RantWoman's drafts folder is still overflowing with what spilled out when RantWoman recently read an astrological invitation to let pterodactyls take flight. Stay tuned.
Here is this week's Canada-themed invitation to Be True to RantWoman's Light:
CANCER (June 21–July 22): Among the surprises spilled by WikiLeaks some months back was the revelation that US diplomats think Canadians feel "condemned to always play 'Robin' to the US 'Batman.'" If that's true, it shouldn't be. While Canada may not be able to rival the warmongering, plutocrat-coddling, environment-despoiling talents of my home country, America, it is a more reliable source of reason, compassion, and civility. Are you suffering from a similar disjunction, Cancerian? Do you imagine yourself "Robin" in relationship to some overweening "Batman"? This would be an excellent time to free yourself of that dynamic.
A sign arrived from the secular world as well:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/09/starbucks-card-in-braille-limited-time.html
RantWoman thanks Starbucks for reminding her of National Disabilities Awareness Month. RantWoman invites her readers to stay tuned for the clear leading which has arisen from a whole freight train of circumstances.
Lest RantWoman's readers think RantWoman is about to set upon the world in full bore inner blowtorch on maximum mode, RantWoman is tempering the Free Will Astrology meme with:
two different posts about forgiving 70 x 7 times. RantWoman expects this forgiveness thing probably works both ways but who says RantWoman is necesssarily going to manage to execute?
http://questforadequacy.blogspot.com/2011/09/forgiving.html
http://quakersusanne.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/the-hard-topic-of-forgiveness/
And on the other hand,
http://questforadequacy.blogspot.com/2011/09/nakedness.html
This item looks like something RantWoman would really like to read. Alas, it is only available in print. Whine! RantWoman can either have yet another of her trademark snit fits about changed realities related to reading OR digress on the Canada theme above and fret about when is she going to get around to the post simmering about Canada's Dukhobors and the things one learns when listening well while crossing international borders. What RantWoman heard a number of years ago from a Canada Customs officer quizzing her about her destination sent her off to the library. There Rantwoman learned that a sect which began as pacifists in Russia and settled in Canada developed the purgative practice of periodically stripping themselves naked and burning all their clothing and buildings.
RantWoman figured out, partly from intersecting quizzical looks from the Canada Customs officer that this behavior tends to get one's sect listed as domestic terrorists and even to fry the nerves of and deeply distress some of one's less fervent co-religionists.
RantWoman is, among other things wondering whether the new Naked publication--oranything else in her life--features any themes in similar vein.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Disinterest
RantWoman's spiritual compost heap feels VERY well aerated after this weekends gathering for Pacific Northwest Quarterly Meeting. This is not because RantWoman's proposed interest group was received to grand acclaim.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/interest.html
It was not even because RantWoman's interest group took place.
That's right. NO ONE signed up.
Okay, okay. RantWoman is not automatically distressed. For one thing, RantWoman would NOT necessarily mind in the least not needing to talk about much on her mind.
RantWoman was having Star Treklike distortions in the space time continuum as reflected in the clock on RantWoman's cellphone so RantWoman did not linger very long to wait for anyone to show up without signing up. One Friend made excuses about childcare but RantWoman would not have been ready to interact with children anyway. RantWoman was very glad to get to go to an interest group with John Helding about more of the weekend's theme.
But back to disinterest. RantWoman had no way of knowing about disinterest in advance so RantWoman prepared by UNapologetically inflicting more email on a large number of people who already find RantWoman the embodiment of email immoderation. Who says RantWoman knows when to quit? Here are RantWoman's inquiry and the results:
Subject: What do you want to know / would you come to an interest group about....
Hi Friends
This email is a request for input The bottom of this message is a description of an interest group I will lead at Quarterly Meeting, that is unless I find a way to get from Lazy F where I need to be on Friday night to Yakima for an interpreter training (on handling trauma issues, oddly enough) on Saturday 9/24. Chances are I will make the interest group and this is a request for input.
Awhile ago my clearness committee suggested I talk to children in our Meeting about life with vision loss. For a few different reasons I am clear that it would be better to start by talking to adults.
What would you most like to know about my experience?
What do you find bewildering about interacting with me?
What worries or observations do you have?
Is there someone else you wish I would ask
I DO NOT apologize for email. For one thing, you writing me back helps me keep track of things in a format I can search MUCH better than my notes in my ever scarier handwriting. I am happy to receive phone calls as well but another reason I like to start with email is that I am frequently awake later than many Friends and need to make effective use of my own time.
Also I am having to tell different people the same things over and over, including arguing various variations of "that could not possibly be a problem because we are so sincere, already spent so much time doing it wrong, think we understand based on..."
Some of the time this repetition is just exhausting. Some of the time I come away feeling drained the same way I feel drained when I have had to interpret for, say, a series of appointments with a trauma survivor and an attorney, the trauma survivor getting restimulate having to relive the story once to tell it, once when the attorney has mashed my interpretation into the kinds of sentences that legal entities understand or need to hear and I have to sight translate to check for corrections, and then the survivor has to repeat the story AGAIN in front of third parties of varying levels of awareness, hostility, eptitude / ineptness, responsiveness... Only now it's my story....
So I would like to get to clear messages much more widely understood and to get there as directly as possible.
Anyway, I mean it about wanting to hear Friends questions. I do not particularly promise to get to all of them in one interest group but I am happy to hold and work with them. Depending on interest, I am happy to consider doing a session at UFM either before or after the Interest Group at Quarterly Meeting.
Thank you for whatever observations you are led to offer.
RantWoman
Subject: Re: What do you want to know / would you come to an interest group about....
Dear RantWoman
If I were coming to your interest group, the thing that first occurs to me is talking about body language - in committee meetings, business meeting, even worship. I think this is a really hard thing for folks to get (and remember!). Your comment in Business Meeting yesterday about nodding as a way of showing approval was very helpful and appropriate. (Business Meeting had just approved something with everyone nodding but a question arose about whether the decision got recorded. RantWoman was uncertain and stood up without waiting to be recognized and had a short rant about bus drivers nodding and grunting and Quakers not even grunting. Giving examples would be great. Would you even consider a little role playing with most folks blindfolded?
I have found your comments about kids running around to be another very important and useful comment, since we don't think about it.
I hope you do get to give this interest group and look forward to hearing about it.
Sincerely,
Weighty Friend who has also previously earned a less respectful Nom de Blog.
Dear Weighty Friend…,
Thank you for your suggestions and observations. First a process point: THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REQUIRE IMMEDIATE RESPONSE. This came in as a reply/all to everyone on my original To: list. I am aware of others' grumbles about email AND I mean to take this partly as an invitation to tell a number of people the same things at the same time and to give you the option of clicking or not clicking on the individual blog posts. That way, if I grumble about how exhausting it is to have endless one on one conversations and if you want to talk amongst yourselves, you are at least all starting from common information.
Second, I do not particularly apologize for the length. In fact considering the freight train of matters frying my nerves this week, I hope you will appreciate my comparative restraint. On the other hand, if you want to unload some more cars....
--Body language? It's not exactly body language but everything to do with non-verbal communication. On one hand, I ask people to tell me when I offend them because I am pretty sure I achieve that more often than would be preferable and REALLY cannot read faces and am lost without verbal feedback.
The other aspect of not reading faces though is in a number of situations I have possibly misinterpreted another speaker (I need to talk to one person in particular) or I have felt like lots of people are inappropriately unresponsive to or show serious lack of awareness about something emotional where some kind of acknowledgment of difficulty or complexity would be entirely appropriate. The illustration I have used a couple times is a bit from I think Monty Python and the Holy Grail where everyone is seated at some kind of wedding and some knight shows up and starts hacking off hunks of people while the guests just keep doing whatever and do not even react. Ask me about exact situations in person or consider whether this perspective might shed light something you have experienced.
--At my proposed interest group I will do some of the things I do when I run other meetings as well as a couple additional things.
--Here are a couple blog posts about my experiences in meetings. Meeting for worship has a whole bunch of links below separately.with some links to follow
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/06/interrupt.html
meeting for memorial, but still
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/07/agnes-schmoe.html
--A miscellaneous item about running into people, my white cane and a certain much-discussed Friend's ministry of audible eye-rolling.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/06/not-blind-that-we-know-of.html
--I do not think I want to consider role-playing at this event but given enthusiasm I hear, I will hold in future consideration for a number of reasons:
--blindfolds are only one form of representing different non-standard visual experiences. Here are a couple blog entries about my experience specifically:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-it-yourself-eye-surgery-and-plague.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/12/worse-auntie-grow-your-own-lava-lamp.html
--I am nowhere near centered enough right now about a number of topics to lead a roleplay exercise. I will do well to stay centered enough to talk and do not want to think about ways of handing out alternate vision experiences.
A couple years ago, I was part of a presentation about disaster preparedness for people with disabilities.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/04/super-duper-powerpoint-festival.html
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/04/taxed.html
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/search?q=pantyhose
Before my presentation I got to go to a really great disability simulation exercise put on by someone at the Hearing Speech and Deafness Center. I am more inclined to find a forum where someone from outside can be invited to, say, UFM than to try it on my own.
I think I should stop here for now. If you have made it this far, thank you for reading. I am happy to talk in person or by phone—or not.
In the Light
RantWoman
(Dear RantWoman….two more votes for roleplays. RantWoman is not even sorry but she is for the moment unequivocally ON STRIKE about blindfold-themed tour guide service.)
Dear RantWoman,
I would love to know the spiritual path of how you are coping with your vision loss. What are the ways that you 'work around' your vision stuff.
Sometimes I get off on tangents when listening to you because sometimes you seem to be (my perception-not necessarily reality) off on tangents when talking.
Good way to go about the discussion!
Friend Peacemaker
"The only enemy is someone whose story you haven't heard."
Dear Friend Peacemaker
That's a nice question. Thank you for asking.
The rest of this is LONG so read it in chunks if that is easier. It does NOT require immediate response.
I have a whole blog, two really about things to do with the intersection between spritual and practical. I still have some really big THIS IS HOW I FEEL things in my drafts folder and right now I am really insistent about "please do not try to tell me how I do or do not feel." Feelings are feelings. What I do or do not do about them is another thing. But right now I am just trying to stay centered most of the time and ride through gaps between what I have figured out and what others around me have any clue about.
Here are some blog links
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/racism-and-privilege-workshop.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/08/believe-and-be-healed.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/07/healed-blessed-jesus.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/05/path-to-spiritual-perfection.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/06/allergic-to-joy-and-peace.html
Lots of people talk about tangents. Sometimes I am bored or trying to hold onto the right sized pieces and not overwhelm others with what is on my mind. That is not nice to the other half of a conversation, but I have to start where I am. The Overwhelmed point is NOT trivial: I can tell people get overwhelmed lots of different ways and I would not mind in the least not having all these overwhelming circumstances about my life. But sometimes I really mean it about this is my reality. I get to live it all the time. You all just get to visit. Here are some suggestions to help us cope!
Surveys say vision loss is the disability a lot of people fear the most. I have had bad eyes my whole life so I have a whole bunch of different issues but sometimes I have all I can do managing my own stuff and I just have to let other people deal with their overwhelmed feelings other ways. Sometimes I think people underestimate how much simple things matter.
Sometimes I think I try to wander away from topics that are hard or painful or where the first thing that comes to mind is formulated in ways that would not necessarily be the most helpful in a given conversation. Or when there are multiple ways to say something and I do not have energy for the most confrontational even if it is entirely true. But if I wander away in public, especially if something REALLY hurts I might actually NOT want to talk about it right then and there.
To be honest, sometimes I resent the hell out of the off-topic issue. During last year's nominations process EVERY TIME I tried to bring up something to do with dsability it got declared off topic. That is only one of several really clear reasons I would not just resign! Basically, EVERYONE almost has made some of the same mistakes over and over. I do not really expect perfection but there is ALL kinds of room for improvement.
Plus I get to get in people's faces about the same topics in multiple parts of my life so at least I get to be consistent. So we need to hold this subject in the Light for awhile and work on other stuff.
But THANK YOU again for asking.
In the Light.
RantWoman
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/interest.html
It was not even because RantWoman's interest group took place.
That's right. NO ONE signed up.
Okay, okay. RantWoman is not automatically distressed. For one thing, RantWoman would NOT necessarily mind in the least not needing to talk about much on her mind.
RantWoman was having Star Treklike distortions in the space time continuum as reflected in the clock on RantWoman's cellphone so RantWoman did not linger very long to wait for anyone to show up without signing up. One Friend made excuses about childcare but RantWoman would not have been ready to interact with children anyway. RantWoman was very glad to get to go to an interest group with John Helding about more of the weekend's theme.
But back to disinterest. RantWoman had no way of knowing about disinterest in advance so RantWoman prepared by UNapologetically inflicting more email on a large number of people who already find RantWoman the embodiment of email immoderation. Who says RantWoman knows when to quit? Here are RantWoman's inquiry and the results:
Subject: What do you want to know / would you come to an interest group about....
Hi Friends
This email is a request for input The bottom of this message is a description of an interest group I will lead at Quarterly Meeting, that is unless I find a way to get from Lazy F where I need to be on Friday night to Yakima for an interpreter training (on handling trauma issues, oddly enough) on Saturday 9/24. Chances are I will make the interest group and this is a request for input.
Awhile ago my clearness committee suggested I talk to children in our Meeting about life with vision loss. For a few different reasons I am clear that it would be better to start by talking to adults.
What would you most like to know about my experience?
What do you find bewildering about interacting with me?
What worries or observations do you have?
Is there someone else you wish I would ask
I DO NOT apologize for email. For one thing, you writing me back helps me keep track of things in a format I can search MUCH better than my notes in my ever scarier handwriting. I am happy to receive phone calls as well but another reason I like to start with email is that I am frequently awake later than many Friends and need to make effective use of my own time.
Also I am having to tell different people the same things over and over, including arguing various variations of "that could not possibly be a problem because we are so sincere, already spent so much time doing it wrong, think we understand based on..."
Some of the time this repetition is just exhausting. Some of the time I come away feeling drained the same way I feel drained when I have had to interpret for, say, a series of appointments with a trauma survivor and an attorney, the trauma survivor getting restimulate having to relive the story once to tell it, once when the attorney has mashed my interpretation into the kinds of sentences that legal entities understand or need to hear and I have to sight translate to check for corrections, and then the survivor has to repeat the story AGAIN in front of third parties of varying levels of awareness, hostility, eptitude / ineptness, responsiveness... Only now it's my story....
So I would like to get to clear messages much more widely understood and to get there as directly as possible.
Anyway, I mean it about wanting to hear Friends questions. I do not particularly promise to get to all of them in one interest group but I am happy to hold and work with them. Depending on interest, I am happy to consider doing a session at UFM either before or after the Interest Group at Quarterly Meeting.
Thank you for whatever observations you are led to offer.
RantWoman
Subject: Re: What do you want to know / would you come to an interest group about....
Dear RantWoman
If I were coming to your interest group, the thing that first occurs to me is talking about body language - in committee meetings, business meeting, even worship. I think this is a really hard thing for folks to get (and remember!). Your comment in Business Meeting yesterday about nodding as a way of showing approval was very helpful and appropriate. (Business Meeting had just approved something with everyone nodding but a question arose about whether the decision got recorded. RantWoman was uncertain and stood up without waiting to be recognized and had a short rant about bus drivers nodding and grunting and Quakers not even grunting. Giving examples would be great. Would you even consider a little role playing with most folks blindfolded?
I have found your comments about kids running around to be another very important and useful comment, since we don't think about it.
I hope you do get to give this interest group and look forward to hearing about it.
Sincerely,
Weighty Friend who has also previously earned a less respectful Nom de Blog.
Dear Weighty Friend…,
Thank you for your suggestions and observations. First a process point: THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REQUIRE IMMEDIATE RESPONSE. This came in as a reply/all to everyone on my original To: list. I am aware of others' grumbles about email AND I mean to take this partly as an invitation to tell a number of people the same things at the same time and to give you the option of clicking or not clicking on the individual blog posts. That way, if I grumble about how exhausting it is to have endless one on one conversations and if you want to talk amongst yourselves, you are at least all starting from common information.
