The other day, Beth Loveland emailed me with her thoughts after she read Ashley McCall’s “What If We Radically Reimagined The New School Year?” As I read McCall’s article, I kept thinking about Lillian Smith and her comments to Mr. Hartley about education. McCall asks us, among a myriad of important questions, “What if we recognized that life—our day-to-day circumstances and our response to … Read More “What if . . .?”: Questions About Education
+ a raisin in the sun, american history, american literature, arthur miller, black panther, death of a salesman, fulbright, fulbright award, gwendolyn brooks, j. william fulbright, james baldwin, langston hughes, liesl tommy, lorraine hansberry
My final lecture last fall for the American literature course at the University of Bergen was on Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. A couple of years ago, I wrote about the presence of Big Walter on stage during a performance in Boston that was directed by Liesl Tommy. As well, I have discussed my other lectures fro the American Literature class: Introductory … Read More Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisn in the Sun” Lecture: Part I
+ alabama literature, american history, american literature, atticus finch, boo radley, harper lee, scout finch, southern gothic, southern history, southern literature, to kill a mockingbird, william apess
Last post, I wrote about the Southern paradoxes in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Today, I want to look at the opening of the novel because Scout traces the events of the novel deep into our nation’s history, before Jem, Scout, or Atticus arrived on the scene. This is important because for all of the missed moments of reflection in the novel, the … Read More American History and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”
+ american history, bergen, Norway, Edvard Munch, ernest j gaines, history, Jørgen Thor Møhlen, johan christian dahl, matthew gabriele, mt zion cemetery, oscar müller, southern history, ungdom
Visiting one of the museums here in Bergen, I walked through the rooms of Edvard Munch’s work, stopping in front of Ungdom (Youth). Ungdom is a large portrait of a boy with a multicolored background behind him that looks, in many ways, like waves. As I started at the portrait, I walked closer and peered at the background near the boy’s right arm and … Read More Why does history matter?
+ american history, american literature, regionalism, scratchy wilson, sheriff potter, stephen crane, the bride comes to yellow sky
This semester, I taught Stephen Crane’s “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” for the first time, and there are a few aspects of the story that I think are worth considering. The first item is a hypothetical exploration of the voices we hear in the text, specifically the voices of the drummer and the eponymous bride. The second has to do with the interactions … Read More Discussing Stephen Crane’s “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” in the Literature Classroom
Interminable Rambling 