Post-Thanksgiving Greetings

Culture Shock is a day late with a Thanksgiving Day greeting for our loyal readers, having spent the holiday wallowing in pie and gravy. After a lazy morning with Stumptown coffee and pastries, we drove to the country for a family dinner amidst fir trees, horses, drizzling rain and a dog named Fergus. We felt thankful and hopeful.

Today promises to be another fine day, with neither work obligations nor the drive to be useful. We ignored the Black Friday blandishments and panic-induced discount offers and left the early-morning sales aisles to other bargain hunters. The parade moved through downtown without us.

This morning over coffee, the cultural news digest, Arts Journal, led me to the poem “Thanksgiving Prayer” on RealityStudio, a site billing itself as “a William S. Burroughs Community.” The poem, which Burroughs dedicates to “John Dillinger, in hope he is still alive,” presents a far darker mood than I’m feeling, and I don’t want to further the misperception that Mighty Toy Cannon is a cynical America-hater. However, I can’t resist sharing this reading by the author, accompanied by a film montage by Portland’s own Gus Van Sant:



Apologies for having stepped on at least two copywright toes by posting this clip for educational purposes.