Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Happy 500th Birthday Protestant reformation / 95 Theses

Happy 500th Anniversary Protestant Reformation!

Yep. That  is too little to say about the 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of that church in Wurtburg but it is what RantWoman can do today.

RantWoman offers the following snapshots from the top of a search engine output.

http://time.com/4997128/martin-luther-95-theses-controversy/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/catholics-and-protestants-mark-500th-anniversary-of-martin-luthers-reformation_us_59f88f45e4b09b5c25693365

https://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-9389283

Monday, October 23, 2017

How large is large? Large Print Bibles and ...

Welcome to Planet RantWoman, large print Bible edition. RantWoman promises there will be information about purchasing large print Bibles, including what passes for "large print."

First, you did not know you signed up for blindness tourism, complete with detours and digressions? Yep, you did. Now settle down and enjoy only ONE of RantWoman's daily accessibility excursions.

What? you are exhausted and you feel bullied and no way would you have signed up? Look, RantWoman is feeling crabby: some of y'all have only been worshipping with RantWoman for decades and God asked you to! And no, God does not necessarily call the equipped but the called do get equipped and maybe sometimes more easily than they imagine.

Plus, RantWoman has every right to make Reasonable Accommodations requests and to keep making them and to keep making them as needed. RantWoman has every right to expect that an advertised pathway to make such requests will work and is seasoning / holding very  carefully in the Light what further needs to be said in blogland about recent pathway issues  RantWoman is feeling surprisingly stern. Hence particular need for seasoning And RantWoman has faith that learning how to deal with reasonable accommodations requests will matter for every working age adult in Meeting who might either have opportunity on the job to work with the concept or need such requests themselves even temporarily at some point in their lives.

RantWoman is sorry people have hurt feelings about her needs. RantWoman has complete confidence that enough people can cope in plenty of different meaningful ways to make a difference. RantWoman has VERY limited confidence that such people can be found in certain email lists just now. RantWoman would never mind being proven wrong. Examples of  "proven wrong" might include

--Being willing actually to interact with email instead of demanding that RantWoman stop sending. Partial credit here in some directions. Partial credit matters and has made a BIG difference several times recently.

--Interacting with RantWoman at civilized hours of the day, not waiting until 9 or 10 pm. RantWoman thanks a couple people for actually picking up the phone after months and months and months of RantWoman inviting phone calls. RantWoman still thinks that earlier than 10 pm on a Saturday night would be highly on point!

--Not acting personally affronted when RantWoman attempts to contact you because of your role in Meeting.

--Asking RANTWOMAN for her availability before scheduling other people's time at Meetings where RantWoman's presence is requested.

--Not insisting to RantWoman and everyone else that feeling entitled to sit near RantWoman in worship despite a track record of badly triggering RantWoman multiple times is going to make either the community or RantWoman safer!

--Not insisting that a committee some of whose members repeatedly discount RantWoman's experience, just say "let it go" about things that cannot and should not be let go, and seem willing to take on more than RantWoman thinks it is reasonable to take on be the path to all communications.

--Offering deep gratitude for a fierce and unmistakable light to move one more seat away so that words did not have to tumble out in worship, for strong winds and a strong starter  message with the wind, and for an afternoon of other observations.

Please understand, RantWoman is VERY grateful for the last point especially considering both calendar and visitors and newcomers in the room. But out things tumbled on the way to a large print Bible Rant. PLEASE hold next chapters in the Light.

RantWoman has various app and online options for Bible-reading with screen reader and a couple sites with audio files of daily devotionals but sometimes it really means a lot to turn actual pages and listen to other things besides electronic voices. 

Yes, RantWoman also reads Braille. RantWoman reads Braille too slowly to want to suggest devoting 9' or so of anyone's hers or her Meeting's shelf space to a whole Braille Bible but has been thinking about whether to acquire a book or two at 3" of shelf space per... As for various devices and electronic Braille options, one of these days RantWoman will check out storage options for the Orbit Braille device and for a couple other pricier Braille devices. Sigh.

Now back to large print. A moment of mixed success about accessibility. :Awhile ago former Clerk of Library committee and RantWoman conferred about acquiring a large print Bible for the Meeting library. What we THOUGHT would be a large print Bible got ordered  through Amazon. The book arrived and Library committee Clerk put it on the shelf somewhere near the other Bibles in the library. One day RantWoman  was in the library and asked where the Bible was. Clerk said "Over there," for RantWoman, two of the least helpful words in the English language. RantWoman visited "over there " a couple times and did fog and bluir trial and error. RantWoman still did not find the supposedly large print Bible.

