Fresh Pond Minute on Corporate Support of Individual Ministries

Blog as filing cabinet item, stored here for ease of finding again even if interesting discussion ensues elsewhere.

Fresh Pond Monthly Meeting Minute on Corporate Support of Individual Ministries

http://nefriend.neym.org/FreshPond-SupportingMinistries.html

In the comments stream further detail from New England Yearly Meeting
http://www.nyym.org/leadings/PYM.htm

You, dear readers, were hoping to get by without a trademarkRantWoman tirade????

Sorry!

Not that sorry.

Cope!

First gratitudes at least:
1. RantWoman is rabidly, madly deeply grateful that these items are available in forms accessible to RantWoman.

2. RantWoman's experience is that God is bountiful, sometimes more bountiful than Friends know what to do with. RantWoman wonders whether some people find the labor-intensive aspects of Quaker mutual support sort of draining sometimes.

3. RantWoman is very interested to know what practices Fresh Pond Monthly Meeting uses to ensure a good pool of people for clearness and support committees.

The rest of these comments need to be held in the Light so that SOMEHOW the message will fall where it needs to. Those of fragile, easily rattled sensibilities are invited to stop reading and hold things in the Light.

What if the number of well seasoned leadings is larger than the capacity of the topical committees?

What if RantWoman is seasoning Leadings on others' behalf: just because some or another Friend cannot  do... does not mean ... does not need to be done.

What if (RantWoman means to write a generalized Live on Planet Earth item for her transit and transportation and eldercare ramblings on her other blog and maybe possibily has in mind not only for instance people who came up in a discussion at a local transit commission but also some Weighty Friends in her own Meeting)?

Hold that thought in the Light, PLEASE

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Advent Week 2

RantWoman, inquiring minds may or may not want to know but they get to find out anyway:

What is thy leading as to Advent Bloggery?

RantWoman's leadings are as follows:

--There are FOUR Sundays in Advent and RantWoman means to try at least to mark all of these, plus or minus a day or two.

--RantWoman's soul is seething with backlogged topics to write of but RantWoman is challenged both by time and by need, overdue, to upgrade personal computer.

--RantWoman's brain is seething with topics which involve her faith community but may or may not be confined to her faith community.

--RantWoman's life is RICH in inclinations to rant at length and may or may not rant only in her Quaker blog.

Please hold both RantWoman and those in the vicinity of the Inner blowtorch in the Light.

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Day 8 Gratitudes and

Gratitude for current struggle
http://nbclatino.com/2013/12/04/film-justice-for-my-sister-becomes-movement-for-eradicating-violence-against-women/

Gratitude: The anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/overview/

Gratitude for struggle: Nelson Mandela, July 18, 1918-December 5 2013.
RantWoman will write minutes today that begin:
"The meeting (conference call) opened with a period of silence and particular appreciation for the life of Nelson Mandela."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25249520

"I was not a messiah but an ordinary man who had become a leadedr because of
extraordinary circumstances."
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
"education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world."




Josh Groban and Aretha Franklin at mandela Day 2009, You  raise Me up.
http://youtu.be/OqUBHTy0PRM

Brenda Fassie, Vuli Ndela with Mandela
http://youtu.be/wFBGeQL6Gzk


Seems the Biblical sins of our fathers visted on the seventh generation may apply among mice exposed to bad smells too. RantWoman apologizes for not having acitation, but since the point is thematic resonance, perhaps her readers and bear with the problem.

And from Johan Maurer
http://johanpdx.blogspot.com/2013/12/myths.html
withs riffs on fathers and sons, peace in the middle east...
The last of 8 nights of Light: RantWoman needs to declare time warp and inner blowtorch blazing in order to come back and riff on the interfaith psychodynamics behind why RantWoman does not have the most positive associations ever with dreidls. It's one of those circumstances that could have come together MANY ways. It just happens that in the realm of the RantFamily dreidls are a fine shorthand. But What's on RantWoman's mind deserves its own space and RantWoman does not want to try to compete with Nelson Mandela.

But in the realm of peculiar gratitudes and love managing gnarly realities, RantWoman is REALLY grateful both for various abuse prevention educational events around her Meeting and grateful that parents show up and interact in much more centerd and informed ways than the Rant Parents ever could. And.....

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Signs? Rush Hour and

Ordinarily RantWoman does not really go for all that "threaten them with hellfire" stuff. However, in the interest of #saveMetroNow #keepusmoving, RantWoman is going to digress SOMEWHAT from her #disasterprep #npm2013 threads and work with some actually existing disasters, the actually existing hell that currently is Puget Sound traffic gridlock. The basic #disasterprep point: if traffic congestion in the Puget Sound is this bad under normal conditions, heaven help us all after an earthquake.


The picture below arrived in RantWoman's blog roll just as RantWoman has been trying to zero in on the high points she means to propagate in connection with the WA State Senate's Transportation Listening Sessions now occurring around WA.

Churchsign: "Keep using my name in vain and I will make rush hour longer." God

In particular, recently RantWoman was called to spend several hours in a room full of people deeply concerned about Roads and Transit.

There were Death by Powerpoint elements: LOTS of small pictures on a couple slides of MANY spots in WA in need of road repair, bridges at risk, etc. There were a couple slides full of more data than anyone wants to try to look at on a Powerpoint slide. Nevertheless, RantWoman will need to make a reasonable accommodations request that the slides be available for accessible consumption in connection with the rest of the hearigs.

The point that sticks hardest in RantWoman's mind right now though: RantWoman listened to LOTS of elected officials, members of chambers of commerce... talk about needed transportation projects. RantWoman listened to SOME voices talking about the importance of transit. Most important, instead of hearing that WA's highly regressive tax structure makes it really, really easy to recruit people for high-tech jobs, RantWoman heard several big employers talk about how traffic gridlock is killing productivity, traffic gridlock is a reason people keep TURNING DOWN job offers.

Hold that thought because RantWoman also heard people with high incomes clearly say they are willing to pay more taxes to have a transportation infrastructure that works! In particular, someone needs to say it: is the state of WA ready to admit that gas tax, MVET, tolls alone will not meet our transportation needs and we need to c-c-c-cons-s-sid-d-d-der an in-n-n-come t-t-t-tax?

