Gathered, Experiential, Trustworthy AND "In Contact With Ebola" -

Verily, at least around RantWoman, God has a peculiar sense of humor, prompting RantWoman to post all of the following items as a spiritual snapshot of the state of RantWoman's soul











https://alongrestlessness.com/2018/10/27/an-experimental-faith/amp/?__twitter_impression=true



https://blog.canyoubelieve.me/2019/03/trustworthy-part-three-choices.html






This item is why RantWoman tagged this post Business Meeting. RantWoman is not called to explain the moments RantWoman finds metaphorical. RantWoman MAYalso manage to "keep low" and not go on about Friends around her being metaphor-challenged.


Please hold this whole circus in the Light, RantWoman, Friends exhibiting various fragility and frailty, neenergy and old presences.

MInute on U District Mobility Planning and Climate Change

2019-02(2)-01:                        Peace and Social Concerns:  Mobility Minute

(excerpted from Draft minutes because RantWoman does not expect changes and because RantWoman wants to be able to find this in the future. Full text of minute and resources at botgtom of this post.)

 

Erica Schweizer and Malcolm Taran jointly presented a minute, “Mobility Planning and Addressing Climate Disruption,” as well as a short writing by Malcolm, “Nature, Science, and Understanding Choices We Face.”  They also acknowledged that Jonathan Betz-Zall was instrumental in a lot of the work behind this minute, but could not be present at today’s meeting.  They read the minute, then asked us to consider how public transportation does or does not work for us, personally.

 

Discussion:

*  some find Seattle’s Metro, and Snohomish County’s Sound, transit systems to be excellent, and believe them to be leaders in the nation.  Others find European systems to be vastly superior

*  some of us use public transit frequently, or even exclusively; some forsee using it more, as the demands of age make driving a car less feasible; others find catching a bus at night, in the dark, with a long wait, to be a challenge it’s hard to live up to consistently; others find it convenient only when going downtown (many bus connections) or to the airport; others find the journey itself worthwhile, since it puts us in touch with our fellow citizens, and forces us to engage in the relative slowness of bus-riding (and bus-awaiting)

*  some public transit users are marginalized people; some people aren’t able to consider using Lyft or Uber

*  even those of us who don’t live in the University District can come to feel responsible for this neighborhood, by virtue of worshipping here over time

*  what is the purpose of this minute?  to endorse the principles of the UDM?  or the “nitty gritty,” of which some of us may be unfamiliar?  Similarly, what position, if any, has the Church Council taken on this issue?  (apparently, they are not taking the lead– UFM would be endorsing the minute, and forwarding it on to the Church Council for them to season with other churches)

*  given that we are not clear on all the requisite details, and that we are comfortable approving the spirit and and principle of the minute, we came to unity on approving the minute with the following revision:  in paragraph 3, changing the third sentence from “We endorse the methods and principles of the U District Mobility Project (UDM)” to “We endorse the principles and spirit…”

 

Friends approved the “Mobility Planning and Addressing Climate Disruption” minute with the above minor change

 

RantWoman will figure out how to post the full text of the minute. But not tonight.

 

RantWoman greatly appreciates this minute for asking Friends to think about the evolution of our area’s and our region’s transportation infrastructure in relation to climate change.

 

RantWoman thinks this minute is highly germane to ongoing discernment about how transportation changes in the U district will affect our Meeting life.

 

RantWoman notes a comment about “nitty gritty.” RantWoman thinks it would be neighborly and supportive of our community presence for more Friends than RantWoman to take an interest in the nitty gritty of following who is who and how projects are evolving. RantWoman even thinks that tending to this would help build community and support appropriate stewardship of our own property.

 

RantWoman greatly appreciates that the draft minutes include the varying thoughts of many Friends about experience with public transportation.

 

RantWoman greatly appreciates the change accepted in the text, among other things because it nicely addresses overreach RantWoman has previously raised concerns about.

 

RantWoman likes the idea of cirdulating this minute through the Church Council of Greater Seattle and Faith Action Networkparticularly because RantWoman would appreciate a greater sense of faith community engagement about transportation issues, equity, lifestyle and community life.

