PAULA WHYMAN

When the Pilgrims stepped onto Plymouth Rock, I wonder if they anticipated the traffic jams, family antipathy, and baking traumas their activities would eventually inspire?

My post from Thanksgivings past,The Pie Crust Debacle, says it all about why I now routinely avoid making my pie crusts from scratch and opt instead to merely make them look homemade.

This holiday, I'm continuing my tradition of passing off store-bought crust, though if anyone asks, I readily admit the source. And, just to be consistent, I'm passing this post off as a new one, while I take a short break from blogging to make the pie.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Just when you thought it was safe to jump in that leaf pile...

I'm pleased to announce that coming up in early 2012, I'll be teaching a new occasional series of literature classes at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC. The subject: Hazards of Suburban Living.

In Part 1: Domestic Upheaval and the Short Story, we'll read and discuss three stories, one each by Lorrie Moore, Amy Bloom, and A.S. Byatt. Each story is told from a woman’s perspective; each is focused on a particular brand of domestic disharmony.

In Part 2: Coming of Age in the Columbine Era, we'll discuss Jim Shepard's novel, Project X. In this disturbing yet darkly humorous story, a misfit adolescent and his outcast friend, persecuted by other teens and misunderstood by adults, hatch a potentially devastating plot. "Shepard...has a lock on the new American paranoia." --Chicago Tribune

Part 1 will be offered Tuesday, January 10, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Part 2 will take place Tuesday, February 7, 1–3 p.m. You may sign up for one or both classes.

For a detailed description, and to register, see the Politics & Prose Bookstore web page for 2012 classes.

My suburban lit street-cred: In addition to writing my own brand of "suburban dysfunction" fiction, I've blogged for Bethesda Magazine about Semi-Charmed Life in the suburbs, and I created the parody site, Bethesda World News, which pokes fun at suburban institutions and values.