Clare Consultation, LLCMerry Christmas to All
…and to All a Good Night. With gratitude and finest possible wishes to each of you ~ MC –Red Lodge, MT
<500 words to honor our Elder, Nelson Mandela
This week I had the distinctly privileged new millennium opportunity to sit in a microbrewery with a web design specialist. “Websites are, at best, for linking good minds in support of human community and the planet we humans share.” I knew I liked her. Somewhere in the mix I asked about blog length (you who follow EX:Change know mine can be lloonngg). She said, “Max 500 words.” I was impressed. I’m giving… Read More
Neuroplasticity and Gratitude
I was never much of a fan of talk about the biological bases of behavior. Already in the mid 80’s, there were innovative graduate programs popping up to explore brain-based treatments more nuanced than conventional treatments like ECT, Labotomy and psychotropic medication. Nonetheless, I remained decidedly a proponent of the nurture side of things. This bias came in large part from working with kids in schools and seeing the folly, and really… Read More
Wasp stings are annoying — The crashing unpredictability of severe weather is deadly
Ok — From Fracking the past two weeks to wasps. Tipping my hand here: I find myself thinking of the former at the causal edge of ongoing climate degradation while the latter live on the continuous curve of the climate’s changes. That, of course, places wasps in the company of all breathing and otherwise animate things (like people, rivers, pine cones, lentils …). In particular, wasps have been on my mind because… Read More
A Mandan-Hidatsa Elder and Civilian Warrior Speaks of Fracking
Today is Veteran’s Day. Today we honor people who have placed their lives on the line to recover peace. Per Capita, more Native Americans serve in the U.S. military than any other ethnic group. In recent data out of the Department of Defense (2010) the contrast shows up in the fact that while Native Americans make up 1.4% of the total U.S. population, they compose 1.7% of the country’s military. Over 20%… Read More
Fracking — Any Hope of Listening Here?
NOTE: Here’s a brief statement by a conservation writer and a response from a person with another opinion. Both are residents of the same area of Montana. My question to myself – to all of us – is how can these two people listen to one another? How can they be in conversation toward some level of understanding – even action? Is it possible? And before I leave you to read their… Read More
Ode to a Street Gentleman
This is a repost of a blog from New Year’s Day, 2011. That day I wrote about a man named Bill who I haven’t seen now for over two years. He’d be 68 by now. The street people around here who know him haven’t seen him or heard anything. I’ll keep asking, but all of us have the feeling Bill’s life may have passed. I’m spending lots of time considering house and… Read More
Shutdown — 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
My Uncle Abbott and World Peace
As I begin writing, the body that carried my beloved uncle’s vivid spirit is being placed in a grave. I am, of course, not there, but thousands of miles away. Uncle Abbott died October 3. He was born August 17, 1926 – 87 years were his to know and walk through here on the surface of this beautiful planet and among all of the rest of us. Those of us who had… 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