Time is upon us for generating our Meeting's annual State of Society report. Unfortunately, dyspeptic dissension has broken out among our ranks of Quaker epistle writers and a horde of bedbugs has managed a divide and conquer takeover of the process. This is a first draft of their effort. PLEASE note: this is a DRAFT. RantWoman is pretty certain that her Meeting's official bonafide State of the Meeting report will have almost nothing in common with this offering. RantWoman is also unsure to what she should attribute her unusual capacity to commune with the co-authors. As with any translation, RantWoman supposes it is only sporting to acknowledge possible responsibility for all errors in transmission and transcription.
(RantWoman aside: The entire Puget Sound region has been overtaken by a veritable Biblical plague of bedbugs or at least the need to talk about bedbugs. RantWoman spends a lot of time outside her Meeting talking about Bedbugs. RantWoman finds a certain testimony on equality / single standard of Truth integrity about this reality. RantWoman's Meeting, like many places in our fair city has been spending A LOT of time talking about and dealing with bedbugs.
RantWoman notes two points: First, the difference between faith communities who house SHARE shelters AND have bedbugs as compared to houses of worship with SHARE shelters who do not have bedbugs seems to boil down to whether or not the church has bathing and washing facilities. Our Meeting is among the churches who DO have bedbugs and do NOT have bathing / washing facilities. The professional bedbug wranglers also regularly remind us, our Meeting also has, basically, bedbug high-rises in the form of carpeted acoustic tile on our walls to enhance our silence. Second, the year-long battle of the bedbug has included regular detection and elimination efforts. RantWoman is unsure whether anyone in Meeting has actually been munched on by bedbugs. But if they had...)
To all Friends Everywhere.
Warm greetings from soggy Seattle. We hope this epistle finds Friends and Bedbugs alike firm in the Light, aglow in the searching Light of God.
We the bedbugs at University Friends Meeting have endured a year of being snurfled at by That Dog, alternately blasted out of bedding with high heat and gassed with vile poison, but we have stood firm in the Lord / Holy Spirit / Eternal Light. Out of gratitude, we have taken it upon ourselves to inform the world as to the State of Society, at least in our vicinity.
This year featured much spirit-centered discussion of stewardship. The Remodel Committee has finished the remodel of the Meetinghouse. Members of Meeting think it looks wonderful. We miss having all the extra contractors around to chew on.
We especially wish to thank Oversight committee and the sex offenders of our community for ensuring that the Meetinghouse is filled with warm bodies attending a threshing session, a Q&A, a presentation by someone from the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, and lots of business meetings. Sex offender discussions fill everyone with stress hormones even when there are powerful stories and important awareness. This is not necessarily our favorite flavor of the month but we guess it's better for the community as a whole to try to share the burdens. We appreciate how the general conversation MOST of the time moderates truly stratospheric levels of stress hormones that we find sometimes when we much into isolated individuals.
We also find the stress hormones preferable to the hunger enzymes people were emitting in the months of May, June, August, October, January, February, and April. Those months featured the zillionth, zillion-first and so on discussions of RantWoman and Worship and Ministry Committee. RantWoman and her Meeting most assuredly are NOT getting each other's memos right now. We wish we could tell the difference between worship and ministry with RantWoman and Worship and Ministry without RantWoman but sooner or later we get lunch either way.
We have been in extensive negotiations with Finance Committee. Finance Committee peculiarly thinks we should pay rent. We are budget-conscious bedbugs of modest means, with nowhere near the cash swirling around us that some of those tony bedbugs at the big hotels downtown have.
Peace and Social Concerns held a retreat and work party devoted to Equality in November. To be honest, we find it easier to find lunch when everyone is all crammed into close quarters. If the dining is good with the 99% who cares about the 1% who get away? We also increased our numbers because of Friends' visits to the Occupy Seattle camp, but we thank Peace and Social Concerns for blessing us all with a Minute for the occasion.
Personnel Committee is really not our favorites just now. For some reason they think we should just leave the staff ALONE. We believe in that of Lunch in everyone.
Education Committee is proud to have a decent number of children afoot. People tend to get kind of upset when we nibble on children: we even had to kick a few bugs out over the problem! But more children guarantees more adults, just having a good number of kids around keeps the adults tastier.
Adult Religious Education committee held its annual Dark Time of the Year interaction with Death and Dying. Frankly we are bedbugs, not maggots. We need to drink from living waters and we are very glad to let the maggots handle Death.
We thank Friends very much for the boxing day meet and greet during all the severe weather over the Christmas holidays. We really appreciate more time with all our tasty hosts.
We were also honored to be able to donate fiber materials to the annual vision collage-making on New Years Day.
The bunch that were reading Barclay's Apology finally reached their goalposts in August. Barclay flavored hosts just were not doing it for us; we are reserving judgment about how John Woolman's journal is going to affect the tastes of the new bunch.
In February many of us gratefully attended the New Bedbugs Potluck. Some of us also piled into the cars headed down to Olympia for Quaker Lobby Day. We thank the Friends Committee for WA Public Policy for opportunities to develop personal relationships with the people who represent districts Friends live in.
In March we helped Arts Committee stage a Bedbug Revue. We did a lot of song and dance and were joined by other performers for a hoedown to benefit homeless bedbugs.
In April we held a rousing send-off for Friends travelling to the World Gathering of Friends in Kenya. We particularly gave the travellers a travelling minute we hope they will present to any sister and brother bedbugs they meet in the course of their travels.
Again warm good wishes to all. May God bless and keep you throughout the coming year--even if you insist on speaking of Him / Her / ... in some other terms.
In the Light,
The Bedbugs of UFM.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Black History Month, belatedly
RantWoman's efforts this year to observe Black History Month:
--Put oneself in the way of good information streams. Okay, RantWoman does not get to read nearly as much of anything as she might want, but she at least makes efforts to ensure that what she actually does read includes diverse perspectives.
One thing she tripped over: http://newsone.com/ Breaking news for Black America
Diversity Inc. Okay, the race of the writers is unknown, but...
http://diversityinc.com/diversity-facts/black-history-month-facts-figures/?mgs1=e08a6XH74x
--Speak up. RantWoman is involved in a couple public participation efforts where the faces close to the decisions are a lot paler than the faces of the people affected by the decisions. RantWoman regularly points this out, especially when questions arise of recruiting new members.
--Dialogue with RantMom. Perhaps enough said.
RantWoman would like more meaty, incisive content to post here, but this is what she has.
--Put oneself in the way of good information streams. Okay, RantWoman does not get to read nearly as much of anything as she might want, but she at least makes efforts to ensure that what she actually does read includes diverse perspectives.
One thing she tripped over: http://newsone.com/ Breaking news for Black America
Diversity Inc. Okay, the race of the writers is unknown, but...
http://diversityinc.com/diversity-facts/black-history-month-facts-figures/?mgs1=e08a6XH74x
--Speak up. RantWoman is involved in a couple public participation efforts where the faces close to the decisions are a lot paler than the faces of the people affected by the decisions. RantWoman regularly points this out, especially when questions arise of recruiting new members.
--Dialogue with RantMom. Perhaps enough said.
RantWoman would like more meaty, incisive content to post here, but this is what she has.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Enter a valid occupation
RantWoman's mental to-do list for today:
--Have morning accessibility tirade. RantWoman clings to a single standard of Truth. RantWoman wants massmarket regular updates of widely-used and frequently updated software to be accessible with only average measures. RantWoman thinks she should not have to stand on her head, find a bunch of extra links, and twitch her nose in time to the Man or Muppet sogn just to update software. Instead RantWoman got to send off a tirade. One of the perks of knowing and collaborating with RantWoman is to be in the path of such tirades and requests to forward them to appropriate people.
--RantWoman is reading the next chapters of John Woolman's journal in preparation for the monthly meeting of our reading group. RantWoman is imagining traveling in the ministry before the existence of I-95 and the never-ending East coast megalopolis. RantWoman also registered reflectively Woolman's comments about trying to keep his trade simple to spend more time in service to God.
RantWoman is deeply impressed by Woolman's accounts of every time he labors with Friends about things to do with slavery. RantWoman is currently and unabashedly in OUCH mode on her own behalf about some areas of unceasing ignorance and insensitivity. RantWoman wonders how anyone could possibly be centered enough to do that much laboring one on one. Frankly, some problems do not wait around for help but RantWoman would SO like help to coalesce.... RantWoman is also meditating about how the Presbyterians Woolman preached at could possibly find Quaker practice more appealing than whatever "vanities" they were afflicted with.
