Often it seems as if the elapsed time between Friday evening and Monday morning is but the blink of an eye. And that's on weeks when our publishing deadline comes at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. When we come a out a day early, like this week, and the deadline is Tuesday noon, the question becomes, "Didn't we just do this?"
Yes, we did, and now we're doing it again. (Making the paper, that is.) But, thankfully, we are prepared. Careful regard of the calendar compels us to plan for these exigencies, and thus we come in on Monday like it's Tuesday, and by Monday afternoon it has become Wednesday.
As I said, this week we are prepared - thankfully. And I mean that literally. As our cover story on this holiday-shortened week, we have assembled a staff-written article cataloging what some contributing members of the workforce have deemed worthy of being thankful for.
Some of the contributors are seriously thankful for personal blessings. These usually involve other family members - human or lesser order. Other expressions of gratitude are of a facetious nature, meant to imply a more pointed statement. An example of this is the guy who thanks a dead congressman for the 22nd Amendment. Why, you ask? Well, it is easily understandable when you read it, and if you're up on the 22nd Amendment, you may have already figured it out.
There are those who know what they are thankful for, but the challenge comes in whom to thank. For this reason we have a varied assemblage of "thankees," such as Wisconsin State Parks, America and Zeus, who may or may not have been responsible for the thanker's perceived bounty. Nonetheless, somebody was due credit, or blame, for what the writer found worthy of mention.
I am not among the contributors. It is not because I have nothing to be thankful for. To the contrary, I have so much to be thankful for I didn't know where to begin on an exercise like this. I have, however, been inspired by the creativity of the staff contributors. Although I can't put it in a witty, or snarky (the bite without the wit), form, I am thankful for an engaged and resourceful staff. Publications can only be as good as the people who produce them, and the quality of the people who produce Isthmus is not only evident in this week's cover story, but throughout the paper, week in and week out. I wish them, as well as you, a restful and satisfying Thanksgiving.
