Today's Future Now - Earth Day Edition | The Daily Show

RantWoman did joyously observe Earth Day with sentimental reflections on Weekly Reader and about third grade, as well as the part about glorious sunshine, not to mention appreciation of stellars jays in a back yard and  crows on a rooftop, torrents of rain, howling wind woven into road rumble.

HOWEVER, RantWoman is assuredly not uniformly a creature of light and cheer. In fact, sometimes RantWoman glories in material that is tasteless, insensitive, definitely NOT politically correct. In other words, strange as it may seem, RantWoman runs out of other things to pray over and goes out to grab something outrageous from the interwebs. Enjoy?

Also, DO NOT say RantWoman did nto warn you..

Unapology

With no apologies whatsoever to Barclay and his apology to the true Christian Divinity

Bless us Oh Lord for RantWoman is not reacting as desired about a number of threads in recent conversations and email.

"RantWoman, you should apologize."

You want me to apologize for NOT dumping the full weight of fury into one young Friend's lap????

RantWoman APOLOGIZE.

Okay. RantWoman apologizes for holding back in a way that perhaps made one Friend feel undeservedly singled out when a whole bunch of people were, um, falling short.

RantWoman APOLOGIZE!

RantWoman sincerely humbly hopes she is not the most difficult person Friend has ever had to deal with. RantWoman also humbly would not mind being wrong: RantWoman doubts she will be the biggest or gnarliest challenge during a long discernment process. RantWoman figures we all better learn to argue respectfully. RantWoman does not mean that idea to be as painful as it seems to be and is assuredly holding problems in the Light. RantWoman apologizes but that is the best she can do for now.

"RantWoman, you're being unQuakerly."

Really. Define "unquakerly." Frankly, considering all the silencing, gaslighting, microaggressions, misapprehensions, and general all around muddle occurring among Quakers around RantWoman. UNquakerly just MIGHT be a big improvement. Now, what paths might help us find our way to some kind of center?

Fox Spews: Tucker Carlson Goes on Epic Rant Against War in Syria

No, of COURSE RantWoman is not a big or regular consumer of Fox Spews. But screeds like this are one reason RantWoman occasionally wades into the roiling streams



For the record the cruise missile strikes delivered after the poison gas attack discussed here also generated Russian language Twitter claims that 70% of the missiles were shot down by Russian anti-aircraft forces. Go figure.

Trevor Noah for Secretary of State: Trump Sends a $250 Million Message to Syria - Between the Scenes | The D...

Microaggression Mania

As far as RantWoman knows there is no Quaker testimony about Microaggressions, never mind the possibility that Friends commit them left right sidewise and all over the place. RantWoman feels some need actually to think through both theology and neuroscience but that ain't gonna happen tonight.

Adult Religious Education Theme Last week: Microaggressions?

Presenter is:

--a well-educated white guy?

--the kind of pediatric neurologist RantWoman would want if her kid needed a pediatric neurologist?

Okayyyyy?

RantWoman, to herself, "STFU. See what unfolds; be glad SOMEONE is taking on the topic especially since you might be too uncentered by the torrents of microaggressions besetting you to.... Now appreciate thoughtful preparation. Appreciate the neuroscience even if RantWoman does not quite see a couple threads. Appreciate thoughtful historical research even if brain craves more, more than the room can handle in a n hour."

Member of Worship and Ministry introduces topic, says the Friend does not know much about the topic, a little bit surprising to RantWoman but safe to learn.

Presentation about layers of neural development, reaction time, empathy. RantWoman could think of ways to quibble but not in this crowd. RantWoman also would still like some kind of a bibliography especially electronic resources.

But back to Adult Ed. People engage generously.

Is it a microaggression

--when someone has this weird jolly laugh which RantWoman consistently reads as dismissive? Should RantWoman at least ASK whether maybe it is just the Friend being uncomfortable? RantWoman admits to already being tired of behaviors this Friend cannot imagine might be annoying so RantWoman would be charmed if someone else would ask about this.

--when a participant out of some deeply held reservation of conscience refuses to use the mic when speaking and then refuses to speak at all? RantWoman did not succeed in having a followup conversation, at least not yet.

