Clare Consultation, LLCPosted on January 21, 2013 by Mary Clare
“Good Job, Dad” — Change 4 Years Later
“The first step is faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Martin Luther King, Jr “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” Barack Obama Sasha Obama hugged her dad after he took the Presidential Oath of Office yesterday. “Good job, Dad,” she said. “I did it,” her father responded. Then today, President Obama stood before… Read More
Posted on November 26, 2012 by Mary Clare
Amidst the Fuss about Mexican Immigration and Gay Marriage
Last night, I stood rinsing 50 plates, stacking in a small tower the ones that didn’t fit in the first run of the dishwasher. Behind me a loosely coordinated team of cooks fussed over flan one woman had made. “I wasn’t expecting 50…!” she whispered. “Loaves and fishes time,” said the mountainous man with the big hands and superb skill with savory and spice. These are other things I heard – “Is… Read More
Posted on November 5, 2012 by Mary Clare
Presidential Politics and the #6 Bus
The podcast series continues – in fact, the entire world continues – even here in the days just preceding and just following the 2012 U.S. Presidential election. This past Friday, Alex Ward, the producer of the podcast series, uploaded Chapter 3 – Voices from the Southwest. The radio recounting of my miles on the post-inauguration highways of early 2009 continues. The most important feature of these podcasts for me is the chance… Read More
Posted on October 24, 2012 by Mary Clare
In the run up to the election — An ANTIDOTE
Another post so soon??? YES! Here’s an antidote to all the contention and polemic flying around the airwaves and unfortunately, too easily eddying in our own ruminations. We still have over a week before the election. During that time it’s only vastly possible that the theater of opposition will amp up. The essential subtext of all the contention is that we the people not only should but do dislike, disrespect and fear… Read More
Posted on October 8, 2012 by Mary Clare
100 VOICES Podcast Preview
Today my neighbor Darren brought over flowers. Darren is an art connoisseur and downhill ski enthusiast — passions he finances with his career-long work as a rebar guy. He’s the man who goes in when sky scrapers or strip malls are only twinkles in architects’ eyes to put in the steel bar that holds up the whole edifice — you know, the kind that looks like licorice strands but weighs like plutonium…. Read More
Posted on September 24, 2012 by Mary Clare
“47%” Cuts Lots of Ways
I saw my highschool friend Tim Taylor at a reunion a few years ago. Last time we’d spoken we were both 15 year olds. When we chatted this time, it was September in Kerrville, TX – homecoming weekend. The world class heat of the Texas summer had softened so we could stand around outside catching up on where the decades had taken those fresh-faced teens who will forever populate the halls of… Read More
Posted on September 10, 2012 by Mary Clare
Post National Conventions – the Anniversary Celebration of a Brain Tumor
This morning a friend in Omaha told me about Sam, a friend of his who was off for ten days on a third anniversary trip to the particular beauty of the Colorado Rockies around Estes Park. My friend has spoken of Sam before, describing him as a notably successful businessman who’s built a thriving company that supplies materials for building or renovating homes. Sam’s success, though, is lately not enough to bring… Read More
Posted on September 3, 2012 by Mary Clare
Building it.
Of late a good deal of national opposition has arisen around the words “build it.” Some months ago, our president made a point in a public (and arguably campaign) speech about the labor that supports most, if not all of the social activity in this country, including business. Some folks heard his comments as indicating they shouldn’t get credit for their work. The media and campaign publicity machines got hold of the… Read More
Posted on August 27, 2012 by Mary Clare
The Hope in Opposition
NOTE: An opposition in public discourse occurs when opinions on a given matter appear sharply polarized. E.g., global warming is a problem: there’s no global warming. From one view, opposition makes for intractability. From another it makes for opportunity. Listening and speaking across difference – the willingness and skill for that – makes the difference. A few trending Oppositions in admitted editorial rendering (i.e., I like all of us am biased by… Read More
Posted on August 12, 2012 by Mary Clare
Election Year Politics – Hold on to your Limbic System!
If there were a word to sum up the trouble with our elections and the leaders they bring us, what would it be? Thinking back on the 100 Voices I listened to in 2009, Americans around the country offered words like immature, disappointing, ridiculous, greedy, irrelevant. Ed Kemp, III in Jackson, MS said “useless.” Then he elaborated. “Senators and congressmen ought to all be farmers. They get up in the morning. They… Read More