Bing Meets Russian Quakerese

RantWoman has PLENTY else on her buffet of vexations today but is called to an accidental encounter of the Language Geek kind. RantWoman poked into the Russian language Quaker Facebook group Kvakery and observed the following moment of malfunctioning international language machinery:

Bing meets Quakerese, translating fromRussian:
Friends, please, keep me in the light-now we will have a very serious meeting on the future of real estate of our gathering


How RantWoman would translate the status in question; What the Russian says.in idiomatic English Quakerese
 Friends, Please hold me in the Light. We are about to have a very difficult meeting about the future of our Meeting's property.


RantWoman would opine about this in Russian except that she is not using her own computer. Besides keyboard setup issues, Mr. JAWS is sort of uncooperative about Russian unless specifically told to deal. Sigh. Whine.

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Christmas presents: minutes AND email.

RantWoman has discovered that her email drafts folder is a little like the closet where one stores Christmas presents one has accumulated over a good spell before the holiday. Here are two such presents, one about minutes and one about email. Readers are invited to note that RantWoman is holding them in the Light as they read.

RantWoman of late has been called, repeatedly to concerns about minutes, specifically the difference between recording decisions and recording minutes of exercise hopefully reflecting the range of comments about some or another issue.

RantWoman is aware that, at least in others' estimation, she is probably overachieving on numerous not preferable dimensions. RantWoman suggests that readers who venture further and find themselves perplexed either trust their Light or feel free to inquire of RantWoman what the heck she is talking about.

With minutes of decision, precision and clarity are greatly to be desired. With minutes of exercise, RantWoman feels called to point out that part of the POINT of the exercise is like tilling a garden with different plants able to make different things of the available material.

RantWoman is holding several minutes of exercise situations for additional discernment. RantWoman takes exception to what has gotten recorded in all of them. RantWoman is clear repeatedly to speak specifically because of a sense of community going astray from Truth if she does not. Hold RantWoman--and community--in the Light.

First, the tilling the garden thoughts came from a conversation involving lots of references to pruning, dislike of thinkings that seem like voting or that seem argumentative or repetitive. RantWoman wanted to speak more of tuning, of pulling different voices into the right chord and harmonies for the situation.

Not to be argumentative, but how are Friends supposed to discern sense of the room if some threads do not get woven into a succession of offerings?
RantWoman also particularly points out that Friends sometimes need to hold thoughts of "helpful" on different timeline. RantWoman sent argumentative email to one of the people behind the "don't be argumentative" votes. RantWoman has acquired some experience working with disaster preparedness topics for very diverse audiences. RantWoman pointed out that certain behaviors which are actually already darned annoying when everyone is warm and dry and the lights are on might be peculiarly helpful in making those assembled think of resources needed for more extreme circumstances. If RantWoman thinks about this thread a few steps further, she suspects a topical query might be what spiritual resources are needed in worlds of White People Adjustment / What really needs to evolve to whip this Climate Change thing conferences?

Not to be argumentative, but RantWoman has been holding the following thoughts:  "Trust the committee" vs test the committee; bring it to the group and let go. When RantWoman drafted this she had in mind 3 situations where what the Business Meeting did with the work of the committee was very different from what the committee did. In the interest of conciseness if RantWoman recalls these situations in form sufficient for blogging, RantWoman promises to examine them in their own entry.


The second challenge on RantWoman's mind is the use of email for Quaker Business. RantWoman is not prepared to lay down her clerkship of the Association of Bad Friends Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation; this can be one problem. The other problem is that every time RantWoman picks up the question of email, it turns all squishy in her hands.

RantWoman adores email BECAUSE it is a record of what was said. RantWoman deeply appreciates being able to use a search bar and find things without having to skim her own impossible handwriting. RantWoman also has personal experience with people who say they dislike email, have work history reasons for being leery of email, but also maybe have a hearing loss and, it turns out, actually do much better by email.

In this vein, RantWoman was thrilled by a Quarterly Meeting plenary a couple Quarterly Meetings ago involving a restorative circle exercise exactly about the pros and cons of email. RantWoman only wishes everyone in her life for whom email is a vexed question had been at the Quarterly Meeting.
For example RantWoman attended a Clerking workshop with Weighty Friends who Teach Clerking. One of the items handed out as if it were holy writ without invitation to discuss was a statement on email seasoned by Milwaukee and Claremont Friends, Friends of a generation who dislike email. 

After the clerking workshop, RantWoman banged out a series of emails to the effect, among other things, that perhaps Friends who cannot imagine God showing up by email may in fact be writing whole generations out of their concept of the divine. RantWoman is grateful that her offerings were well-received in the abstract; applications in practice around RantWoman continue to evolve.


Friends

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Day 7 Lucid Email

RantWoman's peculiar gratitudes for the seventh night of Hanukkah this year:

SO FAR, RantWoman has resisted the temptation both to send Care and Counsel Committee one of RantBrother's less than lucid emails and then to ask which members of the Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation Care and Counsel might find helpful to invite to the discussion.

RantWoman supposes that others might be grateful that RantWoman herself has to contend with some people and tendencies that fully qualify for service on the Still Didn't Get the Memo committee. In particular:

  --RantWoman keeps trying to do projects with people whose first language is not English and who definitely prefer that RantWoman figure out how to talk to them rather than write email. Can you say Growing Edge?

