Clare Consultation, LLCHas it really been 10 years: 100 VOICES
January 21, 2009, the day after the inauguration of the first Obama administration, I took off driving – south, then east, then north, then back west. I was interested in listening to everyday people. I wanted to know what they meant when they said that word – especially public in the preceding months – CHANGE. My goal was 100 voices in the first 100 days. Voices across as broad a range of… Read More
#NoDAPL – A Closer View from a Young Anishinaabe Woman
More helpful words from another clear thinker. This time, a young woman. Kayla DeVault is an Anishinaabe, enrolled Shawnee. She lives on the Navajo nation where she is studying Diné studies at Diné College and working as a civil engineer for the Navajo Nation Division of Transportation. She is also a youth ambassador for Generation Indigenous who has attended meetings at the White House. Several weeks ago, she spoke before the leadership… Read More
Indians. Current Events. NO, REALLY. PAY ATTENTION.
Breaking news – The moment I posted the last blog*, the news came through of acquittal of the white, male, armed and militant protestors who occupied the federal lands of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter. That same moment, the news emerged of another round of arrests of Dokata Access Pipeline protestors, most of them Native Americans, and most of them peaceful. Coincidence? Yes, likely. Hipocritical and racist? Well, you judge for… Read More
Indians. Current Events.
I am non-Indian. I benefit from clean water, clean air and healthy soils. I benefit from social agreements that support those things. I benefit from social agreements that protect the dignity and civil rights of all of the people who rely on clean water and air, the food and the human community those make possible. Right now the Cleveland Indians are in the World Series for the first time in over 7… Read More
A Promise in Stone
In this life of no guarantees – of too much hatred and violence – of 24-hour news headlines, fear, and double-speak. In these days of winter showing up everywhere in unusual ways while night follows day follows night, and decisions have come to seem more baffling than ever. Under this one sky, sharing this water, ground and air, love is what we have for certain. This is so. But, whatever you do,… Read More
Standing in Wildfire
Yesterday, my husband Gary and I began a drive to Montana. We live there parts of the year. Just outside a really small community tucked into muscular folds of the Intermountain West. With water and trees, with big mammals like Elk, Moose and Bear – with Eagles and Hawks, and this past spring, with a mama hummingbird nested just outside our window. It was early when we left Portland – the place… Read More
A Heatwave of Independence
For three weeks plus, temperatures in Portland, Oregon have been above 90°. There has been no rain since June 1. I find myself longing for Slip&Slides, for Mr. Wiggle (video link for those who’ve forgotten – and for those who may have never known) – and resorting instead to random sidesteps into the spray of lawn sprinklers. In Portland, and all across the Pacific Northwest, June has generally been a mostly rainy month. … Read More
Cycles – Variation on an Easter Blog
Last week I had the great opportunity to be in Yellowstone – the first National Park in the world. Yellowstone stands out for loads of reasons – but recently I’ve learned another feature of its distinction. The park makes up over 20% of the largest generally intact ecosystem in our planet’s temperate zone. All of these are fun facts. But the realities that support them have gained particular significance to me from working alongside… Read More
Fresh Water Matters
I’m sitting in a room with large windows. Outside fresh water tumbles by, higher on the banks of Rock Creek than usual for August. There’s been way more snow and rain this year than is ever expected for this arid region of Montana. Regardless of the reason and in spite of some of the local folks’ complaints, the water doesn’t miss a beat. Constancy is its nature. Today, Matt Damon did the… Read More
Portland Boil Alert – Noticing what Works
I just got a phone call from a woman I don’t know. It was my second time to hear her voice. The first time was yesterday afternoon when she called everyone in Portland, Oregon to tell us we needed to boil our drinking water. E Coli had been found in the drinking supply. We needed to be careful and via ‘reverse 911’ the officials of our city were letting us know. So,… Read More