Sarah Bridgesong's last second Zoom open house invite.

     RantWoman, WHAT is Sarah Bridgesong doing here? Getting the New Year's Eve Open House invites out at the last second is appalling enough. Why you gotta invite Sarah B too?

UPDATE News Bulletin: RantWoman realizes that Sarah Bridgesong needed to say that one reason she will show up is that one of the invited guests has some of the same accessibility issues as Sarah B, but only temporarily. No this invitee probably does not want to show up on camera. Nor will this guest want to say a lot out loud This guest did not show up at the party, but RantWoman is happy to live with Sarah Bridgesong's need to go "see! See! See!"

Like God, Sarah B is going to show up regardless. Plus RantWoman was having one of those stream of consciousness arguments that, at least around Planet RantWoman, sometimes replay old dialogues in the hustle and bustle of party prep. Plus RantWoman admits a certain affection for people passionate in their beliefs. "Accessibility" sounds lovely but 1. Sarah B can break a large number of accessibility measures almost effortlessly. and her not-so-secret quest for world domination involves eradicating all forms of ableism everywhere. So she may be a real fun party guest?

First, let's get the invitation on the record:

This invitation is coming frightfully late but if you have time to drop by my New Years Eve afternoon open house you would be mostwelcome.

I had so much fun doing a Thanksgiving open house, I decided to try it again. Apologies for the very late notice, but I would like to inviteyou and anyone you would like to bring to a casual New Year's Eve open house Thursday December 31, 2020 from 3 pm to 8 pm Pacific time.

You are welcome to drop in anytime. I am sending out some invitations to clumps of people who know each other and are invited to collaborate and show up at the same time. Some of you may also get this more than once.

The invite lists are from several parts of my life. Spouses, kids,grandkids, pets, Christmas trees, snow globes, theme decorations all welcome.

This event is intended to be relaxing with time for conversation about music movies, books, binge media.... Respectful discussion of politics and civic issues welcome. If people get too mired in buzzwords, though, I reserve the right to ask people, if you were going to thank the outgoing occupant of the White House for his service, what would you say?

Since it's a Zoom meeting everyone gets to handle your own refreshments and after party cleanup.

Some questions to seed conversation:

What are favorite parts of your holiday celebrations?

What are you most eager to get rid of as we kick 2020 out the door?

Is there anything you will miss or would like to hold onto about 2020? 

What are you looking forward to?

Any amazing technology adventures or misadventures. Feel free to ask me about my video conferencing apps world tour or what it looks like to try to make a Christmas cactus photo into a Zoom background.

Accessibility notes:

--If someone wants to help about captioning conversation, please get in touch before the party begins.

--I want to leave the chat open but encourage people to use it sparingly. Screen reader users, if you need help turning off chat notifications, I am glad to help.

--If you rely on lip-reading... Oh Wait....

(Readers who would like the Zoom link, please leave a comment)

Whether you can make it to the party or not, heartfelt wishes for joy, good health, abundance in 2021

Warmly,

RantWoman

Snow Globes

Yep. It's Zoom But still
Wear a mask if you are sharing Zoom space
with someone outside your household

Cat image in honor of
all the randomness
in people's Zoom events

 (Look, it's the best RantWoman's graphical skills can do to simulate a Zoom view.)

Cue Sarah Bridgesong:

"But But But it says here " If your Zoom connection does not show your picture, you will be asked to identify yourself." Won't there be a bunch of blind people, many of whom don't use avatars? and What if someone needs to lipread? 

Look, when we ask people to introduce themselves, how about we ask for two or three of the following:

Name, preferred pronouns, any access needs, physical description,  what they are wearing, and what land acknowledgment they want to offer. And please keep each introduction to less than 3 hours?

RantWoman! Go to Bed! You have a party to host. How about lose the snarky, at least a little?

asked to identify yourself.