University Friends Meeting [UFM letterhead]

4001 9th Ave NE

Seattle WA 98105

09 December 2018

Mobility Planning and Addressing Climate Disruption

We members of University Friends Meeting seek an Earth restored and promise to do our part to create a more welcoming and livable future. This task upholds all of Friends’ traditional testimonies on Simplicity, Peace, Equality, Community, and Integrity. We are called to examine every element of our lives and act to place in harmony our impact on our planet and to establish justice in our relationships with other people and with creation.

 

While we consider and develop deeper-reaching changes in our ways of living, we can take immediate action by working toward superseding the current automobile-oriented transportation system with more beneficial and socially-responsible ways of moving ourselves around. Transportation is the single biggest CO2 contributor by our city. Due to civic demand, our city already provides some public transportation alternatives, but many places are not conveniently served. We feel called to advocate for more thoroughgoing sustainable upgrading of our transportation system. University Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends calls for equitable, sustainable transportation systems that work for people of all ages and abilities. We encourage Friends to advocate policies that uphold these testimonies through available civic processes. We endorse the methods and principles of the U District Mobility Project (UDM). The UDM exemplifies an actual project with a range of needed approaches and a diverse range of needed solutions.We recommend that the Church Council of Greater Seattle and other faith institutions join in the goals of this effort for their neighborhoods. We will distribute this Minute to the Church Council of Greater Seattle, City Council and Mayor Jenny Durkan, County Council and Executive Dow Constantine.

 

Acting on this Minute is a step toward putting ourselves in right relationship with the Earth. This step should be one in a continuing series of diverse actions.

MobilityMinute v.2.3.odt Wed. 21 Nov. 18 p.1 o f 3

 

Summary of context

Action on this task is needed due to the seriousness and scale of the problems facing the Earth. We are“called to examine every element of our lives and act” significantly due to the actions of humans.

Significant changes in environmental and economic policies are needed.

 

As we may know, the cautious or modestly reserved consensus of the world’s climate scientists is that the world is not on track to meet the minimal goals of the Paris Climate Accords of 2014. Further, the world has less than about twelve years to have in place large reductions in CO2 emissions, to avoid evident cascading feedback loops leading to vastly more cost and undesired consequences than acting now, massively. Greatly more severe consequences would affect strain on community, peace and refugee migration, strain on human rights and health, exacerbating disparity, as well as environmental degradation, unpredictable climate, and severe weather damage.

 

With transportation as the major CO2 contributor by Seattle, significant improvements leading to

reduction can be an effective action toward beginning answering need. A better future is possible, but it will require significant changes, dedicated effort, creative cooperation, and well-directed resources. Significantly meeting needs will take years, so the time for significant progress is now.

U District Mobility Plan

“Our desired outcome is a holistic, multi-modal station area mobility plan for the U District.”

“The plan is a result of both extensive and intensive community engagement.” They also collaborate with civic, city, and transit agencies. The station area plan is just one in an array of mobility projects for the U District area.

Principles:

Give top priority to pedestrian movement.

Design for pedestrian access to the station.

Provide an efficient, flexible bus network.

Create a safe and attractive street environment for people of all abilities.

Complete the bicycle network.

Address the multimodal challenges on NE 45th Street.

[“U District Station Area Mobility Plan-Summary.pdf”, docs.udistrictmobility.org]

MobilityMinute v.2.3.odt Wed. 21 Nov. 18 p.2 o f 3

 

Address the multimodal challenges on NE 45th Street.

[“U District Station Area Mobility Plan-Summary.pdf”, docs.udistrictmobility.org]

MobilityMinute v.2.3.odt Wed. 21 Nov. 18 p.2 o f 3

References

City of Seattle, Office of the Mayor, “Seattle Climate Action, April 2018”, Apr. 2018.

http://durkan.seattle.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SeaClimateAction_April2018.pdf

City of Seattle, “Seattle Climate Action Plan”, 2018.

https://www.seattle.gov/environment/

climatechange/

climate-planning/climate-action-plan

Transportation is the leading source of Seattle's contribution to climate change [climate chaos, or more

accurately, anthropogenic climate disruption], accounting for two-thirds.

