Twelve Months that Rocked the Intertubes

It has been a year since our first post on Tropics of Meta. In that time, Democrats in Congress passed sweeping healthcare reform, the Tea Party took over the House of Representatives, and both Snooki and Hilary Duff became published authors. (It can only be a matter of time before the Jersey Shore star teams up with Russell Brand to write a Snooki booky-wooky.)

After twelve months of posting, some trends have emerged. Most notably, we are big in the Philippines. The lion’s share of our hits have come from the United States, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom, predictably — but we have also have had a substantial number of page visits from readers in Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Russia, Australia and Ukraine. Many of our posts touch on themes relating to the built environment, the urban landscape, and human geography, with a generous dollop of race, class, and gender in the mix. We have also done close readings of pop culture texts ranging from Half Nelson and A Christmas Story to the music of the Replacements and Pavement. Below is a list of some of our favorite pieces:

Dorothy Gale, American Pragmatist?

“Your Asian Wasn’t Quiet”: Black, Brown, Yellow Alliances in America

Tramps Like Us Swagger Like Us: M.I.A., the Boss, and the Class Politics of Pop

The Long War(s)

Containing Multitudes: The New Communist Manifestos a Decade Later

Transporting Queens: The Meaning of Movement in the Urban Identity

When the Reactionary Is Visionary: The Illusion of Low-Income Housing in Sunbelt San Diego

Mending Mindanao: Diminishing Insurgent Violence in the Philippines Scenes from the Feminist Movement in the 1970s

The Sin City series: A Boy Named Sue, on the Moon and Hollywood without Hollywood: Las Vegas from the Periphery

Recreation Revolution: Working-Class Youth and the Creation of Skate Culture

Hoping for Housing: Hope VI’s Ambivalent Legacy

Dopplegangers, Dickens, and All the Young Droods