I suspect i’m not the only one who has very mixed feelings about Thanksgiving. I grew up in a very rich, very white suburb of NYC and even though it was relatively progressive, I was still fed a heaping mound of whitewashed lies about how great Thanksgiving was for everyone involved. Even in middle and high school when teachers got “real” with us about american history, it was still hopelessly sanitized with the myth that there was some magnanimous reconciliation between colonizers and the indiegous population following a period of forced relocation and genocide.
I had a pretty fairy tale upbringing, and part and parcel to that was an elaborate, Martha Stewart-aspirational Thanksgiving filled with warmth, family, and great food. I am sustained and fortified by the memories of those days. It’s challenging to reconcile these two very different constructions of the holiday.
The mechanics of reconciling a festival of genocide with a festival of gratitude are far too complex and heavy for this silly little narcissistic newsletter, but I will say one thing: Reparations. I would urge everyone reading this to consider donating something to indigenous causes this Thanksgiving. This piece from The Cut has some great suggestions, as well as this listing here. Earlier this year, Restaurant Workers' Community Foundation’s Racial Justice Fund granted to I-Collective, which is an autonomous collective of indigeous chefs that promotes food sovereignty. If money isn’t possible, you can do things like find out what Indigenous land you’re on, follow Indigenous people, or read up on how to decolonize Thanksgiving. Or, you could even reject the idea of Thanksgiving altogether.
As you’ll see below I had a few opportunities to benefit by creating Thanksgiving content, the least I can do is pay it back to those who have been harmed.
Drinks and Stuff:
I think this might be my favorite installment in the Drink What You Want video series to date. It’s the first one we shot in the studio, which is a totally different vibe from shooting at home, because there is more of an audience behind the camera to play off of, and I think that’s pretty apparent. The at-home videos have more personality from a visual perspective, but I feel like I was way sassier in the studio. You can watch it HERE and check out the full recipe HERE.
This video is also great because I netted a new nemesis: Annette. The comments got deleted but I screengrabbed them for posterity.
Every time I put on lipstick now I think of miserable little Annette. Spite sustains me.
(And if you missed any of my prior videos, here’s a handy playlist of all of them so you can catch up instead of spending time with people. )
What to drink for every hour of Thanksgiving Day
Next up, I wrote an hour-by-hour drink guide to Thanksgiving which I am particularly proud of because I managed to make it a 50-50 split between alcohol-based and alcohol-free drinks. Read it here, while there’s still time to prepare.
…and listen to this!
I joined the Genius Recipe Tapes podcast to talk about last-minute Thanksgiving prep. Listen HERE.
I interview drag stars on a monthly basis now
Thanks for reading. Forward this to someone you think will like me.
Love,
-JdB