Fesler, Stephen, “University District Mobility Plan would pedestrianize the Ave and NE 43rd Street”, The

Urbanist, Oct 31, 2018, https://www.theurbanist.org/2018/10/31/university-district-mobility-plan-wouldpedestrianize-

the-ave-and-ne-43rd-st/

Goodman, Amy, interview with Dr. Anderson, Tue. 09 Oct. 2018. DemocracyNow.org.

Kevin Anderson, Zennström professor in climate change leadership at the Centre for Environment

and Development Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden, and chair of energy and climate change at the

Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester in Britain.

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/10/9/climate_scientist_as_un_warns_of

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Summary for Policymakers”, 2018.

http://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_spm_final.pdf

U District Advocates, “U District Station Area Mobility Plan” (plan summary of

udistrictmobility.org/plan), Sep. 2018.

http://docs.udistrictmobility.org/U%20District%20Station%20Area

%20Mobility%20Plan%20-%20Summary.pdf

World Resources Institute, “8 things you need to know about the IPCC 1.5C Report”, Oct. 2018.

https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/8-things-you-need-know-about-ipcc-15-c-report

Worldwide Fund for Nature, “Living Planet Report”, biyearly. WorldWildlife.org, (WWF.org in US and

Canada).

Sample summary: Business Insider, “Half of the world’s animals have disappeared since the 1970s”,

Sep. 2014.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/wwf-audit-half-of-the-earths-animals-have-disappeared-

sincethe-

1970s-2014-9

[2018 estimate is 60 percent.]

MobilityMinute v.2.3.odt Wed. 21 Nov. 18 p.3 o f 3

Earwom of the Week Pirates of the Carribean - Prague Cello Quartet [Official video]

Candidate for earworm of the week! THe Prague Cello Quartet doing Pirates of the Caribbean.

A sad , with OWWWW

RantWoman has a sad.

 

RantWoman has been trying to hold the phrase “Friends younger than 60” in particular Light. For one thing RantWoman is still younger than 60, for a couple more years. For another thing, RantWoman notes with tenderness a number of age-related stresses among many Friends in the around 70 cohort including a number who might well step away from some activities. RantWoman feels a need to make service and more connections real for people following in their footsteps.

 

But RantWoman’s sad: RantWoman is reading minutes of the All RantWoman All the Time Minus RantWoman Meeting for Business in January. RantWoman is reading lots of OWWW. RantWoman is very sorry.

 

RantWoman is also sitting with times where God has called her to go where she is not wanted. RantWoman is sitting with whether it would be better to go immediately and sit with the sad and see where things go with centered listening or whether RantWoman should just let people be as they are for a bit. RantWoman is NOT called to go away.

 

RantWoman is also frustrated: RantWoman wants to create a welcoming space. RantWoman wants to figure out ways herself to connect with younger Friends. Chitchat in coffee hour does not work for RantWoman. RantWoman has a well of gratitude for long connections and some faces she is always very glad to see. But RantWoman also writes email. RantWoman gets it about an intense communications style. RantWoman gets it about her electronic voice being, um, pretty grating sometimes.Besides overachieving about unpleasantness, RantWoman’s life is also a bit of a Yucky Topics Festival. And RantWoman's experience of Meeting is also generating way more "Blecch" moments than seem like a good idea to RantWoman.

For example, RantWoman is trying to sit with a concern about boundaries and imposing on people. Suppose RantWoman includes someone in an email and starts off near the top, if you cannot read further please just hold in the Light, RantWoman is partly trying to express that she values that friend’s presence and that thinking of them makes her feel stronger. RantWoman would love to creat a sense that connections mean opportunity.  Obviously that is not what is happening.

 

Maybe that is enough to sit with for now.

 

Hold us all in the Light.

