Kids. Walking. Freedom

Facebook served up this juxtaposition.
RantWoman might or might not find time to riff.

Parent Like a German
http://time.com/3720541/how-to-parent-like-a-german/?xid=newsletter-brief#3720541/how-to-parent-like-a-german/

Parents investigated for letting 10 and 6 year old kids walk home a mile without parents.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/maryland-couple-want-free-range-kids-but-not-all-do/2015/01/14/d406c0be-9c0f-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html

Ten things creative people do differently.

RantWoman admits that too many internet lists just cause an allergic reaction. However, RantWoman is grabbing onto this list of 10 things highly creative people do differently.

https://designschool.canva.com/blog/10-things-creative-people-differently/#.VOkbYPkywAQ.twitter

Overachieving in C

Overachieving again, this time in a Facebook game.
C
Something I hate: conformity, Confusion
Something I love: Creativity, Cathedrals
Somewhere I have been: Cleveland, Cinncinnati, Columbus IN and Columbus MT but oddly not Columbus OH, Cortez Co,
Somewhere I would like to go: Cuernavaca
Someone I know: Cathy x about 5
Favorite Movie: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

As told

RantWoman’s Meeting is just not serving up enough popcorn (hah!) during Meeting for Worship these days and RantWoman is called to reproduce a couple moments which have made it out of her mouth in other worship settings.

Example of a popcorn kernel:

 Testimony, plus or minus what made it out of RantWoman’s mouth:

I guess what I am to speak of is that an estimated 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men have some direct personal experience with sexual assault. That would probably be true of our community whether or not our community also included offenders returning to society, and that truth is important to the life of our worshiping community.

The vast majority of people now incarcerated will return to society. As a worshipping community seeking to support this human restoration, my Meeting speaks openly of two known sex offenders who are part of our Meeting. The two people are individuals with different stories, both valued part of our community.  We continue to learn a great deal from walking both with survivors and with offenders and their safety plans.

 

Testimony 2, again plus or minus what made it out of RantWoman’s mouth:

One of the things I follow in my Twitter feed is voices of the brave young people involved in the #BlackLivesMatter protests. Honestly, some of the time I read these posts and think “Kids, kids, kids.” Then I remember that I probably sounded a little like that way back when…. As I tried to find my own words. Other times I reflect on facts in Twitter for DAYS before many media outlets noticed. And there is so much hope and concern and courage in these messages there is no choice but to forward, retweet. I hope we can think also of these young people as we go forth to lobby….

Example of a popcorn kernel:

 

Testimony 3: long and tangled about transportation and taxes, climate change and “internalizing externalities.” Belongs on RantWoman’s other blog.

 

 

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Ferguson, MO and Police Militarizati...

#blacklivesmatter

RantWoman has eccentric archiving practices.

RantWoman appreciates this episode of This Week Tonight for collecting several moments from the week of events in Ferguson MO in 2014.

Favorite quote " 'There is no history of trouble between the races here' is a sentence that should not be uttered anywhere even in Antarctica!"

New Tags

Dear GOD

RantWoman has a brimming inbox, a tangle of to-do's, and more loose threads than an old denim skirt. In terms of not managing to give things up for Lent, RantWoman has a deep sense that she SHOULD focus there.

And yet, RantWoman is being served up the need to announce two new tags for her blog:

Blind Spots:
--Moments of blindness tourism, including but not limited to the greatest hits in the realm of Grab the Blind Person and Bless Them
--Meditations on passages in the Bible referring to blind people or blindness
--Irreverent metaphorical references.
--May or may not include other moments of ableism
--May or may not be grounded, centered, reasonable, calm-inducing.
--Probably really need to be held in the Light but RantWoman may have decided preferences about polarized or non-polarized, with or without glare, flames, fluourescence...

Popcorn Kernels
--Moments which if offered in Meeting for Worship would only contribute to a sense of overabundance whether or not such abundance would be well-received (Warning: RantWoman finds the smell of popcorn and the sense of popped kernels overflowing from heated vessels terribly appealing.)
--Excellent uses of steam, particularly when the results are low in fat, crunchy and full of fiber.
--Possibly sometimes enhanced by adding butter and salt, or for those into more organic mortification of the flesh, tamari, garlic power, and nutritional yeast.

