Clare Consultation, LLCMissing the People – A Protest in Support of my Trans- Friends
I am not a trans- person. I am a heterosexually identified person who presents to the world as a woman. My birth certificate inticates that I am female. Wierdly it also qualifies my infant form as “leg,” which I have come to understand as designation required by Jefferson County TX to indicate legitimacy status. Another thing I am is a person who has friends. All along the way these friendships have proven… 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
Visual Data – Truth or Dare
For all you graphic data nerds out there (and I freely admit I stand among you), a few thoughts on statistics. Perhaps a good starting place – correlation. Correlation is the way fluctuations in measurement of separate variables or outcomes match up. Like the way we keep seeing cigarette smoking correlating highly with lung cancer. The problem with correlation – or perhaps better said, the inherent limitation – is that correlation alone may… Read More
Christians, Muslims, Jews and the Return of the Light
It’s the winter holiday season. The eight days of Hanukkah have already come and gone. Malid un Nabi, Christmas, Kwanzaa and the turn of the year to 2016 are not far away. And, yesterday we in the northern hemisphere turned the corner from increasing dark to increasing light. Winter Solstice. The shift will be gradual, but the sun’s time above the horizon will grow and grow until, of course, it turns again… Read More
On Robots and Listening
As ever, change is afoot. Autumn is heading for winter, for example. Starbucks is well into shifting its holiday paperware (the plain red paper cups a significant and publicized offense to a few “Christmas-only” types). Oceans are heating up, children are growing taller and Artificial Intelligence is animating robots to replace workers around the globe. There’s much more – and too much of it troubling. But you know that. So, this… Read More
in memorium: Nohemi Gonzalez – 10.19.1992/11.13.2015
Nohemi Gonzalez in her words: I am Mexican American and I also happen to be first generation born in the United States. I grew up in Whittier [California] and had a very hard working mother that raised me to be extremely independent. If I had to describe myself in a few words I would say I am very high spirited, clean, orderly and self driven. Nohemi was a student of design, studying… Read More
Halloween, 2015: Brought to you by…
A few days ago, Governor Kate Brown issued a proclamation designating November as National American Indian Heritage Month in Oregon. With that proclamation, she urged citizens of Oregon to join in observances of the vast contributions of American Indian peoples to the well-being of the state and country. Essentially, this is a reminder. Each state’s governor may issue state-specific proclamations related to designations of months to honor groups of people. November has… Read More
Listening for a Change
Here’s a way things are working in the U.S. On January 21, 2009 I got in my car and drove south – then east – then north – then west. A rough rectangle of American highways. 10,000+ miles. I drove to listen to what people had to say. My question: What do you mean when you say the word change? In the process, my purpose led to my own enormous gain. That… Read More
Report from Afghanistan
Guest Blog: Zaher Wahab, Ph,D, zwahab@auaf.edu.af NOTE: This just in from my mentor, friend and colleague, Zaher Wahab. This is Zaher’s second guest blog to this site. He continues as the director of the graduate program in Education with American University of Afghanistan (AUAF). While still a professor in the graduate school at Lewis & Clark College, Zaher gave years of service to the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan. That led him, upon retirement,… Read More
Identity and Work
I was going to title this Identity, Work, Motherhood and Death, but that seemed a touch too ambitious. Nonetheless, all apply. On August 31, at the turn from midnight to midnight-01, and for the first time since I was 15 years old, I became unemployed. Sheesh. Actually, I’m self-employed now and giving a good go at establishing this new career. Still, there’s the tenacious pull of my 30-year academic career. And it’s… Read More