Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Still Time To Register for the Pacific NW Quaker Women's Theology Conference

Shamelessly reprinted verbatim from RantWoman's email. RantWoman has attended this event a number of times and even served on the planning committee. RantWoman is not clear of a call to attend this year, but would love to talk about it with women who have never attended and are interested. But do not dadle. Check the registration deadline!

Pacific Northwest Women's Theology Conference

Attention Quaker Women!!!
 
 
The Pacific Northwest Quaker
Women’s Theology Conference

begins  June 15th and  it’s time to register

http://www.pnwquakerwomen.org/conference/
 
Something New is Coming
 
Pacific Northwest Quaker Women’s Theology Conference is doing things a little different ly this year, and we hope change will re-invigorate us all.

For starters, we have scheduled bible study every day, but it will not be like any bible study most of us have  ever experienced.  Multiple ways of reading scripture abound in the world coming down to us from many religious and spiritual traditions, and we will be invited to experience some of them interactively.

Another difference is that we have invited Friends in Residence who will present at the plenaries, both separately and as a duet.  If my experience of them is any indication, there will be a blend of presentation, contemplation and interaction.

In the past, the conference has had several presenters from among Meetings and Churches giving ministry on separate topics. This year, instead, the planning committee has chosen Friends in Residence, partly because they are a resource within our respective yearly meetings, and partly because several of us have been led by them in Way of the Spirit retreats and know they are a great fit.  The best part, though, is the integrative aspect of having a pair of people, one a Liberal Friend, and another, an Evangelical Friend who have worked together for a number of years in spiritual direction.  They’ve taken our theme/sub-themes and designed their presentations around them.

The Friends in Residence will also lead the Bible Study daily, alternating leaders.

For those who haven’t been on the website since they registered, you will notice that the deadlines for registration and reflection papers have been pushed back 15+ days, so please encourage another woman to sign up.  There is still some scholarship money earmarked for Evangelical Friends under 35, and some other scholarship money that has a broader eligibility.

Friday, March 25, 2016

RIP Mr. Attack Receptionist?

RantWoman thinks Mr. Attack Receptionist has probably departed to other realms. RantWoman ardently hopes he did so in the company of the people who knew him best and loved him most. RantWoman especially hopes his native heritage was honored by those in attendance because he was very proud of it.

 
Here are a collection of blog items most of which include some kind of reference to Mr. Attack Receptionist.


 RantWoman is humble about the fact that "Mr. Attack Receptionist" is almost certainly not the most respectful way to refer to anyone ever. Hold that problem in the Light. RantWoman is also a little bit proud of helping facilitate a little bit more positive environment than came about with Mr. and Mrs. Attack Receptionist's ferocious commitment to their roles.  RantWoman would NOT have minded managing to get herself paid more for her contribution to this evolution, but sometimes it just makes sense to pay people who know what they are doing.

 
But back to the reasons RantWoman thinks Mr. Attack Receptionist has probably decamped to other realms:

 
--RantWoman became aware via Facebook of Mr. Attack Receptionist entering hospice and moving to a care facility further away from the Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing but closer to family and schoolmates.

 
--RantWoman sometimes knows and sometimes does not know why particular old blog items sometimes suddenly show up in the top of RantWoman's blog statistics, but one about Mr. Attack Receptionist showed up this week.

 
--RantWoman realized that she has not seen Facebook traffic from Mr. Attack Receptionist in quite awhile so RantWoman put Mr. Attack Receptionist’s full and distinctive name into the search bar. Almost nothing. Certainly nothing current. Zip. Nada, except for a blurry picture of a smiling boy in a wheelchair that RantWoman thinks must date from his childhood.

 
Okay then. Rest in Peace, Mr. Attack Receptionist, or if you are not gone, know that RantWoman remembers you with great respect on many grounds despite the impossible email and the smoking and …

 
RantWoman will store the topic of tidy handling of one’s digital legacy in her mental filing cabinet of things a Quaker IT committee might consult with other Meeting or Yearly Meeting committees about, but it’s Good Friday and that ain’t gonna happen right now.

