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

No comments:

Post a Comment