America’s Thanksgivings – World Socialist Web Site

 

America’s Thanksgivings

22 November 2018

In an effort to give a livelier and more in-depth picture of modern life, American novelists such as John Dos Passos—The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932) and The Big Money (1936)—introduced “newsreel” sections including headlines, advertisements and popular songs. We hope the following selections will provide some sense of American reality on Thanksgiving Day 2018.

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There arent many downsides to Americas humming economy. (Wall Street Journal)

On his days off from his $7.50-an-hour job as a cook at the Chicken Hut restaurant in Riverdale, Ga. [Georgia] , Laugudria Screven Jr., 23, travels more than 25 miles across Atlanta to sell plasma. By offering up his arm to a technicians needle twice a week at $50 a shot, he scrapes together enough to pay his $360 rent.

Yet donating plasma takes a toll on Screvens body, leaving him drowsy and weak. And even with the extra income, he says he sometimes cant afford to eat more than once a day. Often he comes home to a refrigerator that contains little more than mustard, ketchup and peanut butter.

“‘I sell my blood to pay my bills, he said, rubbing his arm as he waited for a bus in East Point, Ga. Its kind of messed up. If I were paid a fair wage, I wouldnt have to go through this.’” (Los Angeles Times)

Set on 40 acres in Newport, Rhode Island, Castle Hill Inn, a Relais & Châteaux property, provides guests with a classic New England Thanksgiving. Chef Lou Rossi—an alum of NYCs three-Michelin-starred Per Se—showcases the local harvest with appetizers like Native littleneck clams, Matunuck oysters and chilled white shrimp, plus herb roasted Helgers Farm turkey with sage gravy and cranberry sauce, and a…

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