  --RantWoman has benefitted greatly from the services from Obsessive Compulsive Receptionst, OCR for short. OCR is TERRIBLY competent, as in so competent and diligent that she sends RantWoman emails that are even more oppressive than some of RantWoman's and sends them even later at night. Besides the issue of how to work with several issues arising from these traits, one of RantWoman's peculiar gratitudes is that MAYBE she will be able at some point to cite these interactions as part of the diversity on steroids experiences of the Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing. Maybe.

--RantWoman has another colleague at the Friendly Neighborhood Center who RantWoman might nominate for service on the Still Didn't get the Memo Committee. Put Attack Receptionist into the search bar. This is Mr. Attack Receptionist. His first concern: he definitely still wants to be involved and contribute. One of the main things he is involved with is sending email about how he is not available due to illness or dialysis. The second thing he gets involved with is the kind of intemperate emails that cause one's colleagues never ever to want Mr. Attack Receptionist to speak on their behalf in any kind of a visible communications role. But he likes baseball. Run with that?


Anyway, RantWoman appreciates:

--Recent, comparatively LUCID email from RantBrother

(RantBrother seems to have quit drinking several months ago. SOMETIMES he can now talk about how probably it was not a good idea as shift manager at his job to come to work plastered. )

--Awhile back, RantBrother's email themes made an interesting progression. For a long time RantBrother would from time to time send RantWoman email detailing a long enemies list. One interesting point was the starting date of the enemies list; another was that at a certain point, it did not seem like he was adding new enemies. RantWoman was not able to evaluate any action items in the enemies list but Literature Brain was interested to note a shift at one point to a "They're trying to kill me" list and a list attached to different events and geography.

RantWoman has inner blowtorch blazing for a whole bunch of reasons. Maybe RantWoman will spell out enough of what is one her mind to fit into 8 days of Hanukkah. Maybe RantWoman will declare a time warp in order to hold the whole story. Hold the thought in the Light.

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Hanukkah Day 6. Fire Photon Torpedoes

Again in the zone of peculiar gratitudes and ferocious Light, a  couple weeks ago Meeting for Worship featured two "please hold me in the Light" messages, one with an implicit request and one more explicit.

The more explicit request: a Friend was facing surgery for breast cancer. RantWoman found herself thinking of RantMom and a blind friend both of whom suffer miserably from neuropathy after their cancer treatment. RantWoman is terribly glad to have both still among us and terribly glad RantMom is finally admitting she finds neuropathy a giant nuisance in the kitchen. Blind Friend would quite like still to be able to read Braille and no longer can.:The words that did not make it out of RantWoman's mouth: "well, of course I must hold you in the Light...and we will still love you even if all the treatments give you neuropathy."

The implicit request to be held in the Light came from a Friend needing to monitor vision for signs of a detached retina. Friend REALLY likes to read and RantWoman has to assume the phrase "detached retina" sounds absolutely terrifying.  RantWoman GUESSES she gets to be grateful to have resisted slight nudgings toward "attack of the trauma all stars" comments. RantWoman definitely qualifies for opthalomology frequent flyer points and has plenty of opportunity to get in touch with joys of repeatedly being Exhibit A for newly minted opthamological technicians and having to remind them of long history.

RantWoman's history includes the term detached retina, twice, in 3 languages just to explain to key groupies. RantWoman's detached retinas did not qualify for simple laser beams tacking things back in place. RantWoman's option was MUCH more invasive including a band around each eye and a gas bubble inside for weeks. On the bus, one on one, RantWoman in other medical situations has found herself hearing some version of "been there. Done That.Got the T-shirt and a bunch of hardware and some more frequent flier miles besides. RantWoman has not felt called to spell things out in Meeting for worship for the whole community to hold either. Instead RantWoman gets to be grateful for Star Trek.
The one time RantWoman had to have something ophthalmological done with a laser beam,all RantWoman could think of was "Fire Photon torpedoes!" RantWoman does not want to speculate whether that comment would be helpful for the Friend who spoke. It certainly covered RantWoman's experience with a shock wave and a precise enough quantumof energy to remind RantWoman of some laser-themed mad scientist moments in summer science programs in high school.

Fire photon torpedoes indeed. Light up the blog screen.

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Hanukkah Day 5: Gratitudes. Light. Arrest Anniversary

In the category of clear Light and call to public witness, RantWoman is grateful to receive a link for this wonderful post about today being the anniversary of Rosa Parks' most famous bus ride.
http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-29-spring-2006/department/remembering-rosa-parks

RantWoman admits to a certain schandefreude and sense of rebbellion against current holiday BUYING imperatives. RantWoman remembers reading somewhere that starting the Montgomery bus boycott during the Christmas shopping season was one reason for its impact.

RantWoman is also grateful for the woman, whose name RantWoman apologizes for not recalling, who had gotten arrested a few days or weeks earlier also for refusing to yield her seat on a bus. RantWoman feels called to mention this woman's role as a pathbreaker, a goad to people to look for a more "respectable" figure to be the public face of the issue of segregation on public transit in Montgomery.

RantWoman is happy to take a break from cataloguing at least some of the more presentable seething in her head during and after Meeting for worship and to reflect on Hanukkah-themed messages in worship, including Please hold in the Light moments.

One Friend spoke of lighting candles locally, of inviting Friends over one night and having one of her visitors get his driver's side car window smashed.

RantWoman has a Friend who lives in "The South" who expresses reservations about who she invites over because of judaica in her house.

RantWoman has a former housemate who now observes Hanukkah in Hong Kong. Housemate who now lives in Hong Kong participated with RantWoman in many moments of outspoken presence in college. RantWoman and Housemate were in college at a time when self-righteous college students could always be on the side of angels by talking about South Africa.

