Thanksgiving is a special day. Your family members get together in the same space for more than three hours without killing one another. You eat turkey. Everyone is culturally obligated to sit down and watch Macy's Campiest Event in American History. Then there's a dog show you can watch while you're avoiding football.
All of this is near and dear to my heart because I live-tweeted my family's Thanksgiving last year, which is arguably both the reason why I'm friends with Kelsey and why I have this job right now.
And thanks to UNC, people who can't go home to live-tweet about their families can have a Thanksgiving here in Chapel Hill. If you're doing that, please document it on social media. I'm looking for someone to replace me next year.
— Danny
QUICK HITS
- The UNC-system $4.6 billion endowment to invest in alternative energy has seen a 9.3 percent rate of return on investment.
- Even after a (probably otherwise respectable) person broke her nose, Jamie Cherry managed to lead the UNC women's basketball team to finish 3-0 in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge.
- North Carolina voters are looking to candidates with new ideas rather than politicians with experience, according to a recent poll from High Point University.
IN LGBT NEWS
On Friday, members of the UNC community honored the lives of transgender people who died in the past year. The event was part of Transgender Day of Remembrance, and participants placed flowers to honor trans people who have been killed or have committed suicide. They also spoke about their experiences of navigating gender and the importance of allies at UNC.
IN LITERALLY 2015
A UNC "White Student Union" popped up on Facebook this weekend. The group said it hopes to advocate for the concerns and values of European-American students. So say what you will about them; UNC is irrefutably already a place where white people are valued, and the group has only been around since Saturday. Truly impressive!
IN FESTIVITY
UNC offers Tar Heel Thanksgiving for students who can't go home to celebrate. Because everyone deserves the chance to sit down at a table and make forced small talk about the new ways you're wasting your life at college. Even if it's with *real* strangers and not extended family who more or less qualify as strangers.
IN DEVASTATING THREATS
The owner of Shooters Saloon apologized for ranting on Facebook and threatening to ban UNC students. I can't say the threat's unwarranted — the anecdote I have from my first and only trip to Shooters is among the select few I will never ever share in this newsletter.
IN THE BLOGS
A staff writer shares her ode to Franklin Street and all of its walkable glory. Also the glory of its Tex-Mex, burger joints and few places that have survived plagues of business closings. She has many great points — namely that we need a Cookout.
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