Service Python Friend

RantWoman has been called to be faithful to her Light. RantWoman will separately specify exactly what Light she is referring to. The details exist in email and need to be edited for blogdom. The point for this post: so there RantWoman was, after a good bit of wavering and considering other routings, being faithful to Light succinctly described as nonviolent presence on public right of way. The day unfolded with a sense RantWoman has felt a time or two before:  "Do NOT care who gets steaming mad. The world will not blow up just because someone is steaming mad. Plus MANY signs RantWoman is called to be faithful." 

Faitfhulness included:

--Answering a question about someone interested in an important new renter and expecting to find more signage than she did. Yes, she was at the right place. Yes, RantWoman knows one part of the schedule but does not know what else may have been added. RantWoman would suggest a dialogue with the renter about signage, if only because many come to the renter's events with their faces in their phones but might very much appreciate some confirmation that they are at the right place even if not the right time.

    You're welcome.

--Getting to greet at least wave at Service Python Friend, definitely someone RantWoman feels ZERO leading to wait around for a memorial to care about!

RantWoman is very fond of Service Python friend, mainly because the concept of a Service Python just makes RantWoman laugh. When the service python first came up in conversation, RantWoman really needed to laugh. Several years down the line, RantWoman still REALLY needs to laugh.

Put python in the search bar and all kinds of things turn up. Like, GOOD LORD RantWoman, you can be kind of Hard to Take. See: the single standard of RantWoman.

In the meantime, A Fairly recent Snake Charmer / Service Python Friend post

It took RantWoman a couple rounds to squinting to figure out who the person getting the walker out of the car was and that the person using the walker was Service Python Friend. (RantWoman realized the most vigilant parking space patroller is unavailable. RantWoman assumes the car has the requisite disabled parking permit, though if one gets out a walker and goes into Meeting, it should be obvious that one needs the handicapped parking place.)   RantWoman is TRULY glad to see both of them, most definitely would have preferred to greet them, and did not really want to brighten their day talking about "only come to memorials ..."
--Several other good and generous conversations.

There. RantWoman will stop for now. RantWoman feels a ferocious tirade coming on. Service Python Friend used to regale RantWoman with the lame excuses he heard in his role as a hearings examiner in county government. Service Python Friend, at least his former self would probably be amused at the tirade. The tirade may yet hit the electrons, but for now RantWoman will, cross fingers everyone, STOP.

Si A La Vida and Jonathan Roise: Memories in Celebration of Life

RantWoman is doing sort of end-of-year housekeeping, trying to clear outrageous muddles, tending to fundraising appeals or  in this case , to a Friend going online because she did not receive the usual expected fundraising appeal.

Si A La Vida  website about project that began as a project working with glue-sniffing street kids, boys, in one of the markets in Managua and has survived for 25 years as well as morphing into a program serving both boys and girls. The story is pretty inspiring, though RantWoman notes with slight concern for instance that the annual newsletters stop at 2016.


Video memorial about Si A La Vida founder Jon Roise. Sometimes there is no audio. Sometimes the audio is in English, sometimes in Spanish. Cope. And if blind readers find this video, it is worth asking someone to describe the various texts and photos.

RantWoman notes ruefully that Jon passed away several years ago and RantWoman is only now interacting with the news. That does not change eitherJon's accomplishments or the importance of Si a la Vida

RantWoman remembers this project because during her time as clerk of Peace and Social Concerns, the project was in the process of getting its own 501(c)3 tax status and transitioning to an independent organization instead of being under care of a Meeting. RantWoman is humble to have a very small part in helping that along.

Steady Light Day 8 with image and important article

Hanukkah Day 8
RantWoman received the menorah image below with this wonderful quote from Edith Wharton: There are two ways of spreading Light, to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

And in terms of steady Light and taking care of what we have in particular as far as defense of immigrant rights, consider this link.

LA TImes on role of immigration rights supports in the NW

God, Belching

In the Hanukkah-ish realm of steady and even fierce Light, RantWoman is grabbing these two items from the Barclay Press

Read this one for the belching reference in the title
Where do we hear God s voice?

I Can't Sleep

Is RantWoman LOOKING for signs?

Where does RantWoman come down on the Run with Christ / It's all God within spectrum? RantWoman takes note of the dance in and out of Quaker worship.

The first Fourth Saturday Worship was a gift: RantWoman feels well-rewarded for being faithful to her Light; thoughts of people wanting to talk about prayer. In the future RantWoman will issue several specific invitations; RantWoman will also offer another opportunity to distribute invitations.

There was an image, partly about centering in worship: if you want to dance, you have to roll up the carpets and clear the floor. RantWoman can go SEVERAL directions with that.

RantWoman is left with questions and thoughts about worship and middle-schoolers that probably belong only in email. For her own part, RantWoman was pretty much a nerd at middle school age. First, the RantFamily moved to MT when RantWoman was in 6th grade. Junior High was grades 7-9.  Fitting in was not going to happen in school, and the church where RantDad was choir director already had its cliques too.

