RantWoman yesterday hit an urge to blog about something and realized she needs to lay out some parameters before going any further.
RantWoman may use the names of organizations in her blog if the content is topical; RantWoman will also at times refer to organizations without mentioning their names, particularly if the point is not directly related to the mission of the organization.
RantWoman will with very limited exceptions not use people's names in her blog. Even if RantWoman uses people's names in one context, if that person figures in another context, RantWoman may or may not refer to said person by name. RantWoman was a Russian literature major in college and has an extremely high tolerance for characters referred to by several different names in the course of a narrative.
RantWoman is dividing up people she was thinking of blogging about as follows:
Unlikely to ever read her blog:
Example 1 Half a Brain Lady. RantWoman means this with no disrespect. Half a Brain Lady had to have half her brain removed because it was making life unlivable for the rest of her.RantWoman has previously written about her and will perhaps find the link. RantWoman knows Half a Brain lady in another context that sometimes figures in threads on RantWoman's other blog.
Example 2: Friend Poet. Friend Poet is actually a published poet. Friend Poet's spoken ministry is prone to even more poetic excursions than RantWoman's blog. When RantWoman was recording clerk, she used to despair of capturing, when necessary, the essence, of Friend Poet's words until one day the Light dawned. Friend Poet has a couple favorite themes and there is nearly always a nugget in his words. Further, it's poetry and if one misses part of the point, it's poetry anyway. Even nicer: Friend Poet seldom reads and even less often objects to anything in minutes. Friend Poet's words, while an essential ingredient in the whole stew, tend not to be key to capturing big decisions or sense of the meeting and therefore RantWoman can feel more liberated in her attentions than with some other Friends.
Friends who could but RantWoman considers not likely to read her blog.
Example 1: Dear Friend, RantWoman's co-catalyst in the Compost thread. He says he does not read blogs. RantWoman expects she will be able to detect whether he
Example 2: Eye Roller Friend.
People who very well might both read her blog and recognize themselves or others. RantWoman was going to blog about something to do with one such person before deciding she needs to list her rules.
Basically, if you know RantWoman, recognize yourself, have an issue with something in the blog, and do not already know ways to get in touch with RantWoman, Leave a comment and check the option to have responses emailed back to you. RantWoman will be happy to consider your concerns.
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Ai-yi-yi.
ReplyDeleteHere RantWoman goes making rules and now she has to test them.
1. On the way to reading some stuff about clearness committees last night, RantWoman came across an admonishment to speak to a Friend directly rather than gossip behind his or her back. The ministry of bus travel meditation slammed RantWoman rather directly with the thought that she should in fact address Eye Roller Friend herself. RantWoman is now deciding:
--Should she address the questions on her mind and not tell EyeRoller Friend about her blog assuming he can find it if interested?
--Address her questions and thoughts to EyeRoller Friend AND mention her RSOF blog, perhaps the experience of being eldered about Sudoku, perhaps some other thoughts about the Compost matter?
--Address her questions and thoughts to EyeRoller Friend, mention both her blogs, and offer to feature EyeRoller Friend's cartoon site on RantWoman's other blog with the thought that people who read RantWoman's blog tend to share her sense of humor and the ones who see enough to appreciate cartoons might like it?
(RantWoman also took note that other places involve more than one person in eldering. RantWoman thinks that MIGHT have helped in her situation, but her situation so resolutely refuses to be simple that RantWoman has decided for the time being just to be present with the complexity.)
2. RantWoman has an even bigger problem about Half a Brain Lady.
--One DEFINITELY would not want people who read RantWoman's blog to be referring to Half a Brain Lady as Half a Brain lady in her presence. If RantWoman catches anyone doing this, they will be eldered SEVERELY. RantWoman supposes she could ask Half a Brain lady how she would like to be known when RantWoman writes about her concerns in her blog. That would be a minimum.
--Having half a brain is most definitely a hidden disability and one would not usually out people about their hidden disabilities. However, RantWoman also thinks of it like other facts one might have in one's life: adult children who live out of state but are still a fact of conversation, the fact of having to receive frequently incomprehensible correspondence from certain bureaucracies. the fact of having some difficulty or event in one's background. Some of these facts might also affect how one reacts to other events in the life of a Meeting, and there is the part about being tender with each other's struggles.
RantWoman has written about how Half A Brain Lady provided her exactly the ministry needed at one point. RantWoman is also thinking of an incident involving Dear Friend, Half a Brain Lady, and hot liquids. The incident quite unexpectedly led to Dear Friend sharing with RantWoman some very painful parts of his life. This sharing also MAYBE helps RantWoman take better care, to the degree she is able, of community life.
RantWoman hinks community occurs partly in the shared light of common circumstances, partly in appreciation of others' unique challenges and perspectives. RantWoman has no freaking idea where she might look on the web for Quaker perspective on the question of how to write respectfully of the many characters who figure in most Friends' Meetings. What say you all?
It's just complicated. I have written a few posts about clearness processes I have been part of, my own, committees I was on, and general thoughts on the clearness process. I usually don't refer to anyone in those cases by any sort of identifiable or continuing name.
ReplyDeleteI was once admonished by a Friend from another meeting for writing about a specific membership process at all, but I decided, after checking with others who were actually involved, that I had not crossed the lines of confidentiality. Mostly because I was writing about my own thoughts about membership, not about the person who had applied for membership, although I did say that these were thoughts that had come up in a particular case.
Usually when I write about something a Friend from my meeting has done publicly but not online, I use their first name and initial, much I like do for myself. If I'm quoting from a published document, in print or online, I try to use the name the author used.
I think most Quaker bloggers tend to the very generic or the very specific when naming other people. As in "A Friend" or "my Friend Mary" but not so much to pseudonyms.
I don't know if this helps or not.
Thank you for mentioning the items from your blog. I will read them as soon as I can and will be glad for the shorter search path than the flood from a whole search engine.
ReplyDeleteRantWoman THINKS the character she is most concerned about right now is Half a Brain lady. SOMETIMES the fact that Half a Brain Lady interacts in specific ways IS relevant to a point RantWoman wants to make. HOWEVER, RantWoman really has a concern about whether that is the most respectful and appropriate way to speak of her.
Henceforth, Half a Brain lady may appear under another name. RantWoman pointedly does NOT promise to edit hisory though.