--when RantWoman unceremoniously moves from tiresome grumpy-making folding chair to lovely wooden bench that is up higher and has a nice wall for RantWoman's back?
Presenter did a lovely job of tolerating RantWoman's need to erupt, basically, about Gender Deafness Syndrome, the problem where some men literally cannot hear an idea out of a woman's mouth but the exact same thought will suddenly become instantly comprehensible when it is repeated by a man.

RantWoman could be crabby both to be, she thinks the youngest person there and because some people who, judgmental? Nahhh!--RantWoman thinks REALLY NEED the exercise were not there. Is that absence also a microaggression????

RantWoman is grateful that this event gets high marks from other people besides RantWoman; more importantly, RantWoman was thrilled to hear a Friend's voice RantWoman's thought: it's just the beginning of an important conversation.

Yeah. And RantWoman is a very Bad Friend. RantWoman is envisioning, for the next in a hypothetical series of Yucky Topics potlucks, MicroAggression Mania, with Gamefication!. Everyone gets to name up to say 5 behavhiors they consider microaggressions, how much the behavior bugs them and things that help.  Then people clump up based on whether they either afflicted by the same microaggression or can do something to reduce the burden. Okay so the game needs more thought about what Friendss might be trying to minimize and maximize. but.

In the department of possibly inappropriate amusements, to the Microagression Mania potluck, add the bipolar bakeoff as described here:

https://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2015/10/get-in-line.html

Blame Autocorrect, NOT Voice Recognition

"(RantWoman,) One Friend told me that you frequently do not keyboard emails, but use voice recognition software and dictate emails...."

One Friend would be WRONG and REALLY should NOT be going around spreading misinformation. PLEASE convey to One Friend the following: . RantWoman hates voice recognition software and uses it as little as possible. Once in awhile RantWoman uses voice recognition on her phone to look up some tech support issue but RantWoman does NOT like talking to her devices. RantWoman likes talking TO PEOPLE through her devices! RantWoman does not use voice recognition software for one thing because RantWoman gets really tired of all the transcription errors she reads in the emails she gets from all kinds of other people who do use voice recognition software.

We do of course live in an age where there are many technological paths to message manglement. Consider Autocorrect. Consider RantWoman's idiosyncratic vocabulary, use of slang, jargon common to subcultures such as Quakerdom. RantWoman can cite WAY too many times when her phone thinks it knows what RantWoman means to say better than RantWoman does.

WRONG! And WRONG in ways that wind up being hard to edit for a funky reason RantWoman has not untangled. SOMETIMES the volume up / volume down buttons work to move forward and back in a message. Sometimes RantWoman's phone thinks she specifically wants to adjust the volume for her talking accessibility features. RantWoman has no way of predicting which option will come up. RantWoman thinks POSSIBLY there might be a tech support  / training video out theresomewhere to help RantWoman achieve more predictable results., but so far RantWoman has not intersected with any such thing.

RantWoman does TRY to observe the following forms of email discipline:

--RantWoman prefers to edit long email on real keyboards, particularly if Autocorrect has already mangled something RantWoman did not notice until too late.

--RantWoman tries not to respond on any multi-person email thread more than once in 24 hours. RantWoman makes exceptions when she (or someone else) makes new subject lines but each new thread only gets one response.

--RantWoman is extremely cautious about sending out email after 10 pm. RantWoman's experience: sometimes after 10 pm, RantWoman is highly certain that the internet needs her efforts. RantWoman recognizes that her judgment may misfire. RantWoman also invites readers to consider that sometimes when email gets sent at that hour, the universe REALLY NEEDS IT if only for the need to practice looking at the time stamp before deciding whether to do anything besides hold RantWoman in the Light.

Love Truth Curiosity Popcorn Kernels

Meditations from the RantWoman world of message manglement and muddling along.

RantWoman's bedtime reading right now involves Breme Brown and Rising Strong. the word arising  at the moment from the flow of somnolence is "curiosity," but as a good literature major, RantWoman could also happily dawdle and meander in various realms of blindness tourism and personal vs corporate discernment.  RantWoman could easily dawdle there but NOT TODAY.

