The insane Economics of Modern Warfare: Memorial Day

Exceeding expectation in the realm of Hard to Be Around? Who? RantWoman? Nah. Impossible!

Please hold the problem in the Light and join RantWoman in trying, after the fact, to hit some kind of decent note about Memorial Day.

See graphic above. RantWoman apologizes but alt text is beyond her and RantWoman hopes people who need it have access to OCR to read about the truly preposterous sums of money invested in bombing people in Yemen who live on $2 /day.  

RantWoman is finding it hard to hit the right Quakerly note about Memorial Day. The #MemorialDay hashtag on Twitter is full of appreciations for people who perished in battles in conflicts / deployments / campaigns / endless war that RantWoman disapproves of. RantWoman also tartly notes all the stories of veterans vividly illustrating that not all the casualties are deaths. Further RantWoman cringes whenever she hears radio stories of truly outrageous substandard housing, desparate families trying to survive amid the rigors of long and unpredictable deployments, and LOTS of privations RantWoman is deeply grateful never even to have been eligible to have to endure.

 
At least RantWoman can find it in her heart to appreciate the commander who makes a point of remembering the people who have been killed on his watch.

 

And then we get to RantWoman in judgmental Witch mode: a local Friend recently posted about feeling entitled to all the same benefits due veterans because of his work on behalf of peace. RantWoman would also add working to protect our freedom and democracy, EXCEPT that RantWoman’s standards of integrity require that very privileged white people also grapple with the reality of who is actually doing the fighting and getting killed. It is one thing to assert privilege for oneself; it is another to use one’s privilege…

 Happy Memorial Day to all.

God , Gogol, and Still Hasn't READ the Memo

Dear Beloved Community

 

First THANK YOU to our outgoing Clerk. RantWoman is sorry but she cannot apologize for some contributions to difficulty. However, RantWoman wants to thank Madame Outgoing Clerk for heroic service and definitely wants to commend her presence in the community and on Twitter in many walking biking living cities and history of redlining circles RantWoman also frequents.

 

Second RantWoman wishes to thank everyone who welcomed Little Sister to Meeting For Business. Here is sufficient summary for a first pass of several points: https://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2019/05/pizza-sidewalks-more.html

 

Next, thank you to everyone who reported to RantWoman about the discussion of the alcohol policy. RantWoman appreciates knowing the details still being worked on. Plus it made Little Sister feel right at home because her faith community has also recently had a discussion of alcohol policy.

 

Next THANK YOU to everyone who responded in email and otherwise to RantWoman’s PLEASE HOLD ME IN THE LIGHT request on account of a weird trauma moment anniversary. RantWoman thinks she has only recounted the most piquant moments of the immediate trauma point to a couple people. A somewhat Gogolian (That is GOGOL, NOT Google) summary would be HIPAA Meets the Prayer Chain at Taco Bell with a Consent form to stick a needle in RantWoman’s Eye.

 

One of the people RantWoman recounted details to is a Quaker from another Meeting; the other is this year’s Senior Warden (volunteer role that comes with “a giant ring of keys and the chance to go to more meetings than God”) at St Mark’s cathedral. RantWoman may have told the full story to another Friend. Everyone RantWoman has told the story to out loud laughed and got the point that RantWoman wound up taking care of lots of people she should not have had to take care of in that moment.

 

Thank you to NO ONE for acknowledging RantWoman’s point , related to the stick a needle in an eye trauma moment, that requests to be taken out of reply/all lists are difficult for RantWoman to accomplish using the accessibility tools RantWoman needs to do anything on her computer or Smartphone.

 

Next, thank you to everyone for bearing with an intense level of email. Thank you for many emails filling RantWoman’s inbox. RantWoman WILL read them. RantWoman probably will not get to them until tomorrow afternoon. RantWoman particularly wants to lift up a couple of email correspondents who, to RantWoman’s ear, have not registered either the trauma point, or RantWoman’s point that she is having trouble taking care of other people. RantWoman particularly, cough, commends the correspondents who keep jumping up and down on the boundaries Reply/all point and have not or only barely acknowledged the trauma anniversary. Please hold some opportunities for improvement in the Light.

 

RantWoman, surprise, has more to say, but

God and RantWoman’s schedule will spare readers further comment for now.

 

In Light and faithfulness.

 

RantWoman

 

 

Eldering? At the Still Didn't Get The Memo Committee?

Eldering? At the Still Didn’t get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation? REALLY?

 

It could happen. All things are possible…

 

RantWoman! Are you going to TRY to stay on topic or get ranty?

 

Uhhh…How about just hold everyone’s Saturday night in the Light.

 

Appreciations and Vaguely Related Suggestions

RantWoman needs to offer some humble appreciations; some suggestions also clattered out of the keyboard.

 

First  RantWoman wants humbly to offer a comment: if RantWoman includes you in an email, it is because RantWoman values your presence in the community, thinks you might have something to contribute to whatever communication flow generated the email.  RantWoman especially emphasizes this point when she writes email that starts out something like “Please hold in the Light and read as you are able. Please stop here if holding you in the Light is the best you can do.” RantWoman considers this request the equivalent of a live request after Meeting.