--RantWoman is preparing another increment of offering to her online Salt and Light study group, something to do with the Kingdom of heaven on earth. RantWoman is meditating about being both salt and light at the same time, matters of vision, blindness, and severely muddled visual inputs. There is something taking shape about a new birth every day and about eveyone's individual experience of God despite impediments or barriers. RantWoman is also meditating about the discipline of drawing this all into a second language and how to pare down to the essence.
--RantWoman is meditating about work, retirement, making a difference in people's lives, dreams of actually getting paid for work she does and of there not being a line between her Quaker-ness and how she earns her Keep.
RantWoman realizes she is stumbling around in tough territory, different tough territory from a Friend or two or more trying to make it to retirement so they can "do Quaker things full time." (Huh? What is not Quakerly about honest work?) Much as RantWoman would really LIKE the right paid work, the large number of barriers RantWoman faces, the sluggish job market, discrimination based on age and disability, and endless temperamental excesses are a decidedly mixed blessing: RantWoman has time to do a lot of what she does exactly because of all her barriers and economic instability. RantWoman unquestionably might manage a big more forebearance of others' positions in this dance. More forebearance would be desirable, but this is RantWoman, so NO PROMISES.
--RantWoman is meditating about the young adult Naked Quakers and their quest for Transformation, spirit-centered presence.
http://www.clotheyourselfinrighteousness.com/modern-quakers-and-clothing/
http://maphead.blogspot.com/2012/02/nakedness.html
RantWoman was not raised Quaker. RantWoman came to Quakers from knowing Quakers in other circles and gradually being drawn in by example and practice in several spheres of her life. So, gushing by somewhat older Friends about renewal notwithstanding, RantWoman would heartily encourage the Naked Quakers to think about what about their ideas of transformation might speak to the condition of and draw in their age group peers.
Also, RantWoman wants to encourage both dialogue about what privilege means and actual feet on the ground walking with / living alongside the lives of people whose experience of others' privilege is probably a good deal more visceral.
RantWoman's inspiration for the title of this post:
http://bloggerbyconvincement.blogspot.com/2012/02/job-of-writer.html
Yet more on silence which is not, thankfully, the same as silencing, about which posts most assuredly seething:
http://glassdimly.com/blog/god/awakening-stillness-and-sleep-information
--Have morning accessibility tirade. RantWoman clings to a single standard of Truth. RantWoman wants massmarket regular updates of widely-used and frequently updated software to be accessible with only average measures. RantWoman thinks she should not have to stand on her head, find a bunch of extra links, and twitch her nose in time to the Man or Muppet sogn just to update software. Instead RantWoman got to send off a tirade. One of the perks of knowing and collaborating with RantWoman is to be in the path of such tirades and requests to forward them to appropriate people.
--RantWoman is reading the next chapters of John Woolman's journal in preparation for the monthly meeting of our reading group. RantWoman is imagining traveling in the ministry before the existence of I-95 and the never-ending East coast megalopolis. RantWoman also registered reflectively Woolman's comments about trying to keep his trade simple to spend more time in service to God.
RantWoman is deeply impressed by Woolman's accounts of every time he labors with Friends about things to do with slavery. RantWoman is currently and unabashedly in OUCH mode on her own behalf about some areas of unceasing ignorance and insensitivity. RantWoman wonders how anyone could possibly be centered enough to do that much laboring one on one. Frankly, some problems do not wait around for help but RantWoman would SO like help to coalesce.... RantWoman is also meditating about how the Presbyterians Woolman preached at could possibly find Quaker practice more appealing than whatever "vanities" they were afflicted with.
--RantWoman is preparing another increment of offering to her online Salt and Light study group, something to do with the Kingdom of heaven on earth. RantWoman is meditating about being both salt and light at the same time, matters of vision, blindness, and severely muddled visual inputs. There is something taking shape about a new birth every day and about eveyone's individual experience of God despite impediments or barriers. RantWoman is also meditating about the discipline of drawing this all into a second language and how to pare down to the essence.
--RantWoman is meditating about work, retirement, making a difference in people's lives, dreams of actually getting paid for work she does and of there not being a line between her Quaker-ness and how she earns her Keep.
RantWoman realizes she is stumbling around in tough territory, different tough territory from a Friend or two or more trying to make it to retirement so they can "do Quaker things full time." (Huh? What is not Quakerly about honest work?) Much as RantWoman would really LIKE the right paid work, the large number of barriers RantWoman faces, the sluggish job market, discrimination based on age and disability, and endless temperamental excesses are a decidedly mixed blessing: RantWoman has time to do a lot of what she does exactly because of all her barriers and economic instability. RantWoman unquestionably might manage a big more forebearance of others' positions in this dance. More forebearance would be desirable, but this is RantWoman, so NO PROMISES.
--RantWoman is meditating about the young adult Naked Quakers and their quest for Transformation, spirit-centered presence.
http://www.clotheyourselfinrighteousness.com/modern-quakers-and-clothing/
http://maphead.blogspot.com/2012/02/nakedness.html
RantWoman was not raised Quaker. RantWoman came to Quakers from knowing Quakers in other circles and gradually being drawn in by example and practice in several spheres of her life. So, gushing by somewhat older Friends about renewal notwithstanding, RantWoman would heartily encourage the Naked Quakers to think about what about their ideas of transformation might speak to the condition of and draw in their age group peers.
Also, RantWoman wants to encourage both dialogue about what privilege means and actual feet on the ground walking with / living alongside the lives of people whose experience of others' privilege is probably a good deal more visceral.
RantWoman's inspiration for the title of this post:
http://bloggerbyconvincement.blogspot.com/2012/02/job-of-writer.html
Yet more on silence which is not, thankfully, the same as silencing, about which posts most assuredly seething:
http://glassdimly.com/blog/god/awakening-stillness-and-sleep-information
Friday, February 24, 2012
Giving up trying to give things up
From the Upper Room, RantMom's preferred devotional stream, for today:
Dear God,
Help us to encourage others to be part of the family of Christ by our living example.
OH DEAR. The Rant Family? The Family of Christ? A living Example? OH DEAR!
Here is the snippet of the day from Our Daily Bread, about an ordinary guy bearing witness without miracles:
http://odb.org/2012/02/22/an-ordinary-guy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+odb%2Ffeed+%28Our+Daily+Bread%29
Giving things up for Lent has never really been part of RantWoman's spiritual practice. RantWoman is unclear why this custom was never much part of Rant Family practice. RantWoman realizes she should have attended to questions of what to give up days ago. That would mean RantWoman giving up procrastination. Uhhhh....
RantWoman lately has been reflecting on someone she knew in college. This administrator had gone to school in different countries at key points during her education. As a result, she did algebra in one language and trigonometry in another language. RantWoman spends a lot of her life on the frontiers between different streams of language, literally different idioms as well as the varying argot used by different professions and fields. RantWoman is acutely conscious that a torrent of thoughts keep welling up cast in the Feminazi Bitch subdialect. MOST of the time RantWoman manages either to season her comments, sometimes for months, or to filter them into sensible Quakerese. But RantWoman COULD give up trying to fine-tune her Feminazi < > Quakerese filter for Lent. Uhhhh....
RantWoman will be content with ashes from
http://gatheringinlight.com/2012/02/24/a-pile-of-ash/
God willing, RantWoman MIGHT even find things to free herself from...
Dear God,
Help us to encourage others to be part of the family of Christ by our living example.
OH DEAR. The Rant Family? The Family of Christ? A living Example? OH DEAR!
Here is the snippet of the day from Our Daily Bread, about an ordinary guy bearing witness without miracles:
http://odb.org/2012/02/22/an-ordinary-guy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+odb%2Ffeed+%28Our+Daily+Bread%29
Giving things up for Lent has never really been part of RantWoman's spiritual practice. RantWoman is unclear why this custom was never much part of Rant Family practice. RantWoman realizes she should have attended to questions of what to give up days ago. That would mean RantWoman giving up procrastination. Uhhhh....
RantWoman lately has been reflecting on someone she knew in college. This administrator had gone to school in different countries at key points during her education. As a result, she did algebra in one language and trigonometry in another language. RantWoman spends a lot of her life on the frontiers between different streams of language, literally different idioms as well as the varying argot used by different professions and fields. RantWoman is acutely conscious that a torrent of thoughts keep welling up cast in the Feminazi Bitch subdialect. MOST of the time RantWoman manages either to season her comments, sometimes for months, or to filter them into sensible Quakerese. But RantWoman COULD give up trying to fine-tune her Feminazi < > Quakerese filter for Lent. Uhhhh....
