From the Editor’s Desk
And back to Mindy: On my part, it certainly has been an interesting seven
years, and I’ve learned quite a lot about editing and popular culture. Quite a
diverse lot of articles have come across my desk during that time; some topics I
was quite familiar with but learned a new aspect about and others were brand
new to me. There are truly some amazing scholars and writers out there, and I
will really miss being able to read the 30 or so articles I see each year before
anyone else does. On the other hand. I’ll now have time for my own writing,
tech projects, and planning my wedding.
Now, before we get too weepy, let’s move on and talk about this issue’s
articles.
As always, we have a very interesting mix of topics: from old history to
modem topics, from dolls to travel food shows, there should be something here
to interest just about everybody.
Larry Gragg starts us off with a bit of local history and color in “Defending
a City’s Image: Las Vegas Opposes the Making of 711 Ocean Drive, 1950.”
Kathy Merlock Jackson then brings us Barbie vs. Bratz (old guard vs. the new
upstarts) in “Doll Wars: Barbie and Her Competitors in the 21st Century.”
We then really start things rolling with “Comic Books and The New
Literature” by Daniel Ferreras Savoye as he brings us a stimulating conversation
concerning an exciting new way of thinking about the literary canon and what
should be included: comic books are valid too, using some very modem
examples to illustrate his point. Up next, Kim Idol’s “Rape and Regret:
Constmction and Reconstmction of the Molested Girl in Popular Culture” also
uses very modem examples to make her point, using Stieg Larsson’s character
Lizbeth Salander deftly along with characters from several older works.
Margaret Wagner uses the old to inform the new, using historical precedent
to take us from Poe to Pendergast in “Thank You, Mr. Poe: Poe’s Literary
Presence in Preston and Child’s Detective Pendergast Series.” Switching gears
from literary topics to sports, MeHee Hyun explores a very new area:
communities in the electronic age. She chose Jim Rome’s talk show to illustrate
the possibilities of today’s communities in “Sports Talk Radio: Finding
Community in ‘The Jungle’ of Jim Rome.”
“Time and Self: How Time Travel Reveals What It Means to Be Human,”
an outstanding contribution by Kym Morris, discusses time as an essential part
of our humanity and definition of our individuality. Next, shifting back to older
history, William Thompson and Emita Joaquin bring us a plea to save The Hall
of Fame for Great Americans (a little known precursor to what we know as a
“Hall of Fame” today), from total obscurity in “The Hall of Fame for Great
Americans: A Call for Ending Its Comatosis or Hibernation.”
Wrapping things up, we have Lori Lopez’s “Eating a Meal with the Other:
The Ethical Challenges of Travel Food Shows”: a very modem topic which
particularly highlights Anthony Bourdain’s show on the Travel Network.
So there you have it, my last “From the Editor’s Desk” for Popular Culture
Review (my first was in the Winter 2004 edition—Volume 15, Number 1).