 
RIP Mr. Attack Receptionist. RantWoman further apologizes for not being able to find any kind of picture she wants to use. RIP even without the photo.

Bad Friend does Holy Week and There is No God at CPAC | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS

RantWoman spent Palm Sunday meeting for worship meditating about whether a message for Holy week needed to come out of her mouth. The answer apparently was no. Most of the rest of the messages RantWoman hoped to knit together have vanished from RantWoman's memory. RantWoman was going to knit the thoughts on her mind into the message stream.Anything remaining has gotten dammed up in a mental logjam about one specific message, a message that gets its own post.

The message that did not make it out of RantWoman's mouth was about all the characters in the Holy Week story who did not exactly live up to what one might hope from them, and maybe how that is the point, the holiness of the story. The message most assureadly is still in the air at least around RantWoman, but now it's Good Friday. RantWoman has some neighborhood topical options to go to CHURCH, but work beckons. Beckons?  Quoting a former RantWoman work colleague, Jesus is dead and you expect me to WORK?

Well, yes, sort of. The world is all mixed up politically. Jesus is officially dead on his cross after running afoul of the powers that be and for RantWoman's trouble, God has served up the temptation to post the following item about an ardent atheist at the CPAC conventionand to let her readers make of it what they will! Bless us Oh God and all divinely twisted sense of humor.





Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Bicycle Face CD release party Sunday March 20

Dear friends and beloved Lavender and Gray community,

 
It fills my heart with so much joy and excitement to share with you that the band Bicycle Face is playing a concert celebrating the release of their first album this Sunday, March 20! 

 
Bicycle Face is made up of three amazing Young Adult Friend-types you may know: Hollis, Roxanne, and Evan! These three are incredibly talented and they make beautiful music together. You can check them out on their Bandcamp website:  bicycleface.bandcamp.com

Please come out and join us for a wonderful night of music and community. There will be a potluck at 5:30 PM at UFM, and the music starts at 7 PM. Kids are welcome!! 

Bicycle Face's CD, The Wonders of Female Strength!, will be available for sale. :) 

🌠University Friends Meeting🌟
4001 9th Ave NE
💗Sunday, March 20th💗
Potluck at 5:30 PM
🌈Show at 7 PM🌈



Really frank Marco Rubio comments about ....

Hallelujah! RantWoman is inspired that SOMEONE has started articulating criticism of ...  RantWoman even finds MUCH to agree with in this video. RantWoman also finds considerable material that blames everyone else for something all parties have contributed to. RantWoman especially thinks it's about darn time that SOMEONE thinks about how to draw the best out of everyone and how to weave functionaligy back into our political life.

So GO MARCO RUBIO even though this is near enough to make RantWoman a Rubio voter, but HALLELUJAH for the pieces RantWoman unambiguously unites with.




Duck and Cover | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS

RantWoman has a new comic inspiration, Samantha Bee. True:

--This video contains language that RantWoman supposes she is expected to wash her brain out for even witnessing, let ALONE posting it atop her electronic spiritual compost heap.

--RantWoman does, despite the language find a number of ideas to unite with. Can anyone point them out? They have to do with creative ways to try to deal with dangerous situations.

--RantWoman admits to posting this while the #WALeg winds down its regular session sine die and gets sent off to special session detention until it finishes a supplemental budget.

--RantWoman imagines that some will brand her a horrible harsh insensitive Bitch for even THINKING of making Light of this Very Serious Subject.

--RantWoman thinks this post is POSSIBLY a "Duck and Cover" response to a certain message from Meeting for Worship last week; RantWoman hopes that her pleas for "Deal with it NOW because RantWoman cannot have a civil conversation" have been heard.

--Update: RantWoman has had a conversation satisfying her that an increment of "Deal With it NOW" has occurred, but part of that reality for RantWoman was discovering some more thickets in her own emotional landscape. Bleah.