Second, I do not particularly apologize for the length. In fact considering the freight train of matters frying my nerves this week, I hope you will appreciate my comparative restraint. On the other hand, if you want to unload some more cars....
--Body language? It's not exactly body language but everything to do with non-verbal communication. On one hand, I ask people to tell me when I offend them because I am pretty sure I achieve that more often than would be preferable and REALLY cannot read faces and am lost without verbal feedback.
The other aspect of not reading faces though is in a number of situations I have possibly misinterpreted another speaker (I need to talk to one person in particular) or I have felt like lots of people are inappropriately unresponsive to or show serious lack of awareness about something emotional where some kind of acknowledgment of difficulty or complexity would be entirely appropriate. The illustration I have used a couple times is a bit from I think Monty Python and the Holy Grail where everyone is seated at some kind of wedding and some knight shows up and starts hacking off hunks of people while the guests just keep doing whatever and do not even react. Ask me about exact situations in person or consider whether this perspective might shed light something you have experienced.
--At my proposed interest group I will do some of the things I do when I run other meetings as well as a couple additional things.
--Here are a couple blog posts about my experiences in meetings. Meeting for worship has a whole bunch of links below separately.with some links to follow
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/06/interrupt.html
meeting for memorial, but still
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/07/agnes-schmoe.html
--A miscellaneous item about running into people, my white cane and a certain much-discussed Friend's ministry of audible eye-rolling.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/06/not-blind-that-we-know-of.html
--I do not think I want to consider role-playing at this event but given enthusiasm I hear, I will hold in future consideration for a number of reasons:
--blindfolds are only one form of representing different non-standard visual experiences. Here are a couple blog entries about my experience specifically:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-it-yourself-eye-surgery-and-plague.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/12/worse-auntie-grow-your-own-lava-lamp.html
--I am nowhere near centered enough right now about a number of topics to lead a roleplay exercise. I will do well to stay centered enough to talk and do not want to think about ways of handing out alternate vision experiences.
A couple years ago, I was part of a presentation about disaster preparedness for people with disabilities.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/04/super-duper-powerpoint-festival.html
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/04/taxed.html
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/search?q=pantyhose
Before my presentation I got to go to a really great disability simulation exercise put on by someone at the Hearing Speech and Deafness Center. I am more inclined to find a forum where someone from outside can be invited to, say, UFM than to try it on my own.
I think I should stop here for now. If you have made it this far, thank you for reading. I am happy to talk in person or by phone—or not.
In the Light
RantWoman
(Dear RantWoman….two more votes for roleplays. RantWoman is not even sorry but she is for the moment unequivocally ON STRIKE about blindfold-themed tour guide service.)
Dear RantWoman,
I would love to know the spiritual path of how you are coping with your vision loss. What are the ways that you 'work around' your vision stuff.
Sometimes I get off on tangents when listening to you because sometimes you seem to be (my perception-not necessarily reality) off on tangents when talking.
Good way to go about the discussion!
Friend Peacemaker
"The only enemy is someone whose story you haven't heard."
Dear Friend Peacemaker
That's a nice question. Thank you for asking.
The rest of this is LONG so read it in chunks if that is easier. It does NOT require immediate response.
I have a whole blog, two really about things to do with the intersection between spritual and practical. I still have some really big THIS IS HOW I FEEL things in my drafts folder and right now I am really insistent about "please do not try to tell me how I do or do not feel." Feelings are feelings. What I do or do not do about them is another thing. But right now I am just trying to stay centered most of the time and ride through gaps between what I have figured out and what others around me have any clue about.
Here are some blog links
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/racism-and-privilege-workshop.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/08/believe-and-be-healed.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/07/healed-blessed-jesus.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/05/path-to-spiritual-perfection.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/06/allergic-to-joy-and-peace.html
Lots of people talk about tangents. Sometimes I am bored or trying to hold onto the right sized pieces and not overwhelm others with what is on my mind. That is not nice to the other half of a conversation, but I have to start where I am. The Overwhelmed point is NOT trivial: I can tell people get overwhelmed lots of different ways and I would not mind in the least not having all these overwhelming circumstances about my life. But sometimes I really mean it about this is my reality. I get to live it all the time. You all just get to visit. Here are some suggestions to help us cope!
Surveys say vision loss is the disability a lot of people fear the most. I have had bad eyes my whole life so I have a whole bunch of different issues but sometimes I have all I can do managing my own stuff and I just have to let other people deal with their overwhelmed feelings other ways. Sometimes I think people underestimate how much simple things matter.
Sometimes I think I try to wander away from topics that are hard or painful or where the first thing that comes to mind is formulated in ways that would not necessarily be the most helpful in a given conversation. Or when there are multiple ways to say something and I do not have energy for the most confrontational even if it is entirely true. But if I wander away in public, especially if something REALLY hurts I might actually NOT want to talk about it right then and there.
To be honest, sometimes I resent the hell out of the off-topic issue. During last year's nominations process EVERY TIME I tried to bring up something to do with dsability it got declared off topic. That is only one of several really clear reasons I would not just resign! Basically, EVERYONE almost has made some of the same mistakes over and over. I do not really expect perfection but there is ALL kinds of room for improvement.
Plus I get to get in people's faces about the same topics in multiple parts of my life so at least I get to be consistent. So we need to hold this subject in the Light for awhile and work on other stuff.
But THANK YOU again for asking.
In the Light.
RantWoman
Monday, September 26, 2011
The NOTEBOOK, the Bleeping NOTEBOOK
Stunning clarity has arrived for RantWoman. All year RantWoman periodically tried to have conversation with Phone Call Friend about updating the resource book the Subcommittee on Interpersonal Violence originally created when our Meeting was figuring out the three ministries connected with the presence of the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet.
To review, the three ministries are:
Support specifically for the Safest Sex Offender....
Ensuring the safety of children around our Meeting.
Ministering to survivors (and people whose lives touch survivors.)
More on this below.
God Bless Phone Call Friend. RantWoman finally got the message loud and clear: Phone Call Friend sees her task as making sure the notebook has some aspects of history completely documented. RantWoman has two or three times suggested including some links to online resources. RantWoman is acutely aware that pastoral care concerns show up where they show up, not necessarily confined to or by seeking out any particular committees.
RantWoman has two or three times suggested inquiring of current committees as to whether they are aware of the notebook as a resource. RantWoman has two or three times pointed out that RantWoman personally is not bleeping even going to be able to read the bleeping notebook and would it MAYBE be possible to make some more updated information available on our website? RantWoman would GREATLY appreciate some sense that some around her have at least collided with online resources involving certain vocabulary and issues.
Finally it has dawned on RantWoman that she need not wait around for some muddled process in her meeting. The kinds of info RantWoman wishes people would interact with can be found on any halfway decent website about domestic violence resources. If RantWoman wants conversations to involve informed use of certain terms, RantWoman can bleeping well go out on the web herself and make some links and then just put blog entries under the noses of....
To that end, RantWoman has at least poked at all of:
http://www.wscadv.org/
http://www.wscadv.org/resourcesPublications.cfm
http://www.wscadv.org/aboutDV.cfm
http://www.wscadv.org/resourcesPublications.cfm?aId=CA9A1567-C298-58F6-01344B9FFFF3E00F
As for the other ministries:
Support for the safest Sex Offender... is evolving into a support and accountability committee.
Safety for our children is the current best practice on planet capitalism, background checks for people who work with children and two adults with children for Meeting activities. RantWoman as official and most unavoidably visible legally blind person feels called on behalf of herself, others who use whie canes, and still others who confess their vision sufferings to RantWoman to speak up periodically and ask children to be cautious around grownups they do not know. RantWoman sees this as including children more fully in the community, NOT as a slam about anyone's parenting.
RantWoman is also conscious of echoes of what must have been severe frustration for the RantDad and that came out as yelling. RantWoman's grip is NOT particularly any better than RantDad's was and as RantWoman's vision has gotten worse, RantWoman has become clearer to speak up an be insistent as a way to keep a handle on the urge to yell.
One of the things RantWoman did to stay out of trouble at last summer's Annual Session was to try to help articulate a child safety issue that would not have been addressed by any of those measures and REALLY needed clear, direct, conversation centered in THOUGHTFUL listening. RantWoman is going to spare her readers commentary as to the specific circumstances reminding her that this is something NEVER to be taken for granted.
To review, the three ministries are:
Support specifically for the Safest Sex Offender....
Ensuring the safety of children around our Meeting.
Ministering to survivors (and people whose lives touch survivors.)
God Bless Phone Call Friend. RantWoman finally got the message loud and clear: Phone Call Friend sees her task as making sure the notebook has some aspects of history completely documented. RantWoman has two or three times suggested including some links to online resources. RantWoman is acutely aware that pastoral care concerns show up where they show up, not necessarily confined to or by seeking out any particular committees.
RantWoman has two or three times suggested inquiring of current committees as to whether they are aware of the notebook as a resource. RantWoman has two or three times pointed out that RantWoman personally is not bleeping even going to be able to read the bleeping notebook and would it MAYBE be possible to make some more updated information available on our website? RantWoman would GREATLY appreciate some sense that some around her have at least collided with online resources involving certain vocabulary and issues.
Finally it has dawned on RantWoman that she need not wait around for some muddled process in her meeting. The kinds of info RantWoman wishes people would interact with can be found on any halfway decent website about domestic violence resources. If RantWoman wants conversations to involve informed use of certain terms, RantWoman can bleeping well go out on the web herself and make some links and then just put blog entries under the noses of....
To that end, RantWoman has at least poked at all of:
http://www.wscadv.org/
http://www.wscadv.org/resourcesPublications.cfm
http://www.wscadv.org/aboutDV.cfm
http://www.wscadv.org/resourcesPublications.cfm?aId=CA9A1567-C298-58F6-01344B9FFFF3E00F
As for the other ministries:
Support for the safest Sex Offender... is evolving into a support and accountability committee.
Safety for our children is the current best practice on planet capitalism, background checks for people who work with children and two adults with children for Meeting activities. RantWoman as official and most unavoidably visible legally blind person feels called on behalf of herself, others who use whie canes, and still others who confess their vision sufferings to RantWoman to speak up periodically and ask children to be cautious around grownups they do not know. RantWoman sees this as including children more fully in the community, NOT as a slam about anyone's parenting.
RantWoman is also conscious of echoes of what must have been severe frustration for the RantDad and that came out as yelling. RantWoman's grip is NOT particularly any better than RantDad's was and as RantWoman's vision has gotten worse, RantWoman has become clearer to speak up an be insistent as a way to keep a handle on the urge to yell.
One of the things RantWoman did to stay out of trouble at last summer's Annual Session was to try to help articulate a child safety issue that would not have been addressed by any of those measures and REALLY needed clear, direct, conversation centered in THOUGHTFUL listening. RantWoman is going to spare her readers commentary as to the specific circumstances reminding her that this is something NEVER to be taken for granted.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Grooming
RantWoman feels extremely gratified. RantWoman had one of her spells of serious “we are all ministers of God” regardless of committee or title. For her trouble RantWoman got THANKED by multiple people for helping another Friend get in the face of Friends in her own Meeting. To be fair, one of those who thanked RantWoman was also from the concerned Friend's Meeting and was glad finally to make connections and be able to act on concerns.
The exact circumstances are one of those child safety issues that would never be caught if one relies ONLY on industry standard on Planet Capitalism, that is organizations running childcare programs where there are always two adults, better yet two adults who have been through background checks. The problem in this case was not anyone involved in child care. A big part of the problem was just being able to talk of concerns, to be heard, and to determine what needed to happen NOW in order to prevent worse problems.
RantWoman is going to do the best she can to describe generalized circumstances without compromising confidentiality. The person who is the subject of this reflection does not have any formal connection to a childcare program. RantWoman has NO indication that anything about that person would show up on a background check. Yet last summer when RantWoman first heard of the concerns this person was creating, RantWoman recognized a number of issues immediately.
One concept at issue: grooming. Here are an assortment of web links to satisfy RantWoman's need for things accessible to her and hopefully things she can find again.
Wikipedia on the topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_grooming
Thank you Oprah
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Child-Sexual-Abuse-6-Stages-of-Grooming
These two sources glance over the point that grooming behaviors extend to people and organizations around the target of the grooming person's interests, for example to religious congregations. The Friend with the concern reported evidence from others of this problem in the Friend’s Meeting: the Friend’s concerns were minimized in conversation because other Friends in that Meeting cited all the things the grooming person had done since starting to participate in the community.
The next topical concept: talking of the problem.
RantWoman was the second tier of a parent's efforts to talk of the problem after the parent tried talking to others in that parent's Meeting. The story did not all come out at once. It came out as narrative mixed in with other conversational topics over the time of a gathering. RantWoman helped the parent connect to the Ministry and Oversight committee at the gathering. RantWoman was able to do that partly because members of MInistry and Oversight were listed every day in the daily bulletin.
RantWoman feels a small pang though because it would have made sense for either RantWoman or the gathering’s Ministry and Oversight committee to try in short order to help the Friend have a conversation with others in that Friend's meeting about the concerns at issue. The idea of such a meeting did not form in anyone’s mind until it was too late to arrange it at that gathering. Resources were provided but that Friend had hesitations about following up. Separately conversations occurred between topical committees and the Friend's Meeting.
Along comes another gathering. RantWoman had been thinking for a few reasons that the problem was getting worked through appropriate channels but RantWoman had not really been checking up, that is until RantWoman and the parent with the concerns arrived again at a gathering. Reasons for concern were even clearer in conversation though the parent had been holding firm about rules. Unfortunately the parent had also been missing worship to avoid the problem and was unsure who specifically to contact in that Friend’s Meeting.
RantWoman checked her limited mental list of members of the gathering’s Ministry and Oversight committee who were present. One conversation with a committee member occurred. From what the parent shared with RantWoman, RantWoman is unclear whether the listening Friend missed the point or whether the concerned parent simply did not articulate some key point. Based on the parent’s account of the conversation with the listening Friend, RantWoman for once was given, instead of fog and freight trainloads of free association, some very specific words for the concerned parent to start with: “I need help talking to my Meeting about…”
RantWoman would have offered to accompany but had to be elsewhere. Instead she nodded firmly with GO NOW. The concerned parent was able to take concerns directly to Ministry and Oversight, meeting at that very moment in a room downstairs from where RantWoman and the concerned parent were speaking. It turned out that one Act NOW step was needed and additional follow up is promised. RantWoman observed several subsequent conversations occurring; RantWoman heard thanks from several Friends for helping the concerned parent find the right channels. You’re welcome. Or it wasn’t just RantWoman it was ….
Upon further reflection, RantWoman does not necessarily think Friends with the sort of concern written of here should have to rely on the foggy chance that the person they feel able to talk to of concerns will know how to identify members of Ministry and Oversight at this gathering. RantWoman has no opinion about how to address that concern but will hold it....
The exact circumstances are one of those child safety issues that would never be caught if one relies ONLY on industry standard on Planet Capitalism, that is organizations running childcare programs where there are always two adults, better yet two adults who have been through background checks. The problem in this case was not anyone involved in child care. A big part of the problem was just being able to talk of concerns, to be heard, and to determine what needed to happen NOW in order to prevent worse problems.
RantWoman is going to do the best she can to describe generalized circumstances without compromising confidentiality. The person who is the subject of this reflection does not have any formal connection to a childcare program. RantWoman has NO indication that anything about that person would show up on a background check. Yet last summer when RantWoman first heard of the concerns this person was creating, RantWoman recognized a number of issues immediately.
One concept at issue: grooming. Here are an assortment of web links to satisfy RantWoman's need for things accessible to her and hopefully things she can find again.
