Thanksgiving is upon us!
The season for awkward interactions with your family members, wondering if you have met the love of your life and why you didn’t poke your grandma back on Facebook. (Sorry, Grandma!)
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite seasons because I like to pig out and watch my Detroit Lions play every Thanksgiving — even though we’re not that good.
When I think of Thanksgiving, I think about eating food and telling our favorite stories about family members or funny situations.
For this edition of Around the Horn, I want to jump back to older editions of The Witmarsum to see what they were doing during Thanksgiving.
Starting with the older editions and working our way towards the newer editions, Thanksgiving was not talked about much during the span of The Witmarsum. This is because Fall Break used to take place during Thanksgiving and lasted around a week and a half to two weeks.
Below is a sampling of my favorite Thanksgiving coverage from the last 50 years, arranged in a timeline.
Nov. 22, 1971:
“Our Thanksgiving Prayer.” On the front page of The Wit, there was a Bluffton College Thanksgiving prayer, thanking faculty, staff, and students for making Bluffton as beautiful as it is.
Nov. 20, 1981:
A “What are YOU thankful for?” section appeared where students said what they were thankful for.
Nov. 18, 1983:
Roughly 150 people showed up in the Bren-Dell Lobby for the Bren-Dell Turkey Trot, a dance held from 9:30 p.m. t1:30 a.m. There was an admission fee, and the money raised was given to families in need.
Nov. 30, 2001:
The Witmarsum commemorated Bluffton College President Lee Snyder carving a slice of turkey during the all-campus Thanksgiving dinner.
Nov. 21, 2003:
The Witmarsum asked students, “If you had a pet turkey what would you name it?” Some of the names included “Dinner” by Lucas Vaas, “Linus” by Jacob Boehr and my personal favorite, “Freaky Pete” by Jeff Gingrich.
Nov. 19, 2004:
The Witmarsum asked readers to finish the statement: “Save a turkey, eat a _____.” Some of the answers included “Squirrel” by Carmen Stechschulte, “Flamingo” by Dan Begley and “Beaver” by Brandon King.
Pulling from these past editions of The Witmarsum, I asked some close friends and professors similar questions about Thanksgiving. I will put the best three answers for each question underneath of the question below.
“What are YOU thankful for?”
“I’m thankful for all of my supportive friends for helping me overcome the boundaries of life.” – Evan Burden
“My friends and good health…ya know?” – Christian Zapata
“I’m thankful for my stuffed animal, Skipper, because he doesn’t make fun of me.” – Sarah Heydinger
“If you had a pet turkey, what would you name it?”
“Cluckle.” – Joey Grega
“Diego…and I don’t know why.” – Matt Friesen, assistant professor of sociology
“I would name him Gobbles because gobble, gobble, gobble.” – Patrick Spillman
“Finish this Statement: Save a turkey, eat a _____?”
“Eat more chicken.” – Jeremy Locklear
“Potato” – Dimitri Giakoumas
“One hundred percent fresh, never-frozen beef” – Hunter Fleck
Thanksgiving is full of family traditions and fantastic foods. Whether you name your turkey or not, there are plenty of things to be thankful for!
Please be safe driving if the roads happen to be bad where you’re headed. And whatever you do, don’t forget to poke your grandma back on Facebook.
Hoping your Thanksgiving is plentiful with fantastic memories and stuffed with…well…stuffing. See you Around the Cornucopia!
