Not a unicorn Barfing Rainbows. Yes with Accessibility Awareness EVERY Day

RantWoman is hereby observing Global Accessibility Awareness Day #GAAD2020. WHO CARES that RantWoman is grabbing the first business day in the week after the actual event: global accessibility awareness day needs to happen every day anyway! Who CARES that part of RantWoman's inspiration to celebrate comes quaintly  tied to the word podcast and straight to her ears through that so last century device the FM radio and her local public radio station.

Anyone who thinks the title of this post is COMPLETELY inappropriate, please bear with RantWoman or go find another post with a title more to your taste. The title CRACKS RantWoman up AND it worked to get RantWoman at least to try to take another look at the whole mindfulness thing and then by extension to the contagiousness of other approaches to managing one's spiritual compost heap. Whatever works?

,RantWoman is seasoning some points of time and ages and how to use and take care of gifts, abundance. God has a weird sense of humor.

RantWoman, try online meditation courses.
Ummmm, RantWoman has PLENTY of media streams already and just mindlessly adding more is NOT the point.

Try therapy:
RantWoman has a GREAT therapist.

Great therapist is currently struggling herself to learn various online practice options. And Great Therapist has a problem child client who has been doing what problem child client does rather more frequently than she likes: almost every time RantWoman encounters software in a new realm, she winds up asking a whole bunch of accessibility-related questions, and spending time stepping through websites looking for something anything related to promises about #a11y, say on home pages. To be fair, MUCH has improved as the use of mobile devices with built-in accessibility options has expanded. But gripes above the "medium sucky" level frequently tempt RantWoman to say "You have problems. Hire me to help you fix them, in this case to the Vendor, NOT to the practitioner. See RantWoman thinks, in TeleHealth software as in tools small nonprofits use to streamline, that the customer should NOT have to know very much about accessibility to be able to evaluate information provided by the vendor. And in the meantime, there is free consulting and there is figuring out paths for billing!

Try Lust:
RantWoman has been going around admitted to selected trusted people in her circle that romance and even scandalous romantic entanglement could be lovely.

God has a twisted sense of humor. Consider LUST, and LUST in a much too scandalous direction.


Try mindfulness / podcasting.
Thank you Good Morning America Saturday host Dan Harris who has written a book called 10% Happier and who has a podcast by the same title. Website http://tenpercent.com Full book title:  10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story.

Paraphrasing a comment from a recent radio interview, "It's not like I'm some unicorn barfing rainbows...the mindfulness does not keep me from ... but it does help me step back and not get controlled by it."

Did someone say "not some unicorn barfing rainbows????" One of RantWoman's #WeirdQuakerConfessions is that too much mindfulness makes her want to punch someone.

Ahh, but RantWoman, that just means you need MORE mindfulness!

NO! RantWoman needs more alertness than average for a number of circumstances and if we are lucky, the phrase "unicorn barfing rainbows" will make RantWoman laugh hard enough to translate to "Oh, like Peter in the new testament. (Darned if RantWoman has a citation off the top of her head)

Along with mindfulness comes Loving kindness practices.

May ...be well and safe and ...

But there's LUST!

Okay, Begin again now. And Don't forget to hit the Sleep button on the talking book player so you don't spend ll night trying to absorb mindfulness when you need to be sleeping.

How to Observe Memorial Day?

To quote Cadet Bone Spurs, "HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY." (?!?!?)

What? The occasion of needing to remember people fallen in lots of wars does not sound "Happy" to you?

And making fun of anyone over a physical problem out of their control sounds, oh, maybe a little ableist,?

Okay! Start here.

Memorial Day Meditation: the start

Now, we will attempt to pivot, with at least some minimum level of elegance and respectfulness and acknowledgment that more elegance might be achieved if RantWoman were to time her efforts to intersect with editing before actual dates of interest.

First pivot point:

Imagine the sort of argument that goes something like this:

--You have me to thank that you have all that freedom to refer to the President as (all those different things that rattle off your keyboard).

--Okay and I am out there protesting because maybe sometimes the protesting keeps you from getting sent off in every stupid direction the President wants to send.. That still does not make almost two decades of ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan a "happy" situation. And please excuse me if Cadet Bone Spurs claiming to be a "wartime president" because of the Corona Virus after gutting the budget of the CDC sounds to RantWoman just a little too much like Stalin purging his military in the years leading up to WWII.

--But, but...

--Look how about we just talk about Quaker witness?

Pivot point 2
Recently a young Friend in Seattle wrote a statement of conscientious objection, brought it to his Meeting for Business, had the statement read and had the occasion noted in the minutes. It is a great statement. RantWoman has read it and really likes it. If RantWoman only wanted to talk about the statement, RantWoman would ask permission to post the statement on this fine model of blog as Quaker journal and editorial catastrophe. RantWoman might still do that, but RantWoman is called, as is her wont, to roil the waters a little bit further:

--What else will happen with the statement?

--Does the author of the statement think there is any likelihood that the statement will be needed anytime soon?

What if it were the norm to ask all of our Quaker youth to think about, maybe besides considering their own leadings, just to get informed and maybe write school papers about their relationship to the Peace Testimony, to military service, to campaigns for universal service in the US, to women in combat, to the poverty draft, to the line one has to sign on college financial aid forms about registering for the draft? What about the history of the right of conscientious objection in general and how Quakers in different countries have brought the peace testimony to bear? What about Friends' own wildly varying experiences of military servic?

RantWoman poses the questions above with some degree of willingness to help support this sort of engagement, though RantWoman, for a number of reasons feels less than well equipped to wade in and definitely not equipped to wade in alone. Teamwork? What's that?

RantWoman has been reflecting on her own life and things she has observed among Quakers. RantWoman was in college when draft registration was re-instituted after the takeover of the US Enbassy in Iran. RantWoman remembers making a point in a Q&A after a campus presentation by the director of the Selective Service administration. RantWoman's question was about gender equality and the right NOT to come home in body bags. RantWoman finds it ironic that now the conversation about gender equality is more about expanding the role of women in the military! Also, it is never too late to stop erasing all the ways women HAVE served in past wars.