Wikipedia on the topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_grooming
Thank you Oprah
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Child-Sexual-Abuse-6-Stages-of-Grooming
These two sources glance over the point that grooming behaviors extend to people and organizations around the target of the grooming person's interests, for example to religious congregations. The Friend with the concern reported evidence from others of this problem in the Friend’s Meeting: the Friend’s concerns were minimized in conversation because other Friends in that Meeting cited all the things the grooming person had done since starting to participate in the community.
The next topical concept: talking of the problem.
RantWoman was the second tier of a parent's efforts to talk of the problem after the parent tried talking to others in that parent's Meeting. The story did not all come out at once. It came out as narrative mixed in with other conversational topics over the time of a gathering. RantWoman helped the parent connect to the Ministry and Oversight committee at the gathering. RantWoman was able to do that partly because members of MInistry and Oversight were listed every day in the daily bulletin.
RantWoman feels a small pang though because it would have made sense for either RantWoman or the gathering’s Ministry and Oversight committee to try in short order to help the Friend have a conversation with others in that Friend's meeting about the concerns at issue. The idea of such a meeting did not form in anyone’s mind until it was too late to arrange it at that gathering. Resources were provided but that Friend had hesitations about following up. Separately conversations occurred between topical committees and the Friend's Meeting.
Along comes another gathering. RantWoman had been thinking for a few reasons that the problem was getting worked through appropriate channels but RantWoman had not really been checking up, that is until RantWoman and the parent with the concerns arrived again at a gathering. Reasons for concern were even clearer in conversation though the parent had been holding firm about rules. Unfortunately the parent had also been missing worship to avoid the problem and was unsure who specifically to contact in that Friend’s Meeting.
RantWoman checked her limited mental list of members of the gathering’s Ministry and Oversight committee who were present. One conversation with a committee member occurred. From what the parent shared with RantWoman, RantWoman is unclear whether the listening Friend missed the point or whether the concerned parent simply did not articulate some key point. Based on the parent’s account of the conversation with the listening Friend, RantWoman for once was given, instead of fog and freight trainloads of free association, some very specific words for the concerned parent to start with: “I need help talking to my Meeting about…”
RantWoman would have offered to accompany but had to be elsewhere. Instead she nodded firmly with GO NOW. The concerned parent was able to take concerns directly to Ministry and Oversight, meeting at that very moment in a room downstairs from where RantWoman and the concerned parent were speaking. It turned out that one Act NOW step was needed and additional follow up is promised. RantWoman observed several subsequent conversations occurring; RantWoman heard thanks from several Friends for helping the concerned parent find the right channels. You’re welcome. Or it wasn’t just RantWoman it was ….
Upon further reflection, RantWoman does not necessarily think Friends with the sort of concern written of here should have to rely on the foggy chance that the person they feel able to talk to of concerns will know how to identify members of Ministry and Oversight at this gathering. RantWoman has no opinion about how to address that concern but will hold it....
Monday, September 19, 2011
More Low-Salt Popcorn: the God of the Bus and of SHARE
RantWoman was honored to hear FWCC Section of the Americas Executive Secretary Robin Mohr speak this weekend. Robin is one of those calming centered people in whose presence RantWoman cannot help but become better centered herself. Considering the state of RantWoman's spiritual compost heap, better centered is a VERY good thing. RantWoman remembers forwarding one of Robin's blog posts to the clerk of the FWCC Nominating Committee in the midst of the search for a new Exective Secretary. Little did RantWoman realize....
RantWoman thanks Friends for musical contributions. First was an item composed by Friends from RantWoman's Meeting about worship and sung to the tune of Girl from Ipanema. Next worship opened with prayer and Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, with refrain written in Spanish and Kiswahili on a flip chart. RantWoman would only be able to see the flip chart by planting her nose right in front. Unfortunatly RantWoman remains resolutely opaque, in tall woman in a big hat form to boot. This would get in the way of others reading the refrain as well so RantWoman decided just to put holding the words and the tune into others' hands and to duck.
Robin spoke of learning she was passionately interested in theology from required theology class in college. Robin spoke of the transformative power of travel first to Colombia and later to Chiapas in Mexico. Robin spoke of discovering Quakerism and the world of blogging, of connecting through blogs with others thinking deeply about theology and Quakers in the modern age. Robin also spoke of the sequence of jobs which, it turns out, have prepared her to be where she is today.
RantWoman is pleased to learn that the FWCC Section of the Americas will do another round of travelling ministers similar to Salt Light but on a new theme. This will begin after the World Gathering. RantWoman is moved by Robin's commitment to listening to God and to the way God talks through Friends throughout the Section of the Americas. RantWoman really likes the idea of 42 peer yearly Meetings rather than Meetings from the global North dominating the global south. RantWoman also specifically likes the idea of a world gathering of Friends journeying to one of the countries where there are especially large numbers of Friends rather than, say, expecting the world to travel to a richer country.
Queries from the "speed listening" part of FWCC Section of the Americas Executive Secretary Robin Mohr's presentation tonight after the closing potluck of the FWCC Executive Committee in Seattle.
1. After the Bible passage about Salt and Light, do you have too much or too little Salt and Light in your life?
RamtWoman spoke of what a gringo thing it is to want to buy low-salt popcorn at one point when the Arevalos of El Salvador came to a Salt and Light event. RantWoman spoke of bright lights in our worship room and the frustration of lots of pairs of voices in close quarters. RantWoman wishes she had registered what our clerk said in response to this query; perhaps what matters more is that we shared a chuckle and a sense that we are chuckling about the same vexations but the time is not ripe at this event to add more words.
2. What do you see as the main 2-3 key things the Religious Society of Friends should be working about? RantWoman does not remember the exact wording, but RantWoman and her query partner together came up with:
Global Climate Change / ecological concerns.
Equality, overcoming big differences in wealth. Right relationship can handle a lot of financial hits, but sooner or later, the equality bug bites.
RantWoman, channeling her Baptist spiritual roots: proclaiming the gospel, taking Friends' message to a hungry world. RantWoman realizes it might sound funny to phrase things thus from within a Yearly Meeting where "preaching the gospel" includes everything from Christ-centered to Buddhist to pagan to agnostic. Perhaps the point is that "the gospel" blesses and thrives and survives in and among all these forms
Our clerk added "Discerning what we are called to do."
As sometimes happens in RantWoman's experience, the questions period drew out themes more directly for locals to work at again than necessarily points it is realistic to expect Robin to respond to:
One Friend spoke of "the same people in the room" since 1981. RantWoman thought of taking exception since she was not in the room at that point, The more important thing is, what is preventing anyone from reaching out and drawing in? Perhaps that Friend missed Robin's point about FWCC being a volunteer-based organization with a very thin staff. Even when people have clear leadings and unmistakeable callings, material support is also needed, but FWCC by itself is, to RantWoman's understanding not mainly a place to find financial support.
RantWoman finds it curious that this question led her first to ramble of money because the Friend who posed it complained that many Friends he knows are little interested even in matters of quarterly and yearly Meeting, let alone of FWCC. RantWoman finds herself again thinking, well, what do these bodies need to do to present small steps Friends can do where they are, local activities with global connections. RantWoman is amused by persistence in her life of the theme "Think Globally, act locally."
"Getting Friends interested in racism" RantWoman finds this a vexed question: the Friend who expressed the question is, himself, active professionally outside Meeting in a number of ways to engage with the dynamics of racism. If RantWoman actually wants to listen to people different from her, Friends Meeting is not necessarily the best venue because others in Meeting are considerably less aware than the Friend who posed the question or RantWoman or a small number of others. But what is our task laboring with each other about topics like this?
Robin spoke of the global change queries and RantWoman found herself reflecting on a conversation about global change and the bus: even in comparatively bus dependent Seattle, life aboard the bus is at best alien, novel among many in RantWoman's Meeting. RantWoman values her bus experiences for many, many reasons. Others in RantWoman's Meeting are considerably less engaged about that of God on the bus and what new spiritual skills we might be called to learn to cope with eg more and closer togetherness.
Speaking of new spiritual skills and engagement with problems at hand, RantWoman has one more quibble which she should quibble about in person ahead of her blog: those gathered needed to move because it was time for SHARE, the self-managed homeless group who sleep on our worship room floor to arrive for the night. RantWoman was not close enough to planning for this event to think in time of making sure to invite SHARE to the potluck.
SHARE is the self-managed community of homeless people, primarily men, who sleep on our worship room most nights. Our agreement with SHARE is one of those "good boundary" things that RantWoman wishes we could adjust in a few different ways. Mainly, if there is an event like a potluck that might be of interest, Friends have to be quite intentional about channels for delivering an invitation to take part. RantWoman is going to have to take up this concern regarding future events.
In the Light
RantWoman thanks Friends for musical contributions. First was an item composed by Friends from RantWoman's Meeting about worship and sung to the tune of Girl from Ipanema. Next worship opened with prayer and Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, with refrain written in Spanish and Kiswahili on a flip chart. RantWoman would only be able to see the flip chart by planting her nose right in front. Unfortunatly RantWoman remains resolutely opaque, in tall woman in a big hat form to boot. This would get in the way of others reading the refrain as well so RantWoman decided just to put holding the words and the tune into others' hands and to duck.
Robin spoke of learning she was passionately interested in theology from required theology class in college. Robin spoke of the transformative power of travel first to Colombia and later to Chiapas in Mexico. Robin spoke of discovering Quakerism and the world of blogging, of connecting through blogs with others thinking deeply about theology and Quakers in the modern age. Robin also spoke of the sequence of jobs which, it turns out, have prepared her to be where she is today.
RantWoman is pleased to learn that the FWCC Section of the Americas will do another round of travelling ministers similar to Salt Light but on a new theme. This will begin after the World Gathering. RantWoman is moved by Robin's commitment to listening to God and to the way God talks through Friends throughout the Section of the Americas. RantWoman really likes the idea of 42 peer yearly Meetings rather than Meetings from the global North dominating the global south. RantWoman also specifically likes the idea of a world gathering of Friends journeying to one of the countries where there are especially large numbers of Friends rather than, say, expecting the world to travel to a richer country.
Queries from the "speed listening" part of FWCC Section of the Americas Executive Secretary Robin Mohr's presentation tonight after the closing potluck of the FWCC Executive Committee in Seattle.
1. After the Bible passage about Salt and Light, do you have too much or too little Salt and Light in your life?
RamtWoman spoke of what a gringo thing it is to want to buy low-salt popcorn at one point when the Arevalos of El Salvador came to a Salt and Light event. RantWoman spoke of bright lights in our worship room and the frustration of lots of pairs of voices in close quarters. RantWoman wishes she had registered what our clerk said in response to this query; perhaps what matters more is that we shared a chuckle and a sense that we are chuckling about the same vexations but the time is not ripe at this event to add more words.
2. What do you see as the main 2-3 key things the Religious Society of Friends should be working about? RantWoman does not remember the exact wording, but RantWoman and her query partner together came up with:
Global Climate Change / ecological concerns.
Equality, overcoming big differences in wealth. Right relationship can handle a lot of financial hits, but sooner or later, the equality bug bites.
RantWoman, channeling her Baptist spiritual roots: proclaiming the gospel, taking Friends' message to a hungry world. RantWoman realizes it might sound funny to phrase things thus from within a Yearly Meeting where "preaching the gospel" includes everything from Christ-centered to Buddhist to pagan to agnostic. Perhaps the point is that "the gospel" blesses and thrives and survives in and among all these forms
Our clerk added "Discerning what we are called to do."
As sometimes happens in RantWoman's experience, the questions period drew out themes more directly for locals to work at again than necessarily points it is realistic to expect Robin to respond to:
One Friend spoke of "the same people in the room" since 1981. RantWoman thought of taking exception since she was not in the room at that point, The more important thing is, what is preventing anyone from reaching out and drawing in? Perhaps that Friend missed Robin's point about FWCC being a volunteer-based organization with a very thin staff. Even when people have clear leadings and unmistakeable callings, material support is also needed, but FWCC by itself is, to RantWoman's understanding not mainly a place to find financial support.
RantWoman finds it curious that this question led her first to ramble of money because the Friend who posed it complained that many Friends he knows are little interested even in matters of quarterly and yearly Meeting, let alone of FWCC. RantWoman finds herself again thinking, well, what do these bodies need to do to present small steps Friends can do where they are, local activities with global connections. RantWoman is amused by persistence in her life of the theme "Think Globally, act locally."
"Getting Friends interested in racism" RantWoman finds this a vexed question: the Friend who expressed the question is, himself, active professionally outside Meeting in a number of ways to engage with the dynamics of racism. If RantWoman actually wants to listen to people different from her, Friends Meeting is not necessarily the best venue because others in Meeting are considerably less aware than the Friend who posed the question or RantWoman or a small number of others. But what is our task laboring with each other about topics like this?
Robin spoke of the global change queries and RantWoman found herself reflecting on a conversation about global change and the bus: even in comparatively bus dependent Seattle, life aboard the bus is at best alien, novel among many in RantWoman's Meeting. RantWoman values her bus experiences for many, many reasons. Others in RantWoman's Meeting are considerably less engaged about that of God on the bus and what new spiritual skills we might be called to learn to cope with eg more and closer togetherness.
Speaking of new spiritual skills and engagement with problems at hand, RantWoman has one more quibble which she should quibble about in person ahead of her blog: those gathered needed to move because it was time for SHARE, the self-managed homeless group who sleep on our worship room floor to arrive for the night. RantWoman was not close enough to planning for this event to think in time of making sure to invite SHARE to the potluck.
SHARE is the self-managed community of homeless people, primarily men, who sleep on our worship room most nights. Our agreement with SHARE is one of those "good boundary" things that RantWoman wishes we could adjust in a few different ways. Mainly, if there is an event like a potluck that might be of interest, Friends have to be quite intentional about channels for delivering an invitation to take part. RantWoman is going to have to take up this concern regarding future events.
In the Light
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Disaster Preparedness for People Who Would Rather Just Pet the Cat
University Friends Meeting,
Adult Education,
September 18, 2011
Wherein RantWoman attempts to apply the following guidelines
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/adult-religious-education-guidelines.html and to impart important content and generate action at the same time.
September is National Disaster Preparedness Month.
What are our experiences with disasters?
What steps can we take to live our faith in extremely difficult situations?
What obstacles or challenges do we feel when considering these questions?
What larger questions or other realities might we discern about as we consider our needs during and after disasters?
1. Session Housekeeping and Timing:
2. Identify spotter and communicate task:
a. Help RantWoman identify who has their hands up.
b. Make sure that people throughout room are recognized
c. Make sure that all voices that want to be heard get heard.
d. Watch vibes and alert RantWoman if anyone seems to be looking uncomfortable or offended, or otherwise having difficulty.
3. Offer handouts to review, pass around; explain ecology and equal participation grounds for not making more copies.
Main Presentation:
1. Silence
2. Introduction:
a. Please tell us your name.
b. Then tell us the last disaster you were involved with, how it affected you, what you most wish you had known to be prepared beforehand or most wish you had had available, or what you did to recover and return to ordinary life
c. What are the 2 or 3 most important thing we as individuals, families, communities, need to survive and be resilient?
d. What are plans A, B, and C to try to maintain what we most need?
3. Being prepared ourselves / being prepared to help others whoever they are wherever we are.
4. Key concepts
a. 3 days 3 ways
b. Disaster Kit / Ready Go Kit
c. Family Communication Plan
d. Out of Area Contact
e. Medical or Pet Plans
f. Organizations and workplaces
g. Drop Cover and Hold / Beneath Beside Between
5. Some EASY actions you can take to prepare:
a. Check batteries in flashlights and smoke detectors
b. Check your household for earthquake worthiness
c. Put a pair of shoes under your bed.
d. Make a communications Plan with family and members of your household and / or community group.
e. Identify an out of area contact and make use of this contact part of your household communications plan.
f. One gallon of water per person per day in your household
g. Get to know your neighbors, both their resources and needs.
