Yes, I Am Absolutely, Perpetuating The Stereotype.

So if you haven’t noticed, this is the basic logo that I use across all platforms to represent Loud Mouth Brown Girl dot Com.

No one has asked, but I thought I would write about it in case someone is silly enough to ask why I’d have a Black Soldier smoking a joint as my logo.

The Soldier image, represents the men and women of the Canadian Armed Services that are fighting dutifully across the globe, to protect those of us who have no idea how dangerous the world can get.

The Marijuana leaf represents…well okay that’s obvious, but it also represents the idea of Mother Earth and that we are all connected through plants and herbs. The fact that it’s a marijuana leaf stems from the fact that I smoke a lot of the stuff, to deal with PTSD, depression, anxiety, sadness, fear, and basically all of my overly hard to deal with emotions.

I chose this logo, specifically because I saw a different version of it, and I absolutely loved it. The only thing that I changed from the original, was that the girl in my logo, is wearing camouflage.

Yes. I am perpetuating the stereo type that Black women smoke weed all day, and no I don’t fucking care. Smoking weed has helped me to build this amazing brand that I am working on. It’s allowed me to flex my creativity and to be far more open than I have other been before. It’s allowed me the chance to accept all the parts of myself that are less pretty or imperfect.

Smoking weed has set me free from being the person that I thought I was always meant to be. It certainly helped me get passed caring what other people think of me.

I used to take weed very seriously, and while I still do it’s different now. I am far more respectful of the plant than I used to be, I understand that it has the power to affect great change, while simultaniously causing a lot of damage if you are not careful.

I often joke that if you piss me off when I am sober, you most certainly find out when I am stoned, because I have little to no filter. Over the last two years I have certainly learned how to keep my mouth shut more when I am stoned but it’s a work in progress.

Being stoned allows me to be calmer, and to deal with frustrations in ways that I wasn’t able to before, but I admit it also slows my reaction time and ensures that sometimes I have absolutely zero filter.

I don’t recommend anyone and everyone smoking weed, but what I do know is that the use of cannabis in my life has completely changed and altered the way that I see the world.

I used to think that when I started smoking weed there would be an end date. A day when I no longer needed the medicinal attributes of the plant, and while I still feel that there will come a day I no longer “need” marijuana, I respect that right now it absolutely has it’s place in my life.

I am unconcerned with what people who do not live my life think of my cannabis use. I don’t care about your judgements or your fears, I don’t care about your religious philosophies or your moral compass.

This isn’t about you. It’s about me. This whole website, at it’s core is about me and how I see the world, and while sometimes I get it wrong I know that for the most part I am on the right path.

I am more in touch with my emotions now. For instance, today (yesterday) I cried for a good hour about the ………well about the past. I felt like a part of myself that I thought I had lost returned to me, body mind and spirit and for a tiny moment I felt more whole.

I was angry, pissed off to no end, and sad for the girl who went through all of the things my past self went through, but I felt like myself.

The logo of your website should represent your journey so that people know what they are getting into. For me this isn’t just about smoking weed, but about using anything and everything I can to do and be the best I can possibly do, to be the best version of myself.

I feel like every joint that I smoke removes a layer of dirt, grime, and dust, I feel like the more layers of garbage I remove, the more I am starting to see the diamond in the rough and I can’t believe that this is a bad thing.

So yes, I am the big, fat, tattooed, former gang girl, who smokes weed, drinks beer, writes, creates and does what she can to make the world a better place.

Smoking weed has been a big part of my journey here on Loud Mouth, but it’s not the full story. The logo is designed to draw you in, in hopes that as you spend more time here, you find thoughts, reflections, inspirational quotes and ideas that change the way you see the world.

Sending all my love,

Devon J Hall