Threshed?

RantWoman's Meeting recently held a threshing session about Business Meeting. As is RantWoman's wont, a whole storm of views , impressions are seething about.

RantWoman proposes to report some dispatches here. Understand, these are views of the world through RantWoman's wobbly eyeballs; parallel Light assuredly has not arrived to many around RantWoman. Cope!

For example, Query: What keeps you coming back?

Um, the bus.

oh, you mean spiritually? Did I mention the bus?

Oh, you mean what keeps you coming back?

--A sense of spiritual invitation.

--A sense that if many people lots older than I am who still don't have things all figured out, it's okay that I don't either.

--Oww! Owww! Owww! People walking on each other's feet all over the place right now. but no sense that just being anywhere else would automatically make anything better.

--A sense that God is versatile and teamwork matters especially when no one else has it figured out either.

--People who handle conflicts openly and more constructively than RantWoman's family.

Uhhhh, RantWoman, how is that going for you just now?

Mmmm. Return to Item 1.

--Umm, Actually I DO have some things figured out that others don't AND the fact that others don't MIGHT mean there is SOMETHING to share or learn from each other.

Lather

Rinse.

Repeat.

Walter Brueggemann on All the Raw Stuff

Three minutes of Walter Brueggemann on All the raw stuff ,coincidentlay why RantWoman's more or less a Psalm a day in Braille habit is so noursighing both for pattern recognition brain and for the rest of RantWoman

5 movies that show the power of nonviolent resistance during WWII.

Five movies that show the power of nonviolent resistance during WWII.

http://wagingnonviolence.org/2014/01/five-movies-upset-mainstream-wwii-narrative-show-power-nonviolent-resistance

Blog as filing cabinet

Teaser about John Hull video and books

Definitely on RantWoman's "mean to read list"
Britain-based theologian John Hull on vision loss
http://intodarkness.co.uk/

http://www.johnmhull.biz/OnBlindness.htm

And somewhat redundantly from RantWoman's other blog:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2014/01/theologian-john-hull-on-his-vision-loss.html

Wonderful Jan DeHartog Documentary on the early history of Quakerism

RantWoman is utterly charmed by these excerpts of Jan DeHartog's documentary about the origin of Quakers

http://youtu.be/6YAzHsnpesg

Worth it for the lecture style alone, discourse on hat honor, puritians, Charles II's young mistress....

Woolman, privilege, doing what you love, work!

RantWoman is meditating upon:
--A temptation, last week, when some weighty elders complained of not seeing howto have close relationships with people of color, to tell such weighty friends that easy options for meeting more people of color would be to eat fast food, ride public transit, or just observe the people who wait ont them shopping.

--The movement for a $15 / hour minimum wage, a RantWoman neighbor's struggle to support her family in the irregularly scheduled realm of fast food, RantWoman habits in the realm of fast food consumption, and the number of Friends, judging at least by the count of Friends who proffered fast food napkins recently when someone needed a tissue who also eat fast food.

--This item about work, spiritual match, privilege:
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/01/do_what_you_love_love_what_you_do_an_omnipresent_mantra_that_s_bad_for_work.html

--The age of Kickstarter Science research, personal  brands, and that blurry zone between "self-employed consultant" and laid off / discouraged / middleaged worker or younger adult  or ....

--Options for trying to seduce some younger adults into interest in the next episode of the Woolman Reading group so that RantWoman does not have to buff some kind of Young Adult cred by grumbling about teing the youngest adult in the room!

Mommy, Ella has a penis.

Blog as filing cabinet item: lovely resource for talking to kids about gender identity.

RantWoman LOVES this post for its simplicity, openness, and smoothness in covering many bases.
http://muthamagazine.com/2014/01/mama-ella-has-a-penis-marlo-mack-on-how-to-talk-to-your-children-about-gender-identity/

HOWEVER, RantWoman it seems is NEVER without the blessing of somehow finding things to grumble about and oh BOY does RantWoman have grumbles. The authors assume everyone reading this item will be nice and liberal and agree with their approach. RantWoman wishes to point out that even in this day and age of gay marriage and pronoun gender preferences in introductions not every child will have sensitive perceptive parents who think it's fine to be gay. Some children have parents who are, um, NOT fine about people being gay. Or children have parents from other cultures who think being transgendered is really weird, wicked, and of course impermissible. These children may ESPECIALLY need sensitive parental figures who agree with the blog post, even if the children have to borrow the parents from the kids who got them in the first place!

Reflections on waiting worship

Fun reflections on waiting worship from QVS house in Atlanta

http://qvsvolunteers.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/what-is-your-experience-of-waiting-worship/

Bracing Blog post of the day: White people stop talking!