RantWoman further remembers considerable campus engagement about human rights and the civil wars in Central America. Some of the most vocal campus activists absolutely were motivated as much by concern about getting sent off to the middle of these wars as about human rights and democracy issues. That did not make these students ineffective advocates. Graduate school in RantWoman's interdisciplinary program meant going to class alongside active duty officers getting degrees as part of their service. No assumptions her. Nope, uh-uh.

When RantWoman first came to Quaker Meeting, there were still a number of Friends who had experience either as WWII conscientious objectors or as Vietnam-era draft counselors. Conscientious objection in the context of the all-volunteer army is a much more complicated issue, but  Meetings in our area also been a spiritual home both for veterans after more contemporary military service history and for youth who specifically enlisted. RantWoman also remembers an Annual session interest group a few years ago abotu conscientious objection: the young Friends leading the interest group thought declaring oneself a conscientious objector might automatically get one sent to jail. Um, no.

But maybe while considering Quaker ripples of all these points, RantWoman can start by asking Irrepressible Nephew for his perspectives....

State of Society 2020

University Friends Meeting’s State of the Meeting Report, 2019

Our Meeting’s collective spirit still reverberates from the impact of a difficult decision that we made in October. After laboring with a Friend’s increasingly disorderly behavior over the course of several years, the Meeting chose to lay down this Friend's membership. Three Friends were recorded as standing aside. In order to create the necessary space to heal and to renew our community, the Meeting also approved a minute to restrict this Friend from our campus and activities, with certain exceptions. The minute set forth that this restriction would not be reconsidered before January 2021.

We made the decision with solemnity, and in recognition that an involuntary termination

Of membership had never before taken place at UFM; nor, to our knowledge, had it

taken place in the history of NPYM. This Friend had been a member for over twenty

years. Finding a way forward, for many, felt like separating a piece of our heart.In the months after this momentous decision, we have been able to tend once again to each other and other issues.

Many Friends are participating on one or more of eleven Care Committees, and some are on Clearness Committees. We held a community building retreat in February of the new year, and planned two  orkshops, one on end of life decision making and another on setting limits and dealing with conflict. Our meetings for worship and for business have felt more gathered. Mid-week evening worship was suspended in the fall, but has recently resumed on first and third Wednesdays at midday.

In December we approved a minute for the formation of an Ad hoc Committee on Disability, with a charge that includes enhancing the Meeting’s understanding of disability issues, providing support for individuals to make accessibility needs known, and making recommendations for improvements to our processes or facilities. We began experimenting with the use of a microphone in 11:00 Meeting for Worship, after having successfully used one in Meeting for Business and weekly Adult Religious Education sessions.

We approved two new memberships, transferred five to other Meetings, and laid down three. Three members died this year: Polly Knox, Nina Sullivan and Tom Craig. We minuted posthumously the Meeting’s admiration for Judith Kolokoff, former Executive Secretary of the AFSC Pacific Northwest Region. We are conscious of our membership gradually decreasing as well as our median age increasing in recent years.

We hired one of our Junior Friends to be a consistent presence with our toddlers and preschoolers (3-5 year olds). We continue to hire regular teachers for our group of 1st –5th graders, but are challenged to offer these children consistently meaningful Quaker education. On the first Sunday of each month we continue to provide a program for Central and Junior Friends, with young people from other Meetings in the area.

We bring a rich variety of dishes to our monthly potluck on 4th Sunday, and committees are scheduled to prepare the meal after Meeting for Business on 2nd Sundays. The community has taken up this responsibility that was previously held by the Quaker House resident. Our Garden Coordinator facilitates hands-on service that is inviting for newcomers to participate in and enhances the beauty that our grounds provide.

One welcome constant at our Meetinghouse on most First Days for over 25 years was the tall and quiet presence of Roy Lee "Stanley" Anderson, who enjoyed fellowship in the UFM Social Hall, and at other  imes lived outdoors in the University District. We were saddened to learn in November that Stanley had died; the Meeting has planned a memorial service.

Addressing the larger issue of homelessness in UFM’s dense urban neighborhood has

 ong been a ministry of our Meeting. Since 2017, UFM has rented space in the lower level of our building to two nonprofits that serve unhoused people. After a remodel of the former AFSC room, Operation Nightwatch hosts a shelter with beds for 50 men seven nights a week. Facing Homelessness has their office in part of our large First DaySchool room and hosts a daytime service window that gives out supplies and kindness to about 20 people per day, four days per week. Our Facilities Committee spends a considerable amount of its attention on issues related to these programs, as well as the maintenance burden of an aging building. We have now hired a full-time Facilities Manager who lives in Quaker House. Like many places of worship and community in these times, we also consider how to best foster safety on campus for our staff,members, and guests.

The Library Committee completed a major two-year effort to create a digital catalog of over 1400 items, which is now available online through LibraryCat. The Peace & Social Concerns Committee supported a variety of events and causes related to earthcare, uprooting racism, supporting immigrants, and  enuclearization. Each month, the Committee hosted a table for writing letters to legislators and contributed an article to our Gleamings newsletter.

Adult Religious Education sessions continue each First Day at 9:30 a.m. One session per month is called “This I Believe” (borrowing the title from a NPR series), in which a Friend from our own Meeting talks about their life and spiritual path. These sessions consistently have high attendance, as each is a meaningful opportunity to learn more about a Friend’s unique journey while reflecting on our own. Under the care of the Meeting, Nora Percival has continued the ministry that she began in 2018, when she was led to develop and disseminate preventive health training for community health volunteers in Kenya. She gave her class over the last two years in three locations in Kenya and refined it each time. She has now been asked to teach both students and faculty once a year over the next three years at a vocational college. Her goal is to enable Kenya’s health system to carry on this program without her.

QUEST (Quaker Experiential Service and Training) is in its 28th year, co-sponsored by UFM and South Seattle Friends Meeting. Six young adults are working full-time for a

year in social service and justice agencies, creating an intentional residential community and gaining  xperience to be agents of social change.

At the time of writing, our city has been the sentinel case for the coronavirus pandemic that is now greatly  mpacting our Meeting’s activities as well as our daily lives. While we refrain from in-person gatherings, we find ways to support one another and stay connected, including the use of videoconferencing for Meeting for Worship and Business and spiritual sharing groups. We hold in the light our loved ones who are suffering during our pandemic. Injustices in our society continue to be revealed and an election of great consequence approaches. As darkness grows, so does our determination to let our Light shine for others who seek health, sanctuary, and peace.

