The Secretary of #WarCimes MAY have achieved bipartisan anger enough to limit DoD travel budget

 #NDAA #WarCrimes #DoubleTap

Speaking of readiness and other basic concern for US troops

Former JAG officer torches Hegseth's "warrior ethos": "A total abomination."

And in related alliance issues

Let's talk about Hegseth trashing Europe and getting everything wrong....

"Thou Shalt Wash the Dishes" Raphael Warnock on Jon Stewart

 "I'm a Matthew 25 Christian."

Erica Chenoweth on Pod Save America

Erica Chenoweth

Could The 3.5% Protest Rule Stop Donald Trump?

To me, even though I treat everything to do with the military very cautiously, I think the SUCCESS of the army anniversary is that we have the space to have 2100+ local events and 13+million participants. DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC. Now we have to keep hitting hard on a few points. --Indiscriminate quota driven raids by masked armed goons are unacceptable and MUST STOP. Citizens and children should NEVER be detained. --EVERY single person who gets detained gets every second of due process that the President has sucked up over his entire life of criming and fraud. --This lawless administration has NO BUSINESS talking about undocumented "lawbreakers." There are serious criminals who are undocumented and should be deported.

Kazoos. Please, someone, Kazoos!

 #GAAD, #GAAD2024

In the interest of preparing for a presentation on #GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay RantWoman has been taking a bit of a break from popping off about warzones, opining about student protests, and chronicling .various encounters with new technology and new transportation options.

The imperfect and still ripening fruits of RantWoman's labor

mean to add:

--Another Alt text item about a certain intersections.

--the links to the screen reader demos

--reflection on RantWoman work process.

All of that said, RantWoman is wading back into trials of what the Daily Show calls "America's Most Tremendously Wanted." RantWoman still does not regret not going to law school but is absolutely fascinated by all the legal commentators and the many soap opera rabbit holes to discover.

Consider:

MSNBC on the Speaker and the VP wannabes and Sen. Tubby at the EX president's trial

I think it would be just fine for Judge Merchan to firmly chastise the defendant for the statements made on his behalf. Fine #DonTheCon $1000 for every person that repeats one of his lies, or even better $1000 per lie per person. Don't bother about jail. I know it's pocket change but just send a signal. MAYBE people will figure out they shouldn't be costing their "Friend $1K every time they open their mouths. A true friend can show up as a friend and make clear they don't endorse "oh good grief decisionmaking."

On another clip, Speaker Johnson gets an A+ in hyperbole for using the word "atrocity" about ordinary functioning of the US judicial system. Save the word atrocity for #Gaza.

I hope the judge's daughter doubles down and uses some of this idiocy in ads. Every time someone complains about the judge's daughter, people should come back HARD about all the #TrumpCrimeFamily grifts, all the billions Ivank and Jared raked in. Merrick Garland already has his hands full, but ordinary people are allowed to be outraged about nepobaby behavior.! And I still want a kazoo flash mob playing "Hail to the Thief" anytime someone gets near a microphone outside court..

Hanukkah, night 2, on fire all the time

Image from Dreamstime

Night 2: on being a white person with a disability, the always satisfying experience of having people's eyes glaze over so badly even RantWoman can tell just because RantWoman makes a reasonable accommodations request. Add the naive expectation that such requests can be coped with no fuss, no muss, no heads exploding at mere mention of RantWoman's name, no deciding accessibility is all handled because of some survey or that disability can be turned on and off depending on location.

RantWoman! You're harshing everyone's holiday mellow! How come all this old stuff keeps clattering out with the holiday decorations like batty guests one happens to be related to?

Ohhh. But I thought Quakers were all about every day being holy, just like every day being a good day to fight ableism Plus what holiday mellow? Vladimir Putin is threatening to nuke Yellowstone Park. Now that the January 6 Committee is finishing up its work, we are in for waves and waves of T***pist gaslighting The Sedition Caucus is about to get voted into leadership in the US House of Representatives, Seattle is dealing with snow as badly as ever. Christmas with the fam is getting upended by #COVID. This blog may be as mellow as things get.