One time RantWoman and Housemate and several others were making signs for a Divestment protest and someone mused aloud about what to write on a sign.

RantWoman: "How about "Divest Now, Pinheads"?

RantWoman proceeded to write "Divest Now" on the sign; Housemate was happy to take over and turn the sign into "Divest Now Pinheads." Guess which sign made the front page of the paper. Do angelic troublemakers really get to say "Divest Now Pinheads?"

The pinheads issue did not make it out of RantWoman's mouth during Meeting for worship.
More's the pity.

But someone's hope always to be on the side of angels did. Hold that point in the Light.

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Hanukkah Day 4 Do you hear what I hear?

A popular Christmas Carol, interpreted....



RantWoman dedicates this post and the video clip to

--everyone anywhere overendowed with prodigious capacity to mishear and have brain misfire, particularly if the misfire involves the kneejerk gift of blurting out highly insistent utterances.

--everyone anywhere who, for any reason up to and including auditory hallucinations hears things that go winging past others. RantWoman recommends not overdoing the auditory hallucinations, but when things are going by anyway, the people being flown past cannot necessarily tell the difference anyway. We must try to be tender with such.

Tender? This is RantWoman!?!?!?


But RanWoman,what does this have to do with Hanukkah?

Uhhh,  I dunno but it's the first Sunday of advent.

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Hanukkah Day 2 Worship Aids

Thanksgiving; RantMom
RantWoman apologizes. She remembers generalized gratitude during Thanksgiving Meeting for Worship; she does not remember gratitude as precisely wrought as some years. Or maybe RantWoman was also too busy being tender toward RantMom. RantMom is recovering from pneumonia. She is recovering slowly. Hold her in the Light.

RantWoman is grateful too so far to have resisted several rounds of temptation toward SERIOUS Bad Friend behavior during Meeting for Worship, and not just on Thanksgiving when RantMom could probably still elbow an ill-behaved RantWoman in the ribs if the occasion required it.

--RantWoman continues to have all sorts of issues with certain printed worship aids but so far RantWoman has managed to resist any thoughts of a braille marathon on the offending documents explaining her point of view. RantWoman is seasoning a rather different suggestion. Please hold in the Light RantWoman's seasoning of what to do with these thoughts.

--Remember that clip of Shout to the Lord sung to Led Zeppelin?
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2013/11/angry-birds-led-zeppelin-samson-delilah.html
SO FAR, RantWoman and probably other worshipers are grateful that urges to play the clip in Meeting for Worship have yielded to the prospect of utterly pathetic performance as squeaked out by one of RantWoman's new auditorily underpowered Android devices

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Email: The Gospel According to, oops well, Care and Counsel.

RantWoman, God, and the Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation are feeling called to hold worship sharing with the, oops well, Care and Counsel Committee at RantWoman's Meeting about the subject of email. RantWoman proposes to serve as Recording clerk and to record minutes of much exercise in a separate entry. RantWoman is still seasoning the matter of what queries to begin with.

 

RantWoman hopes that God shows up in words, but notes a peculiar God historical tendency to show up in burning bushes, pillars of cloud, commandments etched in stone tablets, plagues, pestilence, planetary inundations, and sundry other difficult to parse manifestations.

 

RantWoman is not sure which members of the Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee... are going to show up, but the committee includes a particularly large membership with a number of different qualifications:

--Generic Customer Service Friend

--Veteran Tech Support "Users always Lie; They don't know they lie; they don't mean to lie but they Lie. Now what was that symptom again?" Friend.

--Mental Health Triage Friend

--Out of Control Spiritual Accompaniment Friend

--Data Nerd / What is trending over time Friend

--Lots of ways to agree about measures to make email manageable but not sending is not an option Friend.

--Language Nerd and Literature Scholar Friend

--Magical Realism So what if the timelines are non-linear Friend

--You're always asleep when I'm awake Friend

--You barely know me and I barely know you but I am supposed to know you are a resource Friend

--It takes days and days of phone tag to reach you Friend

--I actually think sort of slowly and LIKE being able to use my search engine to think over bits of the conversation again Friend

--If you don't understand something, have you considered asking for clarification? Friend

--If you don't understand something, who might you refer the problem to Friend?

--Look, really sorry the message is not coming in palatable form but have you considered that it might be your job either to figure it out or to connect the sender withsomeone who can Friend

--I talk about Service Dogs all the time. You think I don't know when to quit aboutservice DOGS. How about we talk about service CHICKENS? Friend

--Really sorry God is not showing up on your schedule Friend.

--You say you dislike email but you actually do much better by email sometimesFriend.

--Sometimes I get so upset I cannot talk Friend.

--You like to talk; I need to send email Friend

--Have you considered the possibility that what I am talking about applies to your day job too Friend.

 

RantWoman acknowledges that The Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee... could perhaps get things off on better footing by losing references to the "Oops Well" part of the Care and Counsel Committee moniker. RantWoman acknowledges this, but she showed up warts and all and the worship sharing needs to happen regardless.

Plus, RantWoman recently stumbled across the most interesting reference to the word "oversight" not in sense overburdened with the historical weight of enslavement but in a more egalitarian, shared oversight "we all take care of each other" sense. RantWoman WISHES she could remember which blog roll item she saw this in. RantWoman also would not mind some umbra of a penumbra of a sense that anyone else on Care and Counsel committee cares about RantWoman's inquiry. RantWoman is aware of needing to hold someone in theLight about medical matters as well. Finally, if someone calling Dial a Tirade gets a busy signal about this topic, oh well, there are plenty more tirades available. Please hold that point in the Light along with the entire gigantic Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation.