 

But RantWoman, the requests after Meeting happen once a week. Don’t you sometimes ask several times / week? Do you suppose anyone might be feeling a little burdened?

 

Good Point. RantWoman may be in a minority, but RantWoman writes a lot and also does not mind in the least reading such requests from other people. RantWoman has lots of Time To pray time on the bus and is happy to add to her prayer queue. RantWoman may respond in person or by phone, but...

 

As far as frequency, RantWoman is going to have to think about this> RantWoman has now thought. You know that part about all life is a prayer. Start there. Apparently RantWoman needs support many times a week. Paths to avoiding the need for email might include someone being brave enough to serve on a committee with RantWoman or some kind of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun reading group about either pedestrian / walkability / women missing in data urban planning theme  (guys welcome too, but the point would be to read women’s perspectives. Second option Say Breme Brown videos.

 

Live connections will ensure that RantWoman will have a greater conversational sense of holding, Oh, and participants will have the awesome opportunity to figure out Blind People in Meetings Issues. Be a pioneer. Do something that never occurred to the Care and Accountability Committee as an action even though RantWoman suggested it. RantWoman THINKS she has also suggested this to Worship and Ministry committee who are responsible for care of Business Meeting, but RantWoman is unclear the invitation has fully been communicated. Anyway, appreciate the brave Quakers who finally accepted RantWoman’s invitation to come to meetings where a lot of people are blind and see how they work. Think what we can try. Who said blindness tourism on Planet Rantwoman cannot be fun?

 

Back to the Still Didn’t Get The Memo Committee

But Rantwoman digresses from the work of the Still Didn’t Get The Memo Committee.

RantWoman appreciates LOTS of people who have hung in there while RantWoman MOST of the time figures out how to make her emails readable and her points clear. This is RantWoman. Emphasis on most of the time and feedback welcome if RantWoman has guessed badly based onat least SOME greater responsiveness.

 

An Edict from Planet RantWoman

Next, RantWoman needs to issue an edict for Planet RantWoman.

 

RantWoman will be honoring NO requests to delete Friends from any moment RantWoman uses the Reply/all command.  This is a point where RantWoman and others striving to be in community with and around RantWoman need to ask each other for support and care.

 

RantWoman uses both a screen enlarger program at 4X magnification and screen reading. RantWoman does not see the whole screen and either has to scroll horizontally with keyboard commands or work visually to see things on the right side of the screen. So Rantwoman many or may not even remember to look for names she is supposed to pick out of lists. OR RantWoman can add a dozen or so extra key strokes to locate the names. That is a LOT of extra work

 

So RantWoman is not going to do it—for anyone. Instead RantWoman is going to offer a couple technical suggestions

 

RantWoman will do the best she can to remember not to include people who have requested not to receive email from RantWoman. Okay, RantWoman will try to remember, even when including one of the requesters seems on point to RantWoman.

 

RantWoman will do the best she can to remind herself “everyone is doing the best they can.”  RantWoman will try to appreciate lots of hard work and try to avoid wandering into swamps of help that is not help and really RantWoman is TRYING to save people trouble if Friends can listen. But this is RantWoman. If instead of just holding in the Light, RantWoman breaks out in a Ministry of Audible Eye Rolling coughing fit because the words “community building” or (another important role) have also entered the conversation, RantWoman will blame the pollen, even in January.

 

Humbly, after decades doing various flavors of tech support, the instinct to suggest technical suggestions is basically hard-wired. Friends who want to send email to people who have requested not to get email from RantWoman or to spare requesters the risk of accidentally getting included in a reply/all have a couple options:

 

Put people who make such requests in Blind Copy. Even if RantWoman does reply/all the reply will not go to people in Blind copy. People who want to reply/all to the original thread will need to use BCC again

 

Forward to people who make such requests AFTER

 

People who use gmail can easily set up rules to file email so they do not have to see it unless they choose to.

 

One of the requesters has a yahoo address. RantWoman means to check whether yahoo also allows this but that has not occurred yet.

 

Here RantWoman comes to another stuck point: what if people who do not want to receive email from RantWoman also list themselves all over the place as contacts for Meeting activities?  Then RantWoman does not have the same access to the activities as everyone else. In RantWoman’s opinion that creates an ongoing harm to RantWoman and to the community. But RantWoman needs to leave further thoughts about options to address that problem for another post.

 

In Light and Faithfulness.

 

RantWoman.

Queries. Climate Change Critiques?

RantWoman, you are preparing for Meeting for Business with long queries AND exegesis based on draft minutes???

 

Yep! Hold on tight. Specifically RantWoman views are in italics, mostly

 

Queries:

How are we to make the necessary social, societal, and community adjustments to adapt to the disruptions caused by climate change if we do not figure out how to talk to each other?

 

What might help Meeting for Business and other Meeting activities be places of deep listening and respect for different Friends’ individual light and contributions to the whole?

