A Thanksgiving Meal - Print It!

You can find pretty much everything you need for your Thanksgiving meal by browsing your local newspaper! I can prove it - look!

Most staple items for cooking your meal might come from the general store, but you can also find those luxury foods, such as fruits for pies, there too!


Ah, yes! The turkey! It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a turkey, now would it? It doesn't quite matter how you attain this for your meal.







Whether you go "old-fashioned," and get one on your own...













Or buy it from a store (roaster not included; or turkey not included - depends which store you're going to!).










It should still end up on your table and, ultimately, in everyone's stomachs! Delicious!






You'll be needing something to wash down the glorious feast. Again, there are options, which are, once again, traditional staples. Some guests might prefer something warm (& I, personally, never had a pie that didn't taste great with coffee!); others might desire something cold (though I don't know how many "sweltering" Thanksgiving days Kentucky has seen, who doesn't love Coca-Cola, especially mixed with bourbon whisky!)


Finally, when you've stuffed yourself to the gills and start to feel that "food coma" coming on, perhaps with a bit of discomfort), as I know we all have, especially after Thanksgiving, there's a solution for that too!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Tobacco "Habits" Through History, Part II

As promised, here is the second part of the "Great American Smokeout" celebration; newspaper clippings about societal perspectives on the health effects of tobacco use in Victorian KY! And, as mentioned in "Part I," you can find exceedingly more newspaper clippings about tobacco farming, economic impacts, and other societal impacts by searching KDL newspapers with the keyword "tobacco" (and/or with other associated keywords).

In "Part II," we're covering the same ideas as in "Part I," just the more creative expressions.

Beginning backwards, so to speak, there's always some sort of "folk remedy" or "cure" for ailments, illnesses, and addictions - some more "reliable" than others, perhaps. In the case of this one (published in February 22, 1907 Hickman Courier), one must wonder if the author was even serious at all! I had to read it more than once before I realized this "one dose;" this "laying on of the hands" to resolve cigarette smoking in "one dose" was not "new" at all, but simply a good ol' traditional whooping!

Of course, other solutions are perhaps a bit more serious and, in many cases for the purposes of either persuasion or profit. In a time when cigars and cigarettes were replacing pipes in popularity, this clipping from the November 13, 1907 Springfield Sun ensures that, though seemingly difficult, packing and smoking a pipe is, indeed, an "art form." It even walks the read through the many steps and aspects, specifically arguing against "the minor delights of cigar and cigarette smoking." Quite obviously, the Prince Albert crimp cut tobacco ad (from the June 8, 1916 News-Leader) seeks profit for the company. Another convenience, manufactured and packaged tobacco allowed easier packing of pipes or rolling of cigarettes, rather cutting plug tobacco or from a "twist." It also allowed (if from white burley tobacco) the addition of sweeteners or flavoring.


Still others, whether "experts" or not, sought to express themselves in verse. This included concerns of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, perhaps seeking social purity ("Nicotine." Earlington Bee. 26 May 1902, p. 7); an anonymous poet presenting the "joys" of tobacco use, while sternly warning against the health hazards alike ("To a Twist of the 'Weed.'" Springfield Sun. 26 January 1910, p. 2); and a reprint of N.A. Jennings's take on Kentuckian stereotypical identity - a common literary perspective of the time ("Geographic Morality." Frankfort Weekly News and Roundabout. 25 July 1908, p. 4).


So whether you're a smoker, reformed, or never touched tobacco in your life, this is just a slight taste of Kentucky's tobacco history (at least different societal POVs, via newspaper clippings) to inhale during the Great American Smokeout!