Wednesday, December 31, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR With Notes and a Fractal.

Some exotic New Year's Fireworks:



RantWoman is trying to clear the psychic sludge and start the New Year off  esh. RantWoman aspires to do this, but it is not going to happen. RantWoman is blessed with an endless supply of raw material for her spiritual compost heap and this holiday season seems especially rich in reindeer droppings for said compost heap. So Friends are asked please to bear with such gestures ... as RantWoman can offer tonight.

 

 Dear Friend A

 RantWoman has observed you several times in slightly different contexts being REALLY really challenged in talking about a set of topics in our Meeting.

 Please forgive RantWoman for directness and inelegant phrasing. How about we all just accept that said topics are difficult for many people and you maybe possibly are considerably less gifted than average about working with these topics? Then we can all do the best we can to spare you roles where you are expected to...?

 Now that you are off the hook, please forgive RantWoman. At the very least RantWoman is going to quit beating herself up about her own inability to accommodate ...

 Sincerely,

 RantWoman.

 

 
Dear Friend B.

 Eureka! you too are off the hook. Never mind what all you are off the hook for. The problem is not anything you might have done or not done. Nor is the problem anything RantWoman might have done or not done. The problem is The Curse of Your First Name.

 
See, RantWoman has this, cough, gift for sometimes blowing things up that need to be blown up / shaken up. RantWoman is fond of explaining that the RantWoman as Clerk of the Still Didn't get the Memo committee on Email Immoderation of today is, believe it or not, a kinder, gentler, SOMEWHAT better seasoned version of previous versions of RantWoman. That would be one problem.

 
Another problem would be that sometimes RantWoman making everyone mad creates room and frees energy for someone else to come along and reweave frayed edges in new directions.

 
Still another problem: several of these circumstances have been associated with people whose name is either exactly like yours or a very slight phonetic variant. Soooo, if we want to absolve ourselves of... we could just Blame the Curse of Your Name. RantWoman is not sure there is any precedent for this either in the Bible or in anyone's historical or even modern Quaker journals, but we could consider...

 In the Light,

 Rantwoman.

 

 
Dear Friend 1.

 You clearly are still hot under the collar about some of the exact same public moments in time that RantWoman is still hot under the collar about. RantWoman thinks for a few different reasons that those moments need the care of more than just thee and me and is wondering whether we might consider one of RantWoman's suggestions from awhile ago. RantWoman suggested we pick some of those public moments, look at the minutes, and hold what you and I are still hot under the collar about.

 RantWoman is not suggesting ... because she is some kind of weird exhibitionist. RantWoman suggests more shared discernment because, while RantWoman is not necessarily very good at some pieces of this, RantWoman greatly esteems this when done well. Would you please consider...?

 For example, RantWoman has heard you about your view of one Friend's intent in a public moment. RantWoman is unsure you have heard RantWoman about barriers and boundaries in private making RantWoman's EXPERIENCE of the public gesture decidedly other than what you assume was intended.

 In another case, something needs to happen to unfreeze several big hard stops for RantWoman. RantWoman does not expect to solve the HOW of any of this on New Year's Eve, but RantWoman does expect....

 In the Light

RantWoman.

 

Dear Friend 2

 You are not completely off the hook either but RantWoman is clear enough about a path for what remains on her mind at least for now.

 In the light,

 RantWoman.

 

Dear Friend 3

 Ya know, RantWoman decided to go along with the process you all proposed and RantWoman thinks the work is incomplete.

 
Thank you for your concern that I might be endlessly disappointed by people’s efforts in the realm of accommodations. Thank you for this concern on my behalf. How about we talk about paths to what actually matters, what is nice to have, and what falls in the realm of life-threatening? RantWoman actually thinks this is not a conversation for just thee and me and has in mind a path forward but feels no clarity to wade in tonight before the fireworks go off.

 Thank you also for the information that Care and Counsel committee is working on more pronouncements about email. Considering the LONG contribution from the Still Didn't Get the Memo on Email Immoderation last time Care and Counsel did this, would Care and Counsel PLEASE consider the following suggestions from RantWoman:

 --RantWoman has a time or two contributed thoughts about email to some r another document as part of what she does for a living. Consider this an offer to help!

 --RantWoman frequently finds that understanding ttechnical / technological points of time and search string and filing / archiving practice, as well as routing options GREATLY enhances her ability to stay spiritually centered. Perhaps if you involve RantWoman in the conversation upstream, you will more quickly get to some shared understandings of several points and make efficient use of the technology.

 --RantWoman went to an event about boundaries awhile ago. RantWoman has various observations which those who presented did not seem interested in at the time. RantWoman also went home and promptly told about 8 people by email why she is unable to conform to the boundaries they were trying to set about email. Please consider it a big giant chicken clucking REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS request to have a fuller discussion of RantWoman's concerns in this area.

 Hallelujah. Amen. In the Light. And HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

 RantWoman.



A New Year's Fractal in honor of a summer God and fractals moment.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Merry Christmas: Hasta en las mejores familias, photo from the 80's




Manger Scene on a wreath


RantWoman sincerely blesses and thanks Little Sister for her habit, manmy years, of givingthe family some or another framed photographs as Christmas gifts. This photo is from somewhere in the late 1980's.

RantWoman notes:

--When RantWoman posted and tagged this on Facebook, several of RantMom's church groupies left "We love your Mom (and probably for some of the very reasons she drives RantWoman crazy)" messages.

--RantWoman recalls a few years ago making RantMom open up a bit about family stresses to her church in MT and being humbled to learn that, OF COURSE, many other parents in her church also had considerably less than perfect and even darned problematic children.