A priest with a squirt gun: Holy Water Squirt Guns & Trikinis | The Daily Social Distancing Show

In the category of RantWoman " will not make fun of anyone else's spiritual practices, will not make fun of anyone else's spiritual practices, will not Not NOT make fun of anyone else's spiritual practices," no, not even if there are squirt guns involved.

Also other items in the category of unexpected blessings.

Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery: Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III | The Cross and the Lynching Tree: A Requiem for...

If one were not already depressed and filled enough with rage, let us remember Arnaud Arbery--and the previous experience of the cross in African American voices.

RantWoman assumes the language will not necessarily be enjoyable for many; RantWoman prefers to listen to voices as they are.



The Cross and the Lynching Tree author James Cone

Queries for Weekly Worship Sharing Group

RantWoman has again agreed to wade into the world of leading a worship group at NPYM Annual Session, the 2020 Virtual Edition. The planners asked whether Friends are interested in weekly worship groups leading up to the usual calendar meeting dates in July. Reports at a call to learn about Zoom are that about 55 people are interested including worship group leaders and people who have agreed to be Zoom hosts. The group RantWoman will lead begins today.

As readers familiar with RantWoman's spiritual compost heap might guess, RantWoman has many thoughts on her mind. Some that seem important to share as RantWoman prepares:

--THANK YOU to everyone working on this year's experiment. RantWoman thinks lockdowns due to a global pandemic are one hell of a way to respond to her concerns from last year as far as travelling hundreds of miles to pray about climate change, but RantWoman is really looking forward to seeing people for whom travel is not practical.

--God is versatile. RantWoman and the worship groups she has been in have used all kinds of queries and had all kinds of opinions about the queries offered in different years. RantWoman's sense is that God shows up and working with the shared queries is part of making space for God to show up.

--RantWoman urges readers to hold in the Light efforts both to create a worshipful space in the brave new electronic medium and to use the tools of the software well without iimpeding the flow of Friends time together.

--At in-person gatherings, RantWoman usually signs up for Walking Worship sharing. For RantWoman one of the beauties and hazards of video conferencing is that RantWoman can be moving around freely while others sit or move as led. But in RantWoman's experience, it still matters to have a general environment that does not include distractions, especially noisy ones.

--RantWoman has become clear over time (insert ellipsis for unspecified gripes about help or lack thereof...) to ask what she needs of the group as far as Doing Things Differently because of vision issues.

RantWoman is posting the Queries as received by this year's planners partly as artifacts. RantWoman plans to post each week's queries in the Zoom chat but is discerning about some other points about Zoom usage.

Queries for Mid-May to Late June: to reflect upon our Spiritual life during this time.

The purpose of these six weekly groups are to extend community, share joys and concerns, and explore the vastness of Spiritual life during this quarantined time. The weekly queries are to be helpful; however, each
worship group may decide to use other formats to explore the living life of our individual Spiritual paths.

Week 1:

Welcome and introductions. Typically queries are buttressed with quotes from others, to help guide us in searching for our own truths. However, since we are in a virtual structure, we have decided to focus on our faces*, rather than on a frames with lengthy wording.

Queries:

   Do I seek to grow in my inner Spiritual Life at this time?

   Have I been able to use my Spiritual beliefs to overcome fear and panic?


Week 2:

Welcome and check-in’s.

Queries:

   What Spiritual routines have I changed or kept the same?

   Have I been able to offer or accept Spiritual gifts to or from others?


Week 3:

Welcome and check-ins.

Queries:

   In this isolation, what have I learned about my Spiritual practice?

   Do I find ways in which to contribute to my neighbors and community?


Week 4:

Welcome and check-ins

Queries:

   Do I seek to use the strength and truth of my Spiritual life to reach
   out to others that I have found to be challenging?
 
   Have I found a renewal or refreshing of Spirit during this time?


Week 5:

Welcome and check-ins

Queries:

   Do I take this time to study and explore that which I have put off?

   What personal Spiritual gifts am I sharing with others?


Week 6:

Welcome and check-ins

   How am I guided by Spirit in re-joining the physical presence of others?

   Do I seek to be right with my actions?

Worship Sharing GUIDELINES 2020

RantWoman REALLY LIKES this year's Guidelines and REALLY appreciates having them in a format easy for her to use. RantWoman will spare her readers lurid technological details, but the point is the technology will probably be much easier than fumbling with papers while walking around on college campuse lawns or under trees. RantWoman is posting these guidelines here for two further reasons:

--It will be easier to email out or post in Zoom chat a clean link on the fly than to fish through email archives.

--RantWoman hopes her worship group will meet without incident and in particular without unwittingly accessing RantWoman's Dial-a-Tirade service about recognizing the term alternate formats and recognizing that it matters EVERY TIME!

NPYM 2020

Virtual Worship Group Information

 Dear Friends,

    The basic tenets of Quaker Worship group interactions remain the same in the virtual world of group worship as in the physical group.  Instead of a circle, the virtual world gives us a group in individual squares, with individual mic’s.  The virtual group leader will  address the use of vocal interaction in the first group. As a group, it may take a couple of weeks to get a sense of how the group responds most comfortably and establishes a flow to speaking out of the silence.

    Below is what you would typically find in a worship group informational packet.

  

      From the Book of Christian Discipline of the Yearly Meeting in Britain:

Advices and queries are not a call to increased activity by each individual Friend but a reminder of the insights of the Society. Within the community there is a diversity of gifts. We are all therefore asked to consider how far the advices and queries affect us personally and where our own service lies. There will also be diversity of experience, of belief and of language. Friends maintain that expressions of faith must be related to personal experience. Some find traditional Christian language full of meaning; some do not. Our understanding of our own religious tradition may sometimes be enhanced by insights of other faiths. The deeper realities of our faith are beyond precise verbal formulation and our way of worship based on silent waiting testifies to this.

Our diversity invites us both to speak what we know to be true in our lives and to learn from others. Friends are encouraged to listen to each other in humility and understanding, trusting in the Spirit that goes beyond our human effort and comprehension.

