Clare Consultation, LLCKeeping Calm
Here’s a paradox for you. We do better as individuals and communities if we calm down. We do better if, instead of anxious monitoring, overwork, worry, agitation and heated opposition we opt for calm. We know this but, these days, practice it too rarely. Instead, we either withdraw or lash out. Another thing about calm – it, like any other great way of being, can be trivialized. Alongside the truth of calm’s… Read More
Shutdown — One Viral Video and a Sort of Bipartisan Response
[NOTE: Viral Video from title — http://www.votevets.org/home] [later NOTE: It’s 10-16 around 10:00 PST — the headlines I see say it’s over. This is a relief. Now the clean-up starts. And, by way of apology for any implication that furloughed Federal workers were not experiencing significant financial and professional stress (but rather were only on “paid vacation”), I offer this link to the real stories of real people — all Federal employees severely… Read More
My Uncle Abbott and World Peace
As I begin writing, the body that carried my beloved uncle’s vivid spirit is being placed in a grave. I am, of course, not there, but thousands of miles away. Uncle Abbott died October 3. He was born August 17, 1926 – 87 years were his to know and walk through here on the surface of this beautiful planet and among all of the rest of us. Those of us who had… Read More
Soldiers Step to the Front
A young woman in camo was in front of me in the TSA line at the airport. It was a long line. I asked if she was headed home. “Furlough,” she said. “Afghanistan.” We talked families and weather. She said she’s in her second tour of duty. Back to back. “The reason I re-enlisted,” she went on, “well, it wasn’t because there’s any glory in it or anything. It’s pretty much hell. … 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
The Day after Independence Day
Feelin’ it? The independence? Last night I sat under a sky that, after a day blanketed with marine clouds, cleared for this: The exquisite blues riffed from Curtis Salgado’s voice and Lloyd Jones’ fingers dancing the way they do on the neck of his guitar. But that’s not all. The music those guys sent into the air around the Willamette River bounced off the buildings of the city, soaked into the vast… Read More