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 aren’t many downsides to America’s 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 technician’s needle twice a week at $50 a shot, he scrapes together enough to pay his $360 rent.
“Yet donating plasma takes a toll on Screven’s body, leaving him drowsy and weak. And even with the extra income, he says he sometimes can’t 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. ‘It’s kind of messed up. If I were paid a fair wage, I wouldn’t 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 NYC’s three-Michelin-starred Per Se—showcases the local harvest with appetizers like Native littleneck clams, Matunuck oysters and chilled white shrimp, plus herb roasted Helger’s Farm turkey with sage gravy and cranberry sauce, and a…