Rename? Discern?

Hi Friends

Someone at Meeting mentioned today that Friends Center Committee wants to rename itself to something more welcoming or something. I have no idea what is to be proposed and apologies in advance if this comes across as another round of (RantWoman's) perpetual fussiness about wording, but two things come to me very strongly.

1. One reason I am attached to the name is that actually the name Friends Center predates the existence of UFM. It dates from when the Friends Center at the University was a mission of what was then a mission from Friends Memorial Church. Friends Memorial is now North Seattle Friends Church and two yearly meeting names removed from its connection to Indiana Yearly Meeting. RantWoman cannot just go root in archibess by herself but Is there someone on this list who could look this up in our minutes or records just as a nod to our history and Quaker origin story?
    
2. The fact that I am in love with / attached to this history alone should not keep us from changing the name of the committee if others feel clearly drawn to something new. BUT what if instead of changing the committee we decided to think of what the words mean and let that be the core of how we revitalize the name Friends Center?
   1. Friends: I cannot remember the place in the New Testament where Christ tells the disciples they are his Friends, but that is part of the origin of the term Friends in the first place. But what does the word Friends mean to us in terms of community and things I think we want the committee name to speak to?
       
   2. Center: what is at the center of our community? What do we mean centering? Worship? What is at the center of our community life?
       
   3. What might we do with all this reflection: maybe leave the committee name as is with an added slogan? Maybe incorporate some thoughts into the committee description. Maybe express profound thanks to everyone who connects by helping with cleanup and thinking about other ways people connect?
       

Having a conversation by email would help me have a sense of shared discernment. Would Friends feel able to do that? I promise no more than one interaction per 24 hours and to change the subject line if the topic appears to drift.

 

Thank you all very much for thinking about this and for whatever rises in response.

 

In Light and faithfulness

 

(RantWoman)

For consideration after the last Business Meeting

                                                                        March 9, 2019

Dear Friends

First I want to thank everyone who has been coming to Meeting for Business recently. I truly am grateful for energy, no matter what the energy carries with it.

I know I have hurt many people’s feelings. I do not know how to move forward without being present in the conversation. I recognize that this point will be uncomfortable for many people. I believe in the kind of God that can hold all who are present and I ask that we all hold in the Light:

Our Clerk, Merlin.

The needs of our community

Ourselves with all our individual needs and complexes, roles in the community, perspectives on vital issues of the day, and life challenges.

Opportunity to experience continuing revelation, consideration of what practices bring Light to our community , which do not, and where if led we might look for paths to learning and growth.

 

I have been reading minutes and holding many things prayerfully:

the many OWWW’s I read in the January minutes,

a deep sense of overwhelm and a desire for openings so that “the yoke is easy and the burden is light.”

my love and gratitude for this Meeting community,

my desire for the community to flourish.

A sense from conversation that desire for me to stay away is not as unanimous as is reported in the minutes. I have told more than one person that if they have a concern that I be present they need to speak up.

 

As a person with a disability I have also sometimes been called to be present in places where my presence is to some degree or another explicitly not wanted. For better or worse, solid grounding in worship and spiritual seeking increases my willingness to attend to that call or at least to season deeply a desire for direct conversation. And I am humble about those who enjoy the privilege of getting to come and go from realities I deal with all the time.

I also appreciate a number of Friends who have said they are willing to be part of an Ad-hoc committee on Disability at UFM.  Currently Friends have formed a Clearness Committee and are seasoning what work to propose, a desire to see what can get done in a year and then to reassess. I deeply hope this work will nourish our community and promote healing and growth. If you are interested in talking more about this, please contact (RantWoman or the other brave souls who have formed the Clearness Committee)

Lest everyone just think I am completely incorrigible, I appreciate Worship and Ministry’s efforts to think about rules the community can live with. And I find the current draft highly imperfect on numerous grounds. The question is what would support spirit led seasoning by the whole community.

