“Talking Turkey” on 90.8 FM English Talk Radio Grenoble

Missed you, Snoopy!  

Chers amis et chères amies,

      I have never been the go-to girl for anything related to history. Dates—no. Places—no. Historical figures—definitely, uh-uh. I am ashamed to say that I cringe when I’m asked even about current events because, a lot of the time, I can’t keep up with what’s going on in the world outside. Sometimes, I find myself spouting out befuddled answers to questions. That’s why when I got an email from Vivian (Vivi) Draper of English Talk Radio 90.8 FM a few weeks ago asking me if I would be on her radio show to talk about Thanksgiving, I choked.

She assured me that she would email me an outline of the script, and since I had already been on two of her previous shows, she  was confident that all would be fine. I wasn’t so sure.

    When I received the script, I hastily scanned it for my name. Shoot! I was going to be first up, and the questions would be on Thanksgiving history. Right up my alley. I had told Vivi when she asked me about being on the show that I had seen enough Thanksgivings to be a competent guest. I thought she wanted to know about traditional Thanksgiving food, Macy’s parades, and football games. When I tried to assemble in my brain what I would say about what I know about the origins of Thanksgiving, visions of cute pilgrim cut-outs and construction paper turkeys made from tracings of my children’s toddler hands came to mind. I realized that I had no hard facts stored in my brain about the history of Thanksgiving. 

     Not wanting to seem like a perfect dunce, I decided I better do some research on the Mayflower and what all had transpired so many centuries ago. I didn’t want listeners to think that Americans “don’t know much about history.” (Thank you, Sam Cooke.) I discovered that I could fill a few notebook pages on what I didn’t know—and that’s exactly what I did!

     Thanksgiving afternoon, I boarded Tram B for Domaine Universitaire de Gières, our old French language class stomping grounds. In about 18 minutes, I stepped off the tram into the world of university students fresh from classes and looking for a smoke. I crossed the tram tracks and headed towards an antenna on top a building. I thought that must be the radio station building. Silly me. Of course, I was wrong. Luckily, I spotted Vivi, fresh from another tram, walking toward me and wearing one of her signature black dresses. She led the way up to the studio and introduced me to the other American ex-pat guests, Stefani and Cindy, who have been living in France for more than a decade and would also be on the show.

     In the tiny studio, we donned headphones and pulled ourselves up to the microphones. In the sound booth, Pascale, our technician, did a sound check and gave us the thumbs-up to start. Vivi began the show on the phone with another American ex-pat who lives in Paris, and they talked about the ongoing fiscal crises in Europe and America. Then we were up. I was thrown the first question, and I tried to juggle keeping my mouth not too close to the hygienically suspect foam cover of the mike, reading with a semblance of nonchalance, and remembering to breathe. I regaled the radio audience with facts about pilgrims, Native Americans, pilgrim ships, and Sarah Josephus Hale, a writer and editor instrumental in the establishment of our Thanksgiving holiday. That was just one of my obscure Thanksgiving trivia facts.

      I breathed a sigh of relief when I came to the last written line and could back away from the microphone. Cindy took it from there and recounted family Thanksgiving memories from her childhood. She made our mouths water talking about family recipes, and she also made us smile with many reminiscences of shared family Thanksgivings. Stefani, who has lived the longest in France, gave the listeners (and me) insider information about places to shop in nearby Grenoble if you find yourself missing the usual American Thanksgiving grocery products during the holiday season.

      Our 15-minute taping time slot finished, and we all breathed a big exhale as we took off the headphones. As we parted, we Americans remarked on the balmy November day outside, so unlike the cool fall Thanksgiving days the three of us had been accustomed to while growing up in our diverse parts of America. As I boarded the tram to return to Grenoble, I looked at my watch and calculated the New York time. The Macy’s parade was just beginning, and I remembered that I had read that there was a sad change in the parade lineup. For the first time since 1968, Snoopy, my favorite balloon, would not be flying solo. Balloons come and balloons go, but some traditions, like Thanksgiving, seem to go on forever.

Hope y’all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

To listen to the broadcast click here: ETR Thanksgiving Show  Click on the arrow to listen; you don't have to  download it. Our part comes at about 00:11:20 on the line.

Bises,

Maureen 

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