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America250 Around America 🗺️
The 250th is still happening! Here’s how folks are celebrating, commemorating, and conceiving the moment, with some thoughts from Jody Avirgan!
D.C. prepares to host IndyCar street race as part of Trump’s Freedom 250 celebrations
Protecting Birds at the Liberty Bell Pavilion
I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read anything about the Liberty Bell Pavilion ever again without thinking of this overly aggressive tour guide. Why does he make it feel like I broke the bell?
New Jersey unveils license plates for America’s 250th anniversary
America’s 250th Isn’t Over Yet at This Lexington Inn
Check out the “One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Three if by Air package: Board a helicopter at a nearby airport and trace Paul Revere’s famous Midnight Ride from Boston to Lexington.” Not gonna lie, I’d think about it…
More America250 History To Think About 🤔
Washington Post: A patriotic fashion event raised flags, but not my spirits
New York Times: National Gallery Accused of ‘Soft Censorship’ to Avoid Provoking Trump
Additional Thoughts/Reflections
By Jody Avirgan
I’m writing to you just after we finished recording an episode about Seneca Falls, which will run later this fall as part of our collaboration with the Kettering Foundation. In it we talked about how the story of Seneca Falls was actively framed and re-framed in the decades after the meeting, to satisfy certain egos and agendas, and to make the fight for women’s rights palatable to those in power. During our chat, we inevitable started chatting about a current fight over historical narrative taking place — this whole “Woke 1 was crazy” debate.
I won’t wade in too deep, but it is fascinating to see the pandemic-era history get debated and framed right before our eyes. From the Fauci hearings, to the scrutiny over DSA-affiliated candidate’s tweets, to AOC trying to have it all ways… it’s clear that people understand that the way we tell our history, even our very recent history, has a huge impact on where we’re headed. There’s no shortage of think-pieces and substacks and threads on the topic, and again I won’t wade in too deeply. But I will drop a link to a recent essay from friend of the show Jamelle Bouie, who rightly points out how seductive some of the narratives about the last ten years can be — and asks that we just subject them to a little objective perspective. What a concept!
Okay, that’s the end of this week’s America250 Watch.
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