The Bravest Woman in Seattle

WARNING: the item below is EXTREMELY graphic and upsetting.

Put "South Park rapist" into the search engine of your choice and ease in slowly if you must read.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-bravest-woman-in-seattle/Content?oid=8640991


A Weighty Friend in RantWoman's Meeting was n the jury pool for this trial for awhile. All RantWoman knows to do is to pray for everyone who has to go through this.

Peculiar Invitation

Dear Seriously Weighty Friends

So, um, I am decompressing from everything to do with recent Meeting for Business figuring out what I need my clearness committee to help me debrief about.

I am resisting the temptation to send email several directions without running things through the sarcasm filter several times.

I am meditating about what to blog about and what of certain emails I might be led just to dump into blog posts. This inclination is likely to be limited by time constraints, but...

And I have a problem: there are several seriously weighty friends who might come up in, um, challenging terms. My blog convention is as much as possible to use Noms De Blog for lots of reasons. Characters may
appear under more than one name. Most of the time characters have not been offered a choice about what nom de blog I assign, but I decided to experiment this time:

--Promising NOT to blog is not likely.

--I do not guarantee that either of you will appear but if you do, you deserve noms de blog.

My question: do you have the slightest interest in choosing the nom de blog for which I offer comments OR
 Are you content to see what I come up with?

How are you led?

In the Light

RantWoman




RantWoman penned the above inquiry to two seriously weighty Friends in the same household. One wants to preview choices before posts occur. The other told RantWoman to pick. At first RantWoman did not have clear leading but then an option occurred.

In both cases, the Seriously Weighty Friends are among several engaging in several annoying behaviors which, among other things, RantWoman in froth at the mouth mode has no problem calling ableism. RantWoman would have to choose serial noms de blog such as Put it Off Until It's More Convenient Friend #1, #2, #3, Make Decisions on My Behalf Friend #1, #2, #3 or, in Quakerese Are We Seasoning the Right Question Friends #1, #2,...#n, #n+1

RantWoman understands perfectly well the point about respect for people's time but examining the point caused RantWoman in Be True to Your Light mode to apply to bracing effect to recent events and her own time. RantWoman is grateful for what arose.

RantWoman is also grateful for Seriously Weighty Mentor Friend who responded as writing drew out more points RantWoman needs to articulate. RantWoman is also grateful that such efforts sucked up time RantWoman might be inappropriately tempted to use to ill effect. RantWoman is VERY humble about the degree to which her soul needs HELLLLP right now and even more tender about what is flowing her way.

Alas, RantWoman also understands why, on a recent survey about the experiences of people with disabilities, she was checking "Would Rather Not Answer" uncomfortably often on the survey section about her faith community.

Opportunity

RantWoman needs a convention to link a series of posts about the latest in RantWoman's interactions with Quaker process, conflict resolution, deliberate or inadvertant mentoring, and the nominations cycle. RantWoman has decided that these will be tagged Charm School.

To assist RantWoman in documenting movements of spirit or otherwise among various Seriously Weighty Friends and Friends in Key Roles, RantWoman is going to need a whole bunch of Noms de Blog. RantWoman is meditating about whether to invite the Friends in leading roles (multiple senses definitely intended) to choose their own Noms de Blog or just to do it for them. RantWoman is leaning toward the latter. Hold the matter in the Light.

RantWoman is also:

--Holding Friends who complain that RantWoman sends too much email in the Light. Now some of them have assumed new roles where they are in line not only for the seethings that churn up after committee meetings but also the seethings that churn up from Business Meeting. Congratulations. Cope!

--Seasoning sort of febrile rants about:

--Money, and a shortage thereof

--The fact that it took a certain committee THREE MONTHS of committee time last year to come back to unity that, golly gee, it really is okay to ASK FOR MONEY after worship. Quaker Meeting is one cause RantWoman has NO problem asking for money for. Do you think it was RantWoman prolonging dialogue?

--Gosh gee, if you all had not spent so much time talking about RantWoman, not talking TO HER, and running processes that exclude her voice, maybe we could do something that opens us up to the spirit and the cash flow of new seekers. But what does RantWoman know?

Fan Mail

Dear (RantWoman)

Just to let you know we're holding you in the light. This was a good chance for us to see meeting in action in a way that was unusual! and You stood up for yourself with clarity, persistence, and character. We admire you and wish you well. Your friends,

Greatly Esteemed and Wonderfully in Love Older (than RantWoman at least) couple.


Dear Greatly Esteemed Couple

THANK YOU so much for your kind words.

It felt very right to do what I did.

Probably in a few days I will also be glad to be liberated from a truly dysfunctional committee obligation.

I also REALLY appreciated the presence of everyone who stayed.

THANK YOU.

In the Light.

(RantWoman)


Queries posed in the course of RantWoman's latest tango with the Nomination Cycle.

