Monday, August 29, 2016

Back to School Blessings: Coloring Outside the Lines - Tom Rawson & Friends

It's time again for RantWoman's annual back to School blessings!

But first a video



This video calls to mind kindergarten. RantWoman did not need to decide to color outside the lines. RantWoman did this naturally, at least at the beginning of the year.

RantWoman thinks she must have gotten new glasses mid year because she remembers dramatic improvement in her ability to color inside the lines probably after Christmas vacation.

Blessings to all kids who color outside the lines naturally and blessings that they find teachers who can nurture them as they are!

Particular blessings to kids when coloring outside the lines means help of some kind is needed; may that help be promptly forthcoming!

This video also reminds RantWoman why, even though birthday parties at school might have been fun, high school orchestra made RantWoman REALLY glad for a summer birthday. Orchestra tradition was that birthdays were feted by renditions of Happy Birthday in any key or no key. There are modern composers who would be VERY proud.

Blessings for everyone in high school now and everyone whose life looks much more tolerable long after high school!

Blessings for music and art programs and all the ways people learn, for the parents who listen to the practicing, and for the progress when people practice!

Friday, August 19, 2016

Voices, Public Policy Prepositions

RantWoman REALLY wants to post a job listing but RantWoman needs to get some unsolicited HELP with discernment out of her system first.

HELP item # 1:
When RantWoman wants to refer people to a job posting, RantWoman REALLY likes it if the website referred to is up-to-date. It's NOT. Nor is dealing with that point explicitly in the job description. Hold that point, all attached to it, and anyone considering applying for the job in the Light.

HELP Item #2:
RantWoman has numerous observations related to age, demographics. Phrasing the problem most gently, it means that Friends in WA are strongly led to come at the same problems from a number of different directions. Sometimes this is a great strength. Probably enough said? If not, buttonhole RantWoman in person.

HELP item #3, the organization Name.
Coming Soon to a Quaker Lobby Near you or at least near RantWoman

There is FRIENDS General Conference.

There are sundry other FRIENDS organizations.

There is the American FRIENDS Service Committee

There is the FRIENDS Committee on National Legislation

There is the FRIENDS Committee on ME Public Policy.

There is the FRIENDS Committee on Legislation of California. (Okay, RantWoman SUCK IT UP. Another preposition that rings odd to RantWoman. COPE!)

and for lo, many years there has been  FRIENDS Committee on WA Public Policy  FRIENDS Committee on WA Public Policy now shortly to become...

...drum roll, please...

Quaker Voice ON WA Public Policy.

RantWoman would love to greet this change with unbounded joy, but wait this is Planet RantWoman.

Quaker? oh, like the oatmeal, or the parrots, or the really wacky shoes, or the motor oil or...?

QVOWPP SLIGHTLY less phonetically infelicitous than FCWPP?

Friends' COMMITTEE vs Quaker Voice? Uhhh, if it's a Committee it seems t o RantWoman like there is a lot more room to draw people together with a committee than with one voice, no matter how much some Friends THINK they have a handle on "unity."

Committee ON also sounds more collegial than Voice ON. In fact Voice ON conjures up a sense of talking over, talking without listening. RantWoman would SO prefer Voice IN WA Public Policy. In fact, if it were up to RantWoman, ...Friends' Voice IN WA Public Policy.

There. Now RantWoman has emitted this concern into the universe. If RantWoman cannot get used to the organization's new name and it continues to cause RantWoman to break out in hives, RantWoman will wish it well but feel thoroughly liberated from ANY temptation to contribute further effort.

Hold that problem in the Light.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Blessing for Totem Pole Journey 2016; August 25, 3 pm-7:30 St Mark's

 RantWoman is preceding the lovely graphical flyer with text as an accessibility gesture for people who do not want to have to read the graphic to figure out what time this event is.

RantWoman is also posting to her blog to reach people who might not already be connected to Earth Ministry and Interfaith Power and Light, contact information provided below.

The short version, with appropriate hyperlinks:
Blessing for Totem Pole Journey 2016;
August 25, 3 pm-7:30 pm.
St Marks Cathedral


As you know, Earth Ministry has been deeply supportive of Native nations
fighting fossil fuel projects that damage their sacred sites, threaten
their treaty fishing rights, and exacerbate climate change.

A powerful expression of the shared advocacy among tribes, faith communities and enviormental activists has been Totem Pole Journeys.  This year Earth Ministry and St. Mark’s Cathedral will host a Seattle stop and blessing of this beautiful carving.  It is a time to  honor with  Native leaders our shared values at *the fourth Totem Pole Journey on August 25th.* This event celebrates the remarkable victory of treaty fishing rights at Xwe’chi’eXen, Cherry Point,  and commits us to continue our good work together for Mother Earth.