RantWoman herself can attest: there was a time in RantWoman's life when RantWoman took more calls from technical recruiters than she does now. RantWoman more than once:

1. THANKED employers for not hiring her because RantWoman did not feel she could safely get from the bus stop to the front door of the workplace especially in the wintertime.

or

2. Suggested that if the recruiter was serious about engaging RantWoman and wanted RantWoman to commute across a certain large lake, the first thing that would need to happen would be to insert another 0 into the proposed salary amount.

Bus connections have improved SOMEWHAT since RantWoman routinely made such demands; now RantWoman also HAS TO leave the driving to other people.

Improved bus connections are a GOOD thing. The bus not only is RantWoman's car, the bus is the family car for RantWoman's entire extended family, RantMom at 75, Little Sister, Brother in Law, Irrepressible Nephew as well as RantWoman. We ALL for different reasons need to leave the driving to other people BUT the bus is still stuck in the same traffic gridlock as everything else!

But back to the sign. God in his / her infinite wisdom and grace has seen to attach the various RantFamily households each to our own house of worship. Remember, the bus is our car. We even manage to worship whether or not the streets are clogged with other traffic. RantWoman is not prepared to evaluate anyone else's use of God's name in vain but RantWoman REALLY, REALLY does not want to spend any longer on the road than absolutely necessary! Word!

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Contagion?

Who do you say I am?

RantWoman hereby celebrates the election of a new Pope, a Jesuit who has chosen his Papal name to remember St. Francis of Assisi's focus on the poor and humble by invoking.....Robert Barclay, educated by Calvinists and Jesuits, ... and John Woolman. RantWoman needs to get a couple Quaker in-jokes out of her system; RantWoman also promises she DOES mean to poke and probe at what the living presence of the Holy Spirit asks of her Meeting or at least of RantWoman.


Furthermore, RantWoman hereby celebrates both Nominating Season and the season of drafting the State of Society Report. "Celebrates" is a peculiar word. RantWoman is wondering whether she has been fed some weird too much of the truth serum of quinoa, guacamole, and 4 stars spicy salsa or whether some stray bedbug left over from last year's contingent has just been scouring her email:



Recent email from....Conflict is a Gift of God Friend:

"We are facing a significant down-tick in participation this winter -- worship attendance is down almost 20% from last winter. "


RantWoman:

Thank you for sharing this concern. I appreciate info about something I would not necessarily have noted.

--To what might we attribute this decline?

--the annual flu / crud being worse than average both in firs instance and in tendency to recur?

--a significant number of Friends called to travel because of deaths in their families, work, pleasure?

--the exhausting barbarity that passes for work schedule for many working age Friends

--the expense and tiresomeness of travel by car or bus

--childrearing, eldercare. grieving, medical events all the matters lurking amongst us trying our spirits right now

--The demands and darned inconveniences of aging. We have many weighty wonderful but rapidly decrepitating elders. Without in the least making any effort, for instance, to ask Rantwoman's permission (Rats. RantWoman would not grant it anyway) many of these weighty souls are beset by hearing loss, rheumatism, Parkinsonism, various forms of vision meltdown, digestive obstructions, dyspepsia, disinclination to leave the house, and multitudinous other distresses. A certain Pendle Hill pamphlet may well go on as to "Hallowing our Diminishments" but what if Friends really need is "Howling about our Diminishments"?

--weird weather?

--people coming once and not feeling led to return?

--People besides RantWoman sometimes feeling bored and stifled by all the beloved Friends in Adult Religious Education who are certain they have things figured out and need to say so instead of listening when some of us don't?

--People afraid of being accosted by someone loudly calling them to the community of coffeemaking?

--People who want other people just to shut up and go make coffee and don't deign to listen about spiritual matters or who demand conversations about spiritual matters predigested according to each person's individual tastes?

--Fear that Nominating Committee will try to draft them for something frustrating that does not feed them spiritually...?

--Something else which has somehow evaded the fog and blur of RantWoman's oh, so limited Light?


Have you considered whether you should also perhaps share your concern with:

--the clerk of Meeting?

--members of Worship and Ministry?

--members of Oversight?

--the clerk of Finance Committee?

--someone on Nominating Committee?

--random people who those listed above do not necessarily talk to



What would YOU have us do about this? Any guesses what others might feel led to do about this?

--Different format activities?

--Weekly invitations on Facebook so that all the people who Beliefnet tells are Liberal Quakers know how to find us? Oh dear. That means presuming we have something to offer a world hungering for spiritual communion. Actual agents of contagion? (See below)

--Potlucks at arbitrary intervals, perhaps featuring random rambling moments from RantWoman's dorky documentary collection, disaster preparedness, other slightly demented entertainment?
--The harangue a month Saturday brunch club?

--some sort of neighborhood based gathering / witness and gardening party

See some of these ideas definitely speak to Rantwoman and RantWoman is having problems finding other Friends who either share her enthusiasm or are willing to be carried along, say for the sheer privilege and delight of hanging out with RantWoman, the joy of walking in the Light....?

Recently RantWoman saw something connected with flu season about infection control and different religious practices including communion. Having read Barclay's Apology last year, RantWoman might offer one comment about infection control through spiritual rather than physical communion, including HOPEFULLY the immune boost from just showing up around one's community.


(Disaster Preparedness Brain also recalls encountering a story of one community whose residents during the 1918 flu epidemic were too scared of contagion to go out and care for each other. Guess which community suffered a much higher than average death rate!)

The Woolman reading group this year is getting a really different spin on infection control and particularly sometimes deliberate exposure to small pox.

Put this all in the salad slicer with someone's definition RantWoman read recently of being an elder as "agent of contagion for the Holy Spirit." What might "agent of contagion for the Holy Spirit look like around our Meeting?

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Epiphany

RantWoman is having one of her spells of getting herself lost in music and not worry one whit about the theology. Plus RantWoman is nostalgic for the arrangements RantDad used to do to showcase all of his music studio on woodwinds AND his children on string AND sometimes perussion or harpsichord. Use you imagination. This was practically before there wasdirt and certainly before there was YouTube.

A simple guitar setting of We Three Kings of Orient are, with lyrics over fairly simple visuals..
http://youtu.be/k8mjRxkMBkE



RantWoman is suddently tired of English

Los Reyes vienen del Oriente (villancico) Different text , different tune.
http://youtu.be/LAGeraQ_RIc

Los Reyes en Galilea
http://youtu.be/jiDwIKHoQO0

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Billboard. Plain. Not Plain.