RantWoman HIGHLY recommends this post.

http://jaythenerdkid.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/dear-white-people-stop-talking-just-for-a-second-please/

Warning 1: the blogger does not eschew the F word.

Warning 2: RantWoman could easily find herself led to substitute LOTS of other categories for the same dynamics. RantWoman could find herself easily led to do this--EXCEPT that RantoWman is so busy she can barely breathe. Thanks you Jesus?

Warning 3: RantWoman will think about including this blog in blog roll.
http://jaythenerdkid.wordpress.com/

Walter Wink reference; Angel of the Meeting; Revelation

Blog as filing cabinet item referencing Walter Wink AND Revelations.

http://throughtheflamingsword.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/what-is-the-religious-society-of-friends-for-fellowship-the-angel-of-the-meeting/

RantWoman finds herself wondering how any such angel gets it together to show up in a meeting as theologically heterodox as RantWoman's but may have to go read the book or the passages anyway and think about the question some more.

Can the evangelical church embrace gay couples?

Blog as filing cabinet item from Boston Globe about evangelicals and same-sex relationships as of this year,by Ruth Graham, Boston Globe.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/01/12/can-evangelical-church-embrace-gay-couples/5Tqq4n7xNZcsBtrAeszJBM/story.html?utm_content=bufferaa3a4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#skip-target

Really nice easily digestible article about trauma and community; additional tirade optional!

A REALLY nice easily digestible article about trauma nad community from God's Politics Blog

http://sojo.net/blogs/2014/01/13/new-normal-ten-things-ive-learned-about-trauma?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sojourners%2Fgods-politics+%28Sojourners+God%27s+Politics+Blog%29

If God is parsimonious and RantWoman manages to stay EXTREMELY focused on other things today, RantWoman will STOP HERE.

However, in addition to normal weekday frenzy, RantWoman is also seasoning:

--A whine to giant online retailer. Giant online retailer is about the release a book that sounds very interesting even though RantWoman is also detecting a whole lot of gushiness about blindness tourism. Giant online retailer IS sensibly releasing a book about blind people in print, in Kindle format, and in audible atthe same time, but tomorrow, not today with only pre-orders possible today.
    Mysteriously, despite scads and scads of pre-publication publicity and listserve chatter, Giant Online Retailer somehow has not made it possible to preorder the publication with one's gift card balance.  Giant online retailer seems unaware of the (okay, pathetic, but) practice sometimes of paying blind people for small increments of incidental work such as usability testing with gift cards from that very same Giant Online Retailer.
   But hey, we're resilient. We're blind people! So what if there is one more dang barrier to reading the book on the same schedule as everyone else!

--Additional choruses on themes vexing RantWoman and her Meeting. Praise jesus and thank you for the bounty.

RantWoman will now breathe, refer people to trauma article. Lather Rinse Repeat.

Hours and hours of wholesome fun with MINUTES

RantWoman, MUST YOU fuss and cavil and quibble and edit and editorialize all over EVERY SINGLE bleeping, blessed, freaking set of draft minutes that cross your eyeballs?

RantWoman apologizes, sort of. Presently, RantWoman's life is WAY too richly endowed with people speaking on her behalf, telling her they feel no need to interact and therefore RantWoman does not either, telling her what she does or does not need to interact with, telling her she is "so out of order" for noticing things other people show no signs of detecting.

One time a few months ago, RantWoman even had to have an argument on the "what RantWoman needs" theme with RantMom over a supply of vacation oatmeal. (How apt.) Even worse, RantWoman also detects expectations that she is supposed to be GRATEFUL for all these ever so generous offers to do discernment onher behalf. The point: RantWoman is not sure she can even interact with the "must you?" question above.

Hold that point and all in the vicinity of RantWoman's Inner Blowtorch in the Light, hopefully a more transformative Light than RantWoman's Inner Blowtorch alone.

Here are RantWoman's meditations upon the draft minutes from last month's Meeting for Business, just in time to ferment with Nominations season. Praise Jesus!
Remember "RantWoman, I am not interested in your thought processes" Friend, formerly of the Oops Well committee, from many moons ago?
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/02/shoes-for-barefoot.html

Committee to Nominate the Nominating Committee  ...
Friends APPROVED "RantWoman I am not interested in your Thought Processes" Friend to serve on Nominating, and APPROVED laying down the current Committee to Nominate the Nominating Committee.

