Leigh M. Johnson

2010 Year In Music

Let me just be clear at the outset: the following list is not meant to represent the best of 2010’s music in any kind of remotely “objective” sense. This is my list. It represents my year in music. My musical tastes tend toward the rootsy, the groovy and the nostalgic. I prefer simple, but well-constructed,…

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Tortured Reasoning

I haven’t posted much on human rights recently, the primary focus of my research, though I continue to plug away at thinking and writing about it every day. One of the topics that I spend a lot of time with is torture, an issue that I intend to use as the go-to “case study” in…

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Why I Chose Memphis: Art Carden

Next up in our series is Dr. Art Carden, my colleague in the Economics and Business Department at Rhodes College. Art is a regular contributor to the econ-blogs Division of Labour and The Ludwig von Mises Institute as well as an essayist for the online version of Forbes Magazine. I think I can say with…

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Why I Chose Memphis: Jessica Lotz (The Woman Behind The Movement)

In an effort to give credit where credit is due, I’m reposting the Why I Chose Memphis story of Jessica Lotz, whose Quick Memphian Call to Arms was the original inspiration for this series. If you’re not already familiar with JLotz’s blog Waves and Wires, stop what you’re doing right now and go check it…

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Why I Chose Memphis: Paul Haught

Our next contributor in the Why I Chose Memphis series is Dr. Paul Haught, Associate Dean for the School of the Arts and Chair of the Religion and Philosophy Department at Christian Brothers University. I met Paul through mutual Midtowner friends, and for a short time was totally unaware that he was married to another…

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Why I Chose Memphis: Kerry Keeble Russ

I can’t tell you how happy I am to have the good fortune to read (and share) all of these “Why I Chose Memphis” stories… and from such a wide variety of people! Our next installment comes from Kerry Keeble Russ. Kerry moved every two years for 15 years before landing in Memphis is 2002….

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Notes From the Other Side of the Job Market

In my first 3 years at my current position, I served on 2 tenure-track search committees, a process that literally took up every spare moment of my time (and many non-spare moments) for the 4 or 5 months that it lasted. Although I certainly learned a lot in my time on SLAC Search Committees– including,…

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Why I Chose Memphis: Michael Hughes

Michael Hughes– sommelier, food critic, Midtowner, the friendliest face at Joe’s and author of the Memphis food-and-wine blog Midtown Stomp— offers up the following account of why he chose Memphis: “I don’t know if I necessarily chose Memphis or if it chose me. When I would visit here in college I always felt for lack…

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Why I Chose Memphis: Liz Dagget

So, no sooner did I send out the request for readers to submit their own “Why I Chose Memphis” accounts than the responses started pouring in. Here’s the first from Liz Dagget (pictured left), Assistant Professor in the Rhodes College Art Department and Director of CODA (Center for Outreach and Development of the Arts). In…

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Why I Chose Memphis: Dr. J

This post is a (bit delayed) response to fellow-blogger JLotz’s Quick Memphian Call to Arms, which she posted over on her (excellent) blog Waves and Wires. JLotz recently turned down a couple of lucrative and promising job offers in D.C. and Baltimore in order to take a position here in Memphis, and she decided to…

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