Excerpts from

AN OVERVIEW: THE QUERIES AS CORPORATE SELF-DISCIPLINE (pdf)

by Marty Grundy

"The queries reflect the Quaker way of life, reminding Friends of the ideals we seek to attain.... Friends approach queries as a guide to self-examination, using them not as an outward set of rules, but as a framework within which we assess our convictions, and examine, clarify and consider prayerfully the direction of our lives and the life of the community." [This] language was chosen... to encourage "the probing-in-depth of an issue or a concern." It is interesting that we are not expected to probe ourselves in depth, or invite the Light [Spirit, God] to probe us, but rather to deal in depth with the outward issues.....

It is good to remember that the Religious Society of Friends in its worship and its governance is based on the experience, not just a theory, that the divine is present, and loves us, and will teach and guide us in the specific circumstances of our individual and corporate life. Furthermore, and this seems to me to be crucial -- at least in my own experience -- in order to be able to really live a Quaker lifestyle in love I must be changed, transformed inwardly. I must be empowered by the divine to respond in healthy new, loving ways to old challenges and behavior patterns, as well as to new opportunities....

Queries were to check how Friends were upholding the already agreed-upon testimonies. They were not invented as a technique for figuring out what our opinion is on a given subject. Early queries were quite straightforward and brief. It has been only in this century that the advices in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting seem to have withered and their content put into expanded queries....

Monthly and Quarterly meetings are expected to read the advices and queries at regular intervals. There seems to be no expectation of regular written responses. It is interesting that among unprogrammed Friends only the Conservative branches still seem to expect the discipline of regular written responses to the queries.... The assumption in the 18th century was that the meetings examine themselves to see how well they were upholding the standards of Friends, and if there was difficulty, then the quarterly or yearly meeting would send help....

We found that the queries provided the excuse, as it were, to take a piece of the spiritual life of the meeting and examine--wrestle with--our understanding of how we are called to live as Friends. 

Finally the speaking ceased altogether and we were wrapped together in quietness and love. The clerk ended the meeting, but we were loath to leave. We were in the presence of God, and found it good.

The basics about participating in a worship group:

·         Our purpose is to grow spiritually through sharing our experiences, insights and questions with one another.

·         It is important that we remain in a place of worship at all times—led by love and always aware that each of us has a piece of the Truth.

·         Remember that for some to participate fully in the sharing process does take time. Leave openings as seems appropriate.

·         Speak from your own experience.

·         Be aware of speaking from a place that protects the heart or ego.  Examples are when the “teaching mode” provides analytical information or instruction, which does not allow for feelings or beliefs.

·         Be mindful of the length and frequency of your sharing.  Remember to allow space and time for all to participate.

·         Sharing is encouraged, but no Friend is required to speak.  You can fully participate by listening only.

·         Speak to the group.  Avoid addressing any individual present.  An individual may be asked a question if it is a gentle way to clarify their comments.

·         Do not interrupt while another is speaking.

·         A period of worship between speakers is essential.  It may be brief or long.

·         Please do not repeat elsewhere confidences that you have heard.  Worship groups depend on our respecting and honoring each other.

·         The format may be altered if there is unity in the group to do so.

Bringing Voice to the group:

·         If Spirit rises, it is to voice that which is not voiced.  To bring the groups’ awareness back to the queries, to the issue of the basics of participating in group.  To especially focus on emotional safety within the group.

Three letters plus Popcorn Kernels

RantWoman is out of actual popcorn to satisfy her need for boredom munchies; RantWoman also really does aspire not to eat anything after dinner in order to take better care of her sleep realities. In the meantime, various popcorn kernels showing up in the microwave of her soul.

Meditations about Essential Worship and Re-opening and #CarOwnerVirus

As we crawl out of lockdown from the other blog

Healing on the Sabbath and Ableism

RantWoman has been seriously digging Wednesday Night Bible Study with Joe Snyder. The group has been reading the book of Mark. There is a bit toward, RantWoman noted the story about Jesus healing the guy with the withered hand.Jesus says "your sins are forgiven." RantWoman, without any basis grounded in theological study wonders, what does Jesus mean?  Does he mean actual sins, sins as they exist in the mid of the man with the withered hand. Does he mean all the inscrutable SiNS that a person with a disability does that offend others' sensibilities. Is Jesus actually just taking on all the ableism society probably directs at the man with the withered hand and diverting public outrage to the point that he was curing people on the Sabbath?

Walk in a Garden: Retirement communities take timid steps to relax lockdown

RantMOM got to HAVE A WALK IN THE GARDEN at her retirement community. She got to be outside for a whole HALF HOUR. She got to be outside with other people from her floor. The benches were marked off to emphasize social distancing but there were lots of people out. RantMom says there is a gorgeous rhododendron bush and that the blueberries are blooming. RantMom also says it is time for RantWoman to come over: RantMom has washed out her ice cube trays and put in fresh ice. RantWoman assured RantMom that if she needs ice, RantMom should just go for it. RantWoman WILL comve over eventually, but in the meantime it is ice water weather.

It is ice water weather and--after a Zoom birthday party for Little Sister on Wednesday, the RantFamily is booked for Zoom Mothers Day on Sunday.

For the record, RantWoman needs to express profound gratitude that she enjoys abundant running water water for drinking, water for making ice cubes, water for washing hands, showering, and laundering support socks and bandana masks.

Notes from last week's worship.

RantWoman meant to meander more extravagantly among meaning than the notes here, but tonight the notes have to hold the thoughts from a message about what three letters / words.

GPS because of phones, tracking, is the shelter in place order working. God as manifest via google

The original speaker.
Gratitude
Presence / patience
Service


There was a second message about Love. RantWoman apologizes but does not remember the other two letters.

There was a third message also  RantWoman thinks on a GPS theme.

The first thing RantWoman scribbled on her arm.
gonzo pedantry with Shoes, implying a planned essay about what really poor people might do with their stimulus payments


God Presente sleep / self-care vegetables with gratitude.
There goes RantWoman with that God language again.

Minutes for hours and hours forever without end amen

RantWoman offers the following commentary in a spirit of being faithful to her Light. RantWoman is more concerned that the State of Society report contains what RantWoman considers several factual inaccuracies than she necessarily is with a great deal of what is in these minutes. However when RantWoman reached out to one of the report's authors, RantWoman received a request not to contact her further.

