August 18, 2023: Birthday Bests: 2021-2022

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrated his 46th birthday.So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts fromeach year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 46 favorites from the lastyear. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi andtell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyedhere, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here theyare, 45 favorite posts from my 12th year of AmericanStudying:

1)     August 27:American Teens: John Hughes Films: A series inspired by my pair of highschoolers concluded with this fun way to reconsider classic 80s films.

2)     September11-12: Tayna Roth’s Guest Post on “The Real Miss America”: I’vehad a ton of great Guest Posts this year, and you’d better believe I’m gonnahighlight them all, starting with this one drawn from Tanya’s excellent newbook!

3)     September18-19: Domestic Terrorism: 9/11 and 1/6: I’ve spent a lot of time this yearthinking and talking about January 6th, 2021, including in thiscomparative weekend post.

4)     September24: American Modernists: F. Scott Fitzgerald: Want to read Fitzgerald beyond Gatsby? This phenomenal short story is agood place to start.

5)     October 8:AmericanFires: The Great Chicago Fire: I promise I won’t use much of thisspace to promote my Saturday Evening Postcolumns, but this one lined up really well with a blog series.

6)     October15: SitcomStudying: We Love Lucy: Getting to revisit and rethinkfamiliar subjects is one of the real perks of this blog, and I enjoyed thechance to AmericanStudy I Love Lucy.

7)     October19: Work in Progress: Lesson Plan for CT Humanities: A funstory of the long afterlife of one of my first online pieces—and now I canshare the lessonplan itself!

8)     November3: Action Figures: Charles Bronson and Death Wish: In aseries inspired by Bronson’s 100th birthday, it was fun to exploreand challenge my preconceptions about his seminal film.

9)     November13-14: 11th Anniversary Tributes: Gotta share my tribute to what theRailton family have meant to this blog (and beyond)!

10)  November20-21: The Montgomery Bus Boycott: 21st Century Legacies &Echoes: There are lots of good reasons to learn history, but high on thelist has to be what it can help us understand in our own moment.

11)  November27-28: Emily Lauer’s Guest Post on Afrofuturism in Museums: Emily ismy first three-time Guest Poster, and since she keeps doing such great work, Icouldn’t be happier about that!

12)  December4-5: Crowd-sourced Online Reading List: I ended a series for ProjectGutenberg’s 50th birthday by sharing these recommendations fromfellow OnlineAmericanStudiers.

13)  December13: Fall Semester Recaps: First Year Experience Seminar: FYE wasa tough class to teach and an even tougher one to get right—but when I did, itsure felt extra meaningful and helpful.

14)  December20: Wishes for the AMST Elves: Higher Ed Funding: Thiswhole series was fun to write as ever, but this is the most universallyrelevant for my week’s wishes to be sure.

15)  December27: Year in Review: The Braves: Celebrating yet also critiquing thesurprising success of a favorite team—that’s the AmericanStudier way!

16)  December31: Year in Review: New Novels: I don’t get to read for pleasure toomuch 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 researchspecific years for the blog, and this discovery about Grant’s second vicepresident was no exception.

18)  January14: Women in Politics: Shirley Chisholm’s Campaigns: Runningfor president was just the tip of the iceberg of Chisholm’s impressivepolitical and activist career.

19)  January25: American Gangsters: Capturing Capone: Any time I get to write aboutTintin, I promise to share it in these series!

20)  January31: Bill MurrayStudying: Tootsie: Ditto any time I get to write aboutone of my favorite 80s films and how it (mostly) still holds up.

21)  February12-13: Kurtis Kendall’s Guest Post on Athlete Activism: Andreally really ditto when I’m sharing a Guest Post from an FSU English Studiesalum!

22)  February19-20: More Podcasts We Love: Please check out all the podcastshighlighted in this weeklong series—and now here’s my ownepisode of Drafting the Past!

23)  February22: Non-Favorite Myths: The Supreme Court: One of those times I really wish Ihad been less prescient in my analyses and predictions about our currentclimate.

24)  March 5-6:Megan Kate Nelson’s New Book on Yellowstone: Always great when I can end a seriesby highlighting a wonderful new book from a friend!

25)  March 11:The Pacific Theater: “I Shall Return”: Douglas MacArthur, quite theasshole but still a powerfully inspiring leader as well. Such is theAmericanStudying dance!

26)  March 21:Rock and Roll Groundbreakers: The Moondog Coronation Ball: If youthought I was going to miss a chance to write “Moondog Coronation Ball” acouple more times—well, you thought wrong.

27)  March 28:Stand-Up Studying: Anthony Jeselnik: Few things better than getting toanalyze a cultural work you love, and finding new layers in the process.

28)  April9-10: Arbor Day Activists: One of the people most responsible for ArborDay’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 fascinatingstuff about the 1897 Boston Marathon—here’s just some of it.

30)  April23-24: Tiffany Chenault’s Guest Post: Boston Marathon RECAP: Myfriend and SSN Boston co-leader Tiffany ran her first Boston this year, and hada lot of great thoughts about the experience!

31)  April 26:Ulysses Grant Studying: His Book: Dedicating a whole series to theunderappreciated Grant was fun, and I learned a lot, as illustrated by thispost on his wonderful memoirs.

32)  May 7-8:Scholarship on Internment: I’ll never pass up a chance to re-uphighlights of favorite scholarly voices and works!

33)  May 14-15:Spring Semester Reflections: Adult Ed and Two Sandlots: Gettingto 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 thanjust her most famous flights.

35)  May 28-29:Sydney Kruszka’s Guest Post: Why We Should All Read Maus: I’vebeen able to share three Guest Posts now from students taught by my friendRobin 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 JudyGarland was in Judgment—much less howstunningly good her performance was.

37)  June11-12: LGBTQ Icons: Garland was also an icon and inspiration tothe 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 Hillermanadaptation Dark Winds recently out,it was fun to dip back into a childhood favorite.

39)  June25-26: 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 manyother Vegas songs.

40)  July 9-10:4th of July Contexts: Patriotism in 2022 America: Do Ineed 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 muchabout my subject for the day.

42)  July 19:UtahStudying: National Parks: Lots in this one I enjoyed learning, but I’msharing mostly for the unforgettable quote about Bryce Canyon and cows.

43)  July 26:Christmas (Songs) in July: “Winter Wonderland” and “Jingle Bells”: Youknow you want to read about how I AmericanStudied those holiday classics—inJuly!

44)  August 1:AmericanPhones: The Great Gatsby: Had a Gatsby post in my first few inthis list, gotta have one in my last few as well. Rules are rules.

45)  August6-7: Hettie Williams’ Guest Post on Beyoncé’s Renaissance: Alwaysexcited when I can end a list like this with my newest Guest Post!

Newestbday post this weekend,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!