Web Reads: What does Thanksgiving taste like in your state?

Beyond the turkey. For those cooking or eating on Thanksgiving Day, The New York Times offers a recipe from each state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico that captures local tastes and traditions—Cuban-style turkey from Florida and chile-seasoned cranberries from Arizona.

Authorisms. This compilation of 10 best “authorisms,” or words coined by a writer, explains the birth of words like bedazzled, catch-22, and beatnik.

Difficulty in adoption. We’ve written in WORLD about the Rosenow family and the Shepherd’s Crook adoption agency they founded. Kathy Rosenow penned a beautiful essay about some of the challenges facing adoptive parents. It begins, “Once upon a time, I said it had been a two-year battle. Then I discovered more and declared that it had been a four-year battle. I revised this one more time down the road and said that it had been a six-year battle. Now it’s been twelve years, and I no longer deceive myself into thinking it’s a battle we’ve won yet. … Sometimes life is just harder than words can describe, and that’s especially true when it involves adopted children who have been broken almost beyond repair before they ever even get into our arms.”

Ice power. The New York Times reports on the brand power of Disney’s Frozen. The hit movie has been a boon to Disney’s balance sheet: “Disney said earlier this month that it had already sold 3 million Frozen dresses in North America, which, as it happens, is roughly the number of 4-year-old girls in North America. In January, Frozen wedding dresses go on sale for $1,200.”

Jobs and politics. Robin Hansen speculates about why some jobs attract conservatives and others liberals. The column links to data sources before throwing out possible explanations. Could conservatives gravitate toward occupations like soldier and cop because they “are more focused on fear of bad things, and protecting against them?” Perhaps liberals are more likely to become psychiatrists and teachers because they “talk well.” The comments offer more possibilities.