September 30-October 1, 2023: September 2023 Recap

[A Recapof the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

September4: Fall Semester Previews: Ethnic American Literature: For this semester’spreviews series I focused on ongoing challenges, starting with teaching EthnicAmerican lit & history in 2023.

September5: Fall Semester Previews: English Studies Capstone: The series continueswith how to frame and teach a future-focused class in a moment when the futureis so fraught.

September6: Fall Semester Previews: First-Year Writing I: Teaching writing in theage of ChatGPT, as the series previews on.

September7: Fall Semester Previews: American Lit Online: A continued challenge ofonline-only teaching, and one for which I’d love ideas and perspectives!

September8: Fall Semester Previews: Departmental Program Review: The seriesconcludes with ongoing departmental work for the year and why it matters somuch.

September9-10: Update on My Current Book Project: And speaking of ongoing work, asemi-update on and request for connections with my new book project.

September11: AmericanStudying The Rising: “Into the Fire” and “The Rising”: ASeptember 11th series on Springsteen’s amazing cultural response tothat tragedy starts with two complementary but also contrasting ways to seefirefighters and their families.

September12: AmericanStudying The Rising: “Paradise” and “Worlds Apart”: The seriescontinues with two very different ways that TheRising pushes past stereotypes of Muslims.

September13: AmericanStudying The Rising: “You’re Missing” and “Mary’s Place”: Apair of couplets that reflect two sides of loss and griefs, as the series riseson.

September14: AmericanStudying The Rising: “The Fuse” and “Let’s Be Friends (Skin toSkin)”: In response to a frustrating current controversy, two Bruce songsthat remind us of the vital role of cultural works about sex in challengingtimes.

September15: AmericanStudying The Rising: “My City of Ruins” and “Superman (It’s NotEasy)”: The series concludes with two accidentally resonant songs thathighlight how art can radically change meaning alongside unfolding histories.

September18: AmericanStudying the Panic of 1873: Two Fires: For the 150thanniversary of its starting point, a series on the Panic of 1873 kicks off withtwo disasters that helped set the stage for that crash.

September19: AmericanStudying the Panic of 1873: The Coinage Act: The seriescontinues with a controversial 1873 law and the causes and contingencies ofhistory.

September20: AmericanStudying the Panic of 1873: Two Panics: What was quite similarand what importantly distinct about two 19th century Panics, as theseries rolls on.

September21: AmericanStudying the Panic of 1873: The Railroad Strike: How a hugelyimportant national labor action was influenced by the Panic, and vice versa.

September22: AmericanStudying the Panic of 1873: Anti-Chinese Prejudice: The seriesconcludes with the Panic’s key role in three stages of the evolvinganti-Chinese movement.

September23-24: AmericanStudying the Panic of 1873: 2023 Connections: A specialweekend post on one overt and two more subtle (but perhaps even more important)echoes of the 1870s.

September25: Cultural Falls: Young Adult Lit: An autumn series on cultural images offalls kicks off with two young adult novels that fractured my innocencealongside that of their protagonists.

September26: Cultural Falls: American Pastoral: The series continues with PhilipRoth’s masterful historical novel which embodies both the extreme and thepoignant 60s losses of innocence.  

September27: Cultural Falls: The Body and Stand By Me: A novella and film adaptationthat, in their divergent portrayals of the loss of innocence, also reflect thecomplexities of adaptation, as the series falls on.

September28: Cultural Falls: Presumed Innocent: The legal thriller and filmadaptation that exemplify the multiple layers of revelations about innocenceand guilt in the best mystery fiction.

September29: Cultural Falls: “American Pie”: The series and month conclude with thestraightforward and subtler sides to the famous ballad about individual andcultural losses of innocence.

Nextseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Topicsyou’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!