In the past Friends have suggested I go worship in Quaker House or downstairs in the childcare room. I am clear that I am unwilling to worship in places that are physically inaccessible to people I might choose to worship with including my sister and other people with mobility limitations. There is a work party in the library that I do not want to interfere with. I have been saying that I have faith that God will show up on Sunday and that I have no idea what that will look like. Let us please hold that problem in the Light.

 

In Light and Faithfulness.

 

(RantWoman)

 

God, via mass and pipe organ again

Lent plus music, with embodied faith and presence.

 

A soul debt has been paid.

 

RantDad always said “I don’t want anything fancy at my funeral, just the Bach B Minor Mass.”

 

Um, Dad, we’re protestants / a quaker / …. I am pretty sure saying Mass over deceased Protestants is…

 

In the end RantDad’s memorial was packed. There was plenty of music, but no B Minor Mass.

 

Until Sunday.

 

RantMom has been determined that the family WILL find some music during Lent. RantMom found out about the B Minor Mass, went down herself to buy tickets and reserve seating compatible with Little Sister’s wheelchair.

 

The music was exquisite, a completely fitting memorial for both RantDad and Quaker Honorary Auntie and all the music connected with them.

 

RantWoman posted snarky commentary about the olfactory experience on her other blog. Earth to RantWoman, consider what the olfactory experience probably was in Bach’s time.

 

And then, Monday a text from Auxiliary BackUp Mom Friend: I have tickets for us at an Organ recital.

 

Um, okay, I THINK it can work with the schedule….

 

The Fisk organ at Benaroya. RantWoman does not have the patience to find the name of the organist or the program to be sure she spells the composers’ names right.

 

There was a piece about the life of Christ, complete with feeling the crucifixion.

 

There was a Toccatta which the performer played by memory.

 

There were 6 Variations and a Fugue.

 

There was at least 20 minutes of improvisation on themes of Beethoven.

 

There was appreciation from several quarters of the athleticism involved in the performance.

 

RantWoman’s brain is still running around in the harmonies and dancing in the variations. That plus a work deadline is getting in the way of tending …

 

Hold the tending and everything that needs to be tended in the Light.

Gathered, Experiential, Trustworthy AND "In Contact With Ebola" -

Verily, at least around RantWoman, God has a peculiar sense of humor, prompting RantWoman to post all of the following items as a spiritual snapshot of the state of RantWoman's soul











https://alongrestlessness.com/2018/10/27/an-experimental-faith/amp/?__twitter_impression=true



https://blog.canyoubelieve.me/2019/03/trustworthy-part-three-choices.html






This item is why RantWoman tagged this post Business Meeting. RantWoman is not called to explain the moments RantWoman finds metaphorical. RantWoman MAYalso manage to "keep low" and not go on about Friends around her being metaphor-challenged.


Please hold this whole circus in the Light, RantWoman, Friends exhibiting various fragility and frailty, neenergy and old presences.

MInute on U District Mobility Planning and Climate Change

2019-02(2)-01:                        Peace and Social Concerns:  Mobility Minute

(excerpted from Draft minutes because RantWoman does not expect changes and because RantWoman wants to be able to find this in the future. Full text of minute and resources at botgtom of this post.)

 

Erica Schweizer and Malcolm Taran jointly presented a minute, “Mobility Planning and Addressing Climate Disruption,” as well as a short writing by Malcolm, “Nature, Science, and Understanding Choices We Face.”  They also acknowledged that Jonathan Betz-Zall was instrumental in a lot of the work behind this minute, but could not be present at today’s meeting.  They read the minute, then asked us to consider how public transportation does or does not work for us, personally.

