Despite the bad news about ospreys and oysters recently — two creatures that are important here not just ecologically but culturally — there is a palpable tone of good cheer in the November air as the feast of thankfulness approaches. The country has been through some dark and ugly days over the last decade, and strange things are happening as A.I. sweeps powerfully into existence, but we have a lot to be thankful for on Turkey Day.
First, we are thankful that the United States electoral system has held fast and that we had another free and fair election on Nov. 3. We weren’t entirely confident we’d make it through, but we did. We are thankful for an election cycle free from violence, from any notable voter fraud, and from any mad October surprises (beyond that weirdness from the unsuccessful primary candidate in Michigan).
We are thankful that the American people have endorsed decency and decorum in public debate. Thankful that the knuckle-dragging, locker-room-level name-calling and insult hurling that had become acceptable during the Trump era — a culture of indecency that allowed our sitting Vice President J.D. Vance to call a Democratic congressional candidate “an asshole” at a public rally and allowed Ken Paxton to call his opponent “Low T Talarico” and “Six-Gender Jimmy” — has been resoundingly repudiated.
We are thankful that legislation was passed in late October in Australia to establish the Great Koala National Park (some 687 square miles), providing safe haven for 12,000 koalas. Who doesn’t love happy koalas?
We are thankful that there is a solar power revolution ongoing, albeit outside the United States. From Germany to Nigeria, families are buying small solar units for their balconies and backyards, and the impact on fossil fuels’ future will be profound. According to the Global Off-Grid Solar Market Report, 7.4 million solar energy kits were sold in East Africa alone in 2025. We are thankful that this planet-saving movement is slowly coming here, with legislation supporting it in New York State (not yet approved) and Utah (approved in 2025). According to Ember, an energy think tank, renewables in the form of solar and wind power overtook coal energy in 2025.
We are thankful that, on the weather front, East Hampton has enjoyed two weeks of unusually mild temperatures in the first half of November — allowing us to push back the date at which we had to turn up the thermostat to heat the house.
We are thankful that certain local roadway-improvement projects that seemed to be stretching on into eternity, making commutes a misery, are finally complete: not just Route 114 but Noyac Road between Deerfield and Brick Kiln.
We are thankful that, according to The Peru Gazette, in the upstate town of Peru in the Champlain Valley, some clever people have set up a unified farm-to-table school-cafeteria kitchen to provide locally harvested meals to children attending 17 schools. We are hopeful, in these hopeful days, that such a model might potentially be examined and replicated here.
Finally, we are thankful for the doggedness of hard-working journalists. Thankful for our community’s supporters of good journalism who are ensuring the survival of local newspapers, and thankful for the bright outlook for the year 2027. Against all odds, here and in small towns across the country, we have weathered many a storm and are moving into the future with renewed energy and strength.