RantWoman's media feeds include FAR TOO MUCH of Trumpty Dumpty, with the news cycle screaming past the moments in this video to whole new hardware in whole new locations..
RantWoman's excessively plain English to Quakerese filter is having to work overtime this week.
RantWoman's better self at least in the aspirational sense is trying to put in an appearance.
How better to honor these moments than John Oliver! Definitely watch to the end.
Friday, June 14, 2019
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Happy Anniversary RantParents
This post is dedicated to:
The 60th anniversary of RantMom’s graduation from college
just to add to a pile of anniversaries this year.
RantMom bio: the short version
(RantMom) was born in Colorado in 1937.
Raised on a farm, (RantMom's) chores included carrying well water and
washing laundry with a wringer washer. By age 6, she had learned to bake bread
in a woodstove. Along with 4 siblings, (RantMom) was very involved in 4H. She was
also an accomplished seamstress, winning the state Make It Yourself with Wool
competition while in high school.
(RantMom) earned her B.S. in Home Economics from Colorado State University
in Fort Collins in 1959. At 21 she accepted a teaching position in Absaroke, MT
where she met her husband, (RantDad), also a teacher in the school. They married
after their first year of teaching together. By the end of the second year,
their older daughter (RantWoman) was
born. (RantBrother and Little Sister) were born in Gunnison while (RantDad was
on the music faculty at Western State College.
Seeking stronger educational opportunities for their children, (the RantParents)
moved back to Montana in 1972. After her husband passed away in 1995, RantMom remained
in Billings, working at the YMCA and staying active in her church, garden club
and as a symphony usher.
RantMom held a series of jobs in Billings before serving as director of
childcare centers at the YMCA for 16 years. Prior to her retirement, she ran
the member snack bar for another 4 years. (RantMom) worked through a first bout
with cancer in 2004, then retired to battle a second cancer in early 2005.
In 2006, finally cancer free, RantMom sold her home of 30 years and moved
to Seattle to be near her daughters, and young grandson. RantMom has
volunteered regularly at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance since 2007 and has
been a member of Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church since her arrival in
Seattle.
May 21, 2019
Bio: the longer version
(RantMom) was born in Durango CO in 1937. She was the oldest daughter
and second of 5 children of (Farmer Grandparents) The family grew up on a ranch east of
Ignacio. All of the kids had many chores: carrying water, gathering eggs, cleaning the chicken coop,
tending the gardens, milking cows.
(RantMom) and her siblings were very involved in 4H. (RantMom) also
learned to sew and one year she one the state Make It Yourself with Wool competition.
Both parents came from large families so holiday gatherings involved many aunts,
uncles, and cousins. (RantMom) learned to bake bread—in a wood stove--by the time she was 6.
(RantMom) and her two sisters rode the same horse to school until
(RantMom) entered high school and switched to riding in a truck with her older
brother and a cousin. The last two summers (RantMom) was in high school, she was pretty much in charge of all the cooking, canning, and food activities for the household and farm crew. RantMom’s mother was away at college getting her teaching
certification, a new requirement in CO even though her mother had been teaching
for 25 years.
(RantMom) earned a degree in Home Economics from Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Shortly after she graduated in 1959, she accepted
a job teaching Science and Home Ec in Absaroke MT. Perhaps a sign of things to
come, (RantMom's) first night in MT was rocked by an earthquake. In Absaroke (RantMom) met husband who taught English and
music. After their first year of teaching together they married; shortly after
their second year of teaching, their older daughter (RantWoman) was born in nearby “big city” Billings and the young family
moved to Missoula MT so that (rantDad) could pursue an MA in music. Next the
family moved to Gunnison CO where (RantDad) taught on the music faculty at what
was then Western State College and RantBrother and Little Sister also arrived.
(RantMom) was busy enough with 3 kids of her own, but when the family bought
a large Victorian home, RantMom also opened a home daycare. There were several
happy years full of music, college students who sang in RantDad’s church choir,
and growing children. In 1972, partly to seek stronger educational
opportunities for their kids, the RantParents
moved back to MT, settling in Billings. For a litte while both parents
were self-employed. RantMom operated
another daycare center and RantDad offered oboe, bassoon, and recorder lessons.
After a few months of stress from incompatible sound environment needs, RantMom
accepted a job as lunch lady at her kids’ elementary school; RantDad also
augmented his music studio income by accepting a job as choir director at First
Baptist Church. RantDad also later served for a time as the Business Manager of
the Billings Symphony.
