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Friday, April 29, 2022
Registration is Open: Finding Justice for Historical Injustice webinar May 6
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Proposed Bylaw revisions?
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| Some Skagit Valley Tulips |
RantWoman is not supposed to know—OR CARE—about the doings
of a certain monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. RantWoman can also recognize that dialing back
the INSUFFERABLE would be something to strive for. Hold that in the Light
PERHAPS RantWoman would be best served by corralling thoughts
that rise for another Meeting’s State of Society Report, particularly since
RantWoman wants to speak highly of careful business process and faithful
documentation by a recording clerk. Frankly “best served” is open to
interpretation.
RantWoman is also feeling both unapologetic and faithful to
her Light about the fact that some realities make certain extremely weighty
Friends’ heads explode. Hold all clauses of that sentence in the Light.
RantWoman further imagines a chorus of “RantWoman, why you
gotta plaster that stuff all over your blog? Why don’t you just call us up and
wade again into ableism and people’s inability to recognize that they have a
problem?...” Please consider the following a request to the whole dang
Religious Society of Friends to hold this community in the Light. RantWoman is
still TRYING to figure out the words out of mouth instead of in electrons part.
RantWoman, humbly is taking time off from her multilingual media
diets of war crimes and atrocities so egregious as to constitute child pornography
which in NO WAY should be reposted anywhere EVEN if reposting might help
identify the perpetrators. RantWoman is
grateful, now that KetanJyi Brown Jackson is Justice Jackson, also that the country HOPEFULLY is done, at least
for awhile, with both junior and senior senators frothing at the mouth about
matters of criminal justice so far beyond their Light they might as well be in
another galaxy.
Anyway, RantWoman has become aware of another impending
revision of the Meeting Bylaws. This revision has been long in the making, MUCH
longer than when The Oops Well Committee
was renamed Care and Counsel. (Oops: inadvertent eruption of incompletely
processed organizational compost--RantWoman STILL would like not to feel that the name chosen was crammed down her throat after ignoring sincere offers of help). Awareness
came perhaps by accident in the process of making RantWoman aware of the UFM
death watch, the one Meeting activity Friends want to imagine RantWoman caring
about, RantWoman is supposed to be grateful for notice of one figure in hospice
and of the memorial date—HYBRID / BLENDED—for the Friend who first recruited
RantWoman to serve as recording clerk.
This post is in no way meant to cast aspersions on the
recently deceased Friend but it is intended as a reflection on the roles and
responsibilities of the recording clerk in particular. RantWoman is just going
to go where her concerns are taking her:
--RantWoman notes that the Clerk is required to be a member
of Meeting, but notes no such requirement for the recording clerk or treasurer.
RantWoman was not yet a member when she first became recording clerk. RantWoman
wonders whether Friends want to consider this requirement with this bylaw
revision.
--As a result of serving as officer in other organizations,
and because RantWoman lives in a state with the Revised Code of WA and the WA
Administrative Code are available—and accessible to screen reader users--online,
RantWoman has read something of the responsibilities, requirements and
descriptions for different roles. RantWoman’s first point of commentary would
simply be to add a note of Quakerese to WA legalese translation and note that
the Clerk is customarily registered as the President and the Recording Clerk is
recorded as Secretary, and the Meeting Treasurer as treasurer.
--Here we come to a zone of RESPONSIBILITY and delegation
and a whole lot of DO BETTER NEXT TIME. RantWoman is unclear what this should
mean for wording of bylaws, but since RantWoman is seasoning a separate screed
about the topic, perhaps this is more than enough of RantWoman TRYING
constructively to be faithful to her Light for now.
PROPOSED TEXT
Section 2:
Selection of officers and regular designated ministers shall be made by decision of the Annual Meeting for Business upon recommendation by the Nominating Committee, or at any other Meeting for Business to fill a vacancy. An officer may be removed by the Meeting for Business for cause.