RantWoman blesses Sunday school teachers for being shining positive presence and gently biblical lessons; RantWoman would not say they were gifted about child development issues, but Sunday school was pleasant enough. Objecting to going to church would not have been received well; plus for RantWoman church through much of childhood was far preferable to the kid supervision options. RantWoman kind of dug the metaphors of the hymns. A number of feisty women who had worked in nearby Native communities (indian country, in modern usage; thank you Twitter.) kept things lively. At some point RantWoman realized that she naturally has some double-vision and when the service got too dull, RantWoman would spend time tracking the same objects in different images. So RantWoman finds herself just wondering about current local expectations from various directions.

And in the realm of what Lydia X Z Brown calls body-minds and being present with what they do or do not do, RantWoman offers observations from a recent Quaker Christmas pageant.

--RantWoman is grateful for Friends who described what everyone was laughing about: the baby Jesus proxy entered the stage stuck up Mary's shirt and arrived by the shortest and least bodily substance infused delivery ever.

--RantWoman spent time during the performance kind of rolling her eyes because one actor could barely be heard. RantWoman, though, is VERY glad she kept her mouth shut: RantWoman had been at an event where the presenter, someone on the autism spectrum, asked people please not to clap because she finds such sounds disturbing. The presenter asked everyone just to do the Deaf people wave hands thing. Okay sure, but if RantWoman does not have some kind of audio cue, she could be waving her hands all day.

After the holiday pageant, RantWoman learned that the person she was rolling her eyes about is the person whose mother awhile ago sent out an email on her son's behalf asking Friends for awareness and patience. RantWoman is guessing from the email that even standing up and saying a few lines was outside the son's comfort zone. RantWoman can encourage without traumatizing. No just yelling "Louder." Not obvious what to do if one can't hear. Luckily in this case the pageant was not going to be long and Divine mercy can cover conflicting accessibility needs. Luckily.

Invitation: Fourth Saturday Worship: happening December 28.

inning December 28, Fourth Saturday Worship:
Unprogrammed Worship in the manner of Friends (Quakers)
with queries related to prayer.

For December 28,

What do we mean by prayer?
What language do we use to speak of prayer?

An experiment for a few months
3:30-5:00 pm at the Montlake Library, 2401 24th Ave E, easily accessible on Metro Route 48

All who want to experience unprogrammed worship including children of
any age who can come with an adult are welcome.

For more information, leave a comment and please indicate whether you would like your comment published.

The Library's Branch Meeting Room Use Guidelines succinctly state "Meeting rooms are reserved for non-commercial use only; users may not advertise or sell products, memberships or services, and no fees, donations or money may be requested or collected

All meetings must be open to the public.No contact information may be solicited from attendees for the purpose of advertising or selling. 

Alfre Woodard & Aldis Hodge - A Humanizing Look at Death Row in “Clemenc...

Vocabulary: Sometimes people GET IT but Uprooting Racism--While practicing Ableism?

RantWoman wavered about timing for this post. However since this year's theme for dabbling in matters of Hanukkah is persistent Light, RantWoman has decided to go ahead and post it.

RantWoman humbly acknowledges that finding the right path to phone conversation MIGHT be on point here. Please all just hold that problem in the Light. This post reflects things RantWoman feels called to say to anyone who will listen but that RantWoman may not be able to get out of her mouth as directly as she can splatter all over a keyboard.. The post also contains content highly relevant to any Ad-Hoc Committee on Disability that at some point WILL get created. And even though RantWoman would find it frightenly easy just to let her head explode, RantWoman will be TRYING to make sense and not just have a good fit for the holidays. RantWoman will be TRYING.

RantWoman's Meeting thinks it has released itself from RantWoman. One person uses the word "divorce;"  RantWoman would tartly point out that divorce still frequently means shared custody of the planet, common history, and of a future.

RantWoman's Meeting cannot possibly release RantWoman from moral obligation to be faithful to her Light, to attend to Quaker testimonies including continuing revelation about basic terminology related to accessibility. Nor has RantWoman been released from a call to worship in the community and desire to come promptly to a shared understanding about this.

RantWoman's email contains several threads that fill her with DESPAIR. Out of care for her own holiday sanity, RantWoman is trying not to dump the whole sleigh out at once. RantWoman does note word reached her that the last Meeting for Business  approved a minute creating an Ad Hoc committee on Disability, to last a year from whenever Nominating Committee gets around to nominating a committee. The language of the minute is VERY boiled down. RantWoman considers that a problem, but Santa Claus physics or not, that topic gets to stay in the sleigh for another day or two. One clear task though: discuss what has worked and what has not.

Consider the humble monthly newsletter, which RantWoman is not reproducing in its entirety here.

RantWoman has for a long time had a standing reasonable accommodations request to have newsletter editors use headings on all articles in the newsletter. RantWoman has not pushed this request very hard with past newsletter editors but is disappointed that the current editor has fallen away from initial success in this area. RantWoman deeply appreciates the current editor's service and wants as gently as possible to encourage improvement. RantWoman does not want to speculate on what parts of the document preparation process get in the way of document accessibility happening on a consistent basis.

In the most recent issue, two things were odd:

--There is a list of articles at the beginning. The titles run over several lines in a column but instead of one heading per title, each line is its own heading. Not catastrophic because RantWoman and her screen reader can still skip fairly quickly over the extra headings, but kind of a nuisance.

--Bigger nuisance, one article had a title in the same font as other articles but was not marked as a heading. RantWoman reproduces the article below as an additional opportunity for Friends to explore important terminology.

