Clare Consultation, LLCPaying Attention to What’s Working
The other day, I was at the Quest Integrative Health Center in Portland. I was co-facilitating a discussion on the neurobiology of happiness based on the work of researcher and clinician, Rick Hanson. I’ve written about Quest Center before in this blog (EX:C blogs November 26, 2012; December 10, 2012) and have to say it’s great to be volunteering my time as part of this monthly neuroscience series. The group gathered… Read More
DIY Fashion Statement
So, one of the features of being human is having a body. You may have noticed. Related to that is necessity, both climactic and social, of finding ways to cover, to clothe. The practical act of clothing keeps people from freezing in winter and can provide a bit of cooling in the heat of summer. The social act if covering the body may most joyously take on artistry with adornment being a… Read More
Women Claiming Life with ECT
Today a journalist contacted me. She’s writing a story on women and Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and wanted to know two things — what I know of the history of mental health care for women over the past 40 years, and what I know about ECT. The truth is I cannot claim any expertise with regard to ECT. But I have listened to women in recent years who have considered or experienced the… Read More
Earth Day – a Week after Boston
Earth Day. Two days after 4/20. A week since the Boston Marathon Explosion. Ten days since the Senate voted against background checks for gun purchases. Pedantic as it may sound, if it weren’t for the Earth, none of these other things would have a place to happen. When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter how it sounds – it’s simply so. Without Earth, marijuana would not grow, humans would not… Read More
Don’t Rape.
This photo and related article just showed up on Facebook. The article was about all the ways women should, according to rapist themselves, avoid assault by doing their hair, forgoing attention to cell phones, choosing clothes that are not easily ripped, etc. Absent in this advice is any mention of high heels. I’ve been unhappy about high heels for as long as I’ve been aware of fashion fluctuations for female feet. From… Read More
Succession – We’re in Great Hands
This week’s blog is a montage. My qualification to put these images together here with my ideas about what I’ve seen and experienced of the Student Alliance Project arises only from the generosity with which the young adults of this thriving community organization have informed and befriended me as an ally. Last night I attended a celebration. There were hundreds of people in a room that barely held them, sitting at circular… Read More
Montana Reprise — the Renewal of Uncertainty Easter and Beyond
It is Easter morning. A black cat walks across a bright green stretch of lawn each step a caress as silken and clear as the the early morning air that holds it all. I’ve driven 1800 miles in the past week. Even though that’s a thing I’m known to do, the particular kind of presence demanded by the road continues to offer surprises that, upon my return, make the miracles like cat… Read More
Montana’s Red Lodge
Yep. On the road again. This time listening to the wide stretch of country called Montana. Right now I’m sitting with the morning sun where it falls across this tooled leather couch and onto pine floors reclaimed from beneath years of inhabitants, each leaving behind their layers of linoleum, carpet and, in the bedroom where I’m sleeping — astroturf. It took plenty of my friends Joe and Roxanna’s work to call these wooden boards… Read More
900 miles later
Moonrise over Montana – gibbous pearl thumbtack secured like the answer to a question phrased in clear blue. Hills role golden here. Like a pod of humpback whales they ease untroubled beneath blushing snowcaps.