RMWMTMBM Archive

Yes, Mr. Vice-President, This IS A “Big F**king Deal”

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

Nobody’s ever going to accuse Joe Biden of mincing words. Sometimes that mouth gets him into trouble… but you gotta love his uncensored enthusiam when introducing the President as he turns to Obama and says: “This is a big f**king deal.” Priceless.

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It’s Something In Our Souls That Makes Us Memphians… And “Miserable” Is Not A Part Of It

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 5 Comments

Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton recently released an “Open Letter to Steve Forbes” contesting the ranking of Memphis as the 3rd of America’s “Most Miserable Cities” in Forbes Magazine. I reproduce Wharton’s letter here in its entirety, without comment, because the Truth speaks for itself. I have, however, added links for Mr. Forbes, so that he…

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Cadavers, Immortal Souls, and the Rest of Us

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

I just want to take a moment to sing the praises of Mary Roach, essayist and author of the trilogy of books pictured here. Her first was Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers, which dealt (as evidenced in the title) with all the strange things that we do with the dead. Her second, Spook:…

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Omaha (Somewhere in Middle America)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive 1 Comment

I’ll be giving the keynote address at the 12th Annual Midwest Undergraduate Philosophy Conference next weekend, hosted by Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. (That’s the Creighton campus in the image to the left… or so says Google Image Search, anyway.) You can see the full conference schedule here. The title of my keynote is “Human…

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The Burnin’ Love Band Premiere

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

I don’t often recommend specific shows to see in Memphis on this blog, but I’m making an exception this time for Brad Birkedahl. For years, Brad was the lead guitarist of The Dempseys, a smoking-hot rockabilly trio, perennially voted one of Memphis’ Best Bands. Even if you’ve never been to Memphis, you’ve probably seen The…

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War Is A Drug

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

Nothing yet has made so crystal clear to me exactly how much I do NOT understand about what is going on in Iraq than this year’s Oscar-nominated film The Hurt Locker. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who has been endlessly (and a little annoyingly) praised for her skill at capturing the hyper-masculine emotional intensity and complexity…

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Sunset for Sundown Signs?

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

File this away in the E-for-Effort folder of “Things The New York Times Gets Wrong About The South.” There’s an interesting article in the New York Times today titled “Race in the South in the Age of Obama” about James Fields, a black State Representative from predominently-white Cullman, Alabama. As the author Nicholas Davidoff notes,…

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Trials for Terrorists

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Human Rights, Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 7 Comments

Earlier this month, Senator Lindsay Graham (R-South Carolina) introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of Justice Department funds for prosecuting alleged 9/11 plotters in federal courts. The aim of the bill (and a similar one introduced in the House by Representative Frank Wolf from Virginia) is to tie the Obama administration’s hands and…

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Guess Things Happen That Way

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Music, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

I’ve often said that if God speaks to humanity, he does so through Johnny Cash. Unfortunately for the rest of us, Cash passed away in 2003, officially of diabetes-related complications, but more likely because he was unable to stand this world any longer after the death of his wife, June Carter Cash, a few months…

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The Things They Take With Them From Class

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Open Source Pedagogy, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Teaching 1 Comment

I’m inclined to just post this image without any explanation at all. It’s a snapshot of a status update I saw on Facebook yesterday in reference to my colleague Dr. Grady and myself. Grady is teaching Kant’s first Critique right now, and I just began teaching Marx in my 19th C. Philosophy course. (You can…

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