Leigh M. Johnson

Obituaries, Memphis style

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

From our alternative weekly, The Memphis Flyer:—————————- Bozo the clown, Jesse the racistLarry Harmon, the man who popularized the show business character Bozo the Clown, has died of congestive heart failure at the age of 83. Harmon did not create the flame-haired character, but played him in numerous appearances over the years. He purchased the…

Read More

How To Be Real-er

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature 5 Comments

I’m a pretty big fan of reality television. Or “reality” television. I like to claim that my primary interest in it is as a cultural phenomenon, but I know that’s not completely true. The truth is that I just find it totally fascinating–partially in the same voyeuristic way that everyone else does, but also as…

Read More

eSymposium on “The Obama Phenomenon”

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Obama, Politics 4 Comments

I feel very fortunate to have been invited to serve as a respondent for an eSymposium on “The Meaning and Implications of the Obama Phenomenon” over at The Zeleza Post. The Zeleza Post is the web-home for “informed news and commentary on the Pan-African world,” and the regular contributors there are among some of the…

Read More

The Trouble with Banks

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics 2 Comments

I know embarrassingly little about banking, but even my ignorant ears perked up a bit yesterday afternoon during President Bush’s press conference when he said (in response to a question about whether or not he thought banks were in trouble) that “Americans should remember that up to $100,000 of their money in the bank is…

Read More

The (Ever-Elusive) Grandeur of the Forest

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 2 Comments

Many years ago, when I was in the full throes of my pomo-lit phase, I read John Barth’s 1955 novel The Floating Opera, which was one of those books that serendipitously landed in my lap at just the right time. John Barth is a little bit of a Philip-Roth-Lite, I think. He’s funny and smart…

Read More

Kids Say the Damndest Things (Part 2)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Uncategorized 1 Comment

Here’s another installment in the story of my two nieces– “Monkey” and “Templeton” (not their real names, of course)– who continue to say the damndest things. (You can read the first installment here.) The Family J recently returned from a beach vacation in Florida. I wasn’t able to go (proof again that academics don’t really…

Read More

Bookstore Surveillance

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Dr. J's Lists, Philosophy, Politics 15 Comments

Last Christmas, on this blog, I posted a list of books that one should NOT give as gifts because, I speculated, the recipient is likely to misinterpret the meaning behind the gift. You were all very helpful in filling out that list, providing your own examples of the oft-embarrassing dissonance between the intended meaning of…

Read More

Who Speaks for the People?

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Film, Philosophy, Politics, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature 9 Comments

I’m going to say it: The Dark Knight did not impress. Yes, of course, I thought Heath Ledger’s turn as the fledgling Joker was an impressive performance. (And, yes, of course it’s a tragedy that Heath Ledger is no longer with us.) I know I’m going to sound a bit like a broken record here,…

Read More

The Quotable South, Part 9: What You Can Kiss

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, The Quotable South 3 Comments

Last year, I had a running series on this blog that I called The Quotable South. It was about one-part PSA (below-the-Mason/Dixon information campaign) and two-parts personal therapy (as I had just returned down South after 6 years in the Northeast). Anyway, a good friend of mine and semi-regular contributor to this blog, Dr. Trott…

Read More

Smartocracy?

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics 6 Comments

There’s an opinion peice in the recent issue of conservative magazine The National Review by John Derbyshire entitled “Talking to the Plumber: The IQ Gap,” in which Derbyshire argues that Americans are uneasy with the “inequality of smarts” in this country… and even more uneasy with the way that inequality in intelligence corresponds with other…

Read More