UPROOTING RACISM BOOK GROUP BEGINS FEBRUARY Starting February 2, 2020, Peace and Social Concerns will host a monthly book group on uprooting racism. The group will run initially for six months on the first Sunday of the month from 12:30PM to 2:00PM in the First Day School Room.*** We will usually read one book each month, all of which will be available from either the Seattle Public Library or King County Library in various formats.***** Some titles will also be available to borrow from the UFM library. The topics will include white privilege, white supremacy culture, the impact of racism on specific communities of color in the United States and uprooting racism. The first book we’ll read is Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving, Elephant Press 2014. After that, the participants will select future titles from a curated syllabus, and we’ll publish the complete list in Gleamings and post on our website.   Each session will be open to everyone whether or not you plan to attend them all. Questions? (leave a comment and RantWoman will forward because she has not asked permission to post the contact info)

***Remember one of RantWoman's gripes about the Care and Accountability Committee wanting RantWoman to go hide in places physically inaccessible to people RantWoman might want to have sit with her including her own sister? The First Day School Room is one such place. If someone who uses a wheelchair wanted to participate in this book group, would the group consider a different location? There are several points in RantWoman's thinking about this question. Stay tuned.

****"several formats!!!!" Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Someone familiar with the concept of multiple formats and getting such from libraries. Now if only the person correctly considering this term did not insist on wanting RantWoman Gone Gone Gone from Meeting life. Please hold the entire fiasco in the Light.

*****RantWoman feels particular call about general Uprooting Racism conversations for one thing because RantWoman is also called to pay attention to matters of intersectionality, including some encapsulated by the various hashtags such as #DisabilityTooWhite.

Consider also the electronic edition of Faith and Practice, delivered in a format accessible to RantWoman only AFTER.... Stay tuned about that issue as well.

In Light and Faithfulness.

RantWoman

Mind the lights? Limp soggy fried food cooked in slightly rancid oil. Streaks in the candlelight?

Today's multifaith Hanukkah post among other things post celebrates persistent light in those moments of festive holiday dyspepsia that pop up sooner or later every year and then if all the stars align and actually settle down into the appropriate seasonal wash of interpersonal if not global peace..

Please note: although one perspective on "mind the Light" would be to post Hanukkah-themed posts somewhere in the same time window as sundown, RantWoman's theme of persistent Light is that Light matters whenever it shows up Gosh Dang It. (As in RantWoman is also seasoning another post that probably should be a phone call.)

Grease is the word?

Yesterday a woman rabbi in RantWoman's Twitter feed was complaining about some outrageous moment of everyday sexism from a male colleague, something about insisting women can never be rabbis.

RantWoman suggested could the sexist offender maybe receive a lump of coal for the night's Hanukkah present.  Yes, of course the lump of coal is a  Christmas thang, but RantWoman would not in the least feel it is cultural appropriation to borrow the concept for this occasion.

Other people suggested "Limp soggy fried food cooked in slightly rancid oil."

Okay, but it would be just anyone's luck for the sexist offender to grab the lump of coal, set it on fire and then attempt to revive the limp soggy fried...?

Mark Set Church

Calamity: no eggnog mix at Starbucks so RantWoman opted for regular latte before joining the Fam for 5 pm Christmas Eve service at Little Sister's church.

Is the latte to blame because the RantFamily could barely manage enough civil conversation to get ourselves seated: Little Sister is on oxygen and, oh, a little jumpy about needing to get out as candles start getting lit. The church accommodates this with seating in the very front row for the whole family except this time some connection did not happen and there had already been stress moments even before RantWoman arrived. Other needed task: get ourselves matched up with the largish print program corresponding to the service we attended instead of the one from the other series. RantWoman apologizes for her part in the twitchiness. RantWoman will have to make amends in daylight.

Then RantMom was trying to be helpful. This year the SCREENS in the sanctuary were actually showing the words to the hymns--assuming one could read more than that the flow of words looked, from all the way across the sanctuary, like white lines on a blue background. RantWoman has no idea what words stumbled out of her mouth; nor does RantWoman have any sense of whether RantMom heard her. RantMom is still getting used to hearing aids but says they definitely help.RantWoman still notes plenty of room for miscommunication.

RantWoman was seeing enough on the screens to tell: CART transcription for the deaf probably was not in use: the lines did not move while people were talking, only when hymns were being sung.

Here RantWoman's mind wandered to a moment where she was interpreting for someone who would later get to shake Mr. Rogers hand: RantWoman just stopped trying to interpet hymns on the fly. The visitor did not mind; he was too busy being wowed getting to walk past kids in the nursery as we entered the church.

RantWoman decided fairly early on in the Christmas eve service not to sweat theology but just to let music enfold her and to think fondly of RantDad and all the music involved in RantFamily holidays.. For RantWoman's trouble, while watching all that goes into playing a pipe organ, RantWoman allowed her mind to wander toward blindness trivia: a time in the 1800's where every church organist in Paris came from the asylum where Louis Braille lived.

RantWoman also took note: there were more fussy children than in past years. RantWoman to be honest did not mind because the fussies mostly got lost in the pipe organ. Also RantWoman has been a big practitioner of kid (at least herself) in worship for a long time: in RantWoman's childhood, worship was ALWAYS more interesting that children's program. But, turns out RantMom and Little Sister, maybe as behavior norm mom police, did mind. Tough. This is RantWoman's blog and the kid can fuss as well in the sanctuary as in the special sounds and video and everything kids space. Just let the children come.