Is this the new Normal???

RantWoman ardently hopes not.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

History lesson on the 110th Anniversary of Susan B. Anthony's death.

In preparation for Meeting for Business, RantWoman notes:

1. A recent conversation about Quaker history in the western US and A Friend's desire to know more.

2. Observance of the recent anniversary of the order interning people of Japanese ancestry during WWII, events calling various strands of history of those in RantWoman's Meeting.

3. Reflections on a founding member who, along with former internees went to japan after the war to build houses. Note: RantWoman has no information about their views of geopolitics or the military argument for the dropping the atom bomb. RantWoman simply notes that they went and built houses.

4. A biography of Susan B Anthony that recounts all her visits to Western States where women attained the vote decades before women in the rest of the country.



Someone struggled for your right to Vote. USE IT
Susan B Anthony, 110th anniversary of her death

Well, yeah, RantWoman did note all those things, but how did RantWoman REALLY prepare?

RantWoman went to bed listening to the aforementioned bio on her CUTE ADORABLE really really FUN Talking Book player (picture to follow, sometime). RantWoman forgot to press the button that turns the player off after a set interval assuming the reader has fallen asleep. So all night long the player was chattering into rantWoman's unconscious. and impinging on usual SLEEP. RantWoman woke up in time to hear the end of the book and to register the date of Susan's death, March 13, 1906. Rest in Peace, and may all the women of this country use their vote for #NEVERTRUMP!

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Submission Deadline March 13 for summer 2016 RADCare conference.

Posted here because RantWoman is intrigued! This does not automatically mean RantWoman will get around to more than posting this.

***CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: DEADLINE MARCH 13TH!!! PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!!!
.
Calling all multiracial folks, sex workers, (IDU) drug users, QTPOC, and mad/sick/disabled QTs! We are looking for workshop leaders that bring us into allyship with your communities and share collective knowledge as politicized bodies. RAD Care (Radical, Accessible, Decolonizing Community Care) is seeking content for our Track at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit this summer, in the form of movement, writing, zines, film, coding, self care space, rituals, skillshares, workshops, meetups, panels, and any other ways that people engage in radical care in their lives. RAD Care track organizers will be fundraising for travel expenses, housing, etc. for RAD Care track speakers.
.
We will address what self-care and community care look like in practice--how communal and ancestral knowledge can inform an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist approach to wellness. RAD Care is about centering marginalized people, people who don't see themselves represented in movement building, and gathering to share group knowledge and teach how to be in allyship with one another. The RAD Care Beyond Social Justice Track will collectively envision new ideas of accessibility and wellness through self-determination and mutual care. We will practice challenging ableism, surviving trauma, internalizing self-care, and working at the roots of oppression through equitable, mutual community care. Participants will walk away with practical skills to engage in radical care practices in their day-to-day lives with a critical analysis of inclusivity.
.
Topics and themes may include:
.
**Making care accessible**
Economies of care
Equitability in care
Participatory research and research justice
Hacking access
Empowering community care
Social media and accessibility
Spirituality and healing
Learning modalities and neurodivergence
Supporting suicidal community members
Care methodologies and best practices
.
**Self care**
Defining and practicing self care
Mindfulness in activism
Recovery from oppression
Personal narratives
Trauma and loss
Harm reduction
Practicing accountability
Ancestral healing practices
Somatics
.
**New visions for access and wellness**
Decolonizing madness
Indigenous restorative justice
Intergenerational/epigenetic trauma
Organizing for healing and community care
Disability inclusivity for events/producers/performers
Accessibility in direct actions
Centering disability
Reimagining public health
Resisting and rejecting paternalism
Queer interpersonal violence
Self-publishing
Indigenous, multiracial, QTPOC, and/or disabled movement and dance
Burlesque and positive sexuality for marginalized identities
.
Please contact qtpocradcare@gmail.com with any questions about the track or your proposal. Submission instructions available at https://www.alliedmedia.org/…/rad-care-beyond-social-justic….
.
Fb.com/qtpocradcare
Radcare.tumblr.com
Image description: Drawing of a hand holding a human heart. The hand and the heart are inside a star shape which is inside a circle.
Self and community care in practice What does self and community care look like in practice? How can communal and ancestral knowledge inform an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist approach to wellness?
alliedmedia.org






Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Give up sarcasm for Lent? Are you KIDDING?????