As the kids grew up, graduated from High School, and went off to college,
RantMom had a series of jobs, first at a fabric store, then a costume and
rental store before settling in at the YMCA to run the
member nursery and later the snack bar which served all the lawyers and judges and other people who came to the YMCA to work out on theirlunch breaks.
(RantDad) passed away in 1995 but RantMom remained in Billings working at the YMCA and
staying active in St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and garden club until 2006.
(RantMom) worked at the YMCA all the way through treatment for colon cancer. She retired in 2005 when she was diagnosed with endometrial cancer and was going to need both chemo and radiation.
By the end of the second cancer (RantMom) was clear she wanted to be
closer to her daughters and only grandson. In 2006, (RantMom) sold the house she had lived in for over
30 years and moved to SE Seattle. She also quit driving and became a big fan of
the bus system. (RantMom) now volunteers with the Seattle Cancer care Alliance and is an active participant at Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church.
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Koran in the Elevator and Ironies
Morning cosmopolitanism
Neighbor was playing reading of the Koran in the elevator. Those
present agree we like and are not bothered by everyone’s different music in the
elevator
D-Day 75th Anniversary Irony 1:
The Night Witches article referenced here came to RantWoman via a post in the Women’s PEACE Camp facebook
group.
Can anyone besides RantWoman recognize
that irony?
Peace camp women are still badasses though these days the Facebook
group brings memorials as well as political event announcements. RantWoman is
particularly thinking of two wise Quaker women who were really, really, really
good at pulling threads of agreement and action out of conversations full of
passion, Personalities, trauma histories and .gnarly politics.
Cue Holly Near “…keep doing the things you were doing as if I were two…”
D-Day 75th Anniversary Irony 2 with a large side of CREEPOUT:
The picture here was taken of counterprotestors at a Gay Pride Event in
Detroit. In 2019
Via @CatValente a few days ago
"This was today in Detroit.
It’s not a film
Set. It’s not viral marketing.
Because some people would rather be literal Nazis than tolerate the
existence of LGBTQ people and anyone different from themselves."
Saturday, June 8, 2019
Love, email
Kill them with Kindness?
RantWoman remembers a long ago protest where some of the people protesting
means to make war got exasperated and made signs that said “Kill the
Deathmongers.” Um, PEOPLE?
RantWoman has been meditating on the This I Believe series in Adult
Education at her Meeting. RantWoman does not generally have a God as Personal
Butler model of divine presence, but does have a sense of being loved by God,
of others being loved by God, and of seeking paths of Love.
RantWoman believes in a versatile
god who gets things done lots of ways. RantWoman’s Divine presence likes to be
venerated and is not too picky about the forms of veneration except that it is
preferable that people not kill each other in the process of figuring out
veneration or anything else like living together, traffic, technology,
gardening, setting up chairs so they don’t increase the odds that someone will
trip over them… Oh wait, the chairs get their own post.
Anyway, kill them with kindness is probably not quite the meme either.
The Still Didn’t get the Memo committee on Email Immoderation is
holding in the Light two threads of community conversation. RantWoman keeps
asking God what to do and God’s response seems to be, “um, RantWoman, you are
not doing so well so maybe can you let me handle it for awhile? You are dealing
with people who while not experience the coping capacity generation tumults of
blindness, nevertheless have other reservoirs of coping capacity that can be
drawn in.Think getting back up on the horse. Think which experiments can we try
not to repeat? ”
RantWoman is finding herself seasoning the call to say, “Friend, at
this point if you need to have a temper tantrum, is there someone you would
like to sit here with you to hold space and hold you in the Light? RantWoman can probably do it, but if there is
someone you would rather…,.” RantWoman is unclear how this offer would be
received. If it is received badly, RantWoman is at the point of just saying “Friend,
Take it up with God!”
Um, okay God, um…?
In Light and Faithfulness.
RantWoman
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Now not just after some committee gets created
RantWoman’s Meeting is seasoning a minute to create an Ad-hoc Committee
on Disabilities. Mid-email stream, here is RantWoman’s Light about various
questions:
There are some long-standing OWWW’s and laboring with from RantWoman’s
perspective.
The Draft minute proposes to see what can be done within a year with
two reports to Business Meeting and discernment about possible ongoing work.
There are some Deal with It NOW issues that in RantWoman’s estimation
need action without waiting around for the committee to get created.
