For Wednesday: The Southern Blogosphere

Remember, your proposal for a possible final project topic are due on Wednesday.

But also: I'd like you begin to review some of the interesting, bizarre, and downright offensive manifestations of southern identity I've been able to find online. I'd like you to scan each of these blogs, then select one that interests you most. Read through that blog more closely, and be ready to talk about it in class. Among the things you'll want to be able to address:

• how do you think the individual or group defines "the South"?
• who is his/her/their audience?
• does the blog offer a consistent visual style? If so, how is that style related to the type of southern identity that the blog offers?
  
• in what sorts of topics and/or debates is the blog interested?
• finally, look for fallacies and be able to identify.
  

Once you've selected a favorite site or blog, I recommend that you find out something about the organization or individual who maintains it. A quick Google search ought to be sufficient.

Here's the list:

Food

• Dixiedining's Weblog

Music

• Radio Cure: "A Music Blog From Down South"
• Southern Shelter: a music blog from Athens, GA.

Politics & Policy

• Skeptical Brotha
• Facing South
• ThinkSouth

The Politics of Southern Identity

• Edward Sebesta's Anti-Neo-Confederate blog
• "Rebellion"--the blog from DixieNet.org/the League of the South
• The Southern War Room

Humor

• Red State Update
  
  

Feel free to add any to the list. I didn' t includes sports here, because a) they are simply too many, and b) these largely cater to the particular interests of a particular fanbase. However, if you find a sports-related blog that you believe is either informed by or articulates a consistent sense of southern identity, feel free to talk about it.

Shakespeare Riots

In at least one section Friday, many of you were interested by brief reference to the so-called "Shakespeare Riots." In 1846, a violent uprising was born of an ongoing dispute between fans of the eminent British actor William Charles Macready and those of his upstart American rival, Edwin Forrest. By the end of it, the National Guard had taken to the streets of Manhattan, and 26 people were dead--"largest loss of civilian life due to military action since the American Revolution," according to this Boston Globe article.

If you're interested in all this, check this NPR story. This, of course, has no direct connection to the topics of our class, other than to point out that the pernicious and commonplace distinctions between "high" or elite culture and "low" or popular culture are not inflexible, but rather, are always shifting.

NY Times on Ole Miss as Debate Host

Worth reading....and critiquing.

Read it here.

This week's blog topic...

I apologize for submitting this so late!

As students at Georgia Tech, the preeminent institution of industrial and technological pursuit in the South, you should have responded strongly to the Twelve Southerners' Statement of Principles; as members of the human race, you should have been stirred by Dr. King's appeal for human rights and justice.

For this week's essay, I'd like you to reflect on the idea of Progress as it relates to the South generally, a southern place specifically, or southern identity. You can respond to something in the readings from King and/or the Agrarians, or you can go off on your own.

The only requirement: you must add a pin to the map, and that pin should be relevant to your posting.

Friday's Presidential Debate at Ole Miss

W. Ralph Eubanks has a great op-ed in today's Washington Post regarding the historical significance of Ole Miss's role as host to the first presidential debate between McCain & Obama. Definitely worth reading.

For Next Week

Ok everyone: on Monday, we'll discuss the essays posted under the "RESOURCES" section of T-Square: the "Statement of Principles" offered by the Twelve Southerners (1930) & Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" (1963). I'll also post links to them here

On Wednesday, we'll be back in Confederates in the Attic. The only thing: we'll be zooming through it--Chapters 6-8. That will be a longer reading that normal (62 pages, I think), so you'll want to use the weekend to get ahead.

For Friday

Read Ch 5 in Everything's an Argument.