LINKS - November 22nd, 2023
Welcome to LINKS — my attempt to provide Rhapsody readers with five interesting stories that tell us something about what it means to be human. LINKS is published every Wednesday. Have a link you want to share? Drop it in the comments.
How Long Do Thanksgiving Leftovers Last?
By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, Scientific American
““I like to go by the USDA’s guidelines, but I am not a stickler to it,’ says Bryan Quoc Le, a food scientist and a faculty research fellow at Pacific Lutheran University and author of 150 Food Science Questions Answered. ‘Personally, I sometimes push [refrigerated leftovers] to four or five days, depending on the type of food.’”
I Never Said Thanks for the Meal. Sister Agnes Taught Me How.
By Rosie Schaap, The New York Times
“No matter how much Saul Alinsky I read, how many City Council hearings I sat in on and policy briefs I studied, I still felt out of my depth.”
“Sister Agnes, who led the church’s social service ministry, had invited me to St. Cecilia’s. Direct, soft-spoken Sister Agnes — with a little lilt of her native Ireland in her voice — put me at ease.
Why the Thanksgiving myth persists, according to science
“Our brains are wired for such stories, psychologists discovered much later. People rely on clear narratives to avoid information overload, anthropologist James Wertsch and psychologist Olivia Jäggi, both of Washington University, reported in 2022. Our story-minded brains turn us into ‘cognitive misers,’ they wrote in Progress in Brain Research. The pared-down nature of stories, in other words, is much easier for us to remember than the complex, often ugly, arcs of history.”
What Is the History of These 6 Thanksgiving Foods?
By Elizabeth Gamillo, Discover Magazine
“In the letter written on December 11, 1621, he describes the first successful harvest of corn and barley by the Puritans with aid from the local Wampanoag tribe. To celebrate the occasion, the settlers gathered waterfowl like ducks and geese, and venison. The letter states that Massasoit Ousamequin, the Wampanoag leader, gifted deer to the governor, per Julie Lesnick, an anthropologist at Wayne State University, according to The Conversation.”
Thanksgiving 2023
By History.com Editors, History.com
“For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. But the holiday is not without controversy. Many Americans—including people of Native American ancestry—believe Thanksgiving celebrations mask the true history of oppression and bloodshed that underlies the relationship between European settlers and Native Americans.”
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Joe!
Thank you for your fascinating newsletter and the efforts you put into it!