"Be mindful, Dear Friends, of the promptings of love and truth in your hearts: they are the motions of the Holy Spirit leading you to God".

Promptings of LOVE and TRUTH?

Love? Are you sure?

TOO MUCH of the Truth?

Truth in forms that are hard to handle, that cause discomfort, that take time and energy?

Quaker exhibitionism all over the interwebs?

RantWoman here collects popcorn kernels, conversational moments ripostes, comments that MIGHT have made it out of her mouth or off her keyboard.

1. "RantWoman, I actually understood what you said in Business Meeting.."

RantWoman attempting if thunderous eyerolling.erupts at least to be gracious about it.

Friend, if you have not understood RantWoman before, what has kept you from asking for clarification? That would be SO much nicer that "I don't understand so RantWoman must go away," a sentiment long leaving a bad taste connected with your name and this despite MUCH progress in some areas.

2. "RantWoman, I  / we do not understand your vocal ministry...(but we cannot recall enough of what you just said to even have some basis for further conversation.)

Friend, has thee considered the possibility that RantWoman rose clear to give the message, clear that it was for someone in the room but not necessarily for you?

(Friend, will thee consider RantWoman insufferably arrogant if she also tells you that three other people have just expressed appreciation for the message that you find incomprehensible?)

Friend, RantWoman has said a number of times that people tend to have repeated messages. RantWoman is aware that for her two basic messages recur though they get hung on different stories. It may or may not be reasonable to hope that someone listening has enough Literature Brain to be able to pull out RantWoman's two most frequently recurring themes, but RantWoman has to trust that the messages are to be voiced even if imperfectly comprehensible. But Friend, what might help you have better conversations if something bothers you?

3. Recently RantWoman has had two conversations where somewhere in the conversation, basically, actual or implied by circumstances

"...but my children..."

in the department of NOT "God as personal butler," what came to RantWoman

"Yes, RantWoman thinks she has a pretty good idea what Friends are hoping RantWoman will say. Friends are hoping that RantWoman will gush with regret for causing distress.

Or perhaps RantWoman is supposed to apologize for expecting something of others' children. 

The sentiment on the tip of RantWoman's fingers: RantWoman sometimes had to cope with parents needing to do adult things like have a conversation. RantWoman is pretty sure your kids can cope too."

(and RantWoman in insufferable oldest child mode MIGHT even go so far as to say "...and learning to cope will be GOOD for them. OR if we all pray to whatever we consider holy and eat our vegetables and get enough sleep, RantWoman MIGHT be able to hear the suggestion that she is just letting her Oldest Child Complex run amok AGAIN.)

State of Society 2018 with enhancements

Here RantWoman humbly offers a number of enhancements to her Meeting’s March 2018 State of Society report. RantWoman discovered this document in 2019 and does not feel led to excavate the unedited original from her email archives. However, Rantwoman is humbled by the, um, insistent and somewhat uncentered tone. Please hold Rantwoman and those around her in the Light.

 

RantWoman intends the enhancements as a gesture of love. RantWoman recognizes the possibility that she is telling too much of the Truth and that her offerings maylook more like further demonstration of RantWoman’s generous capacity to be insufferable than like a gesture of love. PLEASE hold the good intentions in the Light, for one thing because RantWoman’s world is overflowing with other strands of ardently professed good intention, good intention which RantWoman is somehow not always able to detect amid nerves being stomped on, nauseating misuse of terminology, and general day to day woe and intrigue.

 

RantWoman also acknowledges that PERHAPS she should have more insistently offered enhancements during the drafting process including both substance and wordsmithing. TOUGH. It is NOT RantWoman’s job to fix EVERYTHING that might send her around the bend.

 

RantWoman further recognizes that she may have gone overboard, for example about cultivating her own Messiah complex. RantWoman has somehow achieved the role of official Meeting Bogeyman; RantWoman did not go looking for this role but since it has come her way, RantWoman is seasoning a call to play the role with gusto. RantWoman wants to recognize service by many others in her community and thanks in advance anyone intrepid enough to read through the entire offering.

