[A Recap of the
month that was in AmericanStudying.]
December
1: American Winters: Valley Forge: A series on wintry American events kicks
off with how the desperate Revolutionary winter reminds us of two crucial
historical realities.
December
2: American Winters: The Trail of Tears: The series continues with how we
remember the winter tragedy, and how our memories can also move beyond it.
December
3: American Winters: The Blizzard of 78: Two AmericanStudies contexts for
the catastrophic storm, as the series rolls on.
December
4: American Winters: Miracle on Ice: On the symbolic role of sports in
society, and how history and story are shaped together.
December
5: American Winters: The Killing of John Lennon: The series concludes with how
the December shootings helps us think about celebrity and senselessness.
December
6-7: Remembering Pearl Harbor: A Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day special post
on the crucial challenge of how we remember our most infamous days.
December
8: Cold Culture: Frozen: A series on winter in American culture opens with
stereotypes reified and defied in the recent blockbluster animated film.
December
9: Cold Culture: Affliction and A Simple Plan: The series continues with
two films that provocatively link winter and snow to the American Dream.
December
10: Cold Culture: The Iceman Cometh: A cold and compelling portrait of
American pipe-dreams, and where it falls short, as the series rolls on.
December
11: Cold Culture: Winter’s Bone: On the gritty realism, and something more,
in the recent indie film.
December
12: Cold Culture: Ice Ice Baby: The series concludes with two
under-appreciated AmericanStudies stages to Vanilla Ice’s career.
December
13-14: Andrea Grenadier’s Guest Post on Charles Ives: In my next Guest
Post, the great Andrea Grenadier considers one of our most talented and demanding
composers.
December
15: Semester Recaps: The American Novel: A series reflecting on the Fall
2014 semester kicks off with fictional endings, happy, sad, and perfect.
December
16: Semester Recaps: Approaches to English Studies: The series continues
with two exemplary moments of applied literary theory.
December
17: Semester Recaps: Senior Capstone: Why teaching this course helps me
answer the question of what students can do with an English degree, as the series
rolls on.
December
18: Semester Recaps: Intro to Speech: Three things I learned in teaching my
first section of Intro to Speech for an extended campus program.
December
19: Semester Recaps: Three Other Reflections: The series concludes with
takeaways from three other parts of my busy fall.
December
20-21: Spring 2015 Preview: Five things I’m anticipating for Spring
2015—add your anticipations in comments, please!
December
22: AmericanWishing: Lee’s “The Gift”: A series on texts I wish all
Americans could read kicks off with a wonderful poem about family.
December
23: AmericanWishing: Melville’s “Paradise”: The series continues with the
early 19th century short story that still illuminates contemporary
inequities.
December
24: AmericanWishing: Chesnutt’s “Wife”: Chesnutt’s short story, Charles
Dickens, and holiday introspection, as the series rolls on.
December
25: AmericanWishing: Dorothy Day’s Writings: Why Day is the perfect author
to read on Christmas Day.
December
26: AmericanWishing: My Colleagues and Students: The series concludes by
highlighting six colleagues and students whose writings we should all read as
well.
December
27-28: A Birthday Wish: A special Birthday Wish for the evolving writing
career of the Mother of This AmericanStudier.
December
29: End of Year Stories: Fraternity Rapes: A series AmericanStudying some
of our biggest recent events starts with the controversial story of rape at the
University of Virginia.
December
30: End of Year Stories: Bill Cosby: The series continues with two ways to
AmericanStudy the dark story of a celebrity’s alleged crimes.
December
31: End of Year Stories: The Immigration Debate: Two pieces of mine that
have contributed to an unfolding debate, as the series rolls on.
January
1: End of Year Stories: Ferguson: Two reasons why the ongoing conflicts and
protests are nothing new—and one important reason why they are.
January
2: End of Year Stories: Native Americans and the Keystone Pipeline: The
series concludes with one of my favorite recent moments, and the inspiring
story behind it.
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Topics you’d
like to see in this space in the new year? Guest Posts you’d like to write?
Lemme know!
No comments:
Post a Comment