RantWoman is unclear which spiritual peregrinations have summoned to the front of her mind....a billboard sponsored several years running by the Montana Gathering of Friends, let alone why she is clear to greet the Christ child with reflections on this billboard. Use your imaginations. Available visuals are limited and incomplete.


The billboard said:


PEACE IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON
Montana Gathering of Friends.



RantWoman finds the thought of really simple unadorned presentation and giant billboard to be delightfully Buddhist, plain and not plain, even flamboyant at the same time.

The billboard was posted above a moderately busy intersection in RantWoman's natal city. RantWoman has not visited the natal city in several years, since RantMom moved to Seattle. RantWoman finds it tremendously important that there have been Quakers in MT for a long time but RantWoman herself, while influenced by a Quaker Auntie figure and also by Friends in natal city, was never actually a Friend while she lived in MT. RantWoman only remembers the billboards from times when she has been a Friend but has not lived in the natal city. Hold these points.

The site of the aforementioned billboard. Use your imagination or just enjoy the blinding flash of light. WHERE did that come from?

https://maps.google.com/maps?ct=reset&tab=ll



While we are on the subject of MT Friends, tidings of various years of Montana Gathering of Friends


The 2013 gathering.
Missoula Friends Meeting and MGoF 2013 announcement
http://missoulafriendsmeeting.blogspot.com/

http://missoulafriendsmeeting.blogspot.com/2009/12/missoula-friends-meeting.html



A fun newspaper writeup of the 2012 session of MGoF
http://billingsgazette.com/calendar/faith/montana-gathering-of-friends/event_a039a7d6-486d-11e1-b71d-001871e3ce6c.html


Margery Post Abbott offering for 2011 MGoF Session
http://21stcenturyquaker.com/?p=162


MGoF Sings song booklet available off Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/MGOFSing-Montana-Gathering-Friends-Quakers/dp/B005A9OH3W

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
RantWoman realizes this might not be your holiday of choice and that Christmas celebration practices have varied widely throughout recent centuries. RantWoman is unabashedly pro-celebration. And in the RantFamily, even the celebration needs to be held in the Light. Sigh.

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Luminarias

RantWoman and Inner Blowtorch are still doing well but not ripe for presentation. It would vaguely occur to RantWoman to see what her search engine might tell he of whether and how Friends in different countries do or do not observe Christmas but RantWoman has decided to let her focus stick to and start with  luminarias.

RantWoman may or may not offer anything on the matter of luminarias vs farolitos. For the moment RantWoman's leading is to let the lights speak for themselves.


Albuquerque, Old Town
A blog called CannonFire, not as problematic as you might think at first glance
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2010/12/red-and-green-thanks-for-christmas.html

Another from Old Town
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/victor/hereandthere/2008/12/christmas-eve-in-albuquerque.html

A blog entry that touches on the farolitos vs luminaria matter
http://penguindroppings.blogspot.com/2012/12/noche-de-luminarias.html



RantWoman's search enginer was hovering over "Las Posadas" when she was interrupted by Little Sister, free to talk because the guys in her house were off on a tamale pickup expedition!

Back to music. Look, okay, very discerning selection from the various collections served up by Youtube is beyond RantWoman's Light. Check out this one as a placeholder and choose one of the alternatives suggested or use your own darn  search engine.
Una hora de villancicos musica la navidad
http://youtu.be/7EisrJAJKGI



A documentary about Las Posadas in Mexico
http://youtu.be/S021tBiTxn4


La Navidad en Guatemala
http://lfyj-g.com/la-navidad-en-guatemala/

This last item is dedicated  to...Irrepressible Nephew and his Abuela Guadalupe whom he has never met, to RantMom and every grandparent who does not quite know what to make of dual=-national grandkids,  to every mixed status family and DREAM Act kid anywhere near a Friends meeting anywhere in this country.

There. RantWoman will now STOP and wish everyone Merry Christmas / Feliz Navidad and save further fulmination for the new year. RantWoman bets Friends can hardly wait.

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Lessons and Carols

RantWoman is messing with the customary Lessons and Carols Form.

RantWoman is pretty sure there is gospel in here somewhere and wishes to be clear that divine guidance and Youtube may or may not overlap, depending.


Some items are only a few minutes; others are whole broadcasts.

But if you can't find something here or within the Youtube six degrees of separation to speak to your condition, please use your search engine your own darn self! Enjoy!


Hanneke Cassel. Childsplay, Strathspey and Reel
http://youtu.be/VH9Z1SEhqmI



Tommy Peoples The Laird of Drumblain / Little John's Hame
http://youtu.be/Ls_UI9Z0Yz0


Aidan O'Donnell teaching Donegal style fiddle
http://youtu.be/bM-YcF4tEbA



De Danann Live at the Embankment
http://youtu.be/tbGEYLOacV4


Traditional Music in Modern Ireland, Documentary
http://youtu.be/4qKaDAD_OAE


Irish Folk Revival, 90 minute documentary
http://youtu.be/39D0J8SzQMA

The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra. The Gay Gordons
http://youtu.be/IQ7MkR3eAes


TheScottish Fiddle Orchestra The Canadian Bairn Dance 2
http://youtu.be/IQ7MkR3eAes


Modulations: History of Electronic Dance Music documentary
http://youtu.be/cveYosINMQM



The Muppets Ringing of the Bells
http://youtu.be/ysIzPF3BfpQ


The Muppets Jingle Bell Rock
http://youtu.be/ai3Tyj13HeU



The Muppets Family Christmas whole show
http://youtu.be/OYV_PA0WHAw



The Spirit of Christmas with the LivingStrings
http://youtu.be/e-VwdEoWFVM



Alegre Navidad
http://youtu.be/ST5On5zqnSo

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Hannukah Flash Mob

And lo' the season of winter festivity fell upon the land and theological / thealogical options for time warp set upon RantWoman's brain.