 

University Friends Meeting

State of the Meeting Report

March 29, 2018                      

 

University Meeting had a year that has been both exciting and challenging.  We have sought guidance and support from the Spirit as well as from each other.  We continue to learn as we bump along this journey.  Our demographics make it a challenge to recognize and confront racism, classism, and other demonstrations of privilege within our community and in the larger society. Ableism, anyone?Anyone?Off-topic? Really? STILL? Sexism?

 

Worship remains at the center of our community.  The number of attenders at the 11:00 o’clock worship has decreased [relative to what?] and currently ranges from 45 – 60.  Our worship is generally centered and refreshing, though rarely without vocal ministry.  The 9:30 worship remains loyally attended by 15-30 people who seek a more intimate, silent worship.  Attenders of our small Wednesday evening worship find it very valuable [sigh: RantWoman wishes she had lingered over this sentence sooner because, well yuck. Uninspiring…and sufficient for this year.].  By ending unprogrammed worship after half an hour and starting our business meetings at 11:30 on the 2^nd Sunday we continue to have significant attendance.  As we begin each business meeting, our clerk reminds us that we are meeting on land of the Duwamish people.  Sometimes business is hurried so we can end by 1:00; sometimes we go late, which results in problems with child care and lunch preparation..  We have not yet found a good solution. 

 

Many among us suffer with faltering hearing; gradually thanks partly to RantWoman being ferociously true to her Light for a long time, we have adopted a practice of using a movable mic for Meeting for Business, Adult Religious Education, and some other events though not Meeting for Worship. The discipline of waiting for the mic helps ensure pauses between offerings and increases opportunities for people to be truly heard. Emailing meeting documents in advance is another important accessibility measure for people who can no longer read print.

 

Our First Day School continues to thrive.  As the children have grown older, they are increasingly forthcoming about reporting what they have done in First Day School at the close of 11 AM worship.   We are grateful for the regular teachers who prepare lessons/themes and for the volunteers who assist. RantWoman is deeply grateful that between kids maturing and thoughtful measures by parents and others, our Meeting has evolved ways for children to run and play while paying attention to safety and mobility concerns for Friends like RantWoman who do not see well or have other physical challenges

 

Our Adult Religious Education remains well-attended with diverse offering from spiritual education to practical matters like earthquake preparedness.  The committee has chosen monthly themes that challenge us and provide opportunity for sharing in depth. 

 

This is the 25^th year of our QuEST program (Quaker Experiential Service & Training). In May 2017, we welcomed a new QuEST Director, the 6^th of the program and said goodbye to the last Director who served faithfully for 8 years.   We are pleased that South Seattle Friends Meeting has become a co-sponsor of QuEST.

 

We seasoned a minute for North Pacific Yearly Meeting (NPYM), Welcoming All Genders.  We educated ourselves and approved a minute for ourselves as well as supporting the one for NPYM.   Many of us came to a deeper understanding when a new person who had become active in the Meeting shared that they felt they had found their spiritual community their first day when they saw preferred pronouns on nametags.  However, preferred pronouns remain a challenge for many Friends. http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-glorious-fit-or-2-or-3-or-17-of-them.html

 

As a big meeting, we struggle to draw new people into the life of the meeting. [This could not possibly have anything to do with busy lives, members of pastoral care committees who take days of texting and email to schedule phone conversations or are snippy when phoned, and aging Friends not even interested in conversations about connections involving younger Friends. Or maybe RantWoman justhas a gift for bringing out the best in people?]  We have had 5 deaths in the Meeting this year and have welcomed 2 adult members and 2 new junior members. The staffing of committees is a major challenge as we have 17 committees and only 60 active people on the roster. [This could not possibly have anything to do with a history of Nominating Committee indulging people’s conflict avoidance, Friends who think when then do not understand someone that person should just go away, …]  Several positions remained unfilled this year, most notably that of recording clerk.  We are looking at a possible new configuration of committees.  Our Peace and Social Concerns has joined with Friends from South Seattle and North Seattle Friends Church to develop the Quaker Social Concerns Network to work together on issues.

