The Year of an Improv Thanksgiving
How to "host" Thanksgiving this year.
I’ve been working on an essay about how to navigate Thanksgiving for weeks. As Covid numbers rose and governors started issuing travel and gathering restrictions, I noticed people swinging between rebellion and rejection, between gritting our teeth and sitting it out. I believe there’s a third way. What if we were to approach Thanksgiving this year with what the legendary improv teacher Keith Johnstone calls "the imaginative response?"
Yesterday, the essay went live in the New York Times. In it, I write:
This is the year for an improv Thanksgiving.
Holidays are hand-me-down tools that we mistakenly think of as precious art, created by our ancestors to do something — to plant seeds, to settle debts, to resolve conflicts and to heal grievances. Many such collective events fade away. The ones that stick around often suffer a strange fate: They are placed on a pedestal and turned into masterpieces that must be preserved, never touched.
And furthermore:
All rituals begin as improv, and the lucky ones suffer the curse of becoming scripts. This year, the scripts aren’t going to work for many people. So we should treat these times as “an offer,” and ask ourselves how we would construct these celebrations if we were starting from scratch.
You can read the full essay here. I hope it helps, and if you like it, please share it with your loved ones far and wide.
However you mark your holidays this year, I wish for you warm, imaginative, connected moments with your people. I hope you laugh-snort. I also hope you have a good cry, should you need one. And most of all, I hope you find safe ways to make it relevant, meaningful and yours.
Inspirations
How to carry on a family recipe, in your own way
I chatted with Noor Wazwaz about carrying on a family recipe in your own way and how we can make meaning through food, not just around it.
Staying Close, Even When Distant with Sam Sanders and more
I recently sat down with Francis Lam to discuss “staying close” and how we can still create meaning together through the holidays.
22 Ways to Make Thanksgiving Into Your Own Weird, Perfect Holiday
Amy Rose Spiegel is figuring out how to spend the day “outside of my family's framework,” and how you can too. This may involve outfit challenges, paying someone’s delinquent water bill, and if ordering in, a 100% tip and to-go plate for your delivery person.
This is the Year to Rethink Thanksgiving
Sean Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux, says: “I reject that false 'pilgrims and Indians' narrative, but I do look at Thanksgiving as a day to appreciate what we have right in front of us, whatever that is." It’s an incredibly thoughtful interview with Julie Kendrick on how to change the narrative without canceling the holiday altogether.
How to Have a Fully Remote Family Thanksgiving
Full of specific, practical, creative advice, J.D. Biersdorfer covers everything from digitally sharing old family recipes to “watch party” apps to virtual card games. It’s a great piece to send to skeptical family members who feel overwhelmed by the technology of it all.