How is the Spirit moving among us?

What is not working about a certain committee and will summarily deleting RantWoman fix the problem?

(In light of numerous indications of disrespect, should RantWoman have her head examined for even asking people to try again?)

How is RantWoman called?



RantWoman has once again been more than overfulfilling plan about drama in Meeting for Business. Today's particular overfulfilment comes with layer after layer of ableism, ineptitude, patronizingness, and sincerely appreciated holding in Love.

(If things are this bad among people who know and love RantWoman, just think about....)

RantWoman expects in a couple days she will be grateful to be liberated from a TRULY dysfunctional activity.

RantWoman expects she will be grateful no longer to be expected to accommodate everyone else's children and music and travel plans while no one even engages about accommodating RantWoman's need for orderly schedules, documents emailed in a timely way, a certain amount of trial and error about conduct of meetings.

RantWoman hopes it will shortly be easier to hold in the Light numbers of persons who clearly need it if only for not being able to extend forebearance reciprocally.

RantWoman is grateful to have articulated a NUMBER of points on her mind even if the dear people who hung in there are mostly elderly and unlikely to interact much with RantWoman's exact fixations. RantWoman is grateful that the day's recording clerk tends to write drafts on the more expansive side.

RantWoman's summary of the events leading up to todays drama overfulfilment are still bulging in Inner Blowtorch mode n RantWoman's email. RantWoman gets to be grateful that, although no one is likely ever to pay RantWoman for turning her email into a retrospective, RantWoman certainly has the vocabulary to tack on some voc rehab and make your own job terminology and count such ranting as part of her work activity. Once again, RantWoman would not mind a different basket of gratitudes.

Blog posts that solidified RantWoman's leadings:
http://johanpdx.blogspot.com/2011/06/political-correctness.html


http://thegoodraisedup.blogspot.com/2011/06/plenary-session-of-northern-yearly.html

Spiritual Sharing

RantWoman is making a hobby of collecting items about the HOW of various Quaker spiritual practices. Today's topic is worship sharing which in RantWoman's world also gets called Spiritual Sharing, Home groups, and various permutations with other activities attached.

Here is a link from FGC on the topic.

http://www.fgcquaker.org/ao/toolbox/worship-sharing

Contrary AGAIN

Spin Doctor: RantWoman, your Meeting is the mother ship for half the Meetings in your Yearly Meeting. Why the heck you gotta write about this stuff all over your blog?

RantWoman: RantWoman is really glad this item is appearing in her Meeting's weekly bulletin. RantWoman is really grateful that the Meeting environment does not rely only on "Everybody knows that...." Still, just because we all mean well, does not guarantee... Judge for yourselves.


Clearness Committees for All: Reminder! Is your life too hectic for one more thing? Are you a bit self-conscious about asking some friends to focus on you for an evening? Can’t think of a momentous decision to mull over with a clearness committee? Lighten up!
Imagine an evening with a couple of friends helping you think through some things about your life, kind of a massage for you your soul. We now have over 30 wonderful people willing to facilitate clearness committees. Over 15 people have taken advantage this opportunity in the last year or so. Reports from the sessions are glowing! A Friend got very helpful, clarifying questions to help her think about retirement. And a member of her committee said it was wonderful, she felt so much closer to the friend seeking clearness. With all the crises we are facing, let’s support each other in finding clearness in dealing constructively and lovingly with them. We trust that this process will give encouragement and support to our members and attenders to take stock of how we live our lives as Friends, to think creatively about the challenges we face and to bring our community closer together. To get started contact a member of Oversight Committee. They will each have a list of clearness facilitators. Oversight Members include...


So WHAT is the problem?

Maybe RantWoman is just especially lugubrious. Or maybe RantWoman's life is too full of Jerry Springer / Caso Cerrado / telenovela moments.

RantWoman is imagining opening questions like:

--Is globalization sending your entire industry offshore?

--Are you worried about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult in your life?

--Is a member of your household being stalked by a mentally ill person?

--Have you experienced a life-changing medical event?

--Are you seasoning a leading toward Quaker service in a far-off war zone?

Lighten up! Have a clearness committee!!!!


Full disclosure: RantWoman currently HAS a clearness committee that is proving great help about RantWoman's need to get in people's faces in connection with vision loss. RantWoman's clearness committee also has members who help grapple with the point that the RantWoman of today is a kinder gentler, considerably mellowed out version of what must have been a pretty insufferable more youthful RantWoman. Urk. RantWoman is VERY grateful. RantWoman hopes the experience is rewarding for others, but to be honest, RantWoman is so grateful for the help that she feels no obligation as far as the quality of the experience for others.

Are we being faithful

Post about welcoming to Meeting for worship and diversity.

Comments ROCK


http://quakerclass.blogspot.com/2011/02/welcome-and-ministry.html