[On August 15th, this AmericanStudier celebrated his 46th birthday. So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts from each year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 46 favorites from the last year. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi and tell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyed here, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]
Here they
are, 45 favorite posts from my 12th year of AmericanStudying:
1)
August 27:
American Teens: John Hughes Films: A series inspired by my pair of high
schoolers concluded with this fun way to reconsider classic 80s films.
2)
September
11-12: Tayna Roth’s Guest Post on “The Real Miss America”: I’ve
had a ton of great Guest Posts this year, and you’d better believe I’m gonna
highlight them all, starting with this one drawn from Tanya’s excellent new
book!
3)
September
18-19: Domestic Terrorism: 9/11 and 1/6: I’ve spent a lot of time this year
thinking and talking about January 6th, 2021, including in this
comparative weekend post.
4)
September
24: American Modernists: F. Scott Fitzgerald: Want to read Fitzgerald beyond Gatsby? This phenomenal short story is a
good place to start.
5)
October 8:
AmericanFires: The Great Chicago Fire: I promise I won’t use much of this
space to promote my Saturday Evening Post
columns, but this one lined up really well with a blog series.
6)
October
15: SitcomStudying: We Love Lucy: Getting to revisit and rethink
familiar subjects is one of the real perks of this blog, and I enjoyed the
chance to AmericanStudy I Love Lucy.
7)
October
19: Work in Progress: Lesson Plan for CT Humanities: A fun
story of the long afterlife of one of my first online pieces—and now I can
share the lesson
plan itself!
8)
November
3: Action Figures: Charles Bronson and Death Wish: In a
series inspired by Bronson’s 100th birthday, it was fun to explore
and challenge my preconceptions about his seminal film.
9)
November
13-14: 11th Anniversary Tributes: Gotta share my tribute to what the
Railton family have meant to this blog (and beyond)!
10)
November
20-21: The Montgomery Bus Boycott: 21st Century Legacies &
Echoes: There are lots of good reasons to learn history, but high on the
list has to be what it can help us understand in our own moment.
11)
November
27-28: Emily Lauer’s Guest Post on Afrofuturism in Museums: Emily is
my first three-time Guest Poster, and since she keeps doing such great work, I
couldn’t be happier about that!
12)
December
4-5: Crowd-sourced Online Reading List: I ended a series for Project
Gutenberg’s 50th birthday by sharing these recommendations from
fellow OnlineAmericanStudiers.
13)
December
13: Fall Semester Recaps: First Year Experience Seminar: FYE was
a tough class to teach and an even tougher one to get right—but when I did, it
sure felt extra meaningful and helpful.
14)
December
20: Wishes for the AMST Elves: Higher Ed Funding: This
whole series was fun to write as ever, but this is the most universally
relevant for my week’s wishes to be sure.
15)
December
27: Year in Review: The Braves: Celebrating yet also critiquing the
surprising success of a favorite team—that’s the AmericanStudier way!
16)
December
31: Year in Review: New Novels: I don’t get to read for pleasure too
much these days, but these are books well worth finding time for.
17)
January 5:
2022 Anniversaries: 1872 and Henry Wilson: I always learn a lot when I research
specific years for the blog, and this discovery about Grant’s second vice
president was no exception.
18)
January
14: Women in Politics: Shirley Chisholm’s Campaigns: Running
for president was just the tip of the iceberg of Chisholm’s impressive
political and activist career.
19)
January
25: American Gangsters: Capturing Capone: Any time I get to write about
Tintin, I promise to share it in these series!
20)
January
31: Bill MurrayStudying: Tootsie: Ditto any time I get to write about
one of my favorite 80s films and how it (mostly) still holds up.
21)
February
12-13: Kurtis Kendall’s Guest Post on Athlete Activism: And
really really ditto when I’m sharing a Guest Post from an FSU English Studies
alum!
22)
February
19-20: More Podcasts We Love: Please check out all the podcasts
highlighted in this weeklong series—and now here’s my own
episode of Drafting the Past!