Example of a popcorn kernel:
“Jesus Christ on a pizza crust” is:
--a weird allusion to a long ago restaurant review featuring pulled pork and kimchi pizza?
--let’s see gluten, meat, dairy so utterly nutritionally and theologically blasphemous that RantWoman should wash her brain out for even thinking of it?
--the perfect ear worm for ALL KINDS of situations. --a phrase at high risk of tumbling out of RantWoman's mouth presently.

Lord have mercy on us all.

Peace Camp Herstory Event May 8-10, Boston

A Save-the-date item for celebration of key moments from RantWoman's past.



Check out PeaceCampHerstory.BlogSpot.com

Meaning to: Lent

RantWoman means to meditate on the meaning of Lent, at least enough to work on the giving something up issue. In the meantime, RantWoman offers one list of options for the season.

http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/40-ideas-for-lent-2015

Alert readers will note that RantWoman is late even getting started. credit for that belongs to the Queen of Spades, RantWoman's interim spiritual director.

The Queen of Spades takes a break from spiritual direction duties to patrol for pigeons on the window ledge.

The Queen of Spades' counsel for almost all of RantWoman's spiritual concerns is that RantWoman should be still, worship or pray, (falling asleep also counts) and serve as cat furniture so the Spiritual Director has something warm to sleep on. RantWoman has definitely received worse advice.

RantWoman has a long list of sufferings and shortcomings she is happy to think about givingup for lent, but even the thinkingabout will have to wait for another day.

Quaker Lobby Day 2015 Issues

Reproduced verbatim from fcwpp.org

2015 Quaker Lobby Day Issues

Environmental Stewardship and Peace
Support HB 1314 / SB 5283: Implementing a carbon pollution market program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This legislation — requested by the Governor — would create financial incentives to encourage less energy consumption, to invest in technologies that produce energy with fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and to sequester free carbon. Not only would the funds raised provide revenue for transportation, education and low income citizens’ needs, but requiring major carbon emitters to pay a price through a cap-and-trade system will help reduce the effects of climate change and will move us in the direction of a cleaner environment. We cannot continue on the current path of releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere if we want our children and grandchildren to have an opportunity for good health and a sustainable environment. HB 1314: Voted out of House Environment Cmte; now in House Appropriations Cmte. SB 5283: In Senate Energy, Environment, and Telecommunications Cmte; no hearing scheduled.
Support HB 1449 / SB 5087: Concerning Oil Transportation and Safety. This legislation — requested by the Governor — would improve safety in transporting crude oil by rail and barge to and through ports on our coast. It addresses the need for public information, greater fiscal responsibility for the carriers, and contingency planning for spill response. Because the shipping of crude oil by rail is dangerous, the improvement of safety protocols is essential, and is supported by Friends who are concerned about environmental hazards and the safety of people living along rail corridors. This legislation is not intended to address the issue of whether new oil transfer and processing facilities should be permitted in Washington ports. HB 1449: In House Environment Cmte; awaiting vote in committee. SB 5087: In Senate Energy, Environment, and Telecommunications Cmte; no hearing scheduled. Note: An alternative bill, SB 5057, has passed the Energy, Environment, & Telecom. Cmte and is scheduled for a hearing on 2/17 in Senate Ways and Means.
Criminal Justice

Support HB 1885 / SB 5755: to Address and mitigate the impacts of property crimes

• Washington has one of the highest property crime rates in the country.
• 75 percent of the individuals convicted of property crimes have behavioral health problems (substance abuse, alcohol abuse, or mental health issues) that go largely untreated.
• Washington does not use community custody as do other states.

HB 1885 and SB 5755 adjust the sentencing grid to require 12 months community custody (probation) for lower level felony property offenses (current response is an average of one month in prison after jail time served awaiting case resolution). $9 million is allocated to support community supervision and behavioral health treatment and services. Additional money is allocated to support increased law enforcement.
The Washington Justice Commission is established; it assumes the duties of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission and administers grant programs. HB 1885: In House Public Safety Committee; hearing has been held, awaiting committee vote on Feb. 20. SB 5755: Scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Law and Justice Committee at 1:30 on Feb. 16 (Quaker Lobby Day) in Cherberg Bldg., Hearing Rm 4. Has bipartisan support.

