2004 PCA/ACA NEWSLETTER

The 2004 PCA/ACA convention, held jointly with the SW/Texas PCA/ACA drew thousands of participants to San Antonio in April. Along with the plethora of interesting panels, attendees also were treated to a variety of special events.

Next year’s PCA/ACA conference, to be held at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina from March 23—26, 2005, will be great! Plans are already underway for special guests and exciting events. You won’t want to miss it—send your abstract to the Area Chair of your choice—the deadline is November 1, 2004.

--Cheri Louise Ross

From the ACA President’s Desk . . .

Greetings to all my colleagues, friends, and those of you whom I have yet to meet at either the Annual or a Regional Meeting of the ACA and PCA. The 2004 Annual Meeting of the Board, held on April 9th in San Antonio, was very productive, with excellent attendance. The colleagues who you elected and trusted to move the ACA to new levels of activity showed their commitment and enthusiasm in taking on committee assignments and volunteering to get things moving in a number of directions. We were all delighted with the aggressive but professional way that Blackwell has been marketing The Journal of American Culture and with the concordant growth in our membership. Kudos were given to Kathy Merlock Jackson and Bill Jones, for their dedicated and timely handling of the JAC, and note of the high quality of the issues they have prepared was made both at this meeting and throughout the conference.

Award announcements were made, though they were given at the reception that Friday and at the Annual Business Meeting on the following Saturday. The Cawelti Award for an outstanding book in the American Culture Studies was awarded to Tara McPherson, for "Reconstructing Dixie: Race, Gender, and Nostalgia in the Imagined South" [Duke], with honorable mention going to Anthony Hopkins for "Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon" [Oxford] and T.J. Jackson Lears for "Something for Nothing: Luck in America" [Viking]. The Committee was chaired by Joy Sperling, and the other members were Ed Ingebretsen and Bob Sheardy. The Bode Award for an outstanding article that appeared in the past year's JAC was chaired by Angela Nelson, and the other members were Peter Holloran and Fran Hassencahl. It was awarded to Brian Ireland, for his article, "American Highways: Recurring Images and Themes of the Road Genre [XXVI, 4, 2003]. The selection committee for the first award for Best Graduate Student Paper presented at the national meeting consisted of chair Bill Jones and the other members being Angela Nelson and Ken Dvorak. The Governing Board awards were coordinated by Ray Merlock, Brad Duren, and Mike Schoenecke: the Award of a contribution to American Culture was given to Austin City Limits, and the American Culture Scholarship award was given to our own former president, Gary Edgerton for his scholarship. James Brian Wagaman, the Senior List Moderator for H-PCAACA received the Award for Distinguished Service for his work on the listserv. The receptions at which the awards were given were well- attended, and the music that Mike S. brought in was appreciated by all.

This June, as we did last year, PCA President Lynn Bartholome and Executive Secretary Mike Schoenecke joined me at my home in Oak Park, Illinois (sort of half way for each of them to travel) for a couple of days of planning, organization, review of programs, and - I admit - a bit of fun. We look forward to an action packed year as the result of all the ideas that we carried to the table from our Board members and others throughout both organizations.

Vice-president Ken Dvorak is working on setting up our upcoming elections on-line, and this should provide both quicker results and more complete participation than mail ballots did in the past. Keep an eye out for announcements regarding this matter. You will also be learning more about the growing endowment and the new AV policies elsewhere in these on-line pages. I think that is enough for now, and I will end with the earnest request that you contact me if you have issues you need raised or resolved, if you have ideas you would like to bring to the membership, if you have passion about a project and are willing to work to make it a reality, and if I or the other members of the Board and officers can be of help in any way.

Have a great fall semester!

-- David M. Sokol, President, American Culture Association

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From The PCA President’s Desk . . .

Hi, Everyone,

As we approach the final days of summer, I hope that you are refreshed and geared up for a new academic year. Our work has already begun for the 2005 national meeting in San Diego, and David, Michael, and I have made plans to see many of you at this fall’s and next winter’s regional conferences.

During the past year we have accomplished many tasks, including a rewrite of the PCA’s By-laws and the PCA/ACA Endowment By-laws. I want to thank all of the PCA’s board members—John, Camille, Michael, Gary, Doug, Solomon, Phil, Kay, Dan, Arlene, and Cheri—for their diligent efforts; they have gone above and beyond the call of duty time and time again. I have recently appointed Scott Baugh from Texas Tech University to our board, as he is the new jury chair of the Peter C. Rollins Documentary Film Award. Welcome, Scott!!!