Last week snapshot

Adult Religious Education: On your marks, Get Set Share

Most memorable moment from Adult Religious Education: a mother, probably one of the younger people there, talked about how she and her daughter were out somewhere and decided to give some money to a homeless person. The daughter handed over the money.  In return the homeless person wanted to hug the daughter, but the mother saw that the daughter did not want to hug the homeless person. So the mother offered to share a hug instead. The mother wept reporting what the homeless man said about how much the hug meant.

 

Other memorable moments from Adult Religious Ed:

“When have you felt listened to?”

 

“After asking a different speaker to hold the mic closer and speak up.”

 

[RW to herself: RantWoman would not have minded a little more detail from the Pendle Hill pamphlet about the brain cancer patient and his doctor and their path to shared vulnerability. RantWoman probably is not going to download the pamphlet to read further. Nor is RantWoman going to indulge in the temptation to comment about the gender of those—besides RantWoman--most called to go on at length. RantWoman does note a sense of stiffness as people shared. Hold problem in the Light.]

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, RantWoman, if you are going to complain should you maybe consider offering your time and Light?

 

RW: Um, God, REALLY? Are you crazy?

 

Insulted?

Beloved Elder who deals with the paratransit service known in some quarters as ABCESS: RantWoman, how are you?

 

RW: Cranky Irascible and blessed.

 

Beloved Elder: You always say that but to me you never seem to deliver on the cranky but, do you insult people?”

 

RW: THANK YOU so much for talking directly to RantWoman. RantWoman is aware that some people feel insulted by RantWoman’s email. RantWoman is concerned but has no idea what to do about this if she does not have specific items to work with, if everyone just ignores her email. Also, the Care and Accountability Committee has proven almost completely incapable of honoring RantWoman’s requests for prayerful accompaniment and direct communication. We are Quakers, right? Is clearness committee the concept needed? If it is, of course, there is the matter of accessible study materials, but…

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, Earth to RantWoman!!!!

 

Okay, okay, RantWoman in say the last 24 hours just penned:

--Blunt email about one Friend’s to RantWoman’s view limited grasp of trauma recovery issues and the numerous times that Friend and another Friend have both caused RantWoman to realize she needs to be true to her Light.

 

--blunt commentary after #snowpocalypse2019 about a car-dependent person in a key role thinking, it seems to RantWoman, that it was more important to shovel snow out of the Meeting parking lot than to fulfil our legal responsibility to clear snow from public right of way and maintain safe access for the 40 homeless men who sleep downstairs. The staff who live onsite cleared the parking lot. A volunteer who was able to walk from her home shoveled the sidewalk.  RantWoman has also previously written of people who believe in magical government snow-clearing fairies: the internet reports that some jurisdictions do assess fees and then do this but not Seattle and not now. RantWoman is pointedly not attaching roles to the Friends spoken of in fierce light even though she also has great respect for all of them.

            RantWoman in disaster preparedness geek mode would be interested to try to have a polite conversation about the above points, but this is RantWoman and polite may be hard. RantWoman also favors the community building aspects of just talking about how things went.

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, RantWoman, you are stuck. Chill. Be realistic. Write a post in your other blog. Look at things through the lens of an old minute.

 

-blunt email about the Care and Accountability Committee’s frequent practice of scheduling meetings where RantWoman’s presence was desired and THEN consulting RantWoman about her schedule.

 

--Blunt  email about repeated incidents of ableism creeping beyond the Care and Accountability Committee to Worship and Ministry: which part of physical inaccessability do you not understand? RantWoman is clear that she is not called to disappear. RantWoman is further clear that, considering all the fiascoes that have ensued when RantWoman has tried to speak of physical accessibility or to make reasonable accommodations requests previously, RantWoman will no longer be sent off to locations that are physically inaccessible to people she may wish to sit with. RantWoman SUPPOSES she is supposed to be grateful to be addressed directly rather than having to tell someone this after hearing second hand because the Friend did not choose to talk to RantWoman. However, the “well if you do not like the building with 6 stairs, how about the basement to which there is no elevator?”  is getting a little repetitive and RantWoman has not come up with better Quakerese that “Which part of physical inaccessibility do you not understand?”

