On Wednesday of last week I heard a story. It was a story of a little boy, a four-year-old skipping and playing and laughing because he had completed two chemo-therapy treatments and for the first time in almost as long as he could remember, he didn’t feel icky. He felt great! Despite his cancer, and almost as if he’d forgotten he had it, he wanted to jump and run and swing with… Read More
My grandparents survived the Great Depression. My parents were born into the close of that time, but like any time of stress linked with austerity, the aftermath of that economic trauma was evident in newly and deeply established habits of caution. My farming grandmother could make anything out of anything, or so it seemed to me. She made quilts from squares of rag scraps stuffed with old nylon hosiery (among other softish… Read More
In a week of exceptions — a meteorite crashing through an otherwise ordinary Russian sky, a Pope resigning for the first time in 600 years – an unlikely story of a racist street fighter turned modest-but-powerful spiritual teacher beloved by people of all walks of life seems right in line. For context, I’ll tell you about this picture. This is the sunrise earlier this month over a mountain in southern India. Surrounding… Read More
Note – Last week a young woman from the Student Alliance Project contacted me to request I write testimony in support of legislation to be proposed this week making available in-state tuition for young adults who live in Oregon and are children of immigrants. This is what I wrote. My name is Mary Clare. My ancestors of record came to this continent as early as the 1600’s. They came from Europe… Read More
Last week I had the chance to catch up with a friend, Antone Minthorn (Cayuse), former Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). He told me a story of the Umatilla River. The focus of the story was Salmon – the fact that Salmon were not able to make it up the Columbia as far as the Umatilla River for more than 70 years while the combination of… Read More
“If you have time to stop for a minute, I’ve got something to show you back at the bus,” my new friend Peter says. “Something that fell from the sky.” “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” I ask. His blue eyes spark as his usually stone-still face lifts with the hint of a smile. “Yep,” he says, “bigger than a breadbox.” We are sitting across from one another in a red vinyl… Read More
So, every day this week, the initial seven episodes of 100VOICES via Podcast will be released — all starting right now!! Just go HERE for Chapter 1 – Voices from the Northwest. Then come back tomorrow and I’ll add Chapter 2, then 3 on Tuesday and so on through the whole week. By Sunday we’ll be onto the first launch of Chapter 8 followed the next three Sundays with 9, 10 and the super… Read More
There are a lot of things that could be said about right now, today, December 31, 2012. For starters, we in the Northern Hemisphere are in the darkest time of year. In Portland, Oregon the days are short, and most often gray and wet. Nonetheless, we, like all of us, are in a great series of collectively signified moments that invite suspension of despair and the joyful tending of possibility. On December… Read More
Love that takes us out of ourselves and binds us to something larger. President Obama Newtown, CT 12-16-2012 The days move by in this the darkest season for the Northern Hemisphere. Saturday was the day after, Sunday two days after, Monday three, Tuesday four …. These days will pass into months and years, and those of us still drawing breath in these wild and precious lives will continue. As we do, we… Read More
Here we are in December – already. Here we are nearing another turn of season; this time to winter. I’ve been noticing how the calls of birds really do become less present as the days shorten and the weather cools. Maybe it’s an effect of spending the last four years listening to what everyday people have to say. It’s for sure not boredom or lack of distraction. But here’s what noticing the… Read More
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