Leigh M. Johnson

On Teaching Our Incapacity To Unexperience

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Aesthetics, Ethics, Film, Open Source Pedagogy, Philosophy, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, SPEP, Teaching, Thinking in Images, Trigger Warnings, Weak Humanism 0 Comments

They say you can’t “unring a bell.” It’s an analogy that is often used to illustrate our incapacity to un-experience things, to erase lived-experiences from our bodies and minds. What I discovered recently is how particularly true that is in the classroom. A few weeks ago in my Philosophy and Film course, we screened Werner…

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Closed Borders, Open Doors

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Democracy, Digital Humanities, Philosophy, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Weak Humanism 0 Comments

Paris was ambushed by seven separate terrorist actions last night, a horrific set of events eerily reminiscent of both the Charlie Hebdo massacre less than a year ago and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Any one of them– the mass shootings in various restaurants and bars, the suicide bombing outside of a soccer match at the Stade de…

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This Is Not A Retraction

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Codifying Civility and Collegiality, LGBTQ, Philosophy, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, SCOTUS, Women and Gender Issues 0 Comments

I’ve received a fair amount of pushback (mostly on Facebook and Twitter, but also in the comments section here) regarding my post on Saturday critical of the Supreme Court’s Ogerbefell decision. I may have been a little quick on the draw with my criticism, which I posted only one day after SCOTUS’ decision and while…

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Sixth Amendment, Unfunded

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson #BlackLivesMatter, Democracy, Human Rights, N, Politics, Race and Racism, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

This is just a short post motivated by my #BlackLivesMatter Reading Group session yesterday, where we discussed Albert Samaha‘s excellent essay “Indefensible: The Story of New Orleans’ Public Defenders.”  I thought I was long past being shocked by anything

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The Wired Election, Part 3: “A Man Got To Have A Code.”

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Democracy, Philosophy, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, TheWiredElection2016 0 Comments

[This is the third installment of my series The Wired Election, employing insights gained from HBO television series The Wire to interpret 2016 Presidential election campaign events, persons and states of affair. The cheese stands alone.]

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Reading Coates, Part 1: WPRs, Westgate and Weak Atheism

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson #BlackLivesMatter, Philosophy, Politics, Public Philosophy, Race and Racism, Reading Coates, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 0 Comments

I organized a reading/discussion group for Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me a few weeks ago and thought I’d post a few thoughts here as we go along.  By way of context, I’ll note that our group is small (8-10 people) and we’re a mixed bunch of (mostly, but not exclusively) academics– from Philosophy, History, Africana…

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How To Score An Academic Meeting

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Codifying Civility and Collegiality, Professional Academy, Public Philosophy, Race and Racism, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 0 Comments

I do not, in principle, hate academic faculty or departmental meetings. In fact, as someone who (many of my friends have rightly dubbed) a “certifiably pathological proceduralist“– no kidding, I would voluntarily stand out on the corner and pass out Roberts Rules of Order like evangelists pass out Bible tracts– I genuinely (ahem, naively) look…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 30: A Song You Discovered This Month (During The Challenge)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 30 Day Song Challenge, 30 Day Song Challenge 2015, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

They say all good things must come to an end, and since today is the last day of June, it’s time to put the finishing touch on this year’s 30 Day Song Challenge. If you’re interested in going back to check out my previous picks, I’ve collected them all at this link. I had a…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 29: A Song You Want Played At Your Funeral

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 30 Day Song Challenge, 30 Day Song Challenge 2015, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

IT’S A TWO-FER TODAY in the 30 Day Song Challenge!! I couldn’t pick just one so I’m giving you both of my picks for today. That may be kind of a sad commentary on the things I think too much about, since today calls for me to pick a song that I want played at my…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 28: A Song From Your Childhood

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 30 Day Song Challenge, 30 Day Song Challenge 2015, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

Only a few days left in this year’s 30 Day Song Challenge and as much as I’ve enjoyed participating again this summer, it just got considerably more difficult to do so as I am now swamped with other blog-matters (specifically, my post regarding the recent SCOTUS “marriage equality” decision).  Thankfully, today’s prompt is a simple…

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