23)
February
22: Non-Favorite Myths: The Supreme Court: One of those times I really wish I
had been less prescient in my analyses and predictions about our current
climate.
24)
March 5-6:
Megan Kate Nelson’s New Book on Yellowstone: Always great when I can end a series
by highlighting a wonderful new book from a friend!
25)
March 11:
The Pacific Theater: “I Shall Return”: Douglas MacArthur, quite the
asshole but still a powerfully inspiring leader as well. Such is the
AmericanStudying dance!
26)
March 21:
Rock and Roll Groundbreakers: The Moondog Coronation Ball: If you
thought I was going to miss a chance to write “Moondog Coronation Ball” a
couple more times—well, you thought wrong.
27)
March 28:
Stand-Up Studying: Anthony Jeselnik: Few things better than getting to
analyze a cultural work you love, and finding new layers in the process.
28)
April
9-10: Arbor Day Activists: One of the people most responsible for Arbor
Day’s existence was Birdsey Northrop. I feel like we all need to know that.
29)
April 18:
Boston Marathon Studying: The First Marathon: There’s a lot of pretty fascinating
stuff about the 1897 Boston Marathon—here’s just some of it.
30)
April
23-24: Tiffany Chenault’s Guest Post: Boston Marathon RECAP: My
friend and SSN Boston co-leader Tiffany ran her first Boston this year, and had
a lot of great thoughts about the experience!
31)
April 26:
Ulysses Grant Studying: His Book: Dedicating a whole series to the
underappreciated Grant was fun, and I learned a lot, as illustrated by this
post on his wonderful memoirs.
32)
May 7-8:
Scholarship on Internment: I’ll never pass up a chance to re-up
highlights of favorite scholarly voices and works!
33)
May 14-15:
Spring Semester Reflections: Adult Ed and Two Sandlots: Getting
to teach adult learning classes centered around a book in progress was a new,
and very rewarding, experience.
34)
May 21-22:
Aviation Histories: Amelia Earhart: There’s so much more to Earhart than
just her most famous flights.
35)
May 28-29:
Sydney Kruszka’s Guest Post: Why We Should All Read Maus: I’ve
been able to share three Guest Posts now from students taught by my friend
Robin Field—and I’d love to share ones from y’all’s students too!
36)
June 9:
Judy Garland Studying: Judgment at Nuremberg: I had completely forgotten that Judy
Garland was in Judgment—much less how
stunningly good her performance was.
37)
June
11-12: LGBTQ Icons: Garland was also an icon and inspiration to
the LGBTQ community—as we the other four women I highlighted in this post.
38)
June 13:
Revisiting Beach Reads: Tony Hillerman: With the excellent new Hillerman
adaptation Dark Winds recently out,
it was fun to dip back into a childhood favorite.
39)
June
25-26: Las Vegas Studying: Vegas in Song: This whole Vegas series was a blast,
but I especially enjoyed the chance to write about The Killers and so many
other Vegas songs.
40)
July 9-10:
4th of July Contexts: Patriotism in 2022 America: Do I
need to say more about why this is an all-too relevant topic?
41)
July 12:
Investigative Journalists: Nellie Bly: Another one where I learned so much
about my subject for the day.
42)
July 19:
UtahStudying: National Parks: Lots in this one I enjoyed learning, but I’m
sharing mostly for the unforgettable quote about Bryce Canyon and cows.
43)
July 26:
Christmas (Songs) in July: “Winter Wonderland” and “Jingle Bells”: You
know you want to read about how I AmericanStudied those holiday classics—in
July!
44)
August 1:
AmericanPhones: The Great Gatsby: Had a Gatsby post in my first few in
this list, gotta have one in my last few as well. Rules are rules.
45)
August
6-7: Hettie Williams’ Guest Post on Beyoncé’s Renaissance: Always
excited when I can end a list like this with my newest Guest Post!
Newest
bday post this weekend,
Ben
PS. You
know what to do!
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