Patrick McDonnell's comics Mutts (11-26-2020)


120 People to Be Thankful


First thanks to Dad and Mom
for their care and loving kindness,
to brother Jimmy and sister Margaret
for companionship growing up together.

Thankful to brother-in-law David for
discussions on cosmology & philosophy;
to niece Elisa Cheng whose love of reading
and numbers made me research more deeply.

Thankful to Nick, dishwasher at Concord
Hotel on value of hard work in my first job,
to Franklin Simon, Floral Park stamp dealer
for generosity building my stamp collection.

Thankful to friends, Sidney Hochman in high school,
Richard Hanauer & Huai-Han Kung at Columbia,
John Vournakis & Leonard Wan at Cornell,
Steve Gould & Larry Rosenberg at Brandeis.

Thankful to Columbia's Kenneth Koch in English,
T. Ivan Taylor and Jon Applequist in Chemistry,
to Cornell Professors H.A. Scheraga in Proteins,
Stuart Edelstein in Biochemistry & Meditatons.

Thankful to Brandeis Professor Gerald D. Fasman
where we developed Chou-Fasman Method in
Protein Structural Predictions— a Citation
Classic, still in use after 46 years.

Thankful to folk dancers at Cornell— Ken Wilson,
Francis McKenzie, Nancy Shulman, Peggy Kahn,
Margaret Hobbie; at MIT— Elisabeth Gantman,
Amy Moss, Theresa Landry, and Gail French.

Thankful to Foothill College Instructors—
Dick Maxwell (poetry), Nina Holzer (journal writing),
Kent Manske and Stan Ettinger in graphic design,
Ann Michalski, Mimi Will, Al Guzman, always helpful.

Thankful to Stanford Professors Scott Bukatman (films),
Jean-Pierre Dupuy (philosophy), John Freccero (Dante),
Elaine Pagels (Gnosticism), Mohr Poets Robert Pinsky,
Robert Bly, Mark Doty, Kay Ryan, and Stephen Dobyns.

Thankful to Squaw Valley Poets Galway Kinnell,
Sharon Olds, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman,
improving my craft as poet, & Terry Adams
giving me rides there in 1989 and 1990.

Thankful to Waverley Writers poets— Valerie Berry,
Margaret Mullen, Muriel Karr, Mary-Marcia Casoly,
Elizabeth Chapman, Jeannie Watson, Auriel Yost,
Joel Katz, David Cummings, and Stacy Smith.

Thankful for autographs from Nobel Laureates
Mikhail Gorbachev & Dalai Lama, Richard Nixon,
Israeli President Ephraim Katzir, and Lee Teng-hui
greeting me warmly at Taiwan's Presidential Palace.

Thankful for autographs from Nobel scientists—
John Kendrew, Max Perutz, Joshua Lederberg,
Francis Crick, James D. Watson, Dorothy Hodgkin,
Manfred Eigen, Arthur Kornberg, Roger Kornberg.

Thankful for autographs from prize-winning poets—
Allen Ginsberg, W.S. Merwin, Mary Oliver,
William Stafford, Gary Snyder,
and novelist Joyce Carol Oates.

Memorable autographs from Buckminster Fuller,
Ravi Shankar, Marcel Marceau, Freeman Dyson,
Albert Elsen, Peter Medawar, Adlai Stevenson,
Bobby Kennedy, Anthony Eden, Joseph Campbell.

Thankful for Dad's friends inspiring me—
General George Marshall, scholar Hu-Shih,
Cardinal Paul Yu-pin, advisor Li-Huang,
biochemist & sinologist Joseph Needham.

Thankful to ballroom dancers— Connie Barker,
Susan Bleznick, Sally McNees, Ann Olmsted,
Theresa Renico after meeting modern dancers
Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham.

Thankful to spiritual mentors Anthony Damiani,
Brother David Steindl-Rast, Satchidananda,
Master Subramuniya, Swami Chinmayananda,
Paul Brunton, Seung-Sahn, Charlie Red Hawk.

Thankful to spiritual friends Om Gupta,
Patrick Brennan, Mimi Robbins, Valerie Kadium,
Deborah Oakley, Charles Beck, Virginia McKim,
Anita Wahi, Denise Garlow, Avigal, Cathy Abrams.

How these people came into my life
is a deep mystery— I treasure much
their friendship that has nourished me
like warm sunshine filled with blessings.


        — Peter Y. Chou
            Mountain View, 11-28-2020