January 2, 2026: Year in Review: Dad

[The end of 2025 means another Year in Review blog series, AmericanStudying a handful of the year’s biggest stories. I’d love your 2025 reflections in comments!]

Ten months ago today, I said goodbye to my Dad. I had the chance to say a lot of what I’d most want to say about him in this obituary, this Saturday Evening Post column, and this blog anniversary tribute post, and would ask you all to check out all three of those if you would. But I couldn’t write a Year in Review blog series and not include him, and I want to do so through three relatively quick but very heartfelt points that are quite distinct in both subject and tone:

1)      I’ll start with the saddest. As I wrote in that hyperlinked Post column as well as this prior one on my folks, my Dad both embodied and worked for the best of America throughout his life and his career. It will never not be incredibly frustrating and painful to me that he passed with Donald Motherfucking Trump as president, and indeed that the November 2024 election was one of the last major events he was able to really focus on. I thought I already appreciated all the layers to the Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times,” but losing a loved one in such times—and, again, a loved one who was so potently connected to all things AmericanStudies, including of course every element of this AmericanStudier—comprises another layer still. I don’t generally swear on this blog, but when it’s warranted I will, so I’ll say it once more, with feeling: Fuck Donald Motherfucking Trump.

2)      Now for the happiest (mostly). My Dad passed a month and a bit before his grandson Kyle made his college decision, so he didn’t get to find out that Kyle was headed to the University of Michigan. But he was well aware of and had a significant role in Kyle’s college search, just as he did for his older grandson Aidan’s journey to ending up at Vanderbilt University. My wife Vaughn, who through schedule flexibility but also and especially her incredible generosity and care was able to spend the last couple weeks of my Dad’s life with him and my Mom, has noted many times that he talked about nothing more frequently nor more happily in those difficult times than his grandsons and their incredibly bright futures. I believe it, and the thought has given me great pleasure over these last 10 months.

3)      Finally, the most relevant to this space. Writing this blog day in and day out (well, I now write and schedule in batches as I’ve discussed elsewhere in this space, but you know what I mean) is not always easy, and I’ll admit that there have been moments where I’ve wondered if I should wind it down. But as I noted in that hyperlinked anniversary post, my Dad was this blog’s first and most loyal and responsive reader (yes, even more so than my awesome colleague Irene Martyniuk!). The thoughts he shared in response to so many of my posts consistently inspired me to keep going—and even though I will never quite get used to the idea that he’s not reading each one now, I’m also good with that because that idea makes me even more committed to continuing to do and share this kind of work. See you right here in the (continuing) New Year!

December Recap this weekend,

Ben

PS. What do you think? 2025 stories you’d highlight?

December 27-28, 2025: Wishes for my Wife’s Book

[Many, many, many times over the last year, I’ve wished that more Americans would have the chance to read my writing and learn even a few of the many lessons I believe it offers for us in 2025. So for my annual Wishes for the Holiday Elves series, I wanted to revisit my six books, highlighting something specific from each that I think we could takeaway today. Leading up to this special post on my awesome wife’s Christmastastic new book!]

I wrote back in September about my wife Vaughn Joy’s then-forthcoming and now-released first book, Selling Out Santa: Hollywood Christmas Films in the Age of McCarthy; I’ll write more about it as part of a late-March series on her many book talks across a number of different media and formats. But I couldn’t share a blog series on my own books without highlighting Vaughn’s, and I do have a few specific wishes for the Holiday Elves related to Selling Out Santa specifically:

1)      Redefining American Christmas: One of the most consistent and most striking responses that we’ve seen to Vaughn’s book is from folks who see Christmas as an overtly and centrally Christian holiday, and thus for example take issue with Vaughn’s claim (the center of her main book talk) that Christmas = America. But Vaughn’s argument, and it’s both incredibly convincing and hugely important, is that American Christmas has always been an amalgamated, multicultural, secular and civic holiday—while of course Christians can celebrate their version of the holiday, that’s just one of countless layers to American Christmas, and one that came along much later in the historical development of our holiday than (for example) Santa imagery. Vaughn seems to be fighting an uphill battle to remind people of these vital histories and realities, but it’s a fight well worth fighting, and one that I wish all Americans could really take to heart.