One of the other activities we tackled this last year was a restructuring of the PCA awards. The Board feels strongly that we should continually recognize the hard work of our members. We now have in place the following honors. If you are interested in receiving information on any of these prizes, I have also included the name of the contact person:

1. Popular Culture Association Award—presented to an individual who has contributed significantly to popular culture and popular culture studies (contact Lynn Bartholome, lbartholome@monroecc.edu).

2. PCA Governing Board Award—presented to a PCA member who has contributed significantly to the growth and well-being of our association. I am pleased to announce that the 2005 honoree is Doug Noverr. I will sing Doug’s praises in the next newsletter (contact Lynn Bartholome, lbartholome@monoecc.edu).

3. Ray and Pat Browne Awards for the best reference book, book by a single author, and book by multiple authors (contact Solomon Davidoff, Solomon@theworld.com).

4. Russell Nye Award—presented to the author(s) of the best article submitted to The Journal of Popular Culture in the preceding twelve months (contact Gary Hoppenstand, hoppens2@msu.edu).

5. JPC/William Brigman Award—this ward is named in honor of Bill Brigman, a longtime PCA member. It is presented to the author of the best article submitted to The Journal of Popular Culture by a graduate student in the preceding twelve months (contact Gary Hoppenstand, hoppens2@msu.edu).

6. Peter C. Rollins Documentary Film Award—presented to the maker of the best documentary film (contact Scott Baugh, scott.baugh@ttu.edu).

7. Felicia F. Campbell Service Award—presented for outstanding contributions by a PCA Area Chair (contact John Bratzel, bratzel@msu.edu).

8. PCA President’s Award—presented to a member for outstanding service (often behind the scenes) during the last twelve months (contact Lynn Bartholome, lbartholome@monroecc.edu).

Additionally, we are in the process of re-establishing both the Susan Koppelman Award and the Emily Toth Award, honoring feminist works.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or concerns. I look forward to seeing all of you in San Diego. Have an enlightening and fruitful year.

--Lynn Bartholome, President, Popular Culture Association

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I would first like to thank Cheri Ross for the fantastic job she is doing with the Popular Culture Association’s Newsletter, and also for the opportunity she has allowed me to contribute a column about The Journal of Popular Culture.

This past year has been a busy one at The JPC. Our membership has grown, and the journal, under Blackwell’s expert guidance, has found many new readers internationally. we have dramatically expanded our group of the Editorial Advisory Board (all of whom are national and international experts in popular culture studies), in order to handle The ever-expanding number of submissions. We have also expanded our editorial staff of JPC at Michigan State University, so that the articles that we receive for review can be processed faster. It is our goal to continue improving the “turnaround” time for new submissions. This past year, The Journal of Popular Culture has inaugurated a new award, the “William Brigman JPC Award,” which is given annually to the best graduate student essay presented at the national Popular Culture Association (and submitted to TheJPC for editorial review). A $500.00 cash prize is given each year to the award recipient, along with an award plaque, and the winning essay is published in the journal. Those graduate student essays that do not win, yet that are deemed worthy of merit, are then reviewed by members of the Editorial Advisory Board for possible publication in the journal.

The JPC has also decided to support the “Nye Award,” which is given annually at the PCA to the best essay appearing in The Journal of Popular Culture the previous year, by contributing a $500.00 cash prize, which will presented along with the award plaque. We have, thus, continued to build on the preeminent reputation established by the journal’s legendary founder, Ray Browne. I know that I speak for my fine staff here at MSU, as well as for the esteemed members of The JPC’s Editorial Advisory Board, the exceptional professional staff at Blackwell, the PCA’s visionary Executive Director, Mike Schoenecke, and the PCA’s outstanding President, Lynn Bartholome, when I say that we are all most proud to be involved with the best,the most read, and the most influential scholarly journal published in the field of popular culture studies.