And RantWoman reads young Quakers who DO advocate distinct days of Thanksgiving
http://lambswar.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-quakers-should-celebrate.html

and who think of thanksgiving every day.

http://www.jonwatts.com/2012/we-dont-need-a-holiday-to-give-thanks/
And RantWoman reads of solstice rituals

http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.com/2012/12/winter-solstice-2012.html

and adds Orthodox liturgical year to her options for hyphenated Quakers

http://johanpdx.blogspot.com/2012/12/more-thoughts-on-hyphen-within.html

and meditates fitfully but without bloggable coherence of Advent on
Can you Believe

and The Lamb's War
http://lambswar.blogspot.com/2012/12/advent-and-empire-of-this-world.html with spiritual digression with thoughts of Metro as mission field and wonderment for the God of the bus and the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven

and digressed to a different Word and Flesh moment
http://lambswar.blogspot.com/2012/11/should-quakers-be-laying-on-hands.html

And lo, tidings of Hanukah penetrated RantWoman's dense skull and  the Lord spake unto RantWoman and the Lord said "search engine hanukah flash mob" and lo, the Lord and the search engine delivered unto RantWoman:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULtglogZbR8

RantWoman has read the accompanying titles. RantWoman suspects that if she knew anything more about the exact organization who produced this video, she might find reason to become apoplectic. Nevertheless, RantWoman is clear to hadd this to this year's theological festival of singing and dancing and to let God handle any brouhaha which might result from theological collisions on her blog.

Coming up next: Presbyterians gone wild?

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After the election: MidWeek Meeting for Worship, and...

MEETING FOR WORSHIP EVERY WEDNESDAY EVENING

6:45 TO 7:45 PM.


University Friends Meeting Worship Room



That of God emanating from NPR informs RantWoman that on Election night throughout the land many houses of worship from the Nazarenes to the Episcopalians will be holding special worship and prayer gatherings. RantWoman's Light based on past post election experience is that such occasions sometimes inspire both seekers and journalists to address the search engine of their choice or, if kind of retro, to call up and ask "what do the Quakers think?" or "What are the Quakers Doing?"


RantWoman thinks that many Friends will be wanting to go to other election night events. RantWoman calls her readers' attention to University Friends Meeting's regular midweek Meeting for Worship at the coordinates above. If any results are the least bit doubt on Tuesday evening, much greater clarity may have arrived by Wednesday!


RantWoman will consult with weightier voices or at least the clerks of key committees about a general and more formal invitation. RantWoman is also clear that God and the authority to note a public invitation already extended are accessible to all.


RantWoman especially invites those who feel led to pray, reflect, celebrate, mourn, lament, howl, yowl, commiserate, yearn, hope, envision.. related to results of the election to consider this worship opportunity.


Note: our worship is unprogrammed expectant waiting on Divine messages. Even if one is certain a message involves howling or yowling, we urge anyone offering a message to ask whatever you call the Divine for help holding at least a few breaths of worshipful silence between messages.



RantWoman further soberly notes:

--An assortment of people believe that the earth is only a few thousand years old and that the Bible is a perfect roadmap for family life.


--A long and embarrassing parade of politicians keeps making angels dancing on the head of a pin pronouncements about rape and conception and abortion and the will of God. These politicians never once ask themselves why the US ranks embarrassingly low among industrialized nations in infant mortality and other measures of maternal and child health or what policy steps might both cut the number of unwanted pregnancies and improve these other indicators.



Our nation needs particular ONGOING prayers, if only because the politicians described above are no less certain than is RantWoman to be speaking for God--and we ALL get to try to work out our problems together. May we all at least pray together. In that vein, why stop at a one-time visit. Y'all are welcome every week too!

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How come there are no men there?

This post has been seasoning for awhile. RantWoman's ordinary saintliness deficit is even worse because it's a squintillion degrees outside. Hold RantWoman--and those around her--in the Light, in front of a fan!
RantWoman thanks Irrepressible Nephew for the concept of a squintillion, defined for purposes of this post as a temperature guaranteed to make Seattleites start melting even if it is considerably hotter elsewhere. At least RantWoman is ALMOST saintly enough to pass up an opportunity to digress about squintillion algebra, whether a squintillion is countably or uncountably infinite and thoughts of additive or multiplicative identity. RantWoman is only that saintly in connection with opportunity instead to rant about...sexism and interrogatories recently from someone in her Meeting about single gender events:


How come there are no men there?
The original reading group that began the Pacific NW Quaker Women's Theology Conferences formed when a bunch of women decided that if the men were not willing to talk across Friends traditions, they would do it as women.
A weighty Friend who desparately needs but has not yet matched up with a suitable Nom De Blog reminded RantWoman of this history.. Seriously Weighty Friend in Need is really not the sort of person RantWoman expects to be so ON about women-only events. But in practically the same sentence, Seriously Weighty Friend was also very eloquent about threads of deep gender-specific sharing in her home group.

But how come there are no men there?
Women keep testing and having no leading to invite them.
But how come there are no men there?
Apparently because you, Friend, need practice staying on RantWoman's list of men smart enough to know there are just things they should not argue with their wives about.
But how come there are no men there?
Look, RantWoman knows you cook and clean and probably are above average for your gender about many qualities, but apparently you still need practice coping. So cope.


But how come there are no men there?
Because there are the following opportunities... for mixed gender and men only events and the following further examples of men-only ... And if God is especially generous, some of the same women organize both the women's conference and mixed-gender events and maybe God willing sometimes content can overlap.


But how come there are no men there?
Look RantWoman went to college with someone who did not bat an eye about simultaneously defending women-only events at the Women's Center and suing the university of all-male eating clubs so why do ymouexpect consistency from RantWoman?.



But how come there are no men there?
Because RantWoman needs you to reflect on the fact that silent and LISTEN contain the same letters!


But how come there are no men there?
Because, bless your heart...!

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God in DC

RantWoman has been seasoning thoughts related to some blog bits about our nation's capital. If RantWoman were to pose her reflections in terms of queries, RantWoman would say "How is one called to live in the light and power... among the gifts and obligations inherent in a specific place?"

Micah Bales
 http://lambswar.blogspot.com/2011/12/holy-spirit-whiplash.html


Jim Wallis
http://sojo.net/blogs/2011/12/29/time-go-deeper?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sojourners%2Fgods-politics+%28Sojourners+God%27s+Politics+Blog%29


On the other hand, if RantWoman were to offer responses, albeit unsolicited to such queries:

RantWoman feels no call to offer Jim Wallis advice during his sabbatical. RantWoman considers the opportunity to interact with the Sojourners community unquestionably an attraction about living in Washington dC. Rantwoman especially appreciates prayer centered on God in connection with much that seems broken in our nation's polarized political paralysis.

Two words: prayer breakfast. RantWoman has NO clue about the protocol for securing invitations to such. RantWoman just knows that there are options.... Where two or more are gathered in my name...