Support HB 1390: Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs) reform for released prisoners. LFOs refer to the responsibility of an offender to pay court costs and restitution fees. HB 1390 establishes restitution to victims as highest priority. It eliminates interest, set by law at 12%, on the non-restitution portion of LFOs, and permits courts to waive the non-restitution portion of the principal for offenders ruled indigent at the time of sentencing. Even though less than 25% of LFOs are ever collected, and released prisoners are most often not able to pay the thousands of dollars in LFOs they can end up owing, the obligations do not disappear and individuals’ efforts to rehabilitate themselves are compromised. Relief from this burden will help released prisoners reconstruct their lives, reduce recidivism, and thus enhance public safety. HB 1390: In House Judiciary Cmte; hearing has been held.

Support HB 1505: Restorative Justice (RJ) practice expansion and clarification for juveniles. HB 1505 supports expanded use of Restorative Justice (RJ) practices for juveniles. RJ refers to treating a crime as a break in a relationship that needs to be healed through a collaborative approach among victims, community and offenders. This bill builds on the RJ definition FCWPP successfully got into the Revised Code of Washington several years ago to increase the opportunities for using RJ in all juvenile cases except for violent crimes or sex crimes. Victim’s needs and rights continue to be protected by providing victims with opportunities to participate in RJ practices, while explicitly stating that participation is voluntary (victims are never required to participate). HB 1505: In House Early Learning and Human Services Cmte; hearing has been held.

Economic Justice
Support a tax on Capital Gains to raise needed revenue and provide wealthy Washingtonians an opportunity to pay their fair share. The average Washingtonian pays $3,823/year in state and local taxes. This is 55% of the average residents from other states pay in taxes. In only five states do residents set aside less money for their collective well being than we do in Washington, residents in the remaining 44 states all pay higher taxes.
While—on average—people in our state pay significantly less in taxes than do people in other states, if you are poor you pay more. This is because Washington has the most regressive tax system in the nation. We require the poorest 20% of our state’s residents pay 17% of their income in state and local taxes while we only ask for 2% from the top 1% with our state’s highest incomes.
Meanwhile, our school classrooms are overcrowded, children whose parents rely on TANF to provide for their material needs suffer with grants that are 85% of their 2011 levels, and friends and families of people who are mentally ill are turning to the courts to coerce the legislature into coming up with funding to pay for needed behavioral health care and hospital beds.
A 7% tax on capital gains above $25,000/individual ($50,000/couple) would provide our state with $800 million in desperately needed revenue. It would also go a long way toward requiring all state residents make a more equitable contribution to cover our shared needs, instead of putting such an unfair and disproportional burden on the poor.
Support $75 million for the Housing Trust Fund. Our state has a deficit of 327,136 housing units that are affordable for and available to households with incomes below 50% of the median family income, according to the Washington State Affordable Housing Advisory Board. The Housing Trust Fund is administered through the State Department of Commerce and supports construction of desperately needed low-income housing through grants and loans. The governor proposed adding $75 million to the Housing Trust Fund to reduce homelessness and FCWPP requests support to keep this funding in any final budget.

Prevent Homelessness, increase TANF grants to 2011 levels. More than 288,000 children in our state live in poverty, a net increase 37,170 since 2009. In June, 2014, 62,579 of these children were served by our state’s Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) program. A family of three currently receives $478/month through TANF. This reflects a 15% cut from 2011. Restoring this cut will increase the grant for a family of 3 from $478 to $562/month, providing critical resources these families need to keep roofs over their heads.

A Positive Attitude




A positive attitude may not solve all your problems but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
 

Zora Neale Hurston on Love, Soul

RantWoman fully intended to have a lot more words for the occasion of Valentine's Day. If all the words on RantWoman's heart do not show up until after the festivities, it MIGHT not be a calamity.

Happy Valentine's Day EVERYONE !

