Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

A consequence of cucumbers

Not all heroes wear capes.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

You are here: Home / Books / Wednesday Gratitude Post: One Good Thing

Wednesday Gratitude Post: One Good Thing

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For escapism, I’m reading and re-reading mysteries by my favorite authors. (Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell’s The Brimstone Wedding is so good, I’m having trouble putting it down long enough to post!)

Many years ago, I did some sketchy calculations and came to the conclusion that I’ve been tithing the publishing industry ever since I first had my own money. Since that indicates my level of devoutness, obviously I’m grateful for stories like this one in the Washington Post that let me know I’m not alone:

For more than four decades, October Books has been a fixture in Southampton, England…

Last November, the co-op’s members gave their landlord notice that they would be leaving their Portswood Road space and began seeking a property to buy. As fate would have it, a former bank just down the road went on the market — at 189 Portswood Rd. — and it was perfect for what October Books’s members had in mind.

A series of small miracles happened. A nonprofit organization that supports the homeless agreed to go in on the new property with October Books. In January, a bank accepted its proposal to buy the building in question…

There was one lingering logistical hurdle: How would they move thousands of books from one storeroom to the other?

A radical idea was put forth: What if they formed a human chain and simply passed books, handful by handful, down Portswood Road?

With the two properties about a tenth of a mile apart, co-op members estimated that they might be able to pull it off — if they could persuade at least 150 people to show up at once…

 
What one good thing are you grateful for, this week?

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  3. 3.

    bemused

    We got a pic of our youngest granddaughter, 21 months also in Raleigh, NC area wearing a sticker “I voted early”.

  4. 4.

    martha

    @lamh36: Oh she’s gorgeous…and powerful!

    We are going to my niece’s wedding on Saturday and it should be fun (and nostalgic). The first “kid” from that generation to tie the knot.

  5. 5.

    laura

    @lamh36: s’wonderful! S’marvelous!
    Today begins the preparations for the annual Dia de los Muertos party Friday night. Saturday, we’ll go see Bohemian Rhapsody.

  6. 6.

    LaNonna

    Our one good thing today, superb healthcare for Il Nonno, who is having a complex of physical problems. Family doctor was on the phone this morning at 8.30 with the most recent specialist, to make sure we understand all the ramifications of the diagnosis, bravo Dottore Melpignano.

  8. 8.

    Miss Bianca

    @lamh36: teh cuteness! It burns! ; )
    Grateful that the Halloween snowfall here at the Mountain Hacienda won’t be deep enough to keep me from my sacred duties of handing out candy at thr downtown trick or treating this eve. Tho’ I may borrow my pal D’s monk robe to dress up in – nice and warm!

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    I am grateful that neither tears nor rage are as close to the surface as they have been for the past couple of months.

    I am also grateful that Leto is doing as well as he is.

  10. 10.

    schrodingers_cat

    Diwali is next week and we have our dear friends from upstate NY visiting. This year Diwali falls on the election day. Will it be the symbolic triumph of light over darkness, we shall see.

  12. 12.

    CarolPW

    After looking for 2 months, I am grateful I found a pup, that the rescue accepted my application, and that I get to pick her up this Saturday.

  13. 13.

    Middlelee

    I’m grateful for my writing group–women who are friends as well as good writers and good critics. We meet this morning and I did all the homework, exercises from Ursula LeGuin’s Steering the Craft. Hurrah.

  17. 17.

    gratuitous

    When they renovated the main library a few years ago, the library put out the word to everyone holding a library card in Portland. You went into the main branch, checked out five or ten books on your card, went the 15 or so blocks to the temporary library, and checked the books back in. When the renovation was finished, they did the same thing in reverse. Truly a stroke of genius on somebody’s part.

  18. 18.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Piano lesson this afternoon. Almost got this one up to speed.

    The kittehs are grateful for the treats they got this morning in place of their walks (cold and rainy out), but they would have preferred good weather and walks.