The gift of hospitality: being located in the nation's capital guarantees endless opportunities to help different categories of people connect with overnight lodging: visiting Friends, people who come to town for FCNL events, people who come for other lobbying reasons, as well as demonstrations. One need not overdo hospitality in one's own home to have an endless stream of visitors and opportunities for dialogue, shared tourism experiences, other entertainment.

Staying in touch with your home state: RantWoman's experience is that one never really stops being from somewhere. Sometimes this means one is both blessed and called to interact on that basis. RantWoman has the impression that every state probably has some kind of a club for people from that State. When RantWoman lived in DC, she went with an old family friend to a couple events for people from her natal state. RantWoman ALWAYS met interesting people and had interesting and unexpected conversations she might never have had otherwise.

Mostly, RantWoman thinks, trust your Light also about when it is time to stay in one place for however long one is led to do that.

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Public

RantWoman is meditating about the phrase "attend Meeting for Worship just like everyone else." RantWoman COMPLETELY supports that.

RantWoman is also finding herself grateful that Meeting for Business has interacted with big circumstances in the life of the Friend with the Remarkable Story. RantWoman heard summaries of extensive and very positive evaluations before the Friend with the Remarkable Story was released from prison. RantWoman learned that the Friend with the Remarkable Story is being notably open with his neighbors, even some who post hateful and alarming things on neighborhood blogs. RantWoman heard much that is positive and not a single negative thing about the Friend with a Remarkable Story.

RantWoman heard one Friend grumble "Why does this even need to come to Business Meeting? It's apples and oranges in important respects from the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet." RantWoman and everyone else who spoke said it's an important story and it's important to speak Truth and to be strong in the story.

RantWoman is collecting some items off the internet. RantWoman is clear that a number of people in her Meeting currently have both the capacity to look things up on the internet and enough information to know why one would look things up. RantWoman learned today that some in her Meeting did not have to look things up. Elders may think the blogosphere is a big echo chamber full of middle class people and their computers, but younger families plugged into neighborhood email lists have decidedly other views.

RantWoman is glad that information and inquiries have now come to Meeting for Business. RantWoman is still feeling surprisingly fierce about some points she is seasoning what to do with, but RantWoman would feel fierce about these points with or without the Friend with the Remarkable Story.

RantWoman is clear that many more conversations are probably going to need to happen. RantWoman is clear about her own views, and RantWoman is praying for centeredness as conversations unfold and Light about where to go next.

RantWoman wrote the rest of this earlier including the blog as file cabinet listings. RantWoman does not feel called to edit out the anachronistic elements.

If Quakers ever write an etiquette book RantWoman would be glad to help about a chapter on whether or not it is a social gaffe, if one is not feelng centered enough for where a conversation might go, to "forget" to introduce two people who need to meet, the Safest sex Offender on the Planet and the friend with the Remarkable Story. RantWoman has to be VERY frank: despite being in a unique position about the matter, RantWoman herself is easing in very slowly. RantWoman is clear in her own discernment that immediate reaction is NOT needed about some issues. Rantwoman is also clear that others may not share her view or may need thoughtful discernment to get there.

The Friend with the Remarkable Story introduced himself again during announcements after worship last week. That happens to be one of the weeks each month when the safest sex Offender on the Planet worships at 11:00. The Friend with the Remarkable Story is quite forthright about having just gotten out of prison and about being part of the Monroe Worship Group. At this point in our Meeting's life, there exactly two people attending regularly besides the Friend with the Remarkable Story and his wife who participated in the Monroe Worship Group, RantWoman and.... and only RantWoman was present.

So,when the Friend with the Remarkable Story introduced himself during announcements, RantWoman felt called to rise also. Despite pleas from parents of squirming children for brevity in announcements, RantWoman spoke of the Monroe Worship Group, of how LOTS of Quakers are involved with Alternatives to violence in prisons, but the Monroe Worship Group is unique in terms of inmates getting out and continuing to worship among friends. RantWoman also specifically said she is glad to have the Friend with the Remarkable Story and Mrs. ... Remarkable Story worshipping among us. Neither the Friend with the remarkable Story nor RantWoman have so far felt called to say more of what RantWoman knows there is to say. Thinking more about that problem a day or two later, RantWoman was led to ...the search engine of her choice, and to some links to follow from what turned up!

Understand, in the world of RantWoman and e-torrents, if it's all over the internet, sooner or later either someone else in Meeting is going to notice or someone is going to turn up and ask. Either way, let's hope it's God, not just RantWoman trying to mix PR and centered community discernment.

The nub of the matter, if a set of topics which evoke a whole range of thoughts in RantWoman and about which many in RantWoman's Meeting have so far had no or very little occasion even to think about can be called a nub:

RantWoman never has trouble holding couples living through great challenges in the light!

Sex Offender Registration with various informational links.
http://www.icrimewatch.net/offenderdetails.php?OfndrID=1425116&AgencyID=54473

A bit from the local Fox news affiliate. Rantwoman cannot locate any content except the picture but thinks there musht be some.
http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-daniel-pens-level-3-sex-offender-living-in-ballard-20111020,0,3373116.photo

A blog entry with a range of comments ranging from, to RantWoman's ear, vehement ranting to sensible thought.
http://www.myballard.com/forum/topic.php?id=11650

An important appellate case about treatment programs that encourage offenders to acknowledge offenses they cannot be prosecuted for and whether or not those admissions can be cited as aggravating factors in sentencing.
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/902/1464/164758/

An OLD Letter to the Editor of The Stranger, a local newswekly whose stylebook most assuredly does not eschew the F word and which regularly curls the hair of many readers:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/letters-to-the-editor/Content?oid=6497

The original article about Tamara Menteer and the Whitestone Foundation:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-rape-revisionist/Content?oid=6343

A book review:

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/99_displayNews.aspx

and as previously mentioned:
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/Default.aspx

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October 28 Disabilities Awareness Item

Hi Friends




Today’s posting is all somewhere between work and poetry and translation and being rightly led. If you like, read it fast and think of it as throwing the pot of spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks for whom. The poetry part is mixed in unfortunately. Also it’s pouring rain and I do not know whether I will go out so my fingers have more time to run wild than some days.



Here is DiversityInc’s item from today about Disabilities Employment Awareness Month. It has some statistics I have not read and some other links that look interesting:

http://diversityinc.com/diversity-facts/disability-employment-awareness-month-facts-figures-2/?mgs1=bbee5ZAqcE


someone I know only from interpreter email lists who I will call Blind Poet recently got a job teaching at a new community college.



