November 2-3, 2024: October 2024 Recap

[A Recapof the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

September30: 19th Century Baseball: A Contested Origin: Inspired by abicentennial birthday and connected to my new podcast, a series on 19C baseballkicked off with two interesting details about the contested story of the sport’sorigins.

October1: 19th Century Baseball: Henry Chadwick: For his 200thbirthday, the series continues with three ways the “Father of Baseball” helped shapethe sport and its stories.

October2: 19th Century Baseball: The Massachusetts Game: Three placesthat can help us better remember an alternative form of baseball, as the seriesplays on.

October3: 19th Century Baseball: The First Professionals: Four figureswho together help us chart the evolution of professional baseball in the late19th century.

October4: 19th Century Baseball: The Celestials: The series concludeswith two 19th century baseball context for the 1870s team at theheart of my podcast.

October5-6: My New Podcast!: And speaking of that podcast, a special weekend poston three takeaways from my first experience with the medium!

October7: Contested Holidays: Memorial/Decoration Day: Ahead of Columbus/IndigenousPeoples’ Day, a series on contested holidays kicks off with a couple additionalthoughts on my annual Memorial and Decoration Day post.

October8: Contested Holidays: The 4th of July: The series continueswith whether and how there’s a place for celebratory patriotism in our nationalcommemorations.

October9: Contested Holidays: Labor Day: The bare minimum for how we shouldcelebrate Labor Day and a couple steps beyond, as the series parties on.

October10: Contested Holidays: Thanksgiving/Day of Mourning: With Thanksgiving justa few weeks away, two ways we can be thankful while mourning.

October11: Contested Holidays: “The War on Christmas”: The series concludes withthree voices who can help us see through the “War on Christmas” canard.

October12-13: Contested Holidays: Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day: And for theholiday, a special weekend post on how my thinking on it has evolved over thelast decade, and one thing I’d still emphasize.

October14: Famous Phone Calls: The Great Gatsby: For the 75th anniversaryof a key stage in the technology, a series on American phone calls kicks offwith three phone calls at the heart of Fitzgerald’s portrayal of early 20CAmerica.  

October15: Famous Phone Calls: The Scream Films: The series continues with onething that’s really changed since the first of these phone-focused films, andone that hasn’t.

October16: Famous Phone Calls: Phone Songs: Five pop songs that call upon thistechnology, as the series rings on.

October17: Famous Phone Calls: “Madam and the Phone Bill”: A funny and fun poetic character,and the layers of meaning she reveals.

October18: Famous Phone Calls: The 2024 Election: With the election now just daysaway, the series concludes with how phone calls symbolize the striking contrastat the heart of this campaign.

October19-20: An AmericanStudier Tribute to the Phone: And on a more fullypositive note, what the phone has meant to me over the last decade of my lifeand relationships.

October21: Prison Stories: Dorothea Dix: For the 30th anniversary of asobering statistic, a PrisonStudying series kicks off with the activist fromwhom we still have a lot to learn.

October22: Prison Stories: Alcatraz: The series continues with why it’s okay toturn a prison into a tourist attraction, and what we can remember instead.

October23: Prison Stories: Ian Williams and Teaching in Prisons: Re-sharing one ofmy earliest posts, on a colleague and friend doing vital work in our prisons.

October24: Prison Stories: Johnny Cash: The message the Man in Black still has forus, if we can ever start to hear it, as the series rolls on.

October25: Prison Stories: The Inside Literary Prize: The series concludes with threequotes that together sum up why one of our newest prizes is also one of themost important ever.

October26-27: A PrisonStudying Reading List: And speaking of writing and reading,a weekend reminder that there’s always more we can read and learn.

October28: The Politics of Horror: Psycho and The Birds: We all know this year’sHalloween is interconnected with a very scary political season, so a series onthe politics of horror films kicks off with defamiliarization and prejudice inHitchcock.

October29: The Politics of Horror: Last House on the Left: The series continueswith a horror film that’s more disturbing in what it makes us cheer for.

October30: The Politics of Horror: Hostel and Taken: The horrifying xenophobia atthe heart of two of the 21st century’s biggest hits, as the seriesscreams on.

October31: The Politics of Horror: The Saw Series: Different visions of moralityin horror films and franchises, and whether they matter.

November1: The Politics of Horror: Recent Films: The series and month conclude withquick political takeaways from five new horror classics.

Electionseries starts Monday,

Ben

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