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…
Read MoreIn 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…
Read MoreFor all the hype about big, mean bully Kanye West and his poor, innocent victim Taylor Swift, you’d think that somebody died at the VMA’s a few days ago. But, alas, it was just a bit of garden-variety entertainment drama. No real biggie. Even still, since everyone else in the Universe, including the President, feels…
Read MoreToday marks the 3rd Anniversary of the creation of this blog. Thanks to all of you who have kept it interesting and active over the years.
Read More[NOTE: I hope you’ll forgive the obviously provocative title of this post. Hopefully, it will become clearer by the end.] Given the popular story that is told in this country about the differeneces between the North and the South, you would think that those of us who have spent most of our lives below the…
Read MoreFULL TEXT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ADDRESS: Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, and the American people: When I spoke here last winter, this nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month. Credit was frozen. And our financial system was on…
Read MoreI was talking to one of my colleagues recently about our shared concern for demonstrating to students that “philosophy” and “religion” (or theology, or religious studies, or whatever) are different disciplines. Although they sometimes address the same subject matter, and although there is much in religion that is philosophical and much in philosophy that is…
Read MoreAt the beginning of the 2008 film Doubt (an adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s play by the same name), a priest challenges his congregation with an unorthodox sermon about the nature of the ties that bind us together. Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) asks his flock: “What do you do when you’re not sure? ”…
Read MoreSure, we all know that Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the world’s fastest man, but who is the world’s fastest woman? That seems to be a matter of some debate… South African runner Caster Semenya (pictured left) recently ran 800 meters in less than two minutes, more than 2 seconds faster than the next-fastest female…
Read MoreI went with a friend to see the new sci-fi film District 9 last night, despite the fact that, as a rule, I’m not a huge fan of science fiction. It was a great film. It was produced by Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame), and South African writer/director, Niell Blomkamp, makes his…
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