Section 3:
The Clerk of the Meeting, who must be a member of University Friends Meeting, shall serve for a term of two years (renewable once) as its president, coordinating minister and official spokesperson in accordance with Faith and Practice. The Clerk’s primary responsibilities shall be:
a. To preside at all sessions of Meeting for Worship for Business, recognizing members for speaking, encouraging conscientious consideration of business according to the Good Order of Friends, aiding Friends in finding unity in Divine Will, gathering the Sense of the Meeting and expressing it accurately in a minute after a decision is reached. The Clerk should ask to step out of role to speak to a matter of concern as a member and not give special weight to individual opinion.
b. To prepare for Meetings for Business, assuring that the various committees have opportunity for reporting and that there is adequate preparation for making decisions. To this end the Clerk serves as clerk of the Coordinating Committee and as an ex officio member of all standing committees of the Monthly Meeting, as needed.
c. To speak for the Meeting as a whole, serving as spokesperson, or delegating that role, signing official documents, contracts, etc., supervising the answering of communication and signing official letters of correspondence, such as traveling minutes, and otherwise making sure instructions of the Meeting for Business are carried out.
d. To keep track of the annual cycle of business, alerting those with special responsibilities for budget, nominations, annual State of the Society reports and so forth, to timely fulfillment of their duties.
Section 4:
Recording Clerk: The Recording Clerk assists and supports the clerk at monthly Meetings and records the minutes of all Meetings for Business and meetings of the Coordinating Committee, making sure that they are properly preserved.
Section 5:
Statistical Clerk prepares and keeps all permanent records pertaining to membership, working closely with the clerk of the Committee on Care and Counsel and sending statistical data to the Yearly Meeting each year before its Annual Sessions.
Section 6:
The Treasurer shall oversee receipt and disbursement of all funds and theaccurate bookkeeping thereof. The Treasurer shall work closely with the Committee on Finance
and serve on it ex
officio, reporting regularly to the Meeting, proposing an annual budget,
and
managing funds
according to the budget and other decisions of the Meeting for Business. The
treasurer
may sign contracts on behalf of the meeting with the approval of the finance
committee
in
fulfillment of plans approved by the Meeting for Business.
Section 7:
Other Officers and representatives of the Monthly Meeting may be appointed as necessary. Each such position shall be limited by a clear set of responsibilities, including reporting to the Clerk or Meeting for Business, and a fixed term. All officers shall leave clear records of their actions on behalf of the Meeting. Officers may not represent a stand of the
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
From Ukraine to your Hood. Black Perspectives on the War in Ukraine
Come for the revolutionary rhetoric--because EVERYONE needs some revolutionary rhetoric in their lives. Stay for important messages:
--The Blank Panthers FED CHILDREN
--VOTING MATTERS
--Everyone needs to understand family toileting and basic household access to water.
RantWoman believes passionately in engaging about complex subjects EVEN when one strongly disagrees with some threads of the conversation.
RantWoman here posts an announcement for an event she just attended. The event was stimulating. Many Friends will find some of the language off-putting. Listen anyway. Hopefully by the time this posts, RantWoman will have received a specific link to the recording. If not, RantWoman recommends checking the Facebook page or links mentioned in the announcement.
RantWoman promises to try to extract key points but cannot guarantee a timeline.
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Reminder to join us next Tuesday April 19th, 2pm PT / 5pm ET for "From Ukraine to Your Hood: Black Perspectives on War at Home and Abroad," a conversation hosted by the It Takes Roots Black (African Descent/Diaspora) Caucus featuring Black panelists conversing about the war in Ukraine & its impact on our communities, people & world from a Black perspective. Register at: https://bit.ly/ITRBCukraineWe will also livestream the event from the It Takes Roots Facebook account. Program:
*Onyesonwu Chatoyer *Ajamu Baraka *Maureen D. Taylor
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Friday, April 22, 2022
Manhood: Armageddon Update | The Arrogance of the Left
And again
Maddie???
— Amb. Thwack Vaxxed & Masked (@AmbassadorThwa1) April 22, 2022
Discovering their true self???
Throw Maddie out in Nov of course
There might be a home for him is some corner of the #LGBTQIA pantheon if he can go easy on #DontSayGay and can handle #Ableism
But #CripTheVote have plenty to say about getting a date as a #PWD https://t.co/UQor0KsOyB
News orgs doing stuff like this in a way clearly intended to humiliate someone always feels deeply weird to me. It’s like transphobia (or fatphobia and homophobia in their depictions of Trump) are okay as long as it’s directed at people they all agree are their enemies. Gross. https://t.co/SsnGAfI7ce
— Tyler, the Producer (@tylerkenthill) April 22, 2022
Invitation to Young Quaker Voices Presentation
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| The Quaker Voice Logo |
This is RantWoman being a mentor for something called Young Quaker Voices, the Statewide Quaker lobby dear to RantWoman's heart partly because of a stint as recording clerk when RantWoman needed a project to help her get used to working with screen readers.