RantWoman since you didn't get your point written during Quaker writing time, just write what's on your mind.

Dear...

It was great to (have the tech wherewithal to) participate in the most recent Board meeting. 

For the future, I need to make a standing reasonable accommodation request to have either a link to anything to be screen-shared or a copy by email. I am happy to provide probably more than enough detail to make your eyes glaze over about why I specifically need this, but others who have different disabilities have also commented that my suggestion would be a good idea. It is great to have the agenda and previous meeting's minutes available in advance online. It would be great just to make the slides available the same way.

I would prefer to have the documents in advance so that perhaps I can formulate questions for the public comment period currently set before other agenda items. However, this time I have a question based on one of the presentations.

The (team focusing on meeting the needs of BIPOC people in need of housing) is doing a great job. Do you have any data about what percentage of the people being served identify has having a disability?  What about the people who do not make it through all the hoops to actually get housing?

RantWoman is happy to suggest some standard questions used by the census bureau and happy to talk about wrap around services and anecdotal data from another part of her life but first, let's please start with the reasonable accommodations request.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely 

(RantWoman)

Courage to say OUCH and ...

Prompt for FCNL Witness Wednesday.

"Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work; a future. To be courageous is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending vulnerabilities of those consequences"

.~ David Whyte, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment, and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words

A quote offered in chat during the same worship.

Courage as action despite fear is a common view. Courage as participation despite unending vulnerabilities feels far more personal. And opens many more paths.

RantWoman's #DisabilityPrideMonth point: plenty of OUCHES. Will they take shape in black and white?

 

Hybrid worship, zombie avatars, virtual reality hugs.

Wherein RantWoman will:

--try VERY hard to cut back from howling the words "ableist BS" after every other sentence to maybe only every fourth, fifth, tenth sentence

--actually sincerely mean "poor dears" for people who just don't feel the same thrill RantWoman does when she sees names dear to her in the Zoom participants list or hears the joy in the voices of Friends long separated from shared worship by transportation challenges.

Some of the seeds of this post

go to Western Friend and put Hybrid in the Search bar

Comment part of a LOVELY email discussion generated when RantWoman admitted after worship one day that what she has read of the Western Friend discussion made her cross:

"I am posting this link from an essay in today's New York Times because it contains some thought provoking ideas about the nature of community worship. Admittedly it is from the point of view of clergy in a Christian church, but it addresses right on point the wisdom of continuing a zoom alternative meeting. I hope everyone will read it and that we can discuss it at some point soon."

Why Churches Should Drop Their Online Services - The New ...https://www.nytimes.com › church-online-services-covid

RantWoman finds the above headline horrifying. RantWoman has neither read all the items in Western Friend nor ventured beyond the New York Times paywall. RantWoman has listened to the lived experience of Friends on an FWCC call and noted the many configurations of people worshipping together during the last meeting of the FWCC Section of the Americas virtual gathering. So RantWoman is going to comment on the basis of what has come to her so far:

YES, being in person matters, makes a difference. But so does connection, however tenuous and challenged by the modes of mediation.

NO RantWoman does not absolutely HAVE to have others in the same room to experience the presence of God.

Here it matters to have a good interfaith network of people who interact about what nurtures worship. Even better if the network includes people who share RantWoman's zany sense of humor. A friend, the former Senior Warden of a local Episcopal cathedral (role includes a giant ring of keys and "more meetings that God.") spoke of a piece she read about young people who might like virtual church with all kinds of avatars. 

For those not baptized in modern techno-lingo avatars are the persona one creates in digital spaces. Avatars have visual logic. They also frequently represent someone who for any number of reasons is physically or psychically different from who a person is in real life IRL, or as some disability advocates put it "in meat space." 

