Why I Worship With Other Kinds of Quakers

RantWoman is certain the world will want to hear from Rantwoman even if RantWoman is indisposed, for instance because of participating in NPYM Annual Session. RantWoman thinks the video below will be stunningly on point during Annual Session this year.

Birthday Meal with Beets, Avocados, Blessings?

Meditations after the most recent Sunday supper with RantMom

Would you could you...

Would you put pickled beets and avocados in the same salad? Yes or no?

If the beets were not already pickled, would you pickle them in dill pickle juice and put them in the same salad with the avocados? Yes or no?

If your adult child has already told you that she really really prefers NOT to have pickled beets and avocados in the same salad, would you just forget, "try something new," put the beets and avocado in the salad and wish her happy birthday anyway? Yes or no?

If you were the adult child beset by this form of birthday wish would you could you:

--Eat what's put in front of you because that is pretty much expected?

--Pick the beets out by hand, munch them appreciatively, and then enjoy the avocados with the rest of the salad unpolluted by pickled beets in any form?

--Add the entire episode to data points about whether, say, RantMom is a little bit, um, slipping?

--Crawl under the floor and howl because GrandMa FF who is close in age to RantMom a. thinks there is nothing wrong with beets and avocadoes in the same salad and b. pats RantWoman on the head (over the phone) and says "there there" about aging and slipping.

Love ya LOTS Ma. Love beets. Love avocados, but can you PLEASE TRY TO REMEMBER ...?? I do not love them together in the same salad!!!

Birthday Party by Blog!

RantWoman has decided the internet is going to have to celebrate her birthday whether or not RantWoman herself actually shows up to any in-person celebrations.

On RantWoman's birthday she will be:

--probably showing up at a city council hearing in connection with a project for The Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing. Oops. Scratch that. DELEGATED!!!!

--travelling to NPYM annual session.

--Fondly remembering a beloved and now deceased weighty Friend speak about one birthday party for her oldest daughter. As Weighty Friend told it, at some point in the middle of the party, she wondered where the guest of honor was and discovered that Guest ofHonor had slipped away to her room to read for awhil. RantWoman can SO relate. And here's some awesome rock and roll in case anyone needs music to slip away by.

Seek Ye First ... with compost and anniversaries

RantWoman went looking for settings of Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God / Pachelbel's Canon in D. From the small sample RantWoman checked out, she decided she likes this piano instrumental setting the best. As with many RantWoman adventures in hymnody, many threads weave, though in the blog as Quaker journal model of electronic presence, elaborating on the threads is left to readers or for another exercise another time.




RantWoman is not sure the world is clamoring for another exotic journey to Planet rantWoman. Nor is RantWoman clear why she feels called at this late moment to turn over last year's cycle of spiritual compost, but here we are: RantWoman's 2014, gnarly anniversaries

January
--2004: A friend of RantWoman's shot himself after years of mental health issues on top of Meniere's syndrome, defecting from the Soviet militaery and MANY harrowing moments. Friend acquired his gun despite multiple rounds of hospitalization for mental health issues; entire subject of gun suicide guaranteed to make RantWoman's brain leave the room while trying to take minutes about same. Memorial at Deaf club featured people conversant in English, ASl, Russian Sign language and Russian.
--1999: RantWoman and Ferrener Husband welcome New Year in Ufa.

February- May
--1989: RantWoman's study abroad trip to Russia. Did RantWoman and Ferrener Husband run into each other since he was living in St. Petersburga aat the time?

May
--2004: Surgery for RantWoman's first detached retina. Stunning moments of family dysfunction. A whole summer of "My doctor got paid to do that" bruising all over RantWoman's face.
--1989: Gorbachev goes to China

June
--1979: RantWoman graduates from high school
--1989: Tien an Mien Massacre; RantWoman travelling in Europe. Not enjoying very second but certain she is having more fun than golf and beer at 10-year high school reunion.
--1999: RantWoman goes to 20th high school reunion, discovers she can talk to about the same 12 people as in high school, though a couple others also turn out ot have matured nicely.