2)      Cultural and Media Literacies: Learning that lesson requires folks to engage thoughtfully and meaningfully with not only histories, but also and perhaps especially with the cultural and media texts that have created our Christmas and holiday imagery, narratives, and myths across the centuries—a list that includes but is in no way limited to Vaughn’s focus on Hollywood Christmas films. As Vaughn developed her book talks she realized that one of the most central throughlines of her scholarly work has been a focus on enhancing our literacy when it comes to such cultural imagery—whether of classical mythologies (her first MA), comic books (her second), films (her PhD that became this book), or other genres and media. I wholeheartedly agree with her assertion that no skills are more important for all Americans and people to practice and strengthen in late 2025, and I wish all Americans would have the chance to do so by reading Vaughn’s book.

3)      Sharing My Joy: Ultimately, though, my wish for the Holiday Elves is simpler than that—I wish every single person could have the chance to see just how excellent this book is—how engagingly written while offering nuanced ideas, how attentive to close readings of tons of classic films while making overarching historical arguments, how exemplary of interdisciplinary public scholarship at its best. If you want to share my Joy and aren’t sure how to get your hands on a copy of the book, feel free to leave a comment or to check out our website or to shoot me an email, and thanks in advance!

Year in Review series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. You know what to do!

December 13-14, 2025: Kyle at Michigan!

[This week marks the conclusion of another Fall semester, my 21^st at Fitchburg State. Since we’re all going through it at the moment, I thought I’d share one significant challenge I faced in each class this semester, and a bit about how I tried to respond. Leading up to this special weekend post on my younger son’s first semester!]

As I highlighted with this August blog series in particular, my younger son (and phenomenal Guest Poster) Kyle started his first year at the University of Michigan this Fall. It was as full and kick-ass a semester as I knew it would be, and there are countless moments and experiences of which I’m very proud and which make me even more excited for all that’s next. But for a series on teaching reflections, I have to highlight two very distinct but complementary and equally impressive papers Kyle wrote for his tough but fascinating and rewarding first-year history seminar on the study of deep time:

Toward the start of the semester, Kyle’s professor asked them to write a personal observation and analysis of some aspects of the (beautiful) Michigan campus, tied to the class themes of continuity and change over deep time. He chose to observe the seasonal pattern of the changing Fall leaves, to connect it to the cycles of campus construction, and to consider the relationships and contrasts between these natural and man-mind experiences of the landscape, setting, and time. And he did so in a style that was equal parts funny and wise, warm and thought-provoking, very much Kyle’s but also something I hadn’t quite read from him before. My favorite paper I read all semester, with absolutely no offense to any of my FSU students!

The course’s second assignment was a somewhat more typical analytical paper: working with multiple class texts to develop a thesis about and multi-layered analysis of a central class question and theme. Kyle chose a complex and important question/theme about whether and how human progress is possible, and worked closely and convincingly with a series of dense and challenging texts (including one featuring the perspective of the legendary Werner Herzog) to develop a thoughtful and nuanced thesis about different theories of progress as, themselves, the best reflection of both the limits and the possibilities of such change. If Kyle continues in his pre-Law path he’s going to have lots of occasions to work with dense texts to consider big human questions, and this paper made me very excited for that continued arc—and every part of Kyle’s next steps at Michigan!

Next series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think?

PPS. I drafted this post before Kyle wrote his final paper for the course, a truly stunning synthesis of many different ideas about deep time, both from class readings and (especially) from his own evolving perspective. I could go on & on about that culminating essay and his incredibly thoughtful and multilayered work in it, but I'll simply conclude this post with his banger of a concluding sentence: "Through a collective understanding of deep time, humanity can challenge notions of temporal insignificance and inevitable environmental destruction, pioneering a newfound epoch defined by interrelational mutualism between man and nature, not one categorized by geological antagonism."

