Clare Consultation, LLCPosted on September 17, 2012 by Mary Clare
Libya, the Chinook Nation and Who We are as Americans
Captions beneath three undated photos provided to the Chinook Observer by Ambassador Chris Stevens’ mother read: Chris Stevens. Stevens was among four Americans who died Tuesday night, Sept. 11, 2012 in Benghazi after they were attacked by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. Stevens’ death deprives the United States of someone widely regarded as one of the most effective American envoys to the Arab world. Chris Stevens, the ambassador to Libya who was killed in… Read More
Posted on September 10, 2012 by Mary Clare
Post National Conventions – the Anniversary Celebration of a Brain Tumor
This morning a friend in Omaha told me about Sam, a friend of his who was off for ten days on a third anniversary trip to the particular beauty of the Colorado Rockies around Estes Park. My friend has spoken of Sam before, describing him as a notably successful businessman who’s built a thriving company that supplies materials for building or renovating homes. Sam’s success, though, is lately not enough to bring… Read More
Posted on September 3, 2012 by Mary Clare
Building it.
Of late a good deal of national opposition has arisen around the words “build it.” Some months ago, our president made a point in a public (and arguably campaign) speech about the labor that supports most, if not all of the social activity in this country, including business. Some folks heard his comments as indicating they shouldn’t get credit for their work. The media and campaign publicity machines got hold of the… Read More
Posted on August 27, 2012 by Mary Clare
The Hope in Opposition
NOTE: An opposition in public discourse occurs when opinions on a given matter appear sharply polarized. E.g., global warming is a problem: there’s no global warming. From one view, opposition makes for intractability. From another it makes for opportunity. Listening and speaking across difference – the willingness and skill for that – makes the difference. A few trending Oppositions in admitted editorial rendering (i.e., I like all of us am biased by… Read More
Posted on August 20, 2012 by Mary Clare
A Tough Guy’s Good Things List
This morning I had a conversation with a man named Gordon. Gordon is in his 70’s. He’s a big burly man who spent working life among the towering conifers of the Pacific Northwest. To this day he still wears plaids, jeans, suspenders and heavy work boots. His face and hands are sculpted by decades outdoors and his eyes are gray – brown like chips of smoky quartz. We sat at a sidewalk… Read More
Posted on August 5, 2012 by Mary Clare
XXX Olympiad — Blog readership plummets
Not that the number was that sky-high to begin with – although of late there have been readers from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Israel and Brazil – even one reader from Sierra Leon. I don’t know if all of the countries represented by readers on this little blog are also represented at the Olympics. I can’t because of a lot of things. A lot of work, for starters; and then there’s the super… Read More
Posted on July 29, 2012 by Mary Clare
Mary Says, Mitt Says
My 19-year-old niece Mary is in Israel. So is Mitt Romney. Mary arrived almost 4 weeks ago to assist with rebuilding homes of Palestinian people that have been destroyed in the areas of the country historically populated by Palestinians now being displaced. Many of those lands are occupied by Jewish settlers. These are complicated issues from the standpoint of local, national and international politics. They are less complicated but more urgent and… Read More
Posted on July 22, 2012 by Mary Clare
A Love Like that Lights Up the Whole Sky
There is a man I’ve been watching over the past five years or more. He walks in Laurelhurst Park where I walk. He is around 6 feet tall. His hair is full and dark. His skin is olive. Maybe his ancestors were from the Mediterranean. He is handsome. I see this man often, especially in milder weather. With maybe one exception, he has been holding hands with a quite elderly woman. As… Read More
Posted on July 15, 2012 by Mary Clare
Four Blackberries Freshly Picked
This morning’s air was filled with water – the marine air that sometimes makes summer visits to Portland from the Oregon coast. I was up early to meet up with friends and underestimated what turned out to be enough moisture to soak almost through my rain coat over the course of my walk. Time with the people I had ventured out to meet was cozy and kind – like brown sugar on… Read More
Posted on July 10, 2012 by Mary Clare
An Hour of What’s Right with the World
Ben Merens (host of WPR’s At Issue) was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when we talked last week. I was on my friend’s landline; the landline a necessity for hooking into the WPR technology if you’re too far away to be sitting across the table from Ben. She lives a few blocks away and was out of town visiting family in New York, but said “Yes. Use the phone. That will be great!” So I… Read More