 Please join us for a gathering of prayer and blessing, a celebration of our
shared responsibility to protect our land and water, and a celebration of
many remarkable victories.  If you will, please pass the attached flyer
with details about this event to your respective communities, and  invite
them to celebrate with us.

3 pm Smudging 4-6  pm Ceremony 6-7:30 Celebration
Lummi Nation
Totem Pole Journey
Poster


 With joy and gratitude for our continuing work together,

 Jessie Dye
*Program and Outreach  Director*, Earth Ministry
Washington Interfaith Power and Light
206-632-2426
206-794-0663 for urgent matters or press
EarthMinistry
WA Interfaith Power And Light

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Align Press Unzip?

RantWoman and Ambassador Thwack her anger management consultant have been having conversations in the thematic vicinity of He Who Should NEVER Be President.

One of the conversations involved a tweet mentioning both the NRA and assault weapons.

Ambassador Thwack keeps suggesting that RantWoman needs to "Hold onto (her) Lily White Butt."

Hello! Ambassador Thwack is supposed to be the Anger Management COACH. Holy Jesus!

Yes and it's not just the tweets.

RantWoman has been listening to the "...founded ISIS .." chatter and wondering what kind of to-do list would include ...
--briefing from the National Security Council
--co-found vile disgusting amoral terrorist organization...

Oh, and Ambassador Thwack goes "Bleccch" every time RantWoman watches another Putin interview.

The other problem is that if Ambassador Thwack is going to say such things, RantWoman needs at LEAST properly to properly attribute the "...lily white butt.."  quote to Keegan Michael Key, aka Luther President Obama's Anger Translator.

On the way to proper attribution, via the search string

Keegan Michael Key Luther

RantWoman knowingly voluntarily indulged in a bit of a Key and Peele binge watch, something she had never before tried. Time definitely well spent though RantWoman now also has a headache too.

http://www.cc.com/shows/key-and-peele

with each episode punctuated by unending exhortations Always to Keep Tide Pods away from Children. ... Align Press and Unzip. (trademark designations intended)

RantWoman as a good linguist is especially charmed by the vocabulary section of the website but will be stepping away from the keyboard briefly for a ratatouille break.

Bless us oh lord and ...

Monday, August 8, 2016

Ghosts of the Sea Artist's Reception August 14 12:00 pm-2 pm.

Readers who JUST want to come to an interesting artist  reception, please consider the following invitation:

Please welcome our new artist Tim Suchsland to UFM. Tim’s work can be found in the UFM  Social Hall for the next 3 months. Tim currently lives and works in Seattle, WA. His work tends to have an illustrative quality, and he works primarily in watercolor and sumi ink. Much of his art focuses on the impact of travel and the importance place and history play in our ideas, views and memories. He’s traveled extensively around the US, Europe and Central Asia, where he spent two years in Kazakhstan working in the U.S. Peace Corps—an experience reflected in the art on  display at the UFM.

 Tim's series; “Ghosts of the Sea”; will be on display at the UFM. It is based on  his 2009 journey to the Aral Sea in the distant deserts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The Arts  Committee will hold a reception for Tim on Sunday August 14th from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. Visit his website at www.TimSuchslandArt.com.

(RantWoman note: the art can always be viewed on Sunday Mornings 9:30-about1:30; for other viewing options contact the artist directly at the link above.)

Readers game for another exotic journey to Planet RantWoman are invited to the following hopefully insightful though opinionated observations.

RantWoman definitely recommends the videos on Tim's webvbsite for some thoughts that do not come through well at least to RantWoman about the exhibit.

RantWoman is two for two yesterday for going to art shows where the name and any descriptive comments about the work are condensed to a paper the size of a business card. Giant Frownie Face.

RantWoman is also vexed that many of the drawings in the exhibit are both small and hung more or less at RantWoman's eye level. This is fine for RantWoman who is tall but not so fine for people who are not as tall.

Consider a piece called Lada, in both English and Russian. The catual car i s only slightly larger than the pen and ink drawing, but the drawing is at RantWoman's eye level. RantWoman hesitates to suggest a descriptive page bigger than the actual artwork except well, for instance, the dead simple line drawing of the Lada begs for some kind of commentary. The Lada is a Soviet copy of the Audi. It has layers and layers of cultural associations and history. RantWoman has no desire to tell the artist what to say, only to suggest that maybe a few more words, say 300 at 14 point type might prove engaging.

RantWoman peculiarly finds this exhibit an interesting digression from all the #climatechange chatter connected with the #Rio2016 Olympics: the history of the ecological disaster that is the Aral Sea over the last century or so is climate catastrophe before climate catastrophe was fashionable. Massive mismanagement by Soviet and Soviet republic governments. Cotton production, agricultural runoff, terrible agricultural water management. Again, climate catastrophe before Climate catastrophe was the talk of the town.