The following item appeared recently in the monthly newsletter at RantWoman's Meeting.

 

CARE AND COUNSELCOMMITTEE

Thoughts on UFM Email

While email is a tremendous benefit to us, at times it can be a burden. Care and Counsel Committee put together the following document to help fellow members. It is common when in the midst of an email problem that we feel the need to help the other person understand our position or make our points more firmly. In these guidelines below, we suggest another tack: Whenever you feel the need to set things right, instead wait calmly. If after due consideration it is still necessary, briefly state your position once and move on.

Too Long: One strategy for long emails is to skim them looking for questions or requests. Limit your response to answering the questions or requests directly and briefly. This will greatly reduce how much must be read and understood, but still gives the other person a specific response. It represents a midpoint between ignoring an email and taking on the burden of reading and responding to an overly long missive.

Too Numerous: If you are receiving too may emails from another member, consider taking a break and filing for future perusal. Once your good feelings return you can limit the amount of mail you read from the other person by setting aside a period of time, say 10 minutes every Monday, to read and respond to their emails. Take the rest and file them for later.

Confusing: If the email is confusing and there are no requests or questions in it, then take whatever understanding you may

have from it and move on. If there are requests or questions in it that you cannot understand, simply respond by letting the

writer know that.

Unkind: A good rule of thumb is to read the first few sentences and ask yourself if you feel good about reading further. If continuing to read is digging a hole of bad feelings, then stop digging and move on. If you want, let the writer know that for you to read the email, he or she will need to rewrite it with kindness.

Writing Email: The other side of reading email is writing email. Kind, compassionate, and thoughtful emails that come quickly to the point and put any requests in the first sentence are the mostly (sic—RantWoman) likely to receive an audience. Put aside longer or heated emails until you have the chance to revise them to a paragraph or two of kind, compassionate, and thoughtful words.

Care and Counsel Committee,

 

RantWoman, this is God. If the entire Still Didn't Get the Memo committee shows up  and everyone talks one blop at a time, this one worship sharing is going to take millenia.

RantWoman , musing: ...could just forward to Care and Counsel one of Rant Brother's "I'ms still mentally ill and I still want firearms" emails, perhaps seasoned with more "I didn't tell you about my day" details than anyone wants to interact with about why it's IMPORTANT that people like RantBrother have places like the Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing  they can come to read and send email.

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Workshop on Christian Hegemony and Privilege November 9

Join CARW & friends for this exciting workshop with Paul Kivel...

Living in the Shadow of the Cross
Understanding and Resisting the Power and Privilege of Christian Hegemony

A Workshop by Paul Kivel

When: Saturday, November 9th at 1-4pm

Where: Jackson Place Cohousing (800 Hiawatha Place S Seattle, WA 98144)

Please join the event on Facebook.

Workshop Description
Over the centuries, Christianity has accomplished much which is deserving of praise. Its institutions have fed the hungry, sheltered the homeless, and advocated for the poor. Christian faith has sustained people through crisis and inspired many to work for social justice. Yet, although the word “Christian” connotes the epitome of goodness, the actual story is much more complex. Over the last two millennia, ruling elites have used Christian institutions and values to control those less privileged throughout the world.

As our triple crises of war, financial meltdown, and environmental destruction intensify, this talk/workshop will dig beneath the surface of Christianity’s benign reputation to examine its contribution to our social problems. Living in the Shadow of the Cross reveals the ongoing, everyday impact of Christian power and privilege on our beliefs, behaviors, and public policy, and emphasizes the potential for people to come together to resist domination and build and sustain communities of justice and peace.

Paul Kivel is the award-winning author of several books including Uprooting Racism and Boys will be Men. He is a social justice activist and a nationally and internationally recognized educator who has focused on the issues of violence prevention, oppression, and social justice for over 45 years. Paul is the director of the Christian Hegemony Project and has conducted thousands of talks, trainings, and workshops on diversity, men’s issues, the challenges of youth, and the impact of class and power on daily life.


*****Location & Accessibility: In an effort to make the space accessible to guests with chemical sensitivities, please refrain from wearing scented products and fragrances like cologne when you attend.

The event will be at the Jackson Place Cohousing common house dining room, at 800 Hiawatha Place South, Seattle, 98144. It is by buses 7,14,48,8,4,36,60,ST550, and is wheelchair accessible & ADA-compliant. From the intersection of Dearborn & Hiawatha, head up the hill a half block then take a right in the alley, and a right onto the terrace. There is very limited parking off the alley, which should be saved for those who require an accessible space.

Sponsored by: Jewish Voices for Peace, Coaliton of Anti-Racist Whites, Tools for Change.

About CARW: http://carw.org 


RantWoman accessibility tirades:
*****Directions helpful for people with vision impairments and for people who find it easier to climb stairs than to deal with hills: Jackson Place co-housing is located on the SE corner of Dearborn and Hiawatha Pl. S, one block E of Rainier Ave. S. Both the northbound and the southbound buses on Rainier Ave S stop N of Dearborn; the stoplight at Rainier and Dearborn is helpful for crossing streets.

Once you arrive at the SE corner of Hiawatha Pl. S and Dearborn, if you continue S on Hiwatha, there will be the first of two stairways going up from the street to the terrace level. Take the first stairway and turn Left at the top of the stairs to find the Dining room.

