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