6. Further inquiries; Some concepts perhaps we will be led to:
a. Ordinary Emergencies vs disasters
b. What kinds of disasters occur in our area?
i. Do bedbugs count?
ii. What about flu, pandemic flu, other communicable diseases?
iii. Severe winter wind, rain, SNOW storms
iv. Power outages
v. Floods, landslides
vi. Avalanches
vii. Earthquakes, tsunami
viii. Volcanic eruptions, lahars
7. How are we led? Next steps
a. Individuals / households
b. Neighborhoods / communities
c. Meeting?
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS RESOURCES LOCALLY
The Seattle Area Red Cross, 206-323-2345
http://www.seattleredcross.org/
good resource for classes, presentations for groups, printed materials, programs targeted at a number of different kinds of organizations and populations.
Seattle Office of Emergency Management,
http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/
King County Office of Emergency Management
http://www.kingcounty.gov/safety/prepare.aspx
A great and expansive list of events the King County OEM considers disasters, information about regional plans, drills, and preparedness exercises, links to info about how many different governmental entities respond in disasters.
http://3days3ways.org/
http://www.seattleredcross.org/show.aspx?mi=4007
Do you and your group have a disaster preparedness plan for when the “big one” hits the Northwest? How will you help an older adult evacuate a building in the event of a fire? Do you know how to explain your disaster preparedness plan to children? As a leader in community preparedness, the American Red Cross can help you.
If you have a group of ten (10) or more people, the Red Cross will come to you and give a free preparedness presentation tailored specifically for your needs. Most presentations take about 60 minutes.
Topics include general preparedness, earthquake preparedness, pandemic flu, how to use 9-1-1, how to build an inexpensive and effective disaster kit and much more. We work with all types of community groups including:
• PTAs
• Community organizations
• Housing associations
• Senior groups
• Senior care givers
• Childcare providers
• Caregivers for people with special needs
• Faith-based groups
• Refugee associations
Bilingual speakers are available and thanks to the generosity of individuals, companies and foundations, all community disaster education is free of charge . For more information or to set up a disaster preparedness presentation, contact us at 206.709.4528 or 206.377.3761
The Red Cross also offers specialized disaster education materials for children, students and youth groups. For more information, contact us at 206.323.6565 ext 10211, 360.377.3761 or youth@seattleredcross.org.
If you are a business or non-profit agency that is interested in workplace disaster preparedness or business continuity planning please click here.
http://arc-seattle.axxiomportal.com/article.aspx?a=8435
SEATTLE, March 16, 2011— The devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the tsunami in Japan has affected hundreds of thousands people both in the Pacific and in the United States. In the aftermath this disaster, the American Red Cross encourages Western Washington residents to evaluate their own personal earthquake plan and take steps to be better prepared for a disaster
“Our hearts go out to the people of Japan, many of whom have lost loved ones, and homes,” said Randy Hutson, CEO for the American Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties. “The earthquake in Japan is an important reminder that people need to look at their own personal preparedness and take steps to make sure they know what to do if an earthquake or other disaster occurs in this area.”
In the days ahead, the Red Cross will continue to work with state and federal response partners to further refine and assess our response plans for future disasters.
Earthquake Preparedness Tips:
• Become aware of fire evacuation and earthquake plans for all of the buildings you occupy regularly.
• Pick safe places in each room of your home, workplace and/or school. A safe place could be under a piece of furniture or against an interior wall away from windows, bookcases or tall furniture that could fall on you.
• Practice drop, cover and hold on in each safe place. If you do not have sturdy furniture to hold on to, sit on the floor next to an interior wall and cover your head and neck with your arms.
• Keep a flashlight and sturdy shoes by each person’s bed.
• Make sure your home is securely anchored to its foundation.
• Bolt and brace water heaters and gas appliances to wall studs.
• Bolt bookcases, china cabinets and other tall furniture to wall studs.
• Hang heavy items, such as pictures and mirrors, away from beds, couches and anywhere people sleep or sit.
• Brace overhead light fixtures.
• Install strong latches or bolts on cabinets. Large or heavy items should be closest to the floor.
• Learn how to shut off the gas valves in your home and keep a wrench handy for that purpose.
• Learn about your area’s seismic building standards and land use codes before you begin new construction.
• Keep and maintain an emergency supplies kit in an easy-to- access location.
• Have an out of area contact because local lines can be difficult to access during a disaster. During a disaster, family members can call the contact person from out of state to report on their own status and check on others. A SMS text messages from a wireless communication device will often work if even if a cellular signal is not strong enough to make a voice call.
To learn about what do during or after an earthquake please go to www.seattleredcross.org or www.redcrosswashington.org. For more information or to set up a disaster preparedness presentation for a community group, contact us at (206) 709-4528 in King County or (360) 377-3761
RantWoman will be VERY surprised to do more than buzz near most of these topics but will be interested to see how the group is led.
This event is also a RantWoman effort to share with her Meeting a large number of blessings from a small slice of what RantWoman sometimes calls the Yucky Topics Festival that currently is her life. RantWoman is unclear that everyone is going to feel blessed by RantWoman's generosity. Tough. Cope! RantWoman suspects that will prove more rewarding than it may seem at first glance. Plus RantWoman is not inclined to sugarcoat the "eat your oatmeal, it's GOOD for you" aspects of her ministry! RantWoman hopes that God and the hearts of Friends will make the experience bearable and enriching in spite of RantWoman's ill humor.
Adult Education,
September 18, 2011
Wherein RantWoman attempts to apply the following guidelines
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/adult-religious-education-guidelines.html and to impart important content and generate action at the same time.
September is National Disaster Preparedness Month.
What are our experiences with disasters?
What steps can we take to live our faith in extremely difficult situations?
What obstacles or challenges do we feel when considering these questions?
What larger questions or other realities might we discern about as we consider our needs during and after disasters?
1. Session Housekeeping and Timing:
2. Identify spotter and communicate task:
a. Help RantWoman identify who has their hands up.
b. Make sure that people throughout room are recognized
c. Make sure that all voices that want to be heard get heard.
d. Watch vibes and alert RantWoman if anyone seems to be looking uncomfortable or offended, or otherwise having difficulty.
3. Offer handouts to review, pass around; explain ecology and equal participation grounds for not making more copies.
Main Presentation:
1. Silence
2. Introduction:
a. Please tell us your name.
b. Then tell us the last disaster you were involved with, how it affected you, what you most wish you had known to be prepared beforehand or most wish you had had available, or what you did to recover and return to ordinary life
c. What are the 2 or 3 most important thing we as individuals, families, communities, need to survive and be resilient?
d. What are plans A, B, and C to try to maintain what we most need?
3. Being prepared ourselves / being prepared to help others whoever they are wherever we are.
4. Key concepts
a. 3 days 3 ways
b. Disaster Kit / Ready Go Kit
c. Family Communication Plan
d. Out of Area Contact
e. Medical or Pet Plans
f. Organizations and workplaces
g. Drop Cover and Hold / Beneath Beside Between
5. Some EASY actions you can take to prepare:
a. Check batteries in flashlights and smoke detectors
b. Check your household for earthquake worthiness
c. Put a pair of shoes under your bed.
d. Make a communications Plan with family and members of your household and / or community group.
e. Identify an out of area contact and make use of this contact part of your household communications plan.
f. One gallon of water per person per day in your household
g. Get to know your neighbors, both their resources and needs.
6. Further inquiries; Some concepts perhaps we will be led to:
a. Ordinary Emergencies vs disasters
b. What kinds of disasters occur in our area?
i. Do bedbugs count?
ii. What about flu, pandemic flu, other communicable diseases?
iii. Severe winter wind, rain, SNOW storms
iv. Power outages
v. Floods, landslides
vi. Avalanches
vii. Earthquakes, tsunami
viii. Volcanic eruptions, lahars
7. How are we led? Next steps
a. Individuals / households
b. Neighborhoods / communities
c. Meeting?
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS RESOURCES LOCALLY
The Seattle Area Red Cross, 206-323-2345
http://www.seattleredcross.org/
good resource for classes, presentations for groups, printed materials, programs targeted at a number of different kinds of organizations and populations.
Seattle Office of Emergency Management,
http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/
King County Office of Emergency Management
http://www.kingcounty.gov/safety/prepare.aspx
A great and expansive list of events the King County OEM considers disasters, information about regional plans, drills, and preparedness exercises, links to info about how many different governmental entities respond in disasters.
http://3days3ways.org/
http://www.seattleredcross.org/show.aspx?mi=4007
Do you and your group have a disaster preparedness plan for when the “big one” hits the Northwest? How will you help an older adult evacuate a building in the event of a fire? Do you know how to explain your disaster preparedness plan to children? As a leader in community preparedness, the American Red Cross can help you.
If you have a group of ten (10) or more people, the Red Cross will come to you and give a free preparedness presentation tailored specifically for your needs. Most presentations take about 60 minutes.
Topics include general preparedness, earthquake preparedness, pandemic flu, how to use 9-1-1, how to build an inexpensive and effective disaster kit and much more. We work with all types of community groups including:
• PTAs
• Community organizations
• Housing associations
• Senior groups
• Senior care givers
• Childcare providers
• Caregivers for people with special needs
• Faith-based groups
• Refugee associations
Bilingual speakers are available and thanks to the generosity of individuals, companies and foundations, all community disaster education is free of charge . For more information or to set up a disaster preparedness presentation, contact us at 206.709.4528 or 206.377.3761
The Red Cross also offers specialized disaster education materials for children, students and youth groups. For more information, contact us at 206.323.6565 ext 10211, 360.377.3761 or youth@seattleredcross.org.
If you are a business or non-profit agency that is interested in workplace disaster preparedness or business continuity planning please click here.
http://arc-seattle.axxiomportal.com/article.aspx?a=8435
SEATTLE, March 16, 2011— The devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the tsunami in Japan has affected hundreds of thousands people both in the Pacific and in the United States. In the aftermath this disaster, the American Red Cross encourages Western Washington residents to evaluate their own personal earthquake plan and take steps to be better prepared for a disaster
“Our hearts go out to the people of Japan, many of whom have lost loved ones, and homes,” said Randy Hutson, CEO for the American Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties. “The earthquake in Japan is an important reminder that people need to look at their own personal preparedness and take steps to make sure they know what to do if an earthquake or other disaster occurs in this area.”
In the days ahead, the Red Cross will continue to work with state and federal response partners to further refine and assess our response plans for future disasters.
Earthquake Preparedness Tips:
• Become aware of fire evacuation and earthquake plans for all of the buildings you occupy regularly.
• Pick safe places in each room of your home, workplace and/or school. A safe place could be under a piece of furniture or against an interior wall away from windows, bookcases or tall furniture that could fall on you.
• Practice drop, cover and hold on in each safe place. If you do not have sturdy furniture to hold on to, sit on the floor next to an interior wall and cover your head and neck with your arms.
• Keep a flashlight and sturdy shoes by each person’s bed.
• Make sure your home is securely anchored to its foundation.
• Bolt and brace water heaters and gas appliances to wall studs.
• Bolt bookcases, china cabinets and other tall furniture to wall studs.
• Hang heavy items, such as pictures and mirrors, away from beds, couches and anywhere people sleep or sit.
• Brace overhead light fixtures.
• Install strong latches or bolts on cabinets. Large or heavy items should be closest to the floor.
• Learn how to shut off the gas valves in your home and keep a wrench handy for that purpose.
• Learn about your area’s seismic building standards and land use codes before you begin new construction.
• Keep and maintain an emergency supplies kit in an easy-to- access location.
• Have an out of area contact because local lines can be difficult to access during a disaster. During a disaster, family members can call the contact person from out of state to report on their own status and check on others. A SMS text messages from a wireless communication device will often work if even if a cellular signal is not strong enough to make a voice call.
To learn about what do during or after an earthquake please go to www.seattleredcross.org or www.redcrosswashington.org. For more information or to set up a disaster preparedness presentation for a community group, contact us at (206) 709-4528 in King County or (360) 377-3761
RantWoman will be VERY surprised to do more than buzz near most of these topics but will be interested to see how the group is led.
This event is also a RantWoman effort to share with her Meeting a large number of blessings from a small slice of what RantWoman sometimes calls the Yucky Topics Festival that currently is her life. RantWoman is unclear that everyone is going to feel blessed by RantWoman's generosity. Tough. Cope! RantWoman suspects that will prove more rewarding than it may seem at first glance. Plus RantWoman is not inclined to sugarcoat the "eat your oatmeal, it's GOOD for you" aspects of her ministry! RantWoman hopes that God and the hearts of Friends will make the experience bearable and enriching in spite of RantWoman's ill humor.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Healthcare Interpreters....
...are they mandatory reporters? Scroll down for the content of the article; this post is more about RantWoman's spiritual compost heap.
RantWoman reminds her readers of her Blog as File cabinet model of blog content. If RantWoman just needed file cabinet functions and RantWoman posts most of her interpreter-related file cabinet items on her other blog, why post this item here? It is definitely way too much information for easy digestion in the first place. In the second place, the exact applicability of things to do with obligations of health care interpreters in RantWoman's Meeting or Yearly Meeting is a long stretch at best. On the other hand the term mandatory reporters comes accompanied by question marks in certain requests from Yearly Meeting committees for input. RantWoman is clear that there are GOOD QUESTIONS here.
Because of interpreting, because of doing lots of projects involving people of various ages, disabilities, and other vulnerabilities, RantWoman has more occasion to have to go near the topic than lots of people who for instance have been turning up their noses at sharing efforts with RantWoman. RantWoman is especially thinking of one conversation with a Friend from her Meeting about this topic. The Friend seemed to RantWoman not to have interacted with the fact that some people just encounter this concept as part of their everyday lives and that informs how they respond when certain challenging issues come up.
The conversation about mandatory reporters is only one of several where RantWoman senses several things going on. RantWoman frequently feels something is unfinished or concluded inadequately specifically because RantWoman cannot read faces and there assuredly is not expected feedback occurring. HOWEVER, RantWoman is also hearing a vibe she needs pretty thoroughly to test to the effect that if one or more Friends do not know something, they tend to think it does not need to be known or they do not need to have anything to do with it. RantWoman would not necessarily mind NOT having the experiences she has; unfortunately sometimes these experiences either evoke RantWoman's latent Messiah complex or make RantWoman kind of impatient with other's lack of awareness. And yet, the question marks remain.
But now the text of the article.
http://www.probono.net/healthlaw/library/attachment.61990
Health Care Interpreters: Are They Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse?
[1]
I. Introduction
As the nation continues to diversify and more health care providers are
using interpreters to communicate with their patients, one issue that arises is whether interpreters are covered by mandatory child abuse reporting laws.
Members of some professions are mandated by state law to report known and
suspected cases of child abuse seen within the course of their
employment.[2]
While
most states require health care workers to report child abuse, the laws are not clear if interpreters in health care settings fall within the parameters of the health care profession. It is important that interpreters know whether or not they fall within a state’s mandatory reporter category, as they could be liable for not reporting cases of child abuse. Failure to report cases of abuse is a misdemeanor in many states.
II. Are Health Care Interpreters Mandatory Reporters?
Individuals who are required to report usually have direct contact with
children. Some state statutes are very explicit in how they define health
care workers, while others are not. Depending on the wording and
interpretation of a statute, an interpreter may or may not fall into this
designation and be a mandatory reporter. Although interpreters generally
work in clinical settings with a practitioner who is usually required to
report, interpreters cannot assume that the practitioner will report a child abuse case. The wording of a mandatory reporting statute may independently require the interpreter to report.
