Here is a photo of this year’s National Thanksgiving Turkey being pardoned by President Bush. They say turkeys are the stupidest animals on the planet but I think Bush gives this one a run for his money. After the Rose Garden ceremony, the turkey was flown first class (I swear!) to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, where he will be the Grand Marshal of today’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then he will live out his days in the backyard of Mickey’s Country Cabin.
I can’t blame Bush for this inane Thanksgiving custom, it’s been going on at the White House for the past 60 years (or maybe not—see comments below for info on this Turkeygate scam). In fact, John F. Kennedy made his final appearance in the Rose Garden in November 1963 to pardon the national turkey before leaving for Dallas. The Presidents may pardon the national bird, but then they sit down to dinner and eat another turkey. That sounds like Bush—have a ceremony to show the world how compassionate he is and then start the slaughtering behind closed doors! In his Thanksgiving address, he mentioned the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who are “taking risks for our freedom.” He vowed that the sacrifices of the families who have lost a loved one in this fight will not be in vain. Bush will have one more Thanksgiving in office, but there will be a new President-Elect next year at this time. Now that’s something to be thankful for!
Neil Kramer of Citizen of the Month is celebrating his Third Annual “Thank Your First Commenter Day” in which bloggers are to go back to their early archives and give thanks to the first person who ever left a comment on their site. Because he’s been blogging for three years now, he thanks his third commenter. I also started my blog in 2004 (yikes!) so I want to thank my third commenter, Tamar Jacobson of Mining Nuggets. It was on a post called “Are Blogs the New Narcissism?” I was still trying to figure out what blogs were back then—I had only glanced at a few of them before I started my own and I was worried that I was becoming too self-obsessed. Tamar wrote:
Self-expression is not narcissism. It seems like a fine and generous way of sharing yourself with everyone! Not to mention - fun - just plain fun! I am really enjoying reading what you have to share, Danny. Thanks for your blog!
Thank you, Tamar, for that early support! And thanks to everyone who has stopped by over the years, especially those of you who have left a word or two. I admit I’m still a little neurotic when it comes to comments, wondering why I get so few and thinking that this means no one is interested in my ramblings.
As the years go by, my blog has turned into some kind of emotional barometer. Without it I never would have remembered that I was going through some tough times last Thanksgiving and the one before that. I don't feel any of that angst today. We’re having dinner with our friends Tom and Lisa which is always a lot of fun. Tom makes a killer turkey but I can’t help but note my 2005 claim that I would never touch that turkey substitute called “tofurkey” no matter how much actress Shirley Jones railed against the evils of the turkey industry. And now here I am, two years later, bringing tofurkey to our festivities—not for me, but for my now vegetarian almost-teenaged daughter. Another paragraph in that post caught my eye:
It’s been a challenging time for me lately as I come to terms with the fact that my fear-based way of looking at the world is no longer serving me very well, in fact it’s driving me batty. When I first started therapy I thought that awareness was 9/10 of the battle. As soon as I started realizing what I was doing to cause pain to myself and others, I’d be able to stop doing it and all would be resolved, right? Not hardly. Being aware of negative behavior patterns IS a necessary step towards growth, but when you achieve this awareness without yet having the ability to substitute those patterns with something healthier, it actually feels worse (at first) than being unaware of the behaviors to begin with.
Oh crap, I think I’ve grown a lot in the past two years, and I'm feeling really good these days but I still could have written that paragraph this morning! I guess this growth business doesn’t really have an end point, it’s more like an ongoing project.
At least I’ve answered one question: yes, Virginia, blogs are the new narcissism! Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow, Danny! What fun to be reminded of commenting on your blog. It feels like so much has happened since we all started blogging, eh? I would never have dreamed of blogging if it hadn't have been for you! But then again I wouldn't have written my first book if it wasn't for you.
So, you are definitely on my list for Thanksgiving Day. I am so grateful for you, Danny! Happy Thanksgiving to you, Kendall and Leah!
Posted by: tamarika | November 22, 2007 at 03:09 PM
Jill Sobule just (sort of) wrote a wonderful song about the pardoned turkey. Read about it here...
Happy Thanksgiving, Danny.
Posted by: Roberta | November 23, 2007 at 05:38 AM
A Washington Post article this week reveals the turkey pardons to be the "Stuffing of Historic Legend." And, as they put it, "But like any masterly misdirection, like a fake FEMA news conference, like a government-produced "news" segment, ah, the turkey pardonings are not what they seem."
Posted by: jk | November 23, 2007 at 07:44 AM
Happy Thanksgiving a little late.
I forgot to do the thank my first commenter post this year. I'll have to do that tonight.
Posted by: churlita | November 23, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Danny, I remember cooking a tofurkey for my then vegetarian daughter about 5 years ago. Even she hated it and I vowed never to do it again. I actually really like tofu, but I am decidedly against the idea of trying to disguise tofu as something it isn't.
Posted by: Maria Sosa | November 26, 2007 at 10:59 AM
I have a love/hate relationship with comments basically because I too didn't really know what a blog was when I began mine in 04
I was so naive I thought a good url was freenynyfrombushtoday. Thought the radical right was something that existed on talk radio, and committed other unpardonable sins
I do think blogging is narcissistic but an addictive good form of it--sometimes--and encourage people to read not always to comment
The one time I had turkey tofu for Thanksgiving in the shape of a turkey I thought it was very pretty to look at
Posted by: pia | November 26, 2007 at 11:08 AM
The best thing about Tofurkey is that pronouncing it seems like you are getting away with using profanity in public.
Posted by: Rurality | November 27, 2007 at 05:52 AM
The photo at top reminds me of one in the NYT from the Nixon era. The caption they used, updated for today:
"President Bush, on left, with turkey."
Posted by: Eadwacer | November 27, 2008 at 07:57 AM