Ruffling feathers new traditions emerge

Author: H.Kay Merriman

Going home, spending time with the family, eating a large meal that has been prepared all day - Thanksgiving is seemingly straightforward, traditional. Yet, after coming to school, many Middlebury students are forced to alter their Thanksgiving traditions to fit either their new location or their new lifestyle.

"This was my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian, and my first away from home. Very strange," said Danielle Kruse '11.

Kruse had always celebrated what she described as a "traditional Midwest Thanksgiving" complete with "turkey, riced potatoes, onion casserole, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, stuffing, jello molded into strange shapes, cranberries and four kinds of pie" at her grandmother's house in central Wisconsin. In an attempt to forgo the expense and the excessive time required of flying home, Kruse traveled to her friend's aunt's house in Lincoln, Mass this year.

"Thanksgiving plus the ocean equals strange for a Midwest girl," she said.

Not only did she find her surroundings different, but Kruse discovered that a Massachusetts family on Thanksgiving does not offer the ever-convenient vegetarian option that she was used to finding in Atwater.

"As a new vegetarian, it was really weird to realize that I couldn't eat the turkey," said Kruse. " Or the stuffing. Or put gravy on my mashed potatoes. So I basically had vegetables and pie for Thanksgiving. And no casseroles - apparently that's a Midwest thing."

This Thanksgiving, I also found myself out of the Midwest and next to an ocean. I traveled to my grandparents' home in Naples, Fla. Growing up in Canton, Ohio, the proud home of the Professional Football Hall of Fame, I have always associated Thanksgiving not with turkey, but with pigskin. Not pork or ham, but football. In years past, we bundled up and played good ol' fashioned American football in our backyard while we waited for the turkey to roast and the pies to bake. This year, however, the football and the family were the only aspects of the tradition that remained constant. Instead of running plays on the frozen, slightly snow-covered ground, we were diving and tackling our extended family in the sand without giving a second thought as to whom should be inside cooking because we were going out to eat.

While my family brought football to a foreign location for Thanksgiving, Nicole Conti '09 took her turkey abroad. Currently studying in Italy, Conti, who cites Thanksgiving as her favorite holiday, could not imagine Thursday without turkey. She and her housemate prepared a Thanksgiving feast for her host family complete with a 10 pound turkey. Conti described her host-mother's initial skepticism and ultimate satisfaction

"I had to make stuffing from scratch since it doesn't exist here," said Conti. "Most Americans get predried, precut, preseasoned bread cubes. My host mother wasn't the least bit convinced that the American girl could cook, but when it came out alright, she told me I would be a good wife and I am ready to get married."

And although she was far away, Conti could not forgo spending a little time with her family on the holiday.

"I then talked to my happily dysfunctional extended family over Skype and they all yelled at me at once, each one of them telling me I sounded like I had sucked in helium or was a chipmunk because my aunt's microphone was broken," Conti said.

What holiday would be complete without a little family bickering?

Dale Freundlich '10 sees the gathering of people as the key aspect of Thanksgiving. She has celebrated the last three Thanksgivings in three very different locations - Seattle, Wash.; Hastings, N.Y.; and Newtown, Penn.

"It's interesting to see how similar all Thanksgiving are in that it's just friends and family getting together," she said.

So, whether they were on the beach or across the world, eating turkey or tofu, bickering with family members or simply tackling them, this Thanksgiving, Mddlebury students upheld the tradition of treating whomever they were with like family.