Happy Thursday!

Here we are, on Thanksgiving Day, perhaps that most 'merican of all holidays, with a history that pre-dates even Independence Day. We could (and should) problematize this holiday, rooted as it is in the first steps of European imperialism on the North American continent; all human eneadvor is problematic, isn't it?

The History Channel has a new documentary on the Mayflower colonists. A Christian Science Monitor article explains how all the modern Thanksgiving traditions stem from just two passages in the records of those early English religious separatists from almost 400 years ago.

We could also look at the idea that thanks-giving is a universal ritual, and that the North American tradition is just an extesnsion of the ancient harvest festival ritual. There's a lot of truth to this view, but modern attempts in the U.S. of different thanksgiving traditions don't ever have the horsepower of "Turkey Day."

Or we could get all hip and cynical about it, like these guys.

Me, I'm just going to spend the day being thankful for all the privilege and good fortune I was lucky enough to be born into and enjoying the company of all those folks who make my life special.

And, I'm going to eat Pumcakes.

PS: I apparently got the traditional Thanksgiving nap out of the way last night; I slept through most of the Madonna concert that Otis was watching on TV. That's why there was no post yesterday.