--RantWoman is VERY grateful right now both for a sense of very appropriate pastoral care about such family matters as RantWoman has cajoled RantMom into leeting be shared and for very practical help while RantMom recovers from emergency surgery in early December. Oh, and and now also some kind of staph infection. (hold that entire topic in the Light.)

--RantWoman counts as a blessing the sighs of relief she hears from RantMom's adhoc PFLAG chapter whenever RantWoman speaks in ordinary flow of conversation of some or anotehr same-gender couple.

As for the family:
--Everyone has AWESOME glasses glare.

--Everyone is smiling, unlike, say, RantWoman and RantBrother at RantBrother's very first Christmas. RantBrother was too small a baby lump to have recognizable facial expressions; RantWoman assuredly was not.

RantWoman thinks the smiles in the photo were genuine. But the tides of time and experience have crashed in and out several ways both before and since the photo.

In particular:
Little Sister does not wish to be in RantBrother's company, for good reason even if some parts  of why RantWoman is not sure she is even expected to understand.

RantMom ardently wishes all her children would conform to her expectations about how we should interact including all being in the same place at the same time. She sends email with everyone's addresses exposed expressing that wish. RantWoman considers it more important to encourage RantMom to find mental health assistance than to try to get RantMom to understand the point of Blind Copy. RantWoman has not exactly invoked "Cope" in Little Sister's direction, but...

RantWoman also merely collects data about everyone's contact info all over RantMom's refrigerator. RantWoman can understand why Little Sister might be upset but the last time RantBrother visited, he could barely figure out the route from RantMom's to RantWoman's and barely keep track of RantWoman's cell number so RantWoman thinks it is very unlikely he can actually use any of Little Sister's contact info.

To further ensure outpourings of family sentiment this year, RantWoman sent Little Sister email of the form "I do not enjoy watching ... in Spanish and I do not wish to argue about it in front of RantMom."

In other words, the whole telenovela needs to be held in the Light. 
RantWoman also called RantMom up and said "I have chicken. I have squash. I have cranberries. Let's do Christmas dinner." And this turned out to be just about right for RantMom's recovering from surgery energy level.


Manger Scene, Rendered many times in felt

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Merry Christmas: Let's talk about Blindness

For visual interest, or such as RantWoman can orchestrate, RantWoman offers an image originally created by one of RantDad's college classmates and then rendered many times in felt by the RantFamily for Christmas presents.  Much later it was also rendered many times in stained glass by Rev. Recorder Student, a now long-retired Presbyterian minister whose recorder lessons wound up being as much mental health counseling as RantDad ever got anywhere near.

Mary and Josepht and Baby Jesus under a star


RantWoman does not particularly apologize if the comments below do not seem cute and cuddly and suitable for Baby Jesus. Hello. The family was caught up in need to fulfil some civic duty of the empire. King Herod was about to put a hit out on the child. Somehow RantWoman hopes if they could handle all that, the narrative can also handle RantWoman and her Inner Blowtorch.

Among the conversational Christmas presents coming RantWoman's way:

Putting in frequent repeat appearances:
RantWoman, my mother / grandmother / Cousin Fred / Aunt Tillie...seems to be having more difficulty with vision. Should the person still be driving?

NO! We should all live in compact pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods where people can get what they need easily on their own or be well-served by supportive neighbors and good delivery options.
And we should all have the sense to move there on our own before our bodies fall apart.

Excuse me?
Oh Wait: This is not only a blindness question. Aging also does a number on hearing, reflexes, general responses. Aging can add new tics and tremors. And, as RantMom said about Grandpa Farmer, having to quit driving without ways to maintain important social ties can be devastating.

But the more important problem: How the hell should RantWoman know? RantWoman is probably not acquainted with the person you are asking about. Nor does RantWoman have the right letters behind her name to offer official evaluations. RantWoman does know questions to ask. RantWoman is also aware of a couple people's life issues that she would prefer to bypass opportunities to collect data about. But really, if you are worried about someone and driving, talk to their doctor. Or talk to the local DMV / Dept of Licensing or whatever it is called in the affected person's area.

Word!


RantWoman, we have this friend who we think has struggled her whole life about vision things and who says lots of things are hard. May we give her your phone number?

Sure, of course, but meanwhile, RantWoman will send you a whole email full of all kinds of terminological brain dump and questions.

Uhhhh, RantWoman I do not know the answers to all of that.

RantWoman, swallowing a GIANT chill pill: Honestly, it's okay that you don't know the answers. RantWoman herself got the baptism by fire course in all the terminology and processes she referred to. RantWoman has been, believe it or not, pretty sparing about blindness tourism about some of those topics.

But look, this person knows you and trusts you, and every single strand of terminology RantWoman mentioned involves terrifying realities and endless disruptions to other people's concept of normal life. So maybe, what would it mean to walk alongside and ask your friend what she finds hard or what she is scared about? RantWoman is happy to answer questions one or two at a time and happy to tell you or you and your friend about different resources. And no, it does not all happen all at once. And yes, being able at least somewhat to walk alongside will really mean  a lot!

Word!


(Digested from vocal ministry in Meeting for Worship.)
RantWoman, we live in a building with a lot of blind people and we see them coming and going a lot. The other day my son asked me to tell him something about Jesus and I told him the story about Jesus meeting a blind man and curing him by spitting onto the ground, making some mud, and smearing the mud in the man's eyes.

OKAY...

First we peel RantWoman off the ceiling, just on principle. We remind RantWoman that story is only one of many annoying passages about blind people in the Bible, a point RantWoman at some point will feel called to elaborate in more detail. Nor is it by far the only available story about Jesus with or without blind people.