The drawings in the exhibit illustrate many effects of this ecological disaster, but the drawings are pretty understated. Why are there beached boats and a dock in the middle of the sand? Is there any hope of resurrecting the ship stuck in the ship cemetery? Again, RantWoman is not certain that more words will automatically help, but apparently she is called to suggest that possibility!

RantWoman definitely recommends that readers view  the show themselves and thanks readers for bearing with possibly obtuse commentary.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Refugees!

RantWoman just needs to commit thoughts to electrons before her head explodes.

RantWoman in festive preparation for the most recent Meeting for business was...

..contemplating carpet replacement ?

well, yeah,  a little because we do need to replace the carpet

..contemplating a concise way to has her Meeting to season a request from people of color to make the FGC site selection committee more than 50 % people of color, so maybe perhaps possibly sites will be chosen where people of color can gather before the main gathering without being hassled by facility security.

Yep. RantWoman was contemplating this, but concise has not occurred. So stay tuned.

Nope, the item that RantWoman needs to commit to electrons before her head explodes has to do with a radio story RantWoman now cannot locate about the Syrian refugee crisis. Turns out:

--Refugees stuck on an island in Greece schedule their interviews for the next step in their asylum process by a nightmarish Skype process that takes hours and days just to connect to the ONE LONE HUMAN who can perform the scheduling.

--The human has to work with interpreters for different languages BUT the biggest reason there is no money to hire more staff: Greece is dead broke and the story made NO mention of any efforts by the international community to help fund refugee resettlement.

There. Now RantWoman HOPES to be able to postpone her head exploding at least until she is able to think about the problem in a more centered way.

Meanwhile, some other news stories besides the one RantWoman cannot find.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/syrian-refugees-regret-greece-160803075913713.html

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/07/469462357/greece-is-stressed-by-migrant-crisis

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/07/469462357/greece-is-stressed-by-migrant-crisis

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Still more carpet light: evening, with room lighting

Now a break from...

NEVER MIND all of what this is a break from!

The midweek worship ministry of fiddling with carpet samples recommends that some of the eyes being applied to the carpet discernment do so under different lighting conditions.

RantWoman was surprised about how much clearer her preference was when tested at dusk with room lighting than during a sunny day.

Unfortunately the sunny day issue and the prevalence of really crappy grey days in the wintertime causes RantWoman to recommend that some consideration be applied to weather variability.

RantWoman's  thoughts about light vs dark colors in acute conflict with thoughts about darker colors perhaps showing dirt less. RantWoman thinks dark walls and dark chairs will be oppressive if the carpet is too dark.

Bless us oh Lord as RantWoman drops these pebbles into the well of further Facilities discernment.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Laughter Trumps Hate

Please bear with RantWoman. You don't have to excuse because RantwOman is not making excuses. RantWoman IS trying to have serious conversations about race.

And what happens?

#White Supremacy! #WhiteSupremacy #WhiteSupremacy ???

Talk about white robes RantWoman is not getting to fit. RantWoman cannot help the color she is, which is not white but IS decidedly paler than...

Anyway, although #White Supremacy just is NOT doing it for RantWoman, RantWoman is SO down with "Hold Onto Your Lily White Butts!"

And while RantWoman is at it about a ministry of mirth whether one means it or not, ...

Check out the Laughter Trumps Hate contest!



#laughtertrumpshate

Bless this carpet decisionmaking, again

Bless us oh Lord for the agenda for Meeting for Business was extremely full.

MAYBE a couple items could have waited until next month, but the carpet got addressed with an announcement inviting people to look at color samples and to envision how they will play with chairs, walls, new light colored drapes.

Some of the time RantWoman is okay with the visit in clumps and who knows how the impressions get aggregated option. Some of the time RantWoman is glad to bounce people's points of view and life experiences off each other. Or maybe RantWoman is just a meeting junkie.

RantWoman had carpet conversations and heard carpet concerns of various flavors:

RantWoman really, really means it about odors. RantWoman THINKS installation is to be less chemical heavy. RantWoman definitely hopes so and thinks she was heard except there was a tiny bit that RantWoman heard as blowing off. Again, if RantWoman is as cranky as she manages to be without rug odors, just imagine...

One Friend with experience as a landlord has questions about stain releasing and or colors that will not show the dirt. The stain release questions were expressed in more graphic terms, here left to readers' imaginations. The colors that will not show the dirt point is at war in RantWoman's head with thoughts of a fairly light color so that the worship room does not look dark particularly on the cloudiest winter days.

The other color concern: a sample with a bit more yellow to match the drapes or a bit of green to resonate with the chairs but again, light, and not showing dirt.

In other words, RantWoman does not necessarily have any more reasonable expectations about carpet conversations than about many other things. Please hold further corporate discernment in the Light.