God and Twitter got the following item in front of RantWoman's eyeballs via  Northwest Yearly Meeting


"Lent reminds us that Jesus died. And it hurt.
At the Christian college I attended, giving up sugar for Lent (and replacing it with Splenda) was one of the ways we entered into that suffering. Some of us gave up Facebook. One year, I fasted. One year, I took on vegetarianism (something I stuck to for five years). Once, I was almost convinced to give up sarcasm. Almost. "

RantWoman may or may not shepherd further commentary about this item out of her personal spiritual compost heap in any timely way but definitely invites readers even vaguely connected to thoughts of Lent to read the whole article:

Lent and Suffering

Monday, March 7, 2016

LFO Reform now in the #WALEG Budget process Call or email NOW!



LFO REFORM UPDATE: We live to fight another week!!!

HB 1390 just got labeled NTIB or “Necessary to Implement Budget”.
That means that we now have until MARCH 10...th to:
 

1) Make sure it passes the Senate Floor
 

2) Make sure the negotiating lawmakers in the House and Senate restore HB 1390 back to the original House version.
 

3) Get it to the Governors Desk to be signed.

****CALL/EMAIL NOW, By March 10****
The Black Prisoners Caucus has given us our marching orders. We want an anti-racist, holistic LFO Reform that includes the elimination of non-restitution interest rate, an equitable assessment of a person’s ability to pay, and a community service alternative.
Legislative Targets (in order of importance) are:
Goodman, O’ban, Ranker, Frockt Holy, Jinkins, Stokesbury, & Padden, Hasegawa & Jayapal as well as ALL Senators.
(http://leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/Pages/default.aspx)
****CALL/EMAIL THIS WEEKEND****
Let them know ‪#‎BlackOutWA‬ says "End the Cycle of Criminal Justice Debt for Black families! Pass the House version of HB 1390: Legal Financial Obligation Reform on the Senate a Floor!"
United Hood Movement Black Prisoners Caucus Ending the Prison Industrial Complex - EPIC Seattle The Village of Hope Seattle King County NAACP Youth Undoing Institutional Racism - YUIR Seattle Freedom Summer Seattle Black Out WA Black Star Line Kent Black Action Commission Africatown Innovation Center Friends of Roger Goodman Senator Steve O'Ban

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Black History Month | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS

There is much NOT to laugh about.

RantWoman presents a not funny topic with plenty to laugh about.


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Hold North Dakota in the Light, with help from John Oliver

RantWoman plans to be in Midweek Meeting for Worship as this posts.

RantWoman recommends holding North Dakota in the Light particularly in light of the upheavals of the overall energy economy. RantWoman also notes that there are not a lot of Quakers IN North Dakota. There are not a lot of other people, comparatively, either. So having some extra Light from other Quakers praying about energy and fossil fuel and carbon economy and climate change issues seems highly on point.


Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Willamette Quarter Men's Retreat March 11-13, 2016

The short version of this invitation: If you are a Quaker guy or a seeker in our community and would enjoy praying and worshipping hanging out with other Quaker guys, consider this item an invitation and ACT QUICKLY because the event is NEXT WEEKEND.

True, the guys who organize this are "from Willamette Quarter," mainly unprogrammed Friends and mainly from OR or Southern ID, as opposed to Pacific Northwest Quarter, the unprogrammed Friends in most of WA  and ID. That means means some getting acquainted might be needed. RantWoman figures you and whatever spiritual concepts you use and the other guys getting acquainted at the gathering can work that out.