Next, we sit with RantWoman's recurring urge to have tirades about Grab the Blind Person and Bless Them. Not to mention that smearing spit-filled mud into someone's eyes is even more objectionable that just grabbing them.

RantWoman does recall reading somewhere that the smear mud in eyes does have SOME basis in biomedical reality for some very specific blindness condition, but there are an awful lot of other conditions that treatment would not help for. This includes for instance RantWoman's particular strands of DNA lotto. It probably also includes the conditions affecting most of the blind people who come to stay in your building while they are learning "skills of blindness" at what RantWoman colloquially refers to as "Blind School."
So um, RantWoman would like to leave it up to you and God to figure out what or what else you should tell your son about Jesus or blindness either one, but awhile ago RantWoman penned some tips for a family who used to live near another location where a lot of blind people come and go. Perhaps RantWoman's comments will suggest other things to talk to your son about or to help him talk about.

--Do you or your son notice that people might have different kinds of whiate canes and that they might use them differently? For example, some people tap their canes and some people only carry them. Often it is okay to notice and to ask questions. at least to you; use your judgment about asking people directly. Some are fine answering
questions; some might be in a hurry or just not in a mood to talk. It's also definitely fine to ask RantWoman questions. RantWoman actually LIKES questions a whole lot better than several possible flavors of thoughtless pronouncements

--Does your son notice anyone at Meeting who uses a white cane, besides RantWoman whose cane likes to hide and take a nap? Agaain, you and your son are welcome to ask RantWoman more about the cane. There is at least one other person right now who sometimes comes with her cane. There is someone else who has moved away but used to bring her seeing eye  dog.

--Do you and your son see anyone around your building who has a seeing eye dog? Does your son know not to talk to or pet the dog without asking its owner's permission first?

--RantWoman does not remember whether your son was in First Day school the day RantWoman came to talk about vision issues. Our very inspired preschool teacher made two kinds of play-doh, both of them white. One smelled like peppermint and one like vanilla so kids could practice telling things apart only by smell.

   RantWoman brought some different baggies of white things that we could only tell apart by texture. Well for a joke RantWoman included a bag of brown pinto beans as well as the bag of white beans. We also talked a little about why it can be hard to telldifferent colors apart and practiced writing names on different colors of notecards. RantWoman would be curious to know whether your son remembers any of this and what made an impression.

   RantWoman and the Friend with the Seeing Eye dog also talked to the school age First Day school. NEVER try to compete with a dog.

--And one more tip: RantWoman confuses people because she can mostly get around without bumping into people, but RantWoman has a really hard time telling people apart. So it's always a big help if kids say Hi to RantWoman AND also say their names.

Anyway, RantWoman would consider it a great blessing if you could please go easy on the smear mud in eyes thing and think more broadly about blindness, vision loss, God's love!

Word!

Friday, December 26, 2014

Merry Christmas! Let's talk about Death, memorials

Remember Trombone and MisMatched Socks Friend, aka Mr. Nasturtiums in Salad Friend?

Christmas Eve is his birthday.

RantWoman dedicates this pair of socks to his memory. RantWoman wore this pair to Christmas worship. RantWoman has another pair she may wear to Sunday Meeting for Worship.

Mismatched socks for RantMom to exclaim about. RantWoman offers prayers particularly for:

--Several high school classmates for whom, Thanks be to Facebook and a classmate who reads online obituaries, RantWoman has learned of parents' passing or even the classmates' own passing.

--Some Friends close to RantWoman in age who have recently lost parents

--Another friend who tells of his dad saying, three times, three different ways, that he was ready to leave his life on Christmas day a few years ago.

--A couple of really different grieving widows, besides Nasturtiums in Salad Friend whom RantWoman has been given to grow fond of




Manger Scene on a wreath


A few weeks ago in Meeting for Worship, a sequence of messages offered up one after another a sizable list of people friends in the room were remebering. Several of them, including Trombone and Mismatched Socks Friend passed away this year. Still others passed away within the last few years. One or two passed away thirty-odd years ago when some who are now elders were brand new in Meeting.
RantWoman had spoken to a newcomer before worship and was curious about his experience afterward.
"It's a lot of deaths."
"Yes, some of them are really fresh, and many people remember."
(and what, by the grace of God did not make it out of RantWoman's mouth, "..and in 30 years, I hope someone from today will mean as much to you as the person mentioned from 30 years ago meant to the person who remembers her."
It's a lot of deaths, and more importantly amazing lives to celebrate all over again

Christmas Card / Thank you Letter: Dear Paratransit provider

Dear Transportation Provider / Contracted Paratransit provider,

RantWoman faithfully wishes to expect sincere and profound gratitude for all and sundry seasonal reindeer droppings for her spiritual compost heap.

Two Santas


First, pretty much whenever RantWoman is in the company of RantMom and occasionally some of your other regular customers, RantWomans ears runneth over with complaints about your scheduling and especially your routing practices. RantMon also, RantWoman is a littel embarrased to say, is quite vehement in her characterizations of some of your drivers' attitudes. RantMom cannot separate weird worship of GPS and sense of male entitleement and utter inability to ask for directions from ethnicity / national origin. RantMom also does not seem to beable to take a careful chill pill when trying to explain problems. Then she needs to tell RantWoman over and over again. RantWoman usually encourages RantMom to talk directly to you and RantWoman is pretty sure you have probably heard from RantMom, probably several times. In any case, blessings upon you for your contributions to dinner coversations.