 

How might the priorities and frenzy of our daily lives evolve if Friends were to live within the constraints of very congested roadways, compact development, transit resources, and community close at hand? Ding Ding Ding. Cue Community Building?

If facts related to privilege also mean greater than average contribution to climate change, are Friends willing to examine that privilege and adapt to make life better for everyone?

How can our testimony on equality help us recognize groups who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and evolve so that vulnerable people are protected as everyone makes the changes needed to adapt? What does this have to do with displacement, housing affordability, and barriers to needed community evolution?

 

How might other Quaker testimonies and spiritual practices play a role in adaptation to climate change

 

What light might the particularly vulnerable have that could serve as guidance for others needing to make adjustments?

 

Here RantWoman will be happy enthusiastically to preach the benefits of transit, offer walking encyclopedia service about many parts of the transit system and to expound warmly about all the social connections possible as people use transit instead of private cars. This is also called making a virtue of necessity. RantWoman does not get to drive so she never has the option of clogging  roadways in a Single Occupancy Vehicle. RantWoman leaves the driving to others and in transit has plenty of time for Twitter, time to Pray, and other ways of weaving community together. Yep, time constraints mean some activities do not happen and RantWoman grows testy sometimes with  people who have no time to talk to RantWoman because they are truying to do 5 things in the time that RantWoman will do two or three.. Cue the testimony on simplicity.

Likewise, RantWoman wants particularly to lift up another proud transit rider Friend. This Friend was led to insist that Meeting should make the connections between effects of climate change such as starving orcas and the need for informed participation in public processes related to changing transportation infrastructure. RantWoman is kind of a public policy nerd and it took RantWoman awhile to GET IT about why mentioning starving orcas is EXACTLY on point and RantWoman is very grateful for this Friend staying true his light as his minute got seasoned.

ent with transit issues and the minute above as topics initially deemed “off topic” for the first iteration of efforts about discernment of future for our property and our community. RantWoman wants to honor the work that got done. It would occur to RantWoman GENTLY to try to elder one Friend about taking on too much, but RantWoman has not figured out how to do that without rage about disrespect for her time getting in the way of decent conversation.  RantWoman acknowledges that skepticism about the work process arose partly because two committee members, one of whom is further mentioned below,  consistently specify problems more narrowly than RantWoman does and because the initial phase of the discernment did not pay as much attention to need for and potential for community building as seemed topical to RantWoman. And RantWoman urges all to hold things in the Light.

 

But Business Meeting?

RantWoman’s psyche is a maelstrom of personal anniversary issues. RantWoman will be grateful for ANYONE who calls her up and offers to LISTEN. In the meantime, RantWoman has had many communications. RantWoman is clear that she will go where called and will sit where called to sit. RantWoman also believes in an all-seeing God, a God who CAN calm fears and bring Light. RantWoman is unclear that this is a helpful thought among Friends who are kind of squishy about God,  that of God in others.

 

From Draft Minutes, with RantWoman’s interjections in italics

 

“…The Friend pointed out that our belaboring niceties of the minutes avoids the hard issue of some people’s fear to speak if (RantWoman) is listening, and urged us to fully engage with this hard task:  “We are allowing harm to happen.  We should not just push forward.”  The clerk called for a moment of silent worship.”

 

“A Friend then stood and said that knowing that RantWoman was listening made him uncomfortable, since he had “received many messages [from her] critiqueing what he says.” 

Critiqueing? Has it occurred to Friend that there might be something to critique??? RantWoman also has MULTIPLE times invited Friends who are uncomfortable around RantWoman to ask, say, a clearness committee to sit with them and RantWoman and see what can be learned. RantWoman mentions this because the Friend RantWoman THINKS is mentioned in these minutes has been a Friend for a long time and, RantWoman THINKS, might be expected to know how to ask for a clearness committee. RantWoman also thinks the Clerk might consider recommending a clearness committee, but that would also imply that there is capacity to create clearness committees.

 

RantWoman further points out that she repeatedly ask the Consternation and Ableism Committee, oops Care and Accountability committee for help setting up exactly such conversations and that never occurred.

 

And speaking of critiquing, this Friend likes to present at Adult Religious Education. RantWoman’s experience is that this Friend talks a lot and is not as effective at drawing out the voices of others as other presenters. RantWoman also goes to a lot of meetings where the presenters are people who might have interesting things to say for adult ed. But RantWoman is not even going to volunteer any such info until RantWoman and this Friend get past the “I feel uncomfortable…” stuff.

 

“He suggested asking (RantWoman) to move into the social hall, and queried us, how can we interact with this Friend in a manner that is constructive both to her, and to us?  The clerk then asked for the clerks of W&M and C&C to join her in asking (RantWoman) to move into the social hall, and for one or more volunteers to sit with her there.  While these were out of the room, another Friend “invited us all to pray really hard, because we’ve all been in a very tight bind to help someone who is deteriorating badly:  we have struggled to stay in community, while she has retreated into more and more difficult behavior.  How do we do this well and respectfully for everyone?”

