Clare Consultation, LLCPosted 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 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
Posted on July 10, 2012 by Mary Clare
An Hour of What’s Right with the World
Ben Merens (host of WPR’s At Issue) was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when we talked last week. I was on my friend’s landline; the landline a necessity for hooking into the WPR technology if you’re too far away to be sitting across the table from Ben. She lives a few blocks away and was out of town visiting family in New York, but said “Yes. Use the phone. That will be great!” So I… Read More
Posted on June 28, 2012 by Mary Clare
Independence Shared
On the day the only living Pinta Island Giant Tortoise was found dead, fires raged in the foothills of the Colorado front range and the Supreme Court of the U.S. decided the state of Montana could not assert its 100+ year old legislative policy stating the corporations are not people. It was raining in Portland, OR where today the sun peeks regularly between clouds making for dappled shadows instead of monochrome. That… Read More
Posted on June 8, 2012 by Mary Clare
Rose Festival, Jubilee and Jazz
My friend, Mark, is teaching himself to play the piano. He’s reading a book by David Sudnow called Ways of the Hand. Sudnow’s book sounds daunting (at its easiest). It’s a phenomenological inquiry into the intersection of physical forms (hands and all their linked physiology), consciousness and the music of jazz piano. Or at least that’s the closest I can come to a description. Mark says, “Music lives in the hands. Every… Read More
Posted on May 24, 2012 by Mary Clare
“We have to talk about these things”
I am back in Portland. Three weeks, now. Shortly after my return I receive email with the subject line: yes-youmadeit/Dr. Dapo! My dear and long-time friend, Dr. Dapo Sobomehin (voice 90 in 100 Voices – Americans Talk about Change), wanted to get together for coffee. This morning we finally made it to the corner of Hawthorne and SE 37th for a few hours of catching up. Every time we meet, I am compelled… Read More
Posted on May 18, 2012 by Mary Clare
Turn Around — Another Take on 99%
Last night I got to have a long phone conversation with my friend Barbara Gutkin. Barbara and Terry have known me more than half my life. They also happen to be two of the Americans in 100 Voices – Americans Talk about Change. Barbara and Terry are experimenting with retirement. Barbara retired for a while, then decided to go back to work a few days a week because she missed being active… Read More
Posted on May 2, 2012 by Mary Clare
American Words Heading West
A few days ago, a poet in Colorado Springs said to me, “I’m really not interested in theory. There is far more that is real in art. I like keeping my work close to life itself.” Later in the afternoon, a first year student at Colorado College said, “It’s been amazing to me to see how much we aren’t told about history in public school. Unless someone tells you, you never really… Read More