Each fall semester, as we head into Thanksgiving, I challenge my students to notice things. As writers, they’ll need to constantly stay alert to the world around them for story ideas, but because we all fall into our daily routines or get sucked into our cellphone screens as we walk about, we forget to stay in tune with our surroundings. I challenge them to take their “horse blinders” off and pay attention to the world around them.

Importantly, I don’t tell them to “look around” or to “see”—I tell them to “notice.” They need to practice using all five senses. It’s a vital professional skill.

But my timing for this assignment is intentional because the exercise goes beyond mere professional usefulness. Noticing the world around us keeps us from taking it for granted. It helps remind us to be grateful. And therein lies one of the great secrets of happiness: a grateful life is a happy life. It’s a joyful life.

My favorite expression of this notion comes from a Benedictine monk named Brother David Steindl-Rast. He has a TED talk you can watch on YouTube, which is well worth your time. He’s also featured in a stunningly beautiful, short documentary by Louie Schwartzberg, “Beauty. Nature. Gratitude.” I can’t recommend these videos highly enough.

As we remember to give thanks this year, let us remember that the world around us is full of things to be grateful for. And in giving thanks, we can find joy.

— Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Civil War

For this month’s newsletter, we’re going to deviate from our usual line-up of articles. To celebrate Thanksgiving, we’ve asked members of the ECW community to share the things they’re most thankful for this year. (We assumed everyone was thankful for family and friends, so we asked folks what else they’re thankful for.)

Sarah Kay Bierle: This may sound backwards at first: I'm thankful for the pain I've experienced while doing research and public history this year because it's making me stronger and more resilient. From some awful discoveries in archives to some horrific comparisons between the Ukrainian conflict and the American Civil War and some disturbing questions/conversations about past and present, this year has stretched my mental and emotional limits of working in public history. I might wish the circumstances had been different, but I can see how events and findings this year are hopefully making me a better researcher and a more compassionate individual. For that, I am thankful. I'm also sincerely grateful for a few people connected to ECW who didn't let me walk through those moments or weeks alone.

Sheritta Bitikofer: I am thankful for good health and for the positive chances of good outcomes in everything we do. I'm thankful for a husband who continues to be stubbornly supportive of the dreams we make together. I'm unendingly thankful for good smelling candles and yummy comfort food, which I hope to enjoy a lot of in the next couple of months. I'll always be thankful for well-rested nights and productive days, though they may come infrequently. I'm grateful for the new roof over our heads and the love that lives within the walls. I'm thankful—in advance—for all the good things coming our way in the holiday season and new year. And to be cheesy, I'm thankful for the love, patience, and compassion of our family and friends through all the trials and difficulties that life brings.

Neil Chatelain: I would like to say thanks to my many students from over the years. Every day is a new challenge, but it is also an opportunity to work with the next generation. Doing so gives me hope for the future and challenges me to become a better teacher and historian as a whole.

Doug Crenshaw: I'm thankful for the friends who have really helped me through a tough year. Also very grateful for the opportunity to share history with others.

David Dixon: I am thankful for my kind and generous colleagues in the history business who have read chapters, manuscripts, and blog posts and offered constructive criticism to improve my work. I am also thankful that more readers and historians are challenging traditional paradigms and prompting all of us to think about history in new ways.

Bert Dunkerly: I am thankful for the hard work done behind the scenes by the Savas Beatie staff: Lisa, Angela, Veronica, Donna, and Sarah; for cooler weather (finally); and for the fact that the end of the Steelers’s miserable season is in sight.

Meg Groeling: I am thankful for the opportunities Emerging Civil War has offered to me to write and actually have folks read my words. I am also thankful for all the younger female historians ECW has nurtured and encouraged—may there be many more!!

Chris Heisey: Never does a day go by that I do not read something Civil War related. I am grateful to all the blue and gray who left behind delicious accounts about the horrors of war they experienced. And to all the historians who write and feed us students today with thought-provoking work and scholarly pursuits to help us all think, I express my sincere gratitude for that nourishing food for our brains. Also, I am thankful for being a part of Emerging Civil War in a small way and having the opportunity to contribute to various projects that reward me with getting to know those who produce great work. Finally, I appreciate being able to go to a battlefield anytime I choose, where something still abides. That so many dedicated preservationists helped preserve for posterity these sacred places where we freely can go and ponder, is a providential blessing to be forever cherished. 

