Saturday Night in Pandemia with The Justice League, daffodils, riots, tear gas, cockroaches and organic food.

Live from... it's SATURDAY NIGHT (technically already Sunday morning but who's counting?) RantWoman is not under the influence of any substances wackier than ice water and slightly glarfy overly saltybut low fat snacks from the (not very accessible but manageable for RantWoman) vending machine in the lobby of RantWoman's building.

RantWoman reminds her readers of her blog as Quaker journal model of blogging. There are several topics not ripe for blogging. RantWoman may or may not get them actually blogged and therefore may or may not at some future date remember what she was talking about. RantWoman encourages readers to do the best you can to find nuggets meaningful to you.

In honor of day 366+1 since RantMom's debate watching buddy died of COVID in her retirement community, RantWoman could be penning meditations about a year of COVID inconveniently. Stay tuned.

In sync with signs of spring and messages in moer than one worship space, RantWoman could be penning meditations about daffodils, cigarette butts or possibly other more biodegradeable material impeding the enjoyment of daffodils, or about releasing oneself from hopes for a better past in conjunction with the word compost, metaphorically for the moment transformation of something smelly and not wanted into fertilizer in the cycles of life.

In honor of a story time and a picture book and seeing or not seeing, crying or not crying RantWoman could let her keyboard clatter over more than one strand of children and "oh, OWWW," oww's it would definitely be preferable to avoid in the future and other owws that no one is going to be able to avoid completely.

In honor of a moment from the book My Grandmother's hands, RantWoman could write about colorism, a grandmother, and the difference between clean pain and dirty pain, the reality of trying not to pass along negativity while equipping ...by fostering resilience.

RantWoman is going to do none of those things. Instead RantWoman is going to permit her inner snark monster to run wild in connection with various #CapitalRiots themes. Where to start?

Did antifa organize the #CapitolRiots, even indirectly? RantWoman is terribly glad that despite some efforts to seed media streams with this lie, many of the #CapitolRiot suspects are proudly standing up and taking responsibility for their work and saying in various terms "How DARE You assign credit for our (cough) brilliant achievements to antifa?

Besides, if antifa had organized events on January 6, there most likely would have been plenty of masks, clouds of weed smoke, bottles of water, street medics, maybe some inspiring drumming, food stands selling edibles and vegan treats, and flocks of helpers with biodegradeable trash bags moving among the crowd collecting waste.

Or would there be? Permit RantWoman to do a little compare and contrast exercise: over the summer, the thankfully former president called in the national guard and dumped tear gas all over peaceful protestors in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White house so that he could look manly and in charge and hold up a Bible in front of a church. On the other hand when insurrectionists violently breach several layers of barriers and swarm the Capitol building, it took over THREE HOURS from the time a request to call out the national guard to when orders were given to deploy. The reason cited for the delay: optics after public outrage over the summer. Come on! Do not try to fly that hard into RantWoman's BS detector. Just don't.

Here RantWoman digresses to a recent Adult Religious Education session where a Friend told amazing stories nonviolent Quaker witness and humanitarian service. This Friend spoke of always trying to do her actions in a spirit of worship. For example, one Vietnam war protest across from the White house involved 300 silent Quakers. President Richard (very lapsed Quaker) Nixon ordered the protestors arrested. One protestor even wrote the judge about how the Quaker testimony on equality meant that mean of those arrested would not stand for the judge in court. The judge accepted this and a campaign organized by AFSC got everyone released in short order.

But Back to the 21st Century. 

Sen. hawly about investigating techniques involvig various cellphohne and cellphone network parameters. Dude read your user agreements. RantWoman is pretty sure ... 

Likewise surveillance technology and facial recognition software. Convenient that the city can't use. Would they except donations from private citizens, freelance volunteers...

White people go to jail?

After all the investigating gets done, how many prison abolitionists are just going to want to Send the Defendants to Jail For a Long Time? 

