[A Recap of the
month that was in AmericanStudying.]
July
1: 4th of July Contexts: Slavery and the Declaration: A July 4th
series starts with important historical contexts for a frustrating founding
text, and why the frustrations remain regardless.
July
2: 4th of July Contexts: The Adams Letters: The series continues
with the myths and realities of the Revolution revealed in the letters between
John and Abigail Adams.
July
3: 4th of July Contexts: Fireworks: The history, symbolism, and
limitations of a July 4th tradition, as the series rolls on.
July
4: 4th of July Contexts: Born on the 4th of July: Three
cultural evolutions of a classic, complex American phrase.
July
5: 4th of July Contexts: “What to the Slave is the 4th of
July?”: The stunning speech that challenges us as much today as it did 150
years ago.
July
6-7: The 4th of July in 2019: The series concludes with a
frustratingly timely weekend post celebrating the 4th and America in
the Age of Trump.
July
8: Alien America: Roswell: On the anniversary of the Roswell, well,
whatever, a series on cultural images of aliens kicks off with Roswell
conspiracy theories.
July
9: Alien America: E.T. and Aliens: The series continues with friendly and
hostile extraterrestrials, and the real bad guys in any case.
July
10: Alien America: Brother from Another Planet: A quote we would do well to
think about, and a film that could help us do just that, as the series rolls
on.
July
11: Alien America: ID4: The blockbuster film that’s American in the worst,
but perhaps also a bit of the best, senses.
July
12: Alien America: Close Encounters and Contact: The series concludes with
two superficially similar films that feature very distinct portrayals of both
aliens and America.
July
13-14: An Aliens and America Addendum: A quick weekend follow up post on
the “Storm Area 51” Facebook Event.
July
15: Summer Camp Contexts: Camp Virginia: A summer camp studying series
kicks off with the unique camp without which there’d likely be no
AmericanStudier.
July
16: Summer Camp Contexts: Hello Muddah: The series continues with the very
American afterlife of a classic camp song.
July
17: Summer Camp Contexts: Jewish Summer Camps: Ethnicity, community, and
the preservation and revision of tradition, as the series camps on.
July
18: Summer Camp Contexts: Playing Indian: The camp tradition that embodies
a troubling American trend, and what we can do about it.
July
19: Summer Camp Contexts: Friday the 13th: The series
concludes with what camp has come to mean in American culture, and what to make
of the change.
July
20-21: Jeff Renye’s Guest Post: “As Above, So Below”: The Desire to Believe and
Forbidden Knowledge in The X-Files: The prior week’s aliens and America
series concludes with my latest Guest Post, from the great Jeff Renye!
July
22: American Anthems: “America the Beautiful”: On the anniversary of its
initial composition, an American anthems series kicks off with different forms
of patriotism in “America the Beautiful.”
July
23: American Anthems: “The Star-Spangled Banner”: The series continues with
how historical contexts and cultural predecessors add layers to our troubling
national anthem.
July
24: American Anthems: “This Land is Your Land”: My folk music nominee for a
new national anthem, as the series sings on.
July
25: American Anthems: “God Bless America”: The importance, and the limits,
of contextualizing an iconic anthem.
July
26: American Anthems: “American Skin (41 Shots)”: Why my long-time favorite
song is also a perfect anthem for the America I write about in my new book, We the People!
July
27-28: 21st Century American Anthems: The series concludes with
five recent songs (and a bonus recent poem) I would nominate as 21st
century anthems!
July
29: SiblingStudying: The Marx Brothers and the Stooges: In honor of my
sister’s birthday, a siblings series kicks off with the two families who
dominated American comedy in the mid-20th century.
July
30: SiblingStudying: The Grimké Sisters: The series continues
with two Southern sisters who exemplify the courage and power of abolitionism.
July
31: SiblingStudying: The Wright Brothers: Three lesser-known stories of the
brothers who changed the world, as the series flies on.
August
1: SiblingStudying: William and Henry James: The inspirational and (to this
AmericanStudier) familiar relationship between two close brothers.
August
2: SiblingStudying: The Williams Sisters: The series concludes with how
Claudia Rankine and Twitter have helped changed my perspective on the talented
tennis duo.
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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