Here’s the talk I gave as the keynote for the New England American Studies Association. Or, rather, here are four versions of it, a cubist interpretation. There’s the notes I used, the slides I showed, the twitter stream that resulted, and, in the background, the collection of syllabi I used for evidence.

The slides, but without all of the fancy transitions:

My notes, not cleaned up – not a paper, just reminders of what to say:

Most interesting, the Twitter feed from folks who were in the audience. This is the out-of-body experience; it’s odd to see what you say turned into an instant conversation. I always tell students that it’s not what you say that matters: it’s what your audience hears. Here’s what they heard (sorry, can’t seem to embed that one).

And finally, here are the syllabi on which the talk was (very loosely) based.