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      Friday, May 30, 2014

      30 Day Song Challenge: 2014 Edition

      Once again, I'll be participating in the 30 Day Song Challenge on this blog for the entire month of June.  I did the Challenge for the first time in 2011 (read my picks here) and then I did it again last summer (read those picks here), though I used a different prompt-list the second time.  The Challenge works like this:  each day, I will pick a song in response to a prompt provided for that day.  I'll post the song and explain the whys and wherefores of my pick.  Some days you'll get a little bit of pop music analysis, other days pop culture analysis, and probably a fair bit of autobiography in the course of the whole Challenge.  This time around, I've decided to follow this list of prompts.  I loved the original 30 day Song Challenge prompt list, but was very disappointed by the one I used last year.  This year's list is a nice compromise; it's got several of the prompts on the original list, but enough new ones to keep it interesting.  I've also decided that I'm not giving myself any arbitrary restrictions this time around.  What that means for you, readers, is that there may be "repeats" from previous years among my song picks, but I'll be composing brand new posts for each day's selection, so the material will be fresh.  (I will make an effort not to repeat picks too often, but my guess is that some repeats will be unavoidable.)  And, as before, you're invited to praise or blame my picks in the comments section each day, as well as offer your own picks.

      Here is the prompt list I'll be using.  Throughout the month of June, I'll update this list each day with a link to my picks for that day, so you can stop back by here for quick access:
      Day 01 - A song that makes you happy  (Here's my pick)
      Day 02 - A song that helps you clear your head  (Here's my pick)
      Day 03 - A song that makes you laugh  (Here's my pick)
      Day 04 - A song that reminds you of something sad  (Here's my pick)
      Day 05 - A song that has a new meaning to you every time you hear it  (Here's my pick)
      Day 06 - A song you can always relate to  (Here's my pick)
      Day 07 - A song that is your guilty pleasure (Here's my pick)
      Day 08 - A song you liked when you were younger (Here's my pick)
      Day 09 - A song that makes you want to dance (Here's my pick)
      Day 10 - A song that makes you cry (Here's my pick)
      Day 11 - A song that reminds you of summer (Here's my pick)
      Day 12 - A song that reminds you of your best friend (Here's my pick)
      Day 13 - A song you sing to in the shower (Here's my pick) 
      Day 14 - A song you like hearing live (Here's my pick)
      Day 15 - A song people wouldn't expect you to like (Here's my pick)
      Day 16 - A song that holds a lot of meaning to you (Here's my pick)
      Day 17 - A song that annoys you (Here's my pick)
      Day 18 - A song you have as your ringtone/want to be your ringtone (Here's my pick)
      Day 19 - A song you’re currently obsessed with (Here's my pick)
      Day 20 - A song from a new album you are waiting for to come out (Here's my pick)
      Day 21 - A song you want to dance to at your wedding (Here's my pick)
      Day 22 - A song that would be the theme song to a TV show about your life (Here's my pick)
      Day 23 - A song that makes you angry (Here's my pick)
      Day 24 - A cover song (Here's my pick)
      Day 25 - An acoustic song you love (Here's my pick)
      Day 26 - A song by your favorite band (Here's my pick)
      Day 27 - A song you make fun of (Here's my pick)
      Day 28 - A song that reminds you of your boyfriend/girlfriend (if you don’t have one, make one up :])  (Here's my pick)
      Day 29- A song currently stuck in your head
      Day 30- A song that you haven’t listened to in awhile

      Challenge: accepted.  Check back in each day for good music!

      Tuesday, May 27, 2014

      Catching Up

      I've neglected this blog quite a bit over the last year, in part because I was on the job market and in part because, once one gets out of the habit of blogging regularly, then not-blogging-regularly becomes a whole new habit.  Let's remedy that.

      By way of re-entry, I thought I'd do a kind of catch-up summary post on what's been going on since this blog went quiet.  First and most important bit of news is that I completed my final year at Rhodes College and will be starting my new gig at Christian Brothers University this coming fall.  (Actually, I'll be starting at CBU this next week, teaching my first ever Business Ethics course for their summer term.)  Being on the job market again last year was a long and stressful adventure, and I considered leaving academia very seriously for a while.  Fortunately, though, I landed a job in the Religion and Philosophy department at CBU, which means that I didn't have to make what would have been an impossibly terrible choice between the two things most dear to me: Philosophy and Memphis.  I am very happy to be staying put in the city that love and doing the job that I love, but even happier to be doing so at a new institution.  I'm also very excited to be joining the faculty in Religion and Philosophy at CBU, all of whom are smart and interesting people who I've admired from a relatively-short distance for a while.  Given the terrible odds of not only getting a job as a woman in Philosophy these days, but also getting a job in the location of one's choice, I would be remiss to not also say that I feel very, very fortunate.

      I'm still plugging away at the same sort of philosophical research/writing that I've been working on for years, including the (never-ending) manuscript for Weak Humanism and very long piece on the Uncanny Valley (that may end up being another manuscript).  I've also got a few things in the chute on what can be described broadly as "philosophy and film" and "philosophy and technology," as well as a piece on the "Thinking in Images" assignment that I've been using in my courses for the past several years. In very general terms, I'd say that my interests remain in the  "moral and political questions of the human" arena, though they've shifted slightly more toward aesthetics and technology.  As I told someone recently: I'm still a philosopher and I'm still a Derridean, but Ifind myself working in different media now.  Less "text" and more images, music, networks, cultures and multitudes.

      Just like JD, for whatever that's worth.  

      In non-academic news, I continue to make progress on extending my short-documentary film WORKING IN MEMPHIS (which I started with my student, Sophie Osella, last summer) into a feature-length film. What that means in real terms is that I work with several of the bands/artists on Beale Street pretty much weekly and I spend a lot of time toting around my camera while I do and collecting new footage whenever I can.  Because I'm not working on the tight schedule of our shooting timeline from last summer, I can be much more selective and discriminating about what I want to document, but it is still the case that one just needs to be there a lot in order to be there when "it" happens.  More often these days, my footage is taking the form of still photos, so I created a new Twitter handle (@MemphisMemphian) and hashtag (#MemphisandMemphians) for anyone who's interested in keeping up with my 901 documentary photography.  I'm finally getting to the point where I think my photographs have a distinct and identifiable "look," which is something that makes me feel like I'm slowly, steadily creeping towards feeling comfortable calling myself an artist.

      This last year has also found me picking up the guitar and getting back to the business of songwriting more often, largely as a result of spending so much time with musicians.  I love a well-crafted and well-formed song as much as I love a well-crafted and well-formed argument.  Creating both, in my experience, involves about 1/4 part talent, 1/4 part science and 1/4 part artistry. The other quarter-part requires some rough combination of inspiration, experience, hard work and patience.  This is an inexact formula.  Adjust to taste.

      More recently, I've taken to getting a bit more involved in hands-on Memphis politics, though I do most of that work behind-the-scenes.  As I said several years ago in my 25 Random Things About Me post (#18): "I think I'm better as a behind-the-scenes player than a leader. Kind of like Dick Cheney. People are suspicious of me when I'm in charge... probably because of things like that Dick Cheney comment."

      Finally, I'll just let readers of this blog know that I'll be participating in the 30 Day Song Challenge again next month.  (I did this  before in June 2011 and June 2013 if you're interested in checking out the older versions.)  The way it works is that I post a song every day in response to one of the pre-fab 30 Day Song Challenge prompts, and I explain why I chose the song I did.  So, definitely check back in on June 1 (this Sunday) for the start of that adventure!

      Consider yourself updated.  Dr. J is back in business.