RantWoman admits that suggesting the insertion of noms de blog for either the nominee or the Committee to Nominate the Nominating committee.are probably unhelpful. Hold the idea of noms de blog in the Light and PLEASE do not tempt RantWoman to elaborate further.

Care & Counsel:
...Friends APPROVED membership for The Safest Sex Offender on the Planet.
The Safest Sex Offender on the Planet did not waste any words in his membershp application; nor did the recording Clerk waste words recording this in the Draft minutes.

RantWoman is GLAD this membership was basically a non-event, GLAD that other vexed questions did not get entangled in the discussion, GLAD to hear / be reminded of a few points from history not reflected in the minimalist minutes. RantWoman would feel blessed if words about how exactly to adjust the wording were given to someone else, but there goes RantWoman with God as personal butler wishes again.

Facilities: Announcement of emergency Quaker House sewer repair
RantWoman's memory of the announcement was something like:
--Yes, we have money to pay for it.

--Y'all better be really fond of the tree that caused the trouble.

--There was this slick plastic stent involved that will give us another twenty years of life out of our clay sewer pipe.

--Oh, and the people affected by the sewer issues: they are getting fed pizza and have a shower option and are being WAY nicer about it than the person giving the report admits he would have been.
RantWoman again hopes words about how to adjust the below will come to SOMEONE, better yet, someone else besides RantWoman.

(Clerk of Facilities Committee) reported that a side sewer failed at Quaker House last week, caused by tree roots attacking the clay pipe. This required immediate repair work at a cost of approximately $4,500. After consulting with several Friends, Facilities decided to spend an additional $5,000 on further work to prevent recurrence of the problem without removing the tree. This meant spending the rest of QH’s maintenance budget for the year as well as money budgeted for the QH building reserve fund.

On the bright side, RantWoman finds it a peculiar blessing to sit with these quibbles; RantWoman hopes that light comes to others as well. But hold RantWoman in the Light in the event that she also becomes clearer to record the more scalding things she spoke of during Concerns.

In a nutshell, what is said during Concerns customarily is not recorded in the minutes.  RantWoman spoke of circumstances which seem to her to be Silencing but which are recorded in past minutes as "mentoring." RantWoman would SO like there not to be so much data behind RantWoman's concern. Hold that thought in the Light.

Sign up by January 15! Register for FLGBTQC Midwinter gathering!

RantWoman is seasoning the following Invitation to attend the FLGBTQC Midwinter Gathering, to be held this year at Menucha retreat Center outside Portland OR
http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.com/2013/11/an-invitation-to-flgbtqc-mid-winter.html

The FLGBTQC website:
http://flgbtqc.quaker.org/

Info specifically about the upcoming Midwinter gathering
https://sites.google.com/site/flgbtqcmw2014/

Here's the basic problem: RantWoman is NOT led to attend herself. RantWoman has schedule conflicts. RantWoman IS led to exhort and cajole selected others toward attendance. Leadings on behalf of others are always risky, but here are RantWoman's observations in exhortation:

RantWoman particularly has leadings on behalf of a Friend who hardly ever goes to anything beyond her own Meeting except apparently once the PNQM Silent Retreat. RantWoman has suggested firmly that the Friend she has in mind GO, dip her toes in as far as she is led, be sure to go to whatever daily worship sharing option there is, absolutely, categorically NOT sign up to do ANYTHING beyond whatever minimal chores might be involved for the weekend and simply experience events.
In support of this leading, RantWoman invites readers: what would you tell someone attending FLGBTQC for the very first time?

RantWoman met many FLGBTQC Friends the year the FGC gathering was in Tacoma on the campus of PLU. RantWoman every day attended afternoon Meeting for Worship. Every day RantWoman experienced both something which made RantWoman roll her eyes and moan "Oh please" and also something which RantWoman was certain was the reason she had gone to worship. RantWoman seems to have a pretty high tolerance for "oh please" moments; this is one reason she sticks things out for the other wonder moments.
RantWoman again invites readers: What is your experience on the spectrum of reactions described here?

If RantWoman DID feel led to attend, RantWoman has one interesting mission in mind: RantWoman has a couple peers from outside Quakerdom who are college professors in different Bible Belt states. One in particular reports for various reasons that students feel safe to come out to her but she herself has no sense of how to help such students with their spiritual challenges. So if RantWoman DID attend, she might be looking for connections willing, discretely to accept referrals of such students.

