Hi all,

Some of you may remember Sharon McCoy's amazing paper written in Jim's
voice from the AHSA/MTC conference a few years ago in San Diego (and coming
next year in New Orleans!).  Sharon has posted a version of this piece on
"Humor in America."  For one, I am very excited to have access to this
piece, which I have thought of frequently since hearing it.

http://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/jims-dilemma/

A brief sample:

"I done told you the story lots a times, about the time I runned.  Had to.
 You know that.  The devil he got in me.  And old missus, she got scared.
 Was gonna sell me down to Orleans, she was.  Never woulda seen your pa or
‘Lizabeth again.   I lit out mighty quick, made a good plan, too, but
there’s people everywhere, on account of they thought Huck done been
killed.   They was crawling all over both sides of the river."

Also, last week Jeffrey Melton posted a great piece on the recent web
series "Ask a Slave."  Jeff connects the question of historical tourism and
race with Mark Twain and pedagogy in really interesting ways.  Check it out:

http://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/ask-a-slave-the-exasperating-world-of-teaching-tourists-about-american-slavery/

ABE, whom many of you know in his non-pseudonymed state, also recently
wrote pieces on the German language (with a Twain portion) and his review
of the Elmira conference.  Here:

http://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/in-the-archives-sprachen-studies/

http://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/twainstock2013-reviewed/

Finally, I recently posted an update on the activities of the American
Humor Studies Association, including a couple of conference calls that
might be of interest to many of you.  We are almost ready with a call for
the New Orleans joint conference.  Additionally, we are excited to note the
inaugural "Jack Rosenbalm Prize" for best article by a non-tenured scholar.
 Details can be found here:

http://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/editors-chair-catching-up-with-the-american-humor-studies-association/

Enjoy. Best,

Tracy Wuster
Editor, Humor in America
Vice President, American Humor Studies Association