RantWoman still has not found the book and whined about it to Worship and Ministry co-clerk.  Today new library committee clerk found the bible and we learned, SIGH, that the book we bought is NOT in very large print. We also learned from someone who overheard the conversation that YES, lots of  elders with diminishing eyesight would also appreciate a Bible in Large Print. So we begin again now.

Yikes. The phrase Zondervan Large Print Bible yields, among other things, a book advertising "Giant" type and listing the font size as 12 point. RantWoman's own large print NIV is at least 14 point. RantWoman's NIV is on thin paper and is reasonably compact but it is still large enough that RantWoman does not want to carry it around.

And Voila, another search and LOOK, an item in 14-point type
http://www.zondervan.com/niv-reference-bible-giant-print

In other words, it's Buyer Beware in the search results, but there ARE options. !

RantWoman will now abandon her search for the night and go to bed./ Ya wanna hassle RantWoman tomorrow? Get in line.

It's tomorrow. RantWoman is further poking around via the search string National Braille Press Bible.

Here is a link with options in 18 pt and 24 point, sizes RantWoman considers reasonable large print.
http://www.braillebibles.org/

A page with various resources RantWoman has not fully digested yet
http://www.biblesfortheblind.org/braille.shtml

A page that promises "super Giant Print," that is 17-point or larger.
https://www.christianbook.com/apps/easyfind?event=EBRN&category=Large%2520%2526%2520Giant%2520Print&N=1029236+5401+210407&Ne=210400&Nso=1&Nu=product.endeca_rollup&format=1014722&Ns=product.number_sold

There. Now, isn't all this FUN? RantWoman has had as much fun as she can handle for the day and RantWoman is still several steps from something concise to hand to library committee and say "please order this." Sigh.

But to RantWoman's adoring (or not adoring) public, especially such as have made it this far, if you are going to exhaust yourselves however you are exhausting yourselves, please appreciate the opportunity to exhaust yourselves on the same paths as RantWoman. Sometimes RantWoman can even work a sense of humor into the picture.

Love and Blessings,

RantWoman

Friday, October 20, 2017

Happy Birthday Rant Brother

Dear Rant Brother

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

CALL YOUR MOTHER, 'kay? Call me too; I can handle a collect call.

 RantWoman ardently hopes you will get to celebrate with whatever form of dead cow most appeals, the televised sports event of your choice, and hopefully some people who appreciate you for who you are including a reasonable girlfriend who appreciates YOU instead of crying on your shoulder and then going back to....

A Happy Birthday Chocolate cake
This blog post says a lot and it's depressing to think of six years since....
October 20 2011 blog post

RantWoman sends you fond memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis, only because one time RantWoman asked RantMom something about the Cuban Missile Crisis and RantMom said she was too busy giving birth to you to think about possible nuclear calamities. No, RantWoman does not remember the Cuban Missile Crisis either;  RantWoman does remember learning about it in college and definitely hopes sanity triumphs for several contemporary simmering crises.

RantWoman is remembering that awesome trench and gravel leach bed you helped put into our house. RantWoman is remembering when you could put together and manage fairly complex landscaping projects. RantWoman is remembering some conversations of much seeing, and not seeing things that are fun to see. RantWoman is remembering how important faith and God seem to you. RantWoman is also remembering some moments of utter faith community cluelessness and mutant parental ineptitude. But this is YOUR birthday and RantWoman's echoes are NOT YOUR Problem.

Live it up Mr.. Bro!

Quakers Tweeted

RantWoman enthusiastically recommends this QuakerSpeak video for:

--patience about the many misconceptions confusing Quakers with Amish or Shakers
--some carefulness about the existence of African American Quakers.
--the glorious amusement of a species of parakeet, called quakers, being an invasive species causing considerable havoc in some parts of the US.




Happy Tweeting all

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Topography with a side of ableism

Jesus Bleeping Christ Almighty on a Pizza Crust with a Russian all-female punk band in neon colored hand-knit balaklavas on the side!!!

RantWoman, CHILL! Breathe! Breathe! TRY to stay somewhere in the vicinity of your main thread.

Okay, main threads:
--meeting campus topography
--referrals to services provided by tenants
--Visions of projects that MIGHT come.