And if too many white people get sent to jail and start caterwauling about jail amenities such as cockroaches and non-organic food, will there be a groundswell of voices clamoring to upgrade conditions for everyone?

Never mind that. How many of the rioters will have access  to Alternatives to Violence programs and how will AVP facilitators be able to adapt their curriculum...?

History in White and otherwise

Process? Content? / Tools? Content? / Access? Shareability? Think of the above as some kind of outline or several lenses for finding paths through what RantWoman is going to write.

Tagging this post #WomensHistoryMonth for one thing because the podcast below features the work of NW journalist Leah Sottile, clearly an able journalist and historical recordkeeper.

Even though RantWoman needs to noodle around about what "reading" means for her and how she does or does not absorb information, RantWoman is dead serious about the value of the two items here.

Two resources have come RantWoman's way related to racism in the NW and the white supremacist movement, a phenomenon RantWoman specifically means to distinguish from the general societal soup of white supremacy we all swim in 

--An episode of what seems like a very cool podcast

Militias, White Supremacy, and the US capitol Insurrection

--Blunt assessments of many contemporary realities 

--History most of which RantWoman has lved through but stunning when laid out event to event.

George Bush; the one who launched a Puget Sound Settlement

Tools ?  / Content?

Does RantWoman have the necessary device and connectivity--and additional adeptness with accessibility tools to be able to consume the content?

Is the content available in pathways that operate in RantWoman's tools / connectivity / skills environment?

True confession: RantWoman does not really know how to deal with podcasts. Also RantWoman kind of thinks it would be cool to keep her hand-me-down iPad as a media device for ebooks, podcasts, and of course email and the raw internet. So far RantWoman is barely fluent enough in iOS and Voiceover to get close to this aspiration. RantWoman probably needs to find a person geeky in the right flavors of technology and just hang out with them. But in the meantime, check out the above items.

Judi Dench discusses working while losing her sight

 #WomensHistoryMonth

Judi Dench discusses working while losing her sight: 'I've had to find another way'

One thing she's not doing is hiding out; Dench says she'll continue working.

Feb. 26, 2021, 3:25 PM EST / Source: TODAY

By Randee Dawn

Dame Judi Dench has been a presence on TV and film screens for 60 years, and at 86, she's not planning to stop acting anytime soon.

That enough would be inspiring, but Dench is currently battling an issue that makes it positively extraordinary: She's losing her vision.

Currently suffering from age-related macular degeneration, which affects nearly 11 million people in the United States, Dench recently told The Guardian that while she may have to adjust her life and work styles, she's not going to retire.

"You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult," she said. "I've had to find another way of learning lines and things, which is having great friends of mine repeat them to me over and over and over again. So I have to learn through repetition, and I just hope that people won't notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!"

The petite, white-haired, no-nonsense actor is familiar to American audiences from her turns in films like "Shakespeare in Love" (for which she won her Oscar); "Mrs. Brown," "Victoria & Abdul," "Skyfall" (and several other modern James Bond films) and "Philomena," among others.

She's also delighted us in recent years by getting a tattoo at 81 and being the oldest person on the cover of British Vogue at 85.

The loss of her sight, Dench explained, appears to be genetic: Her mother also had some sight loss; her daughter, Finty, "goes and has her eyes checked" regularly. 

Still, she noted what she considers an upside: "It does enable you to do one thing and that is that you have to get very close to people before you can recognize who they are. During lockdown I made a film and I was up close addressing people wearing masks during rehearsals, nothing to do with any scene I'm in. It's kind of exquisite if you can do that and that's the good side of it, and you have to look at that side of it."

And you have to admire that Dench can even laugh a bit at the way her body is changing.

"I was doing 'The Winter’s Tale' with Ken Branagh a couple of years ago, playing Paulina, and after we had been running for three weeks or so at the Garrick (Theater) he said to me — I have a long speech at the end — he said: 'Judi, if you were to say that speech about eight feet to your right, you'd be saying it to me and not to the (proscenium) arch," she said.