  

A big change this year has been the departure of our long-time tenants, the American Friends Service Committee and Global Garden Preschool.  The Northwest Indian Committee, spun off from AFSC, rents a small space from us. Operation Nightwatch provides beds for up to 50 homeless men each night.  Facing Homelessness is organizing the Block project to place a Block Houses (125 sq. ft.) in a backyard in each city block as well as providing clothing and other materials to homeless people. We feel well led that our basement is being used by organizations addressing long-standing concerns for homeless people and Native Americans. The Meeting is deeply grateful to members of the Finance Committee for shepherding these changes: finding the tenants, overseeing the building changes and staying in touch with the organizations. 

 

The population of the Puget Sound is growing rapidly with a million more people expected in the region by 2050. Housing supply is nowhere near keeping up with demand and it is going to take more than one tiny house per block to ensure all the newcomers have safe sustainable places to live. Some among us warmly embrace the challenge it will be to renew community amid all these changes.

 

Indeed our area is in the middle of a regionwide housing affordability crisis. Escalating property values have helped provide some among us with generous retirement options; others have been called to move from the Seattle area to smaller cities both to the north and to the south to find more manageable cost of living. Our sorehead member RantWoman finds these changes a mixed blessing. RantWoman is glad on balance for new rental income but admits a peculiar scruple about depending for income on the continued existence of homelessness, even homelessness well cared for in Quaker facilities. And please do not get RantWoman started about wheelchair accessibility for ….

 

We have approved the new volunteer position of Gardening Coordinator to lead others who share a passion for our grounds.   However, we have struggled to care for our buildings.  After many business meetings, we approved a new staff position: a full-time live-in Facilities Manager.  The position was proposed by Finance, Facilities, and Personnel Committees and changes our current staff configuration.  It was a challenge to balance Meeting needs and care for current staff.  We have lost some valued members in this process. We provided one staff person a severance package but the final approval still felt to some like “push around vulnerable women.”

 

This year we began discussions about the future of our campus with a well-attended retreat facilitated by the ad hoc committee on campus discernment. [There was a hiccup in the planning process. http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2017/09/reasonable-accommodations-requests.html ]  Options are to stay where we are, sell and either buy or rent elsewhere, remodel part or all of the current property. This will be a multi-year discernment process! [This will be a multi-year process with many opportunities for community building as we bring our individual Light about transit development, affordable housing, property stewardship, and general centered discernment into the process.]

 

In a long process, we came to unity that we will hire people regardless of immigration status, knowing that this could lead to civil disobedience. 

 

We recognized that we need to deal with our conflicts. We had a retreat in May 2017 to build community, learn how we can hear one another, feel heard and connect when we disagree. [We still had not learned either how to talk with / listen to RantWoman or how to use a movable microphone. http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2017/05/retreat-lets-do-it-again.html  ]

 

We had another retreat in January 2018, led by John Calvi, dealing with conflict and connections. [hallelujah! Praise Jayzus and whatever other exclamations of joy seem on point: at this retreat we used microphones!]  While these [antecedent?] have not resolved the issues, they helped us learn ways to address issues and concerns.  

 

We have also recognized that we have tolerated cyberbullying and other inappropriate behavior.  Care & Counsel named the behavior in the July 2017 business meeting and Friends were urged to confront such behavior or contact C&C.  Acknowledging this problem and setting limits has been a continuing challenge.  We have lost attenders because of this.  We have discovered that a loving community that strives to discern the Spirit, individually and corporately, is not and will not ever be calm and peaceful.  But we must continue to try to be that loving community, to confront inappropriate behavior and to set appropriate boundaries so that all may grow.

 

We are also grateful that when all is said and done, ranking only medium horrible, or about average in the pantheon of #disabilityinchurch stories on the internet is probably something to be proud of.

Biking in the Manner of Friends

Another in RantWoman's collection of "How I got connected to Friends" items.

Biking in the Manner of Friends

RantWoman collects these items partly in humble belief that Friends do in fact have something to offer people who are not already Friends, that being able to talk of one's journey is a path to draw others into the circle, and that drawing others will NOT lead, HORRORS, to growth beyond the capacity of a community  to hold but MIGHT in fact renew and enrich, atl east until in our transient community something calls some to move on.