Whether an interpreter has a duty to report suspected or known child abuse
depends on the laws of a particular state. Those who must report pursuant to state reporting laws generally fit into four categories. The state breakdown is as follows:
[3]
· Four states[4]
require
“any person” or “every person” to report
· Thirty-three states[5]
require
health care workers or “hospital personnel” to report
· Thirteen states[6]
require
“any person” or “every person” and health care workers to report[7]
· Texas
requires “any person” or “every person” and “professionals” to report[8]
Ten states (including those with the highest LEP populations) were examined to
ascertain whether interpreters are required to report child abuse observed
in health care settings.[9]
None of
the reporting statutes in those states specifically requires interpreters to report. However, three states have adopted statutes that require all persons to report suspected abuse regardless of their profession. Four states require “hospital personnel” to report, which may sometimes include
interpreters (see below). Two of the ten states have adopted both the
catchall “any person” provision, and a specific health care worker
provision. One state has an “any person” as well as a “professional”
provision. Only one state clearly did not require health care interpreters
to report child abuse.
a. The “Any Person” or “Every Person” Requirement
Three of the ten states we examined require “any person” or “every person”
to report suspected cases of child abuse. These states are Florida, New
Jersey, and North Carolina. For example, in New Jersey, the statute states
that “any person having reasonable cause to believe that a child has been
subjected to child abuse or acts of child abuse shall report….”[10]
Thus, a health care interpreter would be required to report child abuse, regardless of the context within which she learned of the abuse.
Although Florida has an “any person” requirement, the state additionally
requires health care workers to give their name when making a report of
child abuse. Individuals who are not health care workers (or members of
certain other professions listed in the statute) are allowed to report
anonymously.[11]
b. The “Health Care Worker” Requirement
Of the ten states we examined, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York require some categories of health care workers to report suspected cases of child abuse.
New York requires “hospital personnel engaged in the admission, examination, care or treatment of persons” to report child abuse and neglect.[12]
Thus,
whether or not health care interpreters fall into this category depends on
whether (1) they are hospital “personnel;” and (2) they are engaged in the
“admission, examination, care or treatment of persons.” For example, a full time interpreter employed by a hospital would likely be considered hospital “personnel,” while an interpreter who independently contracted with a hospital might not be. If interpreters are hospital personnel, the second question is whether they are engaged in “admission, examination, care or treatment.” If an interpreter is used to communicate with LEP patients in the hospital admissions process, they are likely to be considered mandatory reporters.
Illinois and Massachusetts have statutory language that requires reporting
from similar personnel, with the only difference being that hospital
personnel engaged in admissions are not included.[13]
California exhaustively lists every profession that is required to report,
but does not list interpreters or include a category as broad as “health
care worker,” as do the three states above.[14]
While
California’s statute also requires child abuse reporting by persons who are currently licensed under a section of the Business and Professions Code;[15]
interpreters are not among those so licensed. Therefore, health care
interpreters are not mandated to report child abuse.
c. The “Any Person” and a “Health Care Worker” Requirement
A state with an “any” or “every” person mandatory reporting provision
obviously requires all interpreters to report child abuse because they
definitely fall within the catch-all “any”/“every” person. Of the states
examined, New Mexico and Maryland have adopted the “any person” requirement, augmented by a specific requirement for certain types of health care workers to report child abuse. While Maryland has also adopted the “any person” requirement, it also has a separate requirement for health practitioners.[16]
Maryland’s statutory definition of health practitioner does not encompass
interpreters, yet the “any person” requirement obligates interpreters to
report cases of child abuse. New Mexico’s health care worker provision is
limited to physicians, residents and interns, although interpreters would be included under the “every person” provision.[17]
d. The “Any Person” and “Professional” Requirement
Like the states above which have a health care worker requirement in
addition to an “any person” requirement, Texas requires “any person” as well as “professionals” to report child abuse.[18]
In
Texas, interpreters are obligated to report any suspected case of child
abuse under the “any person” requirement.
Other states may use “professional” instead of “health care worker” and thus an examination of the Texas requirement may be helpful. The Texas statute defines a professional as “an individual who is licensed or certified by the state or who is an employee of a facility licensed, certified, or operated by the state and who, in the normal course of official duties or duties for which a license or certification is required, has direct contact with children.”[19]
Currently, Texas has no licensure or certification requirement for
interpreters; however, an interpreter falls into this category if they are
employed by a hospital or other licensed facility. The question will
therefore be the meaning of “employee” and it is likely independent
contractors would be excluded under this provision.
III. Other Important Components of Mandatory Reporting Laws
There are several other important components regarding failure to report and protections for good faith reporting. Interpreters need to know these
requirements because a failure to report can have negative repercussions.
Failure to report a suspected case is a misdemeanor in six of the states we examined –California, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York and Texas.[20]
In
Illinois, a first violation is a misdemeanor and any subsequent failure to
report is considered a felony.[21]
Massachusetts fines non-reporters up to $1000.[22]
In New
Jersey, a person is deemed a “disorderly person” for failing to report child abuse.[23]
North
Carolina and Maryland have no punishment for non-reporting.
Finally, most states give immunity from civil and criminal liability to
mandatory reporters who report in good faith. If a health care interpreter
suspects child abuse and reports it, but later the child abuse charge is
determined to be unfounded, the interpreter cannot be held liable for
reporting what he/she believed to be abuse. All ten states examined here
give this immunity.
IV. Conclusion
To determine whether health care interpreters are required to report child
abuse in a state, one should examine the state’s child abuse and neglect
statute regarding mandatory reporting. The National Clearinghouse on Child
Abuse and Neglect Information has produced a chart with citations to every
state’s child abuse laws. The chart is also useful as a quick guide for the individuals and/or professions who must report child abuse and neglect.[24]
Checklist: What to look for in a state mandatory reporting statute:
* Is there an “any person” requirement clause?
If yes, then all health care interpreters have a mandatory reporting duty,
and you need not go any farther.
If no, check if another provision may apply to interpreters
* IIs there a health care worker, health personnel or hospital
personnel requirement clause?
If yes, then look to see if a health care interpreter would fit within such a profession. If the terms are not defined within the clause, look for a definitions provision, usually in an earlier subsection of the statute or in cases decided by the courts in your state.
* Is the interpreter considered a hospital “employee” or “personnel,”
as opposed to an independent contractor or an employee of an interpreter
service?
If yes, the interpreter must report
If no, check if another provision may apply to interpreters
If no, check if another provision may apply to interpreters
* Is the interpreter engaged in the activities covered by the statute
– e.g. admission, examination, care or treatment of patients?
If yes, the interpreter must report
If no, check if another provision may apply to interpreters
* Look for other relevant provisions:
Is there punishment for non-reporting?
Is there immunity for good faith reporting?
_____
[1]
This report was made possible through the generous support of The California Endowment.
[2]
There may be a similar reporting requirement for elder abuse, but that is
beyond the scope of this paper.
[3]
For a breakdown of all states, see National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, Statutes At-a-Glance, Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect (Feb. 2002), available at
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
[4]
Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina and Wyoming. See
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
[5]
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut,
District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana,
Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New
York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. See
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
[6]
Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New
Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Utah. See
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
[7]
Although it may seem redundant and illogical, many state statutes contain a
provision requiring health care workers or professionals to report child
abuse in addition to having a provision requiring “any” or “every” person to do so. Why this is so and how it originated is beyond the scope of this
paper.
[8]
Other states from the thirteen that have an “any” or “every” person and
health care worker requirement may fit into this category, but that is
beyond the scope of this paper and not available from the chart cited above.
[9]
The chosen states were California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Texas.
[10]
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 9:6-8.10 (West 2002).
[11]
Fla. Stat. Ann. §39.201(1)(b) (West 2003).
[12]
N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 413(1) (McKinney 2003).
[13]
325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/4 (2001 & Supp. 2003); Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 119, § 51A (Law. Co-op 2003).
[14]
Cal. Penal Code § 11165.7 (West 2003).
[15]
Cal. Penal Code § 11165.7(21) (West 2003).
[16]
Md. Code Ann., Fam. Law §§5-704-705 (2002).
[17]
N.M. Stat. Ann. § 32A-4-3(A) (Michie 2002).
[18]
Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 261.101 (Vernon 2002).
[19]
Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 261.101(a)-(b) (Vernon 2002).
[20]
See Cal. Penal Code § 11166(b) (West 2003); Fla. Stat. Ann. § 39.205 (West
2003); 325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/4 (2001 & Supp. 2003); N.M. Stat. Ann. §
32A-4-3(F) (Michie 2002); N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 420 (McKinney 2003); Tex.
Fam. Code Ann. § 261.109 (Vernon 2002).
[21]
325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/4 (2001 & Supp. 2003).
[22]
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 119, § 51A (Law. Co-op 2003).
[23]
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 9:6-8.14 (West 2002). A disorderly persons offense is a
petty offense and is not a crime. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:1-4 (West 2003).
[24]
National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, Statutes
At-a-Glance, Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect (Feb. 2002),
available at http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
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© 1999-2011 Pro Bono Net . All rights reserved.
RantWoman reminds her readers of her Blog as File cabinet model of blog content. If RantWoman just needed file cabinet functions and RantWoman posts most of her interpreter-related file cabinet items on her other blog, why post this item here? It is definitely way too much information for easy digestion in the first place. In the second place, the exact applicability of things to do with obligations of health care interpreters in RantWoman's Meeting or Yearly Meeting is a long stretch at best. On the other hand the term mandatory reporters comes accompanied by question marks in certain requests from Yearly Meeting committees for input. RantWoman is clear that there are GOOD QUESTIONS here.
Because of interpreting, because of doing lots of projects involving people of various ages, disabilities, and other vulnerabilities, RantWoman has more occasion to have to go near the topic than lots of people who for instance have been turning up their noses at sharing efforts with RantWoman. RantWoman is especially thinking of one conversation with a Friend from her Meeting about this topic. The Friend seemed to RantWoman not to have interacted with the fact that some people just encounter this concept as part of their everyday lives and that informs how they respond when certain challenging issues come up.
The conversation about mandatory reporters is only one of several where RantWoman senses several things going on. RantWoman frequently feels something is unfinished or concluded inadequately specifically because RantWoman cannot read faces and there assuredly is not expected feedback occurring. HOWEVER, RantWoman is also hearing a vibe she needs pretty thoroughly to test to the effect that if one or more Friends do not know something, they tend to think it does not need to be known or they do not need to have anything to do with it. RantWoman would not necessarily mind NOT having the experiences she has; unfortunately sometimes these experiences either evoke RantWoman's latent Messiah complex or make RantWoman kind of impatient with other's lack of awareness. And yet, the question marks remain.
But now the text of the article.
http://www.probono.net/healthlaw/library/attachment.61990
Health Care Interpreters: Are They Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse?
I. Introduction
As the nation continues to diversify and more health care providers are
using interpreters to communicate with their patients, one issue that arises is whether interpreters are covered by mandatory child abuse reporting laws.
Members of some professions are mandated by state law to report known and
suspected cases of child abuse seen within the course of their
employment.[2]
most states require health care workers to report child abuse, the laws are not clear if interpreters in health care settings fall within the parameters of the health care profession. It is important that interpreters know whether or not they fall within a state’s mandatory reporter category, as they could be liable for not reporting cases of child abuse. Failure to report cases of abuse is a misdemeanor in many states.
II. Are Health Care Interpreters Mandatory Reporters?
Individuals who are required to report usually have direct contact with
children. Some state statutes are very explicit in how they define health
care workers, while others are not. Depending on the wording and
interpretation of a statute, an interpreter may or may not fall into this
designation and be a mandatory reporter. Although interpreters generally
work in clinical settings with a practitioner who is usually required to
report, interpreters cannot assume that the practitioner will report a child abuse case. The wording of a mandatory reporting statute may independently require the interpreter to report.
Whether an interpreter has a duty to report suspected or known child abuse
depends on the laws of a particular state. Those who must report pursuant to state reporting laws generally fit into four categories. The state breakdown is as follows:
· Four states[4]
“any person” or “every person” to report
· Thirty-three states[5]
health care workers or “hospital personnel” to report
· Thirteen states[6]
“any person” or “every person” and health care workers to report[7]
requires “any person” or “every person” and “professionals” to report[8]
ascertain whether interpreters are required to report child abuse observed
in health care settings.[9]
the reporting statutes in those states specifically requires interpreters to report. However, three states have adopted statutes that require all persons to report suspected abuse regardless of their profession. Four states require “hospital personnel” to report, which may sometimes include
interpreters (see below). Two of the ten states have adopted both the
catchall “any person” provision, and a specific health care worker
provision. One state has an “any person” as well as a “professional”
provision. Only one state clearly did not require health care interpreters
to report child abuse.
a. The “Any Person” or “Every Person” Requirement
Three of the ten states we examined require “any person” or “every person”
to report suspected cases of child abuse. These states are Florida, New
Jersey, and North Carolina. For example, in New Jersey, the statute states
that “any person having reasonable cause to believe that a child has been
subjected to child abuse or acts of child abuse shall report….”[10]
Although Florida has an “any person” requirement, the state additionally
requires health care workers to give their name when making a report of
child abuse. Individuals who are not health care workers (or members of
certain other professions listed in the statute) are allowed to report
anonymously.[11]
b. The “Health Care Worker” Requirement
Of the ten states we examined, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York require some categories of health care workers to report suspected cases of child abuse.
New York requires “hospital personnel engaged in the admission, examination, care or treatment of persons” to report child abuse and neglect.[12]
whether or not health care interpreters fall into this category depends on
whether (1) they are hospital “personnel;” and (2) they are engaged in the
“admission, examination, care or treatment of persons.” For example, a full time interpreter employed by a hospital would likely be considered hospital “personnel,” while an interpreter who independently contracted with a hospital might not be. If interpreters are hospital personnel, the second question is whether they are engaged in “admission, examination, care or treatment.” If an interpreter is used to communicate with LEP patients in the hospital admissions process, they are likely to be considered mandatory reporters.
Illinois and Massachusetts have statutory language that requires reporting
from similar personnel, with the only difference being that hospital
personnel engaged in admissions are not included.[13]
California exhaustively lists every profession that is required to report,
but does not list interpreters or include a category as broad as “health
care worker,” as do the three states above.[14]
California’s statute also requires child abuse reporting by persons who are currently licensed under a section of the Business and Professions Code;[15]
interpreters are not among those so licensed. Therefore, health care
interpreters are not mandated to report child abuse.
c. The “Any Person” and a “Health Care Worker” Requirement
A state with an “any” or “every” person mandatory reporting provision
obviously requires all interpreters to report child abuse because they
definitely fall within the catch-all “any”/“every” person. Of the states
examined, New Mexico and Maryland have adopted the “any person” requirement, augmented by a specific requirement for certain types of health care workers to report child abuse. While Maryland has also adopted the “any person” requirement, it also has a separate requirement for health practitioners.[16]
Maryland’s statutory definition of health practitioner does not encompass
interpreters, yet the “any person” requirement obligates interpreters to
report cases of child abuse. New Mexico’s health care worker provision is
limited to physicians, residents and interns, although interpreters would be included under the “every person” provision.[17]
d. The “Any Person” and “Professional” Requirement
Like the states above which have a health care worker requirement in
addition to an “any person” requirement, Texas requires “any person” as well as “professionals” to report child abuse.[18]
Texas, interpreters are obligated to report any suspected case of child
abuse under the “any person” requirement.
Other states may use “professional” instead of “health care worker” and thus an examination of the Texas requirement may be helpful. The Texas statute defines a professional as “an individual who is licensed or certified by the state or who is an employee of a facility licensed, certified, or operated by the state and who, in the normal course of official duties or duties for which a license or certification is required, has direct contact with children.”[19]
Currently, Texas has no licensure or certification requirement for
interpreters; however, an interpreter falls into this category if they are
employed by a hospital or other licensed facility. The question will
therefore be the meaning of “employee” and it is likely independent
contractors would be excluded under this provision.
III. Other Important Components of Mandatory Reporting Laws
There are several other important components regarding failure to report and protections for good faith reporting. Interpreters need to know these
requirements because a failure to report can have negative repercussions.
Failure to report a suspected case is a misdemeanor in six of the states we examined –California, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York and Texas.[20]
Illinois, a first violation is a misdemeanor and any subsequent failure to
report is considered a felony.[21]
Massachusetts fines non-reporters up to $1000.[22]
Jersey, a person is deemed a “disorderly person” for failing to report child abuse.[23]
Carolina and Maryland have no punishment for non-reporting.
