[A Recap
of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
May
5: The Works Progress Administration: EO 7034: A series for the WPA’s 90th
anniversary kicks off with three significant elements of the Executive Order
that established it.
May
6: The Works Progress Administration: My Column on Federal Workers: I
wanted to make sure to include as part of this series one of my recent Saturday
Evening Post Considering History columns on federal workers during
the Depression.
May
7: The Works Progress Administration: The Arts: The series continues with
three quotes that together help sum up the creation and arc of the WPA’s vital
artistic & cultural programs.
May
8: The Works Progress Administration: Iconic Individuals: Three iconic
& inspiring individuals linked to the WPA, as the series labors on.
May
9: The Works Progress Administration: Wartime Evolutions: The series
concludes with two distinct but interconnected ways the WPA evolved during
WWII, and what we can do with the combination.
May
10-11: A Works Progress Administration for the 21st Century:
Unlikely as the idea is in May 2025, a special follow-up post making the case
for a new WPA!
May
12: Spring Semester Reflections: Major American Authors of the 20th
Century: For this year’s Spring semester reflections series, I paid tribute
to my late Dad’s presence in my courses, starting with a Langston Hughes poem I
taught the day after he passed.
May
13: Spring Semester Reflections: American Literature II: I also taught Gatsby
the day after Dad passed, so shared how a debate I had with him helped shape
my teaching.
May
14: Spring Semester Reflections: First-Year Writing II: The series
continues with how I got to feature my Dad’s work in my FYW courses.
May
15: Spring Semester Reflections: Graduate Research Methods: My Dad’s focus
on psychoanalytical theory isn’t my own, but I found a way to include it in my
Grad course nonetheless.
May
16: Spring Semester Reflections: Student Tributes to Dad: The series
concludes with a handful of moving tributes to my Dad as a teacher from former
students.
May
17-18: What’s Next: And a weekend follow-up post highlighting three things
I’m looking forward to in the Fall semester!
May
19: Malcolm X’s 100th: The Autobiography: For Malcolm Little’s
100th birthday, a series on cultural representations of Malcolm kicks
off the complicated layers to his own text.
May
20: Malcolm X’s 100th: An Opera: The series continues with two
distinct and equally important ways to contextualize the opera X (1986).
May
21: Malcolm X’s 100th: Lee’s Film: Three interesting contexts
for Spike Lee’s epic 1992 biopic, as the series marches on.
May
22: Malcolm X’s 100th: A Cameo in Selma: Malcolm isn’t a main
focus of Ava DuVernay’s film, but his powerful scene reflects the film’s overall
goals.
May
23: Malcolm X’s 100th: One Night in Miami: The series concludes
with a recent film adaptation that embodies the important goal of humanizing
our heroes.
May
24-25: Malcolm X’s 100th: Malcolm in 2025: A special weekend
follow-up post highlighting three lessons we can learn from Malcolm in 2025!
May
26: 2020s Blockbusters: Top Gun: Maverick: A Memorial Day series on recent
summer blockbusters kicks off with a problem & a possibility with our
cultural moment of ubiquitous sequels.
May
27: 2020s Blockbusters: Inside Out 2: The series continues with two
distinct ways to contextualize the highest-grossing film of 2024.
May
28: 2020s Blockbusters: Jurassic World: What’s not new in the recent Jurassic
Park films and what is, as the series explodes on.
May
29: 2020s Blockbusters: Barbie: What I liked a lot about the recent mega-blockbuster,
and what I loved.
May
30: 2020s Blockbusters: Live Action Disney: The series and month conclude
with three ways to explain the large and growing corpus of live-action remakes
of animated films.
Next
series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Topics
you’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!