The long commentary here addresses a number of realities informed by RantWoman's experience with IT issues, RantWoman's perspective as a person with a disability, and by RantWoman's experience thinking about meeting process issues in many different contexts. RantWoman, humbly is called to be faithful to her Light.

RantWoman has changed all references to her own name and a reference to a newborn but has left all other names as is.

RantWoman uses the following font conventions:
Bold text is from the original draft, in bold for emphasis.
Bold Italic is a factual correction
Italic is commentary of fact and process provided by RantWoman. Most if it is not material for editing these minutes but is material that needs further consideration from Friends.

University Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Meeting for Worship for Business
Fourth month 12th day, 2020
DRAFT Minutes

As annotated by RantWoman

In particular, RantWoman’s comments relate to a newcomer named Sara BridgeSong.

Sara is NOT RantWoman but does borrow RantWoman’s hands to type.  Sara is a composite character based on several people RantWoman has met and in some cases appreciated accessibility options for

In the world of technology, sometimes personae are created to illustrate or test principles or needs of particular user groups. RantWoman believes in a single standard of truth about why and how this testing is relevant both to other work and to the life of Meeting. RantWoman has been devoting considerable time to issues of inclusion for people with different disabilities in the burgeoning world of video conferencing. RantWoman is happy to go on further, but the annotations here are sufficient for the task of addressing minutes and perhaps of addressing the points they illustrate to RantWoman..

2020-04-01:         Opening Worship, Welcome, Introductions

[because of the social distancing requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this meeting was conducted via HIPAA-compliant Zoom.  At the beginning, 51 people were logged in, including several log-ins of couples, and parents with children]

Clerk Kathy Hubenet read a quotation from Quaker theologian Marge Abbott, regarding how turning our hearts to one another allows the “vivid clarity of moving through darkness… We learn God through the love of others, which comes from God.”

What does RantWoman keep saying: “God keeps sending people with disabilities to live among us and asking us to figure out how to get along. People with disabilities are frequently called to be places where they are either explicitly or implicitly not wanted.” Humbly, RantWoman is wondering how letting someone’s difficulties be seen, even a hypothetical someone relates to the word “disruptive” below.

The clerk asked for the identity of two people who were recorded on the screen only by phone numbers; both were known to us.  The co-hosts of the online platform reviewed the mechanics of participating in a Zoom meeting:  adjusting what shows on the screen, allowing or blocking one’s visibility, and how to raise one’s hand.

We welcomed two first-time attenders:  David Zeiss, and Sara Bridgesong (see below.)

2020-04-02:         approval of minutes

2020-04-03:         Care and Counsel:  membership application by Mike Clarke

Dorsey Green, clerk of Care and Counsel, announced that C&C is trying to stay in touch with F/friends who live alone or who are particularly vulnerable to the pandemic.  Please let C&C know either if you are contacting one of these people, or if you would like to be contacted or have concerns about someone else:  “let’s make sure the net is holding all of us.”

RantWoman thanks the Friend who suggested sending RantWoman physical cards at a time when RantMom had tested positive for the Corona Virus and RantWoman was self-quarantining because of recent exposure that is eating dinner with RantMom. Neither RantMom nor RantWoman ever developed symptoms RantWoman was never tested and RantMom subsequently tested negative. RantWoman did not get back to the Friend in time to discourage both sending cards written in regular pen and sending cards to RantWoman’s mailbox across town from where RantWoman lives. RantWoman was spared the obligation to be grateful for cards she could read only with great difficulty because no one sent cards or email or phone calls. RantWoman is grateful for other connections.

Committee clerk then read a letter from Mike Clarke requesting membership in UFM, while noting that Mike’s second child, daughter R, was just born.  Norman Furlong read the report from the membership clearness committee, recommending in favor of accepting Mike Clarke.  Anyone with questions or concerns should contact Mike directly, while still respecting the timing of a father with a newborn.

2020-04-04:         State of the Meeting report

Ginger Boyle read us the second draft of the “State of the Meeting report, 2019.”  It had been modified somewhat after the first reading.  Discussion:

*  Nora Percival will not return to Kenya until sometime around fall ’20 to spring ’21, because Kenya is at the beginning stages of the pandemic.  Her ministry is not abandoned, but it is on hiatus.  There is no need to change the report to reflect this.  This led to a bit of discussion as to whether or not it is customary to name those personally involved in a ministry?  A Friend with decades of institutional memory said we have gone back and forth on this issue, though normally individuals are not named.  The report will be posted on the Yearly Meeting website, and so will be accessible to all of NPYM, and thus the people who are named should be willing to have their names distributed.  The people named in the report said that they are willing.

At this point in the discussion, first-time attender Sara Bridgesong posted on the platform’s chat box that she was “deeply unsettled” at the section regarding laying down the membership of a Friend (RantWoman) who was not named in the report.)  Sara said that the report needed to include a statement from (RantWoman) and that she could not accept the report without that inclusion.  The clerk asked Sara whether she had been involved in the many discussions leading up to this action? The platform moderator said that she had privately chatted with Sara, and “received a brush-off.” (Does the platform moderator recall Sara’s exact words?RantWoman does not remember who the moderator was but thinks this role may have been handled by someone who CONSISTENTLY silences RantWoman, takes many conversations to get points that seem really basic to RantWoman,  Also, Bear in mind that someone who can only type is at considerable speed disadvantage compared to people who talk.  The clerk asserted that Sara did not have standing, (interesting choice of words. Based on what?) and directed the discussion to proceed:

*  a Friend was concerned that, in mentioning a long-time attender at social hall, the person’s homeless status was mentioned first

*  Yearly Meeting’s Ministry and Counsel will be gathering these reports later in the summer, and is collecting ideas on how they can be shared, since there will be no in-person gathering this year

Two Friends expressed concern about difficulty agreeing to the content of the report based only on the oral presentation and asked to have the report held over so that copies could be emailed out.  Friends decided that since Quarterly Meeting was not occurring in person, there was time before annual session to lay over the report for another month.