Thank you so much also for deciding that the ADA paratransit services you are contracted to provide somehow do not apply on holidays at our location even though there is all manner of fixed route service and multiple people have courteously signed up in advance. RantWoman so enjoys the need to add emails imploring you to pay attention to RantWoman's endless task list.
RantWoman has information from neighbors indicating that the service did show up. She also has indication of multiple kinds of confusion. And irritating RantWoman who is mobile, mouthy, and generall able to act for herself is one thing, but you really blow it when you mess with a neighbor of RantWoman's who says about 10 words every 2 hours and whom RantWoman is pretty sure you do not want to to have tp send them complaining about your services.

Word!

Sincerely, RantWoman


'Forgiveness Is Liberating': Desmond Tutu on Healing a Nation's Racist Past | BillMoyers.com

'Forgiveness Is Liberating': Desmond Tutu on Healing a Nation's Racist Past | BillMoyers.com

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas Card: You STAY

RantWoman was offered opportunity to put pen to paper to write a greeting to someone far away. If RantWoman had put pen to paper, probably nothing appropriate would have come out.

RantWoman sincerely sends prayers and heartfelt good wishes both to Someone and to Someone's parents, but RantWoman is not sure Someone would be entirely receptive to what RantWoman has to say.
Stylized  Christmas tree with 2 packages
Dear Someone,

RantWoman sincerely sends prayers and heartfelt good wishes both to you and to your parents. RantWoman has no doubt that you needed and need the care you are currently getting.

RantWoman generally thinks that the provisions of WA state law allowing youth as young as 13 to seek health and mental health care on their own independent of their parents is a VERY good and necessary thing. RantWoman thinks youth need to check with their providers about confidentiality issues as far as how billing happens, but RantWoman is clear that this law probably allows LOTS of youth to get badly-needed services that they would not be able to get if they were required to be able to talk to unresponsive or overwhelmed or otherwise challenged parents about sensitive and difficult topics.

And

RantWoman COMPLETELY understands how parents with good insurance might balk when asked to continually foot the bills for youth who are not cooperating with needed treatment or who are engaging in any number of kinds of youthful flakiness. RantWoman thinks, even though youth might not appreciate it right now, youth whose parents have the resources to take them out of state and keep them there long enough for treatment to be effective should be DARNED GRATEFUL their parents care and are able and willing to help in this way.

And RantWoman further emphatically blesses parents who also are willing to engage in the family components of the program your family is working with.

But please excuse RantWoman for being too focused on being present in the present with her own family's past to craft any gentler message and again, please accept RantWoamn's good wishes to you and your family!

In the Light.

RantWoman.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Christmas Presents: White Privilege

RantWoman hereby enlists Santa Claus to deliver unto herself and those around her opportunities to reflect on privilege.


Two Santas
RantWoman acknowledges several forms of privilege embodied in the very fact of this blog post:

--RantWoman has a smartphone and sufficient technological expertise, at last, to clog the interwebs with the banal imagery, albeit blurry, of RantMom's Christmas treasures.

--RantWoman, vexed as she is by all aspectso of midlife vision meltdown, sees most colors very normally AND sees enough not to have to feed her blogging obsession with her screen reader alone.

--RantWoman, RantMom and Little Sister all have managed to navigate a number of life bureaucracies well enough to live in many respects very well in spite of numerous lapses of good sense that might have derailed such comfort for others.

--Whatever else one can say about RantWoman's Make Your Own Job circumstances, they allow her time to fuss with Life Issues by blog.

And still, RantWoman thinks the conversation needs:

Holiday non-shopping tip: the Invisible Backpack of Whtie Privilege
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/product-review-the-invisible-backpack-of-white-privilege-from-ll-bean

Another item on privilege
http://billmoyers.com/content/steve-fraser-age-acquiescence/

Merry Christmas Let's talk about Death

RantWoman honors times people get together and wind up talking about good and bad death and the circle of life.

Yes, RantWoman knows that the image here is blobby  and eerily lit and that it does not do justice to the manger scene that is part of the wreath. And yes, RantWoman understands that making this particular image the avatar for talking about death is, um, weird. Cope. This decoration is from the late RantDad's late Aunt Sister. RantWoman remembers this late aunt for a lot of Jello, for endless gifts of crocheting and smelly Avon products. RantWoman also remembers some frightening medical challenges, some of them brought about by poorly treated workplace injuries, and many circumstances that contributed to her death. RantWoman also remembers this Aunt crocheting a lot of baby booties for the Crisis Pregnancy Center, maybe more than enough of an association to add the nativity scene.


Manger Scene on a wreath
RantWoman is grateful sometimes for attention to radio broadcasts during the day. RantWoman apologizes, sort of , for lacking patience to go look up the segment on http://kuow.org she has in mind.
Readers get to be grateful for the moment that RantWoman is aiming for laconic and just posting resources:


Ellen Goodman,
http://theconversationproject.org/

The site above contains several resources for having conversations about end of life wishes. RantWoman thinks these resources would be a great thing before holiday gatherings. RantWoman also thinks they might be lovely preparation for the event below.

(RantWoman is also seasoning a call to have a temper tantrum but promises to save the tantrum at least until a little later in the day.)

RantWoman invites readers to attend this event; if you want to attend and do not already read the Meeting bulletin, leave a comment and RantWoman will forward. RantWoman also posts it here as an artifact and will say more in the same festive holiday spirit as she talks about other themes in the vibrant yucky topics festival that is her life.

