Remembering The Beginning

It Started on Thanksgiving

It's been a year since Anthem Opinions began publishing, and it all started with an article written on Thanksgiving Day, 2012.

Since that time, we now reach 400+ subscribers, and hope we're accomplishing our mission...ENTERTAINING you.

What began as a casual conversation between two fraternity brothers who hadn't seen each other in 40 years, asking ourselves if it were possible to enhance the enjoyment of a senior community...

...over the last 12 months we have made every effort to be a positive force in our Sun City Anthem community by expanding the dimensions of a senior lifestyle...

...and in making every attempt to fulfill that commitment, we've had the pleasure of adding valued individuals like Carol Van Camp, Forrest Fetherolf, and Norm Johnson, authoring our Information Pages, "The Garden Wizard", "Mr. Fix-It's World of Home Improvement", and "What's Up in Weekend Entertainment".

What a wonderful group of individuals who, without any motive other than

"making others happy", to be associated with day in and day out !

I can't forget others; namely Rana Goodman of Anthem Today, and the man in her life, Dan Roberts, publisher of The Vegas Voice, who have expanded our horizons even further in allowing me to write a monthly column in that newspaper entitled "What's Up !?!", introducing Anthem Opinions to their readers across the Las Vegas valley, in addition to naming me their  Vegas Voice Radio Talk Show Host, each Saturday morning on KLAV radio; and to that, also allowing Rana and I to be a part of the new "An Afternoon Affair" shows at Red Rock and Sunset Station.

There's my friend, Dennis Bono and his right-hand man, Mike McHugh, who have been so gracious in introducing me to many local entertainers in the past year, who now I call "friend".

So we're tried...and continue to try each and every day, to make this publication better and better !

And if we have, tell your friends...in order that they too can subscribe to Anthem Opinions...and become our friends as well.

So...in honor of our 1st anniversary, and to a special holiday...

I'm reprinting our first article, an article that many subsequent subscribers may not have read.

On behalf of my pal and co-owner of Anthem Opinions, Allen "Techie" Weintraub...

We wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving...and...a sincere thanks for making Anthem Opinions a publication that we believe, has been an asset to Sun City Anthem and to the Las Vegas valley.

Dick Arendt

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WHY TURKEY on THANKSGIVING ???

This Thursday, our nation will be sitting down with family to celebrate the American tradition of Thanksgiving.

We've all seen the portraits of the Pilgrims and the Indians coming together one day to celebrate a joint feast, but there is one question that few can answer.

Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

Actually, it's rather "basic, Watson," as Sherlock Holmes would often say.

It was cheap !

It goes back to the late 19th century.  You see, going to a butcher to get a beef brisket wasn't readily available and people looked at cows as being more valuable alive than dead.  Bessie could graze and provide milk for the family every day, but be steak only once.

So, how about chicken?  Way back when, they felt the same about the chicken as they did the cow.  A live chicken can lay an egg, but a dead one, well, can't !  Besides roosters weren't too tasty,  and their purpose was to strut the barnyard, looking for objects of their affection...to make more chickens.

Geese were considered, but they were more expensive than chicken to raise, and if you looked closely, not much available for "leftovers."

Venison was considered as a option, but not many people were into hunting for their dinners in Manhattan or in downtown Chicago.

Then here is pork or ham, "the other white meat."  Years ago pork wasn't considered fit for human consumption; and besides, the Jewish population wasn't too cool on choosing that option either.

So...one fine day, this big fat bird that can't fly came "a walkin" past one of those farmer's homes. There he was; no one had to feed it, and it was easy to kill because it made a big target for those rifles.

These creatures would spend about seven months eating insects and worms on the farm to keep themselves alive, and yet would grow upwards of 10 pounds or more.

So...by simple deduction, this became the choice of the American dinner table for the Thanksgiving holiday.

In 1863, while pondering the fate of the Union, President Lincoln, needing something to raise the spirit of the country during the Civil War, looked out the window of the White House one afternoon, and saw this bird walk by his door, strutting its feathers for all to see. 

He recalled the early history of the Republic when Benjamin Franklin first suggested that the TURKEY be the national bird, was joyful that another bird was chosen for the honor, and so, because he could never remember having a crave for an eagle sandwich, he came to the conclusion that Benjamin Franklin's original suggestion would better serve the nation in it's stomach, rather than on the back of a coin. 

And so (with the help of some imagination), that is why we eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day

.Happiest of holidays to all of you.