 

Discussion:

*  some find Seattle’s Metro, and Snohomish County’s Sound, transit systems to be excellent, and believe them to be leaders in the nation.  Others find European systems to be vastly superior

*  some of us use public transit frequently, or even exclusively; some forsee using it more, as the demands of age make driving a car less feasible; others find catching a bus at night, in the dark, with a long wait, to be a challenge it’s hard to live up to consistently; others find it convenient only when going downtown (many bus connections) or to the airport; others find the journey itself worthwhile, since it puts us in touch with our fellow citizens, and forces us to engage in the relative slowness of bus-riding (and bus-awaiting)

*  some public transit users are marginalized people; some people aren’t able to consider using Lyft or Uber

*  even those of us who don’t live in the University District can come to feel responsible for this neighborhood, by virtue of worshipping here over time

*  what is the purpose of this minute?  to endorse the principles of the UDM?  or the “nitty gritty,” of which some of us may be unfamiliar?  Similarly, what position, if any, has the Church Council taken on this issue?  (apparently, they are not taking the lead– UFM would be endorsing the minute, and forwarding it on to the Church Council for them to season with other churches)

*  given that we are not clear on all the requisite details, and that we are comfortable approving the spirit and and principle of the minute, we came to unity on approving the minute with the following revision:  in paragraph 3, changing the third sentence from “We endorse the methods and principles of the U District Mobility Project (UDM)” to “We endorse the principles and spirit…”

 

Friends approved the “Mobility Planning and Addressing Climate Disruption” minute with the above minor change

 

RantWoman will figure out how to post the full text of the minute. But not tonight.

 

RantWoman greatly appreciates this minute for asking Friends to think about the evolution of our area’s and our region’s transportation infrastructure in relation to climate change.

 

RantWoman thinks this minute is highly germane to ongoing discernment about how transportation changes in the U district will affect our Meeting life.

 

RantWoman notes a comment about “nitty gritty.” RantWoman thinks it would be neighborly and supportive of our community presence for more Friends than RantWoman to take an interest in the nitty gritty of following who is who and how projects are evolving. RantWoman even thinks that tending to this would help build community and support appropriate stewardship of our own property.

 

RantWoman greatly appreciates that the draft minutes include the varying thoughts of many Friends about experience with public transportation.

 

RantWoman greatly appreciates the change accepted in the text, among other things because it nicely addresses overreach RantWoman has previously raised concerns about.

 

RantWoman likes the idea of cirdulating this minute through the Church Council of Greater Seattle and Faith Action Networkparticularly because RantWoman would appreciate a greater sense of faith community engagement about transportation issues, equity, lifestyle and community life.

University Friends Meeting [UFM letterhead]

4001 9th Ave NE

Seattle WA 98105

09 December 2018

Mobility Planning and Addressing Climate Disruption

We members of University Friends Meeting seek an Earth restored and promise to do our part to create a more welcoming and livable future. This task upholds all of Friends’ traditional testimonies on Simplicity, Peace, Equality, Community, and Integrity. We are called to examine every element of our lives and act to place in harmony our impact on our planet and to establish justice in our relationships with other people and with creation.

 

While we consider and develop deeper-reaching changes in our ways of living, we can take immediate action by working toward superseding the current automobile-oriented transportation system with more beneficial and socially-responsible ways of moving ourselves around. Transportation is the single biggest CO2 contributor by our city. Due to civic demand, our city already provides some public transportation alternatives, but many places are not conveniently served. We feel called to advocate for more thoroughgoing sustainable upgrading of our transportation system. University Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends calls for equitable, sustainable transportation systems that work for people of all ages and abilities. We encourage Friends to advocate policies that uphold these testimonies through available civic processes. We endorse the methods and principles of the U District Mobility Project (UDM). The UDM exemplifies an actual project with a range of needed approaches and a diverse range of needed solutions.We recommend that the Church Council of Greater Seattle and other faith institutions join in the goals of this effort for their neighborhoods. We will distribute this Minute to the Church Council of Greater Seattle, City Council and Mayor Jenny Durkan, County Council and Executive Dow Constantine.

 

Acting on this Minute is a step toward putting ourselves in right relationship with the Earth. This step should be one in a continuing series of diverse actions.

MobilityMinute v.2.3.odt Wed. 21 Nov. 18 p.1 o f 3

 

Summary of context

Action on this task is needed due to the seriousness and scale of the problems facing the Earth. We are“called to examine every element of our lives and act” significantly due to the actions of humans.

