April 1-2, 2017: March 2017 Recap

[A Recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]March 6: AmericanStudies Events: The American Dream at Leominster Library: A series reflecting on recent talks starts with what I tried to bring and what I took away from a community conversation.March 7: AmericanStudies Events: Exclusion and Inclusion at the Monadnock Inn: The series continues with an inspiring conversation that has helped kick-start my next book.March 8: AmericanStudies Events: Twain as Public Scholar at the Mark Twain House: Three inspiring layers to one of my favorite talks to date, as the series rolls on. March 9: AmericanStudies Events: Why We Teach at BOLLI: What’s unique about Brandeis’ adult learning program, and what I’ve already learned from it.March 10: AmericanStudies Events: Looking for More!: The series concludes with a request for more opportunities for talks, panels, and events!March 11-12: NeMLA 2017 Preview: A preview of the newest initiative at the 2017 NeMLA conference—for reflections on which see this coming Monday’s post!March 13: Andrew Jackson’s America: Jacksonian Democracy: A series inspired by Jackson’s 250th birthday starts with what’s accurate and what’s left out of a central part of his legacy.March 14: Andrew Jackson’s America: Indian Removal: The series continues with what’s unquestionably horrific about Jackson’s signature policy, and what might have been different.March 15: Andrew Jackson’s America: The Bank Battle: Three lesser-remembered moments in Jackson’s crusade against the Second Bank of the US, as the series rolls on.March 16: Andrew Jackson’s America: Dueling Histories: What two of Jackson’s many duels help us see about the activity and the man.March 17: Andrew Jackson’s America: The $20 Bill: The series concludes with three historical ironies surrounding Jackson’s presence (for now!) on the twenty.March 18-19: Andrew Jackson and Donald Trump: A special post on what links and what separates the two polarizing presidents.March 20: Spring in America: Williams and Eliot: A spring series starts with two Modernist poets that offer contrasting yet complementary images of hope.March 21: Spring in America: “Appalachian Spring”: The series continues with the composer and work that helped bring classical music to America, and vice versa.March 22: Spring in America: “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”: A simple and vital song that captures the essence of protest music, as the series rocks on.March 23: Spring in America: Children’s Stories: Frog and Toad, Abdul Gasazi, and two sides to images of spring in children’s literature.March 24: Spring in America: The Mayflower and the Maypole: The series concludes with two contrasting narratives of spring for New England’s earliest English arrivals.March 25-26: Crowd-sourced Spring: Fellow AmericanStudiers share their images and associations of spring—add yours in comments, please!March 27: Televised Fools: Catastrophe: An April Fool’s series on recent comedy on TV starts with three contexts for the raunchy Amazon original series.March 28: Televised Fools: Master of None: The series continues with what’s groundbreaking and what’s not about Aziz Ansari’s Netflix series.March 29: Televised Fools: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Two characters who walk the fine line between humor and offensiveness, as the series rolls on.March 30: Televised Fools: Archer: The pleasures and limits of parody, and a show that transcends both.March 31: Televised Fools: Social Satire: The series concludes with four shows from which we can learn a great deal about our society and culture.Next series starts Monday,BenPS. Topics you’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!