SAVE THE DATE: *Free* ADVANCE CARE PLANNING WORKSHOP sponsored by Care and  Counsel: Saturday, Jan. 10, 9:00-11:30am in the Social Hall. Natasha White Marsh, Hospice Chaplain and End-of-Life Consultant, will guide you through completing a 3-part living will.
RSVP by Jan. 3. To request materials in alternate formats or other accommodations please contact Natasha or a member of Care and Counsel.

Christmas Card: Dear Muppet Fan Neighbor

RantWoman herewirth posts some hypothetical Christmas / holiday cards which, blessings be upon the interwebs, are very unlikely to make it into any medium aless ephemeral than blog pages. RantWoman realizes they reflect the state of RantWoman's spiritual compost heap, this year located especialy conveniently under the flight path of a whole lot of reindeer. RantWoman hopes others who find themselves similarly situated may also be amused.


A Green and Red Christmas with Muppets
Dear Muppet Fan Neighbor

RantWoman is terribly grateful for all your help at the community holiday party.

Yes, it's a HOLIDAY party, not a Christmas party in sincere effort to include all the people who do not observe Christmas (as much as you and I do).

RantWoman is glad you have lined up all the ducks that need to align so you now have your lovely service chihuahua. RantWoman appreciates it a lot that your dog almost all the time just rides around on your walker. RantWoman so appreciates that your service chihuahua has some kind of authentic certification and an authentic service dog vest because that is SUPPOSED to simplify things. RantWoman does not mind NOT having to argue on behalf of another service chihuahua she knows: that hound's main service is to ask to go out just as Nuclear Family is nearing meltdown.

RantWoman is sorry to hear you took flak from the building management about bringing your service dog to the holiday party. RantWoman is relieved to hear that you have thought at least a little about whether your service dog would really appreciate the music, but RantWoman also considers it appropriate to consider whether we need to Speak to Management about this exact issue.

More to the point, RantWoman apologizes. RantWoman has a big fat chicken-clucking conflict of interest. RantWoman wants to be all supportive of your hound's right to be wherever you take him.

And

Small hounds on leashes, even small hounds under very good control by their handlers, DRIVE RANTWOMAN CRAZY because she cannot see them, she does not want (EVEN TO BE TEMPTED) to walk on them or to squish them or....

Sooooo, could we MAYBE think about your hound's ears and save... for another time?

Many Christmas Blessings,

Sincerely,

RantWoman



Kermit and Dr. Teet in someone's shopping basket


Hanukkah: Tree of Life, Morning train

Another Tree of Life Menorah, leaves and branches

RantWoman supposes that posting something as universalist as the song below completely misses the point of Hanukkah as celebration of Jewish identity. RantWoman did promise "nothing appropriate but will leave to her readers' discerment full applicability of the concept.

"...after all, Everybody's riding on this train..."

RantWoman definitely encourages readers to listen to the whole 2+ minutes of intro about Danes and bicycles and beer. It will make the song even more worthwhile when you get there.

Not an artist I am familiar with but a whole youtube channel of cool.


Monday, December 22, 2014

Hanukkah an iPhone Menorah and the Very Model of a Biblical Philologist

Okay, so maybe the Hanukkah oil has gotten a little fermented. And someone has to get up and go to work.

We offer the iPhone Menorah, partly because there is nothing appropriate about trying to light the menorah on an airplane.




particularly for the very model of a biblical philogist.


Sunday, December 21, 2014

Hanukkah: Tree of Life, Fountainheads Light up the Night

Tree of Life Menorah, leaves
Sometimes RantWoman would check out the political leanings and sensibilities of groups whose music she posts. Sometimes RantWoman just shamelessly mashes an item with the fact that it's the solstice and lets light blaze however it blazes, even if it blazes in the zone of "nothing appropriate."

RantWoman dedicates this post to a number of Jewish friends who live in places where it can be risky to celebrate one's identity.


Hanukkah: another double dose

Christmas Tree at RantMom's
Rather than go find another menorah, RantWoman has stuck a Christmas tree in here in appreciation of some families in our Meeting whose families both keep various Jewish traditions and have Christmas trees. RantWoman is perfectly fine with the thought that in traditional Quaker practice, there is Nothing Appropriate about any of this.

RantWoman is also perfectly fine with injecting a few moments of RantWomanand RantMom's inadvertant observance of the solstice:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-present-montanism.html

RantWoman is perfectly fine with the thought that there is Nothing Appropriate about waiting until the sixth night of Hanukkah to post the overture to Handel's Judas Maccabeus. RantWoman is also perfectly fine with anyone who harrumphs about whether this is appropriate for the fourth Sunday of Advent. RantWoman encourages readers to enjoy the music because RantWoman is also figuring out what to do with some spectacular reindeer droppings which have landed in her spiritual compost heap.


Saturday, December 20, 2014

Hanukkah:second party, Sushi Menorah, Taylor Swift parody.

RantWoman discovered she had some Hanukkah zaniness left over in her draft folder. rantWoman decided that sometimes people do go to two parties in one day and that migth have to be inappropriate enough for now.

Sushi tray menorah: consensus is it's Kosher Sushi

and a Taylor Swift parody that is close captioned. RantWoman cannot vouch for whether there is sign language involved also.


Hanukkah Modern Art Menorah and Rock of Ages reMix

 


Modern Art Menorah, with electric lights
Based only on the world traveler visuals in the video below, RantWoman dedicates this post to a college housemate who is now a partner in a Hong Kong law firm. Former Housemate is about that last person RantWoman would have predicted would convert to Orthodox Judaism. But it seems to have stuck and to work. Blessings on her and her whole family.