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: VERY early episode Death Penalty (HBO)

Warning: this video includes many disgusting, tasteless and intrinsically upsetting moments.

RantWoman admits to rotting her mind with every second of video, but does note the video both speaks in excruciating detail of past practices in Britain and makes excellent case against the death penalty.

Hearts and Flowers: Hold FLGBTQC Midwinder Gathering 2015 in the Light.

 

In awe of LOVE

RantWoman means to spend the next few days of the Valentine season celebrating Love. Bear in mind, this is RantWoman. RantWoman definitely promises some prickly memes mixed in with the hearts and flowers. Red roses. Watch for thorns.

First, we hold in the Light the FLGBTQC Midwinter Gathering.

http://flgbtqc.quaker.org/

https://sites.google.com/site/flgbtqc2015/home

RantWoman penned the following bulletin announcment anonymized here:

Friends are invited to hold in the Light the Midwinter gathering of Friends for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC) occurring this weekend in Burlington NJ. FLGBTQC helps sustain long witness at RantWoman's Meeting about  diversity of  loving relationships, gender identity, and marriage equality throughout Quaker circles. Friends might particularly hold in care two members of RantWoman's Meeting who both have important Quaker service roles for FLGBTQC.


Backstory?

Why a bulletin announcement and not, say, travelling minutes?

What other topics doddered to the top of RantWoman's spiritual compost heap as signs of preparations appeared on social media? STAY TUNED!

RantWoman finds this item topical. Unfortunately, in the spirit of flinging around Quaker crockery, RantWoman is also seasoning a call to elder based on exactly this sentiment plus some others. But that is more Love and Truth than this post needs.

"Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes; for those who love
with heart and soul there is no separation."Rumi.

Lay Over

RantWoman is deeply humbly grateful to have had a whole week to reflect on proposed items for Meeting for Business. RantWoman is deeply humbly grateful for information exchanged oer the week by email. And RantWoman’s Inner Blowtorch still did not kick into focus completely until too late to season one piece of concern before Meeting for Business. RantWoman has set this to post after Meeting for Business and may edit further after the fact.

 Bless the Lord oh my soul. RantWoman thought she already had enough, enough, enough of.... Apparently RantWoman was mistaken, though between cyberspace and face to face RantWoman has also been served up a peculiar collection of signs and miracles.

1. RantWoman is having an allergic reaction to the phrase "prayerful discernment." It's like most allergies: one does not necessarily ract the first time, but... Mercifully, the allergy did not kick in until AFTER Meeting for Business. Bless the Lord ... for Light of the form "Here is my Leading. How are we gong to work with it?"

2. Another sign highly topical to this post: Tinker vs Des Moines, a famous Supreme Court case that wandered out of RantWoman's spiritual compost heap during a conversation about Quaker children in Seattle Public Schools. Bless the Lord oh my soul and also RantWoman's eighth grade American history teacher.

And what meme will RantWoman grab? It probably will not appear in this post.


This email remained unsent but has been edited for blogworthiness. Please read all the way through before hyperventilating.

Hi Friends

 Would it be possible simply to lay over everything to do with the committee discerning about an item of business RantWoman does not wish to specify. I am sorry to write this so late and very humble in my clarity about the need to do so.

 I do not unite with the proposal simply to ANNOUNCE the names on this proposed committee. I believe Meeting for Business needs to be engaged enough to APPROVE this step and I am really sorry  for the late notice but I am not prepared to APPROVE this list without dealing with some history involving Very Weighty Friend who is town this weekend and I am not clear to move forward without conversation about my concern. I am having a somewhat parallel concern with Jesus and His Magic Mud Friend. For better or worse I have limited basis for opinion out of about anyone else proposed but we still need to lay this over and concentrate today on the question about (money).

 Here is my issue. I wrote the following blog post about how cool the new website is:

http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2015/02/access-inclusion-compliance-absurdly.html

 Writing the blog post I collided with a conversation from a nominating season a few years ago where Seriously Weighty Friend repeatedly declared everything to do with disability off-topic. To me that is dangerously close to saying that everything to do with the ADA is off-topic, something we CANNOT do either morally or legally.