A Friend then raised a concern:  having read over the chat offerings from Sara Bridgesong, she had formed the impression that Sara was actually (RantWoman.)  The clerk asked one of the platform hosts to exclude “Sara,” but the host demurred and asked if someone else could take this action?  A Friend privately checked Yearly Meeting records, and found no mention of anyone by “Sara’s” name. (RantWoman notes MANY reasons a person might not be listed in the NPYM directory) She was in agreement that “Sara” had no standing regarding the acceptance of the State of the Meeting report, but was hesitant to block her on-line participation.  Discussion:

*  Zoom participation is so that people can be included in our meeting, not so they can be disruptive.  “Sara” was not available on video or voice, only on chat.

RantWoman at this date does not remember what Sara was able to make clear in the chat the day of the Meeting. RantWoman is fairly certain that Sara made clear that the device she was connecting on does not have either a camera or a mic and therefore Sara could only “speak through the chat. RantWoman is unclear that there are explicit technological requirements to worship among Friends. Sara has also made clear to RantWoman in a separate blog post that Sara does not speak because of a birth defect she has not identified to RantWoman. Sara has made it clear that her current level of technology is adequate for her needs: besides the birth defect, Sara has a severe skin condition and avoids cameras.

*  a Friend shared discomfort with someone joining our Meeting without being open, since it is our way to be transparent, to show integrity, and to speak to one another. “Sara” was not willing to tell us who they are or what their connection to us might be. Annotation not appropriate for minutes: Besides the issue of typing speed, Guess what! Awhile ago RantWoman went to a wonderful Disability Justice event at the Gates Foundation. The event had an app participants could use to offer responses to the facilitator’s questions. At  first RantWoman HATED just hearing the words fed back and having no idea who offered them. However at some point it dawned on RantWoman that she needed to get over herself: the room contained two categories of people for whom the app was probably a godsend.  There were people who because of some or another disability might have a great deal of difficulty speaking at all or in a large group. There were also people of color who might be quite happy not having their pronouncements opined over from perspectives of privilege. So while the principles articulated by the Friend above might be perfectly obvious to her, they are not obvious to RantWoman. If RantWoman being faithful to her Light about this is “disruptive,” RantWoman has a versatile God who can probably find ways to handle.

If we were meeting face to face, we would not tolerate someone coming into the worship room and refusing to participate in Quaker process, nor would they have the weight to speak to an issue if they were unknown to us.

Refusing? Sara was TRYING to participate in Quaker process as well as her technology and the medium allowed. RantWoman also notes that she herself has in fact been TRYING to participate in Quaker process and can cite NUMEROUS moments where efforts to participate have been rebuffed.

See note above about technology and options for communications. Also, although neither Sara nor RantWoman tried at the time to make the point that as a blind person, RantWoman frequently has no idea who else is in a room with her.

*  another Friend shared the impression that “Sara’s writing style is very similar to(rantWoman’s), and that he (?) RantWoman is under the impression that this speaker was female.) believes they are the same person. IF the speaker was in fact male, RantWoman believes that he is a person with a long history of trying to avoid RantWoman’s efforts to talk about disability,

*  a Friend who was participating via phone sent out a chat text protesting the use of Zoom (RantWoman remembers this protest and actually concurs: by this point the conversation in chat had become quite confusing. RantWoman thinks this Friend also explicitly mentioned something about RantWoman but RantWoman does not recall his exact words. Because of past abusive behavior RantWoman frequently gets triggered around this Friend anyway. RantWoman has other experience where managing information flow between the chat and the main meeting gets easily muddled. In RantWoman’s experience outside Meeting, this problem can be handled with thoughtful process intervention by a Zoom host. RantWoman suggests that everyone give each other grace about a learning curve and try not to make hostile assumptions.

* we should lay over the report, and ask “Sara” to contact the clerk and give their identity. (RantWoman does not recall anyone providing a way to contact the clerk, something a newcomer would definitely appreciate. If the clerk believes the newcomer is RantWoman, RantWoman believes the Clerk knows how to reach RantWoman)

The clerk asked, should “Sara” be excluded at this time?

*  it is to be expected that the reluctant web host would be reluctant, since he is relatively new to UFM and is less familiar with all that we have considered vis a vis (RantWoman)

*  we don’t allow side conversations during business meeting, and we should not use chat for this purpose. Some quaker events occur with interpretation. If chat is a person’s only path to communicate, there should be process practices about how chat is used. Again, that is a process matter related to learning how to work with new technology and with specific communications needs.

*  we excluded (RantWoman) because her presence led to endless interruptions.

The clerk called for a ten-minute break.  When we came back together, we had a moment of silence.

2020-04-05:         Facilities:  proposal for the Operation Nightwatch shelter to expand operations during the pandemic

RantWoman appreciates the detail in the draft minutes and the care taken in formulating the discussion. RantWoman appreciates that many concerns on her mind were addressed.
At this point the clerk noted that someone had joined our meeting, with no visual image and the name “Fuego de Pablo.”  She asked the individual to self-identify, and when they did not, she asked one of the platform managers to deny this person access.  The individual then left the meeting.  We resumed discussion of the proposed minute:
RantWoman notes consistency about dealing with people who do not meet the clerk’s standards for self-identification. In contrast with the case of Sara Bridgesong though, there is no mention of anything to do with disability.

2020-04-06:         Closing Worship

We closed with a lengthy sharing of Joys and Sorrows, and then a period of silent worship.  After the close of meeting, a number of people remained on the platform, probably happy to see one anothers’ faces, and exchanged news and updates and more personal sharing.

Kathy Hubenet, Clerk

Amanda Franklin, Recording Clerk

Table of Contents

Minutes. 1

2014-08-01:        Opening Worship, Welcome, Introductions. 1

2014-08-02:        Approval of Monthly Meeting Minutes. 1

2014-08-03:        Announcements. 1

2014-08-04:        Closing Worship. 1

Attachment A:  TBD

Noticing Patterns of Oppression and Faithfulness +/- Disability

RantWoman offers the following popcorn kernel about disability and ableism:

Noticing Patterns of Oppression

Many, many things from this article speak to RantWoman's condition. RantWoman sincerely invites readers to post comments on this blog.
FJ Noticing Patterns of Oppression and Faithfulness

RantWoman likes MUCH about the approach suggested.

Two things that DO NOT speak to RantWoman:

There is NO MENTION anywhere of disability or ableism. RantWoman knows the topics are messy
RantWoman has to assume maybe the authors meant to roll these two concepts into "other forms of oppression," but RantWoman thinks the article is poorer for this omission.