Substance Process Priorities

Substance and Process Meditations on DRAFT Priorities Recommendations for FCNL’s work in the 116th Congress

DRAFT as to be presented at Meeting for Business ( Process point: THANK YOU to everyone for HUGE accessibility measure of sending out draft documents by email)

1. Address deregulation of banks and other lending institutions that ends up driving up debt. Restore regulations.

2. Support policies that encourage economic equality and sustainable infrastructure development.

3. Support policies that address climate disruption.

4. Support policies that address gun violence, including holding gun manufactures and NRA accountable.

5. Continue to support policies that address Native American Issues.

6. Promote Peacebuilding a) support diplomacy and peaceful prevention and resolution of violent conflict, eg. North Korea b) support nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation c) reduce military spending and armed interventions.

7. Continue to work on criminal justice reform, eg. stop military equipment being given to local police departments.

Submitted by 15 people at Seattle’s University Meeting’s Adult Education hour.

 

Substance Meditations:

Crap! RantWoman SHOULD just let it be and not feel called to do more as an individual.

Crap. RantWoman should try to chill out and hold the thought of her twitches coming from other places also participating in the priorities process

Crap! RantWoman reads more carefully the second time around and does sort of recognize the deregulation point. But the transparency and accountability point is missing.

Where are the people? They are not here as well as some years and particularly not a sense of people around the world should all have the same rights.

Add dealing with the AUMF issue to the anti-militarism item.

Gun violence is in at least 3 places but for instance criminal justice reform is way more that curtailing militarized policing.

 

Process meditation 1. why oh why does the State of Society Report, posted elsewhere,  not mention our experience trying movable microphones in at least some of our meeting activities? RantWoman’s experience is that the movable mic works a lot the same way interpretation at FWCC events does. Using the mic ensures that people can hear and increases the odds of understanding; moving the mic also gaps between offerings. RantWoman would be inestimably grateful if other people also noticed this improvement.

Process meditation 2. Group editing in any format is a fraught exercise. RantWoman having to get used to only audio and no visual refresher is only part of the problem. RantWoman can at least see whether she has brain space to hold others in the Light. RantWoman CAN try.

Zeitgeist Priorities Stewardship Algorithms

Spoiler Alert: RantWoman will post what emerges from Business Meeting as her whole Meeting's discernment about FCNL legislative priorities. RantWoman is unclear what other calls may emerge such as speaking in MfB or offering edits on this blog to capture the nuggets here

RantWoman is having mental hiccups: RantWoman has read the draft of the statement to be brought to Meeting for Business.  RantWoman does not remember anyone saying the word regulation, but does remember herself several times using the phrase "transparency accountability." RantWoman really does not need to further her reputation for hyper-fussiness about vocabulary and all around capacity to be insufferable, but there is a GIANT difference between "restore regulation" and promote transparency and accountability."  [and NO, the room probably does NOT want to hear reflections on this point simmering in RantWoman's head with respect to the ADA, inclusion for people with disabilities... ]

RantWoman, could you PLEASE try to stay somewhere on the same planet as the rest of the room?

Or how about chill out? If an hour in Adult Ed is the time people have this year for seasoning priorities, an hour it is?

Or of you must rant and ramble, could you maybe do it timely so other people have time to interact before deadlines?

Um, no actually. And on top of that, Rantwoman gets stuck sometimes on some point in a meeting. Also RantWoman spends a lot of time aboard the King County Metro limousine service and therefore has time for thinking about the points she is stuck on.

Recently RantWoman was in a room full of Friends seasoning what our Meeting wants to say about FCNL legislative priorities. Toward the end of the session, after the rest of the room had already nudged our word clouds into the suggested  limit of 7 priorities, a Friend suggested something about "tracking with the cultural zeitgeist of the day" or some variant of the phrase.

Most of the room in unison: "What's that."

RantWoman to herself: "Ummm, how are we going to fit that into something relevant to legislative priority? BUT  be still my soul. Someone else who says things the rest of the room finds incomprehensible! And PS we are located near a large university. It's probably good if SOMEONE around this place can use the word
'Zeitgeist' occasionally."

