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| Now that the wedding season is coming to a close, and I’ve had quite the dramatic summer myself with regard to relationships, I thought it fitting to talk about love and marriage and the way we oftentimes misunderstand the institution. Disclaimer: I am not married. But it’s something I have always idealized. However, the idealized notions are far removed from reality. Sure, sure there are a few marriages that are so awesome you just want to puke. I witnessed a wedding for one such couple just this summer. But most of us focus on what’s in it for us, as opposed to what we can contribute to the union. So the Prof is calling for less for better, more for worse. | With few exceptions, we all want that special someone to share our life with. And since mortality rates for single men and women are higher than married couples, methinks that a committed partner is a good thing. When “permanence” is part of the equation, most people tend be happier. That sense of permanence also allows us to focus on our own strengths and weaknesses and forge a better partnership. I am in no way suggesting that more “for worse” means you should stay in an abusive or neglectful marriage. But real commitment provides more opportunities for growth as a partner – and a person. | |||
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Author Archive
LESS FOR BETTER. MORE FOR WORSE.
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
LESS MASS MARKET. MORE MASS CONSUME.
Thursday, July 15th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| In conjunction with a very good idea from some very good friends, I have the distinct honor of talking about beer. Beer is the oldest and most popular beverage of all time, maybe even more so than water, historically speaking. Anthropologists have unearthed vessels from ancient Sumeria and found that inside those antiquities of yore was none other than beer. They surmised that perhaps the only reason people stopped being nomadic was to grow crops necessary to brew beer. So the whole reason civilization even exists is because of beer. Beer has been a long-standing American tradition. Until the last 50 years or so, beer in the U.S. was even really good (or so I hear). Heck, even the Pilgrims’ No. 1 priority was not escaping religious persecution. It was beer. Now we’ve got the best TV commercials promoting the worst beer known to man. Oh sure, they’re funny. But the product sucks. And American consumers drink 22 gallons of beer per year. | Now I will give you this: Guinness is the best beer in the world. Period. And they did have some pretty slick commercials, as well as some nifty inventions designed to bring the true joy of Guinness to your back porch. But Guinness earned that respect by steadfastly producing what Arthur had dreamed of back in 1759. Not so with our friends at Anheuser-Busch. During WWII, rations were imposed and so brewers changed to a top-fermentation process. The result was a light, and perhaps less tasty, beer. And Budweiser, ever the aggressive ad campaigner, just never changed it back. I suspect profit margin had a good something to do with it. Ol’ Adolph did know how to market. When the original Budweis declared it was a beer for kings, he simply inverted the moniker and called his brand the King of Beers. Are you f***ing kidding me? So it’s more about the marketing of the product than the actual product itself?! Screw that! | |||
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LESS DEAL. MORE MEAL.
Friday, June 18th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| Yeah, yeah, I got your $5 foot-long right here. Granted, Subway may be the leading chain in the United States, and it is better (read: healthier) than the world’s leader, McDonald’s. But how much is that actually saying? Exactly. Not much. And given the upcoming holiday weekend and the ubiquity of that great American institution, the cheeseburger, I have something important to say. We’ve got deals on meals from every fast-food chain in America. Given the pervasiveness of all these multinational chains, it’s hard to resist. Especially since you can feed a family of five for $20. Not to mention Taco Bell and their $2 dollar meal. I mean, really. But when you count up the costs – obesity, diabetes, heart disease – it’s simply not worth it. Especially since every town, in every nook and cranny of this country, has good food. That’s why the Prof is calling for less deal. MORE MEAL. | There are some semi-respectable chains. Steak ‘n’ Shake ain’t half bad. And Five Guys is a pretty decent burger. In-N-Out may well be the best cheeseburger in America. But I often find that the best fare is local fare. For instance, New York City has the Shake Shack. There’s also the Minetta Tavern in the West Village. I am not inclined to spend $26 for a burger on an everyday basis, but I applaud Pat LaFrieda for his efforts. Atlanta has Flip Burger Boutique for the ghetto gourmet in us all. And there’s also the Vortex Bar and Grill. Their menu is freaking hilarious and includes the Coronary Bypass cheeseburger, topped with a fried egg. Don’t even get me started on the Luther Burger, made famous by Mulligan’s in Decatur, Georgia. A grilled Krispy Kreme doughnut sandwiching double meat, double cheese and bacon. I get the not-so-healthy hypocrisy here, but it is MORE MEAL. | |||
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LESS APATHY. MORE EMPATHY.
