The O-town Scene

November 24, 2011

The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY

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Scene the O-Town www.otownscene.com Vol. 2, No. 8 102 Chestnut St., P.O. Box 250, Oneonta, NY 13820 (607) 432-1000, ext. 255, editor@otownscene.com EDITOR Cassandra Miller ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR OF THE DAILY STAR Adrienne Wise PUBLISHER Armand Nardi CONTRIBUTORS Kurtis Breed, John Champlin, Erin Foley-Reynolds, Annie Kuhn, Shirley O'Shea, Emily Popek, Walter Romero, Lisa Ryther, Mark Simonson and Heidi Tanner-Brantley EDITOR OF THE DAILY STAR Sam Pollak ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sean Lewis The O-Town Scene is published Thursdays by The Daily Star Inc. Free copies are distributed throughout Oneonta, as well as parts of Otsego, Delaware and Schoharie counties. Member of The Associated Press and CNHI News Service EDITOR'S NOTE I have never adhered to the Thanksgiving thanking tradition, and the one time my family tried the activity of each of us saying something he or she was thankful for around the dining room table, it felt like a forced extended family therapy session, with- out a counselor. I think gratitude should be more intimate. I tend to write notes of gratitude in cards for occasions _ birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Day, Father's Day, retirement, Christmas. Most of these notes are directed at family members, although occasion- ally I'll get the urge to send note cards to close friends, just because. It feels good to say, or write, what you think, especially if you're thinking nice thoughts about others. (When the thoughts are not so nice, I've found it is best to follow playground logic _ if you don't have anything nice 2 O-Town Scene Nov. 23, 2011 to say ...) I'm also a big fan of writing gratitude lists when life gets a little too "woe is me." Venting about how your situation is just plain unfair to a close friend is cathartic, but even the most patient, sympathetic person will not want to sit through a three-hour bitch session. And frankly, stewing just makes bad vibes stronger. Writing about all of the good stuff going on in your life is an instant pick-me- out-of-this-self-pitying-hole. Maybe you don't have a stellar relationship with your brother, but, hey, he's alive and healthy, and you hear he's doing well. That's something to be thankful for. Maybe you will never fully understand music theory, but you know how to appreci- ate good musicians, which is definitely something to be grateful for. (Thank you, Foot- hills and Oneonta Theatre, for booking great upcoming acts like Justin Townes Earle, who we interviewed for this week's issue on Page 8.) Gratitude is a good idea, but it doesn't need to be as outright as a stilted conversa- tion with extended family or as in-your-face as one of my friend's experiences. Grow- ing up, she would visit her relatives in their county cabin home, where her aunt had decopaged magazine pictures of starving children in Africa to the kitchen table so that every time the family sat down to eat, toddlers with distended bellies and flies around their eyes stared out. Forced thank- fulness doesn't have the same effect as consciously thinking about how your life is actually pretty good. Basically, I'm thankful that even though some personal situations have not had the best outcomes and even though I've made many many mistakes, life goes on. Ob-la- di Ob-la-da. Yeah, I'm really thankful for good music. Cassandra Miller Miller is the found- ing editor of the O-Town Scene.

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