Year: 2008

The Sweet, Succulent Smell of Swine

In my humble opinion, May is absolutely the best month to be in Memphis. We have a month-long festival every year called “Memphis in May,” which includes a killer Music Fest to kick things off and a beautiful Sunset Symphony at the end of the month. Spring is also the best time to catch our…

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Better Late Than Never…

After a (too) long absence on this blog, I am happy to report that things are beginning to slow down enough in the Life-of-Doctor-J to make my return here possible. I’m in the process of marking final papers and exams now. Grades are due on Monday. Commencement will follow shortly after that (May 10). Then,…

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How I Feel About It…

It occurred to me, long after posting this picture, that I posted it without explanation. For those to whom it wasn’t obvious at the time, this is how I felt after the University of Memphis lost the NCAA Basketball Championship Game to the University of Kansas. And, for the record, I still feel this way…

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NCAA Hope

You people have no idea how long I have been waiting for this… and by “you people”, I mean all of you who haven’t known the truly Sisyphean struggle of being a life-long defender (and lover) of Memphis.

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What’s SPEP Got To Do With It?

Ahhhh, SPEP. It’s a guilty pleasure for most of us. The Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy conferences happen only once every year, and for folks like me anyway, it’s about the only chance I get to see my far-flung friends. Sure, it’s also a chance to reunite with the Continental Philosophy Diaspora, to see…

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The Problem with Poaching

As promised, here is the first of my reflections on what I see as a very troubling trend in Continental philosophy. I call it “poaching,” Brian Leiter calls it “plundering,” and over the last several years I’ve heard it called many other things that I wouldn’t repeat in front of small children or my mother……

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Beings-Toward-Happy-Valley

Since it is now “public” news, let me be the first to offer my congratulations to the Penn State Philosophy Department for comepleting what will surely go down in the history books as the single greatest faculty-recruiting season EVER. My (Ph.D.) alma mater came down South and poached my other (B.A.) alma mater, and now…

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Ain’t Too Proud…

So, I like to think of myself as a pretty autonomous and independent woman most of the time… but then, occasionally, I have to deal with the DMV. In those unfortunate instances, in the words of The Temptations, I ain’t too proud to beg. I had not changed my car tags since I moved back…

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Silver Lining

I’m going to avoid making excuses for my absence on this blog of late… mostly because my excuses are all of the things you would expect me to say and none of them are as exciting as “my house was destroyed by the tornado” or “I’m pregnant with triplets” or “God spoke to me through…

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What It Looked Like

Here it is… our tornado: I don’t know who the crazy people are who stay outside to take pictures of these monsters when they roll through town, but I guess I’m glad someone does it. It makes the following images make more sense… Those pictures above were taken by my cousin, who lives on a…

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