Friday, December 19, 2014

Hanukkah: Tree of Life, South Park

Tree of Life Menorah with birds and flowers and fruit


This post is dedicated to RantBrother and all his gifts, albeit faded, about horticulture and tree pruning and landscaping and formerly even a lot of ability to negotiate and projects of various scale.

And here is the Hanukkah song from South Park.



Here is a reprise of a blog post about RantBrother.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/10/october-20-disabilities-awareness-item.html

It is mostly an accident of circumstances and atrocious parental lapses that dreidls are permanently stuck in RantWoman's mind along with a serial child molester. RantWoman is also not sure what if anything besides know said molester half the Jewish kids in school did to land on the enemies list mentioned in the above blog post. At this late date RantWoman has no expectation of ever finding out.

RantWoman's prayers for this year:
May the Lord Bless and Keep RantBrother  employed and living indoors and too busy to try to come from MT to visit for Christmas! RantWoman would even accept a collect phone call!

May further psychological ooze about RantBrother find the right spiritual and mental health resources and ...

May the words of a moderately inflammatory email land on fertile ground and lead Little Sister and Brother in Law straight to a bicultural parenting class! RantWoman has grown tired of being sister confessor for Little Sister's concerning commentary, particularly when Little Sister shares the commentary and keeps turning up her nose and resources offered. RantWoman has also been clear to say "I do not enjoy watching your husband pick at your son the way RantDad used to pick at RantBrother."

And I do not enjoy arguing about any of this in front of RantMom and I do not enjoy hearing RantMom grouse about Brother In Law and frankly, if RantWoman winds up taking a giant latte and some popcorn out on a ferry ride by herself this year it all might be a great blessing! And may the Lord bless and keep the holiday holy anyway!

And all of this has very little to do with Hanukkah which makes it fit perfectly in the Nothing Appropriate concern!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Hanukkah: Tree of Life and Concept couplet

Et voila: thank you Google for  "tree of life menorah"


Tree of Life menorah. Image from Mightyhaus.com

RantWoman meant to have some kind of menorah imagery here but a very superficial Google Search turned up this wonderful and dense item about the menorah and the tree of life:

http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html


In the realm of sonic celebration, RantWoman also hereby recycles two posts paired in her other blog.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-idf-choir-sings-leonard-cohens.html

http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2014/08/rafeef-ziadah-we-teach-life-sir-london.html


RantWoman can live with the possibility that some readers will howl "nothing appropriate" about pairing these two items. Tough. RantWoman notes the women soldiers of the IDF choir and the woman poet And consigns further meditations on appropriateness to teh Goddes.

RantWoman aspires to more in-depth thinking today but sometimes the schedule is the schedule and one does what can be done.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Hanukkah: The Billings Newspaper Menorah

A menorah printed in the Billings Gazette
 



In 1993 in Billings MT, the image above was printed in the local newspaper, the Billings Gazette. A rock had been thrown through the window of a child's room with a menorah in the window. Echoing a time during World War II when the Danish King was helping his country resist Hitler, the citizens of Billings, or many of them also posted menorahs in their windows. This is the image many people used. Below is a trailer about a documentary of that time.


The trailer is a LITTLE over congratulatory: RantWoman can attest that the forces of tolerance ebb and flow. For instance this year, RantWoman is having lively #blacklivesmatter exchanges with both RantMom and an elementary school classmate. And yet...

A link to order the whole Not In Our Town video
https://www.niot.org/niot-video/not-our-town-billings-montana-0

A link to a 2008 15th anniversary celebration of the original menorah campaign and the events leading up to it.
http://www.jta.org/2008/01/22/life-religion/billings-15-years-after-menorah-incident

A "nothing appropriate" element topical to the RantFamily: RantWoman was by then long gone. RantWoman asked her Rantparents why they were not called to put a menorah in their window. RantWoman does not remember any answer that made sense to her though RantWoman thinksit was RantBrother who spoke to unease related to a crank lab down the street. RantWoman definitely would not mind history being otherwise.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Hanukkah, Nothing Appropriate and Jan Dismas Zelenka - Psalm 109, Dixit Dominus, ZWV 68

Hannukkah greetings from a brass dinosaur with a menorah along its back. Thank you Buzzfeed


RantWoman proposes another eccentric observance of another faith community's annual celebration. This year for hanukkah RantWoman means to post with at least modest attention to the phrase "Nothing Appropriate" or "exactly nothing that would have been appropriate."

RantWoman probably will not be led to marry gefilte fish with lutefisk.

RantWoman does not plan to call for any pogroms or, say to post links to Wagner's Gottedammerung. RantWoman may or may not get around to articulating either an appropriate prayer or the precise personal resonance for the phrase "nothing appropriate." And RantWoman sincerely sends whatever greetings are appropriate.

And for the first night, RantWoman proposes lovely music without checking the text of the Psalm. Oh well.


Saturday, December 13, 2014

St Lucy 12-13-14. The vision Thing: Be thou my vision - Irish Tenors

Whowever would NOT find it possible to center with music this gorgeous! RantWoman really does not feel calledto discuss the theology of the text, just to celebrate the music.


St Lucy? 12-13-14 The Vision Thing Be Thou My Vision - Azusa Pacific Men's Chorale - 2013

St Lucy's day requires eyeball imagery. There is an awesome eyeball image. There is a pipe organ, unused, but still. There are projection screens. There are some college choir moments and RantWoman is uninformed as to young men and StLucy, but this one makes the cut anyway.