 

Would the Friend who speaks of “kind” please ask RantWoman’s point of view ordoes RantWoman get to start off cold with say “ableism?”

 

Would the Friend who used the word deteriorating care to elaborate? RantWoman is happy to listen carefully but RantWoman may be called to suggest that this Friend is making very bad assumptions.

 

RantWoman’s point of view.

RantWoman apologizes if the information she has misidentifies the main Friend referred to and asks all to hold everyone in the Light.

 

RantWoman believes this is a Friend to whom RantWoman is expected to offer a thank you for recently, for once, emailing RantWoman a copy of his presentation notes and references when this Friend did a presentation on Climate Change.  RantWoman has a standing request. It gets handled inconsistently.  RantWoman thinks if the handouts could be emailed out with the weekly bulletin that others might share RantWoman’s interest in actually interacting with the resources and having discussion based on seeking shared Light, not just Light as filtered by one Friend.

 

RantWoman believes this Friend

1.       Refused to serve on Worship and Ministry committee with RantWoman a long time ago

 

2.       While subsequently serving as Clerk of said committee responded to RantWoman’s leading to educate people for a whole month about disabilities resources by asking to be taken off the mailing list. 

3.       Deserves mention in a #GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay sense for pre-retirement work educating university departments about how to make their websites accessible and appearing at events where RantWoman also was present, except other issues here get in the way of full appreciation.

 

4.       Keeps talking about “empathy” in such an abstract way that RantWoman has no idea what the concept means to that Friend in practice. Show me, don’t tell me.

 

5.       Is in RantWoman’s observation one of the voices most adamantly silencing when RantWoman tries to address issues of disability in Meeting For Business.

 

In other words, this Friend needs to be held in the Light, and RantWoman will not be silenced, and solving climate change depends on people like this Friend and RantWoman figuring out how to talk respectfully in each other’s presence.

 

In Light and Faithfulness

 

RantWoman

 

PS By way of further centering, RantWoman reminds readers of George Fox’s quote which is actually from one of the gospels, about “be patterns, be examples….” Sometimes there is much to learn even from bad examples.

Shootings, Prayer, Worship

It’s springtime and the shooting is easy.

 

Easy? RantWoman, you are WEIRD.

 

Not arguing. Wondering whether claiming the label “low threshold creative” as a psychic blanket is what is needed or whether RantWoman is supposed AGAIN to invoke God in kind of an awkward preachy, path to COPING way.

 

RantWoman COULD change the flow of electronic alerts into her life. That would be ONE way to cut down on the number of shootings in RantWoman’s consciousness.  Rantwoman is more in the Get Rid of the Damn Guns camp.

 

There has been about one shooting a day for the last several days. Most exist for RantWoman only as blips in her message stream. One though is particularly piquant: a message about a bus reroute “until the end of service (end of the day)” near the scene of the shooting and an image from someone else of a dead body in a parking garage. RantWoman never visits the affected parking garage, but she was also glad not to need that bus route that day.

 

But if the point is not only shootings  but also strokes and the kind of fatal car crashes that also mow down two young men now in ICU what then?

 

And what if RantWoman is already hearing “RantWoman we cannot worship with you because…?” Some of the because are issues which MAY very well befall the people now struggling to fully recover. RantWoman will work at Becauses in a different post. RantWoman is finding herself called to a piece of advice she has heard a couple ways and cannot currently locate in this blog, something like “if you think 20 minutes of meditation / praying / outdoor time is too much, that is a sure sign you really need an hour.”

 

Translated here, if you cannot handle RantWoman in her present badly jangled state around big vision loss and other weird anniversary dates, maybe community events like a comparatively young  person slowly recovering from a stroke or the young adult’s long path to  recovery after the car crash mean you and everyone else need MORE time worshipping with RantWoman. RantWoman is ardently praying for full and thorough recovery in both cases. RantWoman always honors the work of walking alongside, wherever the treatment goes. RantWoman would never mind being wrong, but RantWoman is guessing that both people she has in mind are going to acquire either some of the same characteristics that drive people crazy around RantWoman or other challenges getting the help they need when and how they need it, being seen....  And RantWoman finds herself hoping in both cases that, although lives have probably changed forever, the Friends she is speaking of never have to experience some of the CRAP RantWoman has gone through.

 

RantWoman says this humbly, not wishing more crap on anyone. Rantwoman recognizes many “people are doing the best they can” moments,. RantWoman apparently is also able and willing to apply the label CRAP to many things which may lurk within the recovery for these suffering people and the loved ones closest to them.

 

Even worse, RantWoman is sitting with two thoughts. RatnWoman once heard a radio story about a music school that brought in someone who trains Green Berets to help performers become unflappable in the face of all kind of clatter and clamor. Would that idea be an option here? OR Friends who find these thoughts egotistical or otherwise unpalatable need first to channel Mayor Pete and Take It Up With God.

 

Lord, PLEASE have mercy on all of us.

 

In Light and Faithfulness

 

RantWoman

 

 

Fractals in Nature plus meditations

Give us this day our daily fractals.