 I KNOW Friends have been subjected to lots of work since then but I am still clear that I cannot agree to move forward without some kind of effort to address this history. Since Seriously Weighty Friend is out of town this month, I urge us to lay this matter over until next month and in the interim I will speak to people involved and be open to conversations initiated by others.

 Thank you all very much for holding this concern in prayer.

 Sincerely,

 RantWoman

PS. So Out of Order Friend also earned her Nom de Blog for a conversation where, to RantWoman’s ear, the need to speak of disability and privilege was declared So Out of Order. Well, RantWoman is unsure whether it was the need to talk about such things that was declared So out of Order or RantWoman’s persistence in trying to speak at a time when a whole bunch of weighty Friends from out of town were in attendance.  Please hold the problem and RantWoman’s and others’ further discernment in the Light.

RantWoman is especially holding in the Light the following themes:

 --More than one Friend who seems to think that because they personally cannot do something it neither can be done in general nor needs to be done.

 --The difference between cannot and will not attempt.

 PPS. RantWoman spoke to this concern, still not in full detail in Meeting for Business. RantWoman was also blessed with further conversation and further clarity about continuing need to be true to her Light. Bah! Why can't it just be EASY...?

Snow, Suffrage, Seattle: Riffing on Moses Brown - School Is Closed

RantWoman notes weather reports indicating the third major snowstorm along the east coast in 2 weeks.

Readers who need their School is Closed announcement set to music, have at it!




A link to the followup video about the video
http://youtu.be/ymk_SusIcis

There. Now, please excuse RantWoman for certainty that Quakerism is a lot more than a few boarding schools and some small colleges!

RantWoman is fired up with zeal to set matters right as far as  Truth in the vicinity of RantWoman:

The bad news if one were to want snow closure in or around Seattle: it is presently 53 degrees and raining. We need the moisture. We need snow in the Cascades more.

The "good" news: it would take less than an inch of snow to shut down Seattle. We have very steep hills. We have temperature regimes that melt things slightly and then turn snow into sheets of ice. We have people who have NO CLUE how to drive. Anyone new to Seattle who wonders why everyone is getting told to GO HOME when there is what looks to people from snowier climes like only heavy frost on the ground needs to GO HOME first and ask questions later.

Sorry RantWoman does not have a more tuneful way to say that.

Now, about those Quakers being at the forefront of social justice movements, say, like women's suffrage: look all you easterners. MT, WY, OR and RantWoman thinks some other western states women all had the right to vote long before the rest of the country. With the possible exception of OR, about which RantWoman needs to do more research, none of these states was exactly a hotbed of Quakerism!

But RantWoman, what about that famous Quaker business process of trying to listen to everyone?

RantWoman apologizes: she is presently unable to summon her Nom de Blog for the person from her Meeting who says there is this thing called the Seattle Process that is all about turning all of Seattle into Quaker Meeting!

Would this be...EVANGELISM...or just outrageous quest for World Domination?????

Big Giant Thought Bubbles of Gratitude

Big purple blobs to start with:

 

Big Giant Thought Bubbles of Gratitude or something.

Has RantWoman mentioned that Little Sister alternates? One minute she will be sharing unbelievable amonts of detail about say compression garments and unbalanced body parts after surgery all over the bus. The next minute she will be telling RantMom her paid caregiver to "shut up in the name of HIPAA."

The sharing abundantly behavior SOMETIMES attracts empathy and various strands of useful info from people who travel in the same realms. The Shut up in the Name of HIPAA also comes with SOME blessings: RantWoman is actually quite enjoying subtractions of RantMom editorializing about matters in Little Sister's household that RantWoman sees differently than RantMom. The problem is how to speak of GIANT gratitudes.

It occurs to RantWoman that she is not necessarily supposed to know the first item, but supposing that RantWoman were extrapolating from:

--Summer discussions of new wheelchair with different weight and center of gravity and maneuverability than old one and issues of whether this really is compatible with bus travel.

--A sense of continued progress due to person who has somehow worked brilliantly with Little Sister in the realm of helping her get a handle on things she is probably mortally vexed to be stuck about such as paperwork for different paratransit transportation options.