Significant changes in environmental and economic policies are needed.

 

As we may know, the cautious or modestly reserved consensus of the world’s climate scientists is that the world is not on track to meet the minimal goals of the Paris Climate Accords of 2014. Further, the world has less than about twelve years to have in place large reductions in CO2 emissions, to avoid evident cascading feedback loops leading to vastly more cost and undesired consequences than acting now, massively. Greatly more severe consequences would affect strain on community, peace and refugee migration, strain on human rights and health, exacerbating disparity, as well as environmental degradation, unpredictable climate, and severe weather damage.

 

With transportation as the major CO2 contributor by Seattle, significant improvements leading to

reduction can be an effective action toward beginning answering need. A better future is possible, but it will require significant changes, dedicated effort, creative cooperation, and well-directed resources. Significantly meeting needs will take years, so the time for significant progress is now.

U District Mobility Plan

“Our desired outcome is a holistic, multi-modal station area mobility plan for the U District.”

“The plan is a result of both extensive and intensive community engagement.” They also collaborate with civic, city, and transit agencies. The station area plan is just one in an array of mobility projects for the U District area.

Principles:

Give top priority to pedestrian movement.

Design for pedestrian access to the station.

Provide an efficient, flexible bus network.

Create a safe and attractive street environment for people of all abilities.

Complete the bicycle network.

Address the multimodal challenges on NE 45th Street.

[“U District Station Area Mobility Plan-Summary.pdf”, docs.udistrictmobility.org]

MobilityMinute v.2.3.odt Wed. 21 Nov. 18 p.2 o f 3

 

Address the multimodal challenges on NE 45th Street.

[“U District Station Area Mobility Plan-Summary.pdf”, docs.udistrictmobility.org]

MobilityMinute v.2.3.odt Wed. 21 Nov. 18 p.2 o f 3

References

City of Seattle, Office of the Mayor, “Seattle Climate Action, April 2018”, Apr. 2018.

http://durkan.seattle.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SeaClimateAction_April2018.pdf

City of Seattle, “Seattle Climate Action Plan”, 2018.

https://www.seattle.gov/environment/

climatechange/

climate-planning/climate-action-plan

Transportation is the leading source of Seattle's contribution to climate change [climate chaos, or more

accurately, anthropogenic climate disruption], accounting for two-thirds.

Fesler, Stephen, “University District Mobility Plan would pedestrianize the Ave and NE 43rd Street”, The

Urbanist, Oct 31, 2018, https://www.theurbanist.org/2018/10/31/university-district-mobility-plan-wouldpedestrianize-

the-ave-and-ne-43rd-st/

Goodman, Amy, interview with Dr. Anderson, Tue. 09 Oct. 2018. DemocracyNow.org.

Kevin Anderson, Zennström professor in climate change leadership at the Centre for Environment

and Development Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden, and chair of energy and climate change at the

Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester in Britain.

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/10/9/climate_scientist_as_un_warns_of

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Summary for Policymakers”, 2018.

http://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_spm_final.pdf

U District Advocates, “U District Station Area Mobility Plan” (plan summary of

udistrictmobility.org/plan), Sep. 2018.

http://docs.udistrictmobility.org/U%20District%20Station%20Area

%20Mobility%20Plan%20-%20Summary.pdf

World Resources Institute, “8 things you need to know about the IPCC 1.5C Report”, Oct. 2018.

https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/8-things-you-need-know-about-ipcc-15-c-report

Worldwide Fund for Nature, “Living Planet Report”, biyearly. WorldWildlife.org, (WWF.org in US and

Canada).

Sample summary: Business Insider, “Half of the world’s animals have disappeared since the 1970s”,

Sep. 2014.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/wwf-audit-half-of-the-earths-animals-have-disappeared-

sincethe-

1970s-2014-9

[2018 estimate is 60 percent.]

