environment | Clare Consultation, LLC

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Mary Clare

Climate — Listening to know for sure

I have a friend in South Dakota who lives in a town that flooded last month. It was near completely under water. I have another friend who lives in Akiak, Alaska who told me about the tundra taking on a smell, thawing for the first time in his life or in the lives of his ancestors who have lived there for many thousand years. Then there was the photo my dad managed to… Read More

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Mary Clare

Common Courtesy

It’s sunny in Portland OR and already in the 60’s at 12:24 p.m. on Saturday. People are out everywhere and I’m walking west, nearing the center of the Steel Bridge, one of the ten bridges spanning the Willamette River and operated by the Port of Portland. The water level is very high – highest since the flood of 1996. As I walk onto the Steel Bridge, I’m guessing the bridge operators are… Read More

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Mary Clare

Bin Laden’s Death & What We Really Want

I heard no fireworks. In the center of the rural Midwest, I was aware of no celebrations – raucous or otherwise – in bars, in living rooms, in church fellowship halls. I was an outsider. Just visiting. I may not have been sensitive to the signs. Midwesterners are also known to be a rather reserved bunch. But, this winter I’ve had occasion to observe both Green Bay Packers fans and energized mass… Read More

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Mary Clare

“Lead,” She Said.

If we’re ever going to begin to grapple with the problems we have collectively,we’re going to have to move back the veil and deal with each other on a more human level. Wilma Mankiller (1945 – 2010) Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Today I sat with two Elders in my community – two Grandmothers. Both of these designations, elder and grandmother, carry ambiguous valence in a culture (mine) so taken with… Read More

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Mary Clare

Ice Cream with a Korean American Nuclear Physicist

St. Patrick’s Day began with a cultural experience. I’m visiting rural Wisconsin. I like it. I like the people. I’m learning from them. The culture I encountered yesterday morning is not unique to Wisconsin, but it had its own uniqueness. At 7:30, nearing my favorite coffee shop, you know, the Sweet Spot I mentioned some weeks ago, I hear crowd noise from the very small downtown area (two and a half streets,… Read More

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Mary Clare

What Accents Have to Do with World Peace

The bald eagles are nesting in northern Wisconsin. To see them is a privilege. This sense of privilege – really, of awe – is not new in humans. And the birds deserve it. Their power and dignity, their grace and comfort with majesty can only be met with appreciation of the highest order. Then there’s everyday eagle speak. Not the famous war cry that echoes through canyons, but the way eagles chat… Read More

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Mary Clare

Gay Teen Suicide: Yes, Listening is a Matter of Life or Death

I’m from Texas. I haven’t lived there for 22 years, but I am from Texas. And I love very much about the State. There are also things – particularly things political, educational and environmental that get me a little crazy about my homeland. Then this week I found a you tube video that made me so very proud to be from Texas – proud of the elected member of the Fort Worth… Read More

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Mary Clare

Because I Knew You Then, I Can Listen to You Now

I spent the last week with a friend I had not seen since we were both 15 – a friend I met when we were 6 and in elementary school in Sweetwater, TX. By the time we were 12, serendipity of some wild Texas variety had turned circumstances so that we both showed up in Mrs. Southerland’s English class in Peterson Junior High School, Kerrville, TX. His family had moved to start Gibson’s, an early version of discount stores now dwarfed… Read More

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Mary Clare

Working Change

“We have an amazing work ethic in this country. We’re not all working in the same direction, and that’s normal to some point. You’re not supposed to always be working in harmony, but I hope the work ethic and the sense of shared humanity in that continue.” Lena This morning in the New York Times, Paul Krugman, an esteemed if controversial economist, forecast again the third Great Depression for the U.S. economy… Read More

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Mary Clare

Delta Park Powwow: Fathers’ Day for a Change

“It will always be important to have a community of people who support each other and work together for the struggle, I guess. Yes, for the struggle for all people.” Bruce McQuakay It took a bit of coaxing by the emcee, but today, 50 or so fathers made their way into the dance circle at the center of the Delta Park Powwow gathering for the honor song led by the Four Directions drum… Read More

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