Thanksgiving jazz

This year we did not have our customary AmCon 101, day-before-break, discussion of Thanksgiving.    That topic allows us to tie together lots of themes from the semester: reading images such as paintings and cartoons of the "First Thanksgiving," the role of mythos and history in national identity, the importance of social location in memory, etc.   We read about Plymouth Plantation and mid-20th century Native American protests.  We talk about presidental declarations and the development of food practices.  I missed the conversation.  Last Sunday's Mpls StarTrib ran a feature about Thanksgiving illustrated by Rockwell's poster, "Freedom From Want."  We could have talked about that as well.

then there is the day after

As I've been planning for the dinner at our house tomorrow, I've also been thinking about how another American cultural practice might be a fine metaphor for the meal: jazz.  There are certain usual, not quite mandatory, elements to this meal that function almost like the chord chart.  Knowing that there will be turkey, stuffing/dressing, potatoes, bread, pie, etc. the cook's culinary imagination is set free to consider how to perform the meal this year.  The turkey could be brined in green tea, or deep fat fried, or stuffed with something Italian, or coated in mayonnaise (I kid you not). What variations of cranberry sauce is always a compelling opportunity for me.  This year there are three sorts: a pesto with lots of garlic, chutney with both fresh and dried pears (the later serendipitously supplied by guests last evening), and a sweeter one with red wine and spices!  To shift the metaphor a bit, at least at our house, there are also old standards that won't be riffed upon: the bread dressing my husband's family loves and quarts of gravy for mashed potatoes.
  
Perhaps the brilliance and delight of Thanksgiving is not only that it gives us a channel to express gratitude, or that it is is vaguely religious in a capacious rather than sectarian way, or that it has not been moved to Monday, but that it affords Americans a salutary, creative opportunity to take comfort in the familiar and shared while also engaging in individual innovation.