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On Food, Friends, and Being Thankful

Friendsgiving is the best holiday.

Autumn Davis

Nov 05, 2016

Berkeley, California

greatist.com

Happy early Thanksgiving!

I guess that I should probably talk about watching the parade and eating and being thankful for all the holiday clichés, but I'm not going to do that right away. For me, this year is a little different. I'm not going home for Thanksgiving. And I'm also not going home with any of my friends. Essentially, I'm gonna be on my own, but not really. This year, I'm celebrating 'Friendsgiving' -- the perfect combination of friends, food, and being thankful.

Thanksgiving at my house is probably one of my favorite things in the world. We get 2 turkeys, and my dad makes one early in the morning so that we can have turkey sandwiches while we all watch the parade and the football games. The second, of course, is the quintessential dinner turkey that gets drowned in gravy, baked macaroni, and mashed potatoes. But, before all the feasting, everyone goes around and says what they're thankful for. I could say I'm thankful for a lot of things: My entire family, being able to go to school here in California, the fact that dogs exist, One Direction, Starbucks, eyeliner... but rarely do I ever get to talk about how thankful I am to be myself. To feel real, to have everything I say and do be truly genuine. To not have to live in fear. Because I know that is not a luxury most people like me face. To be a queer WOC and to be out and have an amazing support system is not a luxury everyone gets. I'm thankful that I talk entirely too much, but have people around who choose to put up with it, and still decide they like me. I'm thankful for that time in 7th grade when I hit rock bottom, and that time in 8th grade when I was emo (spoiler: I'm still emo). And now, I'm thankful to be kind of able to adult without crying or dying. Mostly without dying.

I'm thankful that I somehow managed to make it through all the madness I've encountered with not so much as a few scratches, but a lot of scars along the way. I'm thankful for a lot of things. And I'm most thankful to be holding a Friendsgiving dinner with my second family -- my boyfriend and all my college friends. Because no matter where you are, Thanksgiving should be about spending it with people who make you happy and being thankful that you exist in each other's lives.

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On Food, Friends, and Being Thankful

Friendsgiving is the best holiday.

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No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

What is the current minimum wage at the federal level?

What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

Told through Parks & Recreation GIFs

Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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