[RantWoman in mode of twitchiness about drawing in Friends younger than 60 point out that this entire paragraph rates a serious Blechhh.]

 

Minutes:

Different Beloved Elder who feels safe enough around RantWoman sometimes to share family concerns, and whose sense of humor frequently makes RantWoman smile

RantWoman, about the minutes: sometimes it seems like you try to rewrite the minutes during revision.

 

RW: RantWoman is aware that sometimes what is on her mind does not make it out of her mouth very clearly. RantWoman continually seasons this problem by seeing what Recording Clerks report back and strongly recommends an AdHoc committee on disability spend some time specifically looking at old minutes for information related to disability. RantWoman has memories of trying many times to say something about disability and it not making it into the minutes [More blech?]. RantWoman is separately laboring with a different Friend about when there may be important concepts in what sounds to one person just like ramble.

 

Beloved Elder: I looked at the 300-year-old handwritten minutes in a PA Meeting’s minute book. Some of them were large handwriting and only brief notes such as “We decided…”

 

RW: Yes, except for lengthy minutes for example decrying slavery.  I have heard another Friend speak of recording only minutes that will be of interest in 100 years.  RantWoman thinks, based on experience, minutes are important measures of progress and documentation of efforts to work with important concepts, work out community thinking, comply with applicable laws. So RanrtWoman favors more detail.

Beloved Elder once more: how can I help?

 

RW: If you think RantWoman should be present while minutes are edited about her, say so.

 

Messages RantWoman remembers from Meeting for worship.

 

--a LONG one about art, the Trinity, the nature of God, and derision as a barrier to lasting relationships. By long, Rantwoman means 7 minutes from well into the message when RantWoman first looked at her phone to the end.

 

Another message:

Two death notices and how God was for one of them, like trying on shoes that do not fit RantWoman; the second was one of RantWoman’s paths to Quakerism, a very skilled presence who could comb process sense out of all kinds of passion and trauma recovery and political urgency.

The suspension of military exercises on the Korean peninsula which RantWoman sees as a small sign of hope even though realists might not think it’s such a good idea.

 

--More than one message about a hummingbird, window, and reflections inside and outside the glass.

[Blindness tourism moment: RantWoman ? RW: the description is fine. RantWoman knows the sun is shining. RantWoman does not need to see.]

Still more FLGBTQC Gratitude plus transportation jargon

RantWoman has meant to write more celebration of the recent FLGBTQC mini-midwinter gathering, particularly in terms of accessibility points that matter to RantWoman. RantWoman has meant to do this but her first draft got swallowed in a nightly automated file cleanup. Grrrr.

 

RantWoman recognizes that the second draft is going to get all fractal with lots of “where the hell did that come from?” and “where the hell is that going?” branches and tangles. Consider these your daily blessing like the sun after winter. If RantWoman were writing verbal counterpoint, RantWoman would also mention repeated references to “safe.”

 

If you are wondering why the hell counterpoint is in here, Google JS Bach, aka Protestant mystic. And if you are still wondering what planet RantWoman is on, please forgive RantWoman’s humanities major reflex to code-switch in many different directions and not realize she is doing so and then get crabby because others have not made the same gigantic conceptual leaps. Some of the time RantWoman manages to fill the spaces here with love herself. Some of the time it is Grace. Some of the time it is just RantWoman more unvarnished than she would necessarily prefer.

 

And here the program notes might also mention leadings about welcoming seekers and about Friends younger than 60 bringing their gifts….

 

Key event accessibility points important to RantWoman, in no particular order.

 

A safe enough space for a young Friend to acknowledge that he has tics. RantWoman had been trying to think of a polite way to ask. And the Friend was moved one day at the end of Meeting for Worship.

 

Explicit mentions in the registration process about fragrance free space. RantWoman knows what a big safety issue this is for one thing because RantDad had LOTS of problems in this area.  RantWoman finds fragrance free a big challenge but does strive to keep fragrances to a bare minimum. RantWoman herself has issues with some kinds of scents but cannot live without her preferred lip balm. In preparation RantWoman also changed her hair washing routine. RantWoman CAN do that.