This year, RantWoman has been working with a great young woman from Vancouver named Abby Griffiths. Abby heard about this because RantWoman sent this year's blurb to Anna Zivartz of the Disability Mobility project.
Tonight, Abby and Byrne, also from this cohort will giving short presentations on a Zoom event that starts at 7. You are welcome to join the Zoom event if you want to be able to ask questions directly. Or the event will be recorded and a link will be available later.
Here is the link to the event announcement on the Quaker Voice website.
QuakerVoice event Announcement
Abby and RantWoman asked and the Quaker Voice webkeeper added ways easily to share on Twitter, Facebook, by email, and Pinterest. RantWoman tested Twitter and email and they work!
Partly in an effort to accommodate some sighted people's interest in visual aids here is the outline of Abby's presentation. RantWoman also needed to experiment with Google Pages It can be downloaded as Powerpoint or PDF
Abby's Presentation in Google Pages
There are two pictures at the end. Google pages does not have a way to add alt text and RantWoman did not figure out how to do a caption for the last picture, some lovely newly leafed out trees especially for everyone not visiting the trees at Lazy F
Two somewhat contradictory instructions: about Zoom chat
It's a GATHERING so of course everyone wants to chat with friends. Private chat happen. Please do not chat to Everyone until the end of Abby's presentation. Screen reader users have everything that comes through the chat read. This can be distracting if one is the presenter.
If you would like a copy of the presentation outline and have trouble navigating with the link, please leave a comment here OR send private chat to a cohost or to RantWoman who will identify herself during the zoom session. RantWoman is happy to email people a PDF she has tested for readability.
Monday, April 18, 2022
Announcing the Ableism Fish Fry Virtual interest group at Pacific NW Quarterly Meeting
Saturday April 23, 3:30-5 pm.
Live on ZOOM. See Coordinates below
What is ableism to you?
What is accessibility / Inclusion to you?
Wrong answers only?
A session for the good, the bad, the comical, the outrageous.
Please bring good humor or be prepared to ask for reasonable accommodations if you are afraid you may be too humor-impaired. For example, if you are worried your head might explode around the topic, it is helpful if you can bring both visual and non-visual cues so that our staff can help cope.
Seriously, asking for help is hard. Maybe people who attend will practice.
Orrrr, read and interact with some State of Society reports
State of Society reports as HOMEWORK?
Saturday April 23 Interest Group
Meeting ID: 859 4336 5336
Passcode: 665344
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,85943365336#,,,,*665344# US (Tacoma)
+13462487799,,85943365336#,,,,*665344# US (Houston)
Dial by your location
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Coming Soon to a BLENDED Pacific Northwest Quarterly Meeting, April 22-24 at Lazy F camp AND virtually
It's time to get back together. Whether the thought of something frying in hot oil makes you think party or simply dietary excess, this interest group will be an opportunity to talk about ableism, community, and hopefully both painful and joyous realities.
Just to get our fish fry off to a good start, screen reader users, there is an awesome graphic full of text, only some of which RantWoman will put in a caption or in alt text. It's art. Sometimes one one messes with art, somethines not.
Disability?????????
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| Quarterly Meeting is Blended this year. This topic needs some trees. Luckily there are some nearby |
"You are not obligated to complete the work but neither are you free to abandon it." - Pirkei Avot (2:21), attributed to Rabbi Tarfon
These are different documents RantWoman WILL figure out from NPYM.ORG which year is which
UFM 2020 State of Society Report
2020 UFM State of Society Report
UFM 2019 State of Society Report
RantWoman invites readers to consider what actually gets said about things to do with disability in these reports.
Extra credit for anyone who has read Ibram Kendi's How to be Anti-Racist and want to count behaviors that apply to disability as well as racism.
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Witness Wednesday
RantWoman WILL get to the actual material offered for intro and prompt at the FCNL Witness Wednesday. RantWoman is honored to have been asked to offer the prompt. It's just that the #RussiaUkraineWar is live on so many dimensions that RantWoman should not even try to hit all the themes at once.
Earth to RantWoman. You know that post you wrote the other day about Franklin Graham's suggestion that Christians pray for an Easter season cease fire ? You realize, don't you that now is the season not only of Easter, both western and Orthodox, but also of Passover and Ramadan? It's also Khmer New Year. Anyway, regardless of what anyone knows about President Zelenskyy's religious practice as opposed to cultural background, does anyone suppose it's a little weird to ask a Jewish President to have a cease fire for a Christian holiday, especially if Brother Franklin has not asked anything of the Russian Orthodox Church?
