I don’t know anyone who kicks quite as much ass as Desiree Schell does. I don’t know that she does anything that isn’t designed to make the world a better place. Nor does she do it in any sort of haphazard way. She studies. She takes the best of what’s been done before and avoids what didn’t work.
In her talk at Imagine No Religion 2 this May, Desiree shared some of what she’s learned with us.
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oolon
August 23, 2012 at 9:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Brilliant summary of elevatorgate – There are still vast numbers of clueless comments about that issue which is seriously bizarre given the constant restatement of the facts. I’ve been linking to the actual video where RW made the offhand comment. But given how RWs fissog seems to inspire hate I think I’ll link to this in future. To jump to the relevant part…
[URL deleted. --SZ]
oolon
August 23, 2012 at 9:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Oops should have just said add #t=1310 to jump to the relevant part – forgot wordpress tries to be helpful and embeds the video
Stephanie Zvan
August 23, 2012 at 9:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Fixed.
Pteryxx
August 23, 2012 at 10:03 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Direct link for those without embedding:
youtube link
(also though youtube’s automatic captioning sort of helps, it’s often hilarious – “intersection dump truck” heee)
Pteryxx
August 23, 2012 at 10:07 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
(and “context culpepper idiopathic” … lawl… )
Jason Thibeault
August 23, 2012 at 10:34 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Desiree once scolded me for cleaning my glasses on my shirt, and handed me a microfiber cloth. Just felt I needed to share that.
leftwingfox
August 23, 2012 at 12:07 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Excellent speech.
Anonymous Atheist
August 23, 2012 at 12:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Great video, but after watching it, I still remain confused as to the meaning of this blog post title: “Horrible, Horrible Warnings”.
Stephanie Zvan
August 23, 2012 at 12:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Des used the phrase very early in the talk. It’s so very much how she speaks that I had to use it.
James Croft
August 23, 2012 at 1:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I LOVE DESIREE SCHELL! <3
Anonymous Atheist
August 23, 2012 at 1:06 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Oh, whoops, I didn’t catch that. There it is at 1:40-1:46.
Stephanie Zvan
August 23, 2012 at 1:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
James, everyone loves Des. This is so universally true that I think not loving Des (presuming you’ve met her) suggests some sort of embarassing secret or personality defect.
bjartefoshaug
August 23, 2012 at 2:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Standing ovation!
Jack
August 23, 2012 at 9:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thanks for this. She really made me think!
That she was reading it off a script and still delivered the goods was also pretty impressive.
Deanna Joy Lyons
August 24, 2012 at 3:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
She is a skeptical hero of mine. I was so pleased to get to meet her when she was in Seattle for GeekGirlCon, and she even allowed me the great privilege of an interview while she was here. A truly awesome woman.