It's Saturday night and I'm grading papers and watching a Ken Burns documentary about the Shakers.

Yeah, I'm watching a Ken Burns documentary. I just got a disc that enables me to watch instant Netflix on my TV so now my life is over.

I'm watching/listening to (Ken Burns documentaries aren't exactly known for visual stimulation) a documentary about the Shakers.

There's a talking head philosopher who's kind of been giving insight here and there into their rationale for celibacy and their adornment-free living style.

The documentary gets to the subject of shaker chairs and how wonderful they are because of their lack of decoration. The idea is they're so nice because the Shakers created these chairs out of necessity. Maybe? I don't know, I had kind of zoned out.

Then, out of nowhere, uninvited and with a pretentious little smirk, the philosopher guy says "Nobody can be really creative unless there's something spiritual behind it, whether it goes by that name or not."

What?

I know I've done the whole "artists are only blah blah blah," but I was depressed about bland avocados at the time.

What's this guy's excuse?

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