Leigh M. Johnson

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…

Read More

2011 State of the Union Address

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments
Read More

Making of the 2011 State of the Union Address

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 1 Comment
Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

Why I Chose Memphis: Anna Marie Hartman Birkedahl

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, RMWMTMBM Archive, Why I Chose Memphis 0 Comments

Most Memphians will know our next contributor to the Why I Chose Memphis series as “Anna Marie Hartman,” the confident and beautiful anchorwoman for WMC Channel 5 News. What you may not know, however, is that when she’s not reporting on the best and worst of Memphis, she’s also a talented singer in The Burnin’…

Read More

Groovy, Man

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson BlogCounts, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

ReadMoreWriteMoreThinkMoreBeMore just passed 70,000 hits! Again, a big THANK YOU to all the readers who keep coming back. Especially those of you who have contributed to the recent Why I Chose Memphis series, which prompted an interview by the Memphis Flyer that I gave today and which will appear in print soon. (Keep those stories…

Read More

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus 7

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 1 Comment

You may not recognize the reference in the title to this post above . It’s a reference to the the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (a.k.a., “The Logical-Philosophical Treatise”), the only book ever written by eminently influential philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The Tractatus consists of seven philosophical propositions, the seventh of which reads:Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must…

Read More

2010 Year In Pop Culture

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2010 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 1 Comment

Right out of the gate, 2010 looked to be a very promising pop culture year. Back in January, at one of the early American Idol auditions, we were introduced to aspiring contestant General Larry Platt, who regaled the judges with his seemingly-improvised yet totally-infectious original composition “Pants on the Ground.” Before America’s favorite non-plussed judge…

Read More

2010 Year In Sports

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2010 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, RMWMTMBM Archive, Sports, Year in Review Lists 0 Comments

There are still a few weeks left in 2010– and who knows what else may happen… or, ahem, be “leaked”?– so in advance of posting my comprehensive “Year In Review” list, I thought I’d do a few specialized lists. Since the last few weeks of the year are mostly holding-pattern time in sports, it’s the…

Read More