  22. 22.

    EveryDayIHaveTheBlues

    @schrodingers_cat: Hey, did you celebrate Dussera last week? We basically made a bunch of good pappu (dal) and my wife made cheesecake for my birthday, so it was awesome all around!

    Gonna do some sparklers for Diwali.

  23. 23.

    CarolPW

    @satby: Thanks, I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! It’s not just missing Puck, it’s that living in a house without a dog sucks. And I am also grateful that the tamale place in Union Gap that won a James Beard award last year is on the way home and we are stopping there. I have been wanting to go there ever since they got the award.

  26. 26.

    recurvata

    They did this (human chain to move books to a new library) in Kuna, a Boise suburb, back in 1990.

  28. 28.

    Butch

    Once again, as I’ve posted in the past, I’m grateful that I decided to take my dog for a walk when I did and that he found a kitten huddled in our woodpile and wouldn’t let up until I came to check what he had found. We’ve now had “Woody” for exactly 4 weeks; when we found him he could hardly walk and his ears were still flat. Now he’s leaping and pouncing and learning to make an incredible mess when he eats grownup kitteh food. And the two we found on the side of our rural road in May, Shadow and Boxer, have decided they’ll be parents and are grooming him and teaching him to play and be a big kitty. I’ve never put so much into raising an animal before (he had to be bottle fed every 3 hours, including at night, the first week) and it’s been incredibly rewarding.

  29. 29.

    schrodingers_cat

    @jeffreyw: It is restaurant dish, not grandma’s cooking and uses lotsa buttah. What’s not to like? Apparently, it was invented by a refugee from Punjab (Pakistan) who set up shop in Delhi after independence, he made it with left over tandoori chicken.

  30. 30.

    Joey Maloney

    I am grateful to still have my cat with me, after a six week long battle with acute pancreatitis, 2 hospitalizations, having a feeding tube inserted and then reinserted twice after she removed it, having to squirt meat slurry into the tube 4 times a day along with a pharmacopeia of medicines, and well north of $2K in bills. I spent my winter vacation keeping her alive but I don’t begrudge a penny. Having her plastered to my side in bed is cheap at twice the price.

  37. 37.

    schrodingers_cat

    @EveryDayIHaveTheBlues: I didn’t do anything special. Usually I draw a Saraswati with numbers and do a pooja of my books. My mom’s family in India celebrates navratri, aarti every night for the nine nights and a celebration with all the women in the extended family, usually a weekend morning. Even during Ganpati, Gauri is a bigger deal in my family.
    On Dassera we exchange symbolic gold leaves and do a pooja of all the books.
    ETA: I don’t associate Dassera with any special food.

  41. 41.

    geg6

    Just heading down to our first scholarship luncheon where donors and recipients have lunch and meet and talk. It’s always a great event. The kids meet someone who has paid it forward and the donors meet who they’ve helped.

  42. 42.

    Redshift

    Our neighborhood haunted house (Frankenstein, for the 200th anniversary) is looking amazing!

    Also, everyone I talked to canvassing last weekend is really psyched for voting!

  43. 43.

    Tom Levenson

    As I’m finishing a bunch of writing projects I’m spending a lot of time in my work nook at home. All alone. And daily getting almost immobilized with the blues (which is part of why I’ve been such a sporadic poster for a while). So yesterday I had a couple of student meetings set up and I went in early to my office at MIT. As I always do, I made sure to stretch my legs with a couple of walks down the Infinite Corridor to grab a coffee or some such pretext. The second time I did I found my spirits rising. The reason? I was surrounded by people who, some walking with purpose, some talking about really cool stuff (I overheard some of it) some at the tables in Lobby 10 pressing one student cause or another and so on. I realized that these were my people, though I saw no one I knew. They were there, acting on the MIT credo, that for all that there are problems, humans are problem-solving animals, and this was the place where folks gathered together to do just that.