RantWoman will be content with ashes from
http://gatheringinlight.com/2012/02/24/a-pile-of-ash/
God willing, RantWoman MIGHT even find things to free herself from...
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Naked, or else Bright Red Acrylic Baseball Socks with Brand Logos Mid-Calf
RantWoman is thrilled. RantWoman just returned from her near-daily ritual paying obeisance or at least compostible kitchen waste to her building's newly installed Yard Waste bins. RantWoman opened up her browser and learned that this getting naked thing is now trendy among younger Quakers. TRENDY? RantWoman has only been doing spiritual striptease in great untidy rambles all over the internet for oh.... RantWoman did not know she was going to be TRENDY. RantWoman is not sure how she feels about the trendy part, but she has definite opinions about clothing:
The state of RantWoman's soul is such that RantWoman should start with what she knows experimentally:
Part of RantWoman's choice of clothing has to do with submission to the laws of physics, a look known around her Meeting and sometimes otherwise as "DayGlo Friend." RantWoman is among many in her Meeting who get about primarily by foot, bicycle or public transit even at times of the year when daylight is short, darkness and rain are long. Popular clothing options for this look include outerwear and bicycle gear in dayglo yellow or sometimes lime green. RantWoman aspires to Dayglo outerwear but in the meantime has all sorts of coats, bags, purses festooned with various kinds of reflective tape and home-made reflective tags.
RantWoman finds it terribly gratifying when bus drivers and sometimes other fans of reflectivity intone the walkability equivalent of a respectful "Preach it Sister" in appreciation of RantWoman's reflectivity measures. RantWoman also feels kinship at public events with other participants carrying all their possessions on their backs: sometimes this very fact gives them instant credibility!
RantWoman sometimes finds it incredibly easy to blame the laws of physics for her near-total inability to maintain even modest grasp on sartorial standards related to collars and facings:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/10/window-into-fashion-bloggery.html
Let us now turn to hat honor. RantWoman needs her hats to keep her brain cells in and excess light out. Unfortunately, RantWoman from time to time is called to be in places such as government offices where hats are frowned upon. RantWoman wishes she were preacher enough to educate people about hat honor, but RantWoman is really grateful instead to have the option of the ADA and the phrase "reasonable accommodations."
RantWoman has still more clothing vexations, this time of an interpersonal sort. RantWoman's Valentine's day trial: Red Acrylic Baseball Socks, with Brand Logos.
RantWoman is beset by people including RantMom and Call Me Up and I Will Figure It Out For You Friend who are distressed by the state of RantWoman's socks. RantWoman does not dispute the issue of big holes in both toes and heels for a high percentage of her pairs. RantWoman does disagree that the problem is yet the worst problem of the day. The ankle compression RantWoman needs still works. No one commenting on the state of RantWoman's socks is offering RantWoman a JOB to pay for new socks. So everyone gets to COPE.
RantWoman needs light compression. RantWoman favors 100% cotton socks. Quaker Plain reigns: the website offers RantWoman's preferred socks in a rich selection of hues: navy, black, white. After RantMom opined with particular certainty about RantWoman's socks one day before Christmas, RantWoman emailed RantMom a link saying "This is what I Like. This is what I need. (So DO NOT freaking waste your time and money on something else and then expect me to be GRATEFUL!)"
RantMom does not believe in the God as personal butler model of divine presence. RantMom believes in "this is what God delivers; you will cope!" RantMom believes in that of God three pairs (1 red, 2 navy) of 100% acrylic baseball socks from some neighborhood sports supply store full of thumpy music and needs the gym clerks. RantMom thinks if she tells the kid there is cotton in the socks, magically there will be cotton in the socks. RantWoman suspects RantMom STILL believes this even after RantWoman sent RantMom an email saying basically, "people do this kind of crap, misrepresenting keep points like the fiber content, to blind people ALL THE TIME. Please DO NOT ever do it again!"
And you know what? RantWoman decided she needed red socks for Valentine's Day. RantWoman decided her skin probably will not completely crawl away for just one day in acrylic. RantWoman even decided she can put up with annoying brand logos all over her calves. Happy Valentine's Day Mom!
The state of RantWoman's soul is such that RantWoman should start with what she knows experimentally:
Part of RantWoman's choice of clothing has to do with submission to the laws of physics, a look known around her Meeting and sometimes otherwise as "DayGlo Friend." RantWoman is among many in her Meeting who get about primarily by foot, bicycle or public transit even at times of the year when daylight is short, darkness and rain are long. Popular clothing options for this look include outerwear and bicycle gear in dayglo yellow or sometimes lime green. RantWoman aspires to Dayglo outerwear but in the meantime has all sorts of coats, bags, purses festooned with various kinds of reflective tape and home-made reflective tags.
RantWoman finds it terribly gratifying when bus drivers and sometimes other fans of reflectivity intone the walkability equivalent of a respectful "Preach it Sister" in appreciation of RantWoman's reflectivity measures. RantWoman also feels kinship at public events with other participants carrying all their possessions on their backs: sometimes this very fact gives them instant credibility!
RantWoman sometimes finds it incredibly easy to blame the laws of physics for her near-total inability to maintain even modest grasp on sartorial standards related to collars and facings:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/10/window-into-fashion-bloggery.html
Let us now turn to hat honor. RantWoman needs her hats to keep her brain cells in and excess light out. Unfortunately, RantWoman from time to time is called to be in places such as government offices where hats are frowned upon. RantWoman wishes she were preacher enough to educate people about hat honor, but RantWoman is really grateful instead to have the option of the ADA and the phrase "reasonable accommodations."
RantWoman has still more clothing vexations, this time of an interpersonal sort. RantWoman's Valentine's day trial: Red Acrylic Baseball Socks, with Brand Logos.
RantWoman is beset by people including RantMom and Call Me Up and I Will Figure It Out For You Friend who are distressed by the state of RantWoman's socks. RantWoman does not dispute the issue of big holes in both toes and heels for a high percentage of her pairs. RantWoman does disagree that the problem is yet the worst problem of the day. The ankle compression RantWoman needs still works. No one commenting on the state of RantWoman's socks is offering RantWoman a JOB to pay for new socks. So everyone gets to COPE.
RantWoman needs light compression. RantWoman favors 100% cotton socks. Quaker Plain reigns: the website offers RantWoman's preferred socks in a rich selection of hues: navy, black, white. After RantMom opined with particular certainty about RantWoman's socks one day before Christmas, RantWoman emailed RantMom a link saying "This is what I Like. This is what I need. (So DO NOT freaking waste your time and money on something else and then expect me to be GRATEFUL!)"
RantMom does not believe in the God as personal butler model of divine presence. RantMom believes in "this is what God delivers; you will cope!" RantMom believes in that of God three pairs (1 red, 2 navy) of 100% acrylic baseball socks from some neighborhood sports supply store full of thumpy music and needs the gym clerks. RantMom thinks if she tells the kid there is cotton in the socks, magically there will be cotton in the socks. RantWoman suspects RantMom STILL believes this even after RantWoman sent RantMom an email saying basically, "people do this kind of crap, misrepresenting keep points like the fiber content, to blind people ALL THE TIME. Please DO NOT ever do it again!"
And you know what? RantWoman decided she needed red socks for Valentine's Day. RantWoman decided her skin probably will not completely crawl away for just one day in acrylic. RantWoman even decided she can put up with annoying brand logos all over her calves. Happy Valentine's Day Mom!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
To Come to Worship Like Everyone Else
The Friend with the Remarkable Story gave vocal ministry a few weeks ago. He said every day before going to bed he thinks about three things:
--something he is grateful for
--something he has received from others
--something he has given others.
RantWoman has to admire his clarity and simplicity.
RantWoman recently attended a question and answer session with Mr. and Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story. The event was advertised publicly in two Friends Meetings. On that basis alone, RantWoman is clear to write of it. RantWoman notes that her Meeting in the person mainly of a few committed people has been walking with the Friend with a Remarkable Story for a long time. The Friend with a Remarkable Story has introduced himself and a thumbnail of his remarkable story several times in Meeting for Worship and otherwise. RantWoman has identified herself several times as someone who knows the Friend with the Remarkable Story from the Monroe Worship Group and has offered to answer questions but has heard none.
