The Art of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a fun and exciting holiday. It is the official day of appreciation, giving thanks and a celebration of cheering as a motivator of enriching our spirits. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was an excellent display of all those things and more. Thanksgiving is also a day to reflect and enjoy the year with family, friends and a time to finally showcase our chef-styled skills learned through the recipes of other writers (the creativity of dishes is one of the best parts of the holidays). Thanksgiving is also a time to appreciate all the people and programs that service our communities and wonderful causes. It is also a relaxing day to watch sports and begin wrapping up gifts for all those we love as a sign of thanks.

Webster dictionary defines Thanksgiving as "the act of giving: an expression of thanks especially a prayer of thanks to God: a day set apart to give thanks for God's favor in a public celebration." In that sense many of us celebrate Thanksgiving Day everyday. Every year our church does a thanksgiving dinner for the homeless along with many other churches and foundations. Ironically this year we were surprised that some of the families who usually are the givers were the ones in need. This was an example of how real the recession I spoke about in January became. The economic commercialization of holidays will definitely take a hit this year as we are experiencing the greatest financial crisis our country has been dealt with in decades. Perhaps the focus can revert back to the tradition of what Christmas is about. There are people who celebrate Christ- Mass but don't believe in the person who is celebrating his birthday. While the hope of elevating from the recession is promising there is a factual fear that in the next fiscal year we could enter into a depression experienced only once before in our history.

Politically, economically and internally it has become apparent that there is a shift occurring in the mindset of many people who are on a quest to reach a spiritual soundness and be thankful for everything and anything. This mentality has been showcased through the work of various artists who have allowed me to progress in my talent by sharing their gifts with me and giving me permission to tell their stories on a very personal level. Whether it was through music, art or politics I was very taken aback and moved by the reception of various people who were both influenced and able to relate to the stories of all my subjects. I am thankful everyday for many people in my life and I am appreciative to all the different writers, poets and artists that amaze me with their craft and messages. Reading and learning is always a very enjoyable experience and I'm thankful for all those who are writers and artists because they continue the rotation of learning with their work. Our body of work is a great testament of who we are. The topics, poetry, questions and conversations that we facilitate on our platform are a representation of what we believe in. I am blessed to wake up every morning with the excitement of doing many things that I enjoy and this forum has become a highlight of whatever free time I have.

I am beyond grateful for each person that I worked with.They were all willing to expose themselves at the risk of being criticized for their thoughts but chose to tell their stories as a way to uplift themselves and others in the same path as well as help me do something that I love. I am always honored by anyone who is willing to share their story with me in their most vulnerable moments, which were at times very emotional for them and me to hear but print doesn't allow you to see those things. I am always impressed with people who choose to be original and stay true to themselves as opposed to changing like the seasons in an attempt to try and fit in for the purpose of approval- especially in creative arenas like music and art.

Every person that I wrote about on this forum continues to inspire others and me. Their act of inspiration is a consistant one. I am an avid reader and a fan of many news forums and publications but I really like AC and Jolie because of what I receive from them on a fulfilling level stemming from the freedom to create my own assignments. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to perfect my writing with my own thoughts making it much more different then simply writing copy, which I'm very appreciative of as well. For those too high on top to understand that the economic crisis resulted in publications as well as other mediums shifting to cyber formats where advertisers are guaranteed the reciprocation of their investment, the fiscal year will become a better display of this as many companies are cutting back or closing shop altogether due to the recession.

My friend sent me an email a long time ago and said something to the effect that if we just do what we love and truly enjoy that then we will find happiness and success in our work. This wonderful year has shown me that not compromising my talent for pure money provides me with an immeasurable degree of a touch of utopia and happiness. There is nothing anyone could say to convince me otherwise now because I know how great it feels to be in a good place emotionally, spiritually and physically. Because I center myself with love in all aspects of my life I am still. My background is in business management and marketing and I still continue to flip flop about a promise I made to my father to eventually go to law school. If so it will have to relate to human rights law but for now I'm still exploring and basking in creative art (sorry uncle;). Last year I discovered that dealing with people on a creative level as opposed to an administrative one allows me to generate different conversations with them that really uplift my spirit. It may seem attractive to obtain an astronomically high paying executive job at a label, wall street or any company with a higher education and qualifications but I find it more rewarding to finally simply do all thing that I myself enjoy because loss has taught me that life is a gift and cannot be taken for granted. Because I'm a humanist, creative writing allows me to detail "a more human side of people" as my friend commented two years ago.

Sara Pickett, Amina, Masani, Jack Dante, Lloyd, Aissata, Prima J, Lauren Stratton, Maino and all those who had the courage to open themselves up like a blooming flower on this format used different art forms to translate their feelings but underneath their art was a common perspective. On the surface our art is the beauty of creativity but the internal aspect of our work is a general message of respect. Each of us were and continue to travel on a learning journey and quest of peace and the understanding of life with all the ironies and double standards of spirituality, empowerement and faith. The pre-requisite of being an artist seems to be a connection with a higher power because our creativity is often fueled by the indescribable creative flair of God. Things like nature, earth, color, humans, animals, beaches and all of the different settings of earth spark a flame that inspire us to marvel at the greatest artist of all-God. With life exist imperfections and a ying and yang of good and bad. It is filled with friends, enemies, lovers and haters. At the end of the day we all seem to be in agreement that life is about doing what you love and finding someone to share your life with eventually reproducing and creating a legacy of what we call family. That is how we were given life and how we continue life.