Thanksgiving Offerings

A YouTube show, one good recipe, and a shameless plug offered with sincerity

Yes its the day before but, for various reasons, we are Thanksgiving tonight because is there ever a bad day to eat stuffing and pie and, okay, turkey?

With the kids off running errands (“Get salt! And a potato masher!”) I am being kept company by a YouTube show I’d never heard of until my son (not bio; long story) told me about it over coffee this morning. Like politics, bio dives, maps? Then check out Johnny Harris, the 25-ish-minute episodes are breezy and smart; picking one at random here.

Speaking of breezy and smart, I am also really liking Mark Halperin’s Wide World of News, which streams on the 2Way platform. I mentioned it in the last post (“Media Flame Out”). As I wrote for Reason on Monday, of the show’s first live event:

People may have started at different spots on the political field, but they had migrated here, to a room that, often to participants' surprise, skewed bigly for Trump in a city that went 68 percent for Harris.

"Raise your hand if you voted for Donald Trump in the election," asked Halperin. More than half the room put up their hands. "Incredible. Now raise your hand if you think there are people in the room who voted for Donald Trump but didn't raise their hands."

The laughter was reflexive, like something people had been holding in for years. Were they allowed to laugh now, after what had been several bruising election cycles and sometimes a shitshow? There was a sense they could, that they were among friends, that they could take a breather. It was about this time I started to see the room—and the three hosts in particular—like the Revolutionary War soldiers in the Spirit of '76 painting: battered but, with fife and drum, carrying the message forward.

What is that message? One of the best parts of the show is, the message is not pre-decided, viewers (like you!) ask questions and we have a conversation. I’ve been appearing occasionally on the show, last night for the first time as a featured guest, and every time I go on I get texts from people saying they’re watching, including last night from a super-bright friend and a big podcaster himself, saying “Halperin’s show is a growing cult phenomenon among smart people” and that “the conversation, mediated to be respectful, is happening nowhere else.” I really think you might like it!

It’s 2:30pm and I’ve been cooking for a few hours. Not much left to do but get the turkey in the oven. For those who are thinking, dang, I really wish I had a good stuffing recipe, I offer mine below. Sending love to all; hit me up with your best recipes in the comments xx