Turkey, Traditions & Telling Stories That Stick 🦃📊

Hey there, Benchies!

Thanksgiving is here, and whether you’re spending it debating stuffing, streaming the parade or perfecting your turkey, stories are doing what they do best — helping us make sense of shared traditions.

This week, we dig into the data behind the centerpiece meal, round up interactive takes on holiday culture, and revisit a classic Storybench favorite that proves even patriotic performances can be quantified. 

Grab a plate, pull up a chair and dive in.

Here is our featured content this week:

🦃📊Thanksgiving Turkey: Finding the Perfect Recipe

This week Storybench dives into what actually makes a “perfect” Thanksgiving turkey, breaking down common cooking methods, temperatures and timing behind popular recipes. The piece compares approaches—from dry brining to roasting techniques—to show how small changes can affect flavor, moisture and cooking consistency. It’s a data-informed guide for home cooks still debating how to get the centerpiece right.

Cool Stuff Corner: What are we reading?

🍽️🔥 61 Hot takes to fight about at Thanksgiving

In this interactive feature, The New York Times rounds up strong opinions on Thanksgiving food traditions—from stuffing debates to whether turkey deserves its starring role. Readers can click through prompts and reactions that reflect how personal, polarizing and deeply held holiday food preferences can be.

🎄🖼️ 5 things to do this weekend, including Thanksgiving weekend at the ICA and 'The Nutcracker'

WBUR shares a curated guide to Thanksgiving weekend events across Greater Boston, including museum exhibitions, seasonal performances and family-friendly outings. The roundup highlights ways residents can spend time off beyond the dinner table, from art shows at the ICA to holiday staples like The Nutcracker.

 🎈🗽 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2025 Brings Festive Balloons, Bands and Holiday Cheer

The 99th annual parade took over Manhattan on Thanksgiving morning, with massive balloons, floats, marching bands and festive performances winding their way from the Upper West Side to Herald Square. 

Viewers across the country tuned in — via broadcast and streaming — to watch the spectacle of balloon giants, costumed characters and musical acts usher in the holiday season. The event once again underscored how deeply the parade remains woven into America’s Thanksgiving traditions.

From the Vault 🏛️

🎤🎶 How The Pudding analyzed the “diva-ness” of national anthem performances 

In an interactive project, The Pudding analyzed 138 renditions of the U.S. national anthem to measure how much singers deviate from the standard melody — coining a “Diva Score” to capture vocal flair and creative license.

By breaking each performance into phrases and isolating vocals from musical backing, the project lets users listen phrase by phrase, revealing which performances embraced tradition and which soared into diva territory.

That's all we've got for this week! Thanks for reading, and let us know if there's anything you'd like to see in these newsletters or in our coverage at [email protected].

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