Reminder to Self for Next Year

RantWoman's life is full and her brain is still full of the kind of loose threads that make it difficult to be sure her brain has returned from Annual Session.

Memo to self:
Next year when you register for annual session, just use the Notes Section and list as follows:
1. As a reasonable accommodation for RantWoman who cannot read regular print, especially print that is hanging on walls, please post all state of society reports to the Annual Session webpage, preferably before the beginning of AS.

[RantWoman this year is grateful to have received the State of Society reports fairly early in Annual Session and one in particular for a fond and tender personal reason even though it involved mention of recovery from a broken hip.]

2. As a reasonable accommodation for RantWoman who does not read print and because epistles from other Yearly Meetings all seen to arrive by email either as web links or separate emails / files, please post the epistles to the Annual Session webpage preferably before the beginning of Annual Session.

[RantWoman received emails providing either electronic copies of or links to this year's epistles a couple days AFTER the end of Annual Session. RantWoman sometimes likes to suggest that the Daily Bulletin editor excerpt a paragraph or two in the Daily Bulletin. RantWoman also sometimes likes to reflect on whether or not other Quaker bodies have similar problems. And furthermore, RantWoman is just peeved with the clerk of epistle committee on other grounds to begin with. (How many times does RantWoman have to tell you, it gets REALLY tiresome when you complain about being overwhelmed AND turn down RantWoman's REPEATED offers of help. RantWoman does NOT apologize for needing to make this requestion. So next year, RantWoman will ask IN ADVANCE in plenty of time for SOMEONE to .. please do te best SOMEONE can to get the epistles from other Yearly Meetings and Quaker gatherings posted on the NPYM website before Annual Session.]

and while we are on the subject

...of epistles

...of rendering invisible

...of RantWoman's overabundance of things to fly off the handle about.

The link to the 2015 epistle http://npym.org/?q=content/2015-npym-epistle

RantWoman calls readers' attention to the opening paragraph:

"Friends from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana gathered in the sunshine among the ponderosa pine trees at a university campus in Spokane, Washington, from July 15 – July 19, 2015 for the 43rd Annual Session of the North Pacific Yearly Meeting."

"at A university"? WTF????

RantWoman was told "well, we are not advertising the university?"

Did not the site committee deem it suitable?

Can you not fathom that maybe someone reading the epistle might have visited the Whitworth campus and have fond associations as they read of NPYM's experiences there?

Can you fathom the possibility that someone like RantWoman might really appreciate the names of places as aids to keep straight memories of the good the mediocre in the realm of accessibility? More than once at Annual Sessions RantWoman has had to wander into university tech support; RantWoman can tell you it matters a great deal with the tech support staff deals easily with accessibility software. RantWoman is also happy to tell anyone who asks that sometime venues are cheap because they have not invested in needed accessibility upgrades. RantWoman is not opining about architectural accessibility at this year's site, Whitworth University. RantWoman is simply bearing witness AGAIN to the point that sometimes little things matter a great deal, and RantWoman refuses even to apologize for needing to bless our body being nearly insufferable about her concerns!

Why I Worship With Other Kinds of Quakers

RantWoman is certain the world will want to hear from Rantwoman even if RantWoman is indisposed, for instance because of participating in NPYM Annual Session. RantWoman thinks the video below will be stunningly on point during Annual Session this year.

Birthday Party by Blog!

RantWoman has decided the internet is going to have to celebrate her birthday whether or not RantWoman herself actually shows up to any in-person celebrations.

On RantWoman's birthday she will be:

--probably showing up at a city council hearing in connection with a project for The Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing. Oops. Scratch that. DELEGATED!!!!

--travelling to NPYM annual session.

--Fondly remembering a beloved and now deceased weighty Friend speak about one birthday party for her oldest daughter. As Weighty Friend told it, at some point in the middle of the party, she wondered where the guest of honor was and discovered that Guest ofHonor had slipped away to her room to read for awhil. RantWoman can SO relate. And here's some awesome rock and roll in case anyone needs music to slip away by.

Great is thy faithfulness: Marking anniversaries.

If RantWoman chews too hard into the text of this hymn, all kinds of things might squirt out. Nevertheless, it gets to set the scene for the reflections below the video link.




RantWoman is inventorying her year's major anniversaries, partly because some of them fall in the same time frame as Annual Session.

April
--2005: RantWoman moves into present housing situation. Ten years is ten years. A lot has happened....

June:
--1985 RantWoman's great grandmother and sole surviving great grandparent dies
--1985 RantWoman graduates from college.
--1995: The fondly remembered mother of the RantChildren's piano teachers passes away.
--1995: RantWoman and RantMom go to Banff, site of an aunt and uncle's honeymoon. At RantMom's family runion, RantMom has walking pneumonia and is stressed from being with RantDad as his time runs down. This time RantWoman has completely uneventful encounters with Canada Customs.

July
--2005: RantWoman has first Grab the Blind Person and Bless Them mobility fight with .... RantWoman is still sore about the entire issue. One thing RantWoman is sore about: the ONLY person who gets some key parts of what RantWoman is sore about is....
--2005: RantMom has last cancer surgery, on RantWoman's birthday. RantWoman flies to MT the next day to hang at the hospital and listen to the Soothing Channel.
--1995: RantDad passes away. RantWoman gets news by phone and cannot even summon words to explain situation in person to people at work. Thank heaven for email. Memorial is full of music; RantSiblings cope tolerably.
--Beloved Family Friend flies in from DC in time both to attend RantDad's memorial and to participate, out and flaming in his 40th high school reunion.

August?
--1995: the Queen of Meow comes to live with RantWoman. The Queen of Meow was born on the RantChildren's piano teacher's property and probably grew up listening to Mozart. She came to RantWoman via Little Sister's studio and a household that split up and went off to graduate school in New York. The Queen of Meow stuck with RantWoman through a total of 5 living situations with many stories and escapades.

September:
--2005: RantWoman has surgery for second detached retina. RantWoman probably already had the detached retina while in MT looking after RantMom but vision in the affected eye is such that RantWoman did not figure out the problem until she returned. Surgery meant that RantWoman could not fly back to MT as planned to hang with RantMom for part of chemo and raditaion. RantWoman DEEPLY appreciates RantMom's siblings for stepping in.

November or December?
--1995: The RantChildren's beloved piano teacher passes away. There is mention of AIDS but no one has any path to certainty.