My name is Jack Cluth. I was born on the mean streets of Chicago and raised in northern Minnesota (not by wolves, despite all indications to the contrary). I moved to St. Paul, MN, in order to attend Macalester College. Armed with degrees in History and Anthropology, I embarked on a journey that’s taken me to several foreign countries, including Texas. I began my career as a teacher, but over the years I’ve worn many hats and played many roles. The common thread has always been a gift for and a love of writing (and an abiding hatred of the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys).
Now firmly and happily rooted in Portland, OR, I’m working to create a name and a career as a writer. I’m a columnist/essayist/raconteur/observer of the human condition. I believe good writing can entertain, edify, educate, and make the world a better place. If I can use it to make people laugh and/or think, that’s a very good thing.
Welcome to a (continually growing and expanding) portfolio of my work. I hope you’ll enjoy your time here and depart with something to think about. Feel free to contact me with any suggestions or observations…or if you happen to experience a sudden and irresistible urge to drop a large sum of money into my PayPal account.
Y’all come back real soon…and bring a friend!
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
- Vaclav Havel
Don’t speak to me about your religion; first show it to me in how you treat other people. Don’t tell me how much you love your God; show me in how much you love all His children. Don’t preach to me your passion for your faith; teach me through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I’m not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as I am in how you choose to live and give.
- Cory Booker
Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviours. Keep your behaviours positive because your behaviours become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi
Do be do be do.
- Frank Sinatra