I’ve never been to Africa, which is particularly embarrassing in my case since I have a Doctoral Minor in African Studies and a large part of my dissertation involved the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Not having been to Africa is far and away the greatest regret I have in my life, one that…
Read MoreIt’s hard to think about “holiday” songs in the middle of June– in Memphis— so today’s entry will be brief. I’m picking a Christmas song, not because Christmas is my favorite holiday (my favorite holiday is a tie between New Years Eve and Halloween), but rather because, c’mon let’s admit it, Christmas has the best…
Read MoreToday is a two-fer in my picks for the 30 Day Song Challenge, in part because the prompt itself is a compound prompt. I’ll just say in advance that I’m only considering TV or movie “theme songs” and not any old song from a TV or movie soundtrack (which would include far too many songs…
Read MoreAs I said back on Day Four of this challenge, my picks for the last three days can pretty much be taken as mix-and-matchable. All three suffice for all three of this week’s categories so far: a “song for a sunny day,” a “song to drive around town with your top down” and a “song…
Read MoreFirst things first, if you don’t know the story of that Vancouver Kissing Couple to the left, one of the greatest stories and images of the last decade, read about them here. Love and Revolution are two of my favorite things. Picking my favorite “make-out song” violates more than a few of the Don’t-Get-Too-Personal rules…
Read MoreI’m really glad I was born at a time that allowed my life to span two millennia. I sometimes think about my historical counterpart 1000 years ago. She would have been born in the latter part of the 10th century, when the world was dim and dark and governed entirely by authoritarian power. She would…
Read MoreThis week, I’ve begun my third stint in the Rhodes Institute for Regional Studies. RIRS is an innovative summer program in which Rhodes’ best and brightest students get to create their own independent research projects (each of which has some relation to the region) and work with one faculty member for eight weeks to complete…
Read MoreLet me just begin with the plot-spoiler for today’s post: I do not love 80s music. In fact, there is very little about the 80s in general that I even like, much less love. And I have almost no nostalgic feelings for that decade at all. I don’t like big-banged, hair-sprayed hair. I don’t like…
Read MoreAhhhhh, the 70s. Among many other things, it was a great decade for babies. Including and especially yours truly. I was born the same year as the Roe v. Wade decision, so that just goes to show you… errr, umm, well … I don’t know how to finish this sentence. That’s me in the picture…
Read MorePerhaps the only thing more difficult than picking out a single “favorite” song from an entire decade of music is trying to broadly summarize that decade for these accompanying posts. The tumultuous 60s, sometimes reactionary and sometimes revolutionary, marked one of the most dramatic periods in American culture, not only musically but socially and politically,…
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