Saturday, June 3, 2023

June 3-4, 2023: May 2023 Recap

[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 Martí: 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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