    Isolation is the mind-killer. Just being around that made me better, and the effect is still with me as I try to complete a truly depressing piece today. I’m grateful to MIT — which is to say its claim on humanity, and not the buildings.

  44. 44.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I’ve found that the best food is made from other food that’s already been cooked. Like using tandoori chicken for another chicken dish that’s sauced. Or ratatouille when you fry a hundred rounds of squash and eggplant and onions and tomatoes, and then assemble a complicated layered cassarole dish from the already cooked veggies. Or… there are so many examples.

    I’m grateful for good food, and very grateful for what looks to be a new ability to feel optimistic about the ending of this election season next Tuesday.

  45. 45.

    gvg

    chocolate. Pre Halloween luck has been very chocolaty. Not good for my diet but quite pleasant. The mundane good things still need to be appreciated.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m grateful that I’m starting to make more writing friends IRL. I may even volunteer for a position at my RWA chapter — still debating it. ?

  47. 47.

    Manyakitty

    @lamh36: That little girl is too cute! Goodness!

    Grateful for my wonderful coworkers, who saw how upset the PGH shooting made me, and bought me some cheery flowers for my office. It’s amazing what a huge difference they made in my state of mind.

  48. 48.

    scav

    This weeks harder. Ok, either going to see the NT Frankenstein again, orrrrr. Little breaks of low autumnal sun and wind in the otherwise dampish days. Perfect to escape outside into as they’re visibly precious and waning.

  49. 49.

    Origuy

    As I mentioned a while back, I tore my meniscus in May and had arthroscopic surgery in June. I’m grateful to the surgery team and my physical therapists that not only was I able to go to the Yukon in August and walk the orienteering courses there, but last weekend I returned to the Scottish country dance weekend at Asilomar near Monterey and dance in the formal ball. My feet hurt and I didn’t have a lot of stamina, but no knee problems.

  52. 52.

    Schlemazel

    I have a stepladder.
    While I love my stepladder I still miss my real ladder.

    I am grateful I still have a sense of humor left, sick as it is.

  53. 53.

    narya

    Brie cheese. Good bread. Coworkers who have been diligent in getting me the documents I need. Trees turning beautiful colors on my walk to the train.

  54. 54.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    Incredibly grateful that the weather turned cooler today so when I schlep around with my son tonight (who will be Spider Man yet again) I won’t melt into a puddle of menopausal irritation and anxiety.

  55. 55.

    Ben Cisco

    I’m grateful that my move into my new house is in a week. Contracting for a former employer at contractor rates (aka “real money”). Awaiting a start date on a new job. And a friend from my past and I are embracing… possibilities.

  56. 56.

    Ohio Mom

    @Major Major Major Major: Wait until you see how grateful you are when you are finally completely unpacked and settled into your new digs.

    This week I am thankful for having survived another annual SSI review as Ohio Son’s representative payee — I am always afraid I am breaking one obscure rule or another because there are a lot of obscure rules.

    Really, I was a ball of nerves for days before the appointment. And I had broken some minor rules but was was gently instructed how to do it right the next time. So, I’m good for another year. Whew.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yay! Are you doing NaNoWriMo? I’m going to be a rebel and use it to spur me to do my needed revisions. If you are, let me know and I’ll email you my NaNo information so you can find me on their website (or just use the first word of the email address you have for me without the numbers at the end — that’s my NaNo name).

  58. 58.

    JAFD

    Am alive. Had heart attack last Tuesday. Ticker stopped twice, but docs restarted it. Think I’ll be out of cardiac ICU this afternoon.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben Cisco:

    And a friend from my past and I are embracing… possibilities.

    Awwww. ? Don’t rush into anything, but I’m sure you know I’m your heart that the late Mrs. Cisco would not have wanted you to be alone forever.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    @JAFD:

    Yikes! There’s a lot of almost-death going around. Take care of yourself and listen to the doctors and cardiac therapists.