Then she laughed: "I rely on people to tell me!"

https://www.today.com/today/amp/tdna210187

Judi Dench Wikipedia article

Did readers know, without using the search bar on this blog, that Dame Judi is a QUAKER?

RantWoman could just leave this moment of admiration for Dame Judi here and leave things at that. But since when has RantWoman been known to quit just because everyone else thinks she should. Instead RantWoman needs to riff, yes again, on a number of topics.

Long ago in a previous Meeting effort to talk about disability, RantWoman made a list of 13 people in Meeting dealing, some more openly than others with vision lost. Three were women in their 90's all suffering from Age Related Macular Degeneration. They have all since passed on. And yet, blindness...? Meeting Conversation...?

RantWoman wishes Friends to consider a number of terms, some of which have gotten repeatedly edited out of Meeting conversation by well-meaing ableds who think they knoew better than RantWoman does about what needs to be said.

--Vocational Rehabilitation, ie what changes and accommodations are needed so a person can continue to work or to do new work?

--Spiritual accompaniment or walking alongside: if there are things that no one can fix, now what? 

--Inspiration porn. Okay, okay, RantWoman has not been trying to use the term "inspiration porn" but uh, one form of ableism, when say a journalist, eve n a very well-meaning one about "oh, wow, someone can do something I think is impossible..."

RantWoman will now return to admiring Dame Judi for all the reasons there are to admire Dame Judi and try to dial her own inner blowtorch to somewhere below "singe" about matters of blindness closer at hand.

Thought streams of the day.

The #Pandemic

RantMom planned to eat breakfast and lunch as well as dinner in her retirement community's dining room today. RantWoman still cannot go visit indoors. Also even though RantMom yearns to break out and do a little shopping, she has a painful Just Take It Easy for Awhile tendon injury in her leg. So phone it is and cat photo text messages and goofy emojis still.

Media streams invite reflections on #TheMoment when the pandemic became real for RantWoman: somewhere between when RantWoman read a Seattle Times article about RantMom's debate watching buddy and the bus trip where RantWoman got the call about RantMom's positive #COVID test results. There is more to say but on the whole, the RantFamily has been VERY lucky so far. Everyone but RantWoman has gotten vaccinated. RantMom cleared the virus after a few weeks and everyone else has tested negative whenever necessary. We count our blessings.

#Nisqually20 #NisquallyQuake

Where were you when the earth rumbled? Again, the RantFamily was lucky. RantWoman and Ferrener HUsband were living in a new construction condo. Ferrener Husband was practicing driving; RantWoman initially feared he might have driven the car through the garage to the back yard, but then the second wave hit. Ferrener Husband went to work and as soon as RantWoman heard the Aurora Bridge was safe she headed out on the bus to check on siblings. The building Little Sister was living in suffered some damage that was going to need a capital campaign to repair but was still habitable. Infant Nephew rode out the quake in a stroller while Little Sister showered. 

RantWoman and RantBrother both travelled to check on Little Sister. The 3 RantSiblings hung out together and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. The TV was on very loud in English and everyone now and then someone would explain or interpret in Chinese. The most available communication device: an alpha pager good for 500-character emails. RantWoman pinged an aunt with RantMom's work phone number to say everyone was okay; RantMom had gone home to try to call.

What RantWoman Really Means to Memorialize: Nuclear Victimes Remembrance Day the 67th Anniversary of the Castle Bravo nuclear test.

This was the largest nuclear test conducted in the Marshall Islands. 

RantWoman had the good fortune to be able to fit a commemorative Zoom event into her schedule. For the moment, RantWoman is just going to seed theconversation with the event title  to go look for the event video and then dump some speaker bios from the chat and random notes here.