November 8-9, 2025: 15 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: My Dad

[15 years ago this week, I started this here public scholarly blog. There have been lots of twists and turns since, and the best ones have been aided & abetted by wonderful folks. So for my 15^th (!) anniversary series, I wanted to pay tribute to a handful of those moments and people, leading up to this special weekend tribute to my first and best reader!]

Just over nine months ago, we lost my Dad. I’ve had the chance to pay tribute to him in a number of different ways this year, as of course I’ve done on this blog many times (but never sufficient to express all that he meant to me). Speaking of this blog, I don’t know that I can put it any more clearly than this: very soon after I started it he figured out how to become a follower, meaning that he would get each day’s post by email; in our daily email exchanges he would respond to my posts a very significant percentage of the time; and to this day, quite literally to the moment that I’m drafting this post, I still think of him as my first and favorite reader for anything and everything I write here. I still can’t quite believe that I’ll never get to read his thoughts on a blog post again (I don’t imagine that will ever entirely sink in, and I’m okay with that), but I promise you that for as long as I write here, and as long as I write and work and teach and parent and love and live, he will be a defining presence. I miss you and love you, Dad.

Veterans Day series starts Monday,                                                 

Ben

PS. Please feel free to say hi and share any blog responses or ideas in comments!

November 7, 2025: 15 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: Vaughn Joy’s Partnership

[15 years ago this week, I started this here public scholarly blog. There have been lots of twists and turns since, and the best ones have been aided & abetted by wonderful folks. So for my 15^th (!) anniversary series, I wanted to pay tribute to a handful of those moments and people, leading up to a special weekend tribute to my first and best reader!]

Although this post will also still appear on my blogspot page (as my posts will continue to until the end of January), the main home for AmericanStudier for the last couple months, and moving forward, is the new public scholarly website Black & White & Read All Over. That site was the brainchild and has been created and designed by my wife Vaughn Joy, and it’s really phenomenal—as a space to host each of our public scholarly writing, as a home for my #ScholarSunday threads, but also and especially as an expression of communal solidarity and support. You can find that in the Announcements, the resources like the Pitchables page, the Guest Posts, and more. So please check out all the layers of our (and especially Vaughn’s) amazing site, subscribe if you’re interested, and help this blog and our work take these exciting next steps!

Special tribute this weekend,

Ben

PS. Please feel free to say hi and share any blog responses or ideas in comments!

November 6, 2025: 15 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: Jen Bortel’s Journalistic Editing

[15 years ago this week, I started this here public scholarly blog. There have been lots of twists and turns since, and the best ones have been aided & abetted by wonderful folks. So for my 15^th (!) anniversary series, I wanted to pay tribute to a handful of those moments and people, leading up to a special weekend tribute to my first and best reader!]

I’ve written many times in this space about my Saturday Evening Post editor Jen Bortel, and what working with her on my Considering History column for the last 7.75 years (8^th anniversary in early January!) has meant to me. No matter how far along we get in our careers, it seems to be the case that most of our opportunities come by necessity from our own initiative; so for Jen to reach out to me to recruit me to write for the Post remains one of my absolute career highlights. And that’s not even the best thing Jen has done for my career—for that, I would point to her consistently thoughtful editing work with my column drafts, not only to improve my style and voice in the ways I discussed in yesterday’s post (although that for sure), but also and especially to keep me thinking about the Post’s audience and how I can best reach them. Public scholarship requires us to really engage the public, any and all audiences we can find, and there could be no better editor for that process than what Jen has been for me.

Last anniversary tribute tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Please feel free to say hi and share any blog responses or ideas in comments!

November 5, 2025: 15 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: Avi Green’s Aid

[15 years ago this week, I started this here public scholarly blog. There have been lots of twists and turns since, and the best ones have been aided & abetted by wonderful folks. So for my 15^th (!) anniversary series, I wanted to pay tribute to a handful of those moments and people, leading up to a special weekend tribute to my first and best reader!]

