[A Recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
May
1: Hemispheric Histories: The Organization of American States: On the 75th
anniversary of the founding of the OAS, a series on hemispheric histories
starts with three of the conferences that helped create the organization.
May
2: Hemispheric Histories: Glissant and Creolization: The series continues
with the scholar and concept that help us grapple with hemispheric connections.
May
3: Hemispheric Histories: The Monroe Doctrine: The limits and possibilities
of a signature foreign policy idea, as the series rolls on.
May
4: Hemispheric Histories: José MartÃ: The cross-cultural experiences,
ideas, and collective meanings of the legendary Cuban activist.
May
5: Hemispheric Histories: The Panama Canal: The series concludes with three
treaties across 130 years that together help tell the story of the famous
waterway.
May
6-7: Hemispheric Studies Scholars: A special weekend post highlighting a
handful of the many scholars doing awesome hemispheric studying work!
May
8: Spring 2023 Surprises: Hawthorne & History in The American Novel:
For this year’s Spring semester reflections series, I wanted to highlight pleasant
surprises in this challenging semester, starting with lessons from a great
historical novel.
May
9: Spring 2023 Surprises: Akata Witch in Intro to Sci Fi and Fantasy: The
series continues with a contemporary Afrofuturist fantasy novel my students
really got into.
May
10: Spring 2023 Surprises: Barbie and Joe in First-Year Writing II: How 80s
ads helped us have important contemporary conversations, as the series reflects
on.
May
11: Spring 2023 Surprises: Ruiz de Burton in Multi-ethnic American Literatures:
Why finally getting to teach a full novel by a favorite author was worth the
wait!
May
12: Spring 2023 Surprises: Contemporary Short Stories in Adult Ed: The
series concludes with a trio of wonderful contemporary short stories I got to
read and share in an adult learning class.
May
13-14: Fall Mini-Previews: The Spring might have just concluded, but I was
already looking forward to a few of my Fall 2023 courses!
May
15: Watergate Figures: Sam Ervin: For the 50th anniversary of
the Senate Watergate hearings, a series on telling figures from that moment
starts with a complex and contradictory Democratic Senator.
May
16: Watergate Figures: Howard Baker: The series continues with a Republican
Senator who both challenged and abetted Nixon.
May
17: Watergate Figures: John Dean: The White House lawyer turned
whistleblower who has continued to blow the whistle on GOP extremes, as the
series reflects on.
May
18: Watergate Figures: Archibald Cox Jr.: The Watergate special prosecutor
who went on to an influential career fighting DC corruption.
May
19: Watergate Figures: Jill Wine-Volner: The series concludes with the
investigator who should be better remembered for her legal acumen than her
apparel.
May
20-21: Our Watergate: A special weekend post on a few contemporary echoes
of the scandal (and the first that was marked as “sensitive content” by
blogspot!).
May
22: Great American Screenplays: Lone Star: For this year’s Memorial Day
movies series, I wanted to support the WGA by sharing past posts on some of my
favorite screenplays, starting with two exchanges in my favorite film that
capture the complexities of collective memory.
May
23: Great American Screenplays: Chinatown: The series continues with a
classic film noir that’s also pitch-perfect historical fiction.
May
24: Great American Screenplays: Affliction and A Simple Plan: Winter’s and
America’s possibilities and limits in two dark and powerful films, as the
series writes on.
May
25: Great American Screenplays: The Opposite of Sex and You Can Count on Me:
The importance of depicting nontraditional families in children’s books and
independent films alike.
May
26: Great American Screenplays: Memento: The series concludes with the
dark, cynical, and unquestionably human final words of a contemporary American
classic.
May
27-28: Barrett Beatrice Jackson’s Guest Post on Norman Rockwell, Robert Butler,
and her Grandfather: My latest Guest Post, featuring wonderful reflections
on Americana, art, race, and much more!
May
29: Remembering Memorial Day: My annual Memorial Day series kicks off with
what we don’t remember about the holiday, and why we should.
May
30: Decoration Day Histories: Frederick Douglass: The series continues with
one of the great American speeches, and why it would be so important to add to
our collective memories.
May
31: Decoration Day Histories: Roger Pryor: An invitation and speech that
mark two frustrating shifts in American attitudes, as the series commemorates
on.
June
1: Decoration Day Histories: “Rodman the Keeper”: A moving short story that
helps us remember a community for whom Decoration Day’s meanings didn’t shift.
June
2: Decoration Day Histories: So What?: The series concludes with three ways
to argue for remembering Decoration Day alongside Memorial Day.
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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