[A Recap of the
month that was in AmericanStudying.]
May
30: Better Remembering Memorial Day: A Memorial Day series kicks off with
my annual post on how to better remember and celebrate this American holiday.
May
31: Decoration Day Histories: Douglass: The series shifts to remembering
Decoration Day with a post on one of the great American speeches and why we
must remember it today.
June
1: Decoration Day Histories: Roger Pryor: The invitation and speech that
mark two shifts in American attitudes, as the series rolls on.
June
2: Decoration Day Histories: Rodman the Keeper: The text that helps us
remember a community for whom Decoration Day’s meanings didn’t shift.
June
3: Decoration Day Histories: So What?: The series concludes with three ways
to argue for remembering Decoration Day alongside Memorial Day.
June
4-5: The 1876 Election and 2016: A special post on what a controversial and
destructive election can help us understand, and perhaps prevent, about our
upcoming one.
June
6: AmericanStudies Beach Reads: Lahiri’s In Other Words: My annual Beach
Reads series starts with a memoir I’m mostly—but not entirely—excited to read.
June
7: AmericanStudies Beach Reads: Coates’ Black Panther: The series continues
with the comic book that’s bringing me back to the genre after decades away.
June
8: AmericanStudies Beach Reads: Erdrich’s LaRose: The difficulties of
breaking teaching and reading habits and a book that could help me do so, as
the series rolls on.
June
9: AmericanStudies Beach Reads: Vuong’s Night Sky with Exit Wounds: A
poetry collection you should pack right next to that page-turning thriller in
your beach bag.
June
10: AmericanStudies Beach Reads: Cultural Memoirs: The series continues
with three contemporary memoirs of race and heritage.
June
11-12: Crowd-sourced Beach Reads: As always, the crowd-sourced Beach Reads
post brought out many wonderful suggestions—add yours in comments!
June
13: ApologyStudying: Lessons from Canada: A series on historical apologies
starts with one key difference between the U.S. and our northern neighbor.
June
14: ApologyStudying: Japanese Internment: The series continues with two
things the internment apology got right and one place where it came up short.
June
15: ApologyStudying: Apologies to Native Americans: Two official apologies
to Native Americans and the distance we have yet to go, as the series rolls on.
June
16: ApologyStudying: The Chinese Exclusion Act: What it means to apologize
for something we don’t remember well, and how one might affect the other.
June
17: ApologyStudying: The Reparations Debate: The series concludes with the
elephant in the ApologyStudying room and how the week’s other topics might
affect it.
June
18-19: ApologyStudying: Apologizing for America?: A special weekend post
that combines a few further thoughts of mine with some responses from fellow
ApologyStudiers.
June
20: SummerStudying: The Fresh Prince and “Summertime”: A series on summer
texts and contexts starts with two ways to AmericanStudy the Fresh Prince.
June
21: SummerStudying: Nostalgia and “The Boys of Summer”: The series
continues with the limitations of nostalgia and why it’s a vital perspective nonetheless.
June
22: SummerStudying: Irony and “Summertime Sadness”: The artistic and humans
roles and meanings of irony, as the series rolls on.
June
23: SummerStudying: Utopias and the Summer of Love: How two historical
utopias can help us better understand the 1960s social experiment.
June
24: SummerStudying: Kids and “Summertime Blues”: The series concludes with
what a summer classic reveals about the voices of youth.
June
25-26: Crowd-sourced SummerStudying: Another great crowd-sourced post, full
of responses and nominations from fellow SummerStudiers—add yours in comments!
June
27: Gone with the Wind Turns 80: Racist Classics: A series on the novel’s
80th birthday starts with whether and how to view and re-view racist
classics.
June
28: Gone with the Wind Turns 80: Hattie McDaniel: The series continues with
the limits and power of the actress’s Academy Award-winning performance as a
slave.
June
29: Gone with the Wind Turns 80: The Plantation Tradition: One important,
if ironic, way that Mitchell’s did revise historical propaganda, as the series
rolls on.
June
30: Gone with the Wind Turns 80: Revisiting Rhett Butler: Why I’d still
critique Mitchell’s romantic hero, and a side of him I’ve come to better
appreciate.
July
1: Gone with the Wind Turns 80: The Worst and Best of Popularity: The
series concludes with the problems and possibilities presented by troubling
popular art.
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Topics you’d
like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!
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