Digression somehow due to be on point: In RantWoman land Little Sister who always really really wanted to do what the big kids were doing got to wash all the dishes she wanted while standing on her little kitchen stool. RantWoman, alas, still also had to do dishes, but with Little Sister occupied, RantWoman had more time and energy for thin film physics, the human dishwasher version. There is something in here connected to the night's message about what do we do with our disappointments, but RantWoman has already digressed enough and still needs to deal with visual streaks of candle light and meanderings of God over generations.

Candles are a staple of Christmas eve services. RantWoman is okay, even really down with that. RantWoman is down with Little Sister needing to flee. RantWoman is down with her memories of the Righteous Reverend Rant Granddad: Flair pens which come to think of it RantDad also was very into, and also grumbles about candles that made his eyes run like a stream. Streaks, though? RantWoman does not want to go there. Just mind the Light; light another candle. Happy Christmas / Boxing day Kwanzaa to all

Sharing the Light: Hanukkah Day 3

Rantwoman offers the following link without comment or editorializing. Sorry if that disappoints anyone.

Chabad.org on What to expect at a public menorah lighting

Brave Space--at the discovery Center

RantWoman has eccentric leadings this year as far as Hanukkah. Please forgive RantWoman: RantWoman can always give a shout out to people who are different from average in some way, like Jewish kids in most schools in the US. But RantWoman is useless as far as symbolism about the Greeks and the Maccabees.

Instead, RantWoman is into steadiness of Light. Recently RantWoman got to go to two events about Disability Justice at the Gates Foundation Discovery Center, part of several months of an exhibit called #WeAreTheFuture.  RantWoman snapped a picture of the Brave Space floor art shown here.

Editing nerd observation: ambiguity after the word dialog?

Houston Hanukkah Light Show 2019! Music by The Maccabeats. Slide show at...

RantWoman this year wades into Hanukkah observance gingerly, as an outsider, attentive to realities of observing things others do not observe. RantWoman offers a shoutout to all the elementary school children and their families whose celebrations are dismissed, belittled. RantWoman's Twitter feed already includes too many such moments. Can ANYONE please say "religious pluralism?"

RantWoman has seven more nights to blaze away at what is on her mind. Please hold RantWoman and all who read in the Light.

In the meantime, this year's Hanukkah song from the Maccabeats

The annunciation by reference, modes echoing hundreds of years. Bach: Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10 (Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroq...

RantWoman is amused by one accessibility specialist in her Twitter stream: he is observing an extended advent by posting a new technology hint every day. RantWoman has not gone looking for any theology behind the venture, but definitely different from little chocolate candies behind the doors of advent calendars.

RantWoman can tell from her Tweet stream that she is missing timing about celebrating the annunciation, the angel speaking to Mary of her pregnancy. RantWoman will get to the actual annunciation shortly. First, RantWoman offers her third and final meditation on music from the university Presbyterian Church 2019 Noel concert related to JS Bach Cantata No. 10.

First RantWoman DEEPLY appreciates a program with decent sized fonts and enough white space that RantWoman could actually read the program, including the bilingual English / German cantata text. RantWoman spent many a choral concert as a child reading different bilingual texts. The difficulty of doing so now is one of RantWoman's brain at sea pangs: RantWoman still has PLENTY going on and usually prefers to enjoy what she does have rather than focus on what she does not. For instance, RantWoman vaguely remembers some inspiring words she meant to pull out as a quote but that has not happened.

The concert had basically live program notes from the choir director. One was just a reference to old modes, sonic legos, building blocks used to create whole big compositions such as cantatas. RantWoman somehow found it significan to meditation on  reference to modes that go back hundreds of years to medieval times, What all information what all story do the different modes represent? RantWoman mentions the story because one element in particular, the tonus peregrinus represents the Annunciation to Mary. RantWoman sort of means to do more research to tighten up the reference but may just note it for now.



Finally, in reference to the Annunciation, this post about consent.
It was enough for God--Post about Mary and consent.

RantWoman is interested in this understanding of Mary's consent, but RantWoman is also feeling argumentative about all the people who do NOT consent to getting the kinds of  body-minds (to quote Lydia X Z Brown) that God gives them. Stay tuned for where the heck RantWoman is going with that, beyond too many people telling her she has no rights in a bunch of contexts and the concepts of conflicting access needs interdependence, but for tonight, just click and replay the video.

Remembering Stanley

RantWoman solemnly offers Remembrances of Roy Lee (Stanley, as he was known around Friends) Anderson, along with links and various images.

Stanley was a regular around Meeting for many years. RantWoman knows there are stories to tel. RantWoman has no direct personal knowledge of some of them but hopes that some of them will emerge. RantWoman remembers Stanley first as a faithful regular presence at Adult Religious Education, Most of the time he just drank coffee and observed, barely doing more than saying his name as others introduced themselves. Once in awhile though he would offer a comment that shared something from his background or that showed he had been listening very insightfully.

A number of Friends gave Stanley cash. From time to time Stanley would make a specific need known: shoes or a can of kerosene. Before his death he told a story of living in a trailer with a daughter. RantWoman was never sure whether to believe that partly because previously several years ago, Stanly also talked about storing some belongings in someone's garage. Stanley is on RantWoman's mind today because of visiting another place where RantWoman ran into Stanley.

