? If you send them an email, post what you said in the comments.</span>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-3821865756298516422011-12-16T09:29:00.000-08:002011-12-16T09:29:33.272-08:00Hitchens<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christopher Hitchens passed away. He was a great mind, and will be missed. Rather than extolling his excellent writing and speaking skills (because it's <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/In-Memoriam-Christopher-Hitchens-19492011" target="_blank">already</a> <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/wwjtd/2011/12/16/rip-hitch/" target="_blank">been</a> <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/video/2011/12/1329955421001" target="_blank">done</a>), I'm going to share a personal anecdote. However, <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/fumbling-inarticulate-obituary-writer-somehow-losi,26890/" target="_blank">this obituary</a> from the Onion is hilariously fitting. And if you've never heard him speak, <a href="http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/catholic-church" target="_blank">this</a> is my favorite debate of his.</span><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, I attended the Texas Freethought Convention in Houston this past October, and Hitchens was there to receive an award (a video of it is <a href="http://youtu.be/HmTPLYT_-nU?t=12m" target="_blank">here</a>). They announced that he would be there to sign books and the line started 3 hours before it was due to start. The line wound literally around the entire hotel (and this was no small hotel, mind you). I was supposed to give a speech an hour before the signing was set to begin, and we cancelled it because the simple anticipation of seeing Hitchens was a far greater draw than seeing this hack talk about something (I don't blame them). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He signed books, and one person told me the people in front of him were a couple and the woman was visibly pregnant. Apparently the couple told Hitch that they were going to name their son "Hitch" after him. Hitch stood up and hugged them.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Between the book signing and his speech, he stepped outside to have a cigarette with his wife. I was sitting in the bar, talking with a few people, and someone walked in and told us Hitch was right outside. I didn't want to bother him, but I knew I would never have this opportunity again. I walk outside to join a small crowd (probably 6-10 people) already surrounding him. I said, "I'm sorry for disturbing you, and I don't want to make you speak if it will hurt your voice, but I just wanted to say you've been a great inspiration to me and it's an honor to meet you." He clasped my hand in both of his and said (something to the effect of), "No, no, you're not a bother at all, it's things like this that keep me going, so thank you." He then added, "And just remember, if you can't be good, be careful." He then had to go inside, and I stood there, simply awestruck, knowing that I just had an incredible opportunity. I relish that moment, and am so grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He spoke for quite a while, and allowed questions. I had been working with <a href="http://campquesttexas.org/" target="_blank">Camp Quest Texas</a> kids all day, and one of the girls stood up to ask a question. She told him she was 8 years old and wanted to know what books he would recommend to her. He asked if her mother was around, and her mom stood up. He said "Good, because I didn't want to ask you to come see me if your parents weren't around." The crowd laughed. He then said, "Come see me after the speech and I'll make you a list of books." After the speech, he spent 15-20 minutes talking to her. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What a touching, genuine guy. I'll never forget him.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm raising a glass of Johnny Walker Black for him tonight.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Oh, and <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/RickWarren/status/147558435007893504" target="_blank">people like Rick Warren</a> can kiss my fucking ass.)</span></div>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-69444302435822517182011-12-08T15:41:00.000-08:002011-12-08T15:42:25.331-08:00Can I Hate Catholism Any More? You Bet.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I made a post recently about <a href="http://rantasarahrex.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-defection-from-catholic-church.html" target="_blank">my defection from the Catholic Church</a>, and apparently Catholics are on a rampage to make me hate them even more.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There exists a group called the "Catholic League." The Catholic League exists to "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">to safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened." As we all know, it must be difficult being a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church" target="_blank">largest denomination</a> of the largest religion in the world. What next, an organization defending white men? (Oh wait, <a href="http://www.kkk.com/" target="_blank">we already have that</a>.) </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">The Catholic League also "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">defends the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination." </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are Catholics really discriminated against? According to the CL's website....</span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harvard professor Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. once observed that prejudice against the Catholic Church was “the deepest bias in the history of the American people.” Mount Holyoke College professor Peter Viereck commented that “Catholic baiting is the anti-Semitism of the liberals.”<br />
