Hear At The Library: Giving Thanks

Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society perform at GBH Studios

Emily Schario is a producer in the WGBH Studio at the Boston Public Library, where she produces radio and digital broadcasts about the Boston community and beyond. Before joining WGBH, Emily was the news editor for her college newspaper and interned at WBUR’s On Point Radio. She has a degree in mediated communication and English literature from Stonehill College.

November 27, 2019

Updated July 05, 2023

Thanksgiving is the one national holiday that nearly all Americans celebrate. While many abide by family traditions, others who come to this country from other places find themselves learning new customs. Thanksgiving can be an inter-generational time for families to get together, but also be difficult for those who have lost loved ones. While Thanksgiving traditions and celebrations may vary, the act of giving thanks remains a constant for most people during this holiday. As part of our on-going series "Hear at the Library," we interviewed five patrons of the Boston Public Library and asked them what they were most thankful for this year.

Listen to the full interviews here:

Hear at the Library | Sandy

I also have some ambivalence about the meaning and the origins of the Thanksgiving story...but in the end, the gratitude I have for my family and the chance to gather with them wins out overall.

- Sandy Brown, a resident of the South End, shares her internal struggle of celebrating a holiday with a troubling past, but acknowledges that getting to spend time with her family always prevails.

Hear at the Library | Dominic

The first time I hosted Thanksgiving really made me feel like I'm really settling here now.

- Dominic Surrao, a resident of Boston, reflects on what it meant to him as an immigrant to host his first Thanksgiving.

Hear at the Library | Karla

I get to study and do research in a field that I love and I'm getting paid for it at the same time...That's something that I, in my entire life, I never though that that would have been possible.

- Karla Oñeta, a Ph.D. student at the University of New Hampshire, says she's most thankful to be able to get paid to do what she loves.

Hear at the Library | Kayla

The fact that she can be at Thanksgiving and be hosting it too is just incredible. Something we didn't think might happen this year.

- Kayla Richardson, a resident of Boston, reflects on how thankful she is for her mother's health after being in and out of the hospital for a year.

Hear at the Library | Nick

This year I'm most thankful for my grandmother and my grandfather...I'm incredibly thankful for them beyond just this year, just in general in my life.

- Nick Myers, a resident of Boston, shares how thankful he is for grandparents who have supported him in all of his academic and business endeavors.