The CEO of Thanksgiving

The piece in the NYTimes entitled the "CEO of Thanksgiving" is a funny combination of the corporate with the domestic, a traditionally male sphere with a still relatively female sphere. Two business professors--one from Harvard and one from Wharton--good naturedly describe two management styles and a variety of techniques for creating the most successful holiday dinner. "Stakeholders," "management team," "outsource," "subcontract," and the like sound odd in a domestic setting but remind me of the elevation of housekeeping to "domestic science" in the early 20th century in an effort to command respect for the female sphere. Is the corporate holiday meal just the latest result of rising numbers of men in the home kitchen in the last several decades? The humor, of course, stems from the incongruity and incompatibility of the two. The funniest part? All the commentors who said that if business is brought to bear on Thanksgiving, it was going to be the end of the holiday, just like it has been the end of the economy! Let's give thanks this season that there are some areas of life where a business model is still completely inappropriate and unwelcome.