RantWoman thinks now the Friend with a Remarkable Story is entering a new phase of life. The Friend with a Remarkable Story has no choice about some forms of public presence. RantWoman is unclear that others in her Meeting even have any inclination to interact with the story. RantWoman feels as if her Meeting stepping up to walk with the least we can do. RantWoman is unclear that a blog entry is the best way to honor that and is likely to let it season awhile before posting.
The event was held on a SNOW day. This likely cut into attendance which was SPARSE. Friends from Salmon Bay Monthly Meeting also attended.
RantWoman learned that others from her Meeting have been walking with prison ministry including the Friend with a Remarkable Story for a long time. RantWoman's tiny previous part in this was attending a few meetings for worship at the prison.
Friend With ... spoke of going awry in the storms of adolescence and of an early path utterly lacking in integrity. Friend with a Remarkable Story admitted to more crimes than he was charged with. Friend with a Remarkable Story also said he just ran away if he encountered any resistance. Friend with a Remarkable Story was VERY forthright. RantWoman has decided that some points he was forthright about can be handled with less personalization by citing statistics, another day. The facts were daunting, not easy to listen to.
Friend With ... spoke of arriving for initial treatment after sentencing still convinced that threats of violence were not in themselves violation.
At some point, Friend with a Remarkable Story started to get it and resolved thenceforth to live with complete integrity, not particularly an easy road in any case and even less so in the social hierarchy of prison. The Friend with a Remarkable Story also found Friends for 300 Years in the prison library and realized he felt like he was already a Quaker. A buddy also shared the feeling and they were led to work with some Alternatives to Violence facilitators to found the Monroe Worship Group.
The Friend with a Remarkable Story spoke of applying to join the Concerned Lifers at Monroe. Friend With... answered questions on the application form honestly. For his trouble he was summoned to the Concerned Lifers' office. One of the guys pointed to a file cabinet full of applications dating back to the 1940's. He said there was a whole cabinet full of applications. The lifers figured that probably 1/3 of the offenders represented had done similar things but the Friend with the Remarkable Story is the only one to put it down on paper.
Ordinarily, the Concerned Lifers at Monroe might not be the first place one wants to go for a character reference, but their words "We abhor what you did and we admire how you are handling things now" do justice to lots of things.
One Friend asked the Friend with the Remarkable Story whether he thought his presence in a Meeting might be disruptive. RantWoman in all-purpose event usher / herd people around for public events mode can think of a couple ways to interpret this question. At the Q&A the question was phrased in terms of people who might find it difficult because of their own histories to worship in the presence of the Friend with a Remarkable Story.
This has been a theme with RantWoman's Meeting walking with the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet. Actually, the issue as RantWoman remembers history was people KNOWING they were worshipping with a sex offender. People worshipped with no apparent difficulty for several months before the whole Meeting was told and people developed difficulties being in the same worship with an admitted sex offender (and who knows how many unknown ones.)
RantWoman really needs worship every week. RantWoman assumes both people with more survivor issues than RantWoman has and offenders seeking to walk righteously also need worship every week. RantWoman generally thinks it's God, the Holy Spirit and we are not guaranteed worship without distress. Not only that, in the words of the Baptists of RantWoman's youth, it's GOD's table, not ours to invite or deny. But that is WAY too much God language for some around RantWoman.
Parallel Light has not yet arrived at RantWoman's meeting. In the meantime, the Friend with the Remarkable Story said that, even though he has no outside reason for Meeting to have basis to ask anything of him, he would also be willing to live with the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet's attendance restrictions. RantWoman appreciates the generosity of this offer. RantWoman SO hates the conversational knots attached to the current regimen and RantWoman SO hopes Meeting does not take the Friend with a Remarkable Story up on this offer. RantWoman needs to froth at her keyboard more elsewhere about related topics and return to the rest of the meeting with the Friend with a Remarkable Story.
RantWoman has deep respect for people who have walked certain roads working particularly to prevent further offenses among people walking similar roads. The Friend With a Remarkable Story has been an inmate facilitator for Alternatives to Violence. RantWoman's first question was what was most difficult and what was most rewarding about being an AVP facilitator.
RantWoman to someone who was not there, characterized Friend With the Remarkable Story's response as "What's difficult is when the guys don't get it and what's rewarding is when they finally do."
RantWoman's second question was has the Friend with the Remarkable Story to his knowledge ever talked to people who have suffered offenses similar to his. The Friend with a Remarkable Story answered that he had indeed spoken to more than one Alternatives to Violence facilitator about related topics. The Friend with the Remarkable Story reported that both sides of those conversations had found them healing. When pressed, the Friend with a Remarkable Story did not feel able to say more. RantWoman felt the power in what was said; RantWoman has heard other similar stories in connection with Alternatives to Violence.
RantWoman always esteems a good love story and RantWoman especially appreciated Mr. and Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story speaking of how their relationship grew. The future Mrs. Friend With... fairly quickly had to give up her volunteer status to be listed on Friend With's visiting list. Neither is sure who proposed to who. Both say now that, had they known the Friend with a Remarkable Story was going to have to serve every single day of his sentence with no good time, they might not have married.
Someone asked Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story whether she might rather be somewhere else. RantWoman recognizes some acknowledgement in the question but still finds it patronizing, like one is supposed to give up on loved ones just because there are challenges. Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story just assured everyone it's not all bad. RantWoman is holding the couple in the Light, assuming the Q&A will not be the first or the last time that question is going to come up.
RantWoman is very clear: she is hearing from Mr. and Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story a very simple request: they want to come to worship like everyone else. RantWoman is very humble about great forthrightness in general, very honest about why a question of any other practice might arise and VERY clear that worship is God's, that it belongs to everyone.
--something he is grateful for
--something he has received from others
--something he has given others.
RantWoman has to admire his clarity and simplicity.
RantWoman recently attended a question and answer session with Mr. and Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story. The event was advertised publicly in two Friends Meetings. On that basis alone, RantWoman is clear to write of it. RantWoman notes that her Meeting in the person mainly of a few committed people has been walking with the Friend with a Remarkable Story for a long time. The Friend with a Remarkable Story has introduced himself and a thumbnail of his remarkable story several times in Meeting for Worship and otherwise. RantWoman has identified herself several times as someone who knows the Friend with the Remarkable Story from the Monroe Worship Group and has offered to answer questions but has heard none.
RantWoman thinks now the Friend with a Remarkable Story is entering a new phase of life. The Friend with a Remarkable Story has no choice about some forms of public presence. RantWoman is unclear that others in her Meeting even have any inclination to interact with the story. RantWoman feels as if her Meeting stepping up to walk with the least we can do. RantWoman is unclear that a blog entry is the best way to honor that and is likely to let it season awhile before posting.
The event was held on a SNOW day. This likely cut into attendance which was SPARSE. Friends from Salmon Bay Monthly Meeting also attended.
RantWoman learned that others from her Meeting have been walking with prison ministry including the Friend with a Remarkable Story for a long time. RantWoman's tiny previous part in this was attending a few meetings for worship at the prison.
Friend With ... spoke of going awry in the storms of adolescence and of an early path utterly lacking in integrity. Friend with a Remarkable Story admitted to more crimes than he was charged with. Friend with a Remarkable Story also said he just ran away if he encountered any resistance. Friend with a Remarkable Story was VERY forthright. RantWoman has decided that some points he was forthright about can be handled with less personalization by citing statistics, another day. The facts were daunting, not easy to listen to.
Friend With ... spoke of arriving for initial treatment after sentencing still convinced that threats of violence were not in themselves violation.
At some point, Friend with a Remarkable Story started to get it and resolved thenceforth to live with complete integrity, not particularly an easy road in any case and even less so in the social hierarchy of prison. The Friend with a Remarkable Story also found Friends for 300 Years in the prison library and realized he felt like he was already a Quaker. A buddy also shared the feeling and they were led to work with some Alternatives to Violence facilitators to found the Monroe Worship Group.
The Friend with a Remarkable Story spoke of applying to join the Concerned Lifers at Monroe. Friend With... answered questions on the application form honestly. For his trouble he was summoned to the Concerned Lifers' office. One of the guys pointed to a file cabinet full of applications dating back to the 1940's. He said there was a whole cabinet full of applications. The lifers figured that probably 1/3 of the offenders represented had done similar things but the Friend with the Remarkable Story is the only one to put it down on paper.