I wrote at great length in this May 2017 post—part of a weeklong series on my work for and with the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN)—on the vital role that SSN, and especially its then-Media Director (later Executive Director) Avi Green, played in the single most crucial turning point in my online public scholarly writing career. I hope you’ll check out that post, but I do want to quickly follow up on one specific phrase: “after ruthlessly and crucially forcing me to cut it down and make it more engaging.” I’d like to think that the evolution of my style and voice, from their very academic starting point (I hope that dissertation/first book of mine did feature readable academic prose, but still, very academic indeed) to where they are now, took place gradually and consistently and with plenty of my own input as well as that of many other folks. But having to revise a specific piece very quickly, based on very direct and blunt (in the best ways) feedback from Avi, was a trial by fire—and the results, as I detail in that post, were so striking as to leave no doubt that the work was worth it. I’ve never looked back.

Next anniversary tribute tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Please feel free to say hi and share any blog responses or ideas in comments!

November 4, 2025: 15 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: Heather Cox Richardson’s Help

[15 years ago this week, I started this here public scholarly blog. There have been lots of twists and turns since, and the best ones have been aided & abetted by wonderful folks. So for my 15^th (!) anniversary series, I wanted to pay tribute to a handful of those moments and people, leading up to a special weekend tribute to my first and best reader!]

I said much of what I’d want to say about the role Heather Cox Richardson and her The Historical Society website played in the evolution of my own blogging and public scholarship in this November 2023 anniversary post. But I didn’t say clearly enough there a crucial reason why Heather and her site’s reaching out and sharing my work and voice were so meaningful—because her book The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901 (2001) was a model for me of accessible yet thoroughly analytical academic writing, skills she had only enhanced with a then-recent project like Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre (2010). For such an impressive and well-established academic scholar to be both thinking about public scholarly and online work and supporting and championing mine was without question a push I needed to take my career to the next stage.

Next anniversary tribute tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Please feel free to say hi and share any blog responses or ideas in comments!

November 3, 2025: 15 Years (!) of AmericanStudying: Rob Velella’s Role Modeling

[15 years ago this week, I started this here public scholarly blog. There have been lots of twists and turns since, and the best ones have been aided & abetted by wonderful folks. So for my 15^th (!) anniversary series, I wanted to pay tribute to a handful of those moments and people, leading up to a special weekend tribute to my first and best reader!]

Eight years ago, as part of my 7^th anniversary series, I paid tribute to Rob Velella, and started that post by highlighting what his American Literary Blog meant to me as I was starting my own public scholarly blog. I honestly don’t remember how Rob and I got connected, but I believe it was when he responded positively on Twitter when I first started sharing my blog posts (January 2011, that would have been). I know he was entirely supportive of this new AmericanStudies blog that seemed similar to his, which had been around for about a year by that point; he easily could have seen mine as a competitor, but that ain’t Rob’s style. If Rob’s blog provided an excellent role model for the kind of short-form daily public scholarly writing I was hoping to do, his actions, conversations, and whole online public scholarly identity offered crucial role models of their own. I’m sure I would have muddled through those layers of this new stage of my career and life in any case, but I’m equally sure that they wouldn’t have been as successful, and I know they wouldn’t have been as enjoyable. I’m forever grateful to Rob for helping get them off to a start that was both, and remains so these 15 years later.

Next anniversary tribute tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Please feel free to say hi and share any blog responses or ideas in comments!

October 25-26, 2025: My Favorite Civil Engineer!

[On October 26, 1825, the Erie Canal officially opened. So this week, I’ve honored the 200^th anniversary of that huge & hugely important project by highlighting a handful of figures connected to it, leading up to this special weekend tribute to my favorite current civil engineer!]

As will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, I’ve had the chance to highlight my older son Aidan’s ongoing personal and pre-professional interest in civil engineering many times, both in this space (which is the case for the prior two hyperlinks as well) and in my Saturday Evening Post Considering History column. But I couldn’t end a blog series on a civil engineering project without paying tribute to Aidan, and want in particular to highlight two different ways I’ve learned a lot in recent months from his ongoing experiences:

1)      This past Spring semester, the second in his first year at Vanderbilt, Aidan took a wonderful class on Urban Ecologies. Toward the end of that class, he wrote an amazing paper analyzing multiple layers of the city’s histories through pictures of one particular spot, connecting them through a fascinating and compelling overarching use of the concept of a palimpsest. The paper was entirely successful for its focal assignment, but it also significantly shifted my own perspective on not just the landscapes around us, but on how we can use that palimpsest framing to analyze community and history alike. Which is, I would argue, a profoundly important question for civil engineers as well as for all the rest of us!