MobilityMinute v.2.3.odt Wed. 21 Nov. 18 p.3 o f 3

Earwom of the Week Pirates of the Carribean - Prague Cello Quartet [Official video]

Candidate for earworm of the week! THe Prague Cello Quartet doing Pirates of the Caribbean.

A sad , with OWWWW

RantWoman has a sad.

 

RantWoman has been trying to hold the phrase “Friends younger than 60” in particular Light. For one thing RantWoman is still younger than 60, for a couple more years. For another thing, RantWoman notes with tenderness a number of age-related stresses among many Friends in the around 70 cohort including a number who might well step away from some activities. RantWoman feels a need to make service and more connections real for people following in their footsteps.

 

But RantWoman’s sad: RantWoman is reading minutes of the All RantWoman All the Time Minus RantWoman Meeting for Business in January. RantWoman is reading lots of OWWW. RantWoman is very sorry.

 

RantWoman is also sitting with times where God has called her to go where she is not wanted. RantWoman is sitting with whether it would be better to go immediately and sit with the sad and see where things go with centered listening or whether RantWoman should just let people be as they are for a bit. RantWoman is NOT called to go away.

 

RantWoman is also frustrated: RantWoman wants to create a welcoming space. RantWoman wants to figure out ways herself to connect with younger Friends. Chitchat in coffee hour does not work for RantWoman. RantWoman has a well of gratitude for long connections and some faces she is always very glad to see. But RantWoman also writes email. RantWoman gets it about an intense communications style. RantWoman gets it about her electronic voice being, um, pretty grating sometimes.Besides overachieving about unpleasantness, RantWoman’s life is also a bit of a Yucky Topics Festival. And RantWoman's experience of Meeting is also generating way more "Blecch" moments than seem like a good idea to RantWoman.

For example, RantWoman is trying to sit with a concern about boundaries and imposing on people. Suppose RantWoman includes someone in an email and starts off near the top, if you cannot read further please just hold in the Light, RantWoman is partly trying to express that she values that friend’s presence and that thinking of them makes her feel stronger. RantWoman would love to creat a sense that connections mean opportunity.  Obviously that is not what is happening.

 

Maybe that is enough to sit with for now.

 

Hold us all in the Light.

Last week snapshot

Adult Religious Education: On your marks, Get Set Share

Most memorable moment from Adult Religious Education: a mother, probably one of the younger people there, talked about how she and her daughter were out somewhere and decided to give some money to a homeless person. The daughter handed over the money.  In return the homeless person wanted to hug the daughter, but the mother saw that the daughter did not want to hug the homeless person. So the mother offered to share a hug instead. The mother wept reporting what the homeless man said about how much the hug meant.

 

Other memorable moments from Adult Religious Ed:

“When have you felt listened to?”

 

“After asking a different speaker to hold the mic closer and speak up.”

 

[RW to herself: RantWoman would not have minded a little more detail from the Pendle Hill pamphlet about the brain cancer patient and his doctor and their path to shared vulnerability. RantWoman probably is not going to download the pamphlet to read further. Nor is RantWoman going to indulge in the temptation to comment about the gender of those—besides RantWoman--most called to go on at length. RantWoman does note a sense of stiffness as people shared. Hold problem in the Light.]

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, RantWoman, if you are going to complain should you maybe consider offering your time and Light?

 

RW: Um, God, REALLY? Are you crazy?

 

Insulted?

Beloved Elder who deals with the paratransit service known in some quarters as ABCESS: RantWoman, how are you?

 

RW: Cranky Irascible and blessed.

 

Beloved Elder: You always say that but to me you never seem to deliver on the cranky but, do you insult people?”

 

RW: THANK YOU so much for talking directly to RantWoman. RantWoman is aware that some people feel insulted by RantWoman’s email. RantWoman is concerned but has no idea what to do about this if she does not have specific items to work with, if everyone just ignores her email. Also, the Care and Accountability Committee has proven almost completely incapable of honoring RantWoman’s requests for prayerful accompaniment and direct communication. We are Quakers, right? Is clearness committee the concept needed? If it is, of course, there is the matter of accessible study materials, but…

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, Earth to RantWoman!!!!