But after a spell seasoning things during worship with attention to the city bus, a slightly different version of below emerged from RantWoman's keyboard:

1. Friends, The most important thought after which if you need to hit
delete...: I forget which of the priorities we came up with today I
MIGHT try to work in something from Friend M's comment at the end of
Adult Religious Ed today, but I could consider an offer to word smith if Friends can
bear with ...

I could think of ways to connect "the cultural zeitgeist of the
day with the FCNL we seek that is something about full development of
each person's potential.

Presently the cultural zeitgeist of the day includes populist
nationalism, (buzzword alert) weaponization of information, lots of forces undermining trust various directions,  and the likes of Trump, Putin, Erdogan, Xi Zimping,(sp)
Duterte. Also a CREEPY video from Twitter of a whole bunch of local tv
anchors going on about "....bad "not good for our democracy..." In
other words, the cultural zeitgeist of the day includes some ugly
possibilities so then the task for writing a priorities document is to
somehow want to stand in the way of ugly possibilities. Like I said,
Not sure I could find a way to add that thought to what we did and not
sure I want to commit time even if Friends would be willing to cope
with a little word smithing.

Anyway Friend,  thank you for the intriguing phrasing.Most of the
room  just blurted out "What's that?" Still around a meeting with as
many University connections as ours, I do not think it is terrible if
unusual vocabulary pops up now and then. Plus thinking about it gave
me something to do while getting around on the bus.

2. NOT immediate action I have time right now to do, Friend M, do you
have time to go read the FCNL policy statement. I am interested in
when it was written and what if anything it says about computers,
privacy, algorithms that perpetuate institutionalized racism, net
neutrality...Another Friend's comment about rural development and the internet.
...  I do not know whether we could fit something related to these
topics into the priority about transparency and accountability or into
something about stewardship and knowing the limitations of technology.

In some ways, since Seattle is such a tech hub, I kind of wish our
group could TRY to say something as part of the priorities, but if
that can't work, it can't work.

Probably we should just leave what the whole group did  this round of
priorities with the group we had today, but  for the future...  One of
these days I will read the policy statement myself. One of  these
days.

If you have made it this far, thank you for reading and no particular
apologies: it is classic RantWoman goes to a meeting gets stuck on
something, has multiple bus rides to think about, and then comes up
with something there would not have been time to deal with in the
group.

But again thank you all for reading. RantWoman thinks it is unlikely anything concise particularly about the technology thread can come together for this cycles of priorities. RantWoman is also aware that her Meeting includes Friends who RantWoman imagines have many different perspectives on the topics cited by RantWoman. Still, RantWoman thinks there is something worth seasoning....

In light and faithfulness.

RantWoman

Rough Month with Evolution

April is a rough month for someone still dear to RantWoman. Conversational moments which caused RantWoman, partly by way of sending courage,  to summon the old post listed at the bottom of this entry.

--mention of the concept of "self-awareness" including both recognition of problem circumstances and lack of ability in the moment to control the problems.

--thought perhaps that there should be in Seattle at least one 12-step group in ASL. Yep. The search engine came up with 2 links for further research. Not tonight.

--mention of having fights by text message, while sitting in the same room. An interesting evolution. In RantWoman's case, pre-texting fashion, 500 characters at a time by alpha pager, from across town even if it took 3 days to have an argument or to get to the point where there was no point in arguing further.

--great loneliness it is not necessarily in RantWoman's power to do anything about.

https://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2016/04/memorials-with-swedish-sign-language.html

RantWoman is grateful for the conversation and will have just to hold in Light...

Easter Eggs

Happy Easter, belatedly!

RantWoman hopes her readers will appreciate this lovely package of Easter eggs. RantWoman is not sure whether the following items have come from the Easter Bunny, Little Bunny Foo-Foo or who. That is only one thing to hold in the Light. Lexicography digression: "easter eggs" also has a technology-related meaning which may or may not be topical here.