2)      Over the summer, Aidan got to continue working on a couple engineering projects with Vanderbilt faculty, grad students, and fellow undergrads; he was able to do that work virtually and thus live with us back in Massachusetts while doing so, and as his Dad I’ll admit that was my favorite part of the experience! My second favorite part was seeing how much he enjoyed and threw himself into the work, which renewed my confidence that he’s in the right major (for now, obviously these things can and often do change). But I also greatly enjoyed seeing the true diversity of engineering projects that this pair reflect: one is focused on testing how smartwatches can measure heat’s effect on the wearer’s body; and the other is a study of traffic patterns at a particular Nashville intersection and what they reveal about transportation in the city more broadly. Canvass White and Ely Parker would approve!  

Next series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think?

September 5, 2025: Fall Semester Previews: The Boys in College!

[This week, I start my 21^st year at Fitchburg State! So as usual, I’ll offer some previews of the semester ahead, this time focusing on individual moments I’m looking forward to in each class. Leading up to a weekend update on my plans for season 2 of my podcast!]

Last Fall, I ended my Fall semester preview series with a post sharing my excitement about my older son Aidan’s first semester in college. He had a great Fall, and a great first year overall, which makes me that much more excited for this Fall when we’re doubling up the excitement: Aidan will be starting his second year at Vanderbilt; and my younger son Kyle will be starting his own first year at Michigan. In a very special Saturday Evening Post Considering History column this past June, I reflected on just how much I’ve learned about American history and stories from the boys’ academic experiences, and I ended that post with a Native American poet and artist (Tommy Pico) about whom I learned from one of Aidan’s first-year classes. I’m sure there will be a lot more such lessons across both boys’ semester and years, and I look forward to sharing some of them with y’all here!

Special post this weekend,

Ben

PS. What do y’all have coming up?

August 22, 2025: University of Michigan Studying: Uncle Peter

[Later this week, we’ll be moving my younger son Kyle into his first-year dorm at Michigan. So this week, through proud Dad tears, I’ll share a handful of UMichigan contexts, leading up to a special post on some of Kyle’s plans there!]

I couldn’t dedicate a weeklong series to the University of Michigan without highlighting my other favorite member of its community, my uncle Peter Railton. Peter is just 15 months younger than his oldest brother, my late Dad Steve Railton (they also have two younger siblings, my uncle Mark and aunt Janet), and so for me he will always be first and foremost a wonderful reminder of so much of what I love about my Dad as well. But Peter is also one of our most important philosophers, not only academically but also in our public conversations—never more so than in his justifiably famous 2015 Dewey Lecture on his lifelong struggle with depression. I’m honored to call him my uncle, and very excited that Kyle will be joining him in the Michigan community!

Special post this weekend,

Ben

PS. What do you think?

July 26-27, 2025: A Tribute to the U.S. Postal Service

[On July 26, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the United States postal system. So this week for the 250^th anniversary I’ve AmericanStudied that moment and other histories and stories of the USPS, leading up to this weekend tribute to these vital federal workers!]

Back in March, around the 90^th anniversary of President Roosevelt’s Executive Order creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA), I focused a Saturday Evening Post Considering History column on the many federal workers whom that program created and supported, and most especially on their enduring legacies for all Americans. That moment represented one of the biggest amplifications of the federal workforce in our history, while the U.S. Postal Service is very much the opposite: a community of dedicated federal workers that has endured for 250 years, doing its work in every moment, no matter what else has been unfolding (forget rain or hail or snow, I’m talking depressions and wars and natural disasters). And, even more impressively and importantly still, doing so for every corner of this ginormous country, from the heart of our most crowded cities to the quietest roads in our most rural spaces. Hell, for a long time Alaskan mail carriers used sled dogs to deliver the mail! The recent spate of attacks on federal workers, led by the Trump administration and its DOGE extremists, has reflected just how fully and frustratingly we take that community of workers’ efforts and legacies for granted, and I don’t think that’s anywhere more obvious than with postal workers. May we better remember and appreciate this longstanding, enduring, and crucial community of workers!