RantWoman is too blissed and tired in connection with a very cool thing that happened today to want to let all the zany avatars and hyper edgy gaming memes and virtual reality church concepts on her mind spill out into the blogosphere. However, RantWoman has a time or two let her mind wander toward, OH HORRORS, virtual reality hugs. RantWoman first thought about this in the case of interplanetary space travel. RantWoman does not necessarily that interplanetary pioneers will want to pack the whole fam up in a space ship for the whole round trip. Also the several minutes of signal delay are going to need some algorithmic help for any kind of realistic experience. So one might, say want to leave a supply of hug outlines with one's loved ones at home AND pack a supply of hug outlines from the loved ones one can't take along. 

Sound weird? Sound better than no hugs at all while one's spouse is off at sea or out conquering the world for months or years on end?

RantWoman brought up the concept of virtual reality hugs around some younger collaborators who really are all in for virtual reality. Virtual reality hugs had surprising resonance.

And yes, people SHOULD definitely resume visiting in person as it becomes safer to do so..

Racial Justice Minute Holding in the Light

 A young Friend made a public request to hold discussion at an upcoming Meeting for Business Meeting in the Light. RantWoman thanks that young Friend for the public invitation. RantWoman deeply appreciates community energy around the topic identified below. 

RantWoman also notes her own participation in a recent virtual conversation convened by Western Friend. Friends from many Meetings in the western US participated in the conversation with worship sharing among other things about how Friends might witness with integrity in the current environment. There was attention both to the reality that people tend to seek out Quakers at times like these and that, paraphrasing and collapsing several comments, nurturing the Light of younger people is most definitely called for. Plus the topic to be discussed greatly exercises RantWoman but RantWoman's plate is full.Rantwoman would be grateful just to know good discussion is going on. Having a good discussion could set an important example that can ripple far beyond the UFM community. 

RantWoman would also particularly like to have information allowing her to address two concerns.

--From time to time when RantWoman goes about in her community, someone asks "where are the Quakers?" Right now, every time RantWoman hears that question she has to pray that her Excessively Plain English to Quakerese filter does not just melt down. So RantWoman would very much like to see something from the Hold it In the Light request move forward. RantWoman is also very clear that what she would be ready to move forward is very different from drafts so far.

--Seattle is not by any means the riot-infested dystopia that media images imply but there are serious matters that need attention. And there is a pandemic. And RantWoman really does not care whether others want to see her or even want to talk about what healing might look like. "I don' wanna" is not a reasonable basis for community and the opportunity to see familiar faces is really precious to RantWoman. RantWoman keeps suggesting specific steps that she thinks would be doable. Enough said? RantWoman will say it again elsewhere.

RantWoman also appreciates introduction of the Oops Ouch Snap language in an electronic conversation. There are some serious ouches going on and RantWoman continues to honor a call to be faithful to her Light. The ouches get a separate email.

Hold in Which Light? 

Despite or maybe partly because of seriously wonky eyeballs, RantWoman has a lingering fascination with Arc Welding, glass blowing, and things to do with lasers, holography, and "Fire photon torpedoes." So RantWoman needs to ask readers to be patient with the risk that inner Light will come out as Inner Blowtorch. RantWoman will do the best she can not to singe anyone or anything. RantWoman has also given herself the option of writing two versions of this post, one that is HOPEFULLY concise and on-point and one that digresses in the direction of every thing RantWoman is peeved about in connection with what she writes. Please hold RantWoman's keyboard in the Light with particular prayers that thoughts occurring in Excessively Plain English make it through the translation to Quakerese filter.

The Hold in the Light request set RantWoman's Inner Blowtorch blazing and this post is an effort to heed that call, hopefully without singeing anyone. This post includes RantWoman reflections on some history in Seattle, some blunt accessibility points, commentary about the content of the proposal, and suggestions about process. The post is likely to be imperfectly edited, but readers are encouraged to consider which category different paragraphs fit into.

