September 29, 2026: One Year of B&W&RAO: Communal Resources

[Just over a year ago, Vaughn finalized and we launched this new public scholarly website, Black & White & Read All Over. There’s a lot about the site and what it has brought out of and added to our work that I believe is worth highlighting, so this week I’ll do just that in a series of reflections. Leading up to a weekend post of requests for y’all!]

Three resources that embody our site’s communal ethos (and on which Vaughn has worked and continues to work incredibly hard, so check ‘em out and subscribe to our weekly round-up for updates!).

1. Pitchables: As I’ll talk about in tomorrow’s post and reiterate as part of the weekend’s requests, I’d love the chance to share your work as a Guest Post on this blog. But one of my favorite things about our site is that its central, overarching goal is not getting people to our site (as writers or audiences), but helping all interested folks do what the subtitle says: “Where scholarship meets the public.” For proof, just check out that hyperlinked, incredible, evolving list of places folks can pitch, with links! (And feel free to email us to suggest additions!)
2. Planning Ahead: Because Vaughn literally never does less than the most she’s capable of doing, however, she’s offering such interested folks far more than just a sense of places they can pitch and contribute. She’s also created that hyperlinked, evolving list of anniversaries and occasions that could serve as starting points for public scholarly pieces (and again, for which y’all should feel free to email additions!). For a little inside baseball, I have long relied on the Ideas4Writes site that she highlights there for ideas for this blog’s weekly series, so I’m not just the president, I’m also a client!
3. Announcements: We don’t just want our site to encourage folks by providing resources and links, though. We also want to literally encourage them, congratulating people and organizations on good news, and sharing opportunities for more of the same. That’s the goal of the Announcements page, the latest entry on which usually goes out as part of the aforementioned weekly round-up newsletter as well. And I’ll end this post by saying once more with feeling, and out of the parentheses this time: email us with additions to that Announcements page, and all of these resources!

Next reflections tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What do you think?