Next series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Postal histories or stories you’d share?

June 7-8, 2025: What’s Next for Kyle

[This past weekend, my younger son and co-favorite-Guest Poster Kyle Railton graduated from high school. As I wiped away proud Dad tears, this week I’ve AmericanStudied a handful of texts and contexts for this momentous occasion—leading up to this special weekend post on what’s next for the new grad!]

After the multi-year, multi-part, multi-emotion process that is the college search, with just a few days remaining until the May 1^st deadline, Kyle committed to the University of Michigan! I’d say that I don’t know what makes me prouder, that he’ll be attending one of the nation’s top public universities or that he navigated the process and decision so thoughtfully, but the truth is I didn’t need any of that to be as proud as punch of my amazing, inspiring younger son. You know I’ll keep you all posted on all that’s next for both him and his brother!

Next series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Graduation texts or topics you’d share?

May 16, 2025: Spring Semester Reflections: Student Tributes to Dad

[About halfway through the Spring 2025 semester, I lost my Dad. While that was of course the semester’s most defining moment, it also allowed me to reflect for the remaining weeks on my own teaching in relationship to one of the most dedicated and talented teachers I’ve ever known. So for this semester reflections series, I want to highlight one moment from each class where I’d say I particularly felt my Dad’s presence.]

I did teach one other course this semester, an Accelerated Online section of The Short Story that started after Spring Break. But in lieu of a post focused on that class, I wanted to use this last post in the series to highlight a few Bluesky threads where folks—many of them former students—shared tributes to my Dad.

This original one: https://bsky.app/profile/americanstudier.bsky.social/post/3ljgoh56ixk2y

This follow-up: https://bsky.app/profile/americanstudier.bsky.social/post/3ljkjgk2xbs2b

and this one from his former grad student Ryan Cordell: https://bsky.app/profile/ryancordell.org/post/3ljgpguto3224

He was loved, as much as a teacher and mentor as he was as a husband, father, grandfather, and man.

Preview post this weekend,

Ben

PS. Spring semester reflections you’d share?

March 15-16, 2025: Reflections of a College Dad

[With one son in college and another about to be, Spring Break is a lot more than just a concept or a professional reality for this AmericanStudier. So this week I’ve AmericanStudied a handful of cinematic portrayals of Spring Break, leading up to these weekend reflections on being a college Dad!]

On three of the countless moments across this year (to date) that I’ve been pleasantly reminded of my changed circumstances (I’ll spare y’all the sadder reminders).

1)      Stadium Spotting: As I’ve mentioned here a couple times, my older son is a first-year at Vanderbilt, where he’s been having a truly phenomenal time on all counts. One of the most unexpected and delightful of those counts was the football team’s surprisingly successful season, which included a truly historic upset win over Alabama. My son was able to be in the student section for that win and most every other of their home games this year, which led to a new favorite pastime for his brother and me: seeing if we could find him amidst the student section hordes when they were shown on the TV broadcasts. I can’t lie, my son’s younger eyes were much better at that game than his Dad’s, but we both did eventually manage to spot him each and every time—and for a Dad missing his son acutely, those were certainly moving moments indeed.

2)      Professorial Props: My son is a Civil Engineering Major, so many of his classes during this first year have been quite different from any that I teach (or took back in the day). But as part of his Fall semester, he did take a Literature and the Environment course that was one of his favorites of the year (I genuinely believe that’s the case, biased as I might also be), and indeed has helped convince him to add an Environmental Studies Minor. Moreover, the class even taught his AmericanStudying Dad a thing or two, including introducing me to a contemporary indigenous poet I had never previously know about (Tommy Pico). So once the semester was done and grades were in and there was hopefully no danger of being perceived as one of “those parents,” I shot the professor a quick note to let her know how much both my son and I had enjoyed this class (she was as appreciative as I would have been to get such a note). Felt very much like multiple layers of my identity connecting at once in the best possible ways.