Photos of one place besides Meeting where Stanley hung out, the UW Roosevelt Medical Center lobby waiting area..

A view out the window  of the
UW Roosevelt Medical Center
from where Stanley often sat

Here, please forgive RantWoman: RantWoman wants to extend sincere condolences to Stanley's family but RantWoman also needs to ask the universe to pray for RantBrother. RantBrother lives on the streets of Denver. There is substance abuse, mental illness, and messy medical issues in the story. There are also stories of great kindness from people unknown to RantWoman and homeless person life issues such as difficulty holding onto ID and cellphones.

The latest news from RantBrother is that he got taken to the hospital because of a collapsed lung while sleeping outside. Then he left the hospital AMA and went to a shelter where he thought he would get better sleep. RantBrother is in touch with RantMom enough that she helps in limited ways and we all from time to time reach out. And we pray. And RantWoman honors lots of ways of connecting with homeless and formerly homeless people in Seattle. (put the word homeless in the search bar on this blog, for instance.) And RantWoman definitely still remembers Stanley.

Today RantWoman had an appointment at the Bone and Joint Center at the UW Medicine facility on Roosevelt Way NE near Meeting. When RantWoman goes for medical care in the building, she often winds up spending time in the lobby where lots of people wait for transportation or ate lunch, where RantWoman often hangs out if bus gets her somewhere too early. There are tables and chairs, outlets to plug in one's devices, trash cans, all the usual things one finds in a place like that.

View from a
slightly different angle

Today there was a mom with a sick child having what sounded like a protective conversation with, RantWoman is guessing, the child's father. People come with many medical issues and mobility aids and matters of daily life. RantWoman often ran into Stanley in that lobby.  Stanley was pretty good at blending in so RantWoman does not think he got hassled as much as other obviously homeless people who hung out there.

Here RantWoman is going to pause about personal remembrances and just offer a couple items that might be of interest to people not familiar with homelessness in Seattle.

SHARE/WHEEL site
A group of services managed by homeless people themselves

Women in Black Remembrance Project
A public witness where people stand vigil every Wednesday in remembrance for people who have died outside or by violence.

Below is a partial list of those Women in Black have stood vigil for in 2019. Stanley is listed along with indication that he was found somewhere near Meeting. RantWoman, humbly, just has to say prayers: she visits many of the places where people have been found regularly. And RantWoman is unlikely to forget Stanley anytime soon.

African Noel Here and there "Noel" (arr. Brad Holmes) - Millikin University Choir

RantWoman continues meditations inspired by the Noel Performance at University Presbyterian Church. If you just want to hear music, scroll past this intro down to the videos.

After the videos:
Reflections on colonialism, culture, and connections..
Meditations on faith communities and the University District.

If you are wondering how you got here and / or wish RantWoman would just STFU or go find a different venue with maybe more editing, maybe consider dipping your toes in out of curiosity, hold the thought of writing focus in the Light, have blessed holidays and go read up on Baby Yoda or watch your favorite sports event or something.

African Noel performances

The concert at University Presbyterian opened with a number sung in Kituba, a Central African dialect. RantWoman found two performances on Youtube and offers one from Millikin University, Decatur IL as opener.

Visual on video: still picture of choir in standard semicircle on risers. The men are wearing black tuxedos, bow ties, and white shirts. The women are wearing long black dresses with red insets up the middle in front.



RantWoman had to go look up where Millikin University is: a school affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and located in Decatur IL.
Millikin University Decatur IL
The website is really nice and it sounds like an impressive institution. RantWoman, though, found herself wondering whether adding audio description to the videos would just be information overload.

MIllikin University School of Music
Probably helps explain the quality of the performance.

The Second Video with Digressions about Disability and Diversity

RantWoman was just going to post the link for this Dixie State Combined Choirs performance. However, RantWoman has watched this video (from about 15" away at 4x magnification in case anyone thinks RantWoman should also magically be able to read print or figure out what is happening on people's faces) several times and only picked up some interesting details on her most recent viewing. The video shows a choir in usual semicircle with a conductor and a man playing drums in the middle of the semicircle. The men are wearing tuxedos and the women are all wearing long black dresses. To the right in the video there is a man in a wheelchair and near him but in the back row a woman in hijab. These details inspired RantWoman to indulge in one of her music performance video viewing habits: seeing how many of the performers are wearing actual glasses. RantWoman could not find any. Can readers?

Colonialism?

RantWoman was going to meander around themes of faith communities sending missionaries to Africa and coming home with music, questions of cultural appropriation.... RantWoman was going to muse about the communion of performance. But RantWoman decided sometimes it matters just to shut up about that stuff and sing together.

And sing together close to home?

RantWoman has been reflecting on how nice it is that her Meeting has a refrigerator, an industrial gas stove, and a dishwasher. University Pres. is even more grandiose: a huge sanctuary with stained glass windows, a pipe organ, even a balcony. It has an enormous fellowship hall, serves meals, has a substantial homeless program and several staff. RantWoman is a little unclear from Little Sister's accounts about how big the membership is, whether new members are drawn in, and some other big picture points. The important thing: the church is still putting on wonderful performances! This is a big sign of life compared to another church that just got torn down, a third church slated to be torn down, and various other property / affordable housing decisions. What matters for... amid BIG transportation changes?