The Hold in the Light request came as part of the same Zoom event where someone expressed concern about public outrage over the Rochester NY police killing man suffocated while placed naked in a "spit hood." The man was naked in cold weather and later found to be high on PCP. RantWoman's Crip Twitter streams are full of accounts of routine use of such hoods in many situations involving mental health issues or drugs. RantWoman has been completely unsurprised to hear the local Rochester police officers' union say the officers were following their training. In the Zoom event, RantWoman noted that being suffocated while high is generally monstrous; in Seattle in at least one police shooting, after one of the reviewing bodies reported that officers were acting according to their training, but the training was changed. RantWoman will come back to this factoid further down.

Is UFM called to create an ad-hoc committee about abolishing the police. 

RantWoman has seen other invitations to ask questions and RantWoman will season whether to email this link to those inviting questions. RantWoman moderates comments and specifically offers the comment space as a place where Friends might essentially compare notes about what is most on their minds.. Sometimes RantWoman appreciates that one on one conversations lead someone to change their minds or to adjust something before the next conversation. Sometimes RantWoman likes the sense of shared discernment from many readers and a sense of which points on her mind most resonate with others. . In this case, RantWoman is extremely grateful that questions got posted to the whole listserve and that enough people talk of Meeting life to RantWoman for RantWoman to need to heed a call to speak.  RantWoman is also aware of many paths to total overwhelm in the internet age AND RantWoman would be too happy to go on about silencing and the listserve. This post though is not the place for "A whole bunch of things really suck. How can things be better going forward?"

And RantWoman needs to be faithful to a call to deliver what is on her heart, despite rather blunt calls from some directions not to deliver anything at all. Reflecting, RantWoman is humble about an observation: some of the don't deliver anything at all calls come Friends RantWoman met with for a time several years ago. RantWoman apologizes: she should at the time have just said "this conversation needs more people than the three of you." RantWoman is VERY grateful there are more people in the picture now; RantWoman also very much hopes more people in the picture can help share some burdens. RantWoman will be faithful to her call and leave what happens after to god and further discernment.

RantWoman has seen the proposal documents distributed last month. RantWoman takes issue with the current fashion around this Meeting of treating minutes as top-secret until two days before the next business meeting BECAUSE RantWoman prefers to think over what is in minutes and whether minutes reflect what RantWoman understands and remembers. RantWoman notes an email exchange about written responses to questions that have come in. RantWoman would probably prefer to have more than two days to reflect on the comments there.  RantWoman gets to take all the issue she wants, but in the absence of commentary to root around in, RantWoman's inner blowtorch can find plenty to say in connection with the documents and the proposal. 

Here follow questions interspersed with various commentary:

Why ARE we doing this, seasoning this minute?

--Virtue Signalling? There is a whole lot of painting "Black Lives Matter" everywhere. The impulse to do more is laudable.

--Efforts to live out our testimonies? Which ones? How do the proposed steps speak to those testimonies? Wait, what steps exactly are being proposed?

--How  does action on this minute enrich the WORSHIP life of our community?

--The minute calls for government entities to take certain actions. Will the proposed committee provide any kind of support for Friends let to sit in city council meetings, follow financial / governmental budget concerns in the media, and speak as led?

--How does action on this minute provide Friends support for conversations they might have at work, the gym, the store...?

--How will seasoning this minute increase our ability to engage societal stress and  profound cries for reform?

--Are we ready to go where we are led including frankly addressing our own privilege and ableism?

--Do we really gotta abolish the police? Is that really what people across the entire population want? What about people called to work in different ways to address injustice in our society? What about people who worship with us whose jobs require that they talk regularly to cops? What about persuading others to join our efforts?

--What about domestic violence serial rapists people working with alternatives to violence who hear people formerly incarcerated talk about how much they needed help to stop what they were doing?

ANOTHER Ad-hoc Committee??? 

There is already an ad-hoc committee about disability. Should we really add another one"? 

