While Madison has grown to become a medium-sized community, I always contend that the Madison area is composed of many smaller “villages” of people. There are the people whom I see because of the Similar patterns of our lives. And then when I go to West Towne’s Food Court, I wonder who all of those people are. And I realize once again that they are part of Madison, but they don’t live in my “village.”

While we may feel at times that we are powerless to influence the world around us, I would contend that we do shape the world around us and create our own villages based on the values we have and how we treat the people around us. I would say that if you are nasty and cruel to the people around us, then that is the type of people who will populate your world. You only need to look at the present President of the United States to get affirmation on that point.

But if you treat other people with respect and give them their dignity as human beings, then your “village” becomes populated with like-minded people with the same values. And so I do have a lot to be grateful for because I live a relatively good life, not because I have wealth that allows me to jet around the world and be invited to all the right parties. It’s because of the people with whom I interact and through that interaction, live a pretty darn good and positive community life.

I live in a wonderful village. And in this time of Thanksgiving, I have to express my thanks for the many people in my life.

I have to start with my family. We were all raised by the same wonderful father and mother and we have remained close throughout our adult lives. We give support to each other and enjoy each other’s company. There are eight siblings and over two dozen nieces and nephews and I am grateful to God that we are all living today.

I am grateful to my son Andrew and daughter Jennifer. Jennifer and I got reconnected a couple of years ago after a 26 year pause in our relationship. God is good. And although Andrew and I have our moments as two adults, I am grateful to be passing my accounting business over to him. It is a joy. I do love my children.

The Capital City Hues is a village in and of itself. And while I do most of the work and writing to get it published every two weeks, it truly is a community-based newspaper. It is the community’s interaction with the paper that infuses it with life and provides it with so many beautiful stories. Historically, while there has been much negative press about our nation’s communities of color, I find so many positive stories to feature. There is so much beauty and goodness there that I want Madison and the world to see. And I am blessed to be able to see it.

While I did not plan this — I basically go from one idea or lead or another — this issue reflects the diversity of Madison and Dane County. I didn’t plan it because I have to keep my nose to the grindstone and don’t want to have an overarching objective — a plan. Instead, I allow the vibe of the community flow through The Hues and then we all get the chance — including me — to see what that looks like.

Without trying, this issue features stories on the African American, Latine, Asian American and American Indian communities. The late and great Ada Deer always emphasized to me to use American Indian. After I get the stories and lay out a plan for the stories, then I can look to see what I have. And by the grace of God, this issue does reflect Dr. King’s Beloved Community. And for this issue, I am very grateful.

I am thankful for the folks who write regular columns for the paper like Jamala Rogers, Fabu, Sujhey Beisser and Andrew Gramling who also does the bulk of the deliveries of the paper every two weeks. I am most grateful to Heidi Pascual who moved back to The Philippines 15 years ago. But she is still our webmaster, formats our Happenings section and edits and writes the Asian Wisconzine column in the paper. Despite the typhoons and torrential rain and Internet outages that she experiences, she still gets it done when I need it. She always amazes me.

I am grateful for the folks at Madison Media Partners — formerly Capital Newspapers — who nprint The Hues. No matter ho9w well we lay out the paper, the final product is in their hands. And they do an excellent job. I am grateful to those unknown people on the printing press who always do an excellent job.

I am also grateful for The Hues subscribers. There’s about 100 of them who pay their $50 per year. While the cost of the subscription — for the most part ؅ just covers the postage and the cost of printing their paper, I do appreciate the little “love notes” that many of them write when paying for their subscriptions.

And I am also grateful to the advertisers who provide the bulk of the funds to continue printing the paper. We could go online only, but it is important to us at the paper to have those multicultural images out in the community on a regular basis so that when a child goes with their parent to the grocery store or to the library, they see someone who looks like them on the cover of a newspaper. It is our advertisers at UW-Madison, Summit Credit Union, Madison College, UW Credit Union, Quarts, Housing Ministries of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Lottery, Centro Hispano, Dane Dances, the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, MGE, United Way of Dane County, TruStage and many others that allow us to exist and I am grateful.

I am also grateful to my financial partners — the people who own the Hues along with me — many of whom who have been with us since the beginning. By now, after 20 years, I know we are friends. They are part of the rock upon which The Capital City Hues is built. There are 12 of us from the African American, Latine, Asian American and Euro-American community. We are The Hues.

And last, but not least, I am grateful to the readers of The Hues. Without you picking us up every two weeks and providing those nice comments of encouragement at community events and through emails, The Capital City Hues would have faded and disappeared long ago. We are a community-based newspaper and proud of it. We are By, For and Of The People. And proud of it.

Be grateful everyone!