Memphis

Rove at Rhodes: A Master Class in Sophistry

This past Wednesday evening, exactly one year to the day after the inauguration of President Barack Obama, I attended “An Evening with Karl Rove” at Rhodes College. Rove was invited by the Student Lecture Board with support from the Young America’s Foundation, and he delivered a “closed” address to Rhodes students, faculty, staff and alumni….

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This Is Now An “Award Winning” Blog

You can read the whole story here of how my blog came to receive the illustrious “Chuck Norris Stamp of Approval.” I’m truly honored, I think.

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When Growing-Up Is NOT “The Bomb”

It’s been a while since I’ve recommended a book on this blog, the last one being Junot Diaz’s tragic and beautiful The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Part of the reason for the absence of good fiction here is because I went through a bit of a literary drought recently, reading several books that…

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Follow This Blog!

As my first post for the new year, I want to send out an invitation to all of you lurking readers of this site to scroll down the column to your right and choose “Follow This Blog.” I’m entering my fifth consecutive year here at readmorewritemorethinkmorebemore and, like most blogs, this site has its regular…

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Dr. J’s Top Stories of 2009

What a long, strange trip it’s been! It’s almost time to bid adieu to the last year of the first decade of the new millineum. In case you weren’t paying attention, here are a dozen of the highlights (and lowlights) of 2009: 12. Sarah Palin Goes “Rogue” The Grand Dame of the Illiterati wrote a…

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Regionalism

In light of the (somewhat reductionist, mostly exaggerated) stereotypes of different United States’ regions evidenced in the comments section of my post a few days ago, I thought I might remark briefly on this rather unfortunate phenomenon. (Please click on the image to the right to see what I mean.) “Regionalism” expresses itself both positively…

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Hello, Dalai

One thing you CANNOT say about Memphis is that it doesn’t have a sense of humor about politics. Especially mayoral politics. Remember, this is a town that has not one, but TWO, mayors (one for the city and another for the county). We also had the same Memphis City Mayor, Willie Herenton, for five consecutive…

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Video Killed the Philosophy Professor

As some of you know, I got to film a music video for my original song “Heart of Stone” last week with my best friend from college, Dana Gabrion (Co-Executive Producer of America’s Next Top Model) and musician/composer/videographer and all-around artistic genius, Chris Morgan. I should say, first, that the whole idea of shooting a…

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In Praise of Bulgarians

My good friend (and one of my favorite bloggers), Petya, recently moved to Memphis with her husband, who is my new colleague at work. I have been anxiously anticipating their arrival all summer, and especially anticipating introducing them to Memphis. Now, I love this city and I love showing people around here, but after many…

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10 Things I Love About Memphis

Here’s my contribution to the meme begun over at Smart City Memphis: 1. Wild Bill’s Juke Joint I’m sure that it doesn’t come as any surprise to readers of this blog that I’ve got Wild Bill’s first on the list. This is the single greatest place in Memphis… or in any city I’ve ever been…

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