Still out to lunch. Here’s why.
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
2y ago
Been over a month since I posted anything here. 45 days to be exact. In 15 years, this is by far the longest stretch between posts. I gave it a rest because, well, I’m not in advertising business anymore. Is anyone? So, even though the name of this blog was always meant to be ironic, it’s still misleading. For the last 15 months, I’ve been working as a counselor at a treatment center for people with substance use disorders. I literally started on the same day the world shut down for Covid: March 15, 2020. I haven’t “worked from home” a single day during the pandemic! It’s necessary work and it ..read more
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Out to Lunch!
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
Literally & Figuratively ..read more
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Tired.
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
Sometimes, I feel like I don’t know what the f–k I’m doing. Sometimes, I feel like I know exactly what I’m doing. The operative word is “feel” because that is the variable, the thing that changes. Otherwise, I’m pretty much doing what is in front of me. But, man o man, I hate feeling like I don’t know shit. And lately, that feeling is all too common. Especially when it comes to the myriad details required to maintain a semblance of order in this chaotic, digital, diseased and polarized world. Just today I got another form letter from the IRS saying I owe X dollars for some miscue from 2019. I ..read more
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The Lost Child. The “role” of a lifetime.
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
              Coming from the proverbial broken home (parents divorced at a very early age), I first identified with the role of Lost Child. I felt alone and rudderless. Obviously, the negative impact on me in assuming this role stands out. I had no one on which to model my behavior, and so sought after role models, and, being a just a child, I made many bad choices in this process, some crucial. Finding a group of older, troublemaking teens in the neighborhood became my de facto family system. Drugs and alcohol were our glue.    ..read more
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Whiz Kid
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
After Mt. Vernon, Madison was a revelation. Surrounded by three beautiful lakes, the campus was an oasis of cool, the nucleus of a progressive city also the state capital. The population could not have been more diverse. Music and the arts thrived. There were myriad places to go. Bars galore. The drinking age was 18. Once again, you’d done little to prepare for the move and so had to settle on a dumpy apartment with designated roommates: a Polish factory worker’s son from Milwaukee, Arthur and an exchange student from Thailand, whose name you couldn’t spell even if you remembered it. Though y ..read more
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Iowa
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
Distracted that hot summer, you’d done the minimum to prepare for college in the fall. At the last minute you ended up accepting the lone invitation you’d been lucky enough to receive: from a miniscule liberal arts school in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. It had fewer students than your apartment had tenants. Sure, why not? Arrived at Cornell you firmly believed it was the real you who showed up: the intellectual poet, able to drink and fuck all night and write about it the next day. Students and professors alike would be captivated by your artistic soul. You’d have a diverse peer group, one that would ap ..read more
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Juice
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
The summer after you finished high school. Having recently moved into a small apartment, stressed out by her own demons as well as yours, your mother indicated you find someplace else to live. She’d found evidence of your partying in the basement and could not take it anymore. Never mind you were still a minor in the eyes of the law. You had to go. Jesse was already camped at your father’s townhouse so that was not an option. Naturally, you chose living with a small time drug dealer you’d met in the park. You could not legally sign a lease but “Juice” had been more than happy to take $500 dol ..read more
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The Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
Continued from previous post… Even though it was only a few blocks from your father’s house, the next day you both drove his car to the coast. The Missing Persons song on the radio was accurate: Nobody walks in LA. Surely, the beach would provide a better experience than the previous evening. After all, this was sunny California! Girls would be everywhere. You’d have your pick. After trudging across a massive expanse of empty and hot sand, you dropped your towels a short distance from a group of teens playing volleyball. Their hair nearly white from the sun, they seemed like exotic creatures ..read more
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The Lizard King
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
Long, curly hair framing an impetuous, sensuous face; a chunky, beaded necklace clinging to his lean torso like the serpents he so often rhapsodized about, this was Jim Morrison in his prime. The photograph, taken by Joel Brodsky, captured the iconic rock star on one of the last days he would ever look this good, before degrading into a bloated, bushy alcoholic. A beautiful man who had it all, Morrison would be dead in four years. According to the photographer, Morrison was blind drunk during that photo shoot in 1967. You couldn’t tell from the pictures. He looked alive and virile. The camera ..read more
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The Endless Friendless
Gods of Advertising
by Steffan1
3y ago
Chasing friends was humiliating and losing them even worse. Yet, the pattern of loss was real. And you were the common denominator. Was Sarah right? Were you too sensitive? Are you an asshole? Your estranged brother seemed to think so. The letters from your father had been unequivocal. It wasn’t just old friends. There were the people you had helped professionally. And now, when you needed a lifeline, they were ghosts. One man, call him James, lives only 5 miles from you. He runs an agency in San Francisco, whose parent company you’d gotten him the job at.  When his career had been falte ..read more
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