[A Recap
of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
February
3: Inspiring Sports Stories: The Celestials: For this year’s Super Bowl
series, I wanted to focus on the very needed topic of inspiring sports stories,
starting with my recent podcast on my favorite one!
February
4: Inspiring Sports Stories: Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The series continues
with two ways to parallel the pioneering athlete to legendary men, and one key
way not to.
February
5: Inspiring Sports Stories: Chubbtown: Two contrasting & equally
important ways to contextualize an inspiring family story, as the series cheers
on.
February
6: Inspiring Sports Stories: Jaylen Brown: Two inspiring layers to the most
recent NBA Finals MVP, way beyond the basketball court.
February
7: Inspiring Sports Stories: FSU Student-Athletes: The series concludes
with a tribute to six of the amazing student-athletes I’ve been able to teach
in my 20 years at FSU.
February
8-9: Inspiring Sports Stories: Aidan and Kyle Railton: But I couldn’t write
a series on inspiring sports stories without highlighting my two favorite athletes
& humans!
February
10: Love Letters to the Big Easy: New Orleans and America: For this year’s
Valentine’s Day series, I wanted to share love letters to my favorite American
city, starting with how it helps us engage with America’s defining identity.
February
11: Love Letters to the Big Easy: The Battle of New Orleans: The series
continues with three striking sides to one of America’s most insignificant
victories.
February
12: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Treme: Five characters through which the
wonderful HBO show charts New Orleans stories, as the series parades on.
February
13: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Fats Domino: A few iconic moments in the
career of the legendary New Orleans rock ‘n roller.
February
14: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Literary New Orleans: The series
concludes with five of the many books through which we can read New Orleans.
February
15-16: One More Love Letter to the Big Easy: & a special Valentine for
my Valentine, a few magical moments my wife & I experienced during our
recent trip to New Orleans!
February
17: Places I Love and Hate: Cville: For this year’s installment of my
post-Valentine’s non-favorites series, I focused on formative places that I have
a love-hate relationship with, starting with my troubled hometown.
February
18: Places I Love and Hate: CHS: The series continues with prisons, pains,
& promises in a public school.
February
19: Places I Love and Hate: Harvard: Individuals who made my undergrad
experience great and an institution that did not do so, as the series of mixed
emotions rolls on.
February
20: Places I Love and Hate: Philly: Frustrating attitudes, fantastic
academics, and a secret third thing.
February
21: Places I Love and Hate: Salem: The series concludes with the
Massachusetts city that embodies the worst and best of American collective memories.
February
24: AlaskaStudying: Seward’s Folly: For the 100th anniversary of
Glacier Bay becoming a National Monument, an Alaska series kicks off with the
complex reasons behind territorial expansion.
February
25: AlaskaStudying: Mardy Murie: The series continues with three factors
that help explain the unique life & legacy of the “Grandmother of the Conservation
Movement.”
February
26: AlaskaStudying: Glacier Bay: For its 100th anniversary,
three forces of nature who helped preserve Glacier Bay before it became a
National Monument.
February
27: AlaskaStudying: Nenana Ice Classic: What a unique Alaskan tradition tells
us about both Alaska & tradition, as the series explores on.
February
28: AlaskaStudying: McKinley or Denali?: The series concludes with
revisiting a decade-old column to think about the recent re-renaming of Denali.
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!
