Prof of Amer Lit & Studies. Dad to 2 amazing young men. Married. We the People: http://tinyurl.com/yyhxjktb; Of Thee I Sing: http://tinyurl.com/y6hsozjx. #ScholarSunday guru. https://blackwhiteandread.com he/him
Ben Railton
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Our Biscuits is burning (but she has a fan pointed at her tum)
Planning ahead for public scholarship? Some upcoming anniversaries & observances:
July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month
60th of Medicare’s operation – Jul 1
200th of Adams and Jefferson deaths – Jul 4
80th of The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock – Jul 14
As I have learned this week, some like it hot, so you guys can't be mad at me for talking about how fucked up Some Like it Hot (1959) is.
But it's a fascinating film that can profess a moral philosophy while also utterly refusing to live up to it, in this case, that good people aren't bad men.
Timeline cleanse: my son spotting my grandfather’s book (published when he was 95!) out in the wild & sharing the pic with us.
Richard & Mildred Loving sued not for the right to marry (they had been able to remain married, but were forced to move to Washington DC in order to do so), but because they wanted to return to their beloved, inclusive Virginia community. That & more in today’s post! 🗃️ @hcrichardson.bsky.social
I teach “The Sleep of Trees” (1980) in my Intro to Sci Fi & Fantasy course & it is always a student fav. Rest in beautiful prose.
For more on that author as a much younger man:
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/05/cons...
A Feminist Approach to Some Like it Hot (1959)
blackwhiteandread.com
Pitching, creating, and publishing public scholarship can all happen rapidly or take months, so it's always a good idea to plan ahead where possible! Obviously things come up on the daily now that lau...
So for the next post in my Supreme Court Superlatives blog series, that exclusionary 1924 Virginia law, how the Lovings fought for an inclusive vision of American community, & other under-remembered & crucial contexts for Loving v. Virginia!
blackwhiteandread.com/june-11-2026...
Jane Yolen was an absolutely lovely human and also an almost absurdly talented writer. It's wonderful when both things are wrapped up in the same person. I considered her a friend and a colleague, and I will miss her. Condolences to the each of the many of us who knew her. Her memory is a blessing.
[On June 13, 1966, the Supreme Court issued its landmark Miranda v. Arizona decision, ruling in favor of the rights of the accused in interactions with law enforcement. That was one of those frustrati...
My mother, the inimitable Jane Yolen passed away this morning after a blessingly short fight with Alzheimer’s. She did not suffer, and went peacefully into the ether which, I am certain for her, will be filled with words of the most exquisite beauty and meaning.
