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As a celebration steeped in American history, you might expect it to be a day of remembering our forebears and displaying patriotism. However, in modern times, consideration of the first Thanksgiving is generally relegated to schoolchildren. Although that first celebration was a landmark moment in the history of America, beyond giving thanks for freedom and safety, you won't typically find the flag waving of the Fourth of July or Memorial Day. Instead, the holiday remains centered on family, friends, and food. Some see the holiday as a last bastion of non-commercialization. Beyond a few centerpieces and themed party supplies, Thanksgiving doesn't receive the same marketing push as Valentine's Day, Halloween, or especially Christmas. It feels more pure in this regard. However, the time and money required to create a traditional Thanksgiving spread doesn't make the day completely free of pressure. As a national holiday, Thanksgiving means a day free from school and work for most. Even television seems to conspire to bring families closer together, with spectacles such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, big football games, and themed marathons on numerous cable channels inviting everyone to gather 'round. Although giving thanks for the many blessings of life is easily interpreted as a religious sentiment, there is no particular creed or belief system associated with the holiday. A community might host an ecumenical service in honor of the holiday. Families often say a prayer over the food before beginning dinner. Churches sponsor holiday dinners as outreach to the poor and lonely. However, all of these actions are founded on the basic, secular premise of giving thanks. From preschoolers making handprint turkeys to adults remembering the most important people and moments in their lives, it is easy to answer, "Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?" Like the Pilgrims did on that long-ago day, we all gather to give thanks for the many bounties life offers.

A man who calls himself an artist ties a dog to a wall inside an art gallery. No, you heard me correctly - we're not talking about the night janitor who caught the starving animal littering the front steps of the gallery and decided to vent a lifetime of frustration by pulling off a ridiculously cruel stunt. We're talking about a man who calls himself an artist. His name is Guillermo Vargas Habacuc and the year is 2007. Guillermo is one of the artists taking part in an art exhibition that takes place at a Costa Rican gallery - pompously called "Centro Nacional de la Cultura" (National Center for Culture). He pays a bunch of kids to catch the street dog, which he cruelly baptizes "Natividad" (Spanish for "birth"). His aim is to make an artistic statement about the fragility and the misery in which all dogs - indeed, all human beings live, and he achieved just that by letting the dog starve to death tied to a wall, in plain view of the exhibition visitors, some of whom demanded futilely that the dog be released.