BY SARAH TEREZ ROSENBLUM

1. Jennifer Beals, native Chicagoan and former star of the equally asinine and groundbreaking “The L-Word” serves as grand marshal for the 77th annual McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade.

2. Tired of drama queens and infighting? You can take a break from family festivities and head to Century 12 Evanston/CineArts 6 and XD to catch “Burlesque”….for more drama and infighting but with pasties!

3. This weekend Global Rhythms, the yearly, international tap and percussive arts showcase offers the opportunity to watch talented people dance, which is almost like dancing yourself which will totally take off the holiday pounds. Right? Performances are Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday 3 p.m.

4. We have Hollaback Chicago, a website devoted to taking the shame out of street harassment. With affiliates across the U.S., Hollaback offers women like this the opportunity to crow or vent. What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to peruse the site over pumpkin pie?

5. Over the course of the day, drizzle turns to snow as temperatures drop to seventeen degrees. Be thankful spring is only five months away. Wait, this is Chicago. Make it six.

A freelance writer with an MFA in Creative Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sarah Terez Rosenblum, when not writing, supports herself as a figure model, Spinning instructor and teacher at Chicago's Story Studio. Inevitably one day she will find herself lecturing naked on a spinning bike. She’s kind of looking forward to it actually.