  62. 62.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Mnemosyne: Did you get an opportunity to watch Newton. I was thinking that we could review it for this weekend before the elections!

    ETA: I hadn’t thought about it before you asked but I am thinking that it would be a good idea. I have finally begun writing almost after 2 years.

  65. 65.

    brendancalling

    My new housemate, I believe, is a bonafide psychopath, running me out of the premises within 72 hours of moving in and a month before the lease expires.

    So today I am grateful -deeply, deeply grateful- for my guitar player, who’s letting me move in with him for a couple of months.

  68. 68.

    arrieve

    @JAFD: I hope you’re on the road to recovery. I’ve had heart issues after getting an unknown illness in Africa several weeks ago, and yesterday I made it to Central Park for the first time since getting out of the hospital. A perfect October day in New York is one of the things I am always grateful for, but especially this year.

  70. 70.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I conked out as soon as I got home on Sunday and didn’t watch anything. ? I’m going to try and watch it this Friday after work and I’ll send you a few notes so we can figure out how to do the dialogue.

  71. 71.

    EveryDayIHaveTheBlues

    @schrodingers_cat: My mom usually used to make something special when I was young. Normally a special chutney (pacchadi) or vegetable/bean stew (pulusu in Telugu). They also do a prayer, but I’m sadly not in touch with that part of my heritage, or any religion, really.

    @KSinMA: Hilarious, is it not? May they end up fucking themselves up real good.Glad to provide any help…

  72. 72.

    brendancalling

    @eclare: I got my instruments out first. Changed the wifi password yesterday and when she complained I told her I wasn’t comfortable sharing it anymore and to use a hot spot. This is acperson who works as a nanny but drives a Porsche Cayenne, so I have no doubt she can afford it.

    My important docs are in a box stashed in the living room closet, so I’m grabbing that next.

  73. 73.

    J R in WV

    @JAFD:

    Am alive.

    Damm!! We’re all grateful for your escape as well, take care. Best of luck going onward. Do what the cardiologists tell you to do, also.

  74. 74.

    Gemina13

    I found more research material for my 2nd Punic War manuscript, as well as graphic details on the evolution of the Roman style of warfare.

  76. 76.

    J R in WV

    @EveryDayIHaveTheBlues:

    Wow, that is so very strange. Halloween kinda story, really.

    Ms Epstein appears to have fallen in love with a political movement that is dedicated to removing her ethnic/religious nation from existence. Perhaps her family needs to have her checked in to a facility where she can be evaluated for suicidal tendencies. Or something like that.

    At least she’s running for office as a Republican, so I won’t make a donation to her by accident or anything. It is funny, but also tragically sad as well. I feel a little sorry for her, but especially for her family, who has to deal with that situation.

    ETA — fix something that could have sounded more stupid than it was.

  77. 77.

    bookdragon

    Rain clearing up and temps in the 60s for Halloween.

    A huge oblong pumpkin from our garden that we turned into a minion

  78. 78.

    Bumper

    I’m grateful that my 4 boys worked together to figure out a group costume this year, in enough time for me to order and receive them before Halloween. And we’ve had the house decorated for the past month. And we’ve actually gotten pumpkins carved! I’m not usually so together that we get the full holiday experience so, yea!

  80. 80.

    Nelle

    @Tom Levenson: I have a fondness forMIT, a place I’ve never been to. My FIL went there from an orphanage in New York in the 30’s to study aeronautical engineering. There he met one of the few women, a Jewish girl from El Paso, who was studying architecture. She was my MIL. I’m grateful to the institution that nurtured them and that they nurtured my husband. (He applied to MIT for undergrad and grad , got accepted both times to prove he could get in. And, to prove he was his own man, went elsewhere both times.)

  81. 81.