RantWoman tartly notes a conversation with Young College Professor
Friend about reasonable accommodations requests: handling such is part of her
job description. Most of the ones she gets are routine and easy to fulfil. AND
she does not seem as RantWoman observes to require “healing” when the requests
come in. RantWoman is TRYING to be patient about the word “healing,” but
RantWoman also seems to have a Live on Planet earth reflex about basic
knowledge. Bless us oh Lord and help us all figure out how to live with…
Ahead of a retreat now scheduled for September: Accessible event
planning including paths to request reasonable accommodations and expectation
that needs for such can behandled without a requestor being hung up on and can
be talked about on a finite timeline BEFORE the actual event. Please hold
RantWoman’s fixations about these points in the Light. Suffice it to say the
fixations are from past moments also freighted with bad communications.
RantWoman wants to just uphold Room For Improvement and not keep beating the
same long-dead horses. Okay, Rantwoman is TRYING.
Elements of Accessibility for Meeting for Business
Process
Can MfB handle it
when honest factual questions come up?
How does one lovingly
elder elders who persist in, um, ….?
Goal: clear reflection of disability work and issues in minutes,
Understanding of other accessibility aspects of minutes such as timeliness and
email distribution.
Goal: Knowledge of and shared understanding Basic day to day accessibility
such as chair configuration in the worship room and speaking publicly about
such as well as willingness just to do small tasks as needed. Here RantWoman
deeply blesses one Friend now past 80 who helped RantWoman gang the worship
room chairs. Um, Friends, this is easy. One does not need to wait around until
one is past 80 to learn….
Goal: Increased Knowledge and Shared Understanding of key terms including
Reasonable Accommodation and Public Accommodation
Goal: Increase knowledge and Shared understanding of concepts of
allyship, spiritual accompaniment and ways of walking the experience together.
Other outputs promised from draft minutes: glossary and resource list.
How can RantWoman make this clearer?
In general RantWoman hopes this will be a community building exercise. But
RantWoman had a mental hiccup: RantWoman wanted to do community building on a
theme of Yucky Topics festival including disaster Preparedness. RantWoman had
in mind shared info resources and the opportunity to do some kind of practical
info exchange:” can I call you up if I am in your neighborhood when the Big One
hits?” Instead rantWoman got emanation in Adult Religious Ed based on a Friend’s
experience at work. It was not terrible but, sadly, attendance at ARE is sparse
and …
RantWoman also hopes there will be space and comfort to tell personal
or family stories. RantWoman is a big fan of narrative theology and RantWoman
knows there are stories to hear. RantWoman thinks this should be a really
important part of the Ad-Hoc Committee’s work. RantWoman also thinks creating
the space for stories will be tender work.
RantWoman wants BUSINESS MEETING not just the same old list of people
who go to the Business Meeting prep called Coordinating Committee to have a
role in setting proiorities from the list in the draft minute. RantWoman is into world domination and single
standard of Truth. RantWoman hopes that the Ad-hoc committee work will enrich
both the community and people’s lives outside Meeting. Other than that,
RantWoman has only modest expectations..
In Light and Faithfulness.
RantWoman
Monday, June 3, 2019
Psychic snapshot
Tonight’s psychic snapshot
Cranky?
RantWoman, how are you?
Cranky, Irascible and Blessed. Which would you like more of?
DWBH
This blog reference dedicated to “Don’t Worry Be Happy Friend.” Don’t Worry Be happy Friend is (choose 1)
A new nom de blog
for someone who has a different one too?
A composite character
with overtones of “does not get it” about something important?
A composite for a
gender issue RantWoman needs to meditate carefully about how to present.
Never mind. Just read the blog post
Horoscope: flattery
We interrupt this electronic snapshot for an item via Horoscope land.
RantWoman’s online horoscope today warned her about false flattery. The horoscope
did not mention multiple not entirely idiomatic blog comments from some curtain
and blind company in Singapore:
“An impressive share! A very creative and valuable article. Well
appreciated. Visit curtain and blinds singapore provides a high quality
in a very affordable price.”
RantWoman will try not to let the praise go to her head.
Prayer electronically
From the prayer call reminder email: “Good Sunday morning! It's a beautiful day in the Lord!”RantWoman KNOWS she needs to be praying with these people. RantWoman thinks God gets to be in charge if the language gets to be too much.