July
--1989: A friend dies of AIDS
--2009: A much loved Friend killed in a bicycle vs dump truck accident.
--2014: Another depressing round of Little Sister issues with gravity, old wheelchair, and the built environment near her house. RantWoman crabby and she is not even the one living through it.
--2014: a friend diagnosed with Meniere's syndrme on top of everything else in her life. Turns out a very low salt diet helps manage but did not learn this right away.
--2014: Mr. Nasturtiums in Salad Friend decamps to other realms on RantWoman's birthday. The birthday decamping was probably not intentional, but RantWoman feels entitled to grumble about it anyway.

August?
--2014: Dona Guadalupe, Irrepressible Nephew's Guatemalan grandmother dies.

November:
--1989: Blind Roommate killed in fatal bus accident.
--1994: Little Sister and Brother in Law get married.
--1994: RantDad turns 60. RantWoman surprises him with visit on his birthday, the last time she saw him alive.
December
--1989: The Berlin Wall comes down

Great is thy faithfulness: Marking anniversaries.

If RantWoman chews too hard into the text of this hymn, all kinds of things might squirt out. Nevertheless, it gets to set the scene for the reflections below the video link.




RantWoman is inventorying her year's major anniversaries, partly because some of them fall in the same time frame as Annual Session.

April
--2005: RantWoman moves into present housing situation. Ten years is ten years. A lot has happened....

June:
--1985 RantWoman's great grandmother and sole surviving great grandparent dies
--1985 RantWoman graduates from college.
--1995: The fondly remembered mother of the RantChildren's piano teachers passes away.
--1995: RantWoman and RantMom go to Banff, site of an aunt and uncle's honeymoon. At RantMom's family runion, RantMom has walking pneumonia and is stressed from being with RantDad as his time runs down. This time RantWoman has completely uneventful encounters with Canada Customs.

July
--2005: RantWoman has first Grab the Blind Person and Bless Them mobility fight with .... RantWoman is still sore about the entire issue. One thing RantWoman is sore about: the ONLY person who gets some key parts of what RantWoman is sore about is....
--2005: RantMom has last cancer surgery, on RantWoman's birthday. RantWoman flies to MT the next day to hang at the hospital and listen to the Soothing Channel.
--1995: RantDad passes away. RantWoman gets news by phone and cannot even summon words to explain situation in person to people at work. Thank heaven for email. Memorial is full of music; RantSiblings cope tolerably.
--Beloved Family Friend flies in from DC in time both to attend RantDad's memorial and to participate, out and flaming in his 40th high school reunion.

August?
--1995: the Queen of Meow comes to live with RantWoman. The Queen of Meow was born on the RantChildren's piano teacher's property and probably grew up listening to Mozart. She came to RantWoman via Little Sister's studio and a household that split up and went off to graduate school in New York. The Queen of Meow stuck with RantWoman through a total of 5 living situations with many stories and escapades.

September:
--2005: RantWoman has surgery for second detached retina. RantWoman probably already had the detached retina while in MT looking after RantMom but vision in the affected eye is such that RantWoman did not figure out the problem until she returned. Surgery meant that RantWoman could not fly back to MT as planned to hang with RantMom for part of chemo and raditaion. RantWoman DEEPLY appreciates RantMom's siblings for stepping in.

November or December?
--1995: The RantChildren's beloved piano teacher passes away. There is mention of AIDS but no one has any path to certainty.

Conference call it: Suggestions for F&P committee

RantWoman hereby offers some recommended edits to the proposed Appendix on friendly use of Communications Technology, particularly the part about conference calls. RantWoman is posting thoughts on her blog partly as an exercise in transparency, partly as an invitation for Friends to share the discernment through comments or preparation for live in-perosn discussions.

Rantwoman emits these proposed edits in a certain sense of humility and peculiar humor EXCEPT that RantWoman really means it about asking to be recognized on conference calls by saying "Clerk please," as opposed to for instance "Madame Chair, this is RantWoman" which is what she would have to say on non-Quaker conference calls or meetings of various blindness consumer organizations.

(RantWoman also humbly adores conference calls precisely because everyone is on the same footing visually. This of course is also why many Friends deeply attached to non-verbal visual signalling just hate conference calls. As the draft notes, part of our work is to cope together in different situations!)