RantWoman notes one opportunity which frequently comes up when herMeeting is discussed in the wider world of Quakers,the "how's your sex offender?" conversation. RantWoman has been around this topic enough times to have picked up a fair number of stories of other Meetings and Friends churches who have sex offenders among their worshipping community. RantWoman also notes the  reality that once in awhile at queer events one also encounters someone who has been branded a sex offender for having consensual sex with a partner of the same gender. RantWoman has no idea whether any such people might attend FLGBTQC, let alone whether they would identify themselves if they do. RantWoman nevertheless feels called to note the possibility.

If definitional complexities seem oh a bit much, RantWoman highly recommends a hike.  RantWoman knows there are hiking options on the grounds of Menucha itself. RantWoman also notes that Menucha is located on the road to Multonomah falls. If one needs a break from activities at Menucha, there are several gorgeous hike options at the different waterfalls and lookouts along the road to Multonomah Falls.

One reason RantWoman is not led to attend: Menucha has a glorious outdoor swimming pool with a view out over the Columbia gorge. RantWoman really, really, really likes swimming in that pool. Swimming in that pool is only allowed when weather has been above some minimum temperature for several days running. RantWoman thinks even with  global warming, the temperature had better NOT be above the minimum for the necessary number of days in February! Sigh.

Another feeble RantWoman excuse for not attending: maybe in preparation for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, RantWoman will hide out and meditate about the Russian national mood as far as gays and lesbians. Well, maybe.
Again, RantWoman regretably has schedule conflicts herself; that is one reason to keep telling other peopleabout the upcoming midwinter gathering!

Clemency Petition for Aaron Borrero

From the Friends Committee on WA Public Policy Criminal Justice Working Group

Friends,
Our colleague, Tim Wettack, sent this petition for clemency for Aaron  Borrero. In addition to Tim's personal description below of Aaron,  there is more information about him on the link below. Although we may not know Aaron personally, he is an example of a number of guys in prison who have done their "correctional" work and need to go home.

Because Washington state does not have parole they are kept imprisoned with wasted lives and expensive incarceration. Unless the WA legislature enacts second chance legislation to recognize men like Aaron for turning their lives around, clemency is one of the
few if only ways out.

Please consider signing the petition for clemency included in the link below

From Tim Wettack:
Aaron has been in prison for 16 years; he has approximately 5 years  left on his sentence.  I've gotten to know Aaron at the CLO [Concerned Lifers Organization at Monroe].  He is a very good and solid guy (man).  He recently got married (in prison, of course).  

There is no question that Aaron "gets it".  There is NO WAY that he is  any threat to society or that he would recidivate.  NO WAY.   I would welcome Aaron to stay at our home at any time with no concerns whatsoever.   The state does not need to expend $47K per year to continue to keep people like Aaron locked up. 

Please consider logging onto the below link and endorsing Aaron's clemency petition.  
Thank you.    Tim Wettack
 http://www.clemency4aaron.com

Paola D'alessio

RantWoman thanks a college housemate's post on Facebook for this interview with astronomer Paola D'Alessio who died recently of cancer.

Interview in Spanish
http://www.lahuesuda.com/html/contenido.php?id=1252

Reflections on community, shared.individual resistance, uniting

Does anyone besides RantWoman see what these two blog posts have in common, one in terms of individuals in a Meeting and the other in terms of local moments of non-cooperation in Denmark during the Holocaust, how all the local non-cooperation added up to extraordinary national resistance?

http://thegoodraisedup.blogspot.com/2014/01/being-known-by-being-vulnerable.html

http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/01/surprising-truth-about-denmark-holocaust


and since more nonviolent resistance to Nazis is in the blogroll, another link just to be sure:
http://wagingnonviolence.org/2014/01/five-movies-upset-mainstream-wwii-narrative-show-power-nonviolent-resistance/

Government Issue vehicles

RantWoman is somewhat observing 12 days of Christmas with attention to various and sundry as who have showed up over the holidays, at least by phone, email...

Today is observation with attention to RantBrother lately in MT and indoors during subzero weather albeit under different circumstances than he told RantMom earlier in the month.

The bad news: whatever blessings in the realm of previous ways to live indoors RantBrother told RantMom about had dissolved by the time of RantBro's holiday call to RantWoman.

The good news: at least RantBrother had the sense to find a way in out of the cold.

The good news: RantBro is motivated to seek work.

The bad news: RantBro is interested in more mysterious law enforcement, the kind of job that comes with "a government issue 4x4 and a government issue .45.

Is this:

--redneck trashtalk that any red-blooded Monanan should just know to blow off?

--still yet more unrealistic 'bro thinking about employment

--yet another job possibility that we all get to be thankful has SCANT probability of actually turning into actual paychecks? Hallelujah! Praise Jesus. Amen!

--simply what RantBrother presence means today...?