Also there appears to be a couple unlabelled graphics made of handwritten content. RantWoman could handle this problem a number of different ways:

--ignore the graphic

--ask someone to tell her what the graphics say

--exhort the publishers to learn more about options for dealing with graphical content so that, for instance, RantWoman has options for interacting with the graphics on her own when there is no help around.

--Just whine about the issue inconsolably and go back to the many other stresses frying her nerves.

IN Light and Faithfulness

RantWoman

What RantWOMAN WISHES the State of Society Addressed

To get things started, this article from Friends’ Journal speaks to RantWoman’s condition

Noticing Patterns article from Friends Journal

Joourney to Peace waiting in times of pandemic

Can You believe Return to Silence

RantWoman encourages readers to digest the comments below; RantWoman is unclear about some points on her mind and WILL encourage Friends to come back to the articles above.

The Opening Paragraphs of the March 8 2020 DRAFT State of Society report.

Our Meeting’s collective spirit still reverberates from the impact of a difficult decision that we made in October. After laboring with a Friend’s increasingly disorderly conduct over the course of several years, the Meeting chose to lay down their membership. Three Friends were recorded as standing aside. In order to create the necessary space to heal and to renew our community, the Meeting also approved a minute to restrict this Friend from our campus and activities, with the exception of Memorial Meetings. The minute set forth that this restriction would not be reconsidered before January 2021.

We made the decision with solemnity, and in recognition that an involuntary termination of membership had never before taken place at UFM; nor, to our knowledge, had it taken place in the history of NPYM. This Friend had been a member for over twenty years. Finding a way forward, for many, felt like separating a piece of our heart.

In the months after this momentous decision, we have been able to tend once again to each other and other issues. Many Friends are participating on one or more of eleven Care Committees, and some are on Clearness Committees. We were able to hold a community building retreat in February of the new year, and have planned two workshops on end of life decision making and on setting limits that can be used to manage conflict. Mid-week evening worship was suspended in the fall, but has recently resumed on first and third Wednesdays at 1:00 pm, preceded by a brown-bag lunch.

[Speaking of disability, which readers may not realize yet is a thing, 11 care committees? GOOD THING except care committees frequently involve something to do with disability. So good for folks for involvement but what might be said to speak of weaving that dimension of reality into the fabric of community life? Because why should RantWoman be the sole lightning rod for community discomfort related to disability? RantWOMAN? Disability??? Read on!]

[Speaking of clearness committees, note reference below to one instance of RantWoman and the term Clearness committee. RantWoman tartly notes: when the Care and Accountability committee over and over wanted to complain nebulously on behalf of others, RantWoman repeatedly asked for clearness committees with the individuals concerned. RantWoman truly has no way of knowing which issues are disability related and which issues are something RantWoman really, really MIGHT be able to do something about. Usually, when a person with a disability or really anyone asks for help, the first rule of thumb should be to provide the help asked for. If RantWoman asks for clearness committees, clearness committees should happen as well for RantWoman as they are reported for others here. If that is not the case, it is reasonable to ask why.]

[The last 3 events mentioned above have all been postponed indefinitely due to public health orders in connection with the Corona Virus pandemic. Postponement has nothing to do with whether or not these events are urgently topical!]

RantWoman usually does the best she can to respect the point of view of the Friends who draft the State of Society report. RantWoman also recognizes that it might be better manners to address the Friends who drafted the report directly and to allow them to season an alternative version before plastering her perspective all over the internet. Let’s just say RantWoman is a work in progress on the tact and diplomacy front and the whole circus drama needs to be held in the Light including some facts not known, as far as RantWoman knows, to the drafters of the State of Society.

RantWoman notes the put off further action until January 2021 provision COULD be amended by a subsequent Meeting For Business. RantWoman reiterates that she is called to be faithful to her Light and cannot predict what that might look like; RantWoman also notes a number of practical concerns.. RantWoman is unclear who might be called to suggest this or which actions could be asked for. There are MANY reasonable accommodations requests lurking in this narrative. In a normal workplace, expecting someone to wait a whole year to have reasonable accommodations requests addressed would be unacceptable. RantWoman recognizes that there is a legal thicket involved in this line of thinking. However, if one strives to live by a single standard of truth, working with reasonable accommodations requests in a timely way would seem to be on point.

RantWoman is also sitting with “…finding a way forward…separating a piece of our heart…” RantWoman is finding it hard not just to blurt out: “RantWoman has been trying to tell you things that matter and things that would help for YEARS. RantWoman is sorry you are in pain now, but maybe if Friends took to heart some of RantWoman’s concerns there mighty maybe possibly be a lot less pain going around!”

RantWoman would also like to know whether anyone else besides RantWoman considers the ban on participation in anything but memorials just ghoulish. What about before people die? What about all the people in the community who presumably are not expected to die anytime soon? Do they REALLY want to send out a State of Society report that reads to RantWoman like “Well we got rid of that pesky blind lady and now we are having a much better time?”

RantWoman is acutely aware that she is a challenging presence, RantWoman would not have made it through extremely trying midlife changes without the Meeting community. That is one but definitely not the only reason RantWoman is NOT called to be silent, NOT called to write many imperfections in community life out of the story. RantWoman recognizes that her experiences have caused everyone in the community to collide with important concepts. RantWoman recognizes that these concepts are a considerable strain for some Friends. RantWoman also honors the point that some Friends really just cannot for whatever reason do what is needed in this situation AND RantWoman is heartened that other Friends hardly have to think at all to do what is needed. Think of the problem like the corona virus: some people who get infected are hardly affected at all. Other people who get infected wind up on life support.

Challenging midlife changes? Blind lady? Reasonable accommodations? WHAT?

RantWoman would be absolutely mortified to have this document sent out on her behalf even if the document did not completely erase anything to do with midlife vision loss and disability, the other notes throbbing in the narrative.

Simple comments. Please respect RantWOMAN's pronouns

These paragraphs are about RantWOMAN. Even though RantWoman frequently says pronouns are an essay question and can go on at great pedantic length in several essay question directions, RantWoman reminds Friends that she and her usually work. Here PLEASE respect RantWOMAN’S pronouns. For one thing RantWoman is getting misgendered in public a little too often these days. For another thing, RantWoman needs to leave open the possibility that there is unexamined privilege lurking several places in this narrative.

