16. The 2021 Thanksgiving Special

In this week’s episode, we are celebrating Thanksgiving. We talk about what Thanksgiving was like for us growing up as well as what it means to us before launching into reading comments from followers on Facebook about why they are thankful for Mint Condition. We end the podcast with our own heartfelt and reflective reasons as to why we are thankful for Mint.

If you enjoy this episode, please like, share and subscribe to the podcast. You can reach us at [email protected] and visit the Facebook group The Secret Origins of Mint Condition. We are also on Instagram @secretoriginsmc.



:13 James introduces the episode as our Thanksgiving special and starts a discussion about what Thanksgiving means to each of us, our favorite and least favorite foods, and how we have celebrated it through our lives.

12:15 We launch into sharing the responses to the Facebook post about why people were thankful for Mint Condition. First up is Arco Esposito: we read his post and start a discussion about what we remember about our time with Arco at the store and beyond.

18:00 Next post we read is from Allie Bernhard Graham, who wrote a very touching post about her memories of the store and how the podcast has helped her connect with her kids.

21:20 We read Andy Shaffer’s post and reminisce about when he would come to the story and

the conversations we used to have together.

24:05 Next, we read the comments from Steve Perel and we talk about some of the Mint memories of him. In addition to expanding upon what Steve mentions in his post about how Mint was like “Cheers” - it was a place where you could belong. We also talk about how the area and businesses around Mint became its own little neighborhood.

29:30 We read the very touching post from Rich Kranjac as he mentions the Golden, Silver, and bronze ages of comics and draws parallels between them and the three different eras of Mint. We talk about Mint memories with Rich Kranjac, and Chris mentions it was always an event when he got to see Rich at the store, calling him a sort of Grey Ghost (which, if you've watched Batman: The Animated Series, you'd know is a massive compliment!)

36:12 After botching his name a few times, James reads Keith Tarnowski’s post about Keith's time

being and working at Mint.

38:05 James reads the beautiful post from Richie Garofalo. This leads us to talking about Richie: what a great and generous person he is, and how his energy helped make the Mint community what it was and still is all these years later.

45:45 We take a break from the Thanksgiving fun for Joe to talk about the Mint Condition commercial that was recently posted on the Facebook group.

49:35 We start talking about why we are thankful for Mint and what we are thankful for in general. Joe starts us off with a very heartfelt thanks to the Mint store, the Mint community, and his brother John who helped him live a lifelong dream.

56:36 Chris starts talking about why he is grateful for Mint, how Mint was a place you could be yourself, be part of a community without judgement, and a place that allowed him to grow into the person he has become.

1:05:16 James lists the reasons why he is thankful for Mint (spoiler alert: there are a lot of reasons); most importantly, his lifelong friendships, the fact that it was integral to the path that led him to the life that he has, and how grateful and thankful he is for Chris and Joe for being a part of the podcast. He shares how recording and sharing this podcast has really helped him get through some recent difficult times. This leads Chris and Joe to talk about why they enjoy recording the podcast.