--SO, we've solved Ableism? We know everything we need to about accessible meetings, alternate formats, technological and physical accessibility, access for people with different access needs to the same info? We know everything we need to know and everything is perfect just in time to tackle the point that people with disabilities are overrepresented in jails and prisons. OF course we want to use resources better for services and support, but we don't need no stinking committee anymore? RantWoman tartly notes that, aside from the LONG tenure of her own efforts to talk about disability, the charge of the AdHoc Disabilities committee was to run for a year from December 2019. That charge absolutely needs to be renewed.

--Cue the Johnny Cash video "Children go where I send thee." RantWoman thinks another ad-hoc committee might be just fine. RantWoman is VERY clear, though about the importance of the next questions.

Okay the committee is going to work. What principles does it propose as far as planning accessible events and activities?

--What principles will the proposed ad-hoc committee observe about availability of content in formats accessible for people with different needs ranging from compatibility with specific tools to Paper? This includes social media, materials for reading groups, handouts at public events, videos. The proposal includes a list of suggested readings. RantWoman has pretty much the same content issues she has with this list as she had with the resources at the bottom of the Disabilities survey. The reading list is the same topical and process frenzy However, in previous commentary RantWoman completely neglected to mention the multiple formats issue. As partial remedy, a link to a video and transcript just to get things started.

--What other steps might be taken to ensure planned events are accessible and inclusive? 

--One of RantWoman's online personae Sarah Bridgesong feels no obligation to wait around for an invitation to visit the electronic right of way near the Meeting for Business. RantWoman is trying to persuade Sarah B that it is fine to see what teamwork delivers, but SB is not very patient about people doing things they think are heroic without listening to what matters most for RantWoman and then completely missing really critical simple points. RantWoman also has too much experience with critical details getting muddled out of minutes and group reportbacks and specifications for different kinds of work.RantWoman does want to move the minute discussion forward and does not want to soak up all the Business Meeting time with kerfuffle RantWoman will digress further in a separate post.

Do UFM Friends feel any call to review Friends connections to the evolution of local police accountability measures aAlternatives to Violence / the Criminal Justice Working Group of Quaker Voice / police reform by FCNL?

Do UFM Friends need to reflect on moments such as the #BlockTheBunker campaign and the #NoNewYouthJail campaign? Hint: RantWoman herself was not able to move as fast as would have been desirable and would love it if there were voices in Meeting able to help identify needed work going forward?

What does UFM need to do to include the voices of BIPOC directly in our discernment as we season action?

Are there things UFM needs to "get right with the Lord" about within our own community before we go out trying to fix the world? (Yep!)

How can we support and care for each other as we undertake this work?

Would UFM Friends like to compare notes with other Seattle Friends? RantWoman has had the honor of attending meeting for Business for both Salmon Bay and South Seattle Meetings? RantWoman has been impressed by a number of things. Both Meetings worked with the NPYM minute on ending racism. Both Meetings are clear they want to commit to specific actions and not just write pretty words. Both meetings generated clear minutes of action and are acting on their intentions. Both Meetings also included clear statements about engaging beyond the boundaries of their Meeting with community or neighborhood or other faith communities. RantWoman thinks there might be something in this history for asking whether Friends from other Meetings might also be called to witness about police accountability and police reform. Here RantWoman specifically wants to acknowledge the Light and leading of a Friend who used to be part of UFM.  

    At the time this Friend started attending South Seattle Friends, UFM including RantWoman really had no capacity to help nurture the Friend's leading to work on racial justice. RantWoman deeply appreciates how Friends from South Seattle and from the FGC ministry on racism have helped support and nurture this specific Friend's work. RantWoman thinks that police reform / abolition is important to talk about and that Friends may more simply be called to work for racial justice in ways that develop societal growth to minimize need for police..

WTO

Please bear with RantWoman's need to dodder on about events from the past and fairly blunt suggestions for the future.

In the hoary mists of last century when RantWoman was clerk of Peace and social concerns and recently when season the minute about starving orcas and public transportation, this kind of social justice minute had three basic parts, some background information, a clear statement to make to the world, and a what UFM commits to do which often included publicize the action in different ways and less often includes specific steps UFM will do. 

