MoxieLife

A little Atheist News - good and bad

The Bad:

Just a quick post - do you all know about what is happening in New Mexico? A fellow UU is having to DEFEND himself as a Unitarian and, quite frankly, is losing. Sad news for reason.

The Good:

You can't discriminate against an Atheist. Which is a good thing.

JUST ADDED:

A NEW NOT SO GOOD:

At the Intermediate school where my daughter is assisting in the classroom (she is a sophomore education major) she saw this in the office. Now the question is do I, or don't I, write a note to the principal saying that this is inappropriate. Thoughts?

Speaking to the Masses - or at least to Rotary!

Light a candle of celebration for me! I completed something on my 40/40 Challenge! I am so excited to have my first thing crossed off. I wrote about it on 43 Things, which is where I am really keeping up with all of these projects/goals.

My goal was to: Speak in Public Somewhere I Haven't Spoken Before or in a Subject I Haven't Spoken About. (I did the first - spoke to the local Rotary group.)

It was number 32 on my list (good thing these aren't having to be done in order). Being a public speaker is something that I want to do. I want to motivate, teach, share with people. Many of you know that I long ago wanted to be a UU minister, but because of many things I have not taken that path. That burning desire to connect through public speaking hasn't gone away and I am continuing to make it a reality. My goal is to someday be able to share what I do, how I might help, and connect ideas on a larger scale, but right now I am learning the fine art of public speaking through the groups in my community.

Things about speaking in public that are still very real to me:

• I still get very nervous.
• I hate that every projector is a little different and wish I had my own that I could take with me.
• I want to be more interactive and am slowly building that into how I present.
• I am hopeful every time that someone learns something - or makes some new connection.
• I get really hot right before I talk.
• If I am really nervous there is a trill in my voice - a slight shake.
• I don't like to use a mic.
• I ALWAYS feel like I have to pee right before I am supposed to talk.
• I don't use a written speech, I have a pretty tight presentation - but I talk from my heart. This is true when I talk about business, motivational, teaching, or from experience. I just think written speeches are boring and don't reflect the true passion of what I am saying. I might get a bit off topic, or lose my thought for a moment, but I try to share from deep inside rather then just bullet points on a page.

For those that do this on a regular basis do you have any tips to share with this novice public speaker?

Yes, I am a White Person - and this site is right 99.9% of the time

I am embarrassed to say that this is exactly how I felt when I saw the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are.

The First Goodman Wolven Prize for Good Living

Goes to... drum roll... Ryan at Sam's Club in Fayetteville, AR. Ryan is awarded this prestigious prize for commenting casually, yet with directness, to a customer ahead of us in line that when Social Security was introduced people and politicians thought it would bankrupt us and lead us towards socialism. The, probably conservative, shopper stopped her rant about "Obama Care" after he so eloquently shared this tidbit with her.

So, for his commitment to his cause and bravery for expression the coveted Goodman Wolven Prize for Good Living is given to Ryan - who is a medical student and part time cashier at Sam's Club.

Way to go Ryan.

About the Prize: The Goodman Wolven Prize for Good Living was conveniently created just hours before on the drive over to Fayetteville by Goodman and Wolven. They, like other organizations, wanted to bestow honors to those that are living the ideals shared by themselves. It is with a spirit of great joy that these prizes will be announced - perhaps there will even be an actual prize someday. For now, the honoree, gets to enjoy bragging rights.

Challenge Updates and the new OMG Award of the Week

40/40 Challenge Update: I have 39 of my 40 things... not bad! Now I just have to keep focused and not completely obsessed with doing them. Tough for this Type A. This week alone I, wrote and read my poem, hugged someone I haven't hugged before, scheduled a French cooking class, scheduled a silent retreat, exercised every day (not terribly hard, but still I moved my ass), wrote in my journal, made my daily to -do list, and scheduled to speak at an organization I haven't spoken to in the past.

Whew - I am tired just thinking about this! I have to say though that it is great fun! Granted it is my first week and that makes me a bit over the top in trying to achieve my goals - I am sure I will mellow out. I'll keep you posted!

DonorsChoose.Org Challenge: Dear readers as you know I am, once again, doing the DonorsChoose.Org challenge to raise funds for schools in Arkansas. Now, don't think that you can't donate to this noble cause because you DON'T live in Arkansas. We can use ALL the support we can get!

I am thinking I need to sweeten the deal. Let's say that we (you and I) raise the money in my challenge (supporting two school projects). That would be great, but perhaps just giving $10 doesn't make it INTERESTING for you. Well, what can I do that will make it worthwhile? You suggest a suitable reward/punishment for reaching my goal and I will pick a winner.

Past participants have dressed up like a tomato and toured the streets of DC, recreated a Pat Benetar video, and another got a tattoo. What would you like to see little ol' me do if I reach my HIGHLY coveted goal? Donate to this incredibly worthwhile cause and then suggest what I should do! Happy donating!

And the OMG Award of the Week goes to: Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Georgia. What were they thinking?

Where are all the pumpkins?

There is a serious pumpkin shortage. Perhaps it is some conspiracy to stop American's from consuming vast amounts of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. Or Aliens came down and brought them all back to their leader as an amusing food that you can cut up and play with AND eat... what's more fun than that?

Seriously, I sent my husband out this week in search of pumpkin in a can. Not the horrible pie filling - just pumpkin in a can. He came back utterly defeated three times. I went out to search on my own and was told that it is a seasonal food and that it isn't stocked during the year.

Then today on the FRONT page of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette (I would link to it, but you have to PAY to see the articles in that dumb paper) it said there was a massive SHORTAGE of pumpkins due to the wet weather we had this summer.

So, at least I am not crazy. There is a shortage.

But not at my house!

Because you know when you REALLY want something you have to have LOTS of it. Well, that is what happened with my pumpkin obsession. I wanted to make a pumpkin pasta dish in a serious way. And because I couldn't for days it became a mission. I was determined to find that damn pumpkin.

So, this morning I drove over to the farmers market and bought not one, not two, but THREE pie pumpkins. Those are the short cute kind that are a bit sweeter than a pumpkin used for Halloween.

Then I drove over to the Festival of the Sun (our local grocery store) and I thought I would just LOOK at the aisle that houses the canned pumpkin. Just to see if they had it in... it is actually Fall now. Well, they had it and so I had to buy FOUR cans of it. Why? Because they might NOT have it at some point.

So, at our house, we have some serious pumpkin.