Benetick Kabua Maddison is the Project Specialist for the Climate, Education and Nuclear Issues at the Marshallese Educational Initiative. He was the Keynote Speaker at the 12SL Annual Conference in 2019 about climate change and has spoken at a number of other conferences on climate, nuclear, and Marshallese youth issues. He is also an advisor for Reverse the Trend. Benetick is enrolled at NWACC and resides in Springdale, Arkansas, after having relocated with his family from Majuro Atoll. Benetick’s family lineage represents the Ralik Chain, which includes Bikini Atoll.

n 2016, H.E Ambassador Kabua was appointed as the Permanent Representative of the Marshall Islands to the United Nations. In this critical role, she represents the Marshall Islands and acts as a primary channel for communications between the Marshall Islands government and the United Nations. Prior to her appointment, in 2009, H.E Ambassador Kabua served as Ambassador to Fiji. From 2003 - 2009, she was the Field Service Consultant to RMI’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1997 - 03, she served as Ambassador to Japan.

UN Protectorate Administered by the US. UN allowed 54 tests over objection of the Marshallese people

2021 NPT Meeting

memory mourning sadness but also own rather than let it own us, uphold pursuit of justice and action for the future.

Consul-General Eldon Alik

In September 2017, Mr. Alik was appointed Consul General for RMI in Springdale, Arkansas. As Consul General, Mr Alik plays an instrumental role in promoting the socio-economic interests of Marshallese citizens in Arkansas and Midwest areas. Prior to Mr Alik’s appointment he was a leading member of the Marshallese community having participated in various areas of public life. He was an interpreter for State Courts and Federal Government agencies, Life Guide for the Center for Intercultural Organizing that organizes educational seminars for Marshallese migrants, and as an Enrollment Assister for Northwest Family Services that helps people enroll in the Oregon Health Plan programs. Mr. Alik owns 'EA Cleaning', where he employs 17 Marshallese.

MEI ‘Nuclear Legacy' webpage: https://www.mei.ngo/nuclear

MEI Nuclear Legacy Poster: https://426595d0-b8d0-474b-8711-627ff1c2b4ef.filesusr.com/ugd/503583_3cd2488704cf4cf196b2f8d9c7948a81.pdf

‘No Promised Land: The Shared Legacy of the Castle Bravo Nuclear Test’ by April L. Brown: https://426595d0-b8d0-474b-8711-627ff1c2b4ef.filesusr.com/ugd/503583_f68ab8c447a740e48c59cfa3f5eb8e12.pdf

From Julianne Walsh to Everyone:  05:34 PM

Kommol, CG Alik.

From Jim Haber to Everyone:  05:34 PM

Very heartfelt, all of you. Thank you.

jellyfish babies

Springdale AR

Dr. Ivana Hughes

Dr. Ivana Hughes is the Director of the K=1 Project, Center for Nuclear Studies at Columbia University. She is also the Director of the Frontiers of Science, and a Senior Lecturer in Discipline in the Department of Chemistry at Columbia. In her work leading the K=1 Project, Ivana combines an interest in global issues with her deep commitment to teaching and mentoring undergraduate students with different academic backgrounds on topics at the intersection of science and society. Ivana's responsibilities lie in overseeing the operations and programming of the Center.

From Emma Locker to Everyone:  05:47 PM

Hi Marsha, it is being posted on our youtube channel. We will keep attendees updated.

From Pegasus Collonge to Everyone:  05:47 PM

thank you Yout Excellency

Dr. Tilman Ruff

Dr. Tilman Ruff AM is a public health and infectious diseases physician. He is the co-founder and Australian Chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and since 2012, he has been the Co-President of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). Dr. Ruff has been instrumental in building momentum towards banning nuclear weapons. Specifically, he played a critical role in the negotiations on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Christian N. Ciobanu is the Policy and Advocacy Coordinator for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He has been an activist in the field of nuclear disarmament since 2010. He has organized events for youth and diplomats in Geneva, Vienna, and New York. He is one of the coordinators for Reverse the Trend: Save Our People, Save Our Planet.

He helped the Permanent Mission of the Marshall Islands in monitoring nuclear disarmament affairs at the 2015 NPT Review Conference, 2015 First Committee of the UN General Assembly, and 2017 UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination.

