Leigh M. Johnson

Memphis! We Got It!

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature Comments Off on Memphis! We Got It!

A friend of a friend who is a student at MCA (Memphis College of Art) made this “promotional” video for our fair city. I love it.

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What I’m Listening To

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Dr. J's Lists, Music 2 Comments

One of the things that I miss in this insanely-busy-semester of mine is my regular Sunday night gig as the hostess of “Americana the Beautiful” on Rhodes Radio. When I was in grad school, I had a lot of music-loving friends with whom I could endlessly talk about and trade tunes. (Miss you, Kyle!) Now…

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Church, Memphis Style

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Music 2 Comments

I’m back. I’m also clearly making regular payments on some karmic debt these days. I can’t exactly pinpoint what I did to merit the utter mayhem of this year, but I suspect it has something to do with my remarking one too many times last year about how happy I was with my life back…

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President-Elect Barack Obama’s Victory Speech (November 4, 2008)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics Comments Off on President-Elect Barack Obama’s Victory Speech (November 4, 2008)
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Is he still around?

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 1 Comment

There are plenty of nut-jobs out there who dominate the news for a brief time, then sort of fade away. While they’re laying low, it’s easy to forget about them– until they raise their ugly heads again and show up on something like VH1’s The Surreal Life. Such is the case with David Duke (pictured…

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R.I.P. David Foster Wallace

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy 2 Comments

Novelist, MacArthur “genius” and postmodern wunderkind, David Foster Wallace, was found dead in his home on Friday night after hanging himself. He was only 46. I know that just a week ago I was poking fun at the cult-status of Wallace’s Infinite Jest. I feel bad about that now. So, let me say for the…

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In Praise of “Very Short Introductions”

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy 1 Comment

This semester, I’ve decided to use a few of the texts from the Very Short Introductions Series published by Oxford University Press in my courses. These very small, very cute, and very inexpensive little books, according to OUP, offer “concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects.” There are almost 200 titles in…

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The “Handwriting” of College Radio

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Music 2 Comments

Yesterday, in my capacity as the faculty advisor for Rhodes Radio, I was a part of the committee charged with interviewing and selecting the next General Manager for the radio station. Because our little Rhodes Radio is still in its infancy stage, in a town with an abundance of colleges/universities yet a paucity of independent/college…

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The Trouble with Rapture

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 1 Comment

With Hurrican Ike, Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, and the sale of Merril Lynch to Bank of America, it was pretty rough last weekend in the news. So, you may be interested to learn that according to The Rapture Index, which is a “Dow Jones Industrial Average of end-time activity,” we’re sitting at a very uncomfortable level…

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Blogging in the Classroom

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Open Source Pedagogy, Philosophy, Teaching, The Search for Values 3 Comments

I’m trying out a new pedagogical technique in all of my courses this semester. I’ve set up a blog for each course and have required students, as a part of their grade, to contribute regularly to those sites. In one of my courses, blog posts and comments are the only writing students are required to…

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