The word “Thanksgiving” has always left a bad taste in my mouth — and not because of annual struggles with a burnt turkey and rotten cranberries. Making the life-altering decision to become a vegetarian at the age of three had inevitable repercussions. Iron deficiency and weak bones are not what concerns me; I’m pointing my finger at every single classmate who told me I couldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving due to my repulsion of meat. These close-minded individuals ruined the holiday for me every year until I was about 16, which was when I just started telling them I wished the worst ills upon all of them. The ritual of gorging yourself as if you expect to be malnourished for the remainder of the year sickens me. Thanksgiving, to me, has absolutely nothing to do with having a food baby or getting so drunk that you make out with your second cousin. It’s about family and friends, and being able to let them know how grateful you are for them. I’ll be fasting over Thanksgiving weekend to symbolize my contempt towards all those who feast. Thanks a lot, jerks.
— Bernarda Gospic
Autumn is my favourite time of year, with its vibrant leaves, cooler temperatures, fall fashions, and delicious food. There’s pumpkin pie, cider, and turkey, all to be enjoyed during your Thanksgiving meal. However, I also think it’s important to get back to the root of the holiday: giving thanks. Maybe it’s old-fashioned, but I stand by the fact that Thanksgiving is a time when we can take a moment to appreciate all that we’ve been given and all that we take for granted. This weekend will be a few days for us to stop stressing about our crazy, hectic lives as students and to be with family instead. When you think about it, it’s one of the only holidays that has not been completely dominated by capitalists trying to make money through gifts and decorations. Rather, it is a time to be thankful for the good things in our life and, obviously, great food.
— Samantha Preddie
To put it simply, and not at all poetically, the answer is yes, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. It’s for two simple reasons: pumpkin and pie (when put together in that order). It’s not exactly Shakespeare, but it’s enough to make one salivate inappropriately in public. As for society at large, Thanksgiving has become like planking; we don’t care so much about the specifics of how the tradition could have possibly started, but we’re willing to humour those who participate because we might get a meal out of it. You may call kids today a gang of tone-deaf-craft-glue-sniffers for liking a television program about people from New Jersey with learning disabilities infinitely fascinating, but we are plenty grateful when it comes to the things that count, namely, food.
— Tessie Riggs
