Hotel Bar Sessions

• The Future of the University

  Can the University be saved? Should it be saved? In this sobering and timely episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, co-hosts Leigh M. Johnson, Rick Lee, and Talia Mae Bettcher tackle the existential crisis facing higher education in the U.S. and beyond. Nothing is off limits in this conversation!  From the increasing defunding of universities to their alignment with neoliberal capitalism, we're looking at the deeper values and societal roles that universities are meant to serve—and how far many institutions have strayed from that mission.  The metastasis of administrative bloat. The erosion of shared governance. The complicity of universities in sketchy politics and business. It's all on the table. Talia laments the pressure to sell philosophy as a vocational asset;  Rick draws a poignant line from medieval liberal arts education to today’s hyper-quantified outcomes-based models;  Leigh reminds us that universities are increasingly inaccessible, both financially and ideologically, especially for those who have been sold college as the “next step” with little clarity on its value or purpose. All three of our hosts are also here for a critique of recent state interventions in University operations, of course, particularly those tied to the elimination of DEI programs and the suppression of student protest. In a climate where both the left and right are disillusioned with Higher Ed, we're asking the hard questions: Is the university still worth saving? And if so, what would it take to rebuild it from the inside out? From indictments of NCAA excess to calls for renewed commitment to general education and moral formation, this episode dares to imagine what universities should be—and who they're really for.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/the-future-of-the-university-------------------If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!Follow us on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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• Cringe

  In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, your favorite philosophical trio—Leigh Johnson, Rick Lee, and Talia Bettcher—dive headfirst into the squirmy, complicated world of cringe. From wedding speeches gone wrong to tone-deaf icebreaker confessions, they unpack the peculiar affective cocktail we experience when someone's self-presentation dramatically misfires. Cringe isn’t just about secondhand embarrassment—it's a visceral, full-body response that blends aesthetic, moral, and even ontological dissonance.Leigh kicks off the discussion by proposing that cringe moments represent aesthetic failures that are rarely just personal—they feel universal. Drawing on Kant, Foucault, Butler, and even Kierkegaard, the hosts unpack how cringe exposes the fragile choreography of our social performances. Talia and Rick help flesh out how laughter at cringe can be a nervous coping mechanism, an act of social policing, or even a weird kind of solidarity. Whether it's Succession’s Kendall Roy, real-life icebreaker disasters, or awkward philosophical conference moments, they ask what makes cringe feel so charged—and sometimes so politically consequential.Ultimately, this episode suggests that cringe is a kind of social flare-up: a breakdown in dialogical flow, a misfire in performance, a moment when norms wobble and the audience winces. But it’s also a space for critique. Who gets to decide what's cringe and why? Is labeling something as cringe always an act of control, or can it sometimes challenge the boundaries of the “we” who makes those rules? This episode may be uncomfortable, but it’ll definitely leave you thinking—and maybe cringing at your past self just a little less harshly.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/cringe-------------------If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!Follow us on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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• Tragic Temporality (with Sean Kirkland)

  Sean Kirkland unpacks living on the edge of "was" and "not yet."What if time isn’t just something we move through—but something that shapes us, wounds us, and makes us who we are? In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Leigh and Rick sit down with philosopher Sean D. Kirkland (DePaul University), author of Aristotle and Tragic Temporality, to talk about what Aristotle can teach us about the tragic structure of human life. Together, they explore how ancient philosophy—and especially tragedy—reveals the limits of control, the inevitability of error, and the complicated beauty of living in a time that’s never fully ours.Expect reflections on fate, failure, and final causes, plus spirited detours into protest songs, pandemic philosophy students, and why Aristotle might be more existential than you think. If you’ve ever felt the weight of trying to do the right thing while knowing you might be wrong, this one’s for you.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/tragic-temporality-with-sean-kirkland-------------------If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!Follow us on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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  1:06:37
• What is Philosophy?

  In this season-opening episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Rick Lee and Leigh Johnson welcome new co-host Talia Mae Bettcher, a leading voice in trans philosophy and feminist theory, to dive into the deceptively simple but persistently perplexing question: What is philosophy?This wide-ranging conversation explores whether philosophy is defined by its methods (argument, critique, concept creation), its outcomes (or lack thereof), or the scenes and communities in which it takes place. Along the way, the hosts discuss credentialism in academia, gatekeeping in the discipline, and how philosophy might survive outside the university.Drawing on thinkers like Graham Priest, Gilles Deleuze, Wittgenstein, Richard Rorty, Kristie Dotson, and Pierre Hadot, the trio refuse to close the question. Instead, they ask: Can philosophy remain meaningful in a world that demands clear outcomes and fixed definitions? Is staying with the question itself the real task?Whether you’re a seasoned philosopher or new to the field, this episode invites you into an ongoing, unfinished conversation—over drinks, at the bar, where the real philosophy happens.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/what-is-philosophy-------------------If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!Follow us on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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  59:37
• REPLAY: Zionist ressentiment, the Left, and the Palestinian Question (with Zahi Zalloua)

  What can Frantz Fanon and Friedrich Nietzsche teach us about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?[NOTE: This episode originally aired on October 11, 2024.]This week, we're joined by Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College) to discuss the final chapter of his most recent book The Politics of the Wretched: Race, Reason, and Ressentiment (Bloomsbury, 2024)-- entitled "Zionist ressentiment, the Left, and the Palestinian Question"-- which offers a fresh lens through which to understand the complex affects and power dynamics that continue to fuel this ongoing struggle by focusing on what 19th C. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called ressentiment—a deep-seated feeling of injustice and grievance.Zalloua unpacks how a collective sense of moral outrage on the part of Zionists has been deployed to shield Israel from criticism by accusing pro-Palestinian advocates, and the Left more generally, of a “new anti-Semitism.” He contrasts this with Palestinian ressentiment, which he frames as a legitimate response to the ongoing reality of settler-colonialism and displacement. His work both critiques the complicity of liberal Zionism in maintaining the status quo and challenges us to reframe the way we understand both Zionist and Palestinian anger.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-155-the-palestinian-question-with-zahi-zalloua-------------------If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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