And today’s brand of anti-Catholicism is more virulent and more pervasive than ever before in American history. While it is true that Catholics as individuals have made progress in securing their rights, the degree of hostility exhibited against the Catholic Church is appalling. Quite simply, Catholic bashing has become a staple of American society.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">So....what you're saying is, you want to be able to profess your beliefs in public without discrimination? Huh. Which makes this next part really interesting.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">The CL is <a href="http://www.catholicleague.org/adopt-an-atheist-campaign-begins/" target="_blank">launching a campaign</a> called "Adopt an Atheist."</span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here’s what our campaign entails. We are asking everyone to contact the American Atheist affiliate in his area, letting them know of your interest in “adopting” one of them. All it takes is an e-mail. ...<br />
If we hurry, these closeted Christians can celebrate Christmas like the rest of us. <b>As an added bonus, they will no longer be looked upon as people who “believe in nothing, stand for nothing and are good for nothing.” </b>[emphasis mine]</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So a group that supposedly stands to stop discrimination is...openly discriminating? Cool! Where do I sign up? Oh, they're even kind enough to link to the American Atheists page-- oh wait, no, they didn't, they just copied all the state directors and hosted it on their own page. Well, <a href="http://web.me.com/viking7686/atheists.org_state/State_Directors.html" target="_blank">here's a link</a> to the AA page of directors, whom you can contact and talk to so you can let them know they're doing a bang-up job. You can also <a href="http://atheists.org/Support" target="_blank">go here</a> to donate to AA for Christmas!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, this campaign is obviously silly and patronizing. I have no specific empirical evidence to support this assertion (but if you do, I'd love to have it), that there are more Catholics becoming atheists than there are atheists becoming Catholics currently. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The CL directs these evangelical Catholics to "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; line-height: 18px;">Let them know of your sincere interest in working with them to uncover their inner self. They may be resistant at first, but eventually they may come to understand that they were Christian all along." Right, except for the fact that WE KNOW MORE THAN YOU. A</span><a href="http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">theists know more about religion than do religious people.</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In fact, Catholics scored pretty low.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHpPzMzP4388fAesnSEXzyckoGKfHNKlJu7FQXOpA1hEabWji2YSEmC-dYveVpmLTfaaj26jm7ZwpcvaSKgCrYh4mMG_L3avnt2zVGk8rQlVSUH656pKufTDP2KPU3_XZRChcqAqeJhuU/s1600/Pew+Religious+Study.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHpPzMzP4388fAesnSEXzyckoGKfHNKlJu7FQXOpA1hEabWji2YSEmC-dYveVpmLTfaaj26jm7ZwpcvaSKgCrYh4mMG_L3avnt2zVGk8rQlVSUH656pKufTDP2KPU3_XZRChcqAqeJhuU/s320/Pew+Religious+Study.JPG" width="289" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Catholics don't even know about their own religion. According to the Pew study, "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45%) do not know that their church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolize but actually become the body and blood of Christ.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">" That is because if they knew that, they would probably leave their ridiculous religion. That's why the Catholic church deters people from reading the Bible and making their own conclusions about it; because if they did, they would realize how messed up the Bible and church teachings are and leave. You expect me to believe that this stale cracker is <b>literally</b> the body of some dude who died over 2,000 years ago? </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWwjcwzq4UQXjW49sRL5m-hzX_v4jQjjRwxSj2Mx4t-fQhjf0qazoF7rmDklXNcRgbceJ8HDPL2TfWYfdW_4h1WuNON1DIsLkv8BZbDhS8mm4gvF_W6zjejk-yKUsLdVgIvIDamUXXA0aa/s1600/fuckthat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWwjcwzq4UQXjW49sRL5m-hzX_v4jQjjRwxSj2Mx4t-fQhjf0qazoF7rmDklXNcRgbceJ8HDPL2TfWYfdW_4h1WuNON1DIsLkv8BZbDhS8mm4gvF_W6zjejk-yKUsLdVgIvIDamUXXA0aa/s200/fuckthat.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br />
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</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But of the whole campaign (which has already been destroyed by <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/wwjtd/2011/12/08/adopt-me-adopt-me/" target="_blank">JT</a>), I think the thing I find most patronizing is this picture:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLa_RDw2cPTyaAf3lbCpZNUMaF9B4qjm8PeQC6vai7LKAWuJgMhiHb39oKnjxb3JdX8gy5MeTfLEMWLvGFBVh2X6D5IMSATRLVWEEG-8jv4CViBJaqO-0CeNadVN-iWz8R_jX4WRH8dNW8/s1600/adopt-an-atheist.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLa_RDw2cPTyaAf3lbCpZNUMaF9B4qjm8PeQC6vai7LKAWuJgMhiHb39oKnjxb3JdX8gy5MeTfLEMWLvGFBVh2X6D5IMSATRLVWEEG-8jv4CViBJaqO-0CeNadVN-iWz8R_jX4WRH8dNW8/s1600/adopt-an-atheist.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seriously? If any Catholics go through with this (and dear FSM, I hope they do), it will not be like taking a young child to a park and holding them up in front of a sunset. It will be a fight, and we will win. There are no atheists out there thinking, "You know, I wonder if there's someone who loves me so much that he cast original sin upon me, then exempted <i>one</i> woman from that, who he then magically impregnated to raise a kid who would then die in a torturous and horrible way, only to come back to life and have people write four confusing and contradicting gospels about. Yeah, that makes sense." Here's how I envision a conversation between me and a Catholic going about the Immaculate Conception:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Catholic:</b> "Mary was born free of any sin!"<br />