3)      Country Concert: I hope it goes without saying, for a young person embarking on their college career in Nashville, that my son has gotten to lots of concerts this year. But I can’t lie, I’m most excited about a concert that’s coming up in just over a month—thanks to my wife and me (mainly her, as it was her awesome idea), his brother will be flying down for the weekend and the two of them will be seeing one of our recent favs, the great Kane Brown, perform in the city in which he and my son both live. I’m not ready to say goodbye to my younger son yet (or, well, ever), but if this is going to be a preview of a world in which they both are in college, then it might as well be such a fun preview!

Next series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think, fellow college parents and all?

February 20, 2025: Places I Love and Hate: Philly

[For this year’s installment in my annual anti-favorites series, I wanted to complicate things a bit, considering places from across my life with which I have love/hate relationships. I’d love to hear your own complex (or simple!) anti-favorites, whether places or anything else, for the crowd-sourced weekend airing of grievances!]

On frustrating attitudes, fantastic academics, and a secret third thing.

I used to think it was probably apocryphal, but apparently it’s entirely real: in the 1970s, a billboard on the highway leading into Philly, sponsored by the civic group Action Philadelphia which was seeking to drum up tourism for the city, featured the slogan “Philadelphia Isn’t as Bad as Philadelphians Say It is.” Obviously that was a joke and thus a hyperbolic portrayal of local attitudes and narratives, but like many jokes, this one was definitely also a reflection of reality. I’ve never lived anywhere where the locals had a more consistently and comprehensively negative self-image than did Philadelphia and Philadelphians during the few years I spent there (as a grad student at Temple University), and for a congenital optimist like myself, encountering that attitude toward my home and our shared city on the regular was a pretty painful thing to experience.

On the other hand, one of my very favorite people and certainly one of my favorite fellow academics is a local Philadelphian born and bred. I’ve featured Jeff Renye quite a bit in this space, from multiple awesome Guest Posts to my own impassioned tribute to his awesomeness (since I made that plea, he has indeed gotten a full-time teaching gig, in the UPenn Writing Program). I don’t think I’ve said it specifically or overtly on any of those prior occasions, but Jeff is profoundly interconnected with Philly, and I don’t just mean because I met him in grad school there and he became a guide to much of the city for me (although that’s certainly the case)—I mean because I think the best of Philly and its ethos, of what the city stands for (compared for example to more smug and self-confident places like Boston and New York), is captured by Jeff and his work and identity alike.

Those two paragraphs capture the duality of this place pretty well, I’d say. But I would add this: one of my favorite places in Philly is a relatively unknown historic site that’s drastically overshadowed by the more famous and to my mind less interesting ones located nearby. I really love the Benjamin Franklin Museum and would recommend it to any visitor to historic Philly—but nearly all such visitors, it seems to me, stay in the area of neighboring sites like Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, which are certainly historic but much less interesting in their presentation and exhibits than the museum. And that sums it up too, perhaps—Philly has tons of great stuff, but you’ve got to work a bit harder to find it, and you’ve got to make it through the self-deprecating narratives to do so.

Next love/hate place tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Anti-favorites you’d share?

February 15-16, 2025: One More Love Letter to the Big Easy

[Last month I got to return to my favorite American city for the 2025 MLA Convention. So for this year’s Valentine’s Day series I’ve offered some love letters to what makes New Orleans so unique, leading up to this special tribute post!]

On a few more magical moments my wife and I experienced on our January visit.

1)      A Food Find: It will come as no surprise to anyone with even a passing familiarity with New Orleans that we ate very well throughout the trip. But while that was true of the expected spots, especially those throughout the Quarter and environs, what really makes NOLA so delicious is the culinary perfection awaiting in even seemingly out-of-the-way spots. Probably the best meal we had on the whole trip was at one such spot, Blue Oak BBQ; not gonna say anything else, other than go if you get the chance!