 

Okay, okay, RantWoman in say the last 24 hours just penned:

--Blunt email about one Friend’s to RantWoman’s view limited grasp of trauma recovery issues and the numerous times that Friend and another Friend have both caused RantWoman to realize she needs to be true to her Light.

 

--blunt commentary after #snowpocalypse2019 about a car-dependent person in a key role thinking, it seems to RantWoman, that it was more important to shovel snow out of the Meeting parking lot than to fulfil our legal responsibility to clear snow from public right of way and maintain safe access for the 40 homeless men who sleep downstairs. The staff who live onsite cleared the parking lot. A volunteer who was able to walk from her home shoveled the sidewalk.  RantWoman has also previously written of people who believe in magical government snow-clearing fairies: the internet reports that some jurisdictions do assess fees and then do this but not Seattle and not now. RantWoman is pointedly not attaching roles to the Friends spoken of in fierce light even though she also has great respect for all of them.

            RantWoman in disaster preparedness geek mode would be interested to try to have a polite conversation about the above points, but this is RantWoman and polite may be hard. RantWoman also favors the community building aspects of just talking about how things went.

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, RantWoman, you are stuck. Chill. Be realistic. Write a post in your other blog. Look at things through the lens of an old minute.

 

-blunt email about the Care and Accountability Committee’s frequent practice of scheduling meetings where RantWoman’s presence was desired and THEN consulting RantWoman about her schedule.

 

--Blunt  email about repeated incidents of ableism creeping beyond the Care and Accountability Committee to Worship and Ministry: which part of physical inaccessability do you not understand? RantWoman is clear that she is not called to disappear. RantWoman is further clear that, considering all the fiascoes that have ensued when RantWoman has tried to speak of physical accessibility or to make reasonable accommodations requests previously, RantWoman will no longer be sent off to locations that are physically inaccessible to people she may wish to sit with. RantWoman SUPPOSES she is supposed to be grateful to be addressed directly rather than having to tell someone this after hearing second hand because the Friend did not choose to talk to RantWoman. However, the “well if you do not like the building with 6 stairs, how about the basement to which there is no elevator?”  is getting a little repetitive and RantWoman has not come up with better Quakerese that “Which part of physical inaccessibility do you not understand?”

[RantWoman in mode of twitchiness about drawing in Friends younger than 60 point out that this entire paragraph rates a serious Blechhh.]

 

Minutes:

Different Beloved Elder who feels safe enough around RantWoman sometimes to share family concerns, and whose sense of humor frequently makes RantWoman smile

RantWoman, about the minutes: sometimes it seems like you try to rewrite the minutes during revision.

 

RW: RantWoman is aware that sometimes what is on her mind does not make it out of her mouth very clearly. RantWoman continually seasons this problem by seeing what Recording Clerks report back and strongly recommends an AdHoc committee on disability spend some time specifically looking at old minutes for information related to disability. RantWoman has memories of trying many times to say something about disability and it not making it into the minutes [More blech?]. RantWoman is separately laboring with a different Friend about when there may be important concepts in what sounds to one person just like ramble.

 

Beloved Elder: I looked at the 300-year-old handwritten minutes in a PA Meeting’s minute book. Some of them were large handwriting and only brief notes such as “We decided…”

 

RW: Yes, except for lengthy minutes for example decrying slavery.  I have heard another Friend speak of recording only minutes that will be of interest in 100 years.  RantWoman thinks, based on experience, minutes are important measures of progress and documentation of efforts to work with important concepts, work out community thinking, comply with applicable laws. So RanrtWoman favors more detail.

Beloved Elder once more: how can I help?

 

RW: If you think RantWoman should be present while minutes are edited about her, say so.

 

Messages RantWoman remembers from Meeting for worship.

 

--a LONG one about art, the Trinity, the nature of God, and derision as a barrier to lasting relationships. By long, Rantwoman means 7 minutes from well into the message when RantWoman first looked at her phone to the end.