Then RantWoman could express HUGE gratitude that the getting paperwork lined up so that RantMom and Little Sister get transported together and delivered to needed doorways. RantWoman thinks this is PROBABLY orders of magnitude more manageable than Little Sister in her motorized wheelchair and RantMom on foot trying to stay in sync about travel. RantMom has her cane and the wheeled backpack she admits to relying on for help with balance and her hearing loss and perpetual vexations about buying shoes that fit right and interact favorably with bunnions and hammertoes and.. still has the same excuses to gritch about the eccentric choices paratransit drives make about routing, but OH WELL!

RantWoman's other GIANT gratitude comes via a chance encounter on the bus wth Irrepressible Nephew while both were enroute to Wednesday night activities at our respective faith communities.
First we have a giant party of celebration for Irrepressible Nephew crossing the milestones needed to go at least a few places ON HIS OWN. Here's to the dance of new horizons and new responsibilities!
Irrepressible Nephew reports that AT LAST after YEARS of trying, Little Sister's household has moved from an apartment on two stories iwht stairs to an apartment with the same space but all on one level! Little Sister's household has been TRYING to cut through bureaucracy, red tape to achieve this for YEARS and it FINALLY has come about. RantWoman is VERY humble about a sense of mouthy white person managing to push a lot of the right levers to make it happen. Hold that point and extra gratitude and humility in the Light along with all the other people who really need accessible apartments in the Light.

RantWoman heard the word "stressed" in reference to both of Nephew's parents; RantWoman also heard the kind of sweet moment from Brother in Law that tends to make RantMom roll her eyes but that RantWoman deeply values for its authenticity, for the shared validation of the value of RantWoman just listening.

RantWoman will offer GIANT thought bubbles of gratitude for Little Sister having more space. RantWoman DEEPLY prays that the extra space is worth all the stress of moving. RantWoman is EXTREMELY grateful for RantMom not working in an environment crammed with so many trip and fall hazards that RantWoman did not even like going to visit.

And Irrepressible Nephew made RantWoman grin: a couple stops after he got on the bus, we all had to change buses to one without some mechanical issue. Irrepressible Nephew: "Good Bye Auntie, I want to go sit in the back!"

Odetta - Battle Hymn Of The Republic

An absolutely gorgeous performance from the album Best of the BVanguard years.

The Wolf Howl of Meeting for Business

From Today's First Day Bulletin, reprinted verbatim, with RantWoman doing the best she can not to editorialize, noodle around about in a quarrelsom manner, suggest any alternate or supplemental readings, short-circuit anyone's direct line to the divine, become unblievably fixated on something or other, or blow away any possibility of shared understanding in a whirlwind of huffing and puffing and blowing down anyone's house of cards while being open to the wolf howl of God, the Holy Spirit moving like a tornado....., not to mention trying to think of the totality of the experience for everyone.

2--1--2015 Are our Meetings for Business held in the spirit of a Meeting for Worship in which we seek divine guidance for our actions in love and mutual forbearance? How well do our Meetings for Business lead to a corporate search for and revelation of God's truth? Reference: "In both meeting for worship and the meeting for business, guidance is sought from the Spirit of Truth and Life by whose operation the group is brought into love and unity...[and] practiced with considerable success for three centuries." "Persons who are dogmatic...and who go to the meeting determined to win acceptance of their opinions are exceedingly difficult to absorb.""Unity is always possible because the same Light of Truth shines in some measure in every human heart tending toward the same goal." Howard Brinton, Guide To Quaker Practice, 1993, pp. 37, 38,42, 43.

and further:
You are receiving the business meeting agenda and supporting documents a week earlier than usual. Our hope is that this additional time will allow you to share any questions or concerns about a particular item with the committee members who are bringing the item forward. This will enable us to be better informed and to turn more of our time in business meeting towards Spirit-led discernment. If you are confused about any item, or have a concern, please reach out to the committee clerks during these days beforehand, in person or via email or phone. This is an experiment Coordinating Committee is trying from February until June, and we look forward to exploring what impact this additional preparation time may have on the weight and depth of our meetings for business.