Was wild turkey the main meat at the first Thanksgiving (which btw would giving thanks to the Lord God Almighty for preserving their lives in a hostile wilderness)? Penny Colman, author of Thanksgiving: The True Story, says they ate copious amounts of seafood. “The only firsthand report mentions deer and many fowl. The fowl could have been ducks, geese, ruffed grouse, bobwhites, heath hens and passenger pigeons.”

And what about that “first” part? Did the pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving in the New World? “(On) May 29, 1541, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s expedition, to Palo Duro Canyon, celebrated a Thanksgiving Mass to mark finding food and shelter after a harrowing journey,” she said. There was a similar thanksgiving mass conducted Sept. 8, 1565, in St. Augustine, Florida, as I recall. But did the Spanish go on to found this country? I don’t think so.

(Here’s a pretentious Thanksgiving post designed to change our blog personality rating.)

Regardless what you believe about the American Puritans who helped lead the way to making this country the worst narcissistic cesspool of jingoistic bubbas the world has ever known, I think we can all agree that the Puritans of early America were whack-jobs. I quote the truth for you as written by Vernon L. Parrington, A.M., Professor of English in the University of Washington, in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature (which is about a century old now, so read in awe):

No other phase of Anglo-Saxon civilization seems so singularly remote from every-day reality, so little leavened by natural human impulses and promptings. Certain generations of Englishmen, seemingly for no sufficient reason, yielded their intellects to a rigid system of dogmatic theology, and surrendered their freedom to the letter of the Hebrew Scriptures; and in endeavouring to conform their institutions as well as their daily actions to self-imposed authorities, they produced a social order that fills with amazement other generations of Englishmen who have broken with that order. Strange, perverted, scarce intelligible beings those old Puritans seem to us—mere crabbed theologians disputing endlessly over Calvinistic dogma, or chilling the marrow of honest men and women with their tales of hell-fire.

Coincidentally, I read this during a time when I feel a stronger ache of the pain in that leavening of natural impulses, and Parrington appears to know nothing of my struggle.

What would you say if a student told you they were analyzing “episodes of ‘Desperate Housewives’ and listening to Eminem” for a Rhetoric class? Perhaps suggest one of the Great Books.

When I returned home on Thursday, frustrated by the voting behavior of my fellow Americans, I found my daughter watching the John Adams series created by HBO.

I concede my daughter, a mere 12 years old, may not be representative of the typical child of her age. I must also admit it makes me proud to be able to say she chose to watch John Adams rather than turn on some ridiculous cable program. While not all pre-teenagers would choose to watch a series chronicling centuries-old events, she gives me hope.

If my 12 year old can appreciate the lessons found in the history of John Adams and the other Founding Fathers than so can other 12 year olds. Read on . . .

I’ve known for a while that certain people credit Gorbachev with the fall of the Soviet Union, instead of Reagan, so I suppose the sting of that lie has worn off for me. But I was shocked to hear that history textbooks accuse Truman of droping the bomb on Japan in order to thump his chest at the Soviet Union. They call it “atomic diplomancy.” And they say FDR knew Pearl Harbor would be attacked but hushed it up in order to have a reason to go to war. Insanity. These are many more lies are discussed in Larry Schwelkart’s new book, 48 Liberal Lies About American History. Book TV has a video of Mr. Schwelkart’s presentation.

Over the weekend, I heard an NPR interview with financial guru John Bogle about his upcoming book, Enough. I gather the book expounds on the principles in this graduation ceremony speech by the same name. The business of finances takes from society rather than contributes to it, and if no one in the money management professions has a sense of contentment, when any amount of money is enough, then we will have the types of financial crises we’re having today, financiers leeching off industry and service employees to pad their own wallets. Bogle said:

. . . no matter what career you choose, do your best to hold high its traditional professional values, now swiftly eroding, in which serving the client is always the highest priority. And don’t ignore the greater good of your community, your nation, and your world. After William Penn, “we pass through this world but once, so do now any good you can do, and show now any kindness you can show, for we shall not pass this way again.”

Enough appears to discuss the same idea as another book two years called The Number. The Number encouraged readers to decide how much they can live with and be content with it. I’m sure it would agree that the world, in Bogle’s words, “never has enough conscience, nor enough tolerance, idealism, justice, compassion, wisdom, humility, self-sacrifice for the greater good, integrity, courtesy, poetry, laughter, and generosity of substance and spirit. . . the great game of life is not about money; it is about doing your best to build the world anew.”

But can a materialist really be content? Can a consumerist ever have enough? When you define yourself by your affluence, when you seek a type of happiness in shopping, collecting, or displaying your purchases to others, how can any arbitrary limit be enough? Contentment with life must come from outside the markets (Matthew 6:25-24, Matthew 10:29-31).