Likewise, #RamadanMubarak, regardless of actual religious practice by the Muslims of Bashkortostan as well as greetings to the Buddhists of Buryatia perhaps the world needs to honor data gathered carefully from various official and unofficial local sources: brown-skinned people from economically depressed parts of Russia are over-represented in war casualties.
There are big economic incentives to enlist. It would be interesting to know whether the professional soldiers endure the same levels of , frankly, torture / hazing new draftees are subjected to. Moving up means that after enduring treatment guaranteed to turn many troops into monsters means the authority to inflict the same brutality on soldiers who come after. Add to this longstanding Russian / Soviet military practice of just pouring cannon fodder into battle; then do not forget scorched earth policies that seem to be deliberate. Nor should we forget the colossal logistical and command and control failures plaguing the "special military operation" in Ukraine. The Russian military just does not sound like a place one would want to be.
RantWoman was thinking of all this last week in worship. It's the season of the spring draft call-up. RantWoman is grateful to learn that the same soldiers' mothers groups critical to turning Russian public opinion against the war in Afghanistan are now operating about the current invasion. RantWoman recalls an effort in the 1990's supported by Quakers to create actual pathways to implement the right to conscientious objection included in the post-Soviet constitution. RantWoman has no current information and would not expect easily to find such in an environment where people in Russia are getting arrested for holding up signs saying "Do Not Kill" or even blank pieces of paper.
With all of that as background, reproducing a 4/4/2022 post from Alternatives to Violence program representatives in Ukraine.
Love is the center.
Our long-time friends, the anti-violence trainers at AVP* в Україні have been forced to suspend their usual activities, but they are working to strengthen their mutual bonds and commitment. On April 4, the group posted:
It is very painful to absorb everything that is going on. It is hard to restrain one’s emotions, while hearing the testimony of witnesses or looking at the photographs, photographs of people who have been killed, photographs of towns that have been destroyed. Yet, still, we bear in mind, that within us is the Transforming Power. This is the Power, which enables us to transform hot anger into inspiration, despair into help for those around us, horror into love for those near to us, rage into readiness to set to work. Now, as never before, we need each other. And this means that we we are called to stand faithful, to stay emotionally in equilibrium.
Stop for a moment, take a pause. You will find, either within yourself or without, a lever, which enables us to shift all the force out of hatred and into making peace. This is us — we are the peacemakers. Creators of peace, defenders of the light.
*AVP – Alternatives to Violence Project – was brought to Russia and Ukraine by Friends and continues to be supported by Quakers.
Once RantWoman started to read as introduction it was very easy to find a strong voice. Being able to detect facial expressions would not have been terrible.
Checking in with the Dukhobors. Additions to the Mean to Read list
RantWoman is storing the following references on her Mean To Read list
A few weeks ago (a Friend ) learned that Tolstoy teamed up with British, Canadian and American Quakers to help about 10,000 Doukhobors emigrate from Ukraine (which was then part of the Russian Empire) to Canada. The Doukhobors were a Protestant (sort of) Peace Church. They were very strict pacifists and the men refused to report for military service in the Czar’s army so they were imprisoned, tortured, and deported to other parts of Russia. Also, like “unprogrammed” Quakers they didn’t have any pastors or ministers, although they did have one guy they looked to as their leader because he was a “weighty” Doukhobor (to use our lingo). Tolstoy wrote about the Doukhobors, suggested they were deserving of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and donated the money he earned from sales of Anna Karenina to paying for their transportation to Canada. Turns out Tolstoy was a huge pacifist (after he served in the Russian army in the Crimean War) and he and the Czar really didn’t get along.
(I Friend) don’t know if any of you are interested in this chapter of history the way I am, but I thought I would pass on these links to some books and articles about it.
https://www.quakersintheworld.
https://theses.gla.ac.uk/
And for a bonus a Dukhobor moment from 2011 spiritual salad bowl
Monday, April 11, 2022
Brother Franklin goes to Moscow? May we please at least stop dehumanizing each other. Pretty Please.
Brother Franklin, could you maybe please also ring up Patriarch Kirill?
RantWoman, what, what, what? Franklin Graham, well-known homophobe, is not particularly on many Friends' go-to lists when thinking of paths to peace.
