A certain highly anticipated fantasy film about a long journey "there and back again" will see its world-wide release in less than a month. Closer to home, many are making trips of their own today to be with family for the Thanksgiving holiday. The roads, rail lines, and airways of this country are jam-packed with travelers. (And before the weekend is over, they'll get to do the whole thing over again in reverse, hooray!)
College freshmen, many of them back home for the first time since the start of school, might feel a particular kinship with Mr. Baggins in the ending chapters of The Hobbit. The place to which they've returned may look the same (if their mothers haven't turned their rooms into craft spaces or storage cubbies), but for some, it won't feel quite like the home they left a few short months ago. Though it's been more years than I'd care to admit since I was a freshman, I can still recall that odd feeling of displacement on my first Thanksgiving back, of being a guest in my own home.
