Memphis

Politics in Gracelessland

We Memphians just saw the conclusion of what has been a truly U-G-L-Y battle between the candidates for Tennessee’s 9th U.S. Congressional District, incumbent Steve Cohen and challenger Nikki Tinker. As you may already know, our district Representative before Cohen was the DNC wunderkind Harold Ford, Jr., who was famously done in by his Senate-race…

Read More

Time-out

Apparently, Memphis is about halfway between Texas and Philaedelphia. Also, apparently, I am the hostess with the mostest. This week my apartment runneth over with friends on their way from one of those places to the other. So, please forgive my absence on this blog for the next couple of days. I’ll be back on…

Read More

Obituaries, Memphis style

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

The Quotable South, Part 9: What You Can Kiss

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

Mama, trains, trucks, prison, gettin’ drunk… and Obama

There’s a very famous country song, made popular by David Allan Coe, called “You Never Even Called Me By My Name.” (NOTE: That link is to a YouTube rendering of the song, which might be one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen.) As Coe explains in the song, it was actually written by Steve…

Read More

Moving

I’m moving today…. again. Like most people, I hate moving. As a matter of fact, on my list of “miserable human experiences,” the ranking goes something like this:1. Moving2. Grading3. Dying (a distant third, really) I’ve got good help (read: “students”) and I’m going to do my best to be chipper today, but I got…

Read More

Beings-Toward-Happy-Valley

Since it is now “public” news, let me be the first to offer my congratulations to the Penn State Philosophy Department for comepleting what will surely go down in the history books as the single greatest faculty-recruiting season EVER. My (Ph.D.) alma mater came down South and poached my other (B.A.) alma mater, and now…

Read More

NCAA Hope

You people have no idea how long I have been waiting for this… and by “you people”, I mean all of you who haven’t known the truly Sisyphean struggle of being a life-long defender (and lover) of Memphis.

Read More

The Sweet, Succulent Smell of Swine

In my humble opinion, May is absolutely the best month to be in Memphis. We have a month-long festival every year called “Memphis in May,” which includes a killer Music Fest to kick things off and a beautiful Sunset Symphony at the end of the month. Spring is also the best time to catch our…

Read More

How I Feel About It…

It occurred to me, long after posting this picture, that I posted it without explanation. For those to whom it wasn’t obvious at the time, this is how I felt after the University of Memphis lost the NCAA Basketball Championship Game to the University of Kansas. And, for the record, I still feel this way…

Read More