Clare Consultation, LLCSeeing Privilege
It’s going to take a while. I don’t want to speak for blacks, but from my perspective being a black man with what I have observed in my lifetime, I will feel as though I’m going to be shortchanged because of the history behind us. I will feel that until I see some definite improvement. If they tell you that you can be equal, but you never make any gains, you’re going… Read More
Year Three Begins: Change in Everyday America
Two years ago, today I was interviewing Kate and Georgiana, #s 002 and 003 on the EX:Change. They are both women in the middle of their careers. They are both artists and teachers. I was interviewing them about change, the word and the concept that had gained such notoriety in the 2008 presidential election. Kate said this: “It’s really my strength and my weakness, this penchant for change. I can get impatient… Read More
Tucson, 9/11 and a Publication Date (!)
It’s happening! The EX:Change project’s interviews from early 2009 are going into a book. The tentative title – You Say Change, We Say…. And Loud Mouth (http://www.loudmouthpress.org/) is the perfect publisher – a nonprofit in Brooklyn devoted to issues of social importance. Here’s one thing they say about themselves. “Our projects offer an innovative, creative and artistic perspective on important topics that concern the entire human family.” Cool, huh? Fortunately, the… Read More
Procrastination and a Nation’s Hostility Habit: When a Congresswoman has Been Shot in the Head
It is shortly after 1:00 in the afternoon in the Starbucks on 28th and E. Burnside in Portland, Oregon. It’s Adam’s last day as a barista here. He’s off for a full-time gig in a fusion restaurant downtown. My friend Doug just walked by and came in for a chat. He’s a bartender who, for the first time in two decades, didn’t have to work New Year’s Eve. “Nothing more renewing than… Read More
Spirit & Faith
“We change up above, on our surfaces, but there’s that underlying constant that travels through all the changes. It’s something I don’t really have the words for. The only concrete thing I have, which isn’t concrete at all, is that deep soul feeling.” Lauren Kraakevik It’s an overcast but warm spring day in Portland, OR. I’m back down the street in the corner Starbuck’s where the staff have been so consistent in cheering… Read More
American Dreams
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Mary Oliver During this week last year, a comment appeared on the EX:Change blog from <expatrick>: “Asking people to put their dreams into words is asking a lot, but it also helps them get a step farther down their own path. These are people’s prayers you’re hearing.” The other thing I’m remembering from that time was… Read More