A belated word of thanks on Thanksgiving

I received an email in August from my old friend Jo Scott, saying she was sorry to have missed catching up with me during her brief trip to Fairbanks. I was out of town at the time.

“It was 70 years ago in August that I moved to Fairbanks to be a music teacher at the then-new Denali Elementary,'“ she wrote, adding that it was one of the best decisions she ever made.

“I send my best wishes and love to you and all your family,” said Scott, who added that she may be in Tucson at the moment, “But my heart will always be in Fairbanks.”

Her email reminded me of something that she tried to teach me about 45 years ago. I don’t remember the exact circumstance, but she had paid me a compliment about something I had done.

I did what I usually did. I mumbled something unintelligible in response.

Jo, always the teacher, said I should remember that one of the most important things in life is to know how to accept compliments. You can’t do that, she said, by looking around and acting as if you are being punished for having to listen. She said that saying thank you is a habit that requires practice.

I think of that exchange whenever someone gives me a compliment and I mumble something unintelligible in response. I keep trying to master the habit of accepting compliments, but I am a slow learner.

This being Thanksgiving—or the day after Thanksgiving if you are seeing it Friday—is a good time to try once more to follow Jo’s sound advice.

I want to thank everyone who reads this blog all the time or just once in a while. It means a great deal to me. I take it as a compliment that you spend time reading what I have to say, whether you agree or disagree with the contents.

It’s not as if you don’t have plenty of other options to pass the time.

I want to thank the hundreds of you who have written me personal notes and contributed financially over the years. Your words of encouragement have helped keep me going. You have also provided me with many good issues to write about, along with good observations and editing suggestions.

While the reader comments section of this blog is not always what I’d like it to be, I think that the comments are a valuable addition to the mix. Sometimes the comments are better than the column above them.

I tell people all the time that I am retired, a claim that my wife Debbie disputes, though I had my 70th birthday in September. I never look upon the research and writing of this blog as work. It’s something I love doing, most of the time.

It’s a busman’s holiday for me, the reporting equivalent of a bus driver who goes on vacation and always takes the bus.

I began this blog on December 9, 2017, not really knowing how much time it would take, how it would evolve or what I would write about. I drew my motivation at the start entirely from my anger at the lack of news analysis in Alaska of the 2017 Republican federal tax law fiasco. My opinion has not changed.

“Rather than simply complain about what is missing, however, I've decided to do my part to expand the discussion, if only in a small way,” I wrote here in my first entry.

“I come to this self-appointed task with a lot of experience, having been working to understand Alaska politics and history since I became a newspaperman in 1976. I think I have something to contribute, but finding readers for this venture is another matter. We'll just see what happens.”

“I don't intend for this site to consume my waking hours. If it consumes an hour here and there every few days, that will be sufficient. I'll offer commentary, raise questions, give opinions and write about the weather or Alaska history.”

I have a mailing list of more than 2,000 people and on a typical day from 1,000 to 1,500 of them read my blog. Most of them have an abiding interest in the future of Alaska and what’s happening in our state. I am grateful that my readers are loyal. I know that my efforts here are appreciated and helping direct public attention to issues that deserve broader debate.

I do my best to always get the facts straight and present a clear point of view, founded not just on opinion, but on decades of study, reading and reporting about Alaska.

I started on a new book project in 2017 and picked up another one that my twin brother didn’t complete before his death, but those tasks haven’t advanced much because the blog at times consumes my waking hours, and then some.

I hope to keep at this for a while longer, until it stops being fun. I’m retired, you know.

What I really want to say is this: Thanks for reading.

You can always leave comments here or write me at dermotmcole@gmail.com.