Fourth Saturday Worship

Fourth Saturday Worship: 

Unprogrammed Worship in the manner of Friends (Quakers)

A 4-month experiment 

at the Montlake branch 

of the Seattle Public Library,

2401 24th Avenue E, Seattle WA 98112

3:30-5:00 pm 

beginning December 28, 2019

Didn't realize Quakers are still around? Curious? Interested in prayer? Join us for this period of expectant worship. Some of us may till our spiritual soil with readings; suggestions for readings are welcome and will be collected at the link for this post.

Queries
What words do we use to talk about prayer?

What experiences come with the word prayer?

Consider the relationship between belief and prayer.

What does prayer mean to me?

What resources and practices feed our prayer life.

Background thoughts.

Sometimes I pray--Eric Muhr

A young mom who came to midweek worship early in October talked about as an adult having a leading to pray even though she is not sure about believing in something to pray to.

One of my regular prayer quickies is daily email called Verse and voice from the Sojourners community in Washington DC. Use a search engine to fine the website and directions to subscribe

Children of any age who can be present and not disruptive are welcome.

For more information leave a comment; Rantwoman will follow up, in as gentl a persona as she can manage. RantWoman moderates comments, so please indicate whether or not you would like your comment shared.

Future dates

January 25, 2020


February 22, 2020


March 28,  2020

Oh ccome oh come emmanuel bakeoff. Probably no cookies, either kind

RantWoman offers the following post as inspiration for her third Sunday of Advent post. Do not fuss too much about theology if that bothers you. Just let the music wrap around you.

And if you are in fact curious, a pretty categorical item at the bottom somewhere in the vicinity of actual history and Gospel.

Greg Koskela original Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel post

RantWoman's taste, with sparse description of the accompanying visuals, runs to:

A couple of men's groups that always remind RantWoman the only thing that might tempt her to a gender transition would bethe possibility of a half-way decent tenor / baritone singing voice, in other words, a very unlikely possibility.

The Kings Singers 5 men in black suit, white shirt, yellow necktie


A CAPELLA FAMILY SINGERS Still picture


lauren Daigle, wonderful because of imperfections. Black and white photo of woman with curly tendrils of hair and sort of turtleneck sweater



Instrumental, have to work to pick out tune.
August Burns Red red backgroun with sequences of different snowflakes in rows


And the pinao Guys. piano and cello performing in some kind of ancient courtyard


Now, Beware! Challenging post, as in "The most powerful weapon ...against ISL is prayer."
Danny Coleman: For everyone who must have the crucifixion along with Baby Jesus

Riffing: Go Where I send Thee! Choirs. ASL

Riffing

If visuals are needed, imagine a large church with stained glass windows, two large Christmas trees with white lightson either side of the choir area, evergreen garlands with more lights along the sides. ranks of pipe organ on either side of the choir loft, a choir in green robes with white overlays, and RantWoman VERY glad to be able to see all that even if she cannot read the program without squinting fiercely.

RantWoman until this year has never encountered the spiritual "Children Go Where I Send Thee," the closing number at the 2019 University Presbyterian Church Noel performance. The event ROCKED: the sort of performance where one goes to wrap oneself in music, to free one's mind from endless traffic fiascoes, pedestrian environment discontinuities, impeachment dramas, melting polar ice, climbing global temperatures, overheated rental market, underheated quest for tax reform...

RantWoman is intrigued, charmed by all the college and high school choir performances on YouTube, available to summon echoes of RantFamily holiday productions. RantWoman is also intrigued enough by the references to add a link about them.

 
Visuals, Kenny Rogers and a group called Home Free.



Visuals: a men's chorus all wearing dark pants and sweaters of various colors and designs on risers in a semi circle around a piano. The men are doing various hand gestures as they sing and RantWoman is nowhere near qualified to opine about whether the hand gesturs are ASL.

Here RantWoman needs to talk about herself and will free-associate from men's chorus and ASL to a saga from a few years ago about the Seattle Men's chorus and full access for deaf people.

RantWoman on ASL Interpreter issues

Seattle Mens Chorus signer and ASL issues


And now some more music links
Andrews HS A capella women's choir

Salt Lake Vocal Artists

The Fairfield Four

Johny Cash The Man in Black Live in Denmark

And here,  Lyrics and explanation of lyrics

Welcoming All Genders Video: My Journey as a Transgender Quaker

Another SUV in the Living room moment? A christmas sign from God? 'cuz, ya know God..can you understand  some Knock it off" thoughts?Stay tuned!

This video is a REALLY Touching moment about a woman and her Meeting going through a gender transition together. Many moments in the video parallel the stories of other transgender people RantWoman knows. RantWoman will probably at some point share the video with a transphobic newspaper columnist RantWoman maintains interesting Twitter exchanges with.

It might be fine just to watch the video and not worry too much yet about the leaps in RantWoman logic presented below.
.

Rantwoman has been meditating separately about three themes..

The NPYM Minute on welcoming people of all genders.

The fact that Quaker Voice, the statewide Quaker lobby group worked to get sexual orientation and gender identity explicitly included in the WA State antidiscrimination statute RCW 49.60. RCW 49.60 also reference physical disability, religion, and some other categories RantWoman is not going to go look up just now. In other words, for example among people from some other faith communities intersectionality could lead to some interesting issues.