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<b>Me: </b>"Well of course she was, all babies are, how can babies commit sin?"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Catholic: </b>"Well, babies don't <i>commit</i> sin really, but we're all born into sin...it's called original sin, and it's from Adam and Eve's first sin of disobeying God."<br />
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<b>Me: </b>"So wait, we're all born with original sin, even though we didn't do anything wrong?"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Catholic: </b>"Well, yes. But Mary was born free from that! God exempted her!"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me: </b>"So why doesn't God just exempt all of us?"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Catholic:</b> "Well, we don't deserve it. [Insert more blather about god and forgiveness and blah blah blah.]"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Me: </b>"God sounds like kind of an asshole."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">The long story short is that Catholicism is ridiculous dogma, and the Catholic Church is an evil organization that hates women, children, and anyone not-straight. I hope Dave Silverman over at American Atheists really capitalizes on this and invites the shitty Catholic League to, ahem, bring it. Because guess what? We can take it.</span></span><br />
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</span></span>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-31357703627541286252011-12-06T10:00:00.000-08:002011-12-06T10:00:05.412-08:00The Reason Rally!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holy freakin' balls you guys. I am on tv. Well, not really. I'm on YouTube. Which is BETTER than TV!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's just me talking about the Reason Rally, but still. It's pretty cool. I also look wide as a whale because it was uploaded at a weird ratio, but OH WELL. I'm still famous (not really). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, the video is <a href="http://youtu.be/5AKyyWab7Kc" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You gonna be at the Reason Rally??</span>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-15434204294874133202011-12-05T17:52:00.000-08:002011-12-05T17:52:00.707-08:00Reflections on Thanksgiving<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalU2hvytJByfvJYwIxYkeENJJ93ZvFUR_RdbqYlRyp0p9zia7Qs6kr6Padn4l6PgH8eqU-abBmyY5XqhIl7kJsuH7cxcwZUqwoE-gnoDe7XW79LYrdGu-E6bdbETlgux9j0-MI0obWKq2/s1600/Family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalU2hvytJByfvJYwIxYkeENJJ93ZvFUR_RdbqYlRyp0p9zia7Qs6kr6Padn4l6PgH8eqU-abBmyY5XqhIl7kJsuH7cxcwZUqwoE-gnoDe7XW79LYrdGu-E6bdbETlgux9j0-MI0obWKq2/s320/Family.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took this image from <a href="http://www.postsecret.com/" target="_blank">Postsecret</a>, which is a fantastic website that I love to check every week. I thought about doing this post on Thanksgiving, then decided not to, then I saw this PostSecret today and changed my mind again. So we'll see how this goes.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, as you read this, I want you to keep in mind that I love my family, dearly. They are all good people, so this isn't a dig at them. They just don't understand sometimes.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm the middle of three children. I have an older brother and a younger sister. My brother and sister are both tall, blonde, and popular. They're both rockstar athletes (my sister made varsity track her freshman year, my brother was a basketball superstar) and were the cool kids in their grades. And I'm...this weird little brunette who likes school. So I kind of stand out already.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got weirder. I liked books and didn't dress in cool clothes and I had nerdy friends...and then, the real blow. I did something against the Catholic church. I joined the Gay-Straight Alliance at my high school. That created some waves, and then even worse...I decided to do my first real act of activism. A gay couple at my high school told the GSA that they weren't allowed to buy prom tickets together, so the GSA was looking for volunteers to try to buy tickets to the next dance with a same-sex partner. So of course I volunteered with my friend Danielle.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My parents were <b>not</b> happy about that. We had a few really big fights about it, and they told me that didn't want me making waves, that I would get made fun of for doing it (except I was already being made fun of for everything else, so this wasn't a huge concern of mine), and they wanted to know why I had to be so <b>different</b> from everyone. Why couldn't I just be <b>normal</b>? (By the way, we were allowed to buy tickets together, and here's a <a href="http://i.imgur.com/wkFTZ.jpg" target="_blank">PG rated picture</a> of us at the dance together. I was 15 at this time, so don't be creepy.)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This became a recurring theme in my life. Why was I so different? Why couldn't I be more like my brother and sister? My parents weren't excited that I had straight A's, or that I volunteered on a regular basis all throughout high school, or that I was getting ready to be the first person in my family to go to college (well, it didn't seem that way at least). We just argued about how "out there" I was.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that I'm an adult with a college degree, and pay my own bills, am gainfully employed, they...still think I'm out there. It really sucks that I can't really talk about my work to my family, because they think I'm radical. I really don't think I'm that radical, but even if I were, the only things I talk about are helping students (because, you know, that's what I do)...and yet my family still thinks I'm radical.