*****The dining room at Jackson Place co-Housing is wheelchair accessible provided one arrives by car and is able to park in one of the available spaces. If one arrives by bus, do not underestimate the significance of "up the hill!" The hill is steep enough that people who use manual wheelchairs will almost certainly appreciate someone helping to push them up the hill. People who use power chairs or scooters are invited to use their judgment about center of gravity issues.

*****The dining room at Jackson Place co-housing is also fairly live accoustically and some people with hearing impairments find it difficult to hear there.

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Overseeing. Overlooking. Much Fog and Blur Over Something

RantWoman's Meeting is in the process of seasoning whether to rename the committee currently called Oversight and if so what to call it. Since Oversight is the name listed in organizational bylaws, if there is a change, the bylaws need to be amended too. In addition to multiple references to Oversight committee which would need to be changed, the bylaws also contain:

1. at least one reference to "Overseers" by which is meant members of said committee. RantWoman EXACTLY understands why the word Overseers is a problem. During the era of enslavement in the US, the overseer on a plantation was someone of African descent responsible for working the other slaves and keeping all the enslaved in line.

RantWoman is less clear about the word Oversight and whether it MIGHT be sufficient simply to replace "Overseers" with "members of Oversight committee" in the bylaws. RantWoman WISHES she felt any capacity to go all word nerd and quaker history geek on the problem. Instead RantWoman has raised the question in Meeting for Business and is interested to see what comes backin response.

2. two references to the word "overseeing" in the following contexts: "overseeing marriages" and "overseeing worship groups." In both cases, RantWoman in translator mode would reflexively change these terms to what she considers better Quakerese, something in the vicinity of the examples below.

"overseeing marriages" = "assisting couples in clearness for marriage and the Meeting in clearness to take marriages under the care of Meeting"

"overseeing worship groups" = "support and nurture of worship groups under Meeting's care"

RantWoman has a couple basic objections to the use of "overseeing" in the contexts above. For better or worse, Rantwoman does not hear the same resonance with enslavement in the word "overseeing" as with the word "overseers."

RantWoman DOES hear something she personally is HIGHLY allergic to, Quakers playing God, implying promises about more than it is humanly reasonable to promise..

RantWoman understands perfectly well that oversight has a more or less neutral administrative meaning. RantWoman understands this because "oversight" exists in RantWoman's mind with a cluster of other words like management, supervision, administration... which cluster and split different in English than the equivalent cluster of words in Russian. These words exist because the functions are needed, with full understanding of the limitations even of one's or one's organization's best efforts. Still, "oversight" gives RantWoman many headaches even without theology.

But when it comes to theology, worship groups are responsible for tending their own spiritual gardens; a committee of onlookers at best tends with a light touch. The phrase "overseeing marriages" even more insistently puts RantWoman in mind of a wonderful quote from George Fox about how we marry none but that is God's work.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2013/01/marriage-as-god-ordained-for-our-good.html

THAT language,more than anything, is why RantWoman is allergic to the phrase "overseeing marriages." Furthermore RantWoman knows perfectly well that bylaws sometimes get read by people likely to have little interest in uniquely Quaker practices and this is exactly why RantWoman thinks it is quite reasonable to spell out the Quaker distinctives of the matter! In the world of translation, however much one strives for verbal economy, sometimes one gets to substitute a whole bunch of words for one word. RantWoman believes this is such a moment.

Alas, all of this is such Light as has come to RantWoman. RantWoman actually really, Really, REALLY wishes the bylaws changes would not keep coming to Business Meeting until RantWoman hears answers to her questions about history AND there is unity about what if anything to rename the committee in question.

So far, the bylaws changes keep showing up on the Business Meeting agenda but for various reasons not getting acted on. Wordsmithing bylaws in Business Meeting is one of those exercises in applied Quakerism that is either quite charming and educational or really tedious, but RantWoman thinks these suggestions need to be heard out loud and heard in separate Light from the question of what to call the committee now called Oversight!

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John Howard Yoder, Theology, women

RantWoman sometimes becomes morbidly fascinated with challenges within other faith communities. RantWoman feels called to hold, to pray, and to admit that really messy moral tangles can be Soooooo intriguing.

In that spirit, a link from Young Anabaptist Radicals about a prominent Mennonite theologian, John Howard Yoder. This item includes many other links and learning more of the story is on RantWoman's mean to do list, but not necessarily RantWoman's guaranteed to happen list. For one thing, RantWoman as a person of faith particularly concerned about women in ministry, broadly defined, already has enough to do sorting through unexamined privilege of various flavors, psychic wounds, and the perils of her own spiritual compost heap without plowing into something orders of magnitude more  complex and disturbing. But just in case RantWoman gets time or anyone else shares this morbid fascination.

http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/2013/09/10/the-politics-of-john-howard-yoder-41-years-of-tiptoeing-around-power/

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How to Kickstart World War III

RantWoman has NO problem recognizing that many readers will find the following item tasteless, offensive, slanderous to an entire generation....

Good!

In the meantime, for the rest of us:

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O Syria

Dear World


1. RantWoman will dutifully communicate her distaste for Us military activity in Syria to her Congressional representatives.

2. RantWoman is faithfully praying for a mass outbreak of good sense among multiple parties in the Syrian situation. RantWoman is embarrassed to admit she has no clue what circumstances should change and in what directions for "good sense" to reign. RantWoman has to assume humans have some role in the desired outbreak of good sense but is generally having to leave things in bigger hands than her own.