St Lucy? The vision Thing 12-13-14 Bí Thusa 'mo Shúile .feat Meghan Doran - (Be Thou My Vision)

Check the Youtube listing for the performer. In Gaelic. Wonderful solo voice

St Lucy. The Vision Thing 12-13-14 Be Thou my Vision - 8th Century Irish Hymm performed by Robin Mark --Lyrics

RantWoman appears to be an easily distractible seeker. RantWoman MEANS to riff on St. Lucy but has been led to various renderings of "Be Thou My Vision. RantWoman is especially amused on accessibility grouns by this musical setting because the music comes with a series of images of theologians and their life dates. These images and this info not be accessible to screen reader users.



St Lucy 12-13-14 Patron Saint of the Blind.

RantWoman acknowledges that perhaps there is some cosmic joke in a Quaker, ostensibly no respecter of days being called to observe St. Lucy's Day. Tough. RantWoman notes the numerical sequence of today's date: 12-13-14. Today is also a blind friend's birthday and RantWoman esteems this friend for a well-honed giftof mirth. RantWoman learned that St . Lucy is the patron saint of blind people. RantWoman  is pretty iffy about this whole patron saint concept but nevertheless feels called to fill a post with such imagery as she is led to glean in the image gallery of her choice.


St Lucy according to Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy

A brief introduction to St. Lucy and why she always appears with eyeballs separate.
http://www.marypages.com/LucyofSyracuse.htm

A nice concise blog post
http://bishopseanmanchester.blogspot.com/2012/12/st-lucy-lucia.html

Prayers to St. Lucy, "Patron saint of eye ailments."
http://www.liturgies.net/saints/lucy/prayers.htm


Lucy with a whole lot of eyeballs.



St Lucy of the Halloween costume



And the also familiar crown of candles:

Lucy with Candles


RantWoman notes that she lost patience with visual searching and is underfulfilling plan as to commentary about the crown of candles imagery. Plus the general concept of gouging out one's own eyeballs, even on principle makes rantWoman, um, nervous rather necessarily than inspired. With that in mind, RantWOman let herself be led in a completely different direction with no gouged eyeballs involved.

RantWoman gratefully acknowledges the contributions of these imagesand humbly aspires to generate enough hits to have mroe of a copyright problem than can be covered with this acknowledgment.



Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Assume a can opener?

"RantWoman, 'Assume a can opener?" Huh?"

RantWoman's capacity for fracturing jokes is enormous. "Assume a can opener" is the punch line for some joke involving an engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician. RantWoman is unclear which needed to assume a can opener; RantWoman also does not apologize to her sundry strands of groupies that these professionals are who rattled out of RantWoman's keyboard.

RantWoman also did not feel a need to delve either into the language of the joke or into someone's flak about whether or not God exists. RantWoman was wanting to impart some of what wells out of her own experience. RantWoman was thinking to connect God Does Not Exist Friend with someone more willing to go on at length about the matter of Divine existence and to offer what she herself can offer on a more practical level..

Most of all, RantWoman was thinking something along the lines of "Friend, thee is being annoying , vexatious, irritating, obtuse, stubborn, dismissive of people who genuinely care and want to help as they CAN. . It is only by the Grace of God and some appreciation of your long service that RantWoman is remotely able to put up with you right now in this state." Arguably RantWoman has a lot of dang nerve assuming she has something useful to try to impart,but may we please assume a can opener about the existence of God question and ....?

Holding , in the Light.

Sincerely
RantWoman

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Advent week 2 The Hippopotamus again

The yen for a hippopotamus set in earlier this year than last. Scroll down to the youtube link if you just want the silly hippopotamus song.

http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-want-hippopotamus-for-christmas-only.html


Update as to Nerf battle matters: secondhand, apparently this year there were g-g-g-girls involved. RantWoman notes that change without comment; Irrepressible Nephew apparently was not charmed. RantWoman for her part has been meditating about the difference between Grandmas and Aunties. There is SOME dork factor inherent in USED nerf Blasters. RantMom was still happy to facilitate and RantWoman has opted not to want to repeat....

RantWoman awhile ago acknowledged that God is just going to have to get hermssages through the means available to RantWoman. That is RantWoman is going to TRY to stop stressing about all the ways she cannot get messages and focus on asking what is possible.

But in an effort to give God something vaguely God-themed to work with, RantWoman hereby includes the daily Bible references from the two devotional streams RantWoman at least intermittently interacts with:

From Our Daily Bread: Luke 19:28-40
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+19%3A28-40

From The Upper Room, Hebrews 12:1-4
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+12%3A1-4&version=NIV

Okay God, WTF?

Friday, December 5, 2014

Fourteen

A weird way to open a Birthday blessing, but COPE. RantWoman is clear that there is value in sharing experiences but RantWoman has an odd confientiality request: RantWoman considers it a great act of Divine Mercy that RantWoman, RantMom and Little Sister and her family are all attached to different faith communities, but many in RantWoman's Meeting know members of the Rant family. And if Quakers had prayer chains there would be some HIPAA Meets the Prayer Chain tangles possible too. 

Little Sister sometimes is quite happy to tell the whole bus her life, never mind whether she is telling anyone else's life too. Other times Little Sister is into "shut up." And RantWoman is sometimes called to be confrontational about "Shut up." Anyway, this post contains references albeit oblique to a number of sensitive topics. RantWoman's request of those who know the Rant Family: RantWoman really needs space for her own STUFF. If any of these topics come up in conversation from the RantFamily side, they are fair game. And of course they are fair game if only RantWoman is present. Otherwise, ....

FOURTEEN.
Irrpressible Nephew turns FOURTEEN today. He will have a SLEEPOVER with some other veterans of the Middle School Nerf Wars from his church.

He already has size 15 feet.

