Judge Me

Hi all, this is Jessica. She's my amazing, beautiful, hilarious, smart, crazy cousin. 

She has a talent: writing. Her words are so lyrical, it's ridiculous! 

I'm jealous of her talent, and I want you all to give her blog some love and views! 

She's blogging over at The Music of My Soul Reveals Itself in Words. :)

"Sometimes I just have this feeling etched onto my heart that I want to share with the world. So I write. I LOVE to write. Whether or not it has ANYTHING to do with what's happening in my life, I love the feeling of the words falling on to the page. Such a peace envelops me when I know that another work is completed. So, here I am. These are my works. These are my words. Experience what you can, feel the words roll off your tongue, and never live to regret the things you've done. Enjoy!"

She kindly offered to guest post for me, and so I can give her some more followers/ viewers! This is a poem she wrote while away on a vacation when anger struck her. Enjoy. :)

Judge Me

Tryn’ tell me who you think I should be
Tryn’ make me the girl you dreamed you’d see.
Push me away if you’d like, you wouldn’t even know
You’re blind in your judgment and you put on a great show
Let me be me or I’m sure this won’t go through
You’re gonna lose me completely cause you hate all that I do.
Oh, but you don’t “hate”—you’re only tryn’ to “love”
But every time you judge me, you push me away with a shove.
I HATE being judged for being myself
I HATE to put the things I love up on the hidden shelf.
I’m so sick of all the righteous ones, the high and mighty kings
The ones who feel they’re perfect and look down on everyone and everything. 
I’m sick of all you people who think that you are better 
Who make us sinners walk around with the brightly stitched scarlet letter. 
You don’t know me, so who are you to judge?
You don’t know my past, present, or future—
so don’t you sit there hatin’ like that cause I ain’t gonna budge!
So don’t look at my piercings like it’s too much for you
You didn’t make the decision—I did—and I’m proud of it too.
Don’t question my sexuality, I’m born to be this way
And there is only ONE to judge me on the very last of my days
Don’t persecute me for my body art I put on in the form of tattoos,
I chose each of them carefully, each has a meaning ,a purpose that only I could choose
Who are you to look at me cause I got a little bit of fat on me,
Who are you to stare cause bones are all ya see?
We are all shapes and sizes, each has a different body, direction, and morals
But shove down what YOU think’s right or wrong and you’re not solvin’ all these quarrels.
You’re tryin to “Love” but you’re doin just the opposite
You’re tryin’ to make “peace” but all you’re doin is makin us sick.
You can close the curtains, no one’s buyin your act
You can cut the shit cause we all think you’re a little whacked.
Let me be me and you can be you
Stay outta my business and get yourself a clue.
So don’t judge the things that you really don’t know, 
And don’t judge the things that you do,
Just let us run our own lives in this already crazy world and you can just run you.

How Does An Atheist Celebrate Christmas?

Greetings friends and followers of the lovely Alisha! My name is Kayla, I blog over at Adventures of a Suburban Hippie. Lisha, my lovely best friend, has kindly asked me to write this guest post, and I'm so excited...I have spent the past week brainstorming the perfect post :)

First, a little bit of background information on me! My name is Kayla, I'm 22 and I live in Alabama. I'm getting (almost done with!) my degree in Biophysical Anthropology, and I will be going straight through to get my masters in Library Science. My dream job is to work as a librarian for the government, either at the Smithsonian or for NASA. I'm a long-term, strict vegetarian and, as my blog title suggests, very eco-conscious. I'm an introvert, but a very happy and optimistic one. I also am an atheist. A strong atheist, in fact. 

(Lucy, the Australopithecus. This is the stuff I study. I'm proud of my heritage!)

Guess what my favorite holiday is? Not Earth Day, but...Christmas! I adore everything about Christmas. While nothing will ever beat the Christmases of my youth, living in Hawaii and surfing on all holidays, I still adore it. The trees, the decorations, the smells, the pure sense of joy. I am even starting to like Christmas music again, after it was ruined for me by years of working retail in high school. 

This seems to astound Christians, the idea of an atheist celebrating Christmas. Many of them interject, asking if I call it Krismas or X-Mas (no, it's called Christmas), how I can celebrate a Christian holiday unless I'm secretly a wannabe Christian (it's not a Christian holiday), or, my favorite, if I'm just so materialistic that I celebrate a holiday for the sole purpose of giving and receiving gifts.

Christmas is not a Christian holiday, and I'm not at all bothered that the word "Christ" is in it, though I do roll my eyes when people say "Keep Christ in Christmas." The winter solstice occurs on December 22nd every year, with the sun reaching it's low point in the sky and staying there for three days. The winter solstice, along with the summer solstice and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes were common times for religious and cultural celebrations for many cultures, parts of which have shaped our present day way of celebrating.

The Norse Pagans are responsible for yuletide carols and greetings.

Wiccans came up with wreaths and decorating with holly.

Here's a big shout out to the Druids for coming up with kisses under the mistletoe ;)

Thor, Odin and St. Nicholas are all credited with bringing presents in the night.

Sleipnir, Odin's 8 legged horse, started the tradition of hooves on the rooftop.

The summary? Just because Jesus contributed the name of the celebration does not mean that only believers may celebrate. In fact, if we were tallying, the Norse gods (woot woot, I'm very proud of being Scandinavian!) contributed the most to our modern celebrations! 

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. It means cozy sweaters and homemade hot chocolate. It means gathering my large family in one place for the sole purpose of spending time together. It means eating a lot of delicious food. It means exchanging thought-out gifts. It means Christmas trees, Christmas smells, family traditions. 

Of all of the above, the traditions are the most meaningful. Every year, we have lefse (a type of Scandinavian bread) with our Christmas Eve dinner. We gather to open presents. For the 23rd time in my life, I'll get a special pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve. Every morning of December, I open my advent calendar to eat a piece of chocolate. 

This time of the year fills me with so much love and joy. May you all have a beautiful, god-less, heathen, merry time this month <3

Prepare yourselves!

Since it's now the holiday season, I thought it'd be a great idea to have my best friend Kayla share a guest post with us sometime this week! So prepare yourselves for that. ;) I asked her to write about atheism and Christmas, so I'm really excited for it!

I will definitely be talking more about my thoughts and feelings about the holiday season as well, whether you agree or not, I'm going to say whatever I'm thinking.... Hence the point of this blog anyway, right?

I'm still waiting for snow to come... It just doesn't feel like holiday season without snow! I'm a true Minnesotan because I LOVE snow! I also left all my Christmas decorations at home, so I'm not going to be  in the full spirit while I'm here working over break... Oh well. Only 20 more days til I'm home, 21 more days til I see Andrew, and only 23 more days til I get to celebrate with my family! Time will most definitely fly by, I'm sure of it.

My goal this season is to attempt to make vegan eggnog. Why not, right? :D

:) Stay tuned, lovely readers!