Dwight Hughes: This year, I am thankful for all our little furry and feathered friends and neighbors in the woods surrounding our home. We had a beautiful fall, and now leaves are off. Bluebirds flock to deck feeders outside my study window. Gray and white juncos (snowbirds) have arrived, announcing the beginning of winter and the holidays. Gray bushy tails are, as always, gamboling about in frantic self-importance. Deer occasionally wander by at dawn or dusk with the sun low through the trees, as does fox, racoon, and possum. No more yard/garden chores for a few months. Stay in; stay warm. Maybe I can get some writing done.

Jon-Erik Gilot: I’m thankful for the community we’ve built at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, PA, and for everyone who comes out to support our 2nd Saturday Civil War Series and the Captain Thomas Espy Post. We’ve had over 1,000 visitors this year between the two! I’m also thankful for Sarah, Chris, and everyone who helps to keep the lights on at ECW so that the slackers like me can always find our way home.

Frank Jastrzembski: I’m thankful for the support that Shrouded Veterans has received and the opportunity to share my research on the ECW blog.

Brian Matthew Jordan: I'm thankful for Lorraine Caswell and Nancy Drugan, two truly outstanding high school English teachers who taught me much about writing. Lorraine was a demanding teacher with her own litany of writerly conventions. She would not tolerate more than five conjunctions on a page; “lazy writers,” she insisted, relied on conjunctions. The word “very” headed a long list of “poor word choices.” Nancy was a sharp thinker who challenged students to find their style, hone their craft, and choose lively verbs. Without their time, care, and patience—without the essays they lovingly drowned in red ink—I may never have found my authorial voice. 

Patrick Kelly-Fischer: I'm grateful to have joined ECW this year; it’s been a lot of fun getting to write here, and I'm looking forward to meeting some of y’all in person in 2023. I’m also grateful to live in such a beautiful place as Colorado—I've done more exploring lately, and even after eight years living here, I’m still amazed at how incredible the state is.

Chris Kolakowski: I’m thankful for all our readers and those who engage with our scholarship. It is great to see the reach of what we are doing. 

Chris Mackowski: I realize it almost seems cliché to say “my health,” but that tops my list this year. I had what could’ve been a serious health scare earlier this year, and while I’m fortunate it turned out to be nothing, I had a few tense weeks of not-knowing. The youngest of my three wonderful children is five, and I want to be around a long time for him. It was scary to think I might not be. We only have today, and every day that comes after is a gift. Take care of yourselves to give yourselves as many extra days as you can, and tell your kids and grandkids you love them.

Ryan Quint: I’m thankful for great friends who have helped me through a pretty tough year on the personal side of things. I’m also thankful for a great team at work who are never hesitant to question how we’ve done things and how we can do things differently.

Terry Rensel: I am thankful for the opportunities in my life that allowed me to live in, and see, great swaths of our country and to now be able to do history on a daily basis.

Brian Swartz: I am thankful for my sweet wife, Susan, who patiently accompanies me to so many battlefields, and for our son, Chris, who has tramped those battlefields with me.

Jon Tracey: As we wind down a fall that has been filled with challenges for me, I am thankful for the time set aside to pause and reflect. I am grateful for a community to bounce ideas off of, friends to rest with, and those who read our writings and help make the work worth it.

Cecily Zander: This year I am especially thankful for the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University for giving me the time and space to work on my book; for ECW’s readers for their engagement with our work and their passion for Civil War history, and (even though it’s not allowed) for my friends and family—including Moe the dog, who has made 2022 a much better year.

Phill Greenwalt, Billy Griffith, Rob Orrison, Mark Malloy, Kevin Pawlak, and Dan Welch are thankful for a successful Emerging Revolutionary War bus tour to Valley Forge and Monmouth in November! (Above: Rob and Mark are enjoying victory cigars on the battlefield from Liberty Cigars.)

On the Emerging Civil War Podcast in November:

Historian Joe Ricci of the Battle of Franklin Trust (right) talked about the November 1864 “lost opportunity at Spring Hill, Tennessee,” one of the great “what-if” moments of the Civil War.

Greg Wade, president of the Franklin Civil War Roundtable talked about the November 1864 battle of Franklin, Tennessee.

The Emerging Civil War Podcast is available through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever fine podcasts are available. You can also subscribe to our podcast through Patreon, where we are now also offering exclusive bonus content for subscribers. That’s just $3.99/month, and proceeds go toward defraying the production costs of the podcast.