(Host)
At Thanksgiving dinner, commentator Martha Molnar’s family lists the
things each is most grateful for. This year, she’s been thinking of some
things that are unique to Vermont.
(Molnar) There are many
interpretations of the Thanksgiving story. But all agree that none of
the Pilgrims would have survived without the help of the Native
Americans who shared their food and knowledge.
A number of
Vermont’s small farmers, many of whom are struggling especially hard
this year given the ravages of Irene, didn’t wait for Thanksgiving to
share their food. In early October, they began filling a truck with
donated vegetables and fruits and driving it to New York City and Boston
to feed the Occupy Wall Street protesters. One of the organizers said,
they donated "despite earning peanuts for hard work, despite having
already dedicated their efforts to social and economic change."
Regardless
of how one feels about the Occupy movement, I’m grateful to live in a
state where I can know people whose idealism is translated into
selfless, effective action.
And I am grateful to live in a state where we have other. less dramatic ways to be considerate.
I
refer to such unremarkable phenomena as dinner guests arriving with
slippers. They stop just inside the door, slip off their snowy or muddy
shoes and slip on their own slippers.
Then, there’s fleece, the
fabric of choice for three-season Vermont fashions, worn in various
weights, with or without sleeves, zippered, buttoned, knotted, banded,
fitted to torso, head and hands.
Now you might think all this
fleece would get boring. And it does. But I prefer it to the designer
handbags that measured fashion sense in New York. And I am grateful that
I can take in a local play or concert simply by slipping out of fleece
sweatpants and into jeans, leaving on the fleece vest and the old
handbag at home.
And especially around this time of year, when
the sun takes an extended vacation, I’m grateful for used bookstores.
And for their owners, each a fountain of fascinating information – if
you can get them to talk.
One has his desk facing away from
customers, eliminating the need for even a greeting. But if you happen
to pique his interest with your inquiry, he turns around, and almost
smiling, offers a short and brilliant lecture on the subject that
usually starts with an intriguing "did you know?"
The proliferation of bookstores might have something to do with the proliferation of writers, artists and other creative types.
At
last count there were more than 5,000 of these folk, making Vermont the
fourth highest state in the number of artists relative to population,
bringing richness and breadth to everyday life.
Then, there’s
the Drying Report from the Eye on the sky guys, aimed, I thought, at the
large numbers of Vermonters whose yards showcase cheerfully blowing
laundry.
I learned only recently that the Drying Report is
actually aimed at farmers drying their hay. Was I disappointed? Not at
all. I’m grateful to be living in a state that has enough cultivated
fields to merit a special report. Furthermore, the drying report works
perfectly for my laundry!