RantWoman also specifically notes that the final minute that Business Meeting approved about WTO was VERY different from the version presented by Peace and Social Concerns three months earlier.

The minute proposed for the upcoming Meeting for Business has background info, suggested resources, and a nice words statement those presenting the minute want to make to the world do. RantWoman inquires:

--What REALLY needs to be in background info and a resource list. A set of committee charges might include develop and expand or refer people to good resource list.

--If the goal is to create a committee, why even have a statement to the world yet? RantWoman is certainly not ready to make the statement proposed and RantWoman cannot imagine others are at unity either. But RantWoman believes a lot can be accomplished by simply having a process to engage about some of RantWoman's many questions above.

No one has particularly asked RantWoman for suggestions, but RantWoman will heed the call to ffer anyway: what RantWoman would do:

--In the upcoming Meeting for Business Thresh the feedback so far. Are there points the proposed committee needs to know more about?

--Consider whether to bring a draft minute creating the committee and a proposed workplan to this month's Meeting for Business or to work a month and then bring the minute and a proposed roster to be sent to Nominating Committee.

--If a revised minute is to be brought also offer a proposed resource list and invite Friends to offer suggestions or to speak about parts of their personal work the committee might help nurture.

Just by way of adding to a resources list, 

Aaron Dixon talk and transcript

What do Friends notice from the tape?

 

In LIght and Faithfulness

RantWoman

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.

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

Faces Corona Virus Resurrection? Easter Wade in the water

First some nice bluegrass, not the first thing that leaps to mind for Easter, but...

A couple quips to ease into RantWoman’s inexplicable ability to turn every conversation into something about disability, and 2000 words today to boot:

From somewhere in one of RantWoman’s media streams, “Jesus did not come to die; he came to teach us how to live!”

From one of the regulars on the blind Prayer Warriors call, because RantWoman is fascinated by the different ways people talk about God, “I rebuke the coronavirus in the name of Jesus!”

Faces and reflections from the Draft State of Society report

“RantWoman, why the HELL does it mean so much to see the faces of people in your Meeting even if quite a lot of them would really really would rather not see you anywhere near Meeting for Worship?”

God only knows! God only knows…! But ya know, if Sara Bridgesong connects without either mic or video….

Digression available about facial interaction RantWoman has always been bad at in the first place, has of course gotten worse with midlife issues, and what changes for better or worse with different forms of magnification and other assistive technology. And when RantWoman can see her face in much more detail than the average mirror, WTH happened to that face? But in the land of #StayHome ..whatever, even faces attached to people one might conceivably be irritated with are a blessing.

Digression also available about a similar experience for another Friend. RantWoman simultaneously heard Ambassador Thwack grumble, “look Friend, totally honoring your distress for a few weeks of no faces, and we’re coming up on 15 years of greatly reduced faces for another Friend” and found herself wanting to hug the Friend for nailing real distress

But Dial-a-Tirade available still, yet, again: how very nice for all the people who want points for grieving, don’t assume RantWoman cares about anything but coming to memorials, and in the meantime want to send RantWoman off to worship with strangers. Sure, okay, first YOU DON’T have to do all the things some of you seem to be trying to do and RantWoman is growing less and less patient by the day with  people exhausting themselves doing things that are unhelpful and harmful. There are arms and legs and people who easily get important concepts available.

Plus, if  y’all are planning to die off anyway, and you don’t mind continuing to write State of Society reports only about aging and shrinking…, but RantWoman thinks god is bigger than that. RantWoman is thrilled about things due their own post about working age families and even thinking about how something from Meeting relates in that testimony on integrity way to something outside Meeting, like say work life.

Sara Bridgesong?