Ordinarily, the Concerned Lifers at Monroe might not be the first place one wants to go for a character reference, but their words "We abhor what you did and we admire how you are handling things now" do justice to lots of things.
One Friend asked the Friend with the Remarkable Story whether he thought his presence in a Meeting might be disruptive. RantWoman in all-purpose event usher / herd people around for public events mode can think of a couple ways to interpret this question. At the Q&A the question was phrased in terms of people who might find it difficult because of their own histories to worship in the presence of the Friend with a Remarkable Story.
This has been a theme with RantWoman's Meeting walking with the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet. Actually, the issue as RantWoman remembers history was people KNOWING they were worshipping with a sex offender. People worshipped with no apparent difficulty for several months before the whole Meeting was told and people developed difficulties being in the same worship with an admitted sex offender (and who knows how many unknown ones.)
RantWoman really needs worship every week. RantWoman assumes both people with more survivor issues than RantWoman has and offenders seeking to walk righteously also need worship every week. RantWoman generally thinks it's God, the Holy Spirit and we are not guaranteed worship without distress. Not only that, in the words of the Baptists of RantWoman's youth, it's GOD's table, not ours to invite or deny. But that is WAY too much God language for some around RantWoman.
Parallel Light has not yet arrived at RantWoman's meeting. In the meantime, the Friend with the Remarkable Story said that, even though he has no outside reason for Meeting to have basis to ask anything of him, he would also be willing to live with the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet's attendance restrictions. RantWoman appreciates the generosity of this offer. RantWoman SO hates the conversational knots attached to the current regimen and RantWoman SO hopes Meeting does not take the Friend with a Remarkable Story up on this offer. RantWoman needs to froth at her keyboard more elsewhere about related topics and return to the rest of the meeting with the Friend with a Remarkable Story.
RantWoman has deep respect for people who have walked certain roads working particularly to prevent further offenses among people walking similar roads. The Friend With a Remarkable Story has been an inmate facilitator for Alternatives to Violence. RantWoman's first question was what was most difficult and what was most rewarding about being an AVP facilitator.
RantWoman to someone who was not there, characterized Friend With the Remarkable Story's response as "What's difficult is when the guys don't get it and what's rewarding is when they finally do."
RantWoman's second question was has the Friend with the Remarkable Story to his knowledge ever talked to people who have suffered offenses similar to his. The Friend with a Remarkable Story answered that he had indeed spoken to more than one Alternatives to Violence facilitator about related topics. The Friend with the Remarkable Story reported that both sides of those conversations had found them healing. When pressed, the Friend with a Remarkable Story did not feel able to say more. RantWoman felt the power in what was said; RantWoman has heard other similar stories in connection with Alternatives to Violence.
RantWoman always esteems a good love story and RantWoman especially appreciated Mr. and Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story speaking of how their relationship grew. The future Mrs. Friend With... fairly quickly had to give up her volunteer status to be listed on Friend With's visiting list. Neither is sure who proposed to who. Both say now that, had they known the Friend with a Remarkable Story was going to have to serve every single day of his sentence with no good time, they might not have married.
Someone asked Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story whether she might rather be somewhere else. RantWoman recognizes some acknowledgement in the question but still finds it patronizing, like one is supposed to give up on loved ones just because there are challenges. Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story just assured everyone it's not all bad. RantWoman is holding the couple in the Light, assuming the Q&A will not be the first or the last time that question is going to come up.
RantWoman is very clear: she is hearing from Mr. and Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story a very simple request: they want to come to worship like everyone else. RantWoman is very humble about great forthrightness in general, very honest about why a question of any other practice might arise and VERY clear that worship is God's, that it belongs to everyone.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Thoroughness applied to everyday life: Query
RantWoman feels blessed to have this to share and VERY clear not to share from whence it came, except to say a weighty Friend
Readings:
from Friends World Conference, 1951
"The outstanding religious feature of Quakerism has been its recovery of ... primitive Christian insight, and the thoroughness it has applied it to every part of life." p.21
"In our search for the greatest of all treasures (spiritual experience) we need knowledge from whatever source spiritual experience may come ; we need to try to understand the experience of others ; we need an appreciation of the worthwhileness of what we seek ; and we need to go to that place whereat all the evidence suggests that the treasure (spiritual experience) is to be found. "
Query:
from today Are members of our meeting alive to the necessity of continuing study and sharing in order to reach a deepening understanding of 'the things of the Spirit' and of their relevance to life?
Readings:
from Friends World Conference, 1951
"The outstanding religious feature of Quakerism has been its recovery of ... primitive Christian insight, and the thoroughness it has applied it to every part of life." p.21
"In our search for the greatest of all treasures (spiritual experience) we need knowledge from whatever source spiritual experience may come ; we need to try to understand the experience of others ; we need an appreciation of the worthwhileness of what we seek ; and we need to go to that place whereat all the evidence suggests that the treasure (spiritual experience) is to be found. "
Query:
from today Are members of our meeting alive to the necessity of continuing study and sharing in order to reach a deepening understanding of 'the things of the Spirit' and of their relevance to life?
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Leroy Moore, Krip-Hop Nation, in Seattle Feb 10-11
We are EXTREMELY excited to promote upcoming events
FEB 10th + 11th
for LEROY MOORE
self-titled 'black, disabled poet' & founder of Krip Hop
- a movement of people with disabilities in hip hop
SAT FEB 11th AFTERNOON 1-3PM
At Chaco Canyon Cafe - 4757 12th Ave NE (@ 50th & 12th in the U-District)
The DJC is hosting a 'meet and greet' with Leroy Moore
please arrive * scent free *
____________
FRIDAY FEB 10TH EVENING 5-7PM
U of WA Campus, OUGL (Odegaard Undergraduate Library), Room 220
--------- The ASUW Student Disability Commission is presenting...
Leroy Moore and Krip-Hop Nation:
Broken Bodies, PBP: Police Brutality Profiling
This workshop will talk about POOR Magazine and its connection to the issue of police brutality in the disability community featuring Leroy Moore. Police brutality in the disabled community will be discussed as well as how Hip-Hop artists use their talents in cases of police brutality. Leroy will also discuss the origins of Krip Hop Nation and talk about current projects and activism opportunities. There will be audio and visual cases by Hip Hop artists with disabilities and participants will have the option to do an exercise based on these cases.
____________
SAT FEB 11th, EVENING 5-9PM
U of WA, Kane Hall, Walker-Ames Room
Under 1 Nation: Zulu & Krip-Hop
This a multimedia presentation featuring Hip-Hop performances by artists with disabilities including Leroy Moore and King Khazm. Using Hip-Hop as a cultural platform, police brutality and profiling within the disability community will be discussed as well as the justice system's relationship to the Black and disability community. This presentation will feature music, audio, and film presentations as well as a panel discussion on Hip-Hop and activism.
This event strives to be Accessible and Scent/Fragrance-Free. For more information on how to be scent-free, check out:
http://www.peggymunson.com/mcs/fragrancefree.html .
For other access requirements, please contact the Disability Services Office at: 206.543.6450/V, 206.543.6452/TTY, 206.685.7264 (FAX), or email dso@u.washington.edu
Co-sponsors: ASUW Black Student Commission, ASUW Queer Student Commission, AccessSTEM
Supporters: Disability Advocacy Student Alliance (DASA), Rainy Dawg Radio, ASUW Arts & Entertainment, and Seattle Disability Justice Collective
BIOS:
LEROY MOORE, Jr. is a Co-Founder and Community Relations Director of Sins Invalid--a performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. As a Black writer, poet, hip-hop/music lover, community activist, feminist and consultant on race and disability with a physical disability, he has been sharing his perspectives on identity, race, and disability for the last 13 years. His work began in London, England where he discovered a Black disabled movement which led to the creation of his lecture series, "On the
Outskirts: Race & Disability". He is also producer and columnist of Illin-N-Chillin at Poor Magazine and creator of Krip-Hop Mixtape Project.
He is one of the leading voices around police brutality and wrongful incarceration of people with disabilities and has studied, worked, and lectured in the field of race and disability concerning blues, hip-hop, and social justice issues in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands.
