[A Recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
April
29: Communist Culture: “The Palace-Burner”: A Mayday series on
representations of communism starts with Sarah Piatt’s poetic masterpiece that
destroys easy us vs. them narratives.
April
30: Communist Culture: Dos Passos and Wright: The series continues with two
similar yet importantly distinct 1930s to 50s literary careers.
May
1: Communist Culture: Doctorow and Coover: Two distinct but complementary
postmodern historical novels of the Rosenbergs, as the series marches on.
May
2: Communist Culture: The Blithedale Romance: The novel about a
contemporary commune that shifted yet extended Nathaniel Hawthorne’s streak of
historical romances.
May
3: Communist Culture: Woody Guthrie and Steve Earle: The series concludes
with communist protest anthems, then and now.
May
4-5: Communist Culture in the 21st Century: A special weekend
follow-up on two parallel but very different forms of contemporary cultural commentary
on communism.
May
6: Beach Blogging: Gidget and Friends: For the 60th anniversary of
the Beach Boys’ first #1 hit, a BeachBlogging series kicks off with what we
might make of the early 60s beach craze.
May
7: Beach Blogging: On the Beach: The series continues with an intense and tragic
film that couldn’t compete with historic fears.
May
8: Beach Blogging: Brighton Beach Memoirs: Three cultural genres on which
the incomparable Neil Simon made a lasting impact, as the series surfs on.
May
9: Beach Blogging: Baywatch: Why those beautiful beach bodies are also a
body of evidence.
May
10: Beach Blogging: The Beach Boys: The series concludes with an anniversary
tribute to the Beach Boys through three ways to contextualize their popularity.
May
11-12: Beach Blogging: Guest Posts from Elsa Devienne and Jamie Hirami: A
special weekend follow-up featuring both a new book and a repeat Guest Post!
May
13: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Salvatore in Sci Fi/Fantasy: As the Spring 2024
semester wrapped up, my annual reflections series focused on stand-out moments,
starting with an author visit.
May
14: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Ambiguity in Am Lit: The series continues with a
class discussion that reflects why it’s still worth reading longer works over
multiple classes.
May
15: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Gold in Grad Historical Fiction: The stand-out
21st century text I added to my oldest Grad course, as the series teaches
on.
May
16: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Cereal in Composition: Why surprises are still
important in my 19th year at FSU, and an in-class text that took me
by surprise.
May
17: Spring 2024 Stand-Outs: Special Guests!: The series concludes with the
three most special guests who could ever visit a class of mine.
May
18-19: American(Studier) Wedding!: A weekend blogging break for a very,
very good reason!
May
20: Criminal Duos: Pecos Bill & Joaquin Murrieta: For the 100th
anniversary of Leopold & Loeb’s murderous plot, a series on criminal duos
kicks off with two folks heroes.
May
21: Criminal Duos: Leopold & Loeb: The series continues with that 100th
anniversary and three broader issues to which the famous criminals connect.
May
22: Criminal Duos: Bonnie & Clyde: How images can reflect and shape but
also distort our histories, as the series sprees on.
May
23: Criminal Duos: Butch & Sundance: Beautifying ugly men and deeds,
and why we shouldn’t.
May
24: Criminal Duos: Sacco & Vanzetti: The series concludes with three
contexts for the controversial trial and execution of a pair of Italian
American radicals.
May
25-26: Laura Franey’s Guest Post on The Keepers & True Crime: To wrap
up a CrimeStudying series, a repeat of Laura Franey’s great Guest Post on true
crime.
May
27: Better Remembering Memorial and Decoration Day: I don’t repeat whole
weeklong series very often, but I always will with my annual Decoration Day
series, starting with this overarching intro.
May
28: Decoration Day Histories: Frederick Douglass: The Decoration Day posts
kick off with one of the great American speeches.
May
29: Decoration Day Histories: Roger Pryor: The series continues with an
invitation and speech that mark two shifts in American attitudes.
May
30: Decoration Day Histories: “Rodman the Keeper”: The late 19C short story
that helps us remember how the holiday’s meanings didn’t change for African
Americans, as the series parades on.
May
31: Decoration Day Histories: So What?: The series concludes with three
ways to argue for remembering Decoration Day as well as 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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