Search string Fractals in Nature. RantWoman has been playing with fractals when she comes into the STAR Center  when she wants to evoke calm. RantWoman was not very patient today so the bitmap at the bottom, while intriguing, does not reflect a lot of fussing around to improve quality of the resulting tactile image. Cope.

 

The Return of the Footstool announcement in the Bulletin!!!

Friendly REMINDERS:

• Need a footstool to worship more comfortably? Footstools can be found behind the side

door of the cabinet next to the UFM office. Please return your footstool to the cabinet
after worship.

 

RantWoman has been falling down on the job of ensuring that this announcement appears. To RantWoman this announcement is a small gesture of welcome and sharing important but semisecret insider info. RantWoman herself is tall and seldom has problems with her feet reaching the floor. However RantWoman has in the past watch short people struggle to sit when their feet do not reach the floor. If one sees that someone has a footstool, one should not need to ask how to find one for themselves! GO TEAM. Let’s be welcoming.

THREE pots of tomatoes but no chives.

Last weekend due to a happy lack of communication about the location of some heirloom tomato plants a spouse brought to the end of the Blind Geeks meetup, RantWoman has THREE pots of heirloom tomatoes. RantWoman was only expecting one and will give the other two to their intended recipient next month. But in the meantime RantWoman will be glad a major building inspection is over and probably no one is going to get upset about tomato plants on balconies at least for awhile.

The No Chives issue is because of a long and pointed discussion and someone else getting to pick up the pot of chives RantWoman wanted from the plant exchange but did not necessarily want to tote around to the rest of her day. More to the story than that but enough for here.

 

Ramadan and Not in St Petersburg.

 

RantWoman, if you do not know how to deal with late night iftar food, you could consider different iconography in the vision collages all over your door.

 

Ramadan food from neighbor. Samosas at 10 pm? Meant to save but nuked and ate.

 

Add goat meat plus injera. Manage to save.  Lunch this afternoon.

 

Add long days short nights.

 

Wash dishes at 6 am and do not make it back to bed.

 

Four hours of sleep means that giddy mid May half exhilarated half exhausted feeling.

 

At least RantWoman is  not in Leningrad / St Petersburg where giddy would have to hold longer and longer for awhile.

 

Holy cow. Has it been 30 years since the white nights and grad student humor about “watching the bridges get divorced.”?

 

Digesting Blog reviews:

RantWoman is managing to hear one thread of her conversation with Dances with Dirt Friend as “get a life.” For better or worse, if RantWoman has all kinds of limitations on what it is possible, let alone easy for her to do, and Meeting is important to her anyway… RantWoman gets that this may be a mixed blessing but…

 

RantWoman is hearing a second thread as don’t write anything different from what I understand.” Look, it’s RantWoman’s mental sandbox. RantWoman is not sure whether sandbox means plastic bucket and options for sculpting sand into interesting shapes or sandbox as in the cat uses. But the point is, these are rantWoman’s thoughts. They are Blog as Quaker journal. They are not required to fit into anyone’s boxes and if RantWoman needs to express gripes and quibbles but does not feel called to say them out loud, just give the problem to God. That is what RantWoman is doing.

 

RantWoman is meditating about the problem of needing to record her perceptions differently from prevailing consensus. RantWoman is tempted to refer readers to Franz Fanon and his culture of silence, though RantWoman once used the week’s reading to write a paper about a culture of noise, of ways for marginalized communities to be drowned in chatter deemed meaningful by others but nearly irrelevant to the marginalized communities. RantWoman frequently in many circumstances has a sense of barely being able to get a word in edgewise, which is one reason things spill out all over her blog. And if people feel criticized, frankly, sometimes they are though it is also RantWoman’s responsibility to shepherd written words into better conversation.

 

The blog posts are public so there is an invitation to read. But tonight RantWoman went back in time and after just a few entries has to concede both that many blog posts are a danged tough read AND that RantWoman has been trying to have conversations about disability and getting written out of minutes for a bleeping long time. Hold that problem in the Light because RantWoman DOES detect SOME efforts and because…

Phone. Dances with Dirt Friend. A good day

RantWoman wishes to thank Dances with Dirt Friend for various strands of phone conversation and for just plunging into the meat of the matter instead of also exchanging some things that might have been cheerful.

 

First RantWoman thanks Dances with Dirt Friend for refresher about an element of Dances with Dirt Friend’s message from worship that RantWoman had forgotten about both seeing and listening. RantWoman appreciates knowing that she is not the only person who cannot necessarily reconstruct what emerged as a message but RantWoman needed the refresher which came from someone else.

 

RantWoman appreciates knowing that Dances with Dirt Friend reads RantWoman’s blog in spite of the opinions Dances with Dirt Friend expressed. RantWoman offers the following invitation to please leave a comment. RantWoman moderates comments. If a comment says “Please DO NOT post” RantWoman will not post. If a comment seems like it would benefit from more Light than RantWoman and Dances with Dirt Friend alone, and the comment has no explicit directions, RantWoman will post the content and omit identifying info. If the comment says please post, RantWoman will just click post as is.

