Sunday, November 22, 2009, 2:40 PM
Stop the Presses
By Kevin Moreau
On being thankful
What are you thankful for?
It’s a deceptively simple question. With Thanksgiving around the corner, most of us think we’ve got a pretty good handle on those things we appreciate, and those we probably take for granted. Ask anyone what they’re thankful for, and you’re likely to get the boilerplate answers. Good health. A job. Family and friends. Our freedoms. The sacrifices of our men and women overseas.
All valid responses, and all things for which I count myself duly grateful. Not a day goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars for the day my lovely wife consented to marry me. I try to remind myself to give thanks more often for being born into a country that’s given me both the tools and the opportunity to work in a field I love.
We’re all thankful for the things that enrich or better our lives in obvious ways. But what about the ways that aren’t so obvious?
Everyone gives thanks for their friends. But what about our detractors? Although I’m not always blessed with the presence of mind to appreciate them in the moment, The Sunday Paper has its critics, and I do my best to embrace them. I believe it’s important to know not just what you’re doing right, but what others think you’re doing wrong. Even if you don’t agree with their assessments, it’s crucial (if often frustrating, and very often humbling) to understand how others perceive you.
The same is true for our competitors. We work hard every week to deliver a Sunday Paper you can’t live without, one you’re compelled to reach for instead of the many other publications available. But as a voracious reader, a resident of Atlanta and a person with an endless appetite for more information, I’m also grateful for the efforts of all the newspapers and magazines that strive to provide us with a better understanding of the city we love and share. (That includes our comrades in ink at Southern Voice, which sadly shut its doors last week. Our thoughts are with you all.)
On a lighter note, “Twilight” fans are sure to be thankful for this issue, which not only features a review of “New Moon,” but also an interview with vampires Edi Gathegi and Jamie Campbell Bower, a look back at last week’s New Moon promo tour stop at Hot Topic, and a guide to “Twilight” fashion from SP’s official “Twilight” correspondent Alison Abbey.
What about you? What are you thankful for?