Leigh M. Johnson
@drleighmjohnson.bsky.social
Memphian (now in DC), philosopher, raconteuse, and co-host of Hotel Bar Sessions podcast (@hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social). I love arguments.
www.drleighmjohnson.com
www.hotelbarpodcast.com
www.drleighmjohnson.com
www.hotelbarpodcast.com
Hermeneutics.
November 22, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Hermeneutics.
Yikes. "Free speech" in America:
November 18, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Yikes. "Free speech" in America:
Happy Halloween, y'all. We should do this every month!
November 1, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Happy Halloween, y'all. We should do this every month!
Oh and there was also this duo costume with my friend, Natalie, when we went as MJ and Liza. Didn't age well, for sure.
October 31, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Oh and there was also this duo costume with my friend, Natalie, when we went as MJ and Liza. Didn't age well, for sure.
My best Halloween costumes: Fred Flintstone in 2015 and Alfalfa in 2010:
October 31, 2025 at 1:43 AM
My best Halloween costumes: Fred Flintstone in 2015 and Alfalfa in 2010:
Flashback to 2015, when I walked into my classroom on Halloween and one of my students was sitting in the back corner seat as pictured.
I am still haunted by this.
I am still haunted by this.
October 31, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Flashback to 2015, when I walked into my classroom on Halloween and one of my students was sitting in the back corner seat as pictured.
I am still haunted by this.
I am still haunted by this.
Great to catch up with (and learn more from) my old @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social co-host and friend, David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social at American University's McDowell Conference on AI yesterday!
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Great to catch up with (and learn more from) my old @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social co-host and friend, David Gunkel @davidgunkel.bsky.social at American University's McDowell Conference on AI yesterday!
If you're in DC on Oct 23, please attend this conference! I've got a few important things to say about how to re-frame our understanding of AI's "memory problems."
Also @davidgunkel.bsky.social is the Keynote speaker!
Also @davidgunkel.bsky.social is the Keynote speaker!
October 16, 2025 at 12:14 AM
If you're in DC on Oct 23, please attend this conference! I've got a few important things to say about how to re-frame our understanding of AI's "memory problems."
Also @davidgunkel.bsky.social is the Keynote speaker!
Also @davidgunkel.bsky.social is the Keynote speaker!
Hold your trans/GNC loved ones extra close right now. Things are ugly and looking to get much worse.
September 14, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Hold your trans/GNC loved ones extra close right now. Things are ugly and looking to get much worse.
In my twenties, though, when I was coming around to find myself as a queer person, his performance as Bernadette Bassenger in "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" struck me as exactly the mother/father parent figure that I needed to have (or imagined to need) at the time.
August 18, 2025 at 10:35 PM
In my twenties, though, when I was coming around to find myself as a queer person, his performance as Bernadette Bassenger in "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" struck me as exactly the mother/father parent figure that I needed to have (or imagined to need) at the time.
RIP, Terrance Stamp, probably my first movie villain "crush" (in his Superman role as "General Zod").
🧵
🧵
August 18, 2025 at 10:35 PM
RIP, Terrance Stamp, probably my first movie villain "crush" (in his Superman role as "General Zod").
🧵
🧵
(8/8) RIP, Earl "the Pearl" Banks. You were a true legend and Memphis will not be the same without you. Here's my favorite picture of us, after a late-night music/drinking session at my apt with Archie Turner, in which you insisted on "mussing up my hair" so I wouldn't look prettier than you. <3
August 10, 2025 at 8:58 PM
(8/8) RIP, Earl "the Pearl" Banks. You were a true legend and Memphis will not be the same without you. Here's my favorite picture of us, after a late-night music/drinking session at my apt with Archie Turner, in which you insisted on "mussing up my hair" so I wouldn't look prettier than you. <3
(6/8) I don't really know what else I can say about Earl's passing other than that I am just utterly heartbroken that the world has lost him.
August 10, 2025 at 8:58 PM
(6/8) I don't really know what else I can say about Earl's passing other than that I am just utterly heartbroken that the world has lost him.