2)      Musical Moments: We experienced plenty of planned moments of musical magic on our trip, including a jazz cruise on the city’s only working steamboat (the Natchez) and a jazz concert at the legendary Preservation Hall. But my favorite music (or least music-adjacent) moment was the kind of spontaneous one you can only find in NOLA—I was buying a copy of Wendell Pierce’s The Wind in the Reeds in a used bookstore, and the employee told me that his uncle is none other than Deacon John Moore, the wonderful jazz musician who guest-starred as Pierce’s trombone teacher on Treme!

3)      Great Galleries: For whatever reason, on my earlier visits to New Orleans I hadn’t spent much time in art galleries, but this time we were drawn to multiple of them as we walked the French Quarter, encountering works by profoundly talented artists in the process. I don’t remember any specifics, but that’s at least partly my point—these weren’t planned or pre-scheduled visits to places or works we already knew, they were just impromptu walk-ins that gifted us with beautiful art in compelling spaces. I recommend you do the same if you get the chance!

4)      A Moving Museum: By far the most moving experience we had on our trip was another entirely unplanned one: not long after our initial arrival, we followed signs to The Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum in the heart of the Quarter. Everything therein was striking and impressive, but I’d highlight two exhibits in particular: the absolutely heartbreaking Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration; and the evocative Prospect.6: Gesture to Home, artist Didier William’s contribution to the city-wide Prospect New Orleans project.

5)      A Missed but Still Meaningful Second Line: The Sunday during our visit featured a Second Line, a unique part of New Orleans culture that I’ve never gotten to see in person (despite loving every one featured on Treme). Unfortunately the timing was too tight with our Preservation Hall concert, and after waiting for a while to catch a glimpse of the Line, we had to leave before it arrived. But every part of the experience still felt meaningful, from walking through Armstrong Park and Treme to get to our viewing spot, to waiting out there with the folks preparing food and playing music and adding their own contributions to the day and city. In its own very real and very moving way, one of my favorite moments ever in my favorite city (and with my favorite person)!

Anti-favorites series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Cities you’d love on?

February 8-9, 2025: Inspiring Sports Stories: Aidan and Kyle Railton

[For this year’s Super Bowl series, I wanted to highlight inspiring American sports stories and figures, past and present. Leading up to a special pre-Valentine’s tribute to my two favorite American athletes!]

I could write about my sons in every post and ad nauseum (probably literally for y’all, but #sorrynotsorry), but here I’ll restrain myself and just a highlight a few of the many reasons why I’m so proud of their athletic accomplishments:

1)      Aidan’s Guest Post on Strava and social media in running;

2)      Kyle’s current role as an Indoor Track captain;

3)      Aidan’s blossoming connection to the Vanderbilt University Running Club, for which he’s already a leader as a freshman;

4)      And Kyle’s commitment to mentoring and teaching younger runners, the subject of one of his phenomenal college application essays.

Valentine’s series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Inspiring sports stories or figures you’d highlight?

February 7, 2025: Inspiring Sports Stories: FSU Student-Athletes

[For this year’s Super Bowl series, I wanted to highlight inspiring American sports stories and figures, past and present. Leading up to a special pre-Valentine’s tribute to my two favorite American athletes!]

As I near the conclusion of my 20^th (!) year at Fitchburg State University, I wanted to share quick examples of a handful of the many amazing student-athletes I’ve taught across those two decades. These folks stand out for their record-breaking accomplishments, but they also represent the vast majority of such student-athletes at FSU, a school that can’t offer athletic scholarships, that still demands an exceptionally challenging balance of its student-athletes, and that would be infinitely impoverished without folks such as these:

1)      Amy Fahey

2)      Aidan Hanratty

3)      Diana Okongo

4)      Cameron Monette

5)      Oliver Cookson

6)      Jenna Morse

Special post this weekend,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Inspiring sports stories or figures you’d highlight?