He outgrew all his adults except maybe his Uncle RantBrother last summer. Now RantWoman no longer gets to pick him up on her shoulders and make Tall Nephew while he touches the ceiling. If he wants to touch the ceiling he has to be Tall Nephew on his own.
The other night when RantWoman visited, there was a new booming voice. His mother invited RantWoman to inspect ARMPIT HAIR. RantWoman does not mind missing out due to RantWoman visual fog.

RantWoman remembers:
--"nephew" in the blog search bar will yield an assortment of reflections.

--The first RantWoman diaper change in the hospital, and something about a diaper upside down. RantWoman has NO idea how that occurred.
--The commute bus change timing that earned RantWoman the title Auntie Poopsie for quite awhile when Nephew was an infant.

--A car conversation with Nephew strapped in the car seat in back and RantWoman buckled up in front that RantWoman has never mentioned to Little Sister but that RantWoman is pretty clear refers to a matter that Irrepressible Nephew told all his otehr adults about too. Little Sister had already done everything reasonable about the immediate topic Hold that point in the Light because various freight trains of other associations could rumble through.

--For awhile RantWoman sometimes picked Nephew up from daycare. One time when he was maybe 3 or 4 grocery shopping was on the agenda. We came home with lemons to make real lemonade. RantWoman originally planned to cut and squeeze the lemons herself. Irrepressible Nephew was very insistent about Helping. RantWoman decided it would actually be easier to teach him to use a knife safely than to keep fighting him about not doing it. As a result, he quickly lost interest and left the cutting to RantWoman

--Irrepressible Nephew inherited from his dad an anatomical oops that made it take longer than average to toilet train (Shhhh?) RantWoman would take Nephew to the partk and not spot a restroom. Sometimes Nephew would leak urgently. Some mothers were horrified. RantWoman BLESSES the cool mothers who would shrug as if to say "It's just toddler pee, nothing we haven't got gallons of at our house too." RantWoman also blesses some very wise practices in Irrepressible Nephew's early school years related to this topic.

--And by the way RantWoman blesses some of Irrepressible Nephew's teachers in middle school for wonderful presence in his life.

--RantWoman remembers various long walks, one when Little Sister was in the hospital for something or other and RantWoman decided we had just missed the bus but we should walk because we needed to be glad we can. RantWoman remembers a hard squeeze from Nephew's hand too. Another time Rantwoman and Nephew went for a very long walk in a West Seattle park without any kind of communication device. Little Sister survived this but barely.

--Another time, RantWoman and Irrepressible Nephew needed to go from RantMom's to another of Little sister's battles with physics, this one related for once to something external: a car had cut off the  bus and Little Sister was one of several passengers badly thrown around. This event also required RantMom and Nephew's Dad to stretch past the limits of whatever language they have in common. Nephew's comment was "Grandma's freaking out." Umm, yeah.

--One year Bad Auntie was fussing about gift options. RantWoman was in the produce aisle. RantWoman loves pomegranates and thought a pomegranate would be a lot of fun. It was. A couple more years running, Worse Auntie decided to heck with pomegranate splatters on the apartment rug and got the kid more pomegranates.

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY and ¡Felíz Cumpleaños! to Irrepressible Nephew!

Nazis against Nazis

Nazis Against Nazis: German town turns Neo Nazi march into anti-Nazi walkathon fundraiser.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/18/1345711/-German-town-pranks-annual-neo-Nazi-march-with-clever-counter-protest?detail=email#
The narration contains several wry bits.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Advent: shopping, protests, projectiles.

From the RantWoman department of Holiday Grinchitude, Protest Solidarity, and other desirable Values regarding #Seattle #Ferguson protests and #Ferguson protests in general:

--Good on ya St. Louis Rams(team name?) for the #HandsUPDon'tShoot gesture. Boo to whichever law enforcement body objects. Dear Police Agencies, which part of "Y'all got A PROBLEM" do you not understand?

--Dear Seattle Mayor and new police chief, THANK YOU for showing up. We are lucky to live in a city where people in your position DO show up. There is plenty more to do, but showing up is a good start.

--Dear Downtown Business Association? How many of you pay your workers a living wage and provide health benefits? See, RantWoman would find it easier to sympathize about interruptions to the holiday buying orgy IF ....  Unfortunately, RantWoman also is working on some testimony on integrity issues closer to herself about this issue. Stay tuned.

--Dear #Seattle #Ferguson protestors, RantWoman has no time this year to think about shopping themed protests. HOWEVER, RantWoman thinks it should be possible to stage FUN protests that inform and encourage and do not scare small children. RantWoman thinks this but is too busy showing up in other ways to work out details, so just sayin'...

--Dear #Seattle #Ferguson protestors, One more thing: LOSE THE DANG PROJECTILES, the rocks and bricks and even canned food. The cops are going to bring whatever they bring, but lose the projectiles! RantWoman really does not care if you are just chucking canned food. It's STILL A PROJECTILE and can do serious damage. Here, as RantWoman dodders into geexzerhood or at least middle age, RantWoman requests a moment to reminisce from protests past. RantWoman has sundry personal reasons for WTO flashbacks besides the 15-year anniversary.

But RantWoman also remembers the 1-year anniversary. People applied for a permit. The city refused to issue a permit. Thousands of people came anyway. The police came too, but in everyday uniforms, not in protective gear. The atmosphere was VERY warm and positive until....something went sour at the end of the night. People wound up throwing rocks and a police officer lost his eye from getting hit in the face with a rock. RantWoman thinks police officers usually have pretty good disability insurance options but is really sorry this officer has to use his this way and again just urges people to TRY to keep it positive!