We Gather Together

Thanksgiving has always been a feast day for the gods of paradox. It's an ordeal to travel and yet we do; family reunions can be wildly stressful and yet painful to miss. It was invented by a bunch of Puritans who celebrated freedom by throwing a party, and so bequeathed us a holiday both secular and sacred, with parades and prayers that dare us to reckon with all that has changed, and recognize all that has not.

This is the kind of holiday we need right now, an intrinsically complicated one that comes at the end of a bitter harvest and...

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