BRAVO
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Around the Table by Katie Shaw Thompson
Bakery Established 1954
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Growing up I would look forward to this time of year when my extended family would gather around my grandmother’s extended kitchen table. Those days were full of turkey, sweet corn, Stove Top stuffing, cranberry sauce, and my grandmother’s custard pies. After dinner there would be board games of one variety or another. I remember even at a young age enjoying my uncle’s fierce competitiveness and sharp wit. There must have been tension among the adults at least at times. Looking back now I know there were years when marriages were breaking down and some owed others money. But if it was palpable to me as a child, that sourness is blotted out by the sweet taste of my grandmother’s cooking and the savoriness of card game victories.
On the Cover:
“55” (detail) Acrylic on Canvas
by Brielle Robinson and Jeffrey Pierce Brielle Robinson is a multi-disciplinary artist and musician from Elgin, working in a variety of media. Her paintings, murals, decorative art and private commissions have been exhibited throughout northwest Chicagoland. As a musician, Brielle was a lead vocalist with Elgin’s “Accidentally on Purpose,” and appeared as a semi-finalist in the 2018 season of American Idol. Jeffrey Pierce is the Editor and Publisher of BRAVO magazine. He is a consultant for R.R. Donnelley in Elgin and teaches Graphic Arts Technology at Harper College. He is an avid poet and serves on the selection committee of the Elgin Poet Laureate Project.
Today, gathered around tables with friends, family, or neighbors, I am aware of the brewing conflicts that threaten to cut our time together short or bar us
from ever getting together again. We all have our own recipes for surviving, avoiding, or plowing steadfastly into these conflicts. Whether you’ve become a dynamo distractor, a washroom wailer, a burn-all-the-bridges bellower, or another alliterative collection of adjectives, somehow you too have found a way to survive enough holidays to be reading this page. I know of friends who have cancelled their traditional family gatherings altogether, rather than gather with folks with whom they know they disagree, and I think choosing to maintain our space can be an important survival mechanism when we need it. Particularly when patterns of abuse are at play or when we feel like we are reacting from a place of trauma or anger, I think it is healthy to forego the yearly clash with relatives to restore our own health and sanity. It can also send a strong message to our relatives about what we will and will not tolerate.