King Khazm, an artist, activist, educator, promoter and community leader, has played an important Seattle Hip Hop scene for years. He co-founded MAD Krew in 1995, a Hip Hop crew that quickly evolved into an influential multimedia production company. MAD Krew’s release of the Hip Hop documentary video, ‘Enter the Madness’ in 1998, helped exposed Pacific Northwest Hip Hop on a national level. Khazm produced and co-founded Hip Hop 101, a live weekly television show that exposed local and national Hip Hop artists which broadcasted on regional cable and on online. Khazm also co-hosts Zulu Radio, a weekly broadcast on KBCS 91.3 fm, dedicated to diversifying the Seattle airwaves with new school, old school, independent, and local Hip Hop.
"POOR Magazine the publication arts and education project was started in
1996 by an indigenous, landless mother and daughter who struggled with extreme poverty, incarceration and criminalization in the US. POOR Magazine, the organization, is a poor people led/indigenous people led non-profit, grassroots, arts organization dedicated to providing revolutionary media access, arts, education and solutions from youth, adults and elders in poverty across Pachamama."
http://www.poormagazine.org/
.
NEED MORE INFO OR INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING? Volunteer interpreters, greeters, etc needed! Email Lee at lestead@uw.edu for more info!
___________________________________________________________
WHAT IS SEATTLE DISABILITY JUSTICE COLLECTIVE?
We are a grassroots group in the Seattle area that formed in 2011 with the goal of hosting events that are political, cultural, artistic and educational regarding disability justice. Disability justice to us means building more liberated communities and movements by centering the experiences of those often marginalized in disability communities and by making connections between disability, race, gender, class and sexuality.
CONTACT US AT seattledisabilityjustice@gmail.com
=========
Some other Leroy Moore links:
http://www.kqed.org/arts/performance/article.jsp?essid=43903
http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2011/02/jamoeblog/amoeblog-black-history-month-series-salutes-leroy-moore-the-krip-hop-nation-pt-i.html
FEB 10th + 11th
for LEROY MOORE
self-titled 'black, disabled poet' & founder of Krip Hop
- a movement of people with disabilities in hip hop
SAT FEB 11th AFTERNOON 1-3PM
At Chaco Canyon Cafe - 4757 12th Ave NE (@ 50th & 12th in the U-District)
The DJC is hosting a 'meet and greet' with Leroy Moore
please arrive * scent free *
____________
FRIDAY FEB 10TH EVENING 5-7PM
U of WA Campus, OUGL (Odegaard Undergraduate Library), Room 220
--------- The ASUW Student Disability Commission is presenting...
Leroy Moore and Krip-Hop Nation:
Broken Bodies, PBP: Police Brutality Profiling
This workshop will talk about POOR Magazine and its connection to the issue of police brutality in the disability community featuring Leroy Moore. Police brutality in the disabled community will be discussed as well as how Hip-Hop artists use their talents in cases of police brutality. Leroy will also discuss the origins of Krip Hop Nation and talk about current projects and activism opportunities. There will be audio and visual cases by Hip Hop artists with disabilities and participants will have the option to do an exercise based on these cases.
____________
SAT FEB 11th, EVENING 5-9PM
U of WA, Kane Hall, Walker-Ames Room
Under 1 Nation: Zulu & Krip-Hop
This a multimedia presentation featuring Hip-Hop performances by artists with disabilities including Leroy Moore and King Khazm. Using Hip-Hop as a cultural platform, police brutality and profiling within the disability community will be discussed as well as the justice system's relationship to the Black and disability community. This presentation will feature music, audio, and film presentations as well as a panel discussion on Hip-Hop and activism.
This event strives to be Accessible and Scent/Fragrance-Free. For more information on how to be scent-free, check out:
http://www.peggymunson.com/mcs/fragrancefree.html .
For other access requirements, please contact the Disability Services Office at: 206.543.6450/V, 206.543.6452/TTY, 206.685.7264 (FAX), or email dso@u.washington.edu
Co-sponsors: ASUW Black Student Commission, ASUW Queer Student Commission, AccessSTEM
Supporters: Disability Advocacy Student Alliance (DASA), Rainy Dawg Radio, ASUW Arts & Entertainment, and Seattle Disability Justice Collective
BIOS:
LEROY MOORE, Jr. is a Co-Founder and Community Relations Director of Sins Invalid--a performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. As a Black writer, poet, hip-hop/music lover, community activist, feminist and consultant on race and disability with a physical disability, he has been sharing his perspectives on identity, race, and disability for the last 13 years. His work began in London, England where he discovered a Black disabled movement which led to the creation of his lecture series, "On the
Outskirts: Race & Disability". He is also producer and columnist of Illin-N-Chillin at Poor Magazine and creator of Krip-Hop Mixtape Project.
He is one of the leading voices around police brutality and wrongful incarceration of people with disabilities and has studied, worked, and lectured in the field of race and disability concerning blues, hip-hop, and social justice issues in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands.
King Khazm, an artist, activist, educator, promoter and community leader, has played an important Seattle Hip Hop scene for years. He co-founded MAD Krew in 1995, a Hip Hop crew that quickly evolved into an influential multimedia production company. MAD Krew’s release of the Hip Hop documentary video, ‘Enter the Madness’ in 1998, helped exposed Pacific Northwest Hip Hop on a national level. Khazm produced and co-founded Hip Hop 101, a live weekly television show that exposed local and national Hip Hop artists which broadcasted on regional cable and on online. Khazm also co-hosts Zulu Radio, a weekly broadcast on KBCS 91.3 fm, dedicated to diversifying the Seattle airwaves with new school, old school, independent, and local Hip Hop.
"POOR Magazine the publication arts and education project was started in
1996 by an indigenous, landless mother and daughter who struggled with extreme poverty, incarceration and criminalization in the US. POOR Magazine, the organization, is a poor people led/indigenous people led non-profit, grassroots, arts organization dedicated to providing revolutionary media access, arts, education and solutions from youth, adults and elders in poverty across Pachamama."
http://www.poormagazine.org/
.
NEED MORE INFO OR INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING? Volunteer interpreters, greeters, etc needed! Email Lee at lestead@uw.edu for more info!
___________________________________________________________
WHAT IS SEATTLE DISABILITY JUSTICE COLLECTIVE?
We are a grassroots group in the Seattle area that formed in 2011 with the goal of hosting events that are political, cultural, artistic and educational regarding disability justice. Disability justice to us means building more liberated communities and movements by centering the experiences of those often marginalized in disability communities and by making connections between disability, race, gender, class and sexuality.
CONTACT US AT seattledisabilityjustice@gmail.com
=========
Some other Leroy Moore links:
http://www.kqed.org/arts/performance/article.jsp?essid=43903
http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2011/02/jamoeblog/amoeblog-black-history-month-series-salutes-leroy-moore-the-krip-hop-nation-pt-i.html
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Universal salvation in the Bronx
RantWoman has been seized by the urge to....observe Black History Month!
Okay so RantWoman is only now getting started, and idiosyncratically at that. RantWoman means to share such items as she encounters that seem vaguely topical. RantWoman thinks every day would be a nice interval to aim for but makes NO promises.
Here is today's item:
http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/2012/02/06/the-golden-thread-the-promise-of-universal-salvation-throughout-the-jewish-bible-bronx-streets-translation/
Okay so RantWoman is only now getting started, and idiosyncratically at that. RantWoman means to share such items as she encounters that seem vaguely topical. RantWoman thinks every day would be a nice interval to aim for but makes NO promises.
Here is today's item:
http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/2012/02/06/the-golden-thread-the-promise-of-universal-salvation-throughout-the-jewish-bible-bronx-streets-translation/
Sunday, February 5, 2012
FCWPP Quaker Lobby Day February 20
FRIENDS COMMITTEE ON WASHINGTON PUBLIC POLICY
QUAKER LOBBY DAY (Fourth Annual!)
Monday, February, 9:00 ‐ 3:00
Olympia Friends Meeting House
Friends have been a leading voice for economic justice and prison reform for several centuries. Our voice is critically important to many marginalized citizens of our state ‐ including tens of thousands of state residents who are at risk of losing health care benefits and the thousands of men and women behind bars
who cannot speak effectively for themselves.
FCWPP invites you to participate in our 4th annual Quaker Lobby Day on Presidents’ Day.
The day begins at 9am at the new Olympia Friends Meetinghouse on
Boston Harbor Road in north Olympia, where we will introduce our key legislative priorities (economic justice and health care, restorative justice, earned early release of prisoners, marriage equality, and local responses to global challenges) before we go to the Capitol Building about 11 AM to talk with our legislators about these issues.
