Reasons to be thankful, part 1...
(apologies to the late great Ian Dury)

OK, let's just start out by invoking that American Armed Forces turn of phrase: TARFU. Things Are Really Fouled (standing in for another word which I'm sure you can guess) Up.

Bush stole another election, and this time there is no way to figure out whether or not he stole it.

Thinking that he could get away with it, due to our sterling example of Democracy in action, Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine stole an election of his own. Somehow Colin Powell protesting the results seems a little, um, disingenuous.

Here in California, we have had a year of Ah-nold, who has proven to be a worse leader than Grey Davis. Has he solved the budget crisis? Nope. Has he fulfilled his promise to protect the environment? The picture is unclear at best. It seems like what the Governator is best at is pushing California as a tourist destination and a food exporter to the Japanese. Oh yeah, he's also pretty damn good at ducking those pesky allegations of being a serial groper.

In spite of all this bad news, there's still a lot of things I can be thankful for.

1.) I'm thankful for my chance to go back to school. I'm a bit in trouble at present with the Math, but otherwise I seem to be doing just fine. Will I make it back onto the Dean's list for this semester? Probably unlikely. But am I doing better than I thought I would? Yes. I have a lot of good people at Los Angeles Valley College to be thankful for. Prof. Mary Hito especially, but people like Dr. LaVergne Rosow who I studied with last semester in Education 203 but whom I continue to work with and pitch in to help this semester. I plan to be a part of things in Spring as well. Other good teachers I have had this time around include Prof. Whiting in Physical Science 1, Prof. Moore in Linguistics 1, and yes, even Prof. Allen in Sociology 22. Yeah I've butted heads with her politically but otherwise I think she's cool.

2.) I'm thankful that I seem to be making an impression on the kid I read to every week for Koreh LA. He proudly showed me the library card he insisted his mother take him to get. He's not a perfect reader by a longshot, but he seems to be a lot more motivated than his teachers realize. He just seems to be bored with the pabulum that LA Unified shovels in front of their students. Open Court Reading sucks. Maybe it's better than the old SRA readers from when I was going to school, but it's pretty damn bad.

3.) I'm thankful for the companionship, love, and support of my husband Richie.

4.) I'm thankful for a whole group of great friends, both here in LA, in Santa Barbara, and in places more far flung than that.

5.) I'm thankful for my family...yeah, not a hell of a lot left of them, but the ones who remain are cool.

6.) I'm grateful to Ms. Sylvia Rodriguez and Mr. Frank Gonzalez at the Woodbury/LAVC Connections Center for being incredibly supportive of me, even when Woodbury University wasn't my first-choice school. Now that it increasingly looks like that's where I'm headed after I leave LAVC, their support has been very appreciated.

I think that just having one day to encourage gratitude for one's advantages in life is pretty lame. I really don't celebrate Thanksgiving on Turkey Day...instead I spend a little time remembering how many Indigenous Americans got the shaft from us Euro-Americans. Every day should be a day to count one's "blessings" and be happy for what you've got in life. Gratitude is something that often escapes us in our daily hustle and bustle. It has nothing to do with religion. Just take some time out and think about what you're grateful for. That gives you a little perspective with which to face your day.

Oh yeah...I'm grateful for whomever takes the time out to read my blog. I have no illusions about how many there are. Whoever you are...thanks.