How best to support the Marshallese people

safe online space for young Marshallese 

Reverse the Trend

Share testimony on why nuclear weapons should be banned

Women's History Month: Masai Women, solar panels

 RantWoman intends to observe #WomensHistoryMonth by highlighting practical ways women specifically, in their roles as women in their societies, are making practical down-to-earth contributions to the fight against climate change and for our collective futures.

This resource came to RantWoman via The No Arks News, a project whose public face is still evolving. 

Masai Women tote solar panels on donkeys

This project is not specifically Quaker. RantWoman encourages readers to sign up for updates on this and other green development projects through the Thompson Reuters foundation while on the article page..

RantWoman also hopes this post will help the No Arks News project, which is explicitly Quaker, flourish

Nelson Mandela, the Black Panthers and Disability Rights

RantWoman, you want to get one last #BlackHistoryMonth post out of your system. You want to post a link and just exclaim "Isn't it cool that NBC News has evolved enough to run this story. Why ya gotta go to South Africa first?

RantWoman's knowledge of the nuances of South African society in different eras is defined remembrances when Nelson Mandela died, by South African Quaker leader Dudu Mtshazo, and by Trevor Noah, his Book Born a Crime, and his comedy. Don't forget Paul Simon and LadysmithBlack Mbazo and Diamonds on the Souls of their shoes or one book on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In other words, RantWoman has enough for some metaphors to illustrate her points and other than that much to maintain lifelong learning and endless curiosity about.

Early in Mandela's career, he and others in the African National Congress, ANC did a great deal of diplomacy, reaching out to other African countries at a time when popular culture commentary in the US focused a lot on Cold War terms, much less on countering colonialism or listening to the needs and priorities of different African countries. RantWoman thinks this level of diplomacy is much to be admired. Period. Query: why would RantWoman possibly be bringing up this kind of diplomacy, reaching across boundaries?

Nelson Mandela was still on the US terrorist watch list when he was released after 26 years in prison for opposing the South African regime. The evolution of this image and of US policy is only one part of the recent history of post-apartheid South Africa. Query to justify this digression: what relationships might need to grow or evolve?

Dudu Mtshazo, when she was NPYM Friend in Residence in the late 1990's spoke of 3 categories of people in post-apartheid South Africa, people who went into exile, people who got sent to prison, and people who managed to stay and stay out of prison. Dudu's form of resistance was to violate pass laws so that people of different races could pray together.

Query: Where do readers suppose RantWoman might be going with this?

Now to the article, with special note to look up more about the Black Panthers involvement in the disability rights movement leading up to enacting of the ADA.

NBC News item about Black History and Disability

Queries: do readers suppose that some of the erasures and ableism and closetedness mentioned are unique to people of color? RantWoman does not want to minimize or erase; RantWoman does want readers to consider what needs and emotions might be at work in different situations touched on in the article.

T Vail Palmer memorial March 13, 11am Pacific Time

News of Quaker theologian T Vail Palmer's passing came to rantWoman via Twitter while RantWoman was attending a Ben Lomond center virtual workshop about Quakers and the Internet. News of a memorial has also come to RantWoman via Twitter.

RantWoman is sharing this post both as invitation to remember this weighty Quaker and with an excursion about what is or is not available via the internet and in formats accessible to RantWoman. RantWoman does not at all mean the latter realities to detract from celebration of a life well-lived. RantWoman will post separately to expand on many threads touched on here.

 T Vail Palmer Virtual Memorial Signup Details

T Vail Palmer page at Barclay Press

Amazon link for Face to Face Early Quaker Encounters with the Bible

Not available through Amazon in E-Reader format

So far no one has created a Wikipedia page and doing so is far beyond RantWoman's Light

RantWoman can check:

--Barclay Press directly for an eBook

--NLS BARD for audio recording

--Reading Ally for audio recording

--Bookshare RantWoman unclear about pathway to alternate format.

Or RantWoman may do none of these, read some reviews, see what conversations happen and then figure out something about having someone read aloud.

In Light, faithfulness, memoriam