Lip Lock Lectures Take the Stage at Liberal Arts College
By A. Faith Camp, 11.12.04

College lectures are grabbing students' attention with "The Art of Kissing" seminars.

Former editor and professor for Boston College, Michael Christian recently gave a lecture at Dickinson College on the 30 different ways to kiss.

Deb Hicks '08 said, "The posters for The Art of Kissing presentation are very intriguing, and I am going because I'm curious," according to the Dickinsonian, the college's newspaper.

Volunteers performed the lip-o-suction kiss on stage, which is meant to increase intimacy. Other demonstrated kisses were the vacuum kiss, the music kiss, and the Trobriand Islands kiss.

"I'm going to The Art of Kissing with my boyfriend. Hopefully he will be paying attention," one-first year student told the Dickinsonian.

The college's newspaper stated that Christian utilizes music slides and videos to help students get over kissing-jitters. The seminars are also supposed to teach ways to avoid kissing diseases.

He has written “The Art of Kissing” under the pen name of William Cane, according to The Sentinel.

Christian sold more than a quarter-million copies of his book translated into 19 different languages.

Appearing on more than 100 television and radio shows, Christian is quite popular. Some of these shows include “The View,” “Today” and CBS’s “This Morning,” according to The Sentinel.

If you know this guy at all, you probably recognize him for his popular instructional DVD, “How to French Kiss.”

“I became interested in kissing at a very early age,” Christian said during a recent interview with The Sentinel. He added, “I’ve always had a romantic streak.”

He also told The Sentinel that one of his former girlfriends inspired him to do research on the art of kissing. During his late twenties, he had a discrepancy with his girlfriend when she continually told him that he had to keep his eyes closed to kiss her.

“I went to find a book to see if it was true,” Christian told The Sentinel. “But I couldn’t find anything.”

So he decided to create his own.

After writing his “how-to-book” in 1991, he was inspired to give lectures.

Christian also told The