Family photos. These memories captured with chemicals on paper are fragile, fugitive, ephemeral, but surprisingly enduring. Often the photo remains vivid long after the name or identity of the person in the image is forgotten. This Thanksgiving could be an opportunity to open the door on that forgotten past. Asking family members to identify ancestors and share stories about the times preserved in photographic form can help restore names to the forgotten. It might also offer an opportunity to create new memories. For those with a box or drawer of old family photos, we have some tips for digitizing and reviving them, just in time to share those images for the holidays. We wish all of our readers a happy, harmonious Thanksgiving in the company of loved ones. Don’t forget to take some pictures! Cover design by Urs Baur
I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite—only a sense of existence…O, how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it, for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.
― Henry David Thoreau
Thanksgiving brings many challenges this year. For some, those challenges include finding the resources to put food on the table—any food, not the holiday luxuries we have come to take for granted. For many of us, the aftermath of the Palisades Fire weighs heavily on our minds and hearts. For others, fear and anxiety about the state of the world are unwelcome guests who have already overstayed their welcome.
The political discourse has reached an impasse so wide and deep that there seems no way to bridge it. We know many who would rather have no holiday at all than face family on the other side of that divide, and yet, if any of us are going to find peace we are going to have to make it for ourselves, like Thoreau. Perhaps we too can be grateful for what we are and what we have, no matter what that is and what anyone else thinks about it.
Topanga is still reeling in the aftermath of the fire, but every day moves us further away from the disaster and closer to eventual recovery. The community isn’t in the spotlight like our neighbors, but the damage was felt by everyone, and the PTSD is real. Our local shops and businesses need our support more than ever this holiday season. Our neighbors, especially those who lost their homes, need our kindness and compassion. Checking in on a friend or neighbor just to say “thinking of you” can make a difference.
The holiday season is full of memories, joyful, poignant, but also sometimes sad. Not everyone has family or a place to be. Keeping a place at the table for those who might not have one means a lot, and sometimes just the act of inviting that person, even if they don’t accept the invitation, lifts the spirits. Holiday depression is a real thing, one that can be made far worse when dealing with trauma like a major disaster. We all need to be kind not only to the people in our lives but to ourselves. Thoreau’s mantra resonates more than ever this year: “I am grateful for what I am and have.”
And there is much to be grateful for. Rain is in the forecast as TNT went to press, enough, we hope, to temper the risk of fire, but not so much that it brings the fear of floods, but good news all the same. The historic and beautiful Will Rogers House museum was destroyed in the fire, but Will Rogers State Park is open again, another small step towards recovery.
The news just broke that the 40-day government shutdown may be ending. That means those in need will once again begin to eat, and that air traffic controllers and all other government employees will be paid again. Unscrambling the mess caused by thousands of canceled flights in time for travelers to reach their destinations this Thanksgiving may be a challenge, but at least it is now a possibility. We don’t know what lunacy the next act of the surrealist comedy that is now our lives will bring, but at least the curtain appears to be going down on this one.
In the spirit of the holidays we have a feature about family photos and how to digitize them, scan and process slides and negatives, and most importantly, ID the people in them. Thanksgiving can be a great time to talk to family members about family history, ask about the people and events in old photos, and gather family stories. Almost everyone has a story to share if we only ask and more importantly listen.
And if we can’t find even that much common ground with our relatives perhaps we can at least enjoy eating pie together, or limit the disagreements to the merits of pumpkin vs pecan.
Here at TNT, we give thanks to our amazing readers, contributors, advertisers, and neighbors. We couldn’t do this without you. We are so very grateful for each and every one of you.
Stay safe, be well. Happy Thanksgiving!