True, Willamette Quarter Friends cling to the traditional Quaker way of marking months and days of the week, a custom RantWoman recognizes but feels NO need to observe herself.

RantWoman does not recognize the names of the leaders and leaves to her readers to invoke their search engines. RantWoman does recognize the names of Friends she considers weighty.

RantWoman is also enough of an observer of guy psychology to know that guys sometimes just find it reassuring to hang out with other guys and RantWoman is fine with there being space for that.

Now the event details and then MAYBE as a postscript a small further sojourn to exotic Planet RantWoman about the issue of single-gender vs mixed gender gatherings.

Willamette Quarter Men's Retreat 2016

3rd month, 11th ­13th

Big Bear Camp, near Walton, OR

Registrar Bob Marvos:

rmmarvos@gmail.com   541­330­3937

Cost $75 – no one turned away, $ available

Please register asap; Tonia needs numbers for food prep.
 

Making One's Life Count

Program courtesy Carl Thacher & Mark Babson

Starts 6th day ~ 6pm.
 
(may arrive earlier/later, dinner provided)

Ends midday on first day.

Bring:  Sleeping bag, towel, open heart, outdoor clothing,  listening ear, rain gear, a light (both inward and outward), no alcohol or other like substances (coffee OK), a smile.

Questions?  Contact Bob Marvos (above) or Joe Snyder:  josephhoytsnyder@gmail.com or 541 297 6246 (text OK)



The promised sojourn to exotic Planet RantWoman?

Just register already if you think you might be the slightest bit interested, and do not feel obligated to stick around while RantWoman plays tour guide here.

RantWoman has served multiple times on the planning committee for the Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference. Every time RantWoman has served the question of involving men comes up. Every time so far the planning committee has been or become clear that the Women's conference is for women; if men want to organize a mixed or a men's gathering, let them step up. RantWoman is glad men in Willamette Quarter do this and glad invitation is extended more broadly.

RantWoman has served on planning committees for lots of mixed gender Quaker events. and there is a place for that.

RantWoman has spent a lot of her life violating gender rules in various ways, collecting folklore about situations where gender balance varies widely, upsetting men-only events while simultaneously protecting the right to women-only events, observing passionate arguments about who qualifies as male or female. RantWoman manages sometimes to be tender with guys who need to admit they are vulnerable; at the same time RantWoman is pathologically incapable of providing some guys the ego massage to which they feel entitled. But the point is, this is not about RantWoman; it's about a cool opportunity and RantWoman hopes some of the men around her will be interested.



Day of Remembrance America's first H-bomb test

Just the way EVERYONE wants to start their day, with a nice thermonuclear blast?

Does it help if it is fully orchestrated but lacking audio description for the actual moments of the blast even though the rest of the text is pretty stunning?




RantWoman thanks her public radio station and the Burke Museum for calling to her attention another important Day of Remembrance. March 1, 1954, referenced in the video as February 28, 1954, the date of the Castle Bravo H-bomb test.

RantWoman appreciates a separate webpage for listing the first H-bomb test as November 1, 1952. RantWoman notes confusion and feels no call at this moment to investigate further.

RantWoman further notes

--The scientists who planned the test estimated that it would have a yield of about 5 megatons; it's actual yield was 14.8 megatons.

--There is a whole sordid history of contamination and pussyfooting around about compensation. Hence the reason the people of the Marshall islands feel particular pangs about this day of remembrance.

In that spirit some more links, also reflecting the good, the bad, the ugly, and just the confusing of research on the internet, offered here partly with an eye to keywords that can feed more research when RantWoman has more time or when the Day of Remembrance rolls around atgain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enewetak_Atoll
http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page06.shtml

http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page06.shtml
https://artsci.washington.edu/news/2015-12/vision-burke
https://www.ctbto.org/specials/testing-times/1-march-1954-castle-bravo/
http://adst.org/2013/10/bikini-bombshell-the-first-h-bomb-test-on-the-eniwetok-atoll/