With all of the world’s seemingly intractable problems, we at Community Media wanted to step back and take stock in our lives during this holiday season. We asked our editors, reporters, advertising reps, designers and office staff what they were grateful for this Thanksgiving. Here is what they said:
• I’m thankful our new president is a mixture of white and black (like me) as so many people are in the world these days. It’s nice to see that so many people have looked beyond race to appoint a worthy president no matter what his color is.
• I am thankful that I am with the love of my life, and that my kids, who have only heard me bitter and pained about the Bush administration, now have a chance to have a government they can be proud of.
• I’m thankful for our engaged readers, who keep us posted about what’s happening, and for the interesting and vital neighborhoods that we cover. I’m thankful for having a job that is often fun and always challenging.
• I am most grateful that we can continue doing the work we love despite all the challenges in today’s economy. I thank God I have a job, one where my input is meaningful and helps make things better. I’m grateful for my co-workers, a home, a loving partner, my family and my two doggies.
• I’m thankful for an apartment where the rent hasn’t gone up in 14 months, the city’s parks, conversations with strangers on the streets and subway, my job, Broadway rush tickets, Essex Street Market and homemade Thanksgiving food.
• I’m most thankful to have someone to share my life with, and for my family and friends. Also that Bush, probably our country’s worst president, soon will be replaced by someone who is a shining example to the world, who will approach our most pressing problems — the economy, the environment and the wars — with intelligence.
• I’m thankful for $15 buses from Chinatown to Connecticut and family who are willing to pick me up and drop me off at anytime of day. I am also thankful that print design is still alive.
• I’m thankful for PBS, also for Netflix and their wide selection of “watch instantly” movies and TV shows, without which I might not have survived Thanksgiving. I’m thankful for Loeffler Randall booties that make every outfit look a thousand times better. I’m thankful that soon it will be snowing!
• I am thankful for my health. I am about to turn 50 and am in the best health and fitness of my life. Twenty years ago, I was smoking, overweight and not balanced. I stopped making excuses and modified my lifestyle habits.
• I’m happy I enjoyed a romantic, travel-filled summer. I’m thankful my parents are healthy and my sister got married and is pregnant. Though I’m feeling deflated and perplexed by Obama’s appointing Clinton and Bush cabinet retreads — I think I’m still glad he won.
• I am thankful for many things, but my grandchildren, Andersen, Jacob and Richard, lead the list.
• I’m thankful for all who have been supporting me through my neck surgery and on the road to recovery, and most of all to my Renee, who also continues to get better each day. Here’s to everyone’s health because without it we’re nothing — it’s priceless.
• I’m thankful for Integral Yoga, horoscopes, peanut butter Tasti D-lite, Housing Works Bookstore and the great dentist my friend referred me to.
• I’m thankful for the high spirit the city adopts during the holidays each year, making it the finest time to be a New Yorker — but really because it’s an excuse to eat an egregious amount of food.
• I am thankful for my family, who trust and believe in me. I am thankful our president-elect seems to believe in fairness for all and not just the wealthy. I am thankful for the sun, which gives us life on this planet and will one day be the main source of energy in this country and the world.