So help RantWoman, if she gets asked / told by one more apparently able-bodied person not to trouble her pretty little (loudmouthed, highly opinionated) head about accessibility for a new tenant, Ambassador Thwack, the Anger Management Consultant and Sidekick the service python are BOTH going to get deployed.

(RantWoman makes exception for Friend who ASKED RantWoman about signage, even though RantWoman could easily make room for twitchiness about time sequence. Stay tuned in a different post)

NewMeetinghouse tenant will be having homeless people drop by during the day to pick up items of need. RantWoman does not really understand the program super well, but is clear to opine about accessibility anyway.

One path to services involves a lot of stairs and possibly a walk uphill from a bus stop with a segment probably too steep for a manual wheelchair user to  attempt alone. Between the stairs and the steep grade, this walking segment would get near 0 probability in a hypothetical tricked out wayfinding app that wheelchair users will even want to see the routing.

Luckily there is another physical / communications route. It involves being able to phone ahead and either meet someone or finding the wheelchair accessible path partway to the office.

RantWoman observations:

Typically at least 20-25% of the people staying at Meeting through SHARE used some kind of cane or mobility device or had limbs in casts, RantWoman expects those served by new tenant will percentage wise include a similar proportion of people with visible disabilities, never mind the invisible ones that can also limit mobility.

RantWoman remembers a moment actually before Ambassador Thwack came into her life. RantWoman had an arm in a cast and was standing in a food bank line. Someone came out and asked RantWoman whether she wanted to cut ahead. Um no, but RantWoman wanted to make sure the young woman on crutches with two kids in two DID get to cut. RantWoman does not remember the visible disability breakdown of the rest of the line but she things it was way above the percentage above.

In other words, Meeting topography could be a barrier to a considerably percentage of those seeking services from New Tenant. People who need something usually are pretty determined to overcome barriers, but that does not mean their day gets easier having to do so.

Enter RantWoman. When RantWoman is not geeking out about transportation, RantWoman spends a good bit of time making referrals. Look RantWoman is not your fairy godmother and Agency X or Program Y  will get you to help that works much faster than talking to RantWoman. And yeah, sometimes the Ask a Human algorithm is way more helpful than Trip Planners and yes, RantWoman CAN give additional pointers sometimes for that last 50 / 100/ 1000 feet of a trip, like for instance all the wayfinding minutia above. So RantWoman MEANS to read up a little better and probably put new tenant into the brainspace where RantWoman stores good referrals.

Okay, RantWoman, but the ongoing operations right now are not really your circus and not really your monkeys.

Um, stay tuned for the time sequence meditation. Aside from the time sequence issue,  RantWoman will feel adequately present in the conversation if Friends just put out there in the ether the POSSIBILITY   that at some point more conversations about possible modifications to enhance accessibility might be quite on point.

(Yes, RantWoman is aware she may be asking for the sun moon and stars. Cope! RantWoman also gets to cope with a clump of Friends trying to cut down the angry frustrated email from RantWoman. So far said clump means well, but they are also doing just as well as everyone else about supplying RantWoman reasons to be....)

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Just Stop it

This tantrum has been lurking in RantWoman's drafts folder for awhile. RantWoman has decided it deserves the light of day even though she has inadequately researched whether the now former mayor's image is still being used in the attack ad referenced below. Blech. Gross!

Just STOP IT. Stop it already!

If decades old allegations of child sexual abuse were enough to run former Seattle Mayor Murray out of office RIGHT NOW in the name of healing for survivors, just STOP IT about using Mayor Murray's image in an attack ad promoting one of the candidates in the 45th district WA state senate race. Why would Murray's image in an attack ad be any less traumatizing to survivors or survivors' lloved onesthan his image as mayor? Survivors who thought they were DONE with Murray's image now face it over and over in an attack ad. Gross. Disgusting. Stop it. Find someone else to be the vehicle for your message. Stop retraumatizing survivors of sexual assault.

RantWoman admits to spending time reflecting on horny teenagers of all genders doing stupid irresponsible things, opportunistic fearmongering slimeball lawyers, and former Mayor Murray's long track record of work for LGBTQ+ civil rights. This work ironically also helps ensure his accusers can have their day in court.

