Leigh M. Johnson

Deconstructing Ahmadinejad

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

[Chet has forced me to place a temporary moratorium on Memphis-themed posts to this blog. But it’s only temporary.] I was tied up with Merleau-Pontyans shortly after the Columbia University speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but I did actually watch his speech in its entirety on CSPAN and wanted to offer my $0.02 on…

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The Quotable South, Part 8: “It feels cool to be in Memphis.”

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, The Quotable South 4 Comments

The quote above is from the Jim Jarmusch film “Mystery Train.” In my experience, this is the quote that people most often associate with our strange city. However, as a Memphian, I’ve always thought that another line from the Jarmusch film was a much more apt description of the Memphis experience. My favorite line comes…

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Southern Hospitality

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis Comments Off on Southern Hospitality

Apologies to the regular readers of this blog for my absence. Apparently, Memphis is the destination of choice this month for all of my far-flung friends and associates. Be back soon with stories of the carpetbaggers, I’m sure.

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Serendipity

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

My cable was out over the weekend and I had to have a repairman come by yesterday morning to check it out. Because the cable company gave me a window of 10-noon to expect him, I was at home still scrambling to prep for my 1pm class when he arrived. My cable repair guy was…

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Older, even if not Wiser and Better-Looking

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Uncategorized 3 Comments

August 19- a good day for babies. 1973- a very fine vintage. As it just so happens, that was my birthday. August 19th is also the birthday of Bill Clinton, Orville Wright, Ogden Nash, Fred Thompson, Christian Slater, Tipper Gore and John Stamos. And the same day that Groucho Marx died. Heady times, indeed. I’ve…

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Promesse d’honneur

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Teaching Comments Off on Promesse d’honneur

I’ve been immersed in the long “orientation” process for the past week. Although much of that process is tedious and mind-numbing, I found at least one part particularly interesting. My new academic home operates on an Honor System, something that used to be de rigeur for liberal arts colleges, but is unfortunately not so much…

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Have I mentioned that it’s HOT?

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis 2 Comments

Still registering over 100 degrees every day here in Memphis. My own heat-related misery was coumpounded in 2 ways yesterday, leading me to believe that the end (or my end, anyway) is nigh. First, we had Convocation yesterday afternoon. It was about 107 degrees when the “procession” started, during which we make about a quarter-mile…

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I Love Roller Derby

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Sports 1 Comment

I went to my first Roller Derby match last weekend. It was a double-header– the Women of Mass Destruction vs. The Angels of Death, followed by the Legion of Zoom vs. the PrissKilla Presleys. I expected it to be campy and entertaining, which it was, but what I didn’t expect was to learn that this…

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Man Love

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Teaching, The Search for Values 2 Comments

As I mentioned a little while ago, I am in the process of teaching The Epic of Gilgamesh. One of the themes we are concentrating on in my seminar this semester is “friendhip,” so the relationship between the epic’s two protagonists, Gilgamesh and Enkidu (pictured above), is a wonderful example with which to begin. Our…

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A Little Gift from the Professor’s Bag of Tricks

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Teaching, The Search for Values 2 Comments

I always appreciate it when colleagues of mine share from their bags of pedagogical tricks, so I thought I might pass on a recent experiment that generated an eminently “teachable moment” for me. I’ve just begin teaching the Iliad in my course, which is a small seminar-tpye class. Yesterday, I decided to utilize an exercise…

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