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.).
Turns out, Crohn's Disease 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.
So, I went to the doctor in April because it hurt and bled when I pooped. Diagnosed as anal fissures (link-- NSFW photo in the link), but the doctor noticed some inflammation at the top of my colon or rectum, so she scheduled a colonoscopy as well.
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: You poop white after drinking barium. Or as I like to call it, ghost poop!)
July rolls around, and I was planning the SSA's annual conference, 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.
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).
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. :)
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).
In the meantime, since I still had the anal fissures 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, 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 sitz bath 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?)
So, here I am, getting surgery on Tuesday, August 28th. I'm getting a laproscopic colectomy 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.
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).
So, what can you do to make me feel better? Here are a few options!
1) Recommend books, tv shows, movies, documentaries, or video games to me. You can edit this sweet Google Doc! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AssJ88DUkGJUdEdhbVJWTjJoTWRoejVodUJ6RFJiakE
2) Help create a Spotify playlist! http://open.spotify.com/user/1243536065/playlist/3K82DOQt6dSNyKoWp1QmzH 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.
3) Send me a card! 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: http://www.mountcarmelhealth.com/patient-resources/e-cards.html, 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 Room 325. I'll be at Mount Carmel East. (Please don't write anything offensive or gross-- it will be printed and read by volunteers.)
(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.)
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
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 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.)
Jeff Duncan, the camp director, also got dunked.
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. :)
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.
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).
Saturday, June 16, 2012
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
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
Saturday, June 9, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
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. :)
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!
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. :)
Saturday, May 5, 2012
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:
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.
Andy and August's organization, the SSA (coincidentally, also my organization)
Amanda's organization, Camp Quest, secular summer camp
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.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
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
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
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