Month: June 2024

American Values

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson American Values video project, RMWMTMBM Archive 5 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I put out a call here on the blog for help with a video project I wanted to put together on “American Values.” I asked people to send me a photograph of themselves naming something that they valued. It was a simple idea, initially conceived as an interesting little side…

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The Uncanny Valley 7: Sonzai-Kan

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Uncanny Valley 4 Comments

Every time I try to put away my obsession with the uncanny valley, some new robot or robot-story invades my world and reanimates that fascination all over again. Regular readers of this blog will know that I first became interested in robotocist Masahiro Mori’s theory of the uncanny valley back in October of 2010, when…

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80K Come and Gone

June 9, 2024 Dr. J BlogCounts, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

I’ve been so busy with the “American Values” video project that I hardly noticed that we just passed another milestone here on the blog… 80,000 hits and counting! I’m especially appreciative this time because I’ve been a bit of an IRREDEEMABLE SLACKER so far this year when it comes to regular blog posts. Never fear,…

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“American Values” Video Project…. or, The Little Idea That Could

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson American Values video project, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, The Search for Values 4 Comments

I’m not yet finished editing the “American Values” video, some of the images of which are in this collage on your left, but I wanted to share a bit about the making-of the project, which is turning into one of the most serendipitously rewarding things I’ve stumbled into in quite some time. I’ll start at…

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Help Me With My Video Project!

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson American Values video project, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, The Search for Values 1 Comment

I’m soliciting your help, readers, with a video project I’m putting together focusing on “American Values.” Think of it as a cross between the old NPR program “This I Believe,” a Pew Research Poll, a snapshot of American diversity a la Flickr, and something like your senior thesis. I want to know what you– all…

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Kyle Ference Mans Up

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, Teaching, Women and Gender Issues 6 Comments

The picture to the left is of a former student and advisee of mine, Kyle Ference (author of the Refudiating Through Life blog). During his time at Rhodes, Kyle was in many ways the very ideal of a liberal arts student. He was smart and hardworking, affable and well-liked, committed to socially-conscious extracurricular activities, a…

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Making of the 2011 State of the Union Address

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 1 Comment
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2011 State of the Union Address

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments
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Entre Nous?: The Merits (and Demerits) of Gossip

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 2 Comments

Let me begin by illuminating the obvious: we live in a gossip-obsessed culture. You don’t even have to make all that much of an effort to find yourself more intimately familiar with the very personal details of celebrities, politicians, athletes and other real(ity) pop-culture figures’ lives than you are with those of your own friends…

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As Seen in The Memphis Flyer

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson RMWMTMBM Archive, Why I Chose Memphis 1 Comment

This week’s Memphis Flyer apparently has a story about my Why I Chose Memphis series on this blog. I say “apparently” because I am currently in Omaha, NE, at an artists-and-philosophers “Think Tank,” so I haven’t seen the piece myself yet. Someone sent me this link to the Flyer piece, though. So, if you came…

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