Hello colleagues,
Please allow me to introduce User:Clovermoss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Clovermoss. She volunteered to collaborate with me on writing this and future issues of *What's Making You Happy this Week?* and *The Signpost*'s "On the bright side".
Clovermoss is from Canada. She registered on English Wikipedia in September 2018, and she is a graduate of User:Nick Moyes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Nick_Moyes' adoption program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Adopt-a-user. She recently made her 4,000th contribution.
Please treat Clovermoss as you would like to have been treated when you were new here.
*From Clovermoss*:
This week, I'm thankful that I am going to start collaborating with Pine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pine for *On The Bright Side*. I have been a fan of this *Signpost* feature for a long time and I'm excited to help make it happen. I'm also thankful for this photo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fall%C3%A4tsche_South_Moss_in_Autumn.jpg. I find that photographs of nature have a tendency to appeal to me, and I think that this one is stunning. I like moss for its unique texture and just for being something that exists. I adore the leaves that can be seen every autumn where I live, and I miss seeing them everywhere I go. However, I'm also thankful for the comforting aspects of winter: hot chocolate, candy canes, and the warmth at home.
*From Pine*:
I am grateful to Clovermoss for agreeing to collaborate. I think that readers will appreciate seeing a new perspective and a new writing style. Also, because I will spend less time writing *WMYHTW*, I think that I will be able to spend a little more time on the pilot phase of NavWiki https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Navwiki. NavWiki is progressing slowly but well.
The topic of writing reminds me of a video clip from *Star Trek: The Next Generation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation*. In this scene, Captain Jean-Luc Picard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Luc_Picard receives a visit from the alien "Q". Q is powerful and unpredictable. Here, he offers to help Picard with drafting a speech (Youtube link) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuyjhM1vL9I.
Finally, some thoughts about listening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listening. Listening can be done casually, aggressively, carefully, poorly, well, and any number of other ways. Clovermoss appears to invest a lot of time and effort in listening. Captain Picard did too. The actor who portrayed Picard, Patrick Stewart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart, stated: https://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2019/07/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sir-patrick-stewarts-jean-luc-picard
"One of the things that I’ve come to understand is that as I talk a lot about Picard, what I find is I’m talking about myself. There was a sort of double action that occurred. In one sense Picard was expanding like this and at the same time he was also growing closer and closer to me as well and in some respect I suppose even had some influence on me. I became a better listener than I ever had been as a result of playing Jean-Luc Picard because it was one of the things that he does terrifically well."
*Closing comments*
What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.
Additional translations of the subject line of this email would be appreciated on Meta https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine/WMYHTW_translations. Thanks to User:Lucas_Werkmeister https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Lucas_Werkmeister for the German translation.
Best wishes, Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )