{"id":4735,"date":"2025-11-23T11:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T16:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=4735"},"modified":"2025-11-23T11:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T16:08:18","slug":"giving-thanks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2025\/11\/23\/giving-thanks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving Thanks\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I just came in from raking leaves. I know that most people use leaf blowers these days, but I prefer to use a rake. I find that raking leaves is a quiet activity that is conducive to contemplation. Among the topics that I was thinking about this morning as I raked the leaves was how fortunate I am to live in a city that values the written word.  Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I decided to devote this week\u2019s Storied Charlotte blog to listing ten reasons why I feel thankful that I am a member of Charlotte\u2019s community of readers and writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.  Our public library is one of the best in the country.  It provides books and other resources to the residents of every neighborhood in our city, and its free public programming enriches the lives of thousands of people in our community.  It is also a steadfast defender of the freedom to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for Charlotte\u2019s excellent writing groups and organizations, such as Charlotte Lit and the Charlotte Writers Club.  These groups provide area writers with guidance, support, and a sense of belonging to a community writers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for Charlotte\u2019s independent bookstores.  The bookstore I visit most often is Park Road Books, but there are more than a dozen independent bookstores in the Charlotte area.  Every April these businesses work together to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day and collaborate on the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for Charlotte\u2019s literacy groups, such as Promising Pages, Read Charlotte, and Smart Start of Mecklenburg County.  These groups work hard to provide children with access to books and to improve children\u2019s literacy skills. In the process, they help instill in children a love of reading.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for the Charlotte-area book publishers, such as Falstaff Books, Iron Oak Editions, and Warren Publishing.   Although these publishers work with writers from around the country, they have an impressive record of publishing books by Charlotte-area authors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for the creative writing programs offered by area universities, such as Queens University\u2019s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and UNC Charlotte\u2019s undergraduate and graduate concentrations in creative writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for the Arts & Science Council for providing area writers with grants to support their creative work and for their support of cultural programs in the Charlotte area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for North Carolina Humanities and their NC Center for the Book.  Although North Carolina Humanities is a state-wide organization, it is headquartered in Charlotte.  Through their award-winning North Carolina Reads program and their other projects, North Carolina Humanities makes many contributions to Charlotte\u2019s literary community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thankful for Charlotte\u2019s literary journals, including Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit, West Trade Review<\/em>, Nova Literary-Arts Magazine, <\/em>and Qu: A Contemporary Literary Magazine from Queens University. <\/em>These journals often publish stories and poems by Charlotte writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, I am thankful for all of the wonderful literary works created by Charlotte\u2019s many writers.  Without their contributions to Charlotte\u2019s literary scene, there would be no Storied Charlotte blog.     <\/p>\n\n\n

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I just came in from raking leaves. I know that most people use leaf blowers these days, but I prefer to use a rake. I find that raking leaves is a quiet activity that is conducive to contemplation. Among the topics that I was thinking about this morning as I raked the leaves was how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-4735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-thanksgiving"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4735"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4741,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4735\/revisions\/4741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}