Saturday, January 3, 2015

January 3-4, 2015: December 2014 Recap

[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!

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