3. RantWoman has been thinking about what measures would both convey international distaste with a dictator who gases his own people and MAYBE deter said dictator from doing so ever again. Again RantWoman is slightly embarrassed by the ideas that have sloshed out of RantWoman's spiritual compost heap. RantWoman presents the following in order of frequency / urgency in RantWoman's head:

--Send Congress to Syria. When RantWoman first saw this suggestion on Facebook, RantWoman initially demurred. Are we SURE we want to do THAT to Syria? But the idea has grown on RantWoman: "You want to gas your own people some more? How about you wait until we have another 3 zillion House votes to repeal Obamacare?"

--Send the NSA to Syria. RantWoman thinks that surely an entity with as much electronic finesse as the NSA gets credit for having should be able, say, to infest all the electronics surrounding chemical warfare munitions and keep it from going off ever again anywhere. What? You doubt this?

--Send Millie Cyrus to Syria. Can you say Porn Performance for Peace?

What are the odds that any of these offers will just make the Syrian government hurry up and gas themselves in lieu of accepting the offer?

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Spank Spitzer?

RantWoman presents the following seriously BAD Friend digression from her usual moral stewpot.

[Full disclosure (well, maybe not that full) RantWoman was a student at a certain Ivy League University during part of the time Eliot Spitzer was also a student. RantWoman has never met Eliot Spitzer but can attest that he was very active in the student government. RantWoman's only interaction with student government was to help student groups she was involved with panhandle the student government for money to support different speakers knowledgeable about issues and causes RantWoman was much more passionate about than the student government. RantWoman many times made successful pleas; other than that RantWoman has no opinion that she remembers of the student government.]

RantWoman learned recently that Eliot Spitzer used the name George Fox to book his room for the famous tryst that got him skadillions of dollars worth of free publicity. Okay, this was not particularly free publicity he might have WANTED, but it was free publicity.

Here  is the problem (one of RantWoman's many?): RantWoman has no idea whether Eliot Spitzer's choice of pseudonym was a conscious reference to one of the leading lights of Quakerdom or a CONSCIOUS desire to clothe himself in the mantle of Quaker integrity, but RantWoman would just like to spank Spitzer for making her have to think about the issue,even once, never mind over and over while he runs for office AGAIN.

Much as RantWoman could easily find righteous basis to spank Spitzer, she instead firmly, clearly directs her readers toward an item about double standards and the voice of women:

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/07/we-pardon-spitzer-not-ex-sex-workers-like-me.html

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Signs: 100% Quaker. Oatmeal Content Varies, Flavored with Free Will Astrology

RantWoman is meditating upon the following signs and miracles or lack thereof:


Message in recent Meeting for Worship from Pema Chodron, something like "breathe in the pain and care of the world, breathe out joy and peace."

Oh great, the only breathe out message that is showing up right now is a dragon, breathing fire, a very focused centered dragon, but still a dragon breathing fire.

Oh Holy Jesus!


There seems to be a great deal of "the porridge of the Quakers" getting disseminated through our nation's commodity food streams. RantWoman lives around many people who regularly feed themselves from these resources. Many of RantWoman's neighbors disdain "the porridge of the Quakers" and leave their weekly distributions about for RantWoman and other oatmeal inclined neighbors to pick up. RantWoman feels cheaply blessed.

Oh great! RantWoman is well fed and full of energy. LOOK OUT WORLD.



RantWoman is seasoning the following item from a horoscope awhile ago:

Free Will Astrology for the Week of Amay 22
CANCER (June 21–July 22): Don't take yourself too seriously. The more willing you are to make fun of your problems, the greater the likelihood is that you will actually solve them. If you're blithe and breezy and buoyant, you will be less of a magnet for suffering. To this end, say the following affirmations out loud. (1) "I'm willing to make the mistakes if someone else is willing to learn from them." (2) "I'm sorry, but I'm not apologizing anymore." (3) "Suffering makes you deep. Travel makes you broad. I'd rather travel." (4) "My commitment is to truth, not consistency." (5) "The hell with enlightenment, I want to have a tantrum." (6) "I stopped fighting my inner demons. We're on the same side now."

Oh, holy JESUS, RantWoman, are you SURE?


RantWoman has been looking at blog hit statistics.RantWoman is really not sure why a post about MGoF holiday billboards attracted a phenomenal number of hits. RantWoman suspects the attraction is not some giant number of people suddenly interested in Quaker bilboards. RantWoman considers it more likely there is some Google map / branding thing going on, but RantWoman is perfectly prepared just to run iwth what she's got and turn over what the MT thing is supposed to be saying and to whom.


RantWoman notes that her post about cuddle puddles enjoyed a recent uptick of hits.

RantWoman is intrigued that a post from a TED talk by a domestic violence survivor attracted a whole bunch of hits. There is a tell EVERYONE subtext of that link. RantWoman so far has refrained from Tell EVERYONE. Hold RantWoman in the Light. Hold EVERYONE else in the Light too.

Oh Holy Jesus!


Or maybe hold everyone in the Light while RantWoman exclaims "what is it about my face that causes people to need to tell me about their restraining order issues?"


RantWoman has been thinking about Irrepressible Nephew being most assuredly a preteen, for a FEW more months, thinking about life as a teenage RantWoman.

In that vein, RantWoman is TOUCHED to have sparked the following reflection:
http://hystery.blogspot.com/2013/07/when-i-was-18.html

RantWoman means at some point to go a different direction with that prompt an d Bob Dylan, "ah, but I was so much older then. I'm so much younger than that now...." but RantWoman is SO grateful it meant something to someone else.