The “rightly led” piece has a number of aspects.



First, I did a phone interview for a student of interpreting from Pierce County community College. She got my name out of the local translators’ society directory and found my comments about the business of translation and interpretation and life and networking much more “spiritual” than someone else she talked to. At the end of the interview she asked me for advice. I told her something like:

--Here is my experience and special circumstances. Your mileage may vary.

--There are a large number of ways to have a difficult career and a large number of reasons another person she talked to might be right on about it being a miserable business BUT there are also opportunities.

--Follow your heart and the money will come

--Know yourself and what you need to take care of. Some people enjoy the gamesmanship of business negotiations. Some people find it rewarding to accompany people through medical care and other sometimes heartrending difficulties. Especially recognize what you need if you are walking with people through traumas.

--Network with other interpreters; teamwork rocks.

--Never be afraid to contract out the things you hate or are less than adept about.

Second, I spent FOUR HOURS writing up life experience in response to supplemental questions for a job I applied for. The “rightly led” was just that, even though my resume shows no paid jobs that answer their questions, the words to explain how my experiences DO relate kept coming and coming. Luckily the torrents still left time for at least a fast proofread.



Then my mind wandered to last year’s Disabilities employment event at Microsoft, a couple guys I talked to from disability insurance companies who were all hot about the issue of ergonomics and a story about someone I will call Blind Poet. I have never met Blind Poet in person but she is a very incisive contributor to a couple email lists I am on. In addition to translation and interpretation work she also teaches business writing at different community colleges. Awhile ago, at the school where she was teaching, someone in the administrative food chain above her got upset and did some kind of very discriminatory review of her teaching. Blind Poet had to file a discrimination complaint and ask her students to help her document the issues which she ultimately won about.



Recently Blind Poet got a new job at a different institution and found herself grousing: as a result of making a reasonable accommodations request, she had to step through a 29-point questionnaire. One of these days I mean to get a blog post written about how at least there is a 29-point list to help overcome some awkwardness. But then, thinking of the guys hot about ergonomics I have been wondering, what if instead of only disabled people having to deal with the 29-point list, everyone got asked the same questions. I am sure some people think that would just lead to lots of people slacking off and asking for help they don’t “really” need, but I think asking everyone could cut down on a lot of workplace-induced strains and encourage people to get help before problems become disabling.



Apropros the workplace, I would be interested to know whether any of you who are reading my dispatches with an eye to your workplace experiences, whether you hire people or just deal with co-workers, have found ANYTHING I have sent vaguely topical to issues or questions in your workplace. For my part, I have been meditating about one difference between self-employment and working for someone else: at the moment I am self-employed so I get to call this month’s efforts free consulting. I am not sure what I would call them if someone I were supervising undertook such a campaign. But it’s Friday and I feel more like poetic excursions anyway:



Looking at the site for last night’s PBS documentary, Independent Lens short of an ASL poetry slam

http://video.pbs.org/video/2144680866


One of the things I like about this short is the way the translations are shown in parallel with the movements of ASL. For comparison, one time I went to a concert by the Seattle Pro Musica. The program was all different settings of the Ave Maria so the words were always the same. There was ASL interpretation and one of the interesting things to me was what what the interpreter did with the text to reflect differences in the music.



More from the teenagers in the poetry video: What do you love about being Deaf?

http://video.pbs.org/video/2144612276




Another really fun item. The Turrell Skyspace is this wonderful room designed by Quaker architect James Turrell at the Henry Art museum on the UW campus and this is a link about an upcoming event there.

Poetry in Translation at the Turrell Skyspace

http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/114-3-days-of-poetry-poetry-in-translation




Another thing about translation, nothing particularly about disability because who wants to talk about that all the time anyway?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/books/review/is-that-a-fish-in-your-ear-translation-and-the-meaning-of-everything-by-david-bellos-book-review.html


In the Light



(RantWoman)



An item off blogroll about leadings:

http://esrquaker.blogspot.com/2011/10/learning-about-leadings.html





Another about language and indirectly about the occupy movement

http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2011/10/thinking-about-afsc.html

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October 25 Disabilities Awareness Item

Dear Friends

This item is in keeping with the Pendle Hill pamphlet called On Hallowing our Diminishments about the spiritual gifts of accepting changed capacity. I have not checked the Pendle Hill site, but I THINK in addition to print in the UFM library, this pamphlet is available to order in print or in PDF. I am afraid I am stuck on my own gifts, spiritual and otherwise. Once in awhile I discern that someone else seems to be appreciating their own gifts in this vein; again, if anyone wants to offer their own spiritual gifts in this area, I am happy to take the day off—and MAYBE even be appreciative of your offerings.

I know I have written and I think I have sent more than one account of all the wacky things going on IN my eyes. Here are items about what I do or do not see.

Here is an item about the gifts of not necessarily seeing that would require one to do more housekeeping.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/02/magic-dandruff.html


Here is another item about not necessarily seeing:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2010/12/armchair-hound.html

There are two not necessarily seeing moments. The one about the underwear alludes to a time I went to dinner at my friends he Weed Whackin’ Wenches’ house.One of the Wenches was a housemate in college and is also legally blind but with different seeing and reading and mobility experiences than mine. We ate in the kitchen and I paid no attention at all to their clean underwear in a heap all over the dining room table. In other words, legally blind guests do not even have to work to overlook housekeeping lapses.


Here is an item about my not being able to read faces issue especially from across a big committee chamber. In this case, if I cannot see someone’s face to tell whether I might be boring the Chairman of a state senate committee, I at least get to be liberated of embarrassment about it. Sometimes it helps to plop one’s white cane on the table. Sometimes it does not necessarily.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/02/testimony.html
 The committee chairman in question was both direct and gracious about the matter.