Various other threads about RCW 49.60 and the testimony on equality. Stay tuned.

Compost, Fish to Fry, Clerking

Dear Readers

Reminder. RantWoman means to pick up the phone and talk to some Friends very dear to her. but : What WERE Friends thinking? RantWoman is being asked only to come to memorials? What about Friends community while people are still alive???? What about seeing and offering weekly support to a Friend who does a TON of work for Meeting, who should not be asked to add even one second more of anything on RantWoman's account? What about figuring out LIFE?

What about movements of the holy spirit, not just reindeer droppings for the spiritual compost heap in Business Meeting?

B-b-but RantWoman, DIVORCE???? And take a break?
So WHAT? It's not like geography or the cast of characters needing to get along is going to change. Plus,  there is still shared custody of the planet and shared faithfulness for the future of the Religious Society of Friends. Plus there are anniversaries and the annual winter blahs fest to contend with Plus RantWoman does not get a break from....

RantWoman, in case you have not noticed, some people are REALLY ANGRY?

One would have to be WAY more socially obtuse than RantWoman is to have missed that.

Case in point, Friend, if thee is going to growl at RantWoman in email about not needing to pray, please bear with RantWoman's automatic assumption that  EVERYONE in this telenovela could stand to pray more.

Please READ CAREFULLY. RantWoman's emanations into the blogosphere are TRYING to share with the the world both some things that work splendidly and data about other stuff that maybe, um, possibly just does NOT.

But is this blog about the whole Religious Society of Friends?

Oh no! RantWoman's Meeting--and RantWoman still considers it her Meeting in spite of, as one commenter puts it, "divorce," --has a HUGE footprint in the Religious Society of Friends, but no, RantWoman would NEVER presume to speak on behalf of the entire RSoF..

But you harbor the Quaker heresy opinion that maybe possibly the problems of this outsized corner of a faith community are not unique to this Meeting, or worse yet, not even unique to the Religious society of Friends?

Yep. There is that part about a single standard of Truth. Why would this testimony apply only to Quakers?

Humor intrusion

We interrupt this ramble with a special bulletin for Friends worried that RantWoman's sense of humor has gone AWOL.

Grab the blind person and bless them moment

But RantWoman, Grab the Blind Person and Bless Them PTSD still makes you climb the walls sometimes?

Oh HELL YES.

Would it make a difference to the conversation to say why?

Maybe but RantWoman is suddenly going to go all discrete and promise only email, email to the effect that release from membership is not the same as release from moral obligation to be faithful to one's Light..

Returning to the main ramble

If our problems are not unique, does this mean we gotta learn things from ...?

RantWoman is called to be faithful to her Light. RantWoman trusts that others are also being faithful to Light even if the nature of the Light is not necessarily obvious to RantWoman at any given moment..

So, um some of what you write is, um, EMBARRASSING! Can you knock that off?

RantWoman to herself, Um, yeah. RantWoman has to write sometimes so she can figure out what is embarrasing for herself. Plus, if you don't want to see embarrassing stuff, there is always the option to pray for capacity to knock off the stuff you are embarrassed about.

RantWoman, ya know that in-person conversation the other day about memorials that both sides decided did not need to continue in the moment? Maybe it's okay not to overdo either in person or one on one by phone for a little while. But does that mean the problem really needs to be prayed over all over the internet???.

Generic RantWoman digression

Topical here: the words "Absolutely furious" x 2.

Please forgive RantWoman. It is a new experience to be able to sit long enough with the "absolutely furious" to pic out pieces to work one at a time. RantWoman both holds others' capacity to do that in great esteem and does NOT think the burden of doing so should fall only on one person. And RantWoman apologizes for working through some "how long have you been taking care of your parents?" issues and not being able as well as she would like to manage that burden.

Part of RantWoman's Light: NO ONE can wear all the hats, carry all of what needs to be carried. RantWoman is oddly FINE Fine, well not so fine but with other people LEARNING  Quaker process, but please forgive RantWoman for embarrassment so far

RantWoman, if you write this post based on conversations, maybe no one will talk to you ever again--even if you are TRYING to talk about parts that work and parts that DO NOT WORK to astounding degrees.

Yeah. Or MAYBE others will be inspired by the good side of the Be patterns be examples quote and there will be more Quakers who can carry what needs to be carried!

Peer into history.

Let's see, one half of a conversation  "I don't like it," about therapeutic Sudoku as a help for centering in the midst of neurological adjustments to what eyes could and could not do. Okay, things have gone downhill:

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME. (Silly RantWoman. How could she have failed to notice for months and months already?) Friend, many people with disabilities can speak of call to go places where they are either explicitly or implicitly not wanted. Regardless of people's wishes, God also keeps sending people with disabilities to live among us and asking us all to Figure It Out about living together. It is NOT going to be perfect. It does not have to be. And there is plenty of room for improvement. And RantWoman is finding it really hard to take seriously... if the only way conversation happens is to get RantWoman out of the way first.

The other half of a conversation has gone from, paraphrasing, "disability is off topic" to, well we put together..resources. kind of at the last minute.

