NOVEMBER 28, 2025 ON MY CORNER ASK YOUR VENDOR What is your favorite holiday treat? Birthday cake. — Lashawn Courtwright, #56 Date pudding. Its so good with ice cream! — Ken Parks #490 Rum balls. — Cindy Gere, #279 The people and the environment. — Glen Page, #407 Chocolate. — Stephanie Dent, #84 Homemade fudge. — Andrew White, #560 Cut-out sugar cookies. — Shelley DeNeve, #22 During Thanksgiving, my favorite pie is pecan pie. But it is loaded with sugar ... see my article on page 15. — Will Shakespeare, #258 Sweet potato pie with butter pecan ice cream on top. — Joe Woods, #103 Peppermint patties. — Denise Shearer, #485 Peach cobbler. — Larzell Washington, #128 Gratitude When we ponder reality, we may discover that we have choices. What is the best way to become reality focused? Cynicism is a common choice but not a happy one. Nihilism is the mother of cynicism and all forms of “nothing matters.” The realization that all actions have results introduces us to the truth of karma. Books have been written on this and Google can be helpful. What attitude gives us the best approach to experience the fullness of reality? If you have tried different approaches you may have already discovered that gratitude is the best attitude to open the vastness of reality and participate creatively in all the choices available. If you have learned anything in your studies so far, you know that life is a huge classroom and surprises arise. The best teachers of humanity include Buddha, Jesus, Marx, Einstein and others on a long list of brilliant realized beings. When things don’t turn out as planned, you have to look at your assumptions and even change them for new ones. I think every authentic tradition begins with appreciation for this precious human birth. What is the best way to use this opportunity? To fully realize your potential is a quest of a lifetime. What if you choose to be a fully awakened being with unconditional love for all beings without KEN PARKS Groundcover vendor No. 490 exception? Buddha and Jesus were in agreement that this is the most worthy choice of all. If your gratitude for this precious human birth is genuinely heartfelt, you will naturally find the teachers who are lineage holders of enlightened traditions. I had the honor of attending the presentation of James Vukelich during Indigenous Heritage month. His well-prepared presentation with great graphics was on the Seventh Generation and the Seven Teachings of the Grandfathers. Thanksgiving of 2016 at Standing Rock was an expression of the Seventh Generation rising up to stop the Keystone Pipeline going under the Missouri River on unceded land of the Standing Rock nation. There are many offers of programs that promise to take you to success and prosperity. The marketplace is full. Sincere students of reality will learn that all appearances are impermanent, that change is always happening. You do not have to be perfect to appreciate these basic truths but serious students will soon learn that all actions have results and the karmic accumulation we all carry is a mix of good and bad that goes back to beginningless time. Attachment to anything will burn us out and even backfire as our efforts to determine the results we want run into endless obstacles. There may be times we get in the flow and our work is fruitful. However, you may have noticed we are not able to cure all the suffering of this world. We may have the intention to cure suffering but not the skillful means. It is good to keep your intention pure and simultaneously notice how habitual patterns sabotage your intention. It becomes apparent that the compliance culture and its bureaucracy continue the genocide that is endemic in global relations. Taxes and waste grow a war system that is out of control. We need to take another look at our everyday life. Who benefits from our labor? If you read the article from Hamburg, Germany in the October 31 Groundcover you will learn much about the wealth gap and the need to tax the rich. Quite a good article. I want us to look at wealth as it is being created and begin sharing the wealth there. Gratitude for our creative labor of body, speech and mind is a great asset. An analysis of who contributed is necessary to begin equitable distribution. Some priority would go to those who were most essential in the creation process. The work of people who produce and care for children would get the first share. Workers of the future need to be nurtured so education would be at the head of the line. We need lots of discussion because we are not used to thinking about proper distribution of wealth. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote extensively on this theme and we should pick up from that lineage. They are the source of “From each according to their ability, to each according to their contribution” which evolved to “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” It will be interesting to pursue this in our everyday life. Contract negotiations take on a new dimension. General strikes will make the point about the importance of labor. We have much to learn about participatory life. We are fortunate to be in the era of history when it is possible to look at freedom in the context of liberated labor. Our gratitude for the creativity we embody will bring “liberty and justice for all.” We know these words and have used them smugly as if we have arrived when the journey is just beginning. Take another breath and start fresh. DENISE SHEARER Groundcover vendor No. 485 November and December are very beautiful and colorful months. In November the color of the trees is so pretty. In November and December people’s houses and offices are decorated so colorful and pretty. These two months are beautiful and colorful when you’re inside and when you’re outside. Everywhere reminds me of Las Vegas with the colors and lights. It is a beautiful time to be with people you love, your friends and family. It is also a good time to window shop and just take walks and look at things even if you can’t afford to buy them. It’s also a good time to GROUNDCOVER NEWS Colorful and festive times go to art museums and libraries and cook delicious meals on a budget. One good meal I can think of is rice pudding. Another good meal is Chex Mix. You can also make spaghetti that tastes like pizza. Those are a few delicious meals on a budget. It’s fun to do artwork in December and November, even though I do it all year round. DS: What do you like about the months of November and December? Jessi Averill, Groundcover volunteer and board member: I like that it feels like most people are slowing down and taking more time to be with family and close friends. DS: What do you think about Christmas and fall decorations? JA: I like the special colorful lights that people will hang up on the outside of their homes. Inside my home I put together an altar with family and friends who have passed on who I want to remember during this time of year. This is a type of memorial I set up that looks festive like a decoration. 3
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