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
Note – Last week a young woman from the Student Alliance Project contacted me to request I write testimony in support of legislation to be proposed this week making available in-state tuition for young adults who live in Oregon and are children of immigrants. This is what I wrote. My name is Mary Clare. My ancestors of record came to this continent as early as the 1600’s. They came from Europe… Read More
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
Captions beneath three undated photos provided to the Chinook Observer by Ambassador Chris Stevens’ mother read: Chris Stevens. Stevens was among four Americans who died Tuesday night, Sept. 11, 2012 in Benghazi after they were attacked by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. Stevens’ death deprives the United States of someone widely regarded as one of the most effective American envoys to the Arab world. Chris Stevens, the ambassador to Libya who was killed in… Read More
This morning’s air was filled with water – the marine air that sometimes makes summer visits to Portland from the Oregon coast. I was up early to meet up with friends and underestimated what turned out to be enough moisture to soak almost through my rain coat over the course of my walk. Time with the people I had ventured out to meet was cozy and kind – like brown sugar on… Read More
Listen to the voices of your neighbors. One hundred voices from across the U.S. All talking about change. All speaking their dreams. Give the book to yourself, to friends or family. Join us in the EX:Change as it continues to offer its invitation to all of us — Listen to each other. See what is there in those with whom you think you have nothing in common. See what is there in… Read More
I had Thanksgiving Dinner at the home of a Nigerian-American family. My brother, Preston(since the dawn of our friendship we’ve been pretty sure we are twins separated at birth) and his wife, Michelle and their 5-year-old daughter, Rachel had invited me along on their Thanksgiving plans. Preston, the host couple and three more guests share the fact of long ancestries, birth, childhood and young adulthood in Nigeria. Although they did not meet… Read More
In a few days, when 100 Voices: Americans Talk about Change hits book stores, Marjan Baradar’s voice will be #91. Back in 2009, Marjan spoke of her optimism alongside her fear of the polarities in the country – she mentioned specifically the violence that can come of that. She spoke of the power of civic engagement and indicated her sense of such participation as a responsibility, a natural expression of being an… Read More
Today is only a day. It is Saturday, the 4th of July weekend, and like every other day it has filled with moments linking up into hours, holding people and motion – holding change. This is how it went. Sun rays angled across the morning sky. I woke with two friends on my mind – two friends who are too close to death. Tom, a remarkable and kind educational leader, is here… Read More
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
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