Just a few months ago, in September, I somewhat unceremoniously celebrated my 8th year at the helm of this still-imperfect, though incrementally improving, work-in-progress blog. My first couple of years were an experiment, to be sure, but I found my stride here at RMWMTMBM around 2008 or so, and it’s been mostly gravy since. I’m actually proud to say that the tagline I initially chose for this blog– “where philosophy, music, politics and pop culture get equal deconstruction”— has remained descriptively accurate and even has become more so over the years. For what it’s worth, if I were given it all to do over again, I still would have chosen the title of this blog to be “Read More, Write More, Think More, Be More,” despite its being a mouthful and, as far as I can tell, mostly guessed-at by any and everyone who searches for it on Google. (Keep faith, grasshoppers, you can still get here even if your rendition is mangled!) This blog’s title has been, and remains, the very FIRST rule on my list of “Dr. J’s Rules,” which I have included on every one of my course syllabi since 2007. It may also be the one thing I’ve said publicly and repeatedly that other people quote back to me most often. Should I die today with no other legacy, I’ll be happy to have that one.
Today, as RMWMTMBM inches ever closer to 400K “unique” hits— which is pretty impressive given how irregular (for personal and professional reasons) my attention to this blog has been for the past couple of years– I figured it’s long past time for me to utilize whatever internet-traffic power I have for the good. So, let me hand out a few signal-boosts to those who deserve it.
Blogger Boosts:
I’ve updated my “Blogs Dr. J Reads” list in the sidebar to your right. I can’t plug them all here, so I’m just picking a few. The format of the following is as so: Blogger (with link) | Blog Title (with link) | description/comments
————————————————
- Adriel Trott (Wabash College) | The Trott Line | Trott’s research specialties are in Ancient Philosophy and Aristotle primarily, though she often blogs about her other areas of interest (feminism, political theory and ethics, among others). She’s also thinking a lot about “public philosophy” and/or “digital humanities” these days.
- John Drabinski (Amherst College) | John Drabinski’s Blog | Aesthetically simple, clean, even Spartan, blog… but super-complex and brilliant content. Lots of stuff on race, post/anti/de-colonial thought, 20thC European philosophy and African, Af-Am and Caribbean philosophy. (Side note: I’ve known John for over 20 years now and he’s one of the smartest people I know.)
- Robin James (University of North Carolina-Charlotte) | It’s Her Factory | Great posts on philosophy, pop music, sound studies, feminism. One (of many) things I really admire about Robin’s blog is that she’s fearless about publishing her works-in-progress there.
- Eric Schliesser (Universiteit Gent) | Digressions&Impressions | One of the most regular bloggers in Philosophy. I honestly don’t know how he does it. Broad range of topics, but his history of philosophy stuff is especially great.
- Joshua Miller (George Washington University) | Anotherpanacea | Political philosophy of the solidly classical-liberal ilk. Josh is probably one of my oldest “blogger” buddies and we’ve had lots of extended exchanges between our blogs over the years. (Here’s just one.)
- Lots of folks (including yours truly) | NewAPPS Blog | Group-authored blog focusing on art, philosophy, politics and science. There were some (variously major and minor) shifts behind-the-scenes at NewAPPS in 2014, but it remains one of the best and most highly-visited sites for Philosophy-related news and posts.
- Ammon Allred (University of Toledo) | The Stylings of Ideas Man, PhD | I’m mostly including Ammon’s blog on this list because it used to be one of my favorite things on the Internet before he began neglecting it. He’s promised to breathe new life into The (Mostly Moribund) Stylings in 2015, so hopefully my signal-boost here will encourage him.
Twitter Boosts:
If you don’t already, follow these people on Twitter. Also, you can follow me at @DrLeighMJohnson or follow this blog at @RMWMTMBM
————————————.————
- First, check out the Philosophers on Twitter list, which includes philosophers with over 1K followers.
- Philosophy Matters @PhilosophyMttrs
- Robin James @doctaj
- Zandria Robinson @zfelice
- Werner Twertzog @WernerTwertzog
- Ethicist for Hire @ethicistforhire
- Nein @NeinQuarterly
- Shit Academics Say @AcademicsSay
- Chris Long @cplong
- Ammon Allred @ideasmanphd
- The Cranky Ethicist @CrankyEthicist
- Critical Theory @Crittheory
Podcasts Boosts:
Good stuff to have when you’ve got your buds in.
———————————————–
- The Partially Examined Life (this is my FAVORITE)
- Philosophy Bites
- NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour
- NPR On the Media
- NPR Fresh Air
- NPR Snap Judgment
- This American Life
- Modern Day Philosophers
- The Digital Dialogue
YouTube/Vlog Boosts:
For those rare times you just can’t watch any more cats.
————————————————
- Think for a Change (with Cori Wong)
- 8-BIT PHILOSOPHY
- American Philosopher (by Phillip McReynolds)
- Race Matters (with Cornel West)
Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments section below!