 

Digressions about accessibility beyond this event

RantWoman needs to jump up and down on the “CAN DO THAT” because RantWoman hears in some quarters “Oh we are going to have to make very big changes…” First logical question: say more. What kind of big changes are you thinking of? Have you seasoned them with anyone like maybe including RantWoman?  Because you know, what is the point of “big changes” if they take a lot of effort and wind up making little difference. And besides, sometimes LOTS of people learning little changes they can make is even bigger than attempting some galactic overreach.

 

RantWoman can certainly think of some very big changes that she would welcome, but RantWoman in Queen of Recording Clerk Forever personage has been over a NUMBER of different people’s Recording Clerk terms TRYING to speak clearly with gratitude of things that matter. RantWoman is unclear whether it is lack of ability, lack of familiarity with concepts, lack of clarity on RantWoman’s part, or lack of inclination to record these points in minutes as if they are important enough to remind the community again.

 

RantWoman is particularly vexed by this issue because she can cite several months of minutes that speak in glowing self-congratulatory terms of all that is wonderful about what Meeting is doing and then say “RantWoman spoke at length” and do not say a dang thing about what RantWoman said. Is RantWoman maybe getting a little repetitive about this last point?

 

These two threads are only ONE reason besides multiple flavors of ableism affecting the work of a certain Care and Accountability committee why RantWoman is clear both about need for focused work on disability and specifically attention to minutes. Stay tuned. And if that just sounds wonky, please enjoy the option of hours and hours about something called minutes.

 

Invitation to make needs known.

Invitation in the registration process and during introductions to make access needs known. RantWoman appreciates the Friend who said she has a medical device that beeps occasionally. RantWoman knows someone else whose body beeps like that.

 

During introductions, RantWoman introduced Ambassador Thwack, the badly behaved white cane. Then RantWoman admitted that Ambassador Thwack rarely works inside the Meetinghouse. RantWoman knows the place really well. RantWoman also needed to warn people: don’t let the glasses on RantWoman’s face confuse you. RantWoman will not necessarily see others.  There were no kids present so RantWoman did not have to ask for help not stepping on kids.

 

Worship Sharing queries printed in giant print to fill a whole piece of paper. There were two worship sharing groups. There were two pieces of paper. Everyone had to pass things around if they wanted to refresh their memories. Equality!

 

USE OF THE MICROPHONE in large circles. To all the people who think you can be heard without a mic, NO YOU CAN’T. People’s voices drop off mid-sentence. People are just timid speakers. Some of the rest of us rely on the sound system!

 

Actually having the sound system in time for the event. Bear with RantWoman here; RantWoman is a little bit stuck.

 

Revisiting sore points

Event #1: event planner just hung up on RantWoman before RantWoman could get a reasonable accommodations request out of her mouth. Event Planner in question is already noted on blog with SEVERAL rounds of gbehabior RantWoman considers, to put it politely, dismissive. In the event RantWoman wound up deeply regretting not getting to hear what people said and also filled with free-floating RantWoman annoyances. Look, um, RantWoman already has more than enough things to hold people in the Light over, AND RantWoman would never mind having been wrong about (a twitch from the past)….

 

Event #2: A retreat. Phone / group effort FIASCOES. Demand in person meeting. Then say need to go on vacation. Then offer to meet AFTER the event for which the sound system is needed. But never fear, people who need to make reasonable accommodations requests,  by people RantWoman means at least herself are expected to go down a list and guess who is in charge and figure out who can help. Never mind whether it feels SAFE to ask especially when one does not want to have to ask in the first place.

 

At the FLGBTQC event, RantWoman found more than one person who could just thread needles so RantWoman could sew reflective tape on one of her new canvas bags. See RantWoman is allergic to getting run over in the first place. In the second place going anywhere is a lot of trouble and RantWoman adapts by doing a lot by conference call. So RantWoman often says “as a reasonable accommodation… please COPE with everyone being on the same footing visually.” In return RantWoman is happy to refrain from wondering whether others care about her time and physical safety!  

