Thanks for a Place

Published on Nov. 21, 2012 in the Sun-Gazette

     Watching customers gather ingredients for their Thanksgiving meals at the market where I work, I’ve been reflecting on the holiday’s meaning for me. Never much of an eater or cook and hard of hearing in noisy settings, I don’t relish the idea of getting lots of people together to eat piles of food that some woman (usually) has spent days preparing and now has to clean up. But clearly it’s important to many people. What we’re really celebrating is the place of Family in our lives.

     This is my twentieth Thanksgiving in the Tulare Lake Basin where I moved deliberately to make home. Most of my family lives six hours away when the car’s running well. Most of my years here the car hasn’t been, so I’ve missed many chances to celebrate their place in my life. For their understanding and support of my Homemaking efforts I am thankful.

     My first Thanksgiving was spent raking leaves in the backyard, grateful for both the yard and my shiny new rake, the beauty of bright yellow piles and the peaceful quiet. Then I shoved some leftovers into my small backpack and took a hike up Rocky Hill to the Yokuts paintings Bill Preston showed me earlier that year. From that spot, looking back on the valley, it’s possible to imagine this region’s entire history. Bill’s book, Vanishing Landscapes: Land and Life in the Tulare Lake Basin, was my introduction to that history, and his friendship was the wind under my wings in moving here. After all these years, that spot is my touchstone and he’s family.

     Then I came home and wrote my second essay for Southland Magazine called “Going to the Mountain,” which still speaks what I think and feel. Jim Chlebda, then editor and also publisher when it became South Valley Arts, was the first person here to give me a place on his pages, to carry my voice out where it could be heard. Being published so beautifully and freely gave life to my dream of speaking for the land here, for the small farms and rural life we still have. Our friendship today is a priceless gift from this place to me.

     Then there’s this newspaper. All the way back to when John McNall ran the Lindsay Gazette, I’ve been given space here. Under various editors and column headings, this paper has made a place for me to speak out, to commend various books to read or places to visit, to point out some small detail or huge omission, or just make a comment on the beauty of the weather and the lives we have here. Especially under Reggie Ellis’s leadership, writing for this paper has become fruitful as well as fulfilling. I owe him for this podium, and treasure his friendship and support.

     And then there’s my place at the market. What that gives me is more than a paycheck and co-workers: it gives me a place in the community where we can get to know one another on good days and bad. Where you can come tell me when you agree or disagree with what I’ve written. Where we can all grow in communication skills, and become more of a community. Where now, as neighbors, we can more fully inhabit this perfectly imperfect place.
 
     For having a place here in this amazing place, I give thanks.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody - enjoy your feasts!
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Trudy Wischemann is a gluten-intolerant reluctant eater who still remembers fondly the taste of hot dinner rolls with butter dripping down the side. You can share your favorite meal memories with her % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247.
This column is not a news article but the opinion of the writer and does not reflect the views of The Foothills Sun-Gazette newspaper.