November 8-9, 2014: Four Years!

No, that’s not an election slogan, but rather the anniversary this blog has just passed. Last year I blogged about three exemplary moments from the blog’s first three years, but this year I decided instead to offer four heartfelt AmericanStudier thanks:

1)      My Most Vocal Readers: You know their names from not only comments but also the two kinds of posts that remain my favorites, Crowd-sourced and Guest: AnneMarie Donahue, Irene Martyniuk, Roland Gibson. It can be really hard to get comments sometimes, but I know I can always rely on these folks for responses, further ideas, pushbacks, conversations. Thank you all so much!

2)      The Silent Majority: I’m proud to say that the blog gets somewhere in the ballpark of 150 visits/views a day; most of those folks don’t comment (and please feel free, even if just to introduce yourself and/or say hi!), but they’re a huge part of this blog nonetheless. Would I be doing this every day if I weren’t thinking about how it might contribute in some small way to their perspectives and voices and own AmericanStudying? Nah. So thanks!

3)      The Blogging Community: I can’t thank enough the peers who have given me the chance to guest post and contribute to their own spaces and conversations—Rob Velella, William Kerrigan, Maggi Smith-Dalton, Heather Richardson and The Historical Society, Tracy Wuster and Humor in America, and more. There’s so much great AmericanStudying happening online, and being part of that community is one of the things I’m most thankful for.

4)      My Folks: My Dad, whose online scholarly presence predates and far outstrips mine, gets my blog posts by email each morning. My Mom, who was my first Guest Poster, has encouraged, as well as read and responded to, the blog throughout these four years. It’s literally true that I wouldn’t be here without them, but we all know it goes deeper than that. I love you guys!

Again, thank you all. Here’s to the next four years!

Next series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Whether you’ve been vocal or silent, or anything in between, I’d love to hear from you now! What brings you to this blog? What would you like to see here? Or just say hi, that’s okay too!