The news has just been released that Rev. Fred Phelps, founder and lifelong shepherd of the Westboro Baptist Church (in Topeka, Kansas) has died at the age of 84. I find it difficult, I confess, to summon the normal human compassion that usually accompanies news of another’s death in this case, largely because Phelps dedicated…
Read MoreLet’s face it: exercising solidarity is tricky business, not the least of which is because “solidarity” itself is a tricky concept, which requires the subordination of real differences (across a whole host of important categorical domains) for the sake of some particular common interest that might prioritize similitude– often for prudentially strategic reasons– over, across…
Read MoreAs some of you already know, I am also one of the bloggers at NewAPPS. I’m re-posting here a piece co-authored by Edward Kazaian and I that appeared this past Tuesday on NewAPPS. It’s generated a lot of conversation so far, and I’ll have a post forthcoming soon on my take on that conversation. What…
Read MoreThese are the letters from the ninth (and final) day of the Grading War. If you landed here by accident and don’t know what you’re reading, click here for the backstory. One last note: this whole #GradingLetterstoHome adventure was great fun, and a very welcome relief from the drudgery of grading. Thanks to Marcus Battle…
Read MoreThese are the letters from the eighth (and penultimate) day of the Grading War. If you landed here by accident and don’t know what you’re reading, click here for the backstory 12 December 2013, 3:28am Dearest Leigh I hope this dispatch will find you in good spirits and in the very best of health. I…
Read MoreThese are the letters from the seventh day of the Grading War. If you landed here by accident and don’t know what you’re reading, click here for the backstory.11 December 2011, 9:09am Dearest Leigh, I know not whether this missive will find you, but I pray that, if it does, it finds you well. The…
Read MoreOnce again this semester, I assigned short-film projects to the students in my Existentialism course. And once again, the products of that assignment (which I only just finished grading) were amazing. I’ve employed this assignment in select courses for the last several years and each year the students’ films have gotten more and more impressive. …
Read MoreThese are the letters from the sixth day of the Grading War. If you landed here by accident and don’t know what you’re reading, click here for the backstory. 10 December 2013, 11:45pm Dearest Charles, Today, we persevered. Your friend,Leigh M. Johnson Click here to proceed to DAY SEVEN of the Grading War Letters
Read MoreThese are the letters from the fifth day of the Grading War. If you landed here by accident and don’t know what you’re reading, click here for the backstory. 9 December 2013, 10:55am Dearest Charles, I received your note and hope you do not mind that I shared it aloud with the boys at breakfast…
Read MoreI was recently asked by a colleague, Dr. Lisa Guenther (Philosophy, Vanderbilt University), to add my signature to an open letter to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, petitioning him to suspend the scheduled execution of 10 inmates beginning in January. I agreed to lend my name to the petition alongside several others in a coalition named…
Read More
Recent Comments