(2/8) Earl was also my very dear friend. He was deeply, profoundly kind, and he had a special knack for translating what seemed like an "impossible situation" into something that didn't seem quite so terrible.
August 10, 2025 at 8:58 PM
(2/8) Earl was also my very dear friend. He was deeply, profoundly kind, and he had a special knack for translating what seemed like an "impossible situation" into something that didn't seem quite so terrible.
(1/8) Earl was what they used to call a "journeyman" musician, which more or less translates to "underappreciated" and "underpaid" for his whole life. HE LIVED AND WORKED FOR 80 YEARS as a Memphis musician, playing weekly gigs in small bars well past his 80th birthday.
August 10, 2025 at 8:58 PM
(1/8) Earl was what they used to call a "journeyman" musician, which more or less translates to "underappreciated" and "underpaid" for his whole life. HE LIVED AND WORKED FOR 80 YEARS as a Memphis musician, playing weekly gigs in small bars well past his 80th birthday.
Deeply gutted by the passing of Earl "The Pearl" Banks, my very dear friend of more than 30 years and an absolute LEGEND of Memphis music.🧵
August 10, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Deeply gutted by the passing of Earl "The Pearl" Banks, my very dear friend of more than 30 years and an absolute LEGEND of Memphis music.🧵
Destroyed my right-hand (dominant) thumb in a smoothie-blade accident 48 hours ago:
What I cannot do now: get dressed, shower, tie my shoes, open ANYTHING w/ a lid, type on a keyboard (thankfully, I'm GenX, don't text with my thumbs), use a keyboard for ANYTHING, apply bandages to my own wound...
What I cannot do now: get dressed, shower, tie my shoes, open ANYTHING w/ a lid, type on a keyboard (thankfully, I'm GenX, don't text with my thumbs), use a keyboard for ANYTHING, apply bandages to my own wound...
August 8, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Destroyed my right-hand (dominant) thumb in a smoothie-blade accident 48 hours ago:
What I cannot do now: get dressed, shower, tie my shoes, open ANYTHING w/ a lid, type on a keyboard (thankfully, I'm GenX, don't text with my thumbs), use a keyboard for ANYTHING, apply bandages to my own wound...
What I cannot do now: get dressed, shower, tie my shoes, open ANYTHING w/ a lid, type on a keyboard (thankfully, I'm GenX, don't text with my thumbs), use a keyboard for ANYTHING, apply bandages to my own wound...
Also, I'm still ON THE WALL at #WildBillsMemphis!
(Can't 100% verify the date of the pic-- it was a LONG TIME AGO-- but I'm guessing 1995-ish)
You'll likely not even recognize me in the pic. It's been almost 30 years lol. But it's just to the right of the bar, about halfway-down the wall.
(Can't 100% verify the date of the pic-- it was a LONG TIME AGO-- but I'm guessing 1995-ish)
You'll likely not even recognize me in the pic. It's been almost 30 years lol. But it's just to the right of the bar, about halfway-down the wall.
July 8, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Also, I'm still ON THE WALL at #WildBillsMemphis!
(Can't 100% verify the date of the pic-- it was a LONG TIME AGO-- but I'm guessing 1995-ish)
You'll likely not even recognize me in the pic. It's been almost 30 years lol. But it's just to the right of the bar, about halfway-down the wall.
(Can't 100% verify the date of the pic-- it was a LONG TIME AGO-- but I'm guessing 1995-ish)
You'll likely not even recognize me in the pic. It's been almost 30 years lol. But it's just to the right of the bar, about halfway-down the wall.
3 more days till the movers come. Still can't believe I'm leaving Memphis.
Glad I got my last night at #WildBillsMemphis in before I left!
Glad I got my last night at #WildBillsMemphis in before I left!
July 8, 2025 at 2:22 AM
3 more days till the movers come. Still can't believe I'm leaving Memphis.
Glad I got my last night at #WildBillsMemphis in before I left!
Glad I got my last night at #WildBillsMemphis in before I left!
