by Robin Kemp
The Clayton Crescent wishes you and yours a very safe and happy Thanksgiving. We hope you create your own special ways of connecting safely in the age of COVID-19. One way to do that is to record a StoryCorps interview. Here’s how.
We’re especially thankful for each and every one of you who has donated to The Clayton Crescent. What a gift it is to be able to build a nonprofit news site from the ground up, fueled not only by donations but also by encouraging personal notes. You keep us going.
We’re also thankful for the people of Clayton Crescent and the Southside, who are willing to share their stories and who have been extremely supportive of The Clayton Crescent as a source of information in this area.
Richard Griffiths stepped up enthusiastically when I finally got up the nerve to ask and has been more than generous with his time, mentorship, wisdom, and experience. It’s a privilege to work with you.
I am incredibly grateful for the wise counsel of the University of Georgia Law First Amendment Clinic’s Clare Norins, Sam Hamilton, and Taran Harmon-Walker; Derek Bauer; and the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.
Special thanks to Debbie Griffiths for the nuts-and-bolts business advice, Dr. Marty Yee for the speedy MacBookPro, all the anonymous and named donors, and our good friends at GPB, WABE, The Wall Street Journal, BBC Newsnight, NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, and Leading Britain’s Conversation.
I personally am thankful to have the stellar talents of colleagues like Maggie Lee, Joe Adgie, and Tammy Joyner. With luck and hard work, I hope we can raise enough funding to hire full-time staff soon. Thank you to the best graphic designer on the Southside, Gerrian Hawes, for your creativity, good eye, and good humor, and to Mitch Leff for boosting my platform before I had one.
Thank you to my dad, Jim Kemp, my first and best assignment editor; to my mom, Dr. Kay Kemp, who’s always in my corner; and to my brother, Chris Kemp, for perpetual on-call tech support.
Thank you to the doctors, nurses, and techs who are taking care of my dad this Thanksgiving. We are more than grateful for his presence on this Earth.
Gracias a Raysa Aragon por siempre estar ahí para mí.
We might not be able to hug our loved ones right now, but we can be there for each other. One way is through Zoom, which has suspended its 40-minute limit on group meetings for today. Get your family or friends together in a virtual visit–you’ll be surprised how close you’ll be!
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
–Robin Kemp