If you’ve never lobbied before, you are not alone! Perhaps you’re hesitant about lobbying because you’re
unfamiliar with the issues. If so, Quaker Lobby Day is the place to
learn. Training and coaching are included. Registrants from the same
legislative district will have the opportunity to visit legislators as a
delegation with appointments made for that district. Please join us!
To register, send your Name and Street address to FCWPP Ass’t Clerk,
sueburrus@yahoo.com with Lobby Day in the subject line.
We’ll send a confirmation with schedule, updates on the issues, and directions to the new Olympia Friends Meetinghouse – and set up appointments with your local legislators.
For more information about FCWPP activities, see our new website at http://www.fcwpp.org/ .
Working together, we can do amazing things!
Stay in the loop by signing up to receive periodic Action Alerts and other news from FCWPP! Simply send a blank email to:
activists-subscribe@fcwpp.quaker.org
QUAKER LOBBY DAY (Fourth Annual!)
Monday, February, 9:00 ‐ 3:00
Olympia Friends Meeting House
Friends have been a leading voice for economic justice and prison reform for several centuries. Our voice is critically important to many marginalized citizens of our state ‐ including tens of thousands of state residents who are at risk of losing health care benefits and the thousands of men and women behind bars
who cannot speak effectively for themselves.
FCWPP invites you to participate in our 4th annual Quaker Lobby Day on Presidents’ Day.
The day begins at 9am at the new Olympia Friends Meetinghouse on
Boston Harbor Road in north Olympia, where we will introduce our key legislative priorities (economic justice and health care, restorative justice, earned early release of prisoners, marriage equality, and local responses to global challenges) before we go to the Capitol Building about 11 AM to talk with our legislators about these issues.
If you’ve never lobbied before, you are not alone! Perhaps you’re hesitant about lobbying because you’re
unfamiliar with the issues. If so, Quaker Lobby Day is the place to
learn. Training and coaching are included. Registrants from the same
legislative district will have the opportunity to visit legislators as a
delegation with appointments made for that district. Please join us!
To register, send your Name and Street address to FCWPP Ass’t Clerk,
sueburrus@yahoo.com with Lobby Day in the subject line.
We’ll send a confirmation with schedule, updates on the issues, and directions to the new Olympia Friends Meetinghouse – and set up appointments with your local legislators.
For more information about FCWPP activities, see our new website at http://www.fcwpp.org/ .
Working together, we can do amazing things!
Stay in the loop by signing up to receive periodic Action Alerts and other news from FCWPP! Simply send a blank email to:
activists-subscribe@fcwpp.quaker.org
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Speaking up About the Unspeakable
These days RantWoman is too busy preaching the gospel of accessible documents for things she uses all the time and sorting out endless multicultural communications and conflict resolution challenges at the Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing to have very much time to read. Worse, RantWoman still associates being read aloud to, even being read aloud in screamingly fast computer voices, with bedtime. Even for things RantWoman is really interested in and passionate about, she just falls asleep sometimes.
SO, RantWoman is unlikely to get read any of the books by James Douglass mentioned here. RantWoman is posting the link though in hopes that she knows someone who might get some of the books read and to offer RantWoman a customized reader's digest version in some future conversation.
http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/02/speaking-up-about-the-unspeakable/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WagingNonviolence+%28Waging+Nonviolence%29
SO, RantWoman is unlikely to get read any of the books by James Douglass mentioned here. RantWoman is posting the link though in hopes that she knows someone who might get some of the books read and to offer RantWoman a customized reader's digest version in some future conversation.
http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/02/speaking-up-about-the-unspeakable/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WagingNonviolence+%28Waging+Nonviolence%29
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Playing with Fire
RantWoman means some way or another to get around to something that, at least in the RantWoman long leaps of intuition and free association world, vaguely, somehow relates to Brigid. RantWoman remains frighteningly ignorant of Brigid but is not feeling shy about meditations on fire, smithcraft, what to do with stronger Light, and somewhere in here lambing.
RantWoman's points of departure:
RantWoman thinks even in modernity molten metal is a mystical experience. RantWoman thinks it must have seemed positively miraculous in the days of first harnessing fire with metal.
Light most definitely is returning to Seattle, but who/whatever is in charge of light conditions on Sunday mornings seems not to have gotten the memo. God is excelling at clouds, fog, blur, and GLARE. In other words, Sudoku weather.
Recently RantWoman was called to offer vocal ministry about causing consternation doing Sudoku in Meeting for Worship. Vocal ministry consisted mainly of Worse Auntie's views including "be glad you can see across the room to be bothered," "be glad if RantWoman doing Sudoku is the worst problem in your life," "what are those feelings trying to teach YOU?" and "do what your parents ask. It's parents' JOB to teach kids to do what is right in spite of what others around you are doing. But today RantWoman REALLY needs Sudoku." RantWoman was delighted when a Friend asked her afterward how RantWoman finds God in Sudoku.
Sunday, RantWoman was thinking about molten metal and not feeling called to add The State of the Union during Adult Ed. Instead, RantWoman went to her Meeting's library, found the print edition of Friends Journal and scraped her eyeballs across approximately 5 pages include articles by Stasa Morgan Appel, Micah Bales, and Noah Baker Merrill. RantWoman's head craved more; RantWoman's eyeballs were beyond screaming "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"
RantWoman notes with modest appreciation that both Friends Journal and Friends Bulletin now offer electronic subscriptions. RantWoman has screamed through sample issues of both. RantWoman would not mind if the pdf's included headings so RantWoman could easily skip around instead of using her search bar. Whine. RantWoman hereby urges editors to work on this as they have time.
In the meantime, RantWoman is really, really grateful for people younger than her who get the issue of electronic text enough to offer a first effort. RantWoman pointedly contrasts that with some topics that are still noodling and oodling around in MONTHS of apologetic mumbling and process muddle. Ahhh, but RantWoman was unaware her soul needed more spiritual purification immersed in That of God in...
The bigger problem in the world of publishing economics: RantWoman's Meeting has a library. RantWoman would usually on both ecological and thrift grounds just go read at the library. RantWoman does not have funds to get her own electronic subscription and is meditating about questions she should just direct to her Meeting and these publications....
Finally, to readers who have made it this far and are wondering why the heck RantWoman couldn't skip the lead-in and go straight to the poetry, COPE. Life is not a destination; it's a journey. Why would RantWoman deprive you of part of the trip? What do you think this is, the airlines?
Enjoy!
Our God of the bus
That of God in everyone
Sometimes too much God.
January Light
God showing up however
Sudoku weather
January Light
Sudoku weather again
try texting haiku
January Light
Sudoku weather again
try haiku in braille
January Light
Sudoku weather again
Braille stylus broken
Worship together
having holy communion
one voice at a time
RantWoman's points of departure:
RantWoman thinks even in modernity molten metal is a mystical experience. RantWoman thinks it must have seemed positively miraculous in the days of first harnessing fire with metal.
Light most definitely is returning to Seattle, but who/whatever is in charge of light conditions on Sunday mornings seems not to have gotten the memo. God is excelling at clouds, fog, blur, and GLARE. In other words, Sudoku weather.
Recently RantWoman was called to offer vocal ministry about causing consternation doing Sudoku in Meeting for Worship. Vocal ministry consisted mainly of Worse Auntie's views including "be glad you can see across the room to be bothered," "be glad if RantWoman doing Sudoku is the worst problem in your life," "what are those feelings trying to teach YOU?" and "do what your parents ask. It's parents' JOB to teach kids to do what is right in spite of what others around you are doing. But today RantWoman REALLY needs Sudoku." RantWoman was delighted when a Friend asked her afterward how RantWoman finds God in Sudoku.
Sunday, RantWoman was thinking about molten metal and not feeling called to add The State of the Union during Adult Ed. Instead, RantWoman went to her Meeting's library, found the print edition of Friends Journal and scraped her eyeballs across approximately 5 pages include articles by Stasa Morgan Appel, Micah Bales, and Noah Baker Merrill. RantWoman's head craved more; RantWoman's eyeballs were beyond screaming "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"
RantWoman notes with modest appreciation that both Friends Journal and Friends Bulletin now offer electronic subscriptions. RantWoman has screamed through sample issues of both. RantWoman would not mind if the pdf's included headings so RantWoman could easily skip around instead of using her search bar. Whine. RantWoman hereby urges editors to work on this as they have time.