Monday, May 24th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| OK, so I am not merely a fictitious professor. I am actually a real professor. I know, shudder to think. But as the semester draws to a close, I am concerned and frightened by what I have seen. This current generation of college-goers, aptly dubbed the Millennials, do not seem to give a crap about anything unless it affects them directly. They fail to recognize cause and effect and the interconnectedness of all things, historical and otherwise. They fail to recognize that every dollar they save at Wal-Mart is a dollar that comes from someone’s labor (life) elsewhere. Heck, if they were all Chinese girls tethered to their machines to manufacture that crap, they’d think otherwise. | I recently had one of those “teachable moments” in class where a student of mine shared his experience in Iraq. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is simply unable to bear some of the videos and documentaries I show in class due to their violent nature. As we concluded the film Why We Fight, I asked the class for comments and/or questions. The student told us how his friend was forced to remain in harm’s way even though his tour of duty was up. He let the class know that the U.S. Army had him perform unnecessary training as a reason to justify the extension of his service. He concluded his comments with a story that gave everyone pause. | |||
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LESS NONSENSE. MORE COMMON SENSE.
Monday, May 3rd, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| The last few weeks I’ve noticed the über-silliness of conservative Americans shoot right through the stratosphere of common decency. Their type of thinking is so far-fetched, I felt it would be wise to jot down a few meanderings and musings regarding their misguided beliefs and short-sighted analyses. But where to begin? Eh, I’ll just take an over arching perspective. Nonsense is everywhere, it’s not very hard to point out. | How about using some common sense? Turn off Fox News for one freaking second, and think. Use that tax-payer funded public school education for something. Something useful. Like making your own INFORMED decisions. Undoubtedly, some will reply, “But Prof, I am making my own decisions…so long as they’re Fox-approved and promoted.” No, you’re not. You can spin till the cows come home, but facts are facts. Pencils out, class! | |||
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LESS CHOICE. MORE COMMITMENT.
Monday, April 19th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| In the land of plenty, we have so many choices. And many of us believe that’s a good thing. Hey, we can choose what we like at any given moment. It’s part and parcel to our belief system as Americans. It’s freedom, baby. To choose whatever the heck we want and discard the rest. But research reveals that too many choices does not make us any happier, as consumers or as people. All those choices out there dull our mental faculties and make it harder for us to concentrate when we need to. Psychologists call it “decision fatigue.” I call it “when enough is enough.” | What is wrong with commitment? Must we be so obsessed with having the “best” that we can have, and making sure we’re not missing out on “something better?” It wasn’t very long ago in this country that people were thankful for what they had, and believed in locking down a sure thing that merely worked, was satisfactory and unlikely to be useless before long. It’s an embarrassment of riches ’round here, and instead of appreciating the availability of pretty much anything we want, we avoid commitment on all levels. | |||
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LESS SPEND. MORE SAVE.
Friday, March 19th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| I know what you’re thinking. You’re an American. And your country is built on credit, gosh darn it. Well, maybe it’s time to think again. Maybe that kind of thinking has wrought us all an insurmountable debt. Consider that 2008 saw the second worst financial collapse in our history, and in reality it was our unsustainable behaviors and insatiable appetites that played a greatest role. It’s probably time that we get back to a concept that merits considerable attention. It’s called “Living within our means.” | Many psychologists have found that the loss of a job, and income, can actually be a liberating experience. “Do what you love, and the money will follow” is the age-old adage. But time and again when I advise students, they say that they don’t know what they want to do, only that they want to make a lot of money. Perhaps unsurprising, especially since we live in a capitalist society that places value over worth. So we borrow, we over-extend. We keep up with those damn Jonses. | |||
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LESS PARTISANSHIP. MORE PARTNERSHIP.