 

Another message:

Two death notices and how God was for one of them, like trying on shoes that do not fit RantWoman; the second was one of RantWoman’s paths to Quakerism, a very skilled presence who could comb process sense out of all kinds of passion and trauma recovery and political urgency.

The suspension of military exercises on the Korean peninsula which RantWoman sees as a small sign of hope even though realists might not think it’s such a good idea.

 

--More than one message about a hummingbird, window, and reflections inside and outside the glass.

[Blindness tourism moment: RantWoman ? RW: the description is fine. RantWoman knows the sun is shining. RantWoman does not need to see.]

Still more FLGBTQC Gratitude plus transportation jargon

RantWoman has meant to write more celebration of the recent FLGBTQC mini-midwinter gathering, particularly in terms of accessibility points that matter to RantWoman. RantWoman has meant to do this but her first draft got swallowed in a nightly automated file cleanup. Grrrr.

 

RantWoman recognizes that the second draft is going to get all fractal with lots of “where the hell did that come from?” and “where the hell is that going?” branches and tangles. Consider these your daily blessing like the sun after winter. If RantWoman were writing verbal counterpoint, RantWoman would also mention repeated references to “safe.”

 

If you are wondering why the hell counterpoint is in here, Google JS Bach, aka Protestant mystic. And if you are still wondering what planet RantWoman is on, please forgive RantWoman’s humanities major reflex to code-switch in many different directions and not realize she is doing so and then get crabby because others have not made the same gigantic conceptual leaps. Some of the time RantWoman manages to fill the spaces here with love herself. Some of the time it is Grace. Some of the time it is just RantWoman more unvarnished than she would necessarily prefer.

 

And here the program notes might also mention leadings about welcoming seekers and about Friends younger than 60 bringing their gifts….

 

Key event accessibility points important to RantWoman, in no particular order.

 

A safe enough space for a young Friend to acknowledge that he has tics. RantWoman had been trying to think of a polite way to ask. And the Friend was moved one day at the end of Meeting for Worship.

 

Explicit mentions in the registration process about fragrance free space. RantWoman knows what a big safety issue this is for one thing because RantDad had LOTS of problems in this area.  RantWoman finds fragrance free a big challenge but does strive to keep fragrances to a bare minimum. RantWoman herself has issues with some kinds of scents but cannot live without her preferred lip balm. In preparation RantWoman also changed her hair washing routine. RantWoman CAN do that.

 

Digressions about accessibility beyond this event

RantWoman needs to jump up and down on the “CAN DO THAT” because RantWoman hears in some quarters “Oh we are going to have to make very big changes…” First logical question: say more. What kind of big changes are you thinking of? Have you seasoned them with anyone like maybe including RantWoman?  Because you know, what is the point of “big changes” if they take a lot of effort and wind up making little difference. And besides, sometimes LOTS of people learning little changes they can make is even bigger than attempting some galactic overreach.

 

RantWoman can certainly think of some very big changes that she would welcome, but RantWoman in Queen of Recording Clerk Forever personage has been over a NUMBER of different people’s Recording Clerk terms TRYING to speak clearly with gratitude of things that matter. RantWoman is unclear whether it is lack of ability, lack of familiarity with concepts, lack of clarity on RantWoman’s part, or lack of inclination to record these points in minutes as if they are important enough to remind the community again.

 

RantWoman is particularly vexed by this issue because she can cite several months of minutes that speak in glowing self-congratulatory terms of all that is wonderful about what Meeting is doing and then say “RantWoman spoke at length” and do not say a dang thing about what RantWoman said. Is RantWoman maybe getting a little repetitive about this last point?

 

These two threads are only ONE reason besides multiple flavors of ableism affecting the work of a certain Care and Accountability committee why RantWoman is clear both about need for focused work on disability and specifically attention to minutes. Stay tuned. And if that just sounds wonky, please enjoy the option of hours and hours about something called minutes.

 

Invitation to make needs known.

