From family feuds to terrible traffic to sixteen dinner guests with varied dietary restrictions, we’re hearing stories from this uniquely American holiday: how we gather, why we gather, and what makes this day so linked to tradition. Also, we'll look at the debate over how Black Friday has crept into Thanksgiving Thursday.
GUESTS:
- Emelia Attridge – staff writer with the Hippo Press and author of recent “Make Ahead Thanksgiving” article, with tips on how to spend less time in the kitchen on Turkey Day.
- Gerri King – social psychologist, former family therapist, and author
- Howard Mansfield – historian and author, his most recent book is Dwelling in Possibility: Searching for the Soul of Shelter.
LINKS:
- Tips for a 'Make-Ahead Thanksgiving' in this month's Hippo
- World trends to be thankful for: "Bad economic news gets more coverage than good news. Negative experiences affect people more, and for longer, than positive ones. So it's natural for things like Russia's incursion into Ukraine or the rise of ISIS or the Ebola outbreak to weigh on us more than, say, the fact that extreme poverty has fallen by half since 1990, or that life expectancy is increasing, especially in poor countries. But for Thanksgiving it's worth paying some attention to the latter factors. The world is getting much, much better on a whole variety of dimensions. Here are just a few."
