Thoughts on Thanksgivng

Thanksgiving was earlier than usual this year.  I hope you enjoyed your break and time with family and friends.  Because we did not get a chance to meet beforehand, we'll take some time today to think about this American Holiday by examining what different people have to say about it.

Go to your blog and start a new post (give it a title that has something to do with Thanksgiving) with  few minutes of writing about what Thanksgiving means to you and why you think it is a holiday.

Next, read one of these editorials and add to your post with a response explaining what this other essay is saying about Thanksgiving

• New York Times
• Washington Times
• Hartford Courant
• Chicago Sun-Times

Then, go to this website and read one of the Presidential proclamations about Thanksgiving and write another part of your post explaining what this proclamation is saying about the holiday and its importance.

• Thanksgiving Proclamations

Finally, compare and contrast the syntax used in these three different views of Thanksgiving.  

Syntax is the "grammatical structures in a piece of writing.  This includes the phrases, the classes, the sentences, and the relationships that exist among them" (Heller).  It is understanding where the author is putting her / his emphasis and how that happens: "By manipulating the sentence structure, writers emphasize key images, the tone, diction, or pace - all of which help the reader understand the writing's larger purpose."

Write a paragraph explaining this comparison / contrast, being sure to explain what each author is emphasizing and how s/he achieves it.