Friday, March 5th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| The recent departure of Democrat Evan Bayh from the United States Senate brings us to an interesting juncture in American politics. The most obvious fallout has to do with the fact that Pat Robertson has a new reason to cream all inside of his pleated trousers under the mistaken belief that Bayh’s decision speaks to the Obama presidency. This is almost as priceless as Robertson’s ridiculous theory that the Haitians made a pact with Satan, thus causing a devastating earthquake. Yup, ole’ Pat just loves anything that reflects poorly on El Presidente. Unfortunately, what Pat fails to recognize (too numerous to mention his other failings in one little post) is that the complete disintegration of the political infrastructure in America today actually has nothing to do with Obama, but instead has been building for centuries. Gridlock is nothing new, but the significance of the issues facing our country and our nation are serious business. Now, more than ever, we need less partisanship, more partnership. | Flash forward to today. Obama is vilified as a socialist threat, even though he’s done the very same things Dubya would be doing right now. Goldman-Sachs is still getting away with bloody murder after being released on Government Sponsored bail. Change? Hardly. Hope? Not so much. Withdrawal from Iraq? Sure, save for those 50,000 troops that’ll be stationed there permanently. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says that Obama needs to move more to the middle. To the middle of what, exactly? The center doesn’t exist at present. There is only extreme partisanship, except when those 116 Republicans who continually bash Obama take time out to line up for stimulus money. Assuming it’s not just for show, it seems like Obama is trying for more partnership. He’s a likable enough fellow, and he is certainly an intelligent dude. But sadly, he’s powerless with respect to the Congressional polarization. Make no mistake, the leader of the free world probably isn’t the catalyst for the change we need. | |||
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LESS CELEBRITY. MORE LOCALITY.
Friday, February 19th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| You might be surprised to learn that I recently had the distinct pleasure of performing at the world famous Bluebird Café. That’s right, I’m a Prof AND a musician. It used to be the other way around, but I digress. My appearance at one of Nashville’s most esteemed venues sold out in a little over two hours, which got me to thinking.
You see, my previous performance at the Bluebird was with a group of writers whose sole purpose in music was to become famous. They shook hands, formed faux friendships, and tried to put themselves in a position to earn them a modicum of celebrity. Ironically, that performance took nearly a month to sell out. Learning from that experience, this time I chose performers who are all about the music and its magic. Additionally, promotion for the show was mostly through family, friends, colleagues and companions, and less reliant on industry types. Not only did we sell out exponentially faster, but the performance itself was far superior. Less trying. More doing. The power of our genuine grassroots movement was proven to be far greater than any typical wanna-be Nashvillian effort ever could have been. |
Nashville has the Bluebird Café, The Basement and The Family Wash. Atlanta’s got Eddie’s Attic and Smith’s Olde Bar. If you’re in Alexandria, Virginia, you’ll find The Birchmere. Passing through Annapolis, Maryland? Check out the Ram’s Head Tavern.
I’m not telling you this because it’s my job to promote local music venues (these are all amazing), rather I want you to know that it’s up to you to get out there and support artists before they find (and get sucked into) celebrity. Think about it, I’d venture to guess that your favorite concert was when you experienced first-hand More Locality. Like the time you saw The Talking Heads at CBGB. Or when you heard Jenny Was a Friend of Mine at Roseland before anyone ever heard of The Killers. I really hope we will start seeing locality thrive once more in our local communities. Whether it’s music or locally grown vegetables, the chain-store mentality doesn’t need to pervade every nook and cranny of American culture. And that, my friends, will be a beautiful transformation. |
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LESS MORE. MORE LESS.
Friday, February 5th, 2010by Professor Lecherous
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| I know, I know. You are undoubtedly thinking I should be more specific. The word “More” doesn’t exactly associate with the image of our little friend above. But to understand the finer aspects of a topic, or a philosophy, it is necessary to answer “big” picture questions first. That’s why I felt it was imperative to grab your attention right off the bat with my debut effort for this site. Ultimately, “More” is unsustainable. Less can last. Less is the lesson for our children to start learning. Pay attention class, Professor says Less More. More Less. | We Americans we have an insatiable appetite for more this and more that, but we’re no happier despite our best efforts to fill the void. We have more access to food than the rest of the world, but we’re no healthier. Rent and watch Food, Inc. and consider this; perhaps the fundamental problem with our way of life is capitalism itself. And the fundamental flaw with capitalism is that it always requires “More”. Less, to our capitalist minds, and those of our shareholders, is absurd. But at some critical juncture, “More” is not enough. Less is what we all need more of. | |||
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