 

Dances with Dirt Friend is one of many people in RantWoman’s life who want to have conversations about changing RantWoman’s behavior but are not capable of having other conversations RantWoman needs in order to be faithful to her Light and adjust behavior. Plus, the more times Rantwoman hears “The only person whose behavior you can change is yours,” the more insistent RantWoman becomes that maybe the utterer needs to take their own medicine.

 

Also, Caution. This is RantWoman. Worse is possible.

 

Put the word Idiot in the search bar. Find the posts where RantWoman is inclined to apologize for not losing her temper sooner or more colorful terms. Please continue to hold all involved in the Light.

 

Consider this item from long ago.

https://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2009/06/eldering.html

 

RantWoman will now be reaching out to others: what were you hoping for from the Care and Accountability Process?  Are you the slightest bit interested in RantWoman's experience of what did or did not work?

 

Also, do you understand the concept of Brave Space?

Morning Prayers with Oatmeal and a Pop Quiz

RantWoman, first PRAY

 

Then, since a neighbor is just getting home, wish Eritrean neighbors across the hall a Blessed Ramadan, #ramadanMubarak. Do not forget the oatmeal!

 

Oatmeal? Neighbors are 4 generations in a 2-bedroom apartment. The youngest mom and baby get WIC but WIC is not necessarily food they eat. So RantWoman asked what would be a good replacement for the food they want to give RantWoman. Oatmeal! And especially during Ramadan. Done! Blessings!

 

Now pray again

 THEN plan how to pen an admonishment and exhortation NOT to drive anyone’s SOV’s to a bill signing about environmental measures that just passed the legislature. There will be NO place to park. Bus and Light Rail are awesome connections for anyone who can walk 2-4 blocks on decent sidewalk. If someone is really hip and trendy download the new Via app, and see if you can ride from the Columbia City light rail to the event. Leave a comment to tell RantWoman your experience. #waleg

 

 

Pray AGAIN

Now wax rhapsodic about HEADINGS IN the news letter. TRY To resist the temptation though to grab the item about consent culture: Gravity is not consensual. DNA lotto is not consensual. Creeping decrepitude is not consensual. NOW WHAT?

 

Pray AGAIN

Over matters of minutes and what is or is not in minutes and how event sequences look to RantWoman. An acknowledgment in draft minutes that Madame Recording Clerk was unclear what to do matters. It matters because the acknowledgment contained the words “important to (RantWoman). Finally the FACT of nominating committee declaring matters to do with disability off topic is in minutes. That is good news and bad news but it is a SMALL step forward from “look how nice we are being to RantWoman” with no mention of blatant ableism in several forms and only “RantWoman spoke at length” and not a dang thing about what RantWoman said. More words due in their own post.

 

Pray AGAIN

Last night RantWoman was doing brainless activity trying to soothe her soul enough to corral needed words. RantWoman was responding to a request for old electronic copies of the newsletter, searching a year at a time in her email archives. RantWoman finds herself VERY sad about many email addresses whose people she is not seeing right now. RantWoman thinks there are some pray together across differences issues. RantWoman also hates a sense of either/ or rather than both /and. Further crabbiness available about Friends older / younger than 60. Please hold in the Light along with what Quakers have to offer the world today.

 

Pray AGAIN

The term of art for travel that combines many stops not just commuting is “trip chaining.” It is more often done by women and is poorly reflected in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and therefore women’s work is not in the data. And we will also not talk about the “not in data” problem of pedestrian travel in many data streams. This Not in data problem can make a person crazy and rantwoman has been sitting with that on top of a campus discernment committee full of people who in RantWoman’s experience define problems more narrowly than RantWoman does. RantWoman does NOT apologize for having these concerns. RantWoman does very much apologize for the extremely aggravating way she tried to communicate about her concerns with the process.  RantWoman is doing prayers rather than deal with some email germane to changes around Meeting, but RantWoman would VERY much like to get to better communication with some key people.

 

 

Pray Again!

RantWoman has been sitting with a request about special treatment when other people include one Friend in email to Rantwoman and RantWoman is led to do reply/all. RantWoman gets that this request to delete the Friend in question is really, really, really, really important to this Friend. As a practical reality this request is very difficult for RantWoman and RantWoman gets to cope all the time with things that are really really really important to her that other people completely disregard. RantWoman thinks having to cope promotes spiritual growth and RantWoman is not finding herself called to deprive the requesting Friend of the same opportunity for spiritual growth. So please hold the whole soap opera in the Light.

 

 

Then PRAY AGAIN

RantWoman has been seasoning how lovingly to tell people near and dear to her that she will go where God tells her to, that if Friends can think BRAVE SPACE instead of just “safe space” really really people, God is telling RantWoman, can cope.

 

By “Go,” RantWoman does not necessarily mean GO in the sense used here.

https://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2019/04/pesach-passed-on.html

 

Pop quiz:

what principle(s) of the ADA apply here?

 

What might Friends advise others in this person’s community about concepts such as allyship or spiritual accompaniment?

