Claire McCurdy

Claire McCurdy has come to writing full-time after years with New York based educational and nonprofit organizations. Her international experience began in Japan as a teacher and then at Japan Trade Center, New York. For online journals, she covered the recent Venice Biennale on Architecture.  For Union Theological Seminary she managed a path-breaking project to document the work of international women theologians and at Catholic Relief Services, a project documenting CRS’s Ethiopian Famine Relief efforts. Claire has a B.A. in English from Earlham College and an M.A. in History from New York University.

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Articles by Claire McCurdy:

Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan

May 7, 2012 by

If you fly nonstop from New York to Tokyo, you fly over the Arctic Circle. The view from the plane at -59 degrees is raw and beautiful – huge moving masses of white and gray clouds, water, ice and snow. It is hard to believe that there is or was human habitation in this area. And yet the steppes of Kazakhstan – the, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, mountains, snow-capped mountains, and deserts – lie not so very far beneath. It is a vast wild landscape.

Conference Report: “Humanity and Humanitarianism in Crisis”

April 7, 2012 by

After many months of following and writing about the triple disasters in Fukushima, Japan – the earthquake, tsunami, and the meltdown of the nuclear power plants—I was pleased to discover a conference that seemed as though it might touch on precisely these issues.

Amy Greeson: A Pharmacist and Healer

March 7, 2012 by

In Western cultures, people go to a pharmacy for medicine. But in far flung places around the world—the Amazon, Belize, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea—natives depend upon village healers and shamans for medicinal substances. Amy Greeson, a pharmacist and educator, is working to bring the two together. “My team and I have begun to realize, that through our global expeditions, we were acquiring invaluable knowledge about indigenous cultures and people,” Greeson said. “We were determined to tell their stories. And to work to preserve them. And, finally, to inspire a new generation.”

Review of the BBC’s ‘This World: Inside the Meltdown’

February 29, 2012 by

The BBC documentary, “Inside the Meltdown,” on the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant is oddly powerful in its depiction of the savage destructive nature of the environment as it battered and subsequently caused the meltdown of the Fukushima plant.

Panel Discussion: After a Turbulent 2011, What Lies Ahead for the Global Economy?

February 13, 2012 by

2011 was filled with economic and political turmoil. On January 25, 2012, Japan Society hosted, The 2012 Outlook: After a Turbulent 2011, What Lies Ahead for the Global Economy? The panel of analysts examined the outlook for 2012. In addition to a review of 2011 and insights and analysis for 2012, the panelists discussed the recovery in Japan, the position of the U.S. dollar, the political landscape worldwide, and the health of financial institutions in several major economies.

Going Green in New York

January 23, 2012 by

After months of monitoring the disasters in Japan, it is a refreshing change to cover a story about a positive energy vision. Filmmaker, Antonio Saillant, and his friends and mentors, Ron Kamen and Ted Kotcheff, are committed to making the movie business sustainable and are working towards a greener world through clean, green and sustainable energy in the energy hungry movie industry.

Fukushima’s Rice: Mental Health Crises in Fukushima

December 8, 2011 by

In Japan, rice is life. It is the core of the Japanese diet and its importance cannot be overstated. After the Fukushima meltdown, since radioactivity in rice grown in the irradiated ground is not visible to the naked eye, tests must be conducted to determine its levels of radioactive cesium. If the levels are too high, the rice can’t be sold.

Crazy Wisdom: Tibetan Buddhist Heaven

December 6, 2011 by

As I watched, and attempted to appreciate Crazy Wisdom, a documentary about Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the legendary bad boy of American Tibetan Buddhism, now being screened at the Rubin Museum, I discovered that I was meditating about my own Tibetan Buddhist retreat several years ago. Although I have never met Trungpa, I did experience a brief flash of enlightenment, when I meditated with Trungpa’s adherents on a three-day retreat in upstate New York.

The Met: ‘New Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia’

November 15, 2011 by

When you walk into rooms full of exquisite works of art which are foreign, you might try to make sense of the shapes, forms and colors in order to understand what you are viewing. This is often a liberating experience — whether or not you recognize how religion has inspired an image, for example. Nevertheless, you may recognize that image and why it is important and worth exploring.

Occupy Fukushima: Women of Fukushima against Nukes

November 12, 2011 by

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement has acted as a spur to a host of “Occupy” operations including “Occupy Fukushima!” – a movement with a distinctly Japanese feminist twist, a strong link with the anti-nuclear/peace movement and a close affiliation with Greenpeace. It is more accurate, to call this movement the “Women of Fukushima against Nukes.”

The Island of Miyatojima: an Architect comes to its Rescue

November 7, 2011 by

For Americans, unless you live in New Orleans, it’s very hard to imagine the extent of the devastation of this year’s earthquake, subsequent tsunami and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown which the Japanese call “3/11”. “I have seen disaster zones around the world, but none compare in the scale of damage to the latest disaster,” said architect Shigeru Ban, after visiting Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, and other devastated areas.

US-Japan Cooperation after 3-11: Report on the CSIS Keidanren Partnership for Recovery Task Force

October 28, 2011 by

Chaired by James McNerney, CEO of The Boeing Company, the “Partnership for Recovery and a Stronger Future” focuses on areas where the United States and Japan can work together to help with recovery and reconstruction and build a better future.

From Chernobyl to Fukushima

October 23, 2011 by

Many of us can remember Ukraine a quarter of a century ago when the city of Chernobyl experienced the horror of a nuclear meltdown and the ineptitude of the Russian government unable to cope with the disaster. We remember the Russian government’s persistent denials of responsibility for the accident.

Steve Jobs as a Genius, Visionary, and a Saint: But what about Apple’s Chinese Suicide Jumpers?

October 11, 2011 by

Steve Jobs as a Genius, Visionary, and a Saint: But what about Apple’s Chinese Suicide Jumpers?

America’s response to the death of Steve Jobs was an outpouring of grief, and love, similar to the behavior people show at the death of a beloved rock star – like John Lennon (one of Jobs’ favorite performers). But what of the rest of world? Specifically, what of Asia? China, where Jobs’ brilliant inventions were manufactured and where millions paid the supreme tribute by buying, either the real thing, or millions of Apple knock offs?

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dead at 56

October 7, 2011 by

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dead at 56

Apple co-founder and Chairman Steve Jobs died two days ago at the age of 56. Jobs, a legend in US technological history, and a culture hero for many of his generation and indeed, subsequent generations, was involved in the technology industry for 35 years. In that time, he turned three separate industries on their heads and reinvented a fourth.

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