Appendix: Friendly Use of Comm Tech – 6/21/2015 – page 1
Appendix:
Friendly Use of Communication Technology
Technology can bridge geographic distance and can simplify time and travel considerations in our Yearly Meeting. Emails, conference calls, and video connections can provide access for people who have difficulties with mobility, hearing, or vision. We usefully remain patient and tender with each other during continuing changes in media, also with using the devices themselves, and the uneven rate of adoption.
This section considers the use of conference calls, email, and social media, specifically blogs.
[Blogs only? What about Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, random email listservs...? RantWoman concurs with the Clerk of the NPYM IT committee: this proposed text could benefit from attention by someone with some close familiarity with IT issues. 'nuff said for now?]

Query for Friends in the use of any communication technology:
********What does it mean for our communications technologies to serve as channels for movement of the Holy Spirit?  
  How can we make our Friendly communications accessible to all, across our differences in use of online media, ability to hear and see, and personal reactions to voiced disagreement?

Conference Calls
Telephone and internet conference calls may be used for many purposes, including committee meetings and consultations, worship-sharing, and clearness processes. They have proven to be a medium through which Spirit can move and connect Friends together. Not every Friends group has found conference calls suitable for careful discernment of the sense of the meeting.To open a conference call to the leadings of the Holy Spirit, the following suggestions may be helpful.

For the clerk:
  Arrange a time for the meeting in advance.
  Send the agenda, related materials, and contact numbers out several days ahead.
  Encourage Friends to center themselves before calling in.
  Encourage Friends to begin the call with greeting one another. Then open with silent worship before turning to the meeting agenda.
********* Ask Friends to ask to be recognized by saying "Clerk Please, this is ..." and then waiting for the clerk to recognize them.
When the group is large or not familiar with each other’s voices, ask people to say their names each time they speak.
  Remind Friends to pause between comments.
  Keep track of who has spoken and invite those who have been quieter to speak.
  If a decision is being made, ask if all are united in it. Give plenty of opportunity for any participant to voice hesitations.
  Ask for silence if Friends need to re-center in the Spirit.
  Conclude the conversation within an hour and a half.
  Finish the time together with an opportunity for silent worship, or suggest that Friends continue in worship after the call.
*********Agree on a venue for Friends with leadings after a call to share thoughts or elaborate on something which arises during the call.

For the participants:
*********NEVER attempt to participate in a conference call while driving. PULL OVER! If you need to commit civil disobedience about something, find a safer outlet than distracted driving. (Or as RantWoman's first typo said, distractedderiving.)
 Enter into worship before joining the conference call.
  Enter the conference on time with materials and agenda close at hand.
State your name each time you speak.
 **********Ask to be recognized: "Clerk please, this is ..."
  Be concise in your comments.
  Take care not to interrupt or talk over anyone. [This is the reason to say "Clerk please..." and then let the Clerk recognize people.
  State when you become lost or confused. Ask for silence when needed.
 ********If participating by cell or cordless phone, Remain in a location with good reception.
  Use a quiet space away from disruptive noise and activity. If there is background noise, mute your phone.
Queries for Friends using conference calls
  Have we determined that a conference call is appropriate to the task at hand and the group involved?
  When deciding to use a conference call, how do we accommodate Deaf and hard-of-hearing Friends?
  Do we conduct our conference calls in a spirit of worship?
  How do we interpret a Friend’s silence during a conference call?
********Do we consider options and needs for archiving the digital audio recording?

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Doomsday Video (HBO)

Just the sort of thing RantWoman would do on a SLOW Friday night: think about The End of the World as We Know It or at least as portrayed in various available infostreams.

There's

...the Book of Revelations ...

... and...

...The Day After, a totally unrealistic 1980's flick about nuclear war ...

..and...

...Lopushansky Goes to the Nuclear Catastrophe... or whatever a Russian equivalent of the Day After is called. (RantWoman liked the movie better than the  Day After; she just does not remember its title.)

... and... some comical Neutrinos Gone berserk flick RantWoman has seen within the last couple years

...and...

...the John Oliver treatment of the end of the world, narrated by Martin Sheen. Okay it's REALLY a SLOW Friday Night...