A VERY SUBSTACK THANKSGIVING!!!

WITH A FULL ROSTER OF WRITERS AND IDEAS TO BE THANKFUL FOR

Photo by Farhan Shaikh on Unsplash

HI, EVERYBODY!!! And HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!! Whether you’re eating one, freeing one, being one or fleeing one, it’s a fun thing to say. So I’m sayin’ it! WOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!

Now of course, as an American, I realize that not everyone loves this fucking holiday. There’s a very persuasive argument that National “Hey, We Stole This Country From the People Who Lived Here First!” Day is a totally shit idea. And if that’s how you feel, then I know what you mean.

But there’s an ACTUAL good reason for loving this holiday, aside from getting off work or potentially gorging. It’s one I hadn’t even thought about until historian Heather Cox Richardson brought it up in her wonderful Substack column, Letters from an American.

To whit:

In 1860, northerners elected Abraham Lincoln to the presidency to stop rich southern enslavers from taking over the government and using it to cement their own wealth and power. As soon as he was elected, southern leaders pulled their states out of the Union to set up their own country. After the firing on Fort Sumter, Lincoln and the fledgling Republican Party set out to end the slaveholders’ rebellion.

The early years of the war did not go well for the U.S. By the end of 1862, the armies still held, but people on the home front were losing faith. Leaders recognized the need both to acknowledge the suffering and to keep Americans loyal to the cause. In November and December, seventeen state governors declared state thanksgiving holidays.

The next year, Lincoln got ahead of the state proclamations. On July 15 he declared a national day of Thanksgiving, and the relief in his proclamation was almost palpable. After two years of disasters, the Union army was finally winning. Bloody, yes; battered, yes; but winning. At Gettysburg in early July, Union troops had sent Confederates reeling back southward. Then, on July 4, Vicksburg had finally fallen to U. S. Grant’s army. The military tide was turning.

In October 1863, President Lincoln declared a second national day of Thanksgiving. In the past year, he declared, the nation had been blessed.

There’s quite a bit more to the story (see here). But the point is, it didn’t become a national holiday until the middle of the last civil war that nearly tore us apart for good. So now’s maybe a good time to remember. And be thankful there’s still time to fend off the next one.

Past that, though, I’ve got other things to be thankful for. Like, f’rinstance, stumbling into the indie film community, and getting my bearings for the task ahead due to astonishing voices like Ted Hope’s Hope for Film, Jon Reiss’ 8 Above with Jon Reiss, and Rebecca Green’s Dear Producer. All brilliant and indispensable.

But this year’s great Thanksgiving treat on the topic — or, frankly, ANY topic — came from Evan Shapiro, whose column Media War and Peace may be the hardest-punching of the bunch, when it comes to addressing the death-rattling end of big-budget Hollywood entertainment and corporate news media.

His video message, “Thanks, Giving” is the most breathtakingly bracing, honest, and inspiring thing I could have possibly asked to see this holiday season. Can’t post the video here, but feel just fine about sharing the link!

Past that, here are slightly more than a dozen others that I read every single time they post. From art and literature to politics and religion, they feed my mind and fill me with joy.

Oldster, edited by Sari Botton, is the one that brought me to the Substack dance. And the older I get — like, EVERY DING-DANG DAY!!! — the more I cherish these bountiful snapshots of the aging process, this kaleidoscopic crash course on aging, and changing, and growing with grace.

The Corners by Nadia Bolz-Weber is my favorite Christian column, bar none. She’s just the coolest, and her clear and burning faith is made joyous by her punk-rock ex-drunk and sporadically foul-mouthed candor. She’s so honest and funny and comforting in her humility. She makes me proud to be a human being. (This piece is yet another burst of Thanksgiving gold.)

Along similar lines of spirituality and smarts, I’m a big fan of The Feral Stack by Summer Koester, 5 Big Ideas by Jen Hitze, and Rob Brezny’s Astrology Newsletter. All run very deep indeed.

On the literary end, I’m madly in love with Laurie Stone’s Everything is Personal, Chuck Palahniuk’s Plot Spoilers, Brian Keene’s Letters From the Labyrinth, Michael Marshall Smith’s So Here’s a Thing, and Autumn Christian’s Teach Robots Love.

Meanwhile, from every end of the political hellscape, I’ve greatly appreciated the former Republican pushback from The Bulwark, Mary J. Trump’s The Good in Us, Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, and columns by Robert Reich and Steve Schmidt.

Other voices I value include Junot Diaz, Alec Worley, Alicia Kennedy, George Saunders, Amanda Yates Garcia, Poetic Outlaws, Lex Read, E. Jean Carroll, Drew McWeeny, Scott Mendelson, Brooke Berman, and Sephera Giron.

But the bottom line is, I’ve just barely cracked the code here. So if you have other writers you think should be on my map, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! My list is always growing.

Another reason why I give thanks.

As such, and most of all, thank YOU!!!