people who rock

building up to thanksgiving as a concept that i’m awfully fond of, despite the degree to which i’m thoroughly creeped out by little cardboard smiling pilgrims & pocahontases in storewindows, i suggest a non-colonizing thanksgiving-type meme: only reversing that whole don’t-tell-who-you’re-talking-about thing.

pick a handful of people (how big your hands are i’ll leave up to you to demonstrate), name names, & say exactly why they’re awesome RIGHT NOW. (this isn’t to imply that they aren’t also often awesome for lots of other reasons–but time/space specifically…)

keith and eva are awesome b/c they came all the way from blacksburg and brought gossip & news from back home w/them & loved on our cats & came out for dinner w/us at the dinosaur and didn’t even mock me for drinking pink wine at the bar.
cindrax is awesome b/c he agreed on almost no notice to pick pdxstraycat and me up from the airport on wednesday to get us to my mommy’s house.
(Edit: and bluemeg is awesome b/c she’s lending us her chauffeur for the occasion.)
pdxstraycat is awesome b/c he shirpa-ed a very yummy lunch to me today so that i could read a book & pass it on down the hall instead of going with him.
senioritis is awesome b/c she spent an hour on the phone w/me last night trying to help me make sense of the web (it’s very, very colorful) of my varied academic interests–there ARE patterns, i swear–AND she still wants to work w/me & head my diss.
cheshirrrecat is awesome b/c she never stops trying her ASS off.
vanessa is awesome b/c she volunteered her house for a little socializing tomorrow evening before people scatter to leave town.
pdxstraycat‘s dad is awesome b/c he bought us LOTS of wine to socialize with when they were here last-last weekend.
chris is awesome b/c she drove EWM & jeremiah and me all the way to & around (& around, & around, & around) philadelphia this weekend.
jeremiah is awesome b/c he makes me laugh almost every day.
derek (EWM) is awesome b/c he’s the most calming passenger-side downtown-traffic-navigator in the world.
message_2love is awesome for being righteously pissed off.
my mom is awesome b/c she’s putting us up and feeding us and entertaining us and loving us AND sharing all that w/a couple of complete strangers from georgia for turkey-day weekend.
sarahsmiles and faerieariel and donnickcottage are awesome b/c they encourage and facilitate and celebrate and question and challenge my non-academic writing.
metalmonkey is awesome b/c he lives out loud.
l_stboy is awesome b/c he just keeps newly appreciating the simple things i see & say.
sarah is just plain awesome. she never reads this, though, so she’ll probably never know.
seth and helen are awesome b/c they shared their YUMMY salmon dinner with us last night AND they’re taking us to the airport wednesday morning.
hillary is awesome b/c she’s gonna let me hold her brand-new baby.
cris is awesome b/c she’s smart and smart-assed-ish enough to say “you’re gender-stereotyping us” when i hand her a salmon-colored crayon for an in-class activity after handing a blue one to andrew.
andrew is awesome b/c he came to class.
my grandmother is awesome b/c she called just to say hi & tell my answering machine about the weather.
burny_md is awesome b/c he doesn’t get offended when i call him names for playing mean tricks on me.
digitalpenny is awesome b/c she has this crazy idea that i’m smart and together & when i talk to her i actually believe it for a few minutes at a time.
kelly is awesome b/c she shares her books with me.
anne is awesome b/c she brings snacks to meetings.
paul is awesome b/c he’s paul. and also b/c he forgives me for setting goals with deadlines implied in them & then missing them entirely.
mb_1978 is awesome b/c she said the MOST complimentary thing about me EVER in the entire world.
jules_11 is awesome b/c she’s not gonna let it get her down.
missmeridian is awesome b/c of that icon.
rumhann is awesome b/c he finally wrote some of it down.
aaric is awesome b/c he laughed when i told him he was getting some competition for occupation of his token-spot in my life.
grace is awesome b/c she’s writing a paper about how archaic definitions of the word “family” lead to archaic notions about the singular propriety of 2-person opposite-sex marriages and the legitimacy of gay adoption & other nonstandard ways of making families–cuz it’s time we caught up w/the times.

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