Here are a couple items about when I actually see better than I ever could at normal distances with no magnification because of my screen enlargement software. This does not mean the view is recommendable, but…
Some of my comments about the Quaker-themed bit from Steven Prothero on Steven Colbert where one of them said that Quaker Meeting is like the city bus:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/04/its-like-city-bus-with-botox.html

Here is the bit off my other blog about the topic:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/04/oatmeal-people-ride-bus.html




Here is an item about trying to figure out someone’s electronic imagery.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/01/blowing-up-puppies.html



Here is an item about getting to say with impunity things one probably should not say aboard a ferry
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2010/06/rantwoman-gets-around.html



Here for the sake of conversational diversity is today’s item off DiversityInc about the Occupy protests. In a fast first pass I see no disability-specific content. Nevertheless, this link is included here to make the following point, which I hope a number of people will take to heart: I really hate not being able to read as much on my own as I used to and sometimes it becomes almost absurdly important tnat there be space in conversations not only to talk about various other Friends’ fixations but maybe possibly to talk about the content of the thimbles full of reading I get done. I see NO conflict between this point, respect for people’s time and TIMELY and APPROPRIATE interaction with requests for help. Extensive further tirade available almost instantly if asked.
http://diversityinc.com/generaldiversityinformation/diversity-strategies-to-keep-occupy-wall-street-protesters-at-bay/?mgs1=8f7c5XPowS


In the Light

(RantWoman)

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Explicit: "Should"

RantWoman started out to post about Full Moon Meeting for worship and whether holding Full Moon Meeting for Worship instantly qualifies one for status as a Bad Friend. RantWoman started this before one full moon nad it has lingered in Drafts just past another full moon.

RantWoman regrets to announce that MERELY holding Full Moon Meeting for Worship, in RantWoman's estimation, is NOT enough to qualify one for status as a Bad Friend. RantWoman is acutely aware however that in proclaiming this point she is deviating seriously from the New Testament primitive Christianity Revived world of early Friends. Tough!

RantWoman is perfectly well aware that penning her comment in that tone might most definitely lead others to proclaim exactly that comment qualification for membership in the Association of Bad Friends. Tough.

Rantwoman is more than legalistic enough to point out that one is ONLY allowed to nominate oneself to the Association of Bad Friends.

RantWoman has to be true to movements of Spirit in her life and heart. RantWoman keeps finding herself rebelling against all that New Testament stuff about the God depicted there being enough and people having no need of anything else or anything from previous generations. New Testament characters may have bought the concept that Christ alone is enough. RantWoman for her part is fond of the book of Eccliastes and, horrors, RantWoman hears things in full moon worshuip and tending to the seasons and cycles of time that she really needs to stay oriented. RantWoman also already has a rather long list of ways to qualify for the Association of Bad Friends even without this sort of heterodoxy about observance of ways to mark time.

For instance, RantWoman is relieved to learn via Facebook that at the Association of Bad Friends one can get eldered even if the main occasion for eldering over at AssBadFriends is insufficient silliness! RantWoman will do the best she can to get back to this point. But first...

RantWoman is reflecting on two "once a generation", the World Gathering of Friends in Kenya and revision of the NPYM Faith and Practice.

RantWoman is mentally composing queries for a Friend from her Meeting who plans to attend the world Gathering to pose for our Meeting:

From Really Good Questions Friend, given all our diversity, what holds us together? RantWoman would not QUITE go so far as to characterize her Yearly Meeting as a den of Goddess-friendly, queer-marrying, Buddha-citing heterodoxy, but RantWoman is pretty sure other Friends might and RantWoman wants to uphold the Light of Friends from our Yearly Meeting venturing into the wider maelstrom.

What do we want our Friend to take with her? What might we put into a "briefing book" to help her prepare or give her something to fus with on the plane over? Are there specific Bible passages that speak to Salt and Light meets Full Moon Worship or to that Jewish Buddhist universalist listen with respect to everyone's spiritual language thing?

What do we want the Open Places Friend from our Meeting to bring back? RantWoman is pretty sure there will be much to hear in terms of living with climate change, global challenges, and being a Friend in hostile environments. RantWoman is all ears.

The other once a generation exercise on RantWoman's mind is revising our Book of Discipline. This is proving less straightforward than simply coming up with queries.

For one thing the task of structuring how the chapter on the Monthly Meeting gets seasoned has been delegated to our Worship and Ministry committee. RantWoman is pointedly AGAIN NOT COMMENTING on Worship and Ministry committee NOT INCLUDING RantWoman in its work. RantWoman guesses she is supposed to feel heard because the discussion resulted in articulation again of a request to bring a write-up of our discussion to Meeting for Business where there are likely to be at least SOME Friends younger than RantWoman.

RantWoman has a continuing concern in discussions of the Faith and Practice chapter on The Monthly Meeting: RantWoman continues to be the youngest person in the room (Today, the youngest person from her Meeting because Ashley W of Freedom Friends was also present) in discussions at Adult Education about this chapter. RantWoman thought the discussion might invite itself to a couple places known to be full of younger Friends. RantWoman was dumb enough to mention the idea to someone first; if RantWoman were a teensy bit surer of her Light about this topic, it might have been smoother just to do it.. Bad Friend.

RantWoman was interested to hear one voice known for thoughtful considerations also express concern in this generational shift direction. RantWoman notes that this concern was more about who is going to take care of aging Friends than about a sense of mission and something to share with the world. RantWoman apologizes if the following mental excursion is telling too much of the Truth, but perhaps God can carry RantWoman's intent. Yeah, sure, there are a lot of aging people who are going to need more care than RantWoman at least is happy about acknowledging. But RantWoman is unsure that being young in our age is entirely a picnic. RantWoman continues to listen to God and to what we all have to say to one another. But that is RantWoman and talking into what RantWoman hears is, um, no slam dunk.

RantWoman further notes a reference to the council of Nicea at one point when discussion in Adult Ed grew too Talmudical so RantWoman at least holds out hope for a sense of God alive in the actions of Friends.

The most Talmudical part of the session in Adult Education was about the sentence "Friends should come to Meeting for Business expecting that their minds will be changed." Some Friends felt it sufficient to say should come to Meeting for Business expecting that their minds MIGHT be changed. Either way, will or might are matters of faith; what is the matter of practice if one starts with the "Friends should come to Meeting for Business?"

RantWoman has a lingering thought about what gets written being sufficient for this time and what might be needed forever being a different thing.

In the multigeneration, march of time and difference vein, the question of disability wandered into the conversation. Unfortunately it wandered in as "Everyone has a disability" which is true but trivializes our differences. RantWoman thinks SOMETHING needs to get written into Faith and Practice about this, but RantWoman is unclear that it needs to get written in the chapter on the monthly meeting.

Drat. Now RantWoman gets to season what she herself feels further called to do and what there might be other hands for as well. Uhhhh....

At the time this was originally drafted, RantWoman was led to include the link for The 2011 Swarthmore Lecture

http://woodbrookegoodlives.blogspot.com/2011/10/swarthmore-lecture-2011.html

RantWoman apologizes but at this second she is not led either to re-read the item to figure out why she was led to include it here or to write any kind of abstract.

