Your Listening Guide to Thanksgiving

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Happy Thanksgiving from The Takeaway! As Americans sit elbow-to-elbow with family and friends and pile their plates high with turkey and stuffing, we’re taking a moment to talk about listening.

We’re here to help you get past the undercooked conversations and overheated arguments that can sometimes come with the holidays. As our guests will tell you, sometimes being a really good listener is the key to a great Thanksgiving. Today, you’ll hear from:

• Joshua Johnson, the host of KQED’s So Well Spoken, a show featuring candid conversations about race and identity. He joins us from San Francisco to discuss our changing Thanksgiving tables, and how to deal with that family member who tends to say the worst things.

• About 50 years ago, folk singer Arlo Guthrie had a Thanksgiving dinner that turned into a fiasco, and eventually led to the song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre.” Our friend John Schaefer once sat down with Guthrie to talk about that famous song, and to find out how much of it is true. Schaefer is the host of WNYC’s Soundcheck.

• Are you listening to your stomach? Though food is essential to Thanksgiving, it can also be stressful, especially when it comes to what to make, how much to make, and how to prepare it. Don’t worry—we have help: Dan Pashman, host of WNYC’s Sporkful podcast.

• What about the conversation itself? Are we really taking in everything that everyone around us is saying? Mary Harris, the host of the WNYC podcast Only Human, has been exploring listening in all its iterations. She joins us today with listening tips to bring to our Thanksgiving table.

• We close out the hour with Henry Alfred, the author of “Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That? A Modern Guide to Manners.” He shares tips on listening with a sense of etiquette, particularly when what’s being heard isn’t so pleasant.