Nor unfortunately is Patriarch Kirill of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Kirill, besides being well-known for homophobia is also an ardent cheerleader for Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine, and this despite every other Orthodox body in the world opposing the war.
"B-b-But, some Twitter voices say "the Russian Orthodox Church is so entertwined in the Soviet and post Soviet Russian state they hardly count as a church. Yeah, if God were to ask RantWoman's opinion, "do something about that establishing an official religion thing." But it's Easter Season, Holy Week, language the two faiths ostensibly share even if they disagree about the calendar.
Anyway, RantWoman wants officially to offer props to Franklin Graham's call for an Easter Ceasefire.
From the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.
Franklin Graham writes Putin and Zelenskyy calling for Easter Cease Fire
text of Facebook post
We have all been heartbroken to see the lives that are being utterly devastated by the deadly conflict going on in Ukraine since February 24. I just returned from Ukraine where Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association have teams working to bring help since just after the fighting began. This is a man-made disaster, a historic humanitarian crisis—and I believe God is the only solution. I am urging Christians around the world to pray for God to work in the hearts of leaders involved and to intervene and bring peace and an end to the conflict.
I have written to Russian President Vladimir Putin and to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asking for a ceasefire from April 15-24 which encompasses the 10 days of Holy Easter observances around the world. I shared with them that I will be calling on churches in Ukraine, Russia, and around the globe to join together in prayer during those 10 days. May we humbly unite before the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Prince of Peace, to ask for His help and mercy.
Someone asked why I asked for a ceasefire just for 10 days. If they can stop fighting for a week or 10 days, maybe they can stop fighting for two weeks. If they stop for two weeks, maybe they can stop for a month. If they stop for a month, maybe they can stop for good. You've got to start somewhere.
I pray there will be an end to this horrible conflict even sooner—Today! But if not, maybe this could be a starting point. Will you join me in this prayer?
Patriarch Kirill, you there?
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Sacred to WHOM: a cool Progressive secretary letter EXCEPT for.
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| A landscape from the proposed National Monument |
RantWoman's first question about the Progresive Secretary solicitation which appears below: Where are the PEOPLE? Sacred to WHOM? The cactus and environement are nice of course but sacred to whom?
RantWoman had to poke through two layers of links to find:
Tribe one step closer to protection of sacred site
And a related one
Nevada Groups MusteringSupport for proposed national monument
Would RantWoman have bothered to go look further if the pitch below had spent maybe 25 words answering RantWoman's Sacred to Whom question. Uhhhh, Hard to say/ May be this item is just one of those things that RantWoman is supposed to post to see whether others are interested enough to sign up for their own email from Progressive Secretary.
(Please note: RantWoman's post construction technique sometimes consists of select something interesting, copy and paste. RantWoman is aware this sometimes produces results that are easily readable by screen readers but less than visually esthetic. )
Dear (RantWoman)
Here is a REMINDER about a recent Progressive Secretary action alert.
This letter supports a campaign by the League of Conservation Voters. It asks Congress, the President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Interior Haaland to make Avi Kwa Ame (Spirit Mountain) a national monument.
The following organizations also support this action: Fort Mohave Tribe (Pipa Aha Macav, People by the River), the National Parks Conservation Association, Basin and Range Watch, Conservation Lands Foundation, and the Sierra Club.
We will send your email message to your senators, House member, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland..
Our next national monument should be Avi Kwa Ame, Mojave for “Spirit Mountain.” It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places and holds immense ecological, historical, and cultural value.
The Avi Kwa Ame National Monument includes the eastern portion of the world’s largest Joshua tree forest, with trees over 900 years old. This complex natural system protects endangered species and defends against climate disruption. Designating the area as a monument would invite more people to enjoy public lands and approach our goal to preserve 30% of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030.
Please safeguard the cultural, recreational, ecological, and economic value of Spirit Mountain for generations to come. Make Avi Kwa Ame our next national monument.
Click here to send this letter or to learn more (you can edit the letter in the next step, if you wish).
To ask friends to sign this letter, forward this link (doesn't contain your personal contact information): http://action.
Kathie Turner, Executive Director
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Because I dunno freedom of thought, oh and hypersonic missiles would not have made Afghanistan any less of a mess
Let's play Woke Peacemaking Jeopardy:
Sunday, April 3, 2022
News and events from Faith Action Network
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