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October 8 Disabilities Awareness Item

Hi Friends

I did not start out with any clear direction except that it’s National
Disabilities Awareness Month and I have a strong leading to ask
Meeting to interact about the topic NOW. I promised something every
day. To my surprise, considering my capacity for strong and wordy
opinions about lots of things, this promise is proving more daunting
than I expected; yet I persist. I do repeat my offer to take the day
off anytime I receive something with disabilities content including
content indicating substantive interaction with something I have
previously sent before I get around to sending anything out.

I have heard multiple people ask to be taken off the mailing list. I
am asking that you continue, not that you must read everything I send
but that you respect my concern that our community have shared
language to be able to talk and hear each other. I have heard others
tell me that you will not read this or that, because it’s too long or
to wandering or just because you have the luxury of thinking that
dealing with these issues at your leisure is plenty. One Friend “can
get all this Friend wants of the material anytime the Friend wants.”
To be honest, I concur: wanting is not particularly the point but I do
not think it does anyone any favors to pretend we only have to deal
with things we want to deal with or that problems only come along when
some or another Friend is available to interact. Another Friend would
like everything to arrive in nice easily digestible bits of 250 words
or fewer, this despite just having read something where it took more
than 250 words to explain one aspect of a problem, a problem that took
another 45-minute conversation as well.

Another Friend worries that not solving everything immediately will
prove disappointing: it might sometimes, but that is not an excuse not
to get started, not an excuse to do nothing. We are all ministers of
God and sometimes one only has to trust that something one can do will
matter.

But get started for what? Which items speak to you? Personally? About
something in Meeting life? About something else? Today’s entries are
tougher in some ways than others so far.

Here is an item from Blogging against disableism day in the spring.
Content may be upsetting.
http://blobolobolob.blogspot.com/2011/05/blogging-against-disablism-day.html

I would not mind actual citations for a couple of the statistics
cited; when I find some I will include them.
This blog also has some other entries that look interesting as well as
blog roll from other blogs I hope to poke at too.

The Temple U Disability Studies blog for people with an academic bent.
http://disstud.blogspot.com/


A blog from the blog roll of the first item here:
http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/

This blog makes me smile for two reasons: the url claims specific
language and “Wheelchair Dancer” the title calls to mind a Friend from
our Yearly Meeting. The Friend from our Yearly Meeting is a longtime
wheelchair user and mention of this Friend’s name can strike terror
into the hearts of anyone thinking about site selection for Annual
Session. Once in awhile Friends even paid enough attention to his
concerns to be able to identify issues without him needing to visit
personally.

A few years ago, this Friend and his wife split up after a long
marriage. It was one of those amiable Quaker divorces where both sides
continue to go to gatherings and the first wife was genuinely happy
when the Friend came one year to Annual Session with a new partner.
This Friend not only had a new partner, he had decorated his
wheelchair with flashing green Christmas lights which he turned on
while he and his new love did a waltz at a community dance.

This item offered because I brought up politically incorrect language:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/02/world-wide-spray-can.html


Another RantWoman item offered partly because of something serious on
my mind that I will save for another day:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/01/community-teas-about-rape-and-violence.html


Thank you for your attention.

In the Light.

(RantWoman)

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Oh Canada

RantWoman's drafts folder is still overflowing with what spilled out when RantWoman recently read an astrological invitation to let pterodactyls take flight. Stay tuned.

Here is this week's Canada-themed invitation to Be True to RantWoman's Light:

CANCER (June 21–July 22): Among the surprises spilled by WikiLeaks some months back was the revelation that US diplomats think Canadians feel "condemned to always play 'Robin' to the US 'Batman.'" If that's true, it shouldn't be. While Canada may not be able to rival the warmongering, plutocrat-coddling, environment-despoiling talents of my home country, America, it is a more reliable source of reason, compassion, and civility. Are you suffering from a similar disjunction, Cancerian? Do you imagine yourself "Robin" in relationship to some overweening "Batman"? This would be an excellent time to free yourself of that dynamic.

A sign arrived from the secular world as well:

http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/09/starbucks-card-in-braille-limited-time.html


RantWoman thanks Starbucks for reminding her of National Disabilities Awareness Month. RantWoman invites her readers to stay tuned for the clear leading which has arisen from a whole freight train of circumstances.

Lest RantWoman's readers think RantWoman is about to set upon the world in full bore inner blowtorch on maximum mode, RantWoman is tempering the Free Will Astrology meme with:

two different posts about forgiving 70 x 7 times. RantWoman expects this forgiveness thing probably works both ways but who says RantWoman is necesssarily going to manage to execute?

http://questforadequacy.blogspot.com/2011/09/forgiving.html


http://quakersusanne.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/the-hard-topic-of-forgiveness/



And on the other hand,
http://questforadequacy.blogspot.com/2011/09/nakedness.html

This item looks like something RantWoman would really like to read. Alas, it is only available in print. Whine! RantWoman can either have yet another of her trademark snit fits about changed realities related to reading OR digress on the Canada theme above and fret about when is she going to get around to the post simmering about Canada's Dukhobors and the things one learns when listening well while crossing international borders. What RantWoman heard a number of years ago from a Canada Customs officer quizzing her about her destination sent her off to the library. There Rantwoman learned that a sect which began as pacifists in Russia and settled in Canada developed the purgative practice of periodically stripping themselves naked and burning all their clothing and buildings.

RantWoman figured out, partly from intersecting quizzical looks from the Canada Customs officer that this behavior tends to get one's sect listed as domestic terrorists and even to fry the nerves of and deeply distress some of one's less fervent co-religionists.

RantWoman is, among other things wondering whether the new Naked publication--oranything else in her life--features any themes in similar vein.

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Furrther Bad Friend Leadings: Air Guitar

RantWoman would not mind in the least if her soul would focus and center on inspiring words such as this interview with civil rights campaigner James Lawson.

http://wagingnonviolence.org/2011/06/enough-activists-but-not-enough-convergence-an-interview-with-james-lawson/


Unfortunately the RantWoman showing up today is still seasoning self-nominations at the Association of Bad Friends.

Today RantWoman is seasoning self-nomination to Lead Air Guitar, Unprogrammed Worship Music Team.

Of course, if there is going to be a Lead Air Guitar, maybe there also has to be a Leading Audition Committee. RantWoman should only self-nominate for one role, but which?

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