Powell, Gerald. Rhetoric of Symbolic Identity: Analysis of Spike Lee’s X and Bamboozled

Schroeder, Patricia. Robert Johnson: Mythmaking and Contemporary American Culture

I suggest you check the book you find interesting on your library or the publisher’s WebPages. If it seems a good choice for you, email me and I will mail the book to you soon. The JPC reviews are 600 words and are due in 30 days or so. Email your review to me. Thank you,

Kathy Merlock Jackson and Bill Jones are happy to report that The Journal of American Culture is thriving. As they reported in their meeting with the journal advisory board at the annual meeting in San Antonio, a total of sixty-five articles were received between March, 2003 and March, 2004, with twenty-five accepted for publication, thirty-five rejected, and six pending at that time. The average number of manuscripts received per week was 1.25, and the average turnaround time for the review process was just over five weeks. Since this meeting, submissions to the journal have increased significantly, and they are conducting their annual review of the editorial board in order to refresh and enlarge the board.

With their first special issue guest-edited by Ray Browne and Marshall Fishwick now out, Kathy and Bill are actively working with guest editors Jane Caputi and James F. Tracy to complete the forthcoming special issue on cultural responses to 9/11. Harry Eiss is soliciting manuscripts and preparing to guest-edit a theme issue on youth culture.

Although the volume of submissions is up, the editors continue to press for the highest quality manuscripts in their on-going effort to bring the journal into the first rank of academic publications. They encourage all ACA members to submit their best work and promote the journal in every forum available to them.

The Seventeenth Annual Meeting will be held in Las Vegas from February 4—6, 2005. We will be at the Imperial Palace again because they offer us by far the best deal in terms of hotel and meeting rooms. It is located in the center Strip across from Caesar’s Palace so that it is close to everything. Check the internet for great deals on other Las Vegas hotels if you wish.

The conference kicks off with a reception with food and wine and keynote address on Friday the 4th. Papers will be presented on the 5th while the 6th will be devoted primarily to breakfast roundtable discussions of topics submitted to the chair. As usual all participants will receive a Call for Papers mug with next year’s information on it and meet the friendliest group of conference participants anywhere.

Please send brief abstracts to fcampbell@ccmail.nevada.edu by November 26. Remember to include your complete snail mail address. If you prefer to fax, the number is 702-894-4801. If you wish to write, the address is Felicia Campbell, Department of English, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-5011.

By the time you read this, Popular Culture Review, Volume 15, will be in print. We still have room for a few articles for Volume 16, #1. Send your contributions to me at the above address. The sooner I get them, the sooner I can have them refereed, and the sooner you may be in print. We prefer articles no longer than 17 pages, including endnotes.

The Mid-Atlantic PCA/ACA meets November 5—7 in Buffalo, New York, at the Hyatt Regency and Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center. Ninety-five panels with over 290 speakers are scheduled to participate in the conference. Check the Mid-Atlantic website www.siue.edu/~rdonald/mapaca/mapaca.html for details and registration information. In 2005 the Mid-Atlantic conference will take place in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

This year’s Midwest PCA/ACA Conference will be held October 8-10, 2004, in Cleveland, Ohio. Special events are planned, and over 257 participants are expected. For more information, visit the website at www.3niu.edu/mpca/ or contact Gary Burns at gburns@niu.edu

2004 Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (NEPCA) 27th Annual Conference will be held October 29-30, 2004, at Newbury College, Brookline, MA. Special features include two panels on the PBS Colonial House series, including academic experts and participants in the reenactment of the show. Please see the website, www.wpi.edu/~jphanlan/NEPCA.html for information on hotels and a preliminary program. Contact Professor Lisa Krissoff Boehm, NEPCA Program Chair, lboehm@worcester.edu with any questions.

September 23 - 25, 2004 The South Popular Culture Association: Location: New Orleans Marriott Hotel. Deadline for Registration: August 27, 2004. Send all proposals to: Geoffrey Weiss, Mount Olive College, 654 Henderson Street, Mount Olive, NC 28365. Email: gweiss@moc.edu or check their web site at: www.pcasacas.org

February 9 - 12, 2005. Executive Program Director, Dr. Phil Heldrich and Secretary/ Treasurer, Dr. Ken Dvorak welcome your participation as the SWTX organization returns to our "Roots" along Route 66 in beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico! The 2005 conference will feature a keynote address with a graduate student awards ceremony and a host of “special events.” Our evolving conference web site (www.h-net.org/~swpca) will provide important updates including area chair contact information and an improved online conference registration process. So begin planning and join the SW/TX PCA/ACA as we return to ABQ charting a new history along Route 66! For additional questions contact: Sally Sanchez, SW/TX PCA/ACA Program Coodinator at: pcaacaswtx@sbcglobal.net

Editorial: At The Journal of American Culture