Finally, most states give immunity from civil and criminal liability to
mandatory reporters who report in good faith. If a health care interpreter
suspects child abuse and reports it, but later the child abuse charge is
determined to be unfounded, the interpreter cannot be held liable for
reporting what he/she believed to be abuse. All ten states examined here
give this immunity.
IV. Conclusion
To determine whether health care interpreters are required to report child
abuse in a state, one should examine the state’s child abuse and neglect
statute regarding mandatory reporting. The National Clearinghouse on Child
Abuse and Neglect Information has produced a chart with citations to every
state’s child abuse laws. The chart is also useful as a quick guide for the individuals and/or professions who must report child abuse and neglect.[24]
Checklist: What to look for in a state mandatory reporting statute:
* Is there an “any person” requirement clause?
If yes, then all health care interpreters have a mandatory reporting duty,
and you need not go any farther.
If no, check if another provision may apply to interpreters
* IIs there a health care worker, health personnel or hospital
personnel requirement clause?
If yes, then look to see if a health care interpreter would fit within such a profession. If the terms are not defined within the clause, look for a definitions provision, usually in an earlier subsection of the statute or in cases decided by the courts in your state.
* Is the interpreter considered a hospital “employee” or “personnel,”
as opposed to an independent contractor or an employee of an interpreter
service?
If yes, the interpreter must report
If no, check if another provision may apply to interpreters
If no, check if another provision may apply to interpreters
* Is the interpreter engaged in the activities covered by the statute
– e.g. admission, examination, care or treatment of patients?
If yes, the interpreter must report
If no, check if another provision may apply to interpreters
* Look for other relevant provisions:
Is there punishment for non-reporting?
Is there immunity for good faith reporting?
_____
This report was made possible through the generous support of The California Endowment.
There may be a similar reporting requirement for elder abuse, but that is
beyond the scope of this paper.
For a breakdown of all states, see National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, Statutes At-a-Glance, Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect (Feb. 2002), available at
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina and Wyoming. See
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut,
District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana,
Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New
York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. See
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New
Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Utah. See
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
Although it may seem redundant and illogical, many state statutes contain a
provision requiring health care workers or professionals to report child
abuse in addition to having a provision requiring “any” or “every” person to do so. Why this is so and how it originated is beyond the scope of this
paper.
Other states from the thirteen that have an “any” or “every” person and
health care worker requirement may fit into this category, but that is
beyond the scope of this paper and not available from the chart cited above.
The chosen states were California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Texas.
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 9:6-8.10 (West 2002).
Fla. Stat. Ann. §39.201(1)(b) (West 2003).
N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 413(1) (McKinney 2003).
325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/4 (2001 & Supp. 2003); Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 119, § 51A (Law. Co-op 2003).
Cal. Penal Code § 11165.7 (West 2003).
Cal. Penal Code § 11165.7(21) (West 2003).
Md. Code Ann., Fam. Law §§5-704-705 (2002).
N.M. Stat. Ann. § 32A-4-3(A) (Michie 2002).
Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 261.101 (Vernon 2002).
Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 261.101(a)-(b) (Vernon 2002).
See Cal. Penal Code § 11166(b) (West 2003); Fla. Stat. Ann. § 39.205 (West
2003); 325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/4 (2001 & Supp. 2003); N.M. Stat. Ann. §
32A-4-3(F) (Michie 2002); N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 420 (McKinney 2003); Tex.
Fam. Code Ann. § 261.109 (Vernon 2002).
325 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/4 (2001 & Supp. 2003).
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 119, § 51A (Law. Co-op 2003).
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 9:6-8.14 (West 2002). A disorderly persons offense is a
petty offense and is not a crime. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:1-4 (West 2003).
National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, Statutes
At-a-Glance, Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect (Feb. 2002),
available at http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/sag/manda.pdf.
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Contracted Braille--with Freight Train
RantWoman awhile ago took note of the date of our September Meeting for Business and based on past experience predicted that our entire nation would be bathed in endless coverage of the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11.
RantWoman's heart specifically was full of detritus from her spiritual compost heap including some screaming moments of the form "My faith community is busy reminding me why I REALLY need a faith community." Then there was the media week as well as remembrance and not repentance of the "If...God Forgive me, but..." message RantWoman remembers being called to at our Meeting's called Meeting for worship the day of the attacks.
This year, Meeting for Business was to go forward regardless. For additional cheer, RantWoman knew that the agenda would feature an item about the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet or not exactly The Safest Sex Offender... himself but a much-needed adjustment about our Meeting's organization of our support for him.
For better or worse, this time around, RantWoman got most of the hyperventilating her own STUFF can cause around this topic out of the way ahead of time; all the emotional energy of this was parked in RantWoman's head like a freight train full of grain with a few cars of miscellaneous material needing to be unloaded. There would of course not be time to unload the whole train in our shortened Meeting for Worship; RantWoman gets to keep bearing he load regardless.
RantWoman is blessed to have had the following author reading preview for Adult Education:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/09/seattle-area-readings-authentic.html
Business Meeting teetering on the horizon is the main reason that RantWoman jumped up almost impermissibly soon after another message, from Deuteronomy about God being close at hand among ye, in worship on Sunday.
RantWoman gave more or less the following message:
It is funny to be called to give a message about the overhead lights in our worship room on a sunny day when the lights are not on. Our overhead lights form the outside of a 4x3 rectangle. To RantWoman they look like, from either side symmetrically like the two Braille contractions for And You.
A completely blind person would never know this unless someone with enough vision to see the pattern and knowledge enough of contracted Braille told them so. Sighted people, even sighted people who have glancing contact with, say, one of those educational braille alphabet cards also would never know this unless the likes of rantWoman told them so.
RantWoman likes this image very much. To RantWoman, the And You is both Quaker baptism, the holy spirit filling, energizing an individual, and Quaker communion, the holy world of sharing worship with others.
RantWoman lately has had to have several long and difficult conversations of the form "That could not possibly be a problem. How can you say that is a problem....Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, NOW I see!" RantWoman is not particularly enjoying these conversations; she can tell they are not really a lot of fun for her counterparts either, but RantWoman wants to bless and deeply appreciate those who have stayed present. Staying present matters.
RantWoman frequently has a problem with messages arriving in long freight trains and needs to stop here for today.
RantWoman did stop but decided to put more of the freight train into her blog.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/freight-train-first-week-of-school.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/freight-train-tour-guide.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/freight-train-one-for-elijah.html
RantWoman's heart specifically was full of detritus from her spiritual compost heap including some screaming moments of the form "My faith community is busy reminding me why I REALLY need a faith community." Then there was the media week as well as remembrance and not repentance of the "If...God Forgive me, but..." message RantWoman remembers being called to at our Meeting's called Meeting for worship the day of the attacks.
This year, Meeting for Business was to go forward regardless. For additional cheer, RantWoman knew that the agenda would feature an item about the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet or not exactly The Safest Sex Offender... himself but a much-needed adjustment about our Meeting's organization of our support for him.
For better or worse, this time around, RantWoman got most of the hyperventilating her own STUFF can cause around this topic out of the way ahead of time; all the emotional energy of this was parked in RantWoman's head like a freight train full of grain with a few cars of miscellaneous material needing to be unloaded. There would of course not be time to unload the whole train in our shortened Meeting for Worship; RantWoman gets to keep bearing he load regardless.
RantWoman is blessed to have had the following author reading preview for Adult Education:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/09/seattle-area-readings-authentic.html
Business Meeting teetering on the horizon is the main reason that RantWoman jumped up almost impermissibly soon after another message, from Deuteronomy about God being close at hand among ye, in worship on Sunday.
RantWoman gave more or less the following message:
It is funny to be called to give a message about the overhead lights in our worship room on a sunny day when the lights are not on. Our overhead lights form the outside of a 4x3 rectangle. To RantWoman they look like, from either side symmetrically like the two Braille contractions for And You.
A completely blind person would never know this unless someone with enough vision to see the pattern and knowledge enough of contracted Braille told them so. Sighted people, even sighted people who have glancing contact with, say, one of those educational braille alphabet cards also would never know this unless the likes of rantWoman told them so.
RantWoman likes this image very much. To RantWoman, the And You is both Quaker baptism, the holy spirit filling, energizing an individual, and Quaker communion, the holy world of sharing worship with others.
RantWoman lately has had to have several long and difficult conversations of the form "That could not possibly be a problem. How can you say that is a problem....Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, NOW I see!" RantWoman is not particularly enjoying these conversations; she can tell they are not really a lot of fun for her counterparts either, but RantWoman wants to bless and deeply appreciate those who have stayed present. Staying present matters.
RantWoman frequently has a problem with messages arriving in long freight trains and needs to stop here for today.
RantWoman did stop but decided to put more of the freight train into her blog.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/freight-train-first-week-of-school.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/freight-train-tour-guide.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/freight-train-one-for-elijah.html
Racism and Privilege workshop
This is how RantWoman spent her Saturday:
Power/Privilege/Racism workshop
Saturday, September 10th, 1-5 pm
University Friends Meeting (4001 - 9th Ave NE, Seattle)
Cost: Donation
Facilitators: Rosy Betz-Zall and Susan Barclay and Michael Siptroth
The workshop will look at the theory of power and privilege, and how it impacts our lives and our work as a Peace Team. What does it mean for change and for being allies. We will explore our own reactions to oppressions that we experience and link them with other people’s experiences.
Please RSVP ...
We will start on time!
From the Reading List
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/deeply-embarrassed-white-people-talk-awkwardly-about-race/Content?oid=9747101
By way of digression, RantWoman's comments about the article:
--RantWoman wonders how different the conversations about racism are at other colleges and community colleges in our area.
--Read the comments, as many as you can stand to wade through.
Here are RantWoman's reflections from the journaling exercise.
Privilege is about
--dealing with something at one's leisure, not because it's an everyday reality NOW.
--not having to explain why something is a problem because the fact of the problem is enough reason for people to act.
--not having to hear "that could not possibly be a problem because we are so sincere and well-meaning and we already put so much time and effort and process into doing it our way."
There is need for many everyday conversations about racism.
There is power in detaching from systems of privilege or oppression and redefining the center.
After the fact, in Light of RantWoman's seething freight train of fervid fixations this week related to privilege and ableism: look, RantWoman is managing and she has to live it. You only have to visit. YOU CAN DO IT; trust that what you can do will matter. Yeah, right. How about if you need a tour guide, consider hiring a professional; if you are willing to walk alongside, why the bleep do I have to show you the way first. How about we learn the way TOGETHER.
A quote from Rumi: beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing, I'll meet you there.
Urk. Somewhere in here, RantWoman is still PISSED OFF and also stretching toward self-discipline.
One of RantWoman's workshop-mates announced he is reaching to uphold the dignity of Dick Cheney. RantWoman thinks Dick Cheney belongs in handcuffs. Plus RantWoman has all she can do holding perpetual WA tax rejectionist Tim Eyman in the light and there is no way RantWoman, even in inner blowtorch mode, can yet even try for that of God in Dick Cheney.
After the fact, RantWoman somehow feels called to add all the world's tragically overpaid CEO's to her endles and ever-growing Hold in the Light / Speak to That of God in list.
http://theredelectric.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-simple-layoff-could-save-200-jobs.html
Power means being able to hear and value difference without feeling threatened.
Power/Privilege/Racism workshop
Saturday, September 10th, 1-5 pm
University Friends Meeting (4001 - 9th Ave NE, Seattle)
Cost: Donation
Facilitators: Rosy Betz-Zall and Susan Barclay and Michael Siptroth
The workshop will look at the theory of power and privilege, and how it impacts our lives and our work as a Peace Team. What does it mean for change and for being allies. We will explore our own reactions to oppressions that we experience and link them with other people’s experiences.
Please RSVP ...
We will start on time!
From the Reading List
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/deeply-embarrassed-white-people-talk-awkwardly-about-race/Content?oid=9747101
By way of digression, RantWoman's comments about the article:
--RantWoman wonders how different the conversations about racism are at other colleges and community colleges in our area.
--Read the comments, as many as you can stand to wade through.
Here are RantWoman's reflections from the journaling exercise.
Privilege is about
--dealing with something at one's leisure, not because it's an everyday reality NOW.
--not having to explain why something is a problem because the fact of the problem is enough reason for people to act.
--not having to hear "that could not possibly be a problem because we are so sincere and well-meaning and we already put so much time and effort and process into doing it our way."
There is need for many everyday conversations about racism.
There is power in detaching from systems of privilege or oppression and redefining the center.
After the fact, in Light of RantWoman's seething freight train of fervid fixations this week related to privilege and ableism: look, RantWoman is managing and she has to live it. You only have to visit. YOU CAN DO IT; trust that what you can do will matter. Yeah, right. How about if you need a tour guide, consider hiring a professional; if you are willing to walk alongside, why the bleep do I have to show you the way first. How about we learn the way TOGETHER.
A quote from Rumi: beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing, I'll meet you there.
Urk. Somewhere in here, RantWoman is still PISSED OFF and also stretching toward self-discipline.
One of RantWoman's workshop-mates announced he is reaching to uphold the dignity of Dick Cheney. RantWoman thinks Dick Cheney belongs in handcuffs. Plus RantWoman has all she can do holding perpetual WA tax rejectionist Tim Eyman in the light and there is no way RantWoman, even in inner blowtorch mode, can yet even try for that of God in Dick Cheney.
After the fact, RantWoman somehow feels called to add all the world's tragically overpaid CEO's to her endles and ever-growing Hold in the Light / Speak to That of God in list.
http://theredelectric.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-simple-layoff-could-save-200-jobs.html
Power means being able to hear and value difference without feeling threatened.
Freight Train: the first week of school.
RantWoman gave a message on Sunday about a freight train.
RantWoman is clear to line a lot of cars from the freight train in her blog and to keep TRYING to send clear signals and give people options about how much to read.
This car is about the first week of school.
Readers who want the post boiled down are free to read a sincere wish to everyone starting a new school year for growth and learning, for good teachers well-supported and for a fun, positive, respectful school environment free of bullying, teasing, mocking, making fun of....
Sensible Auntie offers a special shout out to parents whose kids have any kind of special need. RantWoman for instance, MOST of the time thanks RantMom for marching in almost every year and insisting the teacher let RantWoman sit in the front row to ensure that RantWoman could see the blackboard. Thanks Mom. Never mind about the social life.
Now feel free to click away or read further at your choice.
RantWoman remembers being manically excited about kindergarten. RantWoman suspects this excitement might have been as much eagerness to get out of the house as anything else but RantWoman remembers the thrill of having to cross a big street (urk, state highway actually) at a crosswalk with a traffic signal. RantWoman remembers a 3-story yellow brik building. The kindergarten class was on the first floor and had an asphalt playground. RantWoman has NO memory of anyone except the teacher and a kid named Bryan who teased and got teased. Other than that, RantWoman assumes she must have gotten new glasses part way through the year because RantWoman remembers it suddently became dramatically easier to color within the lines.
A radio show about starting school mentioned the cafeteria. RantWoman remembers her first grade lunchroom experience: RantWoman early on wound up sitting at a table with a bunch of little girls who spent the whole lunch period telling RantWoman to "stop staring." RantWoman's glasses make her eyes look big and on top of that, it takes RantWoman longer than average to focus. In other words, RantWoman took a lot of grief for not even necessarily getting a lot of visual satisfaction from the staring.
RantWoman's memory of second grade, besides the Weekly Reader poll (do you really think RantWoman is going to say which presidential year?) was the annual school eye test. RantWoman and the rant Brother both went through a number of years where we would flundk half the eye test. The school nurse would send home a "Dear Parent, did you know..." letter and the Rant Parents would write back something along the lines of "Dear School Nurse. We know. We are working on it. There is no pediatric ophthalmologist in town and..."