RantWoman has been basically a fat four-eyed nerd since approximately age two. RantWoman remembers life as a teenager in her faith community with, um, apprehension after the fact. The nicest girl RantWoman's age never came to church because of child custody issues. The two girls who did come thought RantWoman was a tiresome nerd; RantWoman returned the favor: they seemed like snotty empty-headed party animal twits, and impression RantBrother underscored because they all had similar interests and talked to each otehr fine. RantWoman can concede the limits of her Light; these girls no doubt have grown up into fine human beings with no more Issues than RantWoman herself.


Except for the wonderful but not entirely approachable Bernie and Doris of Jr. High, Sunday school was taught by a sequence of perfectly fine thoughtful men but they were men; RantWoman's best grounding as a young woman came from an Older Woman who observed the aforementioned girls being snotty and after that made a point of saying Hi to RantWoman EVERY time we saw each other. That alone was HUGE. Still, it took RantWoman a LONG time to be able actually to talk further about her own spiritual life. There is more to go with this but RantWoman is not going there just now.


RantWoman's Quakerese filter is functioning very badly. RantWoman has some weird brain circuit firing peculiarly and turning ALL Kinds of messages into "shut up." RantWoman does not know whether to be amused or chagrined that it is working really well even for dear old Isaac Pennington.
...Isaac Penington, ... advised:
FRIENDS,
Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand, if there has been any slip or fall; and waiting till the Lord gives sense and repentance, if sense and repentance in any be wanting. Oh! wait to feel this spirit, and to be guided to walk in this spirit, that ye may enjoy the Lord in sweetness, and walk sweetly, meekly, tenderly, peaceably, and lovingly one with another. And then, ye will be a praise to the Lord.


RantWoman is remembering a moment from one of the fire department disaster preparedness presentations she went to while adjusting to midlife vision meltdown. RantWoman had a spectacular flashback to a previous housefire. RantWoman had to sit with the flashback only a few minutes to realize it came with a message that needed to be heard by the whole room. RantWoman feels the same way about Issac Pennington; RantWoman is feeling pretty strongly called to elder several people in her Meeting.

Oh Holy Jesus!

RantWoman's Meeting is populated with several people who are too eager to insist on forgiveness without being able to give space for what forgiveness is needed about. There are times of danger and serious interpersonal challenge where just babbling about forgiveness is idiotic, It might be necessary. It might be powerful, but it might not be all of what is needed. If someone is standing on RantWoman's foot by accident it's possible can forgive them but it's still appropriate to ask them to move. RantWoman is grateful to borrow someone else's words about attending to her own integrity and others' woundedness. RantWoman needs her readers' forebearance about testing whether that comment is needed in their own lives rather than insisting on more details from the gospel according to RantWoman.

Besides, look world, RantWoman is not a Quaker because of being any good at this peace and love stuff. RantWoman is a Quaker because she needs all the help she can get. That means DON'T OVERDO IT. RantWoman can forgive a LOT but it's a WHOLE lot easier to forgive when there is some interaction with a desire not to have to keep forgiving new occurrences of the same problem.. There RantWoman goes with more God as personal butler expectations, but anyway....



Next, RantWoman needs Friends' forebearance about assorted brain malfunctions.
RantWoman has been blessed with a built-in very badly calibrated idiot detector. It works like one of those new iGizmos with cameras front and back. The idiot detector goes off all over the place right now. Sometimes there is no actual idiot. Sometimes the idiot is in front of the idiot detector. Sometimes the idiot is behind the idiot detector. Sometimes the idiot detector is blaring because there are idiots all over the place. But RantWoman rides the bus. The idiot detector always gets a vigorous workout on the bus and by the grace of God hundreds of thousands of people get from A to B on the bus idiots or no idiots. RantWoman is thinking that if we all hold that thought it will somehow also shed Light.


Free Will Astrology for the Week of May 29
CANCER (June 21–July 22): Here's a thought from philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: "A person will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push that door." I'd like to suggest that his description fits you right now, Cancerian. What are you going to do about it? Tell me I'm wrong? Reflexively agree with me? I've got a better idea. Without either accepting or rejecting my proposal, simply adopt a neutral, open-minded attitude and experiment with the possibility. See what happens if you try to pull the door open.

Free Will Astrology for the Week of ....
CANCER (June 21–July 22): "In order to swim one takes off all one's clothes," said 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. "In order to aspire to the truth, one must undress in a far more inward sense, divest oneself of all one's inward clothes, of thoughts, conceptions, selfishness, etc., before one is sufficiently naked." Your assignment in the coming week, Cancerian, is to get au naturel like that. It's time for you to make yourself available for as much of the raw, pure, wild truth as you can stand.


Again with the spiritual striptease? REALLY?

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Item about eldering

RantWoman recommends both this specific post and several links via the comments for a whole range of points about eldering, not to mention use of the term Overseers (arrrgggh!).

http://maphead.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-bowl-filling-with-water.html

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Oops, Well? Phonetically Infelicitous? Anyway, not yet.

Oops well

RantWoman takes note:
The word "oversight" is included in the following list.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/49834/14-words-are-their-own-opposites

RantWoman for sheer geek nerd delight in connection with another matter reread her Meeting's bylaws and discovered that the word Oversight appears about 14 times throughout the 3-page document. Even worse, the word "Overseers" also appears.

