by Ryan Velásquez

In an age of radically changing pop-culture phenomena, technological breakthroughs, and economic downturns, I find it’s becoming increasingly difficult to rely on anything staying constant from year to year. By next November, my top-of-the-line iPhone will be antiquated, I won’t know any of the hot, new musical artists winning MTV Video Music Awards, and the entire first-world economy might have collapsed. Thanksgiving, of all things, has emerged as one of the last vestiges of traditions I can count on in the modern world. …

Long before psychologists started linking gratitude to improved mood and health, we’ve known that being thankful was good for us. Perhaps science will even find that feasting to the point of bloat, at least on occasion, is likewise beneficial. In that spirit—armed with the mindset that you can’t serve up too much of anything on Thanksgiving—we browbeat every member of Team Zócalo (successfully, about half the time) to offer up memories, reflections, or provocations for readers during this most American of holidays. …