I have insane blog crushes. They most often than not come and go, and those which are here to stay are cataloguednin my blogroll. Sometimes my love for journals runs so deep that I have to read every.single.entry ever published by the athor, which makes it diffiult if their personal and sex-ed writing has existed online for a decade or so, or if the blog contains too many recipes, and too little time. Last month I have developped two gigantic blog loves, and while one (Lagusta’s blog) if completely understandable because its content runs very much in parallel of my politics, the other (Nie’s dialogues) does not. Not one bit, not one iota.

I found nienie’s blog via Soule Mama, in an entry in which she elegantly and discreetly hinted at the tragedy the Nie family was going through. I feel ashamed to say that it is the trauma she is currently going through which brought me to her writing (same thing seemed to have applied to many readers who took on following her blog). I was quickly won over by her examplary life, her wit and her joie de vivre. I sincerely wish her as much courage she will need to get through this horrible episod of her life - and I dont doubt that she will do great, because her force and will to live radiates through her writing.

Much like Dooce, Nei manages to set aside and make time for small moments to be recognized and appreciated, which is a form of blogging I have come to appreciate an awful lot in the past few years. And so there I was; entranced in her blogging world and in awe of her prettiness, until I realised a little link which said ’spiritual enlightenment here’. As a quick click led me to the mormon.org site, my heart sank. And as I scrolled down further and noticed posts in which she cheered for Mitt Romney, my heart sank further. When I finally read an entry in which she called all democrats crazy, I not only felt belittled, but also sad. Why? I rarely, if ever, give myself permission to like someone who is vehemently republican, evangelical and pro-life for to boot.

Somehow, I kept on reading. Every single entry she ever wrote. And I came to the very uneasy conclusion that even though I have nothing but contempt for her politics, her life still should be inspiring to countless of her readers, for she seems to be a great person leading a joyful, optimist, caring life.

For me, this is key. If religious people ever wanted me to convert, they would be so much more successful at it by impressing me with discreet happiness and simplicity (for I might come to the conclusion that their serenity steams from their religion, be impressed and look it up) rather than with evangelical ploys and judgmental rants which for the most part are falling on deaf ears.

As for lagusta’s blog, well, she is Nei’s polar opposite. She’s ace, and the kind of woman I would love to be friends with, mainly because her unapologetic line of feminism (minus her take on transgenderism) really appeals to me. I found myself reading her entire blog a couple of weeks ago (lusting after her truffles too) with a mix of astonishment (’dude, you can’t really say that about women who have kids!’) and admiration (a cycling washing machine? Sister puts her money and effort where her mouth is. It is both refreshing and flippin’ inspiring).

And while she is way closer to my beliefs than Nie, some of her lefty principles go too far for me. No, I can’t consider going vegan, even though I really, really understand people who do. But my culture, my family’s food heritage and recipes, as well as practicality/price go in the way. And I have a bit of a hard time being told that I am just stupid or heartless for consuming eggs. This is something that constantly amazes me, how wrong evangelical vegans and animal-rights NGO such as PETA can be: you don’t recruit people by calling them heartless and stupid polluters committing murder. At best, you’re preaching to the converted and generating negative publicity which will have ‘outsiders’ looking down on you. At worst, the masses will call all vegans batshit insane and will catalogue them under ‘not even worth arguing with annoying hippies’.

I find it sad. Primarily because I love food, do care for animal welfare and the environment, and yet I would like to have a discussion about eating ethically but within my own standards, which might mean eating organic meat once a week, having sustainable fish dishes occasionally, and using free-range eggs in my cooking. But this conversation won’t ever take please, since hardcore vegans see me as a deranged psychopath. And I in turn think their outlook is so entrenched in an ideology which doesn’t take into account personal experiences and circumstances that I lose patience.

I end up thinking that both religious peeps and vegans definitely have something interesting to say, and their outlook can be inspiring. But because their discourse is framed with intolerance and the inability to listen and empathise, they end up losing potential followers (not that I would ever in a million years adhere to Mormonism, a religion in which no woman could ever conduct a meeting with older men. But I often consider vegetarianism and veganism as something that could work for me and what I stand for).