Skip to main content

Seven Reasons



They say that practicing gratitude can rewire your brain. I can’t vouch for this personally because I haven’t been practicing enough of it. The world we live in is more conducive to a cycle of reactive horror. The alternative, trying to put your head down and “just get by” is doable but exhausting. I suspect that most of us are simply doing the best we can.

The true history of Thanksgiving is not what we were taught in school. I can’t celebrate that old lie anymore. I can try to use the day to stop, refocus, and think on the many reasons I have to be grateful. Any advice my readers have for turning this into an actual daily practice is welcome. In the meantime:

Village Green/Town² Seven reasons to be thankful, 2019

 1. Our amazing library system. They truly never stop looking for ways to connect, serve, and inspire. And a shout out to friend of the blog Mickey Gomez for her election to Board Chair of the Friends of the Library. Will Mickey’s love of music, dogs, and craft beer translate into themes for future library events? We’ll see.

2. My Village, Oakland Mills, especially Sandy Cederbaum and our OMCA staff and our board chair Jonathan Edelson. They just don’t quit. Their work as positive, community-building advocates is a big part of why Oakland Mills is hOMe for me and my family.

3. Cured/18th & 21st for their commitment to local nonprofits by making their space available for so many fundraising events. They haven’t been here long but they are already making a name for themselves as reliable community partners.

4. Howard County teachers. I may not have a kid in the schools anymore but I’m still intensely aware of their daily commitment to our community’s children. Amid the drama of redistricting they have kept their eye on what matters most and they’ll have to keep doing that as changes are made and families adjust. And they spend more money out of their own pockets and donate more hours than you will ever, ever know.

5. Nina Basu and the folks at Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods for making good on living the mission of a park for everyone. I continue to be impressed by the variety of events, the deliberate outreach to underserved communities, the partnerships with other area non-profits, and the commitment to providing free and/or low cost programming. They are proving that arts experiences can be engaging, diverse, and accessible. And they are continuing to build a park at the same time.

6. Bonnie Bricker and her team of volunteers at Talk With Me. With a determination to revolutionize outcomes for infants and children by training parents and caregivers in simple techniques that foster and enhance language development, Bonnie is truly changing the world one relationship at a time. It is vitally important work that has long term consequences for every child.

7. My readers. Every day that you stop by is a day I am not merely over here talking to myself. I appreciate your ideas and thoughtful comments over on Facebook. I started blogging when it was still quite the happening thing to do and, given the short lifespan of many things in our modern world, I appear to be trudging on like a dinosaur in a world that has moved on largely to podcasts and instagram. Funny how that works. I’m grateful you are along for the ride.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, however you spend your day. I hope you have much to be thankful for.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

  A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word.  Days passed.  They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts.  Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public.  So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that.  But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...
2 comments
Read more

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...
1 comment
Read more