 

The sewing was also space to hear others’ stories and to hold a quest for better paths about this last communications fiasco. RantWoman can still with frightening ease hit some inchoate rage about car-dependence, insistence on meeting in person, and various other strands of Attitude and communications FIASCOES related to particular reasonable accommodations request.

 

Safety and Fixed?

RantWoman will not though refrain from talking even more about blind people and transportation and why having a phone in option for public meetings is a GIANT safety measure for instance if a blind person lives in Kitsap county and has to walk two miles on a road shoulder to catch a bus to do something in person. Well, around Meeting RantWoman is more likely to continue to jump up and down about the importance of needing to talk about what coming transportation changes mean for our community and green transportation and other tranpsportation jargon. But to do that, RantWoman is pretty sure it would be good to figure out some space to say what happened before was a giant screwup. How about instead of just trying to drive RantWoman away, we figure out how to cut down the screwup angles going forward????

 

And bless your heart to a member of RantWoman’s Care and Accountability committee who kept trying to tell RantWoman the need for microphone issue is “fixed.” Really. Have you asked RantWoman whether she considers it fixed?  Do event planners know they need to think about the Mic System? Do people who need to make a reasonable accommodations request about having the mic available have a clear consistent channel to do so? Does anyone understand the term Reasonable Accommodation?  Eureka! MORE reasons to have an adhoc committee on Disability! More items for a workplan. More wrangling about whether just to start with “see what we can do in a year” or wether to overspecify what winds up on the workplan. Stay tuned and RantWoman HOPES others besides herself can pull renewed energy from this tangle.

 

Do the rhinos get a vote?

One of the venues where RantWoman regularly worships--and offers ministry--is the Association of Bad Friends on Facebook



RantWoman posted the following item and is deeply touched that 60 people and counting like the rhinos, RantWoman's snarky intro, and other words of wisdom in the comments

From Facebook

This belongs here (in the Association of Bad Friends group) because:
It is such a profound appreciation both of God's creation and ..


Plus I am rolling on the floor laughing even if no one has given them Quaker hats









Comments included references to glandular issues, kale and starch, and whether Biblical unicorns might be rhinos.




In the category of things to raise one's spirits in times of ecological catastrophe, RantWoman celebrates the presence of two rhinos in the same picture!

Speaking of herds of rhinos, Meditations on worship after reading some minutes.

 

If reading all the ramble below seems like too much, please consider just starting by saying Hi next time you see RantWoman. And please bear with it if RantWoman just seems startled. That happens.

 

RantWoman’s basic welcoming query and invitation to read further: is there something you wish RantWoman would immediately pay attention to in addition or instead of the ramble below? What rises for you from the reading?

 

A note on the word “exhaustion:” RantWoman takes that word seriously. RantWoman is also exhausted and frustrated. RantWoman is vexed by one strand of exhaustion coming from Friends complaining of exhaustion. Thee Friends complain of exhaustion, keep doing things RantWoman thinks must be exhausting, and do not seem able to hear RantWoman’s testimony about many things that make a great deal of difference, RantWoman hopes are much less exhausting than current practices. Please hold this in the Light as we return to the rest of the Rhino safari.

 

 

RantWoman spent college with a gender ratio of 2-1 at the same university and in overlapping time period with Michelle Obama who writes of the same issue:  trying to be heard among male classmates. So RantWoman does pushy conversation style really well. Sometimes RantWoman gets it that she needs to shut up and listen. Sometimes.

 

Be warned, also  RantWoman was a literature major AND  RantWoman can make almost any text an exercise in free association, idiosyncratic metaphors, and hard-to-fathom logical links. RantWoman KNOWS this. Humbly RantWoman has needed to be told more than once in coming to know.  Sometimes God and RantWoman do not manage to shepherd this overpacked spiritual itinerary into bites suitable for Meeting for worship. Sometimes this is because the message needs to be tested, seasoned and may evolve in streams of worship over time.

