August 10, 2024: Birthday Bests: 2015-2016

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 47th 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 47 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, 39 favorite posts from the 2015-2016 year on the blog:

1)     Cape CodStories: The Changing Cape: One of my favorite things about bloggingremains the chance to explore in depth topics about which I thought I knew alot already—Cape Cod certainly qualifies, and this whole series was a wonderfulreminder of how much I have to learn.

2)     AmericanStudying9/11: The Siege: I can’t imagine a work of art, in any genre, that more Americansshould see and engage with in 2016 than Ed Zwick’s prescient 1998 film.

3)     GivenDays: The Great Molasses Flood: I never expected a Dennis Lehanenovel would give me a week’s worth of topics, but The Given Day did, and this largely forgotten historical momentstands out.

4)     SeptemberTexts: See You in September: Little inside blog-baseball here: sometimesI create a series and then see what might fill it. The results are alwayssurprising, and I hope as interesting to read as they are to search and write!

5)     AMST in2015: The chance to share great AmericanStudies voices and sites isalways welcome, and these three are just as worth your time in 2016!

6)     Before theRevolution: Crispus Attucks: Think you know all about Mr. Attucks, firstcasualty of the Revolution? Well, so did I until I researched and wrote thispost.

7)     SiobhanSenier’s Guest Post on Dawnland Voices: Voicesis one of the most important American anthologies ever published, and it was anhonor to share these thoughts by its editor.

8)     21stCentury Villains: Wilson Fisk: If I couldn’t write about an Americancharacter and performance as rich as Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, whymaintain this blog??

9)     American Inventors:Eli Whitney’s Effects: But at the same time, the cotton gin is justas crucial to a blog called AmericanStudies as is a streaming Netflix superheroshow!

10)  SHA FollowUps: Little Rock and Race: My first visit to Little Rock, for theSouthern Historical Association conference, was just as inspiring as you wouldexpect.

11)  CulturalThanks-givings: Longmire: Am I sharing this post only because I gotinto a Twitter conversation with Lou Diamond Phillips thanks to it? No, butthat doesn’t hurt!

12)  AmendmentStudying:On Not Taking the 13th Amendment for Granted: It’s noteasy to really think through all the paths American history could have taken,and why each moment is so complex and central. But it’s important that we try,as I did in this post.

13)  Circles ofFriends: The Darker Side of Friends: It’s also not easy to critique worksof art that give us pleasure, but just as important that we do so.

14)  Wishes forthe AmericanStudies Elves: Ida B. Wells’ Crossroads: There’sa reason this moment will be at the heart of my next book—there are few moreinspiring ones in our history.

15)  AmericanStudying2015: Trump: Hard to remember the way we felt about candidate Trump back inlate December—but even more crucial to AmericanStudy his unprecedented andhistorically horrific campaign now, of course.

16)  DisneyStudying:Tom Sawyer Island: If you guessed that my first trip to DisneyWorld would yield some rich AmericanStudies topics, well, you guessed right!

17)  21stCentury Civil Rights: An MLK Day series concluded with some of themany current fronts in the ongoing battle for civil rights and equality forall.

18)  ColonialWilliamsburg: The Governor’s Palace Maze: There’s nothing quite likeresearching and writing a blog post about a favorite childhood place.

19)  FootballDebates: Missouri Activism Update: Our 24-hour news cycle culture movesway too quickly past stories on which we should linger—and the Missourifootball team’s inspiring activism is one such story to be sure.

20)  TeacherTributes: My Fiancé: Every post in this week of teacher tributeswas special to me—but this Valentine’s Day post remains one of my favorites inthe blog’s history.

21)  AmericanStudyingNon-favorites: “Africa” and Graceland: Paul Simon fans didn’t appreciatethis one so much, and I got some reasoned and convincing pushback—but I stillwould call Simon’s album dangerously close to cultural appropriation.

22)  RapReadings: Macklemore, J. Cole, and #BlackLivesMatter: This wasa seriously fun series to think about and write, and these are songs andartists well worth your time.

23)  MontrealMemories: Anglais and French: I took a lot away from my first trip toMontreal, but perhaps most striking was the multi-lingual model the city offersus in the US.

24)  PuertoRican Posts: The Statehood Debate: We’ve recently seen anothertroubling moment in this evolving and too-often-overlooked American history.

25)  NeMLARecaps: Many Thanks: I loved everything about my NeMLA conferencein Hartford, and about writing this recap series. But I have to highlight hereone more time my overwhelming gratitude for all those who made it happen andsupported it.

26)  19thCentury Humor: Melville’s Chimney: This deeply weird short story hadstuck with me for decades, and AmericanStudying it offered some much-neededanalytical therapy.

27)  RememberingReconstruction: The Civil Rights Act of 1866: The battle for whether and how weshould remember Reconstruction during its sesquicentennial will likely continuefor a good long while—and I fully expect to keep adding my voice to thatdebate.

28)  AmericanOutlaws: Bonnie and Clyde: One of those posts where I started in atotally different place from where the research and histories took me.

29)  21stCentury Patriots: Deepa Iyer: Highlighting contemporary critical patriotswas a lot of fun, and I’d emphasize in particular this increasingly vital newbook.

30)  ClassicalMusic Icons: Florence Foster Jenkins: Before you see the Meryl Streep movie,read the Ben Railton post!

31)  SemesterReflections: A Writing Associate in Major Authors: Theopportunity to share inspiring favorite FSU students is always a bloghighlight.

32)  AmericanStudying60s Rock: Jimi Hendrix’s Covers: From Florence Foster Jenkins to JimiHendrix—the six degrees of AmericanStudier!

33)  NewScholarly Books: Finding Light between the Pages: Youshould read all the wonderful books in this series—but for my birthday week,I’ll share this one on my own forthcoming project!

34)  The 1876Election and 2016: If you need any more reason to see thiselection as a crucial one, history offers us a compelling such argument.

35)  Crowd-sourcedBeach Reads: Crowd-sourced posts are always great, but the beach reads seriesbrings out a particularly wide and deep group of voices and nominees.

36)  ApologyStudying:Lessons from Canada: It can be tough to let current events impactthe blog when I’m trying to write and schedule them in advance—but it’s alwaysworthwhile, and this post and series are great illustrations of that.

37)  SummerStudying:Irony and “Summertime Sadness”: Cleanth Brooks, Emily Dickinson, T.SEliot, and Lana Del Rey—ain’t that AmericanStudies!

38)  Gone withthe Wind Turns 80: Revisiting Rhett Butler: I enjoyed the chance to revisit thesubject of my first article, and to see where my ideas have shifted and wherethey’ve endured.

39)  ModelingCritical Patriotism: Frederick Douglass’ July 4th Speech: Nobetter place to end this list than with a figure and text that offerpitch-perfect exemplification of all that I’m trying to do, here andeverywhere.

Nextbirthday best post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!