[NOTE: This is the another installment in my series of reviews of Black Mirror. These posts DO include spoilers. Stop reading now if you don’t want to know!] When I originally posted my ranking of Black Mirror episodes at the beginning of this year, I didn’t include “White Christmas” in part because, in the grand architecture of the series, “White…
Read MoreLast week, I began my second year on the LGBTQ Advocacy Committee for The Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP). This organization and this committee are important to me, personally and professionally, and I take my service responsibilities to both very seriously. Contrary to the general demographics/trends of professional Philosophy writ large, SPEP has…
Read MoreI’ve observed a deeply problematic trend on social media of late, one that has been amplified amidst Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and the several concurrent allegations of sexual assault leveled against Kavanaugh that have been made public in the past several days. Many people—who are (rightfully) outraged by…
Read MoreThis is a follow-up to my post last May, in which I explained a new pedagogical device I planned to introduce in my classes this semester. I called it “An Experiment in the Redistribution of Grades” and, as of two weeks ago, the experiment has begun. The basic idea is that I am giving students an opportunity to…
Read MoreA few days ago, right-wing blowhard and professional alarmist, Alex Jones (of InfoWars), posted a tweet announcing that “Democrats Plan To Launch Civil War on July 4.” If you lean to the Left and somehow missed the memo about our impending revolution, never fear, because it’s all over the Twitterverse now. On July 2, Amanda Blount…
Read MoreThere’s an old dad-joke that goes something like this: A bear jumps out of the woods, in a rage, and starts chasing two hikers. They both start running for their lives, but then one of them stops to put on his running shoes. “What are you doing?!,” the other hiker exclaims, “You can’t outrun a…
Read MoreThis is the last day of the #30DaySong Challenge, and I’m very glad I decided to revive it again. I had forgotten how therapeutic regular blogging could be, especially when writing about music. I want to thank all of you, readers, who came to the blog for the first time (or returned after a long…
Read MoreIn previous iterations of the #30DaySongChallenge, I’ve answered this prompt about “a song you want played at your funeral” before– see here for my 2015 answer, and here for my 2011 answer– but, to be honest, that was before I really started thinking seriously about my own funeral. For the last few years, I’ve been teaching…
Read MoreI had intended to write a really uplifting post today about the power of hope. Something about not giving in to the siren call of despondency or, worse, quietism. Something about the curious capacity of the human spirit to not only endure the darkness before the dawn, but to manufacture assurance that the sun will,…
Read MoreIt’s a little bit hard to complain about the break-up of Outkast, since André 3000 (André Benjamin) and Big Boi (Antwan Patton) have both gone on to be stellar solo artists, but still… they were soooooo gooooood together. Back in 1996, a friend gave me Outkast’s ATLiens album as a birthday present. The “Dirty South”…
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