The 19-year-old woman in the middle of the second row of the history class looks like any other college student. She is every bit the bookish student, more interested in grades than gossip. But she is also a survivor with horror in her past and an uncertain...

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• Father’s day, son’s honor
• The Depression’s lessons: frugality and generosity  
• Religious order plans events to mark 135th anniversary
• Pride in their heritage
• Budgeting for baby

Deep-frying. Wood-smoking. Sous vide (the French vacuum-packing technique). The mind-numbing number of suggestions for mining flavor from the typically unforgiving Thanksgiving bird have proliferated in recent years. This year, leave them all behind.

• Deciding which Thanksgiving dishes to make healthy
• Where to turn when your holiday meal turns bad
• Recipe: Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes, minus the marshmallows
• Recipe: Lemon-Thyme Rub

New guidelines by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.

• Employers surveyed on health-care plans
• For homeless, ‘a lot of friendly people’ a welcome sight 2 Comments
• Federal task force suggests changes in guidelines for mammograms 1 Comment
• Study deals blow to Merck cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin
• Sexually spread diseases increase; better testing cited

A production as grand as a Thanksgiving feast deserves to be staged with appropriate scenery. It’s time to wash off, polish up and steam-iron the fancy stuff. Think of your table as a bare stage.

• Gardening Q&A with Richard Nunnally
• BULLETIN BOARD: Home & Garden Calendar
• ON THE HOME FRONT: Holiday hosting
• What’s it worth?
• Two guides for birders that really soar