RantWoman has spent time reflecting on all the people who failed the alleged victims over a long time. RantWoman reflects on Bill Clinton's long trail of shenanigans with adult women and the current Groper-in Chief's thing for teenage beauty contestants. None of this excuses the things Mr. Murray is accused of doing

RantWoman has been deeply chagrined as the number of people making allegations against former Mayor Murray has grown. But right now, what RantWoman most feels any capacity to address is the attack ad. Stop it! Just Stop it already!

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Message Count

RantWoman had thought of letting the Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation distribute these thoughts first as a listening comprehension test to see what others remember but RantWoman is clear that the world is bloody well entitled to what is on her mind. RantWoman admits to being self-absorbed and omitting a lot of Business Meeting content except for her offerings and two offerings out of closing worship after Meeting for Business.

Alert readers may note a gap and a Meeting for Business uncommented. Stay tuned.

Message Inventory:

Message near beginning of worship. RantWoman remembers little except it was a nice message RantWoman could sometimes have found something to quibble with..

Message late enough into worship to bump against the start of Business Meeting: something about why can't people just forgive...?

RantWoman thought bubbles:

--Cue senzenina? See post from awhile ago.

--Forgive in one's head is fine, but the body remembers. RantWoman has been having moments of body remembering and body remembering in ways that words are needed.

Or RantWoman thinks words are needed but apparently not in worship.

Opening worship for Business Meeting with passage from new Faith and Practice about community.

More worship.

RantWoman rose with a message from the Gospel according to public transportation.
After action reviews: two members of pastoral care committees did not find God there. One Friend who also does centered ministry in the public realm got RantWoman's point immediately. A young Friend grasped one of RantWoman's auxiliary points with stunning clarity and in stronger language than RantWoman herself would probably use. Did RantWoman mention, one of those not getting was, should anyone be surprised, I'm not Interested in Your Thought Processes Friend? 

Various items of Business including an item where Ricardo the economist put in an appearance. RantWoman as a member of the committee drafting the item offered short explanation of a technical point. A dilemma rooted in Ricardo prevailed for now. Ricardo rarely puts in an appearance in Business Meeting and perhaps such appearance is, in its own way an occasion for celebration.

An item about staff reorganization and possibility of severance package. RantWoman is ambivalent about shape of proposed staff reorganization but definitely thinks the severance issue is long overdue. If Meeting pays people and counts housing as part of their compensation, it makes sense at least to RantWoman also to plan financially for people's need to find new housing when they moved out,.

Item where RantWoman presented first reading of a nomination. Uncontroversial.

Minutes where an item deserves its own rant and RantWoman is seasoning whether just to do a wikileaks scale dump from email. RantWoman thanks Second Pastoral Care Committee Friend for eliciting clarity about one piece of picture. RantWoman expects that the direction of RantWoman's clarity is not said Friend's intent. RantWoman is called to be faithful to her Light.

Closing Worship:

Little Sister needs to be held in the Light. Again. Still.

One Friend hears spiritual stiffness.

One friend is experiencing spiritual awakenings through yoga.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Three Things

"RantWoman, tell us what three things can we do to make Meeting better for you as a blind person?"

The latest earnest face surveying the Blindness Tourism itinerary

1. Realize it's not going to be three things. It will be something different every day. So if you want the serious Planet RantWoman tour, be prepared to walk alongside whatever comes along. RantWoman did not make it to Quarterly Meeting. This was because RantWoman was ata hackathon interacting with matters of walking alongside in the literal physical sidewalks and stairs and elevators sense.

2. Stop doing lovely helpful gestures in Adult Ed for an hour and then turning around and helping gaslight RantWoman for another hour.

3. How about getting crazy and demonstrating willingness to serve on a committee with RantWoman. Probably RantWoman should just have her head examined and maybe the thought of book group would be fine too.

Monday, October 2, 2017

A glorious fit or 2 or 3 or 17 of them about pronouns, people of many genders

One highlight of the time spent seasoning this year's  minute on welcoming all genders was that almost every occasion where people were asked to introduce themselves, including rising to speak in Business sessions, they were asked to offer their pronoun preferences! Yep, as one young friend put it, a thrill to see elders saying their pronouns!

But how was it for RantWoman?

RantWoman esteems a single standard of Truth. RantWoman was charmed recently in a non-Quaker context: RantWoman was part of a selection process to send people to an activism conference where people also are asked to offer their pronouns. Two of the three women picked reported on their return how exhilarating (RantWoman's word) it was even to think about pronouns.