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's weird, because my dad has admitted to me that he thinks the Bible is bunk, and he doesn't really believe in a Judeo-Christian god...but he calls himself a Christian because it's "easier." He thinks I should stop being "out there" and just "go with the flow." I think he's mostly a deist (even though he claims not to be). I felt really left out at Thanksgiving dinner when we prayed. I felt almost...targeted, because we haven't said a prayer before Thanksgiving dinner in <i>years</i>, and now that I'm a professional atheist, we have a prayer to our "Heavenly Father?"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It stinks, because you always hear about how standing up and being different is good...unless you're an atheist. Simply not believing in a deity and thinking we should have a separation of church and state is radical enough that my family doesn't want to hear about my work. That kind of sucks. :/</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, that's why I think secular groups are important. Even if my family isn't excited about my job, my friends can be. I have my biological family, and I have the family I've built here in Columbus and online. My coworkers are all fantastic (<a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/wwjtd/2011/12/05/how-the-ssa-rolls-at-christmas/" target="_blank">like JT, he's so fantastic that I put his stuff in jello</a>) and the people I've met at conferences are so kind and supportive.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know there's no invisible sky daddy watching me who's proud of my accomplishments, but I can at least rest easy in the fact that I'm making a difference in the world and actually helping people...and there are people out there who are proud of me. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And shit, I'm proud of me. That's pretty important.</span></div>Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7984528614609775935.post-86951092860183409272011-12-02T22:27:00.000-08:002011-12-02T22:27:09.373-08:00My defection from the Catholic Church<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLeI5ndJooaFBhjZHTtsjMrfmKzC5QfBQsIVc0-6Wh81LY1qDqDbdfcMpRdB8RxZbmq5dnr1eHMJzmyMsVoDi7O4tL_PnE0VVeok3QoczfdIp7FdYCJ0k7m2DhGH1AsLDFncvPujSJOs1z/s1600/Defection+from+the+church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLeI5ndJooaFBhjZHTtsjMrfmKzC5QfBQsIVc0-6Wh81LY1qDqDbdfcMpRdB8RxZbmq5dnr1eHMJzmyMsVoDi7O4tL_PnE0VVeok3QoczfdIp7FdYCJ0k7m2DhGH1AsLDFncvPujSJOs1z/s320/Defection+from+the+church.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
That letter is my formal defection from the Catholic Church. Like many people, I was baptized as a baby, and since water was dropped on my head before I could talk, that means the church owns me forever!<br />
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Not anymore. I got my copy of a defection letter from <a href="http://www.countmeout.ie/samples/DeclarationOfDefection.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> (PDF) and found the address of the church diocese that I was baptized at <a href="http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/us.html" target="_blank">here</a> (for US only). I filled out my info, and since the church doesn't want to lose me as a member, I wrote on the back "I request confirmation of my defection from the church sent to [address]. Thank you for your prompt attention." I then wrote my name and email underneath it. (Many thanks to my coworker <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/wwjtd" target="_blank">JT</a> for being my witness.)<br />
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It may seem stupid or unimportant to some of you. That's fine. For me, it's a big deal. I was a Shi'ite Catholic (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k_9mXpNdgU" target="_blank">to quote Jim Gaffigan</a>), so to officially renounce it...feels good, man. Also, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has over <a href="http://www.archmil.org/archmil/About-Archdiocese-Milwaukee.htm" target="_blank">600,000 members</a>-- which is outrageous when you realize the metro population of Milwaukee is approximately 1.5 million. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4243727.stm" target="_blank">The Catholic Church is also the largest denomination of Christianity in the world, exceeding 1 billion members</a>.<br />
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I don't want to be counted in that number. I don't want them to pray for me. I don't want them to keep sending requests for money to my parents' house for me. I don't think I need to go through the details of why the Catholic Church is a horrible institution. If for some reason you don't know why the church is so awful, I highly suggest you watch the <a href="http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/catholic-church" target="_blank">Intelligence Squared debate with Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry</a>. If you ever needed more reason to dislike the Catholic church, this will do it (or if you don't hate the Catholic church-- this will make you).<br />
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And considering it only takes a few minutes to do (I mean, the letter is already written for you and everything) and the cost of a stamp...it's worth it to me. I feel good about it. If you do it, leave a comment and let me know! Stop supporting this homophobic, misogynistic, and pedophilic organization. I'll post an update when I get a response from them.<br />
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(By the way, if you're in the mood for a laugh, definitely watch the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k_9mXpNdgU" target="_blank">Jim Gaffigan clip</a> about Jesus and religious people. It's hilarious.)Sarah "Mowgli" Mogliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04329767129644882505noreply@blogger.com0