 

Sometimes this is because the content of RantWoman’s head really needs to be something longer like an article or a blog post. Rantwoman is working on discernment about this. Sometimes RantWoman really appreciates it when people trust their Light enough to say something, anything that might help the discernment.

 

Quaker worship, to RantWoman is OPPORTUNITY, opportunity to wade into spiritual waters, to bathe with others in the power and mystery of God. And yes, RantWoman means God even though form, gender, physicality of presence are all left unspoken—for MANY reasons.

 

Speaking of opportunity, RantWoman is REALLY sorry some of you say you are leaving because of RantWoman’s messages. RantWoman is further pained because unless you say hi to RantWoman regularly, agree to serve on a committee, or participate in a Meeting activity with RantWoman,  at best you are just another fuzzy blob RantWoman is busy trying not to plow into. Much as RantWoman wants to welcome your presence into the long history of this meeting and RantWoman’s deep caring for the community, if you cannot take a chance and use your words, RantWoman is not going to know one way or another whether you are worshipping with us or not. How can RantWoman miss you if she does not know you have been there?

 

In fact, Friends have you considered whether the Holy Spirit might be trying to tap you on the shoulder with a call to ministry? Have you considered the possibility that more of the community needs to hear your message than if you wait around for Worship and Ministry? See, some of the time messages that come crashing through to RantWoman are things like “be true to your Light and the right people will catch up” or “Some people are wearing too many hats. Are there new heads who might be drawn to putting on some of the “extra” hats.

 

While some among Friends clutch their pearls, (mainly metaphorical pearls: these ARE Quakers ) about messages that respond to other messages, RantWoman’s experience often enough is that light from messages is cumulative.  RantWoman says all the time all over her blog that she is almost always thrilled when a new voice offers vocal ministry. RantWoman maintains and is herself on a mental list of frequent flyers, Friends whose messages RantWoman wishes might make it out of others’ mouths, and new messages new voices would be even more wonderful.

 

RantWoman also reads the phrase “beyond her Light.” Beyond RantWoman’s Light? Beyond the listener’s Light? Meant for someone else and other Friends are simply to uphold? RantWoman fairly often receives exactly contradictory feedback about the same message. RantWoman quaintly expects that Friends with concerns about RantWoman’s messages can at least articulate some point RantWoman needs to hold tenderly. Sometimes RantWoman manages simply to hold in the Light the fact of the disquiet. Sometimes.*see note below about RantWoman’s experience of Holding in the Light.

 

RantWoman has also heard feedback of the form “I am afraid to say something because…” The particular because implied RantWoman might say or do something “unsafe” with what is spoken. RantWoman is sitting with that problem. RantWoman is also sitting with many moments when her head is about to explode, about to explode for any number of reasons. In such moments, RantWoman may be attentively listening for a fresh point of view to help with the head about to explode issue. Or RantWoman may be so busy trying to keep her head from exploding that she will seem to be listening poorly. Or RantWoman may be mentally testing previous experience about who among Friends can be helpful in the presence of Head about to Explode problems.

 

 

 

Reflections on Holding in the Light from PNQM fal l 2018.

But what does “holding someone in the Light” really mean?  The “inner Light” is one term for that of the divine in each person, but framing God as “light” and evil or despair as “darkness” has ugly connotations.  At Pacific Northwest Quarterly Meeting in fall of 2018, Ellany Kayce encouraged us to move away from metaphors that pit “light” against “dark,” since this has broader connotations about people with lighter skin being good and darker skin being evil.  This zine opens a space to think about other ways to describe divine love and clarity and the ways we care for each other.

The full Zine, in text form.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bO9QvmzJ-vNe-QCYTwsvFZw7qxkygXqPjOq9ItpK8wE/edit

 

Example which most closely reflects what RantWoman remembers saying in response to the query above.

[Image description: a WOW emoji.]

 

Light can be gentle and healing, or it can be fierce, like lightning. Sometimes you’re sunbathing and sometimes you get burned.  It’s kind of like the WOW emoji on facebook - you can’t always tell what kind of clarity you’re going to b get.