[For this year’s Thanksgiving series, I wanted to express thanks for a handful of opportunities I’ve had to connect with scholarly communities this Fall. Leading up to this special tribute to my two most important scholarly influences!]
On three
of the countless ways my sons inspire my own continued work.
1)
Last year’s amazing efforts: In June I
dedicated one of my
Saturday Evening Post Considering
History columns to two projects from the past school year through which my
sons had taught me a lot about my own work on and goals for both the past and
the future. It’s one of my favorite columns across these nearly six years I’ve
been at the Post, so would ask you to
check it out if you could and then come on back for two such influences from
this current year!
2)
Kyle on Frederick Douglass: I have mixed
feelings about the school work my sons are asked to do over the summer (and I
certainly think there’s more of it than there needs to be), but this past
summer it was certainly fun to chat with Kyle about one of his summer reading
texts (for AP Lang), Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. And even more fun was
reading the essay that Kyle eventually wrote analyzing Douglass’ rhetorical
strategies in that narrative—his arguments about how Douglass challenged ideas
about slavery and sought to connect with a white Northern audience were as thoughtful
and impressive as his writing always is, but also helped me think about both
the continued need
for subjects like Black history (and specific topics like the histories of
American slavery) and about connecting with distinct audiences (a lifelong goal
of my own work).
3)
Aidan’s college essays: It’s late November of
Aidan’s senior year, and I’m still far from ready to truly contemplate him being
somewhere else next year. But he’s doing a great job convincing me he’s more
than ready for all that’s next, and a big part of that has been his amazing
work on all the pieces of writing that are now part of college applications
(both the main personal essay and the many college-specific supplemental
essays). His main personal essay was a profoundly thoughtful, moving, funny,
and inspiring look at his
vegetarianism and its connection to many other layers of his life and identity,
and it made me want to be a better person. And one particular supplemental
essay, where he wrote about the importance of challenging prejudices and how he
hopes to make that work a part of his life at and beyond college, gave me hope
for the future. Can’t beat those influences, on my scholarship and everywhere
else!
Next
series starts Monday,
Ben
PS.
People, communities, or anything else you’re thankful for this year?
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