My Week at Camp Quest

Well, I spent the last week at Camp Quest Michigan.  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 riding, etc. 

We did a lot of cool things.  The first night, two campers/CITs pretended to be "minor deities" 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).

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).

And I made delicious s'mores. Mmmmm.

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.).

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.)

Ice freaking cold.

Jeff Duncan, the camp director, also got dunked.

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.

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.)

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.

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. :)

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. :)

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. 

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), you should throw a few bucks their way.

If you don't already "like" CQ on FB, you should do that (and also follow their twitter: @CampQuest). 

LIVESTREAM TIME

Okay, it's livestream time. 9 minutes until I start, so I'd better chug this out quickly.

Basically, I've already raised $1,000. Which is absolutely awesome! However...

The rules have changed.

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.

 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?

So, all the things you can "buy" to make me do are still listed on my last blog, and the donate button for me is still here.

As far as the day's plans...I'm winging it!

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.

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.

And now, the final thing...here's the link to my livestream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ssa-week

Update on SSA Week Livestream!

Okay everyone! If you aren't up to speed on what SSA Week is, click here, and if you don't know what my contribution is, click here.

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.

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.

Even more, if I raise $1,000 on my personal fundraising page, I will livestream for 24 hours. So....that's a lot of sleep-deprived talking to the internet.

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:

1) No nudity (you perverts).
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. :/ )
3) I reserve the right to say no to any request.

Anyway, here are some ideas!

For $5, I will lip-sync to a song of your choice.
For $10, I will actually sing a song of your choice (VERY poorly, might I add-- I'm no Crommunist).
For $15, I will sing AND dance to a song of your choice.
For $20, I will make up and sing a song about you (right then and there! Live!).
For $30, I will hand write you a letter and mail it to you.
For $50, 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. :)

Other suggestions? Keep in mind, if y'all don't suggest things, I am probably just going to sing "Jesus Christ Superstar" songs and "Call Me Maybe." So you probably want to suggest things and donate.

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!

I'm also going to have my BFF @ologies join me for the SARAH POWER HOUR, to help promote the Legion of Sarahs! Also, for entertainment, because two Sarahs are better than one.

There will also be other guests of honor, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements!!

I hope you're excited! Remember: if you want 24 hours of MY LIFE, BROADCAST TO THE WORLD...you should donate! (At the time I published this, I have raised $330-- 33% of my goal.)

Update!!: 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, get donating! (FWIW, this is what my hair looks like right now.)

Update #2!!! Alright, so since a date with just me is $50, for a mere $100, you can get a date with both me AND Sarah (@ologies). 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.

SSA 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 Secular Student Alliance, because somehow my life is awesome.

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....SSA Week!

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.

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

Anyway, I'm super excited to do this. I hope you're excited as well. :)

Humanism in Action

This 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.

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.

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).

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.

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?

I took to Twitter and said this:

Given the amount of RT's and favorites, it was obviously resonating with people. I am not the only person who worries about this.

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 sells her designs online, and they are awesome. But, of course, I hate secrets, so I started badgering her about it.

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.

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.

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). 

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:

(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.

Sarah also drew this amazing card to go along with it:

So there you have it. Sarah, Rick, James, Matt, Sean, Andy, Felice, Amanda, August, and Adam 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.

Sarah's art blog

Matt's blog

Andy and August's organization, the SSA (coincidentally, also my organization)

Amanda's organization, Camp Quest, secular summer camp

Adam's blog, Daylight Atheism

So, go check out their stuff. Thank them, hug them, all that. 

I'm going to go pretend I'm not crying again. STUPID FEELINGS.

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.

Why I Don't Call Myself a Skeptic

Oh 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.

Anyway, I was just having a discussion with Greg Laden on Facebook (of Greg Laden's blog 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.

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.

To me, skepticism isn't something you are. It's something you do. 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.

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?

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 don't identify a certain way. :)

And to close, here's an excellent quote by Carl Sagan!

"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...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, The Burden of Skepticism

Please Don't Touch Me

Okay, 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.)

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.)

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.

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 not 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).

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).

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 my twitter! I'll respond on there. Please, just not while I'm working.

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.

I was at Skepticon 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 ("Nailed: Ten Christian Myths Why Jesus Never Existed" 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.).

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*

This guy replied, "Oh, you were working at the conference?"

I said, "Yes, I was tabling for the Secular Student Alliance."

He replied: "Oh, you were tabling at the conference?"

I said, "Yes, for the Secular Student Alliance." (a bit of an edge was creeping into my voice at this point)

He said, after a glance down at my chest and a short pause, "Wow...you must be really talented at your job, because you're definitely not a booth babe." (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.)

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 (to quote the ever-wonderful Greta Christina) that it should not fucking well matter. 


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.

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.

(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.)

Edit!: 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. :)