In his seminal text Fear and Trembling, Soren Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous narrator, Johannes de Silentio, remarks: Not just in commerce but in the world of ideas too our age is putting on a veritable clearance sale. Everything can be had so dirt cheap that one begins to wonder whether in the end anyone will want to…
Read MoreI highly recommend Russell King’s “Open Letter to Conservatives,” which lays out a well-argued and well-documented case for how the American Right has gone so terribly, terribly wrong.
Read MoreNothing particularly profound to say today, readers. It’s the second day of spring, and after an absolutely beautiful day yesterday, Mother Nature has delivered us a cold and rainy Sunday here in Memphis. So, I thought I’d share my favortie “rainy day” albums. If you click on the album covers, it will take you to…
Read MoreAnyone who has ever been to an academic conference is surely familiar with that strange, strange thing we so innacurately refer to as the “Q&A” period. “Q&A” is meant to stand for “Question and Answer,” of course, though there is precious little of either in many of these sessions. I mean, I suppose that technically…
Read MoreFellow bloggers Petya and Ideas Man, PhD have turned me on to a great new site called FormSpring, which allows blog-readers to submit questions for their favorite blog-authors to answer and then posts the Q&A’s onto the blog. From time to time I find myself at a loss for exciting new topics to post about…
Read MoreRather than simply dismiss the burgeoning Tea Party Movement (like I have done on this blog), some people out there are actually trying to understand it. Fellow-blogger and eminently reasonable political philosopher, Anotherpanacea, recently helped out by trying to put a face on the Tea Party movement. AnPan’s suggestion is that the “meaning” of the…
Read MoreI don’t often recommend specific shows to see in Memphis on this blog, but I’m making an exception this time for Brad Birkedahl. For years, Brad was the lead guitarist of The Dempseys, a smoking-hot rockabilly trio, perennially voted one of Memphis’ Best Bands. Even if you’ve never been to Memphis, you’ve probably seen The…
Read MoreMemphis Mayor A.C. Wharton recently released an “Open Letter to Steve Forbes” contesting the ranking of Memphis as the 3rd of America’s “Most Miserable Cities” in Forbes Magazine. I reproduce Wharton’s letter here in its entirety, without comment, because the Truth speaks for itself. I have, however, added links for Mr. Forbes, so that he…
Read MoreNothing yet has made so crystal clear to me exactly how much I do NOT understand about what is going on in Iraq than this year’s Oscar-nominated film The Hurt Locker. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who has been endlessly (and a little annoyingly) praised for her skill at capturing the hyper-masculine emotional intensity and complexity…
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