Who is Sara Bridgesong? Is she a real person? Is she a cutout? Is she another personage in the trail of personages standing in for RantWoman such as Sensible Auntie, Bad Auntie, and Worse Auntie as well as Ambassador Thwack the badly behaved white cane and anger management consultant? And how is it that RantWoman is able to communicate with Sara Bridgesong? RantWoman will neither or confirm nor deny but does thank multiple people for helping to document continuing problems AND things that roil RantWoman’s soul.…

Sara BridgeSong attended Meeting for Worship and part of Meeting for Business yesterday. RantWoman understands that there have been people appointed to vet RantWoman’s presence and RantWoman is glad to hear aspirations toward transparency expressed in a public meeting.  And after multiple emails about timelines, RantWoman became clear to trust her Light.

RantWoman also seasoned a small temper tantrum:  It was Easter-freaking Sunday. The RantFamily survived without any attempt at family dining via internet and there was no way RantWoman was going to try to say Easter things via the chat. But it was Easter Freaking Sunday.

And RantWoman had a further tantrum in email:  There is no good time to have midlife vision loss, a global pandemic, an insane president, lucha libre among the world's billionaires, African Americans everywhere dying of COVID at 2x their percentage of the general population, the current administration trying to shred generations of civil rights laws protecting people with disabilities, people of color….... But here we are.

RantWoman does not get a break from Vision loss. Of COURSE that is uncomfortable and inconvenient for lots of people but it is just as much a part of life as "I need to see my hair stylist" and "my sister

has cancer" and "oh, I am doing all these other things," particularly now when community is needed more than ever. There are various ways to set bad examples about postponing things indefinitely as opposed to process for working things out over time. And the fact that this has gone on for FIFTEEN

years also has a lot to do with a number of spectacular “great moments in disability awareness!”

No camera. No Mic. Faithfully listening.

But back to Sara BridgeSong There are practical realities behind the path to that attendance; Sara Bridgesong, while swimming in technology, is called to be present with the reality that there are many reasons people have technology that is less than up to the second current.  And sometimes there is merit to embracing those limitations, at least long enough to plow into issues on RantWoman’s mind for other reasons anyway.

As sometimes happens, when a call is clear, reasons for the call also become stunningly clear. But one thing at a time. RantWoman notes a concern below about transparency and will offer specific appreciation.

Disability Awareness

We interrupt to bring echoes of the path in the form of a message from a former clerk of Worship and Ministry who asked to be taken off the mailing list when RantWoman decided that pastoral care committees needed a whole month of Disability awareness materials.  Almost a decade later, after that initial great moment in disability sensitivity, that Friend has gone from wanting off a mailing list to just wanting RantWoman out of sight because that Friend somehow knows what is or is not off-topic for the whole community.  RantWoman is seasoning a possible need to use the word retaliation about this and some other voices!

Sara Bridgesong expressed a leading to listen faithfully in spite of technical limitations. RantWoman also tartly points out that live transcription in the chat is sometimes ONE path to accessibility or inclusion for people with hearing loss or brain injury or other reasons to need transcription. Based on one situation RantWoman is painfully aware of, RantWoman is seasoning a leading to offer to provide that transcription or to suggest that the Friend consider the option of requesting help. RantWoman is in fact grateful that, judging by other information, that Friend has in fact requested help for non-electronic contexts.

Transparency and Integrity

 “There is no Sara Bridgesong in the NPYM directory.”

Friend, do you know anyone else who uses an AKA or one name in one context and another in another. Do you follow the discussion among young adult Friends about membership. Can you think of many reasons someone might know of Quakers but not be listed in anyone’s directory, meaning besides releasing RantWoman from membership without being able to release her from moral obligation to speak?

In private chat to Sara Bridgesong, many cries of “Who ARE you?” RantWoman is given to understand that sometimes people are silently present for months before being clear to identify themselves. RantWoman hopes other seekers are greeted in a more welcoming way and not greeted with this suspicious barrage. RantWoman is also seasoning a need to be cross with one Friend who keeps complaining that RantWoman is getting in the way of “real” work on disability.

“In a public meeting, we would be able to look at and identify a person and we believe in transparency…”

Speak for yourself Friend. RantWoman goes to many meetings where she has no idea who all is present.  Think of Sara Bridgesong’s presence as blindness tourism, like a cruise ship without the #CoronaVirus.