RantWoman would find it a gift if the State of Society reported that, as RantWoman understands it, 3 people INCLUDING TWO NEWCOMERS were recorded as standing aside.

RantWoman notes STUNNING omission of one of the biggest realities in RantWoman’s life during the interval: About 16 years ago, just as RantWoman was finishing her second term as Recording Clerk, she experienced substantial vision loss related to a hereditary medical condition that had affected her vision for her whole life. RantWoman now recognizes that this reality has been a challenge for her community as well as for herself. RantWoman has assuredly not been the most gracious guide for many different threads of Blindness Tourism and unsolicited sorties to Planet RantWoman. In fact, RantWoman feels horrible about some moments she keeps working at with a therapist. And RantWoman is emphatically NOT called to go away. In fact at a time when lots of people with disabilities are being told, for instance, to get out of the way for other people who might need ventilators, RantWoman is especially touchy about “get out of the way,” never mind her own views about ventilators.

RantWoman STRONGLY recommends that the State of Society report ASKE RANTWOMAN for statement about what has worked and been really meaningful and what has spectacularly not worked about meeting life.

RantWoman would not mind if the State of Society reported that this decision occurred at a Business Meeting where RantWoman was specifically driven out and told she is not welcome. This is only one circumstance compelling RantWoman to use strong language in a number of directions. Friends think they have released RantWoman from Membership. They have NOT released RantWoman from moral obligation to speak. RantWoman tartly notes that people with disabilities are not infrequently called to be present in places where they are either explicitly or implicitly not wanted. RantWoman also notes that the new Faith and Practice provides for Friends to seek assistance from their Quarterly Meeting and RantWoman is doing so. RantWoman is also grateful, finally, to have received links to the online Faith and Practice in a form much more accessible to her—two days after the meeting for Business where RantWoman was released from membership.

Factually Incorrect

This paragraph is also factually incorrect. This may be the first such exercise conducted on the basis of a process outlined in the new North Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, but it is not the first time people have been released from membership. This Meeting periodically goes through its membership rolls, attempts to contact people listed as members who have not been seen or heard from for an extended period of time and if there is no response after several attempts removes them as members.

RantWoman notes that one person on RantWoman’s list of blind people in the community was formerly a member and was removed from the rolls in this way. RantWoman has surmised from comments by others about timelines, that this event may have occurred when the now formermember was losing vision and maybe not reading every scrap of print coming in the mail or maybe otherwise difficult to reach.  This Friend frequently says things to strengthen RantWoman’s spine. RantWoman has never asked her about the timing issue but does appreciate that she has returned to Western WA.

Pending Data Dump

RantWoman has a whole blog full of Great Moments in disability awareness which RantWoman is now trying to distill into the most revelatory moments. What works, really? Other moments, RantWoman is, um, a sarcastic bitch who tells too much of the truth and too often summons approximately the interpersonal finesse of a Brillo pad. RantWoman is TRYING, though, to cut down the number of people she scorches with the inner blowtorch.

RantWoman has been trying to talk about ableism and disability for YEARS. RantWoman is thinking now about what she might have done to make a better conversation. RantWoman will supply other moments in a more detail in a separate post. RantWoman is also thinking about years and years of some kinds of activity without any mention in minutes of legal requirements about the issue. RantWoman is aware that is a complicated subject, but for there to be NOTHING is, to RantWoman striking.

 RantWoman thinks she is still supposed to be touched, or something by the Care and Accountability Committee’s efforts. Let’s see, how many flavors of ableism, not counting the part about “we are a care and accountability committee—FOR A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY—but it is not our job to deal with disability or reasonable accommodations requests or …?

--The committee had to be told several times not to schedule meetings where RantWoman’s presence is wanted without consulting RantWoman about availability.

--The committee liked to suggest that RantWoman could go sit during meeting for business in locations physically inaccessible to people RantWoman might want to have sit with her.

--The committee refused to provide RantWoman written notes of what had ostensibly been agreed to so that RantWoman could check for accuracy before information was passed along. Nor did it occur to the committee that the whole community might STILL need to hear from RantWoman IN HER OWN WORDS.

--The C&A committee refused several specific requests to convene clearness committees so that people on whose behalf the committee was ostensibly speaking could be heard first hand and unfiltered.

--The members of the committee ignored the invitation / request as a reasonable accommodation that people who complain about RantWoman in Meetings come to any of several options where they can observe dynamics all blind people deal with and then help RantWoman figure out approaches compatible with Meeting for Business.

--Members of the committee had eyes that glaze over when RantWoman tried to talk about alternative formats or software accessibility or other topics critical to RantWoman’s ability to function. RantWoman knows other people get the issues at least a little better than the Care and Accountability committee so RantWoman’s first inclination would be to release the Care and Accountability Committee with thanks for their efforts and work with others. RantWoman’s second inclination would be to ask Friends just to hold the reality that the Meeting is struggling with issues that vex all kinds of other organizations and people with disabilities. People do not necessarily want to know that their struggles are merely average, not some special zone of mystery, but there can be odd communion and grace in this realization.

RantWoman notes that after the Care and Accountability Committee appointed to “bring RantWoman back into line” or whatever was laid down, RantWoman and others were able to convene a committee to work on a charter specifically about a committee to work on issues related to disability. The clerk at the time month after month turned down RantWoman’s request to bring the matter to Coordinating Committee and then Business Meeting. An Ad-hoc Committee on Disabilities was created only 4 months after RantWoman was released from membership. Even though Nominating Committee usually says it welcomes non-members, the suggestion to list RantWoman’s name as part of the committee has been greeted with howls of distress.

RantWoman has been offered a separate and very unequal opportunity to worship with Friends who expressed willingness in the key business meeting to worship with RantWoman. The separate and unequal involved consideration and rejection of several options involving time, travel, or emotional baggage constraints incompatible with RantWoman's realities. Interestingly, RantWoman felt liberated to discern a leading about worship and worship sharing about prayer. However, when RantWoman has expressed a clear leading to invite others to join this worship through meeting information streams, the clerk has several times decreed "Absolutely Not."

Frankly, RantWoman thinks a State of Society report that addresses some of these points could do a LOT less violence to the truth than what is here!

In Light and Faithfulness

RantWoman