Clare Consultation, LLCBrain Development in Times of Torture
What we need here isn’t balls. What we need is a big collection of myelinating orbitofrontal cortices. And we need it ASAP. Considering the many Elders I know, the many more of whom I’m aware, and the millions I have every reason to trust are out there, it’s my considered guess that we have all the developed brains we need to be far more wise than we are being. Unfortunately, those… Read More
Truth & Reconciliation – No Better Time than Right Now
Last night, I saw a video of renown science fiction author, Ursula Leguin, speaking at the National Book Awards in acknowledgement of receiving that august group’s recognition of her life of literary achievement. In her comments, she said, “I think hard times are coming. We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries, the realists of a larger reality.” Right after hearing LeGuin’s words, we heard the news from Ferguson, Missouri that… Read More
A Great Indigenous Leader Honored with a Public Award
Late yesterday, the longstanding and visionary environmental organization, Ecotrust, announced this year’s awardees for the Indigenous Leadership Award. Among the five leaders named is Roy Hunter Sampsel, my dear friend and mentor. What well-deserved recognition. This man is a giant of leadership! I had a nagging sense of incongruence when my first move to announce how thrilled I am with this news was to put it on facebook – but such is… Read More
In the Presence of a Great Gray Owl
I just sent email to children I met in North Carolina last week. They live in an enormous old house right in the middle of the Smoky Mountains. They run around the house, its sprawling porches and every inch of the generous land that surrounds it. They are learning with every step. They’re kids. Learning and running around is, most naturally, what kids do. These children have parents who are committed to… Read More
Rebuilding Native Nations – A non-Native Perspective
For the past 10 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Tribal Leadership — elected and traditional leaders of Native American Tribes in the U.S. and Canada. This work has provided more opportunities to learn than I could have imagined or even anticipated as a woman raised non-Indian in the U.S. The way I was raised to make sense of the world has lots of overlap with the way… Read More
Youth Leading with Music
This past Tuesday morning, I met a friend for coffee. Just a week earlier she had approached me, eyes shining especially (Soraya’s eyes about always shine) to say she hoped I’d have time to meet with her and her husband. She described Chaz as a musician and a man of activism – quiet, but profound. And not quiet when it comes to sound, because Chaz is a musician of sturdy repute. He… Read More
Children at the Border
A few updates from Scott: 7.July – Thanks Mary. I am going to be here two more weeks. It is quieter here so far today. The plane load left and the numbers are down from yesterday. I met Caesar this morning, he is by himself, 11 years old and was brought over by a coyote from Mexico. I have an app on my iPhone that helps me communicate with the kids. Since it is… Read More
Fat and Dignity
Inspired by a graduate student who had elected gastric bypass surgery as a weight reduction strategy, I took the lead on an article she co-authored with another student – a very tall, thin woman athlete. It is always great to publish in scholarly journals with students. Part of the satisfaction comes from supporting new scholars, but another part comes from delving into whole new areas of understanding based on following the… Read More
Having it Happen
I was 19 when I met my fairy good mother. Thirty four years later, in February of 2009, Mayme and I had our last conversation. She is the … voice in 100 VOICES – AMERICANS TALK ABOUT CHANGE. I found Mayme through her daughter Margie. She was in a nursing home and spending her days increasingly occupied with Alzheimer’s. In spite of her condition, Mayme remembered me immediately and, well above the… Read More
Zaher Wahab – Educational Leader Extraordinaire
NOTE: I’ve just received a note from my mentor, friend and colleague, Dr. Zaher Wahab. A few years ago, Zaher retired his position as a professor. We were faculty colleagues for 24 years. Throughout his 40 years in the professoriate, he returned regularly to his homeland in Afghanistan. Here is what he wrote today: Dear Colleagues and Friends, Greetings from Kabul. Yes, I know I have not written to you since last… Read More