In November of 1943, the writer and editor Wolcott Gibbs published a Comment in The New Yorker recounting how the magazine and its editors were holding up during wartime. “The ink in our well is often mud and dust,” he wrote, “and the ersatz paper clips crumble away in our hands.” Yet, all in all, he observed, the staff maintained its resolve to continue the work of publishing—an act that, amid the tumult of the Second World War, constituted in and of itself, as he called it, “a small, impertinent miracle.” In March of this year, nearly eight decades after the publication of Gibbs’s piece, The New Yorker, like so many businesses, schools, and other institutions, temporarily shut its physical doors and embarked on a new chapter, working remotely in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine months after the outbreak began, we, like our readers, find ourselves faced with unprecedented circumstances—and, as we continue to report on the changing lives of millions of Americans, we’ve kept Gibbs’s words in mind. As he once put it, in an earlier era of collective purpose and resolve, we are thoughtfully counting our blessings on this Thanksgiving.
Today, we’re bringing you two new pieces, by Robin Wright and Louis Menand, plus a selection of some of our favorite holiday stories from the archives. In “Wonton Lust,” Calvin Trillin writes about his family’s tradition of dining in Chinatown on Thanksgiving Day. In “Pilgrim’s Progress,” Jane Kramer recalls the many holiday dinners that she has prepared while working as a reporter in Europe. In the poem “Gravy,” Raymond Carver offers gratitude for his good fortune. In “Magical Dinners,” Chang-rae Lee reminisces about his mother’s cooking and his family’s elaborate immigrant meals. In “Talking Turkey,” Bill Buford visits a wild-turkey expert and chronicles the history of turkeys in North America. In “Friendsgiving Will Set You Free,” Bryan Washington examines how friends and family are crafting new ways in which to celebrate the holidays. Finally, Helen Rosner offers the recipe for the perfect cocktail to serve with your Thanksgiving meal. We hope you enjoy these stories and that they serve as an apt reminder of the small, everyday miracles of this holiday season. Consider these pieces our thanks to you. Happy Thanksgiving.
The country has been damaged, but it still has a soul.
A pandemic, compounded by simultaneous political, civil, and environmental crises, is overwhelming human evolution’s greatest innovation.
There is, in fact, so much to be thankful for.
Cooking Thanksgiving dinner abroad.
A Thanksgiving tradition in Chinatown.
Pure gravy. And don’t forget it.
Contrary to popular conception, Thanksgiving is a holiday not of turkey and side dishes and pie but of lubrication.
An immigrant Thanksgiving.
The man who communicates with gobblers.
For some of us, Friendsgiving is as close to Thanksgiving as we’ve conjured for some time.