 

Since Facebook generously shows RantWoman the names of a number of Friends with Jewish connections, what might Friends advise as far as places to turn for help?

 

What Twitter hashtags can be used to find plenty more stories just like this or worse?

 

In Light and Faithfulness

 

RantWoman

Honest questions round 2

RantWoman writes here after a phone conversation about the guidelines for the UFM Email list. RantWoman does not know what to do with the information she heard as “you were the only one who objected so we did not care about your objections.”

 

RantWoman guesses she is supposed to be grateful to have that information now, but RantWoman has decided to post to her blog in her own words because she does not feel like relying on any single voice to filter / convey what is bothering her and come to a better formulation and because the whole topic needs to be held in the Light so that progress can perhaps be made.

 

RantWoman has been off the email list for awhile and RantWoman is finding herself feeling peeved, resentful on numerous grounds and bullied. RantWoman initially promised to suggest SMALL edits. RantWoman WAS hoping that small edits would do the trick. RantWoman needs greater light than small edits but cutting down the number of ways RantWoman feels bullied could improve MANY things.

 

 

UFM Email List Guidelines.pdf

UFM Email List Guidelines

November, 2016

University Friends Meeting

Email List Guidelines

By posting to UniversityFriendsMeeting@googlegroups.com, you are agreeing to follow these guidelines:

1. Announcements ONLY

The email list is for announcements that are relevant to the UFM community. For  example: activities sponsored by UFM committees or other Quaker organizations;  joys or concerns of members and attenders (this could include personal needs, such  as looking for/offering employment, rides, etc); and other events groups, activities, or events that are consistent with our Quaker testimonies.

This is not a forum for discussion. It is, however, appropriate to share an item or  topic that you would like Friends to discuss and indicate how those interested in  doing so can continue the discussion (i.e. by emailing you directly or gathering after  the rise of meeting).

 

2. No “Reply All”

Unless you have a vital clarification or addition to make to the original announcement, reply only to the individual sending the announcement, not the entire email list.

RantWoman would like to suggest:

Please use Reply/all VERY judiciously, only for vital clarifications or additions to a post, or for matters of community interest such as shared memories of someone who has passed away or updates about someone’s situation.

RantWoman is on the email list for another Meeting. RantWoman particularly appreciates reply/all when the email thread is shared remembrances about someone who has died or is going through some kind of medical event.  Sometimes the memories themselves and the network of people remembering someone are very meaningful to RantWoman even if the memories and connections date from long before there was any such thing as Google groups.

RantWoman has also found helpful threads about where people are meeting for events such as marches. Here RantWoman appreciates the point that one set of posts generated a response that addressed some of RantWoman’s concerns for that instance but not in general.

 

3. No Forwarding Announcements from this list without Approval

Please forward an announcement only with the approval of the person or group that sent it to you. It is best to remove the names and email addresses from the original announcement, unless you know that the sender intends otherwise.

RantWoman GREATLY appreciates even the limited info about community life she is receiving from the person who has been ignoring this rule. RantWoman’s appreciation is why she is clear to try again about refining guidelines and rejoining the list.RantWoman is also seeking to rejoin the list under her own name even though other options have also occurred to her.

RantWoman is very relieved that her conversation partner finally got that there are SOME situations for example where someone particularly a child may be in danger where forwarding without permission would absolutely be appropriate and RantWoman is not just being obstreperous by openly refusing to agree to a document she knows might need to be violated. RantWoman thinks it would be valuable to have some community conversation about to whom one might suggest forwarding something problematic and some kind of gentle wording about members of a faith community looking after posts that raise concerns.

 

4. No Other Recipients

Do not include any other individuals or groups in the “To” field of your email. Doing so would violate their privacy.

RantWoman can live with this one but she does not understand it. Some in RantWoman’s circles probably would consider inclusion in a To list a violation of their privacy but many others would not. Rantwoman also regularly gets email that includes lists she is not on, people she does not know. RantWoman finds out when she does Reply/all what bounces.

 

5. Content Must Be Appropriate

Messages should be as brief as possible, and your language must be respectful and courteous.

Do not promote particular political candidates or partisan groups.

Please minimize the number of email headers from forwarded messages.

6. No Large Attachments

Do not attach files greater than 1 MB.

7. Managing Message Flow: Thee guidelines are intended to help Friends avoid email overload but this list and different email systems offer a number of additional options for managing and sorting messages. These can be helpful and are worth learning about.

This email list is not moderated, but repeated violations of these guidelines could result in the violator being removed from the group.

There is a brand new update to Google groups effective today. RantWoman has not read thoroughly enough to see whether there is any kind of user level setting that would allow people to read but not post. RantWoman may update this post with info about that.

Please direct any questions or concerns about these guidelines to

 

[please leave a comment here because RantWoman did not seek the list creator’s permission to use her address in this post.]

Leading Tested

Anatomy of a Leading, plus or minus Pipe Organ

RantWoman, how do you know... was from God and not from your ego?

Umm, if I am supposed to love my neighbor as myself then I am supposed to love myself so what is the difference between my ego and God?