As for transparency, THANK YOU SO MUCH for mentioning it. RantWoman is still clear that she cannot sign onto the lovely Worship and Ministry guidelines without making reasonable accommodations requests and some elaboration about process. Conveniently for RantWoman’s fixations, holding meeting for Business by Zoom is the PERFECT opportunity to work on exactly the topics on RantWoman’s mind and MAYBE to reverse refusal RantWoman has heard too many times of a reasonable accommodation request.

Next, in another great moment of astute handling of disability related matters, well you know, could you consider say sharing with RantWoman  all the reports from the Care and Accountability committee because the committee complained that RantWoman’s understandings of agreements was not the same from one month to the next but the committee never provided more than minimal summaries and consistently refused to address disability issues that bear completely on RantWoman’s ability to fulfil any agreement made.  Transparency about the weekly bulletin, monthly meeting minutes, and posting the announcement about Fourth Saturday worship would also look a lot more like transparency to RantWoman. But, you know…. Then there would be addressing the entire issue of separate but unequal worship and the disproportionate transportation burden imposed on RantWoman when she is expected to go worship with near strangers.

And if you want to get carried away, would you consider addressing RantWoman’s issues with separate and unequal worship? RantWoman hears some expectation about “safety” that is not RantWoman’s only experience of worship. Sometimes Friends are convicted in the Quaker sense, not in the criminal sense of important openings during worship. Sometimes something comes up like auditory accessibility for events that is a whole community’s responsibility even when the weight of words initially falls on one set of shoulders, say because of a Friend’s sense of being previously blown off multiple times by different people about the topic. RantWoman is sorry for how one message came out; RantWoman would SO like there to have been a different message to give.

RantWoman appreciates two Friends, one newcomer for hesitating to pull the electronic plug, and a second for at least saying “wait” long enough for Sara ridgesong to make the point that the first time something is done from a new Faith and Practice really ought to merit particular care in reporting.

RantWoman knows there is a character limit in Zoom chat in the first place and in the second place really wanted to hear and hold in the Light a different discussion. But circumstances still did what is needed: Sara Bridgesong heard two Friends objecting that the draft State of Society had not gone out with the rest of the Business Meeting materials and that they could not be clear to approve it based on one oral reading. Oh, BE STILL ONE’s HEART: other people actually READING what is being worked on and people being able clearly to ask that process be adjusted. RantWoman feels so much less alone just having witnessed that, and it is one of those moments very important to some individuals that might easily be glossed over in minutes.

Maybe if Sara Bridgesong had managed to hold her tongue the State of Society would still have been held over and she would have been there for a second really important discussion, but apparently all those assembled needed to hear the clerk publicly assert that Sara Bridgesong as a newcomer appalled by the events outlined in the State of Society report has no standing to suggest that the report about releasing RantWoman from membership specifically include a statement from RantWoman. RantWoman thinks the words “public accommodation” somehow belong in this discussion and is seasoning how to accomplish some vocabulary lessons. RantWoman is also following the process outlined in Faith and Practice and has sought help and clearness process through Quarterly Meeting Ministry and Counsel.

Things going right, more or less.

On the up side, first let us speak of things going right, more or less.

RantWoman thanks the providers of the most recent survey about NPYM Annual Session 2020 in a form that was completely accessible to RantWoman, no fuss, no muss, no after the fact “Oh I hope it’s accessible” comment provoking RantWoman to write FOUR blog posts about the general problem of small nonprofits thinking about accessibility. Other surveys long have also been accessible. Maybe RantWoman is stuck about the NPYM one because she personally helped lobby to hire the able webmaster who helps tend to such things. Maybe RantWoman is stuck on the NPYM issue because of getting a copy of the newest edition of Faith and Practice in reasonably as opposed to minimally accessible to RantWoman—two days after RantWoman was “released from membership.”

In Light and faithfulness

  RantWoman