Giving Thanks is an American Public Media radio special that airs nationwide on Thanksgiving Day. It is hosted by John Birge. The show consists of classical music, songs, and dramatic readings all related to Thanksgiving. Although the format remains the same, some individual selections are always featured, notably Charles Laughton's monologue (featured in the out-of-print LP The Story Teller) about his experiences at Chartres Cathedral, as well as a selection from Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums also read by Laughton. Other selections regularly included are Handel's Largo from Xerxes and music from Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring.
Although John Birge began doing an annual Thanksgiving program in 1985, Giving Thanks did not go national until 1999, two years after he began working for American Public Media. Birge states on the website for the program that Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday.
Famous quotes containing the word giving:
“Listening to learn isn’t about giving advice—at least not until asked—but about trying to understand exactly what someone means, how it is that someone looks at and feels about her particular situation.... Listening to learn from a daughter in adolescence, conspiring with her thoughts and feelings, keeps a mother in touch with a daughter’s growing and changing self.”
—Elizabeth Debold (20th century)