 

Seriously, RantWoman tests leading various ways, sometimes with conversations or email, sometimes with gut checks. RantWoman is surprised sometimes by how her gut checks get validated. That was definitely the case for this moment, also referenced here

https://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2019/04/palm-sunday-minus-pipe-organ-after.html

https://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2019/04/metaphors-maundy-thursday-charoset-ice.html

 

By validated, RantWoman means, among other things:

 

--How does RantWoman’s body feel? Does breath flow easily? If there is something discomfiting is RantWoman still physically calm?

 

--Does RantWoman collect information she had no way of knowing in advance would come her way?

Here, Yes and Yes.

 

Recently RantWoman needed to test which of two First Day choices she was called to, go to Adult Religious Education at her Meeting and then deal with the issue of Business Meeting requests or go appreciate pipe organ (and Powerpoint!?!   In worship, oh well) at a large faith community where RantWoman has family connections. Alert readers can probably figure out which faith community RantWoman is referring to, but RantWoman needs for a number of reasons to be elliptical.

 

Get off bus. Go west toward Meeting or North. North by a clear gut check.

 

Arrive at house of worship. Early service with pipe organ is just getting out.

Find a bench. Text Little Sister about rendezvous. Attend from the bench to flows of the faithful. Observe conversation: someone trying to help someone with complicated situation who may or may not be able to follow through.

 

Observe streams of visitors. Collect text from Little Sister: does Rantwoman want to go to the contemporary service? No, not really. Open to pipe organ at 11 though. Little Sister suggests RantWoman visit large gathering room where there is coffee, where irrepressible Nephew is hard at work. Nephew has just gotten back from a housebuilding trip to Mexico; happily the trip occurred despite threats of even more extreme border silliness from The Orange One.

 

Find large gathering room. Find some scrambled eggs, fruit coffee. Read a few days of devotionals from the large print guide RantMom always gifts. Collect joyous hug when Nephew spots RantWoman. Finish eggs and coffee. Make mental note to learn more about big homelessness ministry. Take note of the off-duty police officer.

 

Decision time: ”Pipe organ or….

 

Body tenses at thought of a whole hour of worship that is like a slightly ill-fitting pair of high-wquality shoes. A fit for someone else but not RantWoman.

Or! Rantwoman finds elevator and walks. Kinks fall out of body. Lungs fill with air.

Eyes drink in spring green.

 

RantWoman nears meeting. The pinks and yellows of the plantings fill RantWoman’s soul.

Gut check: yeah, gut is there. Give things to God. Breathe easier.

Meeting for business has already started.

 

RantWoman finds a chair, sits, holds proceedings in the Light.

 

RantWoman notes a couple she cannot identify leaving. RantWoman considers running after to ask why they leave. RantWoman thinks someone else also left.

 

RantWoman greets another visitor she has previously met.

 

RantWoman observes an incident and followup conversation related to an obviously homeless person. RantWoman makes mental note to think about further steps.

 

20-something Friend emerges from Worship room and suggests that RantWoman is not supposed to be there.

 

RantWoman suggests that Friend needs to give the problem to God.

 

Young Friend feels need to go back to Worship room and spread the alarm: RantWoman is here! RantWoman is here!

 

Then young Friend finds visitor who had asked for him and stomps out. RantWoman thinks there also were tears.

 

Distressed Friends emerge and desparately want RantWoman to go sit in library. Library was already occupied by Chattery Friend not RantWoman’s first choice to hang with. Two Friends join RantWoman and interesting useful conversation starts to occur until flow shifts to domination by Chattery Friend. Guess which gender. RantWoman means to talk about New Attender cards. RantWoman collects data: Meeting just approved membership for someone whose long ago new attender card one of the conversation Friends recently found unaddressed in an old notebook. Okay. Save new attender cards for another conversation !

 

Also collect data on who is speaking against RantWoman appearing in Business meeting. Turns out the following week RantWoman will owe said Friend a thank you. Said Friend KNOWS and has had multiple requests to email RantWoman the Adult Ed handouts AHEAD of the event. This occurs VERY unevenly. In the most recent case, RantWoman received the handout and resource list AFTER the event. RantWoman supposes she is grateful for the resource digestion service and grateful for some video links. Actually, RantWoman needs to pen a strand of thoughts in another post.

 

But imagine if the info got emailed or publicized more broadly in advance of Adult education. Just imagine. Could Friends make people feel welcome????

 

What RantWoman is stuck on: Said Friend was clerk of Worship and Ministry a number of years ago when RantWoman decided pastoral care committees needed to observe Disabilities Awareness Month. Said Friend despite clerk role asked to be taken off the email list. Um, no. And NO, Rantwoman STILL will not be silenced. RantWoman is trying to decide whether to be grateful for this reminder.

 

NO RantWoman does not want to go have coffee with Said Friend to talk about this. RantWoman has no idea what conversation would help and RantWoman is seasoning a need to elaborate further about a related thread of life. RantWoman SO would not mind different data to collect!