But back to Annual Session, for anyone still lingering with summer in spite of the need to embrace the vivid colors and shifting Light of fall.

RantWoman in a social media post about this year's NPYM Annual session used the phrase "A glorious fit about pronouns" and the Friend acknowledging God's call to cope. RantWoman paraphrases. RantWoman also understates. In fact, lest the friend above feel singled out, RantWoman heard and appreciated several glorious fits about pronouns.

There is something to be said for recognizing oneself as a holy child of God no matter how much crap is coming at one. RantWoman understates the vehemence of this fit: it came with the thought that it can be really damaging to have one's identity tied up in others' reactions!

"Just call me whatever," a pronoun preference ffavored by middle-aged lesbians who probably have been called whatever for a long time.

RantWoman goes among people with gender-ambiguous names such as Lee, Brett,  Sasha, Jo(e) and we will not even speak of people striving to have their names and grasp of pronoun concepts reflected correctly in a language very different from the ones they grew up with.

RantWoman was very glad not to be the only Friend having fits about how Anglocentric the pronoun discussion is. RantWoman is also a smartass. RantWoman recently made a new version of her customary Un-nametag with "Please Tell Me Your Name on one side and RantWoman's name on the other. On the side with her name, RantWoman put her pronouns (nominative case) in the three languages she has officially studied.

RantWoman lives among the heady activist scene in Seattle gets asked fairly often to offer pronoun preference. Almost always there are both people who favor a number of different pronouns and people who have never thought about the issue.

RantWoman sometimes gets all pedantic about the singular they as a gender-neutral option. RantWoman also had a conversation this week with Amazing Artist Friend whose pronoun preference is we, with a huge side of self-acceptance. RantWoman keeps forgetting about the we and it always takes a few times in conversation before RantWoman settles down with it.

At lunch one day at Annual Session, RantWoman dined with someone who reported on a training from work about transgender issues. Lunch conversationalist commented about the presenter talking about all the energy they spend hiding their identity that could be better put to use meeting the company's goals.

Random further meditations:

One Friend at first could not go forward. This Friend spoke of the Friend's Meeting having a lot on it's plate, a point RantWoman sees, and of not being "ready."  This Friend had a comment about "pridefulness" from the Meeting that has worked most on this minute.  RantWoman was glad the whole room did not pull at some possible threads. RantWoman thinks the minute is imperfect, highly anglo-centric, and a snapshot in time. All those wonderful youth who have space to talk about every nuance of gender identity also owe a HUGE debt to brave forebears.

One person mentioned as a doctor early in their career not taking seriously a prescription to maintain needed hormones. Others spoke of the high risk of suicide among transgender youth. One Friend spoke of his family with his two mothers travelling throughout the Yearly Meeting sharing their family with Friends unsure about same-gender relationships.  Another person spoke of living not on the I-5 corridor and both how important the minute is and thinking about what talking about it will mean in her community.

By the next day, the Friend who objected was ready to go forward by Standing Aside. RantWoman was called to thank Standing Aside Friend for speaking his Truth and, to RantWoman's ear, helping draw out various important strands of Light and experience.

Dear Young Friends
We cannot promise that you will not get misgendered all the time.  We cannot promise that on your first visit you will not meet the person who grumps about gender identity issues around children and never comes to Annual Session, but our minute is a hand of welcome.

What might we as Friends be called to do next? The next day editing minutes the answer became clearer: ask Peace and Social Concerns to carry work forward.

There assuredly is work ahead and people in different parts of the Yearly Meeting will probably be lead to realize our intentions in different ways.

After the minute was approved there was worship. RantWoman had been seasoning a call to minister and stood. Finally the call became so clear that RantWoman located the mic runner across the room and fogged over to get the mic. Part of RantWoman's message was about a transgender job candidate with a wonderful sense of humor and about misgendering the job candidate twice in the conversation.

Just to keep RantWoman from taking herself TOO seriously, RantWoman remembers being high after the message, the kind of high that sometimes happens even though RantWoman is also frequently called to speak with more pedestrian effect  RantWoman was thinking with gratitude about the words lining up. RantWoman was gratified when appropriate laughter occurred. RantWoman needed a few moments to get her feet back on the ground at an interest group, ironically about offering vocal ministry. But RantWoman asked two different people whether any of her words stuck with them. Um, no. They were too busy praying for the whole room. Okayyy, RantWoman will just COPE!