Ya know what! GO FOR IT, ANYTHIHNG is a good start. Dial-a-tirade may still kick into action, but Go FOR IT. And then forgive RantWoman for wanting to insist that she be allowedt o review and amplify because ya know she is A / ONE Subject Matter Expert (SME)

The Ghost of matters Present

RantWoman, you have now wandered all over your spiritual compost heap. Could you please get to your point?

Clerking workshop. 52 people from all over NPYM. RantWoman decided to listen to her body but still has a half-completed registration form she may submit for the hrecord. But 52 people with more clerking skills is still AWESOME. No opportunity to practice with blind person in meetings issues at least some of them are likely to encounter, but Oh Well. RantWoman has heard good reports about the workshop. RantWoman is aware that her personal experiences with things like interpreter issues in general or multilingual FWCC events might overwhelm others who are new to clerking. And RantWoman has a lot of other fish to fry soooo....

Please hold all this in the Light.

In Light and Faithfulness

RantWoman

Advent item Ring them bells for the deaf and Blind... WITH PRAYERS also Carol of the Bells (for 12 cellos) - The Piano Guys

...ring them bells for the blind and the deaf....from five years ago

Ring them bells advent post from 5 years ago

Or just go all non-verbal on the situation with a wacky cello setting

But RantWoman, you promised us prayers too. What up with that?

Prayer thread 1: the praying hands emoji. RantMom is hanging in there about learnign her smartphone. RantWoman will not mention how long RantMom has had her Smartphone. RantWoman deeply appreciates RantMom's persistence and  new found fluency both with reliably finding the text messaging app and with choice of emojis.

So far RantMom has not found the praying hands emoji, but RantWoman has, finally, at least in her Message app! RantWoman pledges not to overuse it.

Prayer thread 2.

Take the words "Absolutely furious" x 2 people

Add this exchange from email:

"I .. DON'T NEED TO PRAY."

"Friend We ALL need to pray."

St Nicholas Day

A wikipedia citation encapsulating both tradiitions of many countries and waht is problematic about St Nicholas imagery.

Wikipedia on St. Nicholas

A random St Nicholas line drawing image from the Google.

Advent with blindness and crap detecting Week One, Annunciation

It's Advent which Quakers do not necessarily observe except the topic is in the air around RantWoman so it's part of the travel to exotic planet RantWoman package. RantWoman will aim to post one item vaguely connected to Advent item more or less every First Day. Also, it's Advent. it's ABOUT Jesus so things are going to get pretty Jesus-y, but Jesus-y in the way that, in RantWoman's experience, only Quakers can. 

Also, yes, RantWoman knows it's Wednesday already this week. RantWoman assumes God can cope so the rest of us get to cope too.

RantWoman promises some kind of visual motif, maybe a theme music video, and a controversial opinion or two. Bonus for references to physical or metaphorical blindness and of course for mention of the virgin birth. Also RantWoman is collecting articles about prayer in conjunction with a "Separate and Unequal is BS BUT RantWoman is getting clearer about a Quakers in the library" venture Resources have to do more than just mention prayer though.. .

Today's offerings do both mention blindness, and crap detecting.

Here is a wonderful  challenging piece about non-white people by Kenji Kuramitsu

Culture Blindness and the Bible  It even mentions the baby in he manger.

And here is the post from Eric Muhr that got us to the piece above.

Eric Muhr On Disenchantment and Change

"I pray that God will give us courage.

"I pray that God will strip us of unnecessary burdens, so we might freely enter that land he has prepared for us.

"I pray that God will teach us to value our critics, help us to recognize that our continued health depends on our willingness to take advice from subversives and crap-detectors.

"I pray that we will let God do all these things."

Don't just read the above. Now go read the whole post.

In Light and Faithfulness.

RantWoman.

Happy? World AIDS day, belatedly

Happy World AIDS Day.

RantWoman specifically raises up:

3 (4) people at least she knows are living with HIV

3 people she knows have died of HIV and two more RantWoman considers likely to have had HIV

The mother RantWoman met on atrain in Spain 30 years ago who opened up a little about her son

A high school classmate who hit the epidemic just as she was looking for a specialty in medical school and who is now a researcher and clinician.

RantWoman also raises up the cantankerous opinion of one of the people counted above: he died on July 4 a few hours after he was to ride with the mayor of Bloomington as Volunteer of the Year for talking to lots of high school and college students about sex and responsible choices and blunt admission that he himself did not always make responsible choices.

Cantankerous friend hated the AIDS quilt and said so many times. By the time of his death, it was already large enough at least to cover a football field. After his death, RantWoman happened to be the person who fielded a call from a local reporter.

"Can I print what he thought of the AIDS quilt?"

"I am not the one to ask. Use your judgment. I told him the quilt is for the living."

The Very Latest in Blindness Tourism: ordinary mail delivery matters, buried in Alt Text

This post is pure blindness tourism. As in everything is in the Alt Text, text attached to the images and designed among other things to give blind people some idea of what is in the pictures.. On a Windows Machine or a Mac, the way for sighted people to experience the alt text would be to hover the mouse cursor over the picture. RantWoman sort of imagines that hovering a finger over the image will also reveal the Alt Text on Smartphones that do not have accessibility features turned on. But RantWoman has not tried this.

Happy alt-texting!

And yes, this was visually tedious to create. So treasure it!