    EveryDayIHaveTheBlues

    @schrodingers_cat: In the context of traditional andhra food that my mom made/makes, pacchadi is an uncooked dish made from mashed/ground/pureed “stuff”. The pacchadi is highly spiced and savory, to be used as a condiment mixed in with rice to add flavor. “Stuff” includes vegetables – cucumbers, tomatoes, squash (beerakai), eggplant, etc. It may also include dried beans (moong dal, for example). So in that sense your salad description is very apt. I just never thought of it in that manner, because I always consider it more of a condiment than a main course. Like pickle. Mmmmnnn I miss traditional andhra pickle something fierce.

    However, none of our pacchadis that I can recall ever contain yogurt. So I don’t associate these with raita. Do you make pacchadis with yogurt? This is very interesting… What kind?

    @J R in WV: You’re right, now that I think about it a little more carefully: I feel bad for Epstein because she seems to be a fucking moron, but not bad enough to suppress gales of laughter. I’m also glad that she is on the other side. That fanfic picture of her is alone worth a million bucks. The next time I’m depressed at how the Rs are committing treason and micturating on all that is good and right, I’m gonna read that post again.

  82. 82.

    Older

    @gratuitous: They did the same thing in my town when the library building had to be extensively overhauled and enlarged. Of course, we routinely check out 12 or 15 books at a time. But for the big move, and the move back, everyone did it.

    And in a nearby town, the library moved into its new building by means of a human chain. The books were taken off the shelves in the old library and passed hand-to-hand until they reached the new library, where they were put in their new places on the new shelves, in the new building. All in one day, no packing or unpacking!

    And to think, a few years ago, people were predicting the end of printed books. Looks like they will still be here for a while.

  83. 83.

    EveryDayIHaveTheBlues

    @Tom Levenson: Spent 2004-2008 as a post-doc in Chemical Engineering. Some of the most rewarding (professionally speaking) days of my life. Is the little coffee-shop near the grand central atrium (near the library/materials department) still there?

  84. 84.

    Ohio Mom

    @EveryDayIHaveTheBlues: In my day, the scions of well-to-do Jewish families disappointed their families by becoming lefty revolutionaries, not Republicans. A phase they usually outgrew. We can only hope for the same maturing for Ms Epstein.

    In the meantime, she epitomizes the Yiddish expression, A shanda fur die goyim (roughly in English, an embarrassment and shame in how the Jewish Community presents to non-Jews).

    Every day I am reminded it is a new world and I’m rapidly turning into an oldster.

  85. 85.

    opiejeanne

    Grateful for this pack of jackals who have helped me stay sane the past two years. Grateful for Cole who started this joint and to the FPers who give us such great threads to yell at each other on.

  86. 86.

    opiejeanne

    @Mnemosyne: I’m thinking of doing NaNoWriMo again this year to give me the push to finish the book, and going back for the rewrites when I’m done with that isn’t a bad idea either so thanks very much for that comment. I am grateful to “know” you and Schrodinger’sCat.
    I’ve adjusted about a third of what I’ve written already but need to do the rest, tighten the language, add some details for people who have never heard of things like eating radishes with butter and salt, which is maybe most Americans these days, thanks to a Beta reader pointing that out.

  88. 88.

    randy khan

    Today, of course, I’m grateful for Halloween, which has made the transition from religious to civic holiday with much more grace than most. (Sure, commercialization, sexy [fill-in-the-blank] costumes, etc, but also carving pumpkins, pretending to be scared by little kids, and candy, too.)

  89. 89.

    satby

    @Butch: bottle babies are challenging, but they also bind with you in an incredible way. So glad your little family of rescues has come together so well. Thanks for saving them all!

  92. 92.

    satby

    @JAFD: holy shit! Glad you’re still with us JAFD. Heal up so you can be at the next NYC meet up (when we plan one)! Big virtual hug to you.

  94. 94.

    Rusty

    This year has been a crap-fest at work, but my direct management has been very supportive as we attempt to work with wildy unreasonable people. I appreciate them (having had jobs where my management most definitely did not have anyone’s back but their own.)

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