Clare Consultation, LLCShutdown — One Viral Video and a Sort of Bipartisan Response
[NOTE: Viral Video from title — http://www.votevets.org/home] [later NOTE: It’s 10-16 around 10:00 PST — the headlines I see say it’s over. This is a relief. Now the clean-up starts. And, by way of apology for any implication that furloughed Federal workers were not experiencing significant financial and professional stress (but rather were only on “paid vacation”), I offer this link to the real stories of real people — all Federal employees severely… Read More
Annunciation
[Posting from the UK – this second guest blog from Gary Ferguson writing here about the change in “making things fresh.” His are helpful words – a good, even vital reminder – here where we live on the outskirts of all the bluster and impulse in DC toward shutting down the government. Read and enjoy — mmc] A number of years ago, while teaching a nature writing class in Yellowstone, I had… Read More
American Work from the Ground Up
Labor Day is the American holiday designated to honor workers. Historically, the day arises from the American Labor Movement in the late 1800’s. The tradition continues — you likely noticed it last weekend – as a way of honoring the contributions of American workers to the health and wellbeing of our country. Also vital to the country’s emergence and continuing welfare is American Wilderness – a presence, a natural fact, that has… Read More
“He knows everyone in business.”
Every word was about kindness, about humility, or generosity of the most precious kind: of time and attention, of friendship and guidance, of wisdom. Last Thursday night, a man well into his 80’s retired … again. This time from a talent and career management firm called Right Management. I still don’t know enough about this man, Jack Stowell. My friend, Terry OConnor said, “Come as my guest. Jack wants to meet you.” … Read More
Wolves, Humans and the Errors of Fast Thinking
So, a few years ago a Nobel Prize winning economic scientist named Daniel Kahneman took a pretty astonishing look at cognitive, biological and psychological habits of minds faced with the need to make judgments or decisions. His observations show up in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow. Needless to say, there’s a lot in this book. One powerful trend Kahneman found in human decision making indicates that when we make quick… Read More
On Defending the Dream until it is Made Real
I am writing this week to remind myself and anyone who might read here that the passage of time does not make the circumstances of last week’s blog any less immediate – any less critical than they were. Racism and all other forms of social oppression are not gone. The violence – physical, emotional, intellectual, physical – continues daily. Please listen to this. Linten in yourself. Listen in the experiences and profound… Read More
This Must Stop.
This is a photo of a Black Man. The photo was taken and posted in response to yesterday’s decision in the Trayvon Martin murder case – the jury-based decision finding the man who killed the unarmed teen not-guilty. Look at this man. Depending on your life experience – your own ethnicity and gender, your experience with people who are similar to and different from you, the extent to which you are willing… Read More
Then Ernie Leans on Bert’s Shoulder while They Watch the News
So, I want to go back to last week’s Supreme Court decisions –back to the cover of the New Yorker and the mixed reaction – from effusion to raging – it received. We all know the controversy is less about Bert and Ernie than about the decision of the Supreme Court (or at least 5/9ths of it) to affirm and obviate the unconstitutional nature of that law passed in California amending that… Read More
The VRA and Racism “the country’s original sin”
What a week. With a 68-32 margin, the U.S. Senate passed immigration reform – a heartening step even in the face of the subsequent response by the usual suspects in the House of Representatives rolling their eyes and offering sound bites that essentially communicate (again…), “in your dreams.” In what likely stands as a more inspiring demonstration (and interpretation) of democratic action, Texas Senator, Wendy Davis together with thousands of citizens of… Read More
Violence May Thwart Public Voice, but the Ideas Won’t Go Away
My sister in Gainesville, Florida is recently back from Turkey — Istanbul and a rural city where she and her daughter worked a while on an organic olive farm. The olive work was only perfect for getting to know the culture of rural Turkey a bit, but it was also the only way for these two women to travel together. The younger is a college student, the older (celebrating her 50th with… Read More