A couple of things I read
A guy named Johan Maurer who with his wife was longtime Quaker
missionaries in the Russian city of elektro Stal 2 hours E of Moscow.https://blog.canyoubelieve.me/2019/05/out-of-order.html
Africa. She has a book called Miracle motors about motorcycles in
Africa and the western US. One minute she is quoting Scripture and
talking to angels. The next minute she is talking about the
thermodynamics of motorcycle riding in different kinds of weather.
Here Rocinante (Don Quixote
allusion) is her current bike. Peggy also
definitely believes in signs from God and I have to say the picturecracks me up.
And two more which I will not remember enough to talk about unless I
am looking at..http://www.meetinghouse.xyz/everything/2016/2/16/on-disenchantment-and-change
pacing and cultivating common experiences and common understandings.
AND I have more to say about timeliness abut that is a separate
message.
RantWoman
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Interrupted!
RantWoman is still crafting a post about "that was NOT
RantWoman; it was the grace of GOD" about RantWoman and the most recent
Meeting for Business. RantWoman has MUCH more to say, but first RantWoman is
going to savor a number of thoughts.
1.
RantWoman spoke of the following news item last
week during Joys and Concerns. https://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2019/05/new-5-year-access-paratransit-contract.html
2.
After worship RantWoman WOULD have made many of
the points below, except she was interrupted and interrupted in a way that was
going to short-circuit her brain in a “Nothing Good is going to come out
direction.
a.
"Oh my, YES, it IS possible to deal with
people with disabilities behaviors IN actual meetings AS WELL AS ADA /
Disability related content on a finite timeline with all kinds of Personalities
and gnarly money and policy issues on the table to boot.
b.
My goodness Quaker say some of us believe in
continuing revelation. How very nice that Quakers have been having meetings for
over 350 years, but the world around us and expectations about things like
technologies and practices to INCLUDE people with disabilities have evolved A
LOT in that time. What might we all learn...?
c.
Maybe RantWoman gets to think, who cares what
Quakers are doing or not doing in our own bubble? A whole lot of people SHOULD
be able to expect better service and a better deal for taxpayers to boot! Then
the words Title 2 ADA obligations crawl across RantWoman’s mind with respect to
one Friend in the picture and RantWoman starts to think all kinds of thoughts
about glorious opportunity to learn and single standard of Truth and… Readers,
PLEASE hold these crawls in the Light.
3.
RantWoman wishes to thank both people who spoke
to RantWoman recognizing this good news AND Interrupting Friend. RantWoman was
pretty blunt in a phone call. Interrupting Friend assures RantWoman that a note
of apology written in big marker is in the snail mail, to the email address in the
directory which RantWoman does not visit every day. Okay. RantWoman would not
have objected in the least to email, and PUBLIC apology would never be
objectionable either. More importantly, Interrupting Friend admitted to being
vexed by technology AND reported successful peer support from another Friend. That
is more than enough to save a different electronic immoderation thread for another
post.
4.
RantWoman was not done though! Time for
announcements that did not make it into the bulletin.
a.
The newly cleaned carpets look GREAT even to
RantWoman.
b.
The worship room chairs got put back just fine
except for two points:
i.
Aisles need to be 36” wide to allow space for
wheelchair users to turn around
ii.
There are fire code reasons it is a good idea to
gang / connect by the pre-installed hook mechanism, our chairs. It’s easy to do
…
c.
Interrupting Friend again “it looks like they
are ganged.” They are not. Do you want to ask rantWoman how she knows the
chairs are not ganged? Hint it has to do with the 36” piece of minutia above,
one of those small details which MANY people COULD learn and which RantWoman
will continue to be faithful about regardless?
5.
RantWoman wishes to appreciate one Friend who perhaps
was listening in Business Meeting when chair purchase was discussed: the fire
code recommends chairs that can be ganged because rows of chairs are harder to
tip over if people need to flee because of fire. Listening Friend (who has
earned another Nom De Blog remembered about the fire issue. That left RantWoman
also to bring up a riot control issue which RantWoman remembers, among other
reasons, because of various event usher / event security / event staff gigs:
chairs that are ganged are also harder to turn into missiles and to some extent
easier to push out of the way than chairs that are not ganged. But back to the
Quaker bubble? “Um riot control unlikely to be needed around Quakers?”
RantWoman: please do not assume RantWoman is the only person in the room with
at least peripheral contact with riot control issues. Start by translating “riot
control” to nonviolent witness.
We will now resume interaction with other seasonal RantWoman
interactions with the space time continuum, in a separate blog.
In Light and Faithfulness.
RantWoman
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