RantWoman thinks the eye issue must have been taken care of between fourth and fifth grade. RantWoman remembers new glasses on a trip back to CO from MT. RantWoman read to everyone stuck in the Rant Family vehicle every road sign between MT and CO--and the Rant Parents mercifully did not disown her. RantWoman also came home with an eye patch that she was supposed to wear over her good eye to make the one newly liberated of its scar tissue crank into action. Supposed to wear would be the operative point. RantWoman also got a lot of exercise: her classroom was on the third floor of the same yellow brick building where she started kindergarten.
RantWoman has also been thinking of fifthe grade because the world's most irrepressible nephew started fifth grade. RantWoman HOPES that nephew's fifthe grade does a better job of keeping him stimulated and motivated than RantWoman's did. RantWoman spent most of fifth grade with either Cherry Ames Girl Nurse or Nancy Drew novels propped open inside her textbooks.
Then RantWoman broke her leg. On the first Friday after Christmas vacation, RantWoman took her new Christmas present ice skates to the local rink. RantWoman skated and skated and was very nearly happy with herself...until...RantWoman's bad eye missed seeing a very ugly patch of chopped up ice. RantWoman did not just want to land on her behind. RantWoman really has no idea what maneuver she tried to execute; she just landed howling in pain, had to crawl across the ice to the ice house, cry for awhile and call RantDad for a ride home. The RantDad sensibly realized that if RantWoman couldn't walk on her leg, probably going straight to the ER was a better idea.
RantWoman came home from the ER with a full leg cast and a prescription for Darvon. Thenceforth, RantWoman spent several weeks going to school on heavy pain meds and was still bored out of her skull. Fifth Grade band was especially blessed that year too: RantWoman played percussion. So did another kid with a broken leg. RantWoman had graduated to walking cast and no crutches by the spring concert but the other kid still got to try to shift around among different pieces of percussion equipment AND stay on his crutches. RantWoman hopes Irrepressible Nephew has a MUCH less eventful fifth grade than all of this.
RantWoman thanks the RantParents for, among other discernment, figuring out that a bigger city schools would likely do a better job of keeping RantWoman engaged; the following summer the family picked up and moved to MT.
None of this boiled down, during Meeting for Worship at least, to any kind of Blessings upon the Beginning of the School year message for the whole room. Alas.
RantWoman is clear to line a lot of cars from the freight train in her blog and to keep TRYING to send clear signals and give people options about how much to read.
This car is about the first week of school.
Readers who want the post boiled down are free to read a sincere wish to everyone starting a new school year for growth and learning, for good teachers well-supported and for a fun, positive, respectful school environment free of bullying, teasing, mocking, making fun of....
Sensible Auntie offers a special shout out to parents whose kids have any kind of special need. RantWoman for instance, MOST of the time thanks RantMom for marching in almost every year and insisting the teacher let RantWoman sit in the front row to ensure that RantWoman could see the blackboard. Thanks Mom. Never mind about the social life.
Now feel free to click away or read further at your choice.
RantWoman remembers being manically excited about kindergarten. RantWoman suspects this excitement might have been as much eagerness to get out of the house as anything else but RantWoman remembers the thrill of having to cross a big street (urk, state highway actually) at a crosswalk with a traffic signal. RantWoman remembers a 3-story yellow brik building. The kindergarten class was on the first floor and had an asphalt playground. RantWoman has NO memory of anyone except the teacher and a kid named Bryan who teased and got teased. Other than that, RantWoman assumes she must have gotten new glasses part way through the year because RantWoman remembers it suddently became dramatically easier to color within the lines.
A radio show about starting school mentioned the cafeteria. RantWoman remembers her first grade lunchroom experience: RantWoman early on wound up sitting at a table with a bunch of little girls who spent the whole lunch period telling RantWoman to "stop staring." RantWoman's glasses make her eyes look big and on top of that, it takes RantWoman longer than average to focus. In other words, RantWoman took a lot of grief for not even necessarily getting a lot of visual satisfaction from the staring.
RantWoman's memory of second grade, besides the Weekly Reader poll (do you really think RantWoman is going to say which presidential year?) was the annual school eye test. RantWoman and the rant Brother both went through a number of years where we would flundk half the eye test. The school nurse would send home a "Dear Parent, did you know..." letter and the Rant Parents would write back something along the lines of "Dear School Nurse. We know. We are working on it. There is no pediatric ophthalmologist in town and..."
RantWoman thinks the eye issue must have been taken care of between fourth and fifth grade. RantWoman remembers new glasses on a trip back to CO from MT. RantWoman read to everyone stuck in the Rant Family vehicle every road sign between MT and CO--and the Rant Parents mercifully did not disown her. RantWoman also came home with an eye patch that she was supposed to wear over her good eye to make the one newly liberated of its scar tissue crank into action. Supposed to wear would be the operative point. RantWoman also got a lot of exercise: her classroom was on the third floor of the same yellow brick building where she started kindergarten.
RantWoman has also been thinking of fifthe grade because the world's most irrepressible nephew started fifth grade. RantWoman HOPES that nephew's fifthe grade does a better job of keeping him stimulated and motivated than RantWoman's did. RantWoman spent most of fifth grade with either Cherry Ames Girl Nurse or Nancy Drew novels propped open inside her textbooks.
Then RantWoman broke her leg. On the first Friday after Christmas vacation, RantWoman took her new Christmas present ice skates to the local rink. RantWoman skated and skated and was very nearly happy with herself...until...RantWoman's bad eye missed seeing a very ugly patch of chopped up ice. RantWoman did not just want to land on her behind. RantWoman really has no idea what maneuver she tried to execute; she just landed howling in pain, had to crawl across the ice to the ice house, cry for awhile and call RantDad for a ride home. The RantDad sensibly realized that if RantWoman couldn't walk on her leg, probably going straight to the ER was a better idea.
RantWoman came home from the ER with a full leg cast and a prescription for Darvon. Thenceforth, RantWoman spent several weeks going to school on heavy pain meds and was still bored out of her skull. Fifth Grade band was especially blessed that year too: RantWoman played percussion. So did another kid with a broken leg. RantWoman had graduated to walking cast and no crutches by the spring concert but the other kid still got to try to shift around among different pieces of percussion equipment AND stay on his crutches. RantWoman hopes Irrepressible Nephew has a MUCH less eventful fifth grade than all of this.
RantWoman thanks the RantParents for, among other discernment, figuring out that a bigger city schools would likely do a better job of keeping RantWoman engaged; the following summer the family picked up and moved to MT.
None of this boiled down, during Meeting for Worship at least, to any kind of Blessings upon the Beginning of the School year message for the whole room. Alas.
Freight Train: Tour Guide
RantWoman reminds her readers of her pending Interest Group at Quarterly Meeting
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/interest.html
RantWoman wrote her proposal for her interest group at Quarterly Meeting. Then more events transpired and RantWoman was led to ask for input. RantWoman asked for input in one of her trademark email immoderation emails, this time to a LONG list of people who either personally have earned the email or...:
Hi Friends
This email is a request for input The bottom of this message is a description of an interest group I will lead at Quarterly Meeting, that is unless I find a way to get from Lazy F where I need to be on
Friday night to Yakima for an interpreter training (on handling trauma issues, oddly enough) on Saturday 9/24. Chances are I will make the interest group and this is a request for input.
Awhile ago my clearness committee suggested I talk to children in our Meeting about life with vision loss. For a few different reasons I am clear that it would be better to start by talking to adults.
What would you most like to know about my experience?
What do you find bewildering about interacting with me?
What worries or observations do you have?
Is there someone else you wish I would ask
I DO NOT apologize for email. For one thing, you writing me back helps me keep track of things in a format I can search MUCH better than my notes in my ever scarier handwriting. I am happy to receive phone calls as well but another reason I like to start with email is that I am frequently awake later than many Friends and need to make effective use of my own time.
Also I am having to tell different people the same things over and over, including arguing various variations of "that could not possibly be a problem because we are so sincere, already spent so much time doing it wrong, think we understand based on..."
Some of the time this repetition is just exhausting. Some of the time I come away feeling drained the same way I feel drained when I have had to interpret for, say, a series of appointments with a trauma
survivor and an attorney, the trauma survivor getting restimulated having to relive the story once to tell it, once when the attorney has mashed my interpretation into the kinds of sentences that legal
entities understand or need to hear and I have to sight translate to check for corrections, and then the survivor has to repeat the story AGAIN in front of third parties of varying levels of awareness,
hostility, eptitude / ineptness, responsiveness... Only now it's my
story....
So I would like to get to clear messages much more widely understood and to get there as directly as possible.
Anyway, I mean it about wanting to hear Friends questions. I do not particularly promise to get to all of them in one interest group but I am happy to hold and work with them. Depending on interest, I am happy to consider doing a session at UFM either before or after the Interest Group at Quarterly Meeting.
Here is the workshop description:
Name of Interest Group:
Howling about Diminishments:
The RantWoman Guide to Midlife Vision Meltdown
Description: This interest group is devoted to everything you never
thought you wanted to know about midlife vision loss. What constitutes
“everything” will be determined by leadings of Spirit the day of the
event.
“Everything” may include accessibility measures during silent worship,
a badly-behaved white cane, favorite Bible bits, Braille, reading,
faith healing, Quakerism aboard the bus, nodding and grunting, advice
for elderly drivers, advice for those fretting about elderly drivers,
blogging, and other topics as led.There will also be time for sharing
out of silence.
Thank you for whatever observations you are led to offer.
In the Light
(RantWoman)
From Friend with Many Weighty Titles, some pointedly omitted)
Dear (RantWoman)
If I were coming to your interest group, the thing that first occurs to me is talking about body language - in committee meetings, business meeting, even worship. I think this is a really hard thing for folks to get (and remember!). Your comment in Business Meeting yesterday about nodding as a way of showing approval was very helpful and appropriate. Giving examples would be great. Would you even consider a little role playing with most folks blindfolded?
I have found your comments about kids running around to be another very
important and useful comment, since we don't think about it.
I hope you do get to give this interest group and look forward to hearing
about it.
Friend with Numerous Weighty Titles, some pointedly omitted.
Dear Friend (Numerous Weighty Friend Titles),
Thank you for your suggestions and observations.
First a process point: THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REQUIRE IMMEDIATE RESPONSE. This came in as a reply/all to everyone on my original To: list. I am aware of others' grumbles about email AND I mean to take this partly as an invitation to tell a number of people the same things at the same time and to give you the option of clicking or not clicking on the individual blog posts. That way, if I grumble about how exhausting it is to have endless one on one conversations and if you want to talk amongst yourselves, you are at least all starting from common
information.
Second, I do not particularly apologize for the length. In fact
considering the freight train of matters frying my nerves this week, I
hope you will appreciate my comparative restraint. On the other hand,
if you want to unload some more cars....
--Body language? It's not exactly body language but everything to do
with non-verbal communication. On one hand, I ask people to tell me
when I offend them because I am pretty sure I achieve that more often
than would be preferable and REALLY cannot read faces and am lost
without verbal feedback.
The other aspect of not reading faces though is in a number of
situations I have possibly misinterpreted another speaker (I need to
talk to one person in particular) or I have felt like lots of people
are inappropriately unresponsive to or show serious lack of awareness
about something emotional where some kind of acknowledgment of
difficulty or complexity would be entirely appropriate. The
illustration I have used a couple times is a bit from I think Monty
Python and the Holy Grail where everyone is seated at some kind of
wedding and some knight shows up and starts hacking off hunks of
people while the guests just keep doing whatever and do not even
react. Ask me about exact situations in person or consider whether
this perspective might shed light something you have experienced.
--At my proposed interest group I will do some of the things I do
when I run other meetings as well as a couple additional things.
--Here are a couple blog posts about my experiences in meetings.
Meeting for worship has a whole bunch of links below separately.
with some links to follow
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/06/interrupt.html
meeting for memorial, but still
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/07/agnes-schmoe.html
--A miscellaneous item about running into people, my white cane and a certain much-discussed Friend's ministry of audible eye-rolling.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/06/not-blind-that-we-know-of.html
--I do not think I want to consider role-playing at this event but given enthusiasm I hear (two other voices), I will hold in future consideration for a number of reasons:
--blindfolds are only one form of representing different non-standard visual experiences. Here are a couple blog entries about my experience specifically:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-it-yourself-eye-surgery-and-plague.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/12/worse-auntie-grow-your-own-lava-lamp.html
--I am nowhere near centered enough right now about a number of topics to lead a roleplay exercise. I will do well to stay centered enough to talk and do not want to think about ways of handing out
alternate vision experiences. A couple years ago, I was part of a presentation about disaster
preparedness for people with disabilities.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/04/super-duper-powerpoint-festival.html
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/04/taxed.html
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/search?q=pantyhose
Before my presentation I got to go to a really great disability simulation exercise put on by someone at the Hearing Speech and Deafness Center. I am more inclined to find a forum where someone from
outside can be invited to, say, UFM than to try it on my own.
I think I should stop here for now. If you have made it this far, thank you for reading. I am happy to talk in person or by phone--or not.
In the Light
(RantWoman)
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/09/interest.html
RantWoman wrote her proposal for her interest group at Quarterly Meeting. Then more events transpired and RantWoman was led to ask for input. RantWoman asked for input in one of her trademark email immoderation emails, this time to a LONG list of people who either personally have earned the email or...:
Hi Friends
This email is a request for input The bottom of this message is a description of an interest group I will lead at Quarterly Meeting, that is unless I find a way to get from Lazy F where I need to be on
Friday night to Yakima for an interpreter training (on handling trauma issues, oddly enough) on Saturday 9/24. Chances are I will make the interest group and this is a request for input.
Awhile ago my clearness committee suggested I talk to children in our Meeting about life with vision loss. For a few different reasons I am clear that it would be better to start by talking to adults.
What would you most like to know about my experience?
What do you find bewildering about interacting with me?
What worries or observations do you have?
Is there someone else you wish I would ask
I DO NOT apologize for email. For one thing, you writing me back helps me keep track of things in a format I can search MUCH better than my notes in my ever scarier handwriting. I am happy to receive phone calls as well but another reason I like to start with email is that I am frequently awake later than many Friends and need to make effective use of my own time.
Also I am having to tell different people the same things over and over, including arguing various variations of "that could not possibly be a problem because we are so sincere, already spent so much time doing it wrong, think we understand based on..."
Some of the time this repetition is just exhausting. Some of the time I come away feeling drained the same way I feel drained when I have had to interpret for, say, a series of appointments with a trauma
survivor and an attorney, the trauma survivor getting restimulated having to relive the story once to tell it, once when the attorney has mashed my interpretation into the kinds of sentences that legal
entities understand or need to hear and I have to sight translate to check for corrections, and then the survivor has to repeat the story AGAIN in front of third parties of varying levels of awareness,
hostility, eptitude / ineptness, responsiveness... Only now it's my
story....
So I would like to get to clear messages much more widely understood and to get there as directly as possible.
Anyway, I mean it about wanting to hear Friends questions. I do not particularly promise to get to all of them in one interest group but I am happy to hold and work with them. Depending on interest, I am happy to consider doing a session at UFM either before or after the Interest Group at Quarterly Meeting.
Here is the workshop description:
Name of Interest Group:
Howling about Diminishments:
The RantWoman Guide to Midlife Vision Meltdown
Description: This interest group is devoted to everything you never
thought you wanted to know about midlife vision loss. What constitutes
“everything” will be determined by leadings of Spirit the day of the
event.
“Everything” may include accessibility measures during silent worship,
a badly-behaved white cane, favorite Bible bits, Braille, reading,
faith healing, Quakerism aboard the bus, nodding and grunting, advice
for elderly drivers, advice for those fretting about elderly drivers,
blogging, and other topics as led.There will also be time for sharing
out of silence.
Thank you for whatever observations you are led to offer.
In the Light
(RantWoman)
From Friend with Many Weighty Titles, some pointedly omitted)
Dear (RantWoman)
If I were coming to your interest group, the thing that first occurs to me is talking about body language - in committee meetings, business meeting, even worship. I think this is a really hard thing for folks to get (and remember!). Your comment in Business Meeting yesterday about nodding as a way of showing approval was very helpful and appropriate. Giving examples would be great. Would you even consider a little role playing with most folks blindfolded?
