Norman Rockwell’s iconic vision of Thanksgiving. Was yours like this in the Sixties?

I don’t remember ever not looking forward to Thanksgiving. Especially while a student at BC.

If it wasn’t the first holiday of the fall semester, it was the first multi-day one, giving us a four-day break from classes. After nine weeks or so of school, didn’t we like that!

Resident students, at least most of them, went home for the holidays, and commuters slept in and kicked back. Freshman year, I invited my roommate, who was from San Francisco, to spend the holiday at my family’s home.

I remember using the break to catch up with old friends from high school, visit some of the high school hangouts. While we were now college students, we weren’t by much and the familiar faces and places were comforting to see.

There’s a lot of talk now about family dynamics at Thanksgiving. What’s the protocol for discussion (perhaps more often argument) about the issues of the day? Should everyone shut up? Avoid politics and cultural issues? Listen to the “old folks” talk about the “old days” or just stick in your earbuds and go on social media?

At least later in our time at BC, e.g., 1966, 1967, I remember things becoming somewhat tense at the Thanksgiving table. It was mostly about Vietnam and ancillary issues, like the draft, draft-dodgers, etc., but also politicians like George Wallace and LBJ. My dad and I sometimes got to the point where my mother and sister would get up and leave us.

Once again, what seems new and distinctive has forerunners.

We wish all our classmates and their families safe travel and a wonderful Thanksgiving.