Giving Thanks : From Surviving Quakes to Cosmic Calculations, Blessings Abound

ELLYN MAYBE

Poet, Los Angeles

This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for a lot of things. Some of them have to do with the Jan. 17 earthquake. I was living in Chatsworth with my mom when it hit. She was blocked inside her room and at first when I called her she couldn’t hear me and didn’t answer, so I freaked out. Then she answered and I knew she was all right. Our walls had tons of cracks and the carport collapsed on our car. Some neighbors helped us get it out.

For several days I was afraid they wouldn’t let me go back inside to get my poetry. I didn’t have copies of a lot of it and I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost it. Finally after several days all of us in my building were given permission to evacuate all our possessions immediately. Our building was condemned.

I’m grateful my mom and I lived through the earthquake, and I’m especially thankful I was able to save my poetry, because if I couldn’t it would have been like some sort of death. I’m also thankful that I’ve found kindred spirits in the artistic community here. Their love and concern is the major reason we decided to stay in Los Angeles while so many others who were hard-hit by the quake moved away.

SIMA ROSS

Real estate sales, Encino

As an immigrant American from Iran, I have much to be thankful for about the opportunities of this fantastic, young and prosperous land and the freedom it offers, not only for me but for my family, my friends and my people. Every year Thanksgiving reminds me there is hope.

My first year in America as a student in 1974, an older American lady took me to a Thanksgiving party. Since then every year I make a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner: a big turkey, corn, yams, and pumpkin pie for dessert.

Thanksgiving is the only holiday where my heart is in it. I have very strong sentiments for Iran, my mother is Russian, and I am Jewish. But if there is any land I would fight for, it is America.

CHHENG HEAT LEAO

Health coordinator, Cambodian Family Agency, Santa Ana

I feel very thankful to the American people for letting my family be in this country, and thankful to everyone who welcomed us. I came here in 1981. Although I am a Buddhist, I used to go up to a church nearby and help them fix things, because it is my attitude to help people. My first year here the pastor invited my family to his home for Thanksgiving. I am also happy I can help other Cambodians coming here. And I have contributed to help homeless Americans at Thanksgiving.

I bring my family together for dinner. I have six children and three grandchildren. We have a turkey prepared in the Cambodian way, with spicy curry and coconut and a stuffing of soybean noodles, mushrooms and peanuts.

I tell the children about the Pilgrims and Indians and compare this to Cambodia. Because it is the Cambodian way to always welcome people from far away and to offer them food, like the Indians did for the Pilgrims.

LUCIA ALEXANDER

Operatic singer, singing teacher, Los Angeles

I’m thankful for having the joy of music and the joy of sharing it with others through teaching and singing. I began singing when I was five, standing on a corner in front of the Los Angeles gas station owned by my parents. People would come by and say “Isn’t she cute?” and give me a penny or a nickel. I studied music in high school and later with private teachers. My Italian singing teacher once said to me: “An angel has breathed on your throat!”

But then I got married, had four children and worked in accounting and real estate. I missed music. After I got divorced, I eventually got back to singing. Music is such a joy; it’s like medicine to me. I love to watch people’s faces light up when I begin to sing. It’s as if waves of love are coming back from the energy that’s sent out by performing. I feel my voice is a gift from God so I’m thankful for being able to share my music.

PAUL CHODAS

Astronomer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena

I’m thankful that I and my colleague Don Yeomans were involved in the once-in-a-lifetime event when the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet hit the planet Jupiter in July. I’m thankful it was discovered a year before it hit, so we had time to prepare. Don and I were at the center of predicting for the rest of the scientific community when and where each of its 21 fragments would hit. About a dozen astronomers around the world measured the comet’s position and gave us its coordinates so we could tell how fast the pieces were going. Our predictions weren’t perfect: We were off an average of seven minutes for all 21.

There were arguments about the size of the fragments; many astronomers thought the whole thing would be a big fizzle. But Don and I predicted the impacts would be much bigger, and it turned out we were right. Of course, we’re thankful for that.

If the fragments had hit the Earth it would have been a global catastrophe, causing the death of much of the population of the world. So all of us can be thankful they didn’t.

Compiled for The Times by Trin Yarborough.