I have found your comments about kids running around to be another very
important and useful comment, since we don't think about it.
I hope you do get to give this interest group and look forward to hearing
about it.
Friend with Numerous Weighty Titles, some pointedly omitted.
Dear Friend (Numerous Weighty Friend Titles),
Thank you for your suggestions and observations.
First a process point: THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REQUIRE IMMEDIATE RESPONSE. This came in as a reply/all to everyone on my original To: list. I am aware of others' grumbles about email AND I mean to take this partly as an invitation to tell a number of people the same things at the same time and to give you the option of clicking or not clicking on the individual blog posts. That way, if I grumble about how exhausting it is to have endless one on one conversations and if you want to talk amongst yourselves, you are at least all starting from common
information.
Second, I do not particularly apologize for the length. In fact
considering the freight train of matters frying my nerves this week, I
hope you will appreciate my comparative restraint. On the other hand,
if you want to unload some more cars....
--Body language? It's not exactly body language but everything to do
with non-verbal communication. On one hand, I ask people to tell me
when I offend them because I am pretty sure I achieve that more often
than would be preferable and REALLY cannot read faces and am lost
without verbal feedback.
The other aspect of not reading faces though is in a number of
situations I have possibly misinterpreted another speaker (I need to
talk to one person in particular) or I have felt like lots of people
are inappropriately unresponsive to or show serious lack of awareness
about something emotional where some kind of acknowledgment of
difficulty or complexity would be entirely appropriate. The
illustration I have used a couple times is a bit from I think Monty
Python and the Holy Grail where everyone is seated at some kind of
wedding and some knight shows up and starts hacking off hunks of
people while the guests just keep doing whatever and do not even
react. Ask me about exact situations in person or consider whether
this perspective might shed light something you have experienced.
--At my proposed interest group I will do some of the things I do
when I run other meetings as well as a couple additional things.
--Here are a couple blog posts about my experiences in meetings.
Meeting for worship has a whole bunch of links below separately.
with some links to follow
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/06/interrupt.html
meeting for memorial, but still
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/07/agnes-schmoe.html
--A miscellaneous item about running into people, my white cane and a certain much-discussed Friend's ministry of audible eye-rolling.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/06/not-blind-that-we-know-of.html
--I do not think I want to consider role-playing at this event but given enthusiasm I hear (two other voices), I will hold in future consideration for a number of reasons:
--blindfolds are only one form of representing different non-standard visual experiences. Here are a couple blog entries about my experience specifically:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-it-yourself-eye-surgery-and-plague.html
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/12/worse-auntie-grow-your-own-lava-lamp.html
--I am nowhere near centered enough right now about a number of topics to lead a roleplay exercise. I will do well to stay centered enough to talk and do not want to think about ways of handing out
alternate vision experiences. A couple years ago, I was part of a presentation about disaster
preparedness for people with disabilities.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/04/super-duper-powerpoint-festival.html
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/04/taxed.html
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/search?q=pantyhose
Before my presentation I got to go to a really great disability simulation exercise put on by someone at the Hearing Speech and Deafness Center. I am more inclined to find a forum where someone from
outside can be invited to, say, UFM than to try it on my own.
I think I should stop here for now. If you have made it this far, thank you for reading. I am happy to talk in person or by phone--or not.
In the Light
(RantWoman)
Freight Train: One for Elijah
The Safest Sex Offender craves clarity, so a recent Business Meeting featured a 15-minute discussion about whether he gets to use the new restroom in the cloakroom or gets to traipse even further among possible opportunities to restimulate survivors using the same other restroom he has been using for years.
Bear in mind, RantWoman hears all kinds of different things from people who identify as abuse survivors: some are happy Meeting has the ministry but feel no need to participate. Others express really clear easily actionable preferences that people are not even tuned in to listen to. Still others are seriously into "everyone has issues / survivors in their lives..." RantWoman's are not the only ears in the picture but RantWoman hears not a single one expressing any need to micromanage with chaperone in tow where the Safest Sex Offender... uses the restroom.
After the same Business Meeting, RantWoman had a discussion that boiled down to an argument about whether one person with one set of survivor issues knows what's best for a committee that has clearly reported feedback in a different direction from others who also identify as survivors. Who the heck is Business Meeting, let alone one specific individual to say what others' experience has to be, to be unprepared to listen to what matters most for different individuals???
RantWoman to clerk of Oversight Committee: "You are not hearing from identified survivors about increasing participation in Meeting life by the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet but you should not assume you are not hearing from survivors about other things."
Frankly, RantWoman, speaking for herself and worse yet presuming to speak for others based on what she does hear, actually does not necessarily particularly WANT to hear every piece of survivor issues she hears, let alone think about language and spiritual practice to live with it all. In fact, RantWoman SOMETIMES would really love to handle the possibility of undiscovered survivor issues by some symbolic equivalent of leaving a chair for Elijah at Passover. The question is, can our Meeting, now today, in its current state of ongoing evolution agree on some symbols and conventions with any less trouble than it takes just to deal with...?
Bear in mind, RantWoman hears all kinds of different things from people who identify as abuse survivors: some are happy Meeting has the ministry but feel no need to participate. Others express really clear easily actionable preferences that people are not even tuned in to listen to. Still others are seriously into "everyone has issues / survivors in their lives..." RantWoman's are not the only ears in the picture but RantWoman hears not a single one expressing any need to micromanage with chaperone in tow where the Safest Sex Offender... uses the restroom.
After the same Business Meeting, RantWoman had a discussion that boiled down to an argument about whether one person with one set of survivor issues knows what's best for a committee that has clearly reported feedback in a different direction from others who also identify as survivors. Who the heck is Business Meeting, let alone one specific individual to say what others' experience has to be, to be unprepared to listen to what matters most for different individuals???
RantWoman to clerk of Oversight Committee: "You are not hearing from identified survivors about increasing participation in Meeting life by the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet but you should not assume you are not hearing from survivors about other things."
Frankly, RantWoman, speaking for herself and worse yet presuming to speak for others based on what she does hear, actually does not necessarily particularly WANT to hear every piece of survivor issues she hears, let alone think about language and spiritual practice to live with it all. In fact, RantWoman SOMETIMES would really love to handle the possibility of undiscovered survivor issues by some symbolic equivalent of leaving a chair for Elijah at Passover. The question is, can our Meeting, now today, in its current state of ongoing evolution agree on some symbols and conventions with any less trouble than it takes just to deal with...?
Friday, September 9, 2011
Adult Religious Education Guidelines
RantWoman is, among other things discerning about whether to cling to her decidedly nonvoluntary (posts still pending;stay tuned) "floating free on Grace" state or to take up the cause of Adult Religious Education committee, lately faltering due to sudden resignations of its two newly appointed co-clerks.
RantWoman is dipping her toe in realizing two sessions that were already half prepared. RantWoman is starting with basics like the guidelines currently in use.
RantWoman received the guidelines below this week from Conflict is a Gift of God Friend. RantWoman especially wants to appreciate and deeply esteem Conflict is a Gift of God Friend for his gifts creating space for God and community to flower with each other in our Meeting's Adult Religious Education sessions.
RantWoman has been dutifully studying the writings of weighty Quakers about applause and expressions of gratitude for the labors of specific Friends. RantWoman finds herself thinking of a famous old quote "Thee was favored and thee was faithful." Conflict...Friend IS gifted about fostering dialogue, those who attend are favored with the gifts of ongoing ever opening interaction, and all are faithful for the realization of these gifts in discussion at Adult Ed.
RantWoman for once thought to ask for permission to post in her blog. Conflict...Friend said the document has already been widely distributed, though he also expressed a wish that RantWoman would edit or excerpt and perhaps include essay reflections on study and learning. RantWoman is clear that the internet needs the document as is, as a specimen of guidelines for such sessions. RantWoman has also lately been being true to her Light / plainly Getting in People's faces about the issue of accessible to RantWoman independently and wants to cover her bases about info channels. There are HOURS of painful conversations involved in this being true to one's Light / evoking learning in one's Meeting activity but that is another post entirely. Editing or excerpting is also presently beyond RantWoman's Light.
Upon a fast reread, RantWoman is led to reflect also on how this document might be received by, say, a state legislator invited to discuss tax policy. RantWoman finds in this thought yet another reason for now to preserve the document as is for first pass in her blog.
BY way of a small additional increment of reflection on study and learning, RantWoman does not have cable and needs cheap ways to engage with the quest for Truth. RantWoman also is a choir director's kid, so about 5 hours / week, not counting bus travel, engaged specifically in religious community activities does not seem too much to RantWoman, even ON TOP of personal study and reflection. Apparently many in RantWoman's Meeting balance their time differently to the point of wanting to spend only an hour or two on religious community activities outside Meeting for Worship. RantWoman is posting this mainly as a point for reflection!
Guidelines for presenters for Adult Education sessions
at University Friends Meeting
We appreciate your willingness to lead a session of our program. Whatever your subject, we ask that you stay within the following guidelines for spiritual education:
A. Worship discussion:
All sessions are a Quaker process called “Worship-discussion”; it is a conversation that arises out of silent worship, under the Spirit, and is based on deep listening. We ask that you limit the total of any presentation you offer to about 30 minutes (whether all in one stream or in bits interspersed throughout the hour); we allow for question¬ing and various opinions/experiences, but it is not debate. Your answers are separate from the presen¬ta¬tion. The session ends with silent reflexion, at least 3 minutes or more. If you prefer, a member of Ad. Rel. Ed. Committee will introduce you and monitor time.
i. the religious/spiritual approach: We are Seekers of Truth, Children of the Light, not interested in dogma; we hold things in the Light together, look at them, discern and learn
ii. “authority”: The Great Mystery, the Creator, Eternal Spirit of Life and Love, the Holy One, The Light –whatever name you use-- is the only final authority; we humans understand through our filters, so many approaches are right if they lead us toward God. We expect you to respect the great diversity of theolo¬gi¬cal expression in our Meeting as well as differing spiritual needs. We will try to respect your way of expressing your experience.
iii. dialog: always allow time for questions and accept others’ opinions and insights – it’s best to leave a short silence between speakers. You may ask someone to moderate for you.
B. Adult education principles
Education for adults is not “study” in the traditional sense: it eschews lecture and pro¬blem/ correct answer approaches. It may include practice of skills but prefers Socratic reasoning processes, narrative and shar¬ing of personal experience (feelings, thoughts as well as events), but is not traditional “teaching”.
i. applicability, “reality”: Learner must see some relation to one’s own life, have some response that uses the learning
ii. student-centered: program exists for the learner, not for the speaker’s ego or pet hypothe¬ses; follows group’s interests rather than presenter’s.
iii. practical vs. theoretical: no “angels on the head of pins” or “pie-in-the-sky by-and-by”; not what might have happened (or even what should have happened) but what did happen, what is going on, what can we do differently?
C. Quaker guidelines
i. Any subject may be held in the Light: we seek those aspects that unite all human expe¬ri¬ence and celebrate each one’s sacred value and uniqueness; we “meet in that which is Eternal.”
ii. There is more concern with the why/what-for than the who or which
iii. We value that which leads to harmony & love, peace, equality, integrity, simplicity, community; and challenge that which leads away from these values. The beginning point of all Quaker theology is that “there is that of God in every person.”
For 2010-11 we are trying to tie every program to Integrity: how can we walk our talk?
RantWoman is dipping her toe in realizing two sessions that were already half prepared. RantWoman is starting with basics like the guidelines currently in use.
RantWoman received the guidelines below this week from Conflict is a Gift of God Friend. RantWoman especially wants to appreciate and deeply esteem Conflict is a Gift of God Friend for his gifts creating space for God and community to flower with each other in our Meeting's Adult Religious Education sessions.
RantWoman has been dutifully studying the writings of weighty Quakers about applause and expressions of gratitude for the labors of specific Friends. RantWoman finds herself thinking of a famous old quote "Thee was favored and thee was faithful." Conflict...Friend IS gifted about fostering dialogue, those who attend are favored with the gifts of ongoing ever opening interaction, and all are faithful for the realization of these gifts in discussion at Adult Ed.
RantWoman for once thought to ask for permission to post in her blog. Conflict...Friend said the document has already been widely distributed, though he also expressed a wish that RantWoman would edit or excerpt and perhaps include essay reflections on study and learning. RantWoman is clear that the internet needs the document as is, as a specimen of guidelines for such sessions. RantWoman has also lately been being true to her Light / plainly Getting in People's faces about the issue of accessible to RantWoman independently and wants to cover her bases about info channels. There are HOURS of painful conversations involved in this being true to one's Light / evoking learning in one's Meeting activity but that is another post entirely. Editing or excerpting is also presently beyond RantWoman's Light.
Upon a fast reread, RantWoman is led to reflect also on how this document might be received by, say, a state legislator invited to discuss tax policy. RantWoman finds in this thought yet another reason for now to preserve the document as is for first pass in her blog.
BY way of a small additional increment of reflection on study and learning, RantWoman does not have cable and needs cheap ways to engage with the quest for Truth. RantWoman also is a choir director's kid, so about 5 hours / week, not counting bus travel, engaged specifically in religious community activities does not seem too much to RantWoman, even ON TOP of personal study and reflection. Apparently many in RantWoman's Meeting balance their time differently to the point of wanting to spend only an hour or two on religious community activities outside Meeting for Worship. RantWoman is posting this mainly as a point for reflection!
Guidelines for presenters for Adult Education sessions
at University Friends Meeting
We appreciate your willingness to lead a session of our program. Whatever your subject, we ask that you stay within the following guidelines for spiritual education:
A. Worship discussion:
All sessions are a Quaker process called “Worship-discussion”; it is a conversation that arises out of silent worship, under the Spirit, and is based on deep listening. We ask that you limit the total of any presentation you offer to about 30 minutes (whether all in one stream or in bits interspersed throughout the hour); we allow for question¬ing and various opinions/experiences, but it is not debate. Your answers are separate from the presen¬ta¬tion. The session ends with silent reflexion, at least 3 minutes or more. If you prefer, a member of Ad. Rel. Ed. Committee will introduce you and monitor time.
i. the religious/spiritual approach: We are Seekers of Truth, Children of the Light, not interested in dogma; we hold things in the Light together, look at them, discern and learn
ii. “authority”: The Great Mystery, the Creator, Eternal Spirit of Life and Love, the Holy One, The Light –whatever name you use-- is the only final authority; we humans understand through our filters, so many approaches are right if they lead us toward God. We expect you to respect the great diversity of theolo¬gi¬cal expression in our Meeting as well as differing spiritual needs. We will try to respect your way of expressing your experience.
iii. dialog: always allow time for questions and accept others’ opinions and insights – it’s best to leave a short silence between speakers. You may ask someone to moderate for you.
B. Adult education principles
Education for adults is not “study” in the traditional sense: it eschews lecture and pro¬blem/ correct answer approaches. It may include practice of skills but prefers Socratic reasoning processes, narrative and shar¬ing of personal experience (feelings, thoughts as well as events), but is not traditional “teaching”.
i. applicability, “reality”: Learner must see some relation to one’s own life, have some response that uses the learning
ii. student-centered: program exists for the learner, not for the speaker’s ego or pet hypothe¬ses; follows group’s interests rather than presenter’s.
iii. practical vs. theoretical: no “angels on the head of pins” or “pie-in-the-sky by-and-by”; not what might have happened (or even what should have happened) but what did happen, what is going on, what can we do differently?
C. Quaker guidelines
i. Any subject may be held in the Light: we seek those aspects that unite all human expe¬ri¬ence and celebrate each one’s sacred value and uniqueness; we “meet in that which is Eternal.”
ii. There is more concern with the why/what-for than the who or which
iii. We value that which leads to harmony & love, peace, equality, integrity, simplicity, community; and challenge that which leads away from these values. The beginning point of all Quaker theology is that “there is that of God in every person.”
For 2010-11 we are trying to tie every program to Integrity: how can we walk our talk?
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