In the meantime, RantWoman is really, really grateful for people younger than her who get the issue of electronic text enough to offer a first effort. RantWoman pointedly contrasts that with some topics that are still noodling and oodling around in MONTHS of apologetic mumbling and process muddle. Ahhh, but RantWoman was unaware her soul needed more spiritual purification immersed in That of God in...
The bigger problem in the world of publishing economics: RantWoman's Meeting has a library. RantWoman would usually on both ecological and thrift grounds just go read at the library. RantWoman does not have funds to get her own electronic subscription and is meditating about questions she should just direct to her Meeting and these publications....
Finally, to readers who have made it this far and are wondering why the heck RantWoman couldn't skip the lead-in and go straight to the poetry, COPE. Life is not a destination; it's a journey. Why would RantWoman deprive you of part of the trip? What do you think this is, the airlines?
Enjoy!
Our God of the bus
That of God in everyone
Sometimes too much God.
January Light
God showing up however
Sudoku weather
January Light
Sudoku weather again
try texting haiku
January Light
Sudoku weather again
try haiku in braille
January Light
Sudoku weather again
Braille stylus broken
Worship together
having holy communion
one voice at a time
Becoming an ally with the Beatitudes
RantWoman lately has been called to articulate the concept of ally in terms of both people with disabilities and survivors of abuse / assault / trauma. RantWoman has actually been making this point in sort of scathing terms in email. RantWoman is seasoning whether the blogosphere needs exactly those terms and might respond to a groundswell of clamor from her readers to spell out... . RantWoman is all too conscious that Friends around her:
1. Have not even registered a need to talk of what is on RantWoman's mind. Remember Put it Off Until It's More Convenient Friends number n, n+1...?
2. Are likely, if they register the point, to ask RantWoman what the heck she is talking about.
3. MAY find RantWoman less than completely prepared. Or even whiny, ill-tempered, ungracious. MAYBE if RantWoman reads enough of laboring with.. in John Woolman...
Yeah, and in the meantime RantWoman recommends starting here
http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/2012/01/31/pass-the-toothpicks-becoming-an-ally-with-the-beatitudes/
and with related links on the YAR blog.
One test, for RantWoman, of whether she has made good choices about blog roll relates to finding links that also speak to her.
http://bloggerbyconvincement.blogspot.com/2012/01/afterthought-1.html
If one depends on 2000 people every day, RantWoman thinks that can be a lot of laboring with ignorance if too many of those one depends on are getting something WRONG.
RantWoman will now return to worship and seek further Light.
http://www.quakerinfo.org/quakerism/worship
1. Have not even registered a need to talk of what is on RantWoman's mind. Remember Put it Off Until It's More Convenient Friends number n, n+1...?
2. Are likely, if they register the point, to ask RantWoman what the heck she is talking about.
3. MAY find RantWoman less than completely prepared. Or even whiny, ill-tempered, ungracious. MAYBE if RantWoman reads enough of laboring with.. in John Woolman...
Yeah, and in the meantime RantWoman recommends starting here
http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/2012/01/31/pass-the-toothpicks-becoming-an-ally-with-the-beatitudes/
and with related links on the YAR blog.
One test, for RantWoman, of whether she has made good choices about blog roll relates to finding links that also speak to her.
http://bloggerbyconvincement.blogspot.com/2012/01/afterthought-1.html
If one depends on 2000 people every day, RantWoman thinks that can be a lot of laboring with ignorance if too many of those one depends on are getting something WRONG.
RantWoman will now return to worship and seek further Light.
http://www.quakerinfo.org/quakerism/worship
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Pacific NW Quaker Womens Theology Conf. deadline extended
Speaking of...
...narrative theology...
...RantWoman's blogroll served up two women's very different specimens of narrative theology today:
http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-velvet-darkness-i-magic-of-winter.html
http://www.clotheyourselfinrighteousness.com/you-are-not-a-quaker-so-please-stop-calling-yourself-one/
Oh Wait, how about a whole weekend for narative theology of one's own. RantWoman is temporizing about attending herself but highly recommends this for women willing to talk across traditions. RantWoman HAS attended several times and highly recommends:
THE REGISTRATION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO
FEBRUARY 29!!
Welcome to the 2012 Women’s Conference. We Quaker Women from Northwest Yearly Meeting, North Pacific Yearly Meeting, Freedom Friends Church, and other Quaker groups will gather June 13-17, 2012 at the Menucha Conference Center. In this oasis from the whirlwind and storm of our lives, high above the mighty Columbia River, we will seek God’s grace in the holy and the ordinary.
We will worship, fellowship, and work together as we explore the theme, “Living in the Life and Power: Inviting, Contemplating, and Enacting Grace.”
With grace, we will be respectful and open to each other, trying neither to offend nor to take offense, each woman knowing the power of her own truth and the need to make space for other women’s truth.
If you find your way clear to join us, and we hope you will, we ask you to take time to explore the Conference theme and write a paper to share with other women. You will find this to be incredible grounding experience as you prepare for the Conference.
2 Corinthians 9:8 says there are no limits to the Grace of God. We pray that God’s grace will lead you to be with us.
Becky Ankeny and Nancy McLauchlan, co-clerks
The Pacific Northwest Quaker Women’s Theology Conference welcomes women primarily from Freedom Friends Church, Canadian, North Pacific and Northwest Yearly Meetings. As women from divergent Friends traditions, we strive to articulate that which has been meaningful in the expression and development of our faith. We are open to God’s leadings and willing to make a commitment to prepare, to risk, and to be open to learning from one another.
Our purposes in coming together are:
To grow in the knowledge and love of God, trusting that the Inward Teacher, the Christ within, the Inner Light, the Holy Spirit will be present to guide us;
To create a place where it is possible to talk openly from different perspectives with love and honesty, and without rancor or tempering to accommodate perceptions of what might be acceptable;
To use narrative theology, that is, our stories of faith, as a means of integrating our experiences and our understanding;
To encourage articulation of experience in beliefs, both verbally and in writing, expecting that we will bring what we learn back into our home faith communities.
...narrative theology...
...RantWoman's blogroll served up two women's very different specimens of narrative theology today:
http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-velvet-darkness-i-magic-of-winter.html
http://www.clotheyourselfinrighteousness.com/you-are-not-a-quaker-so-please-stop-calling-yourself-one/
Oh Wait, how about a whole weekend for narative theology of one's own. RantWoman is temporizing about attending herself but highly recommends this for women willing to talk across traditions. RantWoman HAS attended several times and highly recommends:
THE REGISTRATION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO
FEBRUARY 29!!
Welcome to the 2012 Women’s Conference. We Quaker Women from Northwest Yearly Meeting, North Pacific Yearly Meeting, Freedom Friends Church, and other Quaker groups will gather June 13-17, 2012 at the Menucha Conference Center. In this oasis from the whirlwind and storm of our lives, high above the mighty Columbia River, we will seek God’s grace in the holy and the ordinary.
We will worship, fellowship, and work together as we explore the theme, “Living in the Life and Power: Inviting, Contemplating, and Enacting Grace.”
With grace, we will be respectful and open to each other, trying neither to offend nor to take offense, each woman knowing the power of her own truth and the need to make space for other women’s truth.
If you find your way clear to join us, and we hope you will, we ask you to take time to explore the Conference theme and write a paper to share with other women. You will find this to be incredible grounding experience as you prepare for the Conference.
2 Corinthians 9:8 says there are no limits to the Grace of God. We pray that God’s grace will lead you to be with us.
Becky Ankeny and Nancy McLauchlan, co-clerks
The Pacific Northwest Quaker Women’s Theology Conference welcomes women primarily from Freedom Friends Church, Canadian, North Pacific and Northwest Yearly Meetings. As women from divergent Friends traditions, we strive to articulate that which has been meaningful in the expression and development of our faith. We are open to God’s leadings and willing to make a commitment to prepare, to risk, and to be open to learning from one another.
Our purposes in coming together are:
To grow in the knowledge and love of God, trusting that the Inward Teacher, the Christ within, the Inner Light, the Holy Spirit will be present to guide us;
To create a place where it is possible to talk openly from different perspectives with love and honesty, and without rancor or tempering to accommodate perceptions of what might be acceptable;
To use narrative theology, that is, our stories of faith, as a means of integrating our experiences and our understanding;
To encourage articulation of experience in beliefs, both verbally and in writing, expecting that we will bring what we learn back into our home faith communities.
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