Invitation in the registration process and during introductions to make access needs known. RantWoman appreciates the Friend who said she has a medical device that beeps occasionally. RantWoman knows someone else whose body beeps like that.

 

During introductions, RantWoman introduced Ambassador Thwack, the badly behaved white cane. Then RantWoman admitted that Ambassador Thwack rarely works inside the Meetinghouse. RantWoman knows the place really well. RantWoman also needed to warn people: don’t let the glasses on RantWoman’s face confuse you. RantWoman will not necessarily see others.  There were no kids present so RantWoman did not have to ask for help not stepping on kids.

 

Worship Sharing queries printed in giant print to fill a whole piece of paper. There were two worship sharing groups. There were two pieces of paper. Everyone had to pass things around if they wanted to refresh their memories. Equality!

 

USE OF THE MICROPHONE in large circles. To all the people who think you can be heard without a mic, NO YOU CAN’T. People’s voices drop off mid-sentence. People are just timid speakers. Some of the rest of us rely on the sound system!

 

Actually having the sound system in time for the event. Bear with RantWoman here; RantWoman is a little bit stuck.

 

Revisiting sore points

Event #1: event planner just hung up on RantWoman before RantWoman could get a reasonable accommodations request out of her mouth. Event Planner in question is already noted on blog with SEVERAL rounds of gbehabior RantWoman considers, to put it politely, dismissive. In the event RantWoman wound up deeply regretting not getting to hear what people said and also filled with free-floating RantWoman annoyances. Look, um, RantWoman already has more than enough things to hold people in the Light over, AND RantWoman would never mind having been wrong about (a twitch from the past)….

 

Event #2: A retreat. Phone / group effort FIASCOES. Demand in person meeting. Then say need to go on vacation. Then offer to meet AFTER the event for which the sound system is needed. But never fear, people who need to make reasonable accommodations requests,  by people RantWoman means at least herself are expected to go down a list and guess who is in charge and figure out who can help. Never mind whether it feels SAFE to ask especially when one does not want to have to ask in the first place.

 

At the FLGBTQC event, RantWoman found more than one person who could just thread needles so RantWoman could sew reflective tape on one of her new canvas bags. See RantWoman is allergic to getting run over in the first place. In the second place going anywhere is a lot of trouble and RantWoman adapts by doing a lot by conference call. So RantWoman often says “as a reasonable accommodation… please COPE with everyone being on the same footing visually.” In return RantWoman is happy to refrain from wondering whether others care about her time and physical safety!  

 

The sewing was also space to hear others’ stories and to hold a quest for better paths about this last communications fiasco. RantWoman can still with frightening ease hit some inchoate rage about car-dependence, insistence on meeting in person, and various other strands of Attitude and communications FIASCOES related to particular reasonable accommodations request.

 

Safety and Fixed?

RantWoman will not though refrain from talking even more about blind people and transportation and why having a phone in option for public meetings is a GIANT safety measure for instance if a blind person lives in Kitsap county and has to walk two miles on a road shoulder to catch a bus to do something in person. Well, around Meeting RantWoman is more likely to continue to jump up and down about the importance of needing to talk about what coming transportation changes mean for our community and green transportation and other tranpsportation jargon. But to do that, RantWoman is pretty sure it would be good to figure out some space to say what happened before was a giant screwup. How about instead of just trying to drive RantWoman away, we figure out how to cut down the screwup angles going forward????

 

And bless your heart to a member of RantWoman’s Care and Accountability committee who kept trying to tell RantWoman the need for microphone issue is “fixed.” Really. Have you asked RantWoman whether she considers it fixed?  Do event planners know they need to think about the Mic System? Do people who need to make a reasonable accommodations request about having the mic available have a clear consistent channel to do so? Does anyone understand the term Reasonable Accommodation?  Eureka! MORE reasons to have an adhoc committee on Disability! More items for a workplan. More wrangling about whether just to start with “see what we can do in a year” or wether to overspecify what winds up on the workplan. Stay tuned and RantWoman HOPES others besides herself can pull renewed energy from this tangle.