October 31 Disabilities Awareness Item: Scary enough for the whole month

Dear Friends

Happy Halloween. I have numerous scary topics on my mind . I am going to start with some whines and a couple Halloween blog entries.

My laptop and my monitor are doing weird things as far as video. Editing with only a screen reader, excuse me, SUCKS. Okay, I know thousands of centered well-adjusted much blinder people do it all the time, but…. Luckily at last the monitor has decided to do it’s daily mess around through several cycles of power on and off until stable display results. Possible issues include failing components and video controller issues if I have my accessibility software installed wrong. So if Friends can hold my technology and paths to the wherewithal to update… in the Light. If Friends really cannot get through the day without more technological esoterica, I am happy to share further.

Update: visited another computer where the monitor works and the blue screen of death was at one point an improvement. Not necessarily reassuring to know that everyone in town is having some of the same issues with the newest upgrades. Grrrrr.

Speaking of seeing scary things, please hold my nephew in the Light. His school bus was going by as a bad incident involving a bridge or overpass happened last week. I think I saw a headline but did not click and read. My sister said my nephew saw a whole bunch of details I am not going to repeat, more than the kids in the other school bus who also saw the event. The kids who saw things got asked not to talk about it to the other kids at school which seems reasonable but my sister was complaining that the kids who did see things did not get to talk to a counselor right away. So please just hold the whole thing in the Light.

A scary technology headline:
http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/index.html?ID=6661
The scary part for me is the headline: speech recognition software tends not to work well with people who have non-standard speech patterns as many hearing impaired people do. I had to read the article to see itis the doctors who are using the software which actually sounds kind of ingenious.


The blogroll does Halloween:
http://sillypoorgospel.blogspot.com/2011/10/christian-view-of-halloween-repeat.html
http://blog.sojo.net/2011/10/28/halloween-and-jesus-a-reconciliation-in-the-dark/

A fast way to respond to this year’s query from Pagan Ministry Friend about whose deaths one has noticed from my blog:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/search/label/Memorials  .
Names that stand out are Lara harding, Agnes Schmoe from Eastside and
Amy Trice, former tribal chief of the Kootenai tribe. Read obist
yourself if you feel led. The other two have the names in the titles; here is the item about Lara.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/05/shame-vulnerability-courage-fertilizer.html

My ramble of last year.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/10/reformation-and-chocolate-eyeballs.html
This post was about the time of Pagan Ministry Friend's Samhain post which drew a letter to the editor in Western Friend. One funny follow up: I saw the editor of Western Friend, last summer at Annual session and the subject of the letter and my response came up. Friend Editor said that the author of the original letter posted something from one of the blogs I mentioned in my response on Facebook. I probably would never have known about the FB post unless Friend Editor told me because I just interact in a pretty limited way with Facebook. But I was glad to hear my suggestion spoke to the other Friend’s condition.

One part of Facebook I do interact with is the Association of Bad Friends. The Association of Bad Friends exists to encourage Quakers to poke fun at ourselves. Unfortunately most of the Bad Friends who post regularly are so earnest and serious that we cannot help frequently straying into serious topics. For instance, recently in some kind of exchange that started out about appalling things people do in Meeting for Worship, Pagan Ministry Friend mentioned how much our Meeting’s support of her ministry means. I am glad she feels well supported.

At the Association of Bad Friends one is only allowed to nominate
oneself for Quaker roles, not anyone else, even though as Bad Friends
we may be quite certain someone else deserves nominations. I used to
be clerk of the Committee on Doing Sudoku in Meeting for Worship
committee. I had to lay down that ministry but now one of the roles I
am seasoning is the Still Didn’t Get the Memo Committee on Email
Immoderation. I am unclear how I am going to be led about further
emanations. I am probably not up to the daily pace but I would still
be happy to receive Friends’ comments or further inquiries.

I am VERY clear there are a number of topics that still need further
conversation and I am unclear how I am called to proceed. I am
specifically seasoning what more needs to be said and where about a
number of scary topics, including what feel to me like contradictions
in my own thinking. Thoughts?

For instance, I complained a lot in June about it feeling like a lot
of people spent a lot of time talking ABOUT me and a lot less time
talking TO me. So then I decide I cannot deal with endless one on one
conversations. I decide to seed the conversation and tell you all to
talk amongst yourselves. At this point, I am inclined to collect
Friends questions or maybe have someone else, such as my clearness
committee collect Friends’ questions and then try to answer many
questions at once.

I told the young woman who called me about interpreting as a career
not to be afraid to contract out the parts of her work that she is not
good at. I think I did not make enough of teamwork too. On the other
hand, I have multiple gripes about points that feel to me like people
passing the buck. What does it mean to anyone else that we are all
ministers of God? What does it mean as far as specific people being
called to specific service?

(Here RantWoman intervened and is still seasoning a substantial tirade, a tirade which even by the RantWoman School of Tact and Diplomacy standards is TOO MUCH just now for the blogosphere. Hold centered discernment, seasoning,.... in the Light.


In the Light

(RantWoman)

PS: Here is another item about sex trafficking, just to toss in another scary topic.
http://blog.sojo.net/2011/10/26/lawyers-surreal-world-and-the-fight-against-selling-children/