36 Eggs 6 Colors

RantWoman's Easter meditations ran to:

--Julia Esquivel: They Have Threatened us with Resurrection / Nos han amenazado de ressureccion. .

--The year RantWoman spent April 1 visiting a certain famous STIFF in Moscow.

--Is the whole festivity just some kind of weird April 1 joke. Peggy Senger Morrison says no. http://gatheringinlight.com/2018/04/01/witnesses-by-peggy-morrison/

--The upcoming 50th Anniversary of the Assassination of Martin Luther King which seemed to have figured in more than one Easter sermon

--The upcoming 50th anniversary of the Prague spring and the Soviet ouster of the Dubcek government. This probably figured in no Easter sermons but showed up in RantWoman's head thanks to a high school orchestra experience performing a piece composed for the 10th anniversary of this event and to a present day   a lovely recital featuring works of Smetana, Schnittke, a guy from the Republic of Georgia, oh an Beethoven.

--Tardiness to Meeting for Worship. Consistent tardiness by two members of pastoral care committees. Just hold matters of space and time in the Light One came to worship today with a lovely message; it's just that RantWoman is a judgmental witch and really does not know what to do with repeated apologies and repeated arrivals half and hour into the hour of whichever worship this Friend attends. The other Friend and RantWoman need to have more and better conversation. RantWoman has NO freaking idea how to accomplish that. Actually RantWoman has an idea. Hold RantWoman's idea in the Light.

--Dear Friend above, thank you for your offer to hold a meeting in your work conference room. RantWoman is grateful that another person in the email conversation realized that both the key participants in the conversation were very clear that said conference room was NOT the right venue. Somewhere in the conference room discernment, RantWoman does what she sometimes does: look up organizations' diversity and inclusion statements. RantWoman found a very nice one associated with said conference room. Then RantWoman got a headache. Let's just say life at Meeting is a REALLY good laboratory for thinking about the gap between reality and good intentions. RantWoman is wondering whether anyone else thinks that might be an interesting lens for thinking about all the things vexing RantWoman.

--Friend Clerk, RantWoman has heard you many times talk about how eye opening it was to spend time getting around by wheelchair for a few  months while recovering from an injury. So RantWoman is still stuck about why RantWoman's call to ask awhile AGO in business meeting about wheelchair accessibility for a new tenant's services caused such a meltodown of your sense of Quaker process. RantWoman is holding you as Clerk in the Light. RantWoman is also still stuck on this point. Why the bleep would RantWoman NOT ask about wheelchair accessibility? RantWoman has friends and relatives who use wheelchairs. RantWoman has rented or not rented venues based partly on issues of wheelchair accessibility. Why should RantWoman have any different standard around Meeting than anywhere else?

--RantWoman is DONE. RantWoman is DONE trying to suppress her gag reflex. RantWoman has articulated the point inflaming her soul to others; RantWoman has had several  too many "leave me out of this email thread" requests from one offending Friend RantWoman thinks responding to email is flipping well part of the role one takes on..."  What could possibly go wrong not interacting somethimes by email?

RantWoman's problem: reference to "couples counseling" in a context where "couples counseling" emphatically does NOT apply. Terminology matters. RantWoman cannot decide between "incredibly sloppy" and "totally unprofessional." RantWoman in a former life was a behavioral health bean counter and RantWoman thinks that alone is reason to STOP trying not to barf and just deal with the problem.  RantWoman naively hopes the offending Friend has more than enough professional credentials also to know better. More to the point, another Friend with considerably fewer credentials managed to outline a process that would serve for the situation in question without ever once using the term "couples counseling." SO RantWoman is wondering whether the Easter Bunny might bring the message "if you are in a hole, stop digging." RantWoman also would not mind some reflections on her inquiry "what does God require of you?"

And in other celebratory news, RantMom's hands just do not work as well as she would wish. Plus her apartment just has a lot of gravity going on. But then it's not a feast without something crucial hitting the floor. And we are grateful for remaining bounty.

DJ Khaled Llama Llama Red Pajama Freestyle

RantWoman is chamred by the series of rappers trying to read a sweet children's book. RantWoman is touched by the different points where the rappers trip up.