“In Praise of Joe” by Marge Piercy

Another thing to be thankful for is this wonderful poem by Marge Piercy, who is very thankful for coffee. Garrison Keillor reads it, and it’s printed here.

Expressing Thanks on Thanksgiving

I. From Ted Pease’s wonderful blog, Today’s Word on Journalism: I am reminded to be thankful for our literate president-elect.

“And so during these holiday seasons, we thank our blessings….”

-President George W. Bush, 2004

 

II. John Fea reminds us to be thankful in his article “The Forgotten Virtue of Gratitude”. The following passage resonates with me (and perhaps prompts the subject of a future posting here):

It is not easy being a college professor from a working-class family. Over the years I have had to explain the geographic mobility that comes with an academic life. I have had to invent creative ways to make my research understandable to aunts and uncles. My parents read my scholarly articles, but rarely finish them. My father is amazed that some semesters I go into the office only three days a week. As I write this I am coming off of my first sabbatical from teaching. My family never quite fathomed what I possibly did with so much time off. (My father made sense of it all by offering to help me remodel my home office, for which I am thankful!) “You have the life,” my brother tells me. How can I disagree with him?

III. Be thankful for married sex, according to this recent New York Times article:

Pastor’s Advice for Better Marriage: More Sex

By GRETEL C. KOVACH

Published: November 24, 2008

The Rev. Ed Young challenged husbands and wives in his flock to strengthen their unions through Seven Days of Sex.

IV. John Updike: Laureate of bad sex

The author won a lifetime achievement award from judges of Britain’s Bad Sex in Fiction Prize, which celebrates crude, tasteless or ridiculous sexual passages in modern literature.  According to msnbc.com, “The 76-year-old American novelist was a finalist for this year’s Bad Sex prize for his description of an explosive oral encounter in his latest book, The Widows of Eastwick, but lost out to British writer Rachel Johnson.”   Read the whole story here.     (I’m thankful for and amused by the student who sent me this: he took my Intro to Fiction course last year, and was quite fond of the Updike story we read.  He used to want to be an evangelical pastor: now he wants to write.)