Just in time for the recently-ended White Privilege Conference, #wpc14, the latest edition of our Meeting's monthly newsletter includes the following item:

Oversight Committee is considering changing our name. We have discussed potential names including Care and Counsel.

Why?

Let’s consider the query from North Pacific Yearly Meeting’s Faith and Practice, 1986:

“Do you endeavor to cleanse yourself of every vestige of racial prejudice, and firmly but lovingly oppose it in your home, among your friends and acquaintances, and in business?”
Here is one Thesaurus definition: oversight - a mistake resulting from inattention, or an unintentional omission resulting from failure to notice something.We may be making a mistake resulting from failure to notice that the terms overseer and oversight have hurtful connotations to some people. In an online discussion about ending racism among Friends one Quaker says:“I was on Nominating Committeefor a Friends group, and we really were hoping a certain African American Friend would bewilling to serve on our Overseers Committee. The Friend in question gave me and my fellow Nominating Committee person (both of us white) a long look and then, as best I can recall, thanked us for thinking of him, expressed his affection for both the organization and the committee in question, and then said there was really no way he could even consider serving on a committee with such a name.

”Perhaps “Overseers” conjures up images of slavery more readily than “Oversight.” But why risk using hurtful language? Vanessa Julye, who led sessions for UFM on racism several years ago, in an article entitled “Racism Hurtsand Challenges Everyone” asks us: “Most of the racism I have encountered in Quakerism has been subtle. It is present in the language and some of our traditions. When we celebrate our history and traditions, is it done in a manner which is inclusive? Do we use terms, or focus on certain aspects of history, leaving out the painful parts? “

Here is a second Thesaurus definition of oversight: “management by overseeing the performance or operation of a person or group.”Depicting oversight as management, also made us question our name. It feels less like what wedo than a name such as Care and Counsel.

There are many precedents for name changes. The National Congress of American Indians issued a resolution opposing continued usage of Native team names, mascots, and logos. Wikipedia notes that over 70 sports teams have changed their names, including the Eastern Washington Savages who became the Eagles in 1973. Similarly, when Stokely Carmichael coined the phrase “black power” in 1966, “Negro” was how most black Americans described themselves.

By the mid-1980s even the U.S. Supreme Court had largely substituted black or African American. Many Friends Meetings have changed the name of their Oversight Committees. We hope Friends will help us think about this issue and consider changing the UFM bylaws to allow a name change for our committee.

[A draft minute specifically proposing to change the name to Care and Counsel was included with the agenda for this month's Business Meeting; RantWoman does not in the least repent of the part she played in Business Meeting not getting to this item.]

RantWoman opines:
(RantWoman THINKS she is going to maintain enough discipline not to spell out all the reasons she herself could be thoroughly delighted just to call this the "Oops Well" committee right now. RantWoman urges readers, Lead RantWoman not into temptation.)

--Well, gee, it's nice to see this just in time for the White Privilege Conference, but i hope changing the name of Oversight is not the only thing we do to re-examine issues of racism

--Rantwoman definitely unites with the thought of changing our name but HATES "Care and Counsel" for two reasons:

--Confusion with the Care Subcommittee. The Care subcommittee (of what is now known as Oversight) helps arrange committees of support for Friends with individual specific needs. Rantwoman means to write more of this topic elsewhere.

--Counsel implies more training and perspicacity than the Nominating process at our Meeting by itself generates. Pretty much does not matter what words might come with Counsel;RantWoman does not like the word Counsel because it sets up unrealistic expectations. One nearby Meeting calls this committee Community Spiritual Life, a name RantWoman is not crazy about but it works for them.

--RantWoman thinks "Care and Counsel" promises way more than can be assured. Precisely because RantWoman is prepared to live with people doing their best in Faith, Rantwoman really likes the thought of Community,Faith and Discipline committee. (Okay, this first came to RantWoman as the Faith, Community, and Discipline Committee. Can anyone see the phonetically infelicitous acronym that results?)

But the most important point: RantWoman wants the whole community, not just the soon-to-be-renamed committee to grapple with the theology and historical associations of the different words. Can you say "Word nerd?" Hold RantWoman in the Light while she tries to stay centered about this. In any case, the Friend presenting is not available until the June business meeting.

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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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Nabokov again controversial in Russia

By way of blog as filing cabinet / hold a whole country's culture scene in the Light:

From the New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/02/the-turn-against-nabokov.html?mbid=gnep&google_editors_picks=true

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Valentine hallelujahs

This post is dedicated to people who, for all kinds of reasons might observe Valentine's Day in the sense of watching other people, sometimes with deep delight, while their own lives are messier than hearts and flowers and lots and lots of lace.

Where RantWoman started MegChristian, The ones who aren't here http://youtu.be/k6kL2kuSqow

More Tatu, Monkey Zero http://youtu.be/19SpfBbjSjE

KD Lang, Hallelujah http://youtu.be/5XyKZcvLqmk

Rhema Marvanne, Hallelujah http://www.youtube.com/watch v=AJ9VhDo1Ue4&feature=share&list=PL8B90CA37776EAF57

John Cale, Hallelujah http://youtu.be/DinEKqtCDkg

Rufus Wainwright, Hallelujah, with subtitles in Spanish http://youtu.be/oIq6M8s8KL0

Ruth ... Seabia, Aleluyah in Spanish http://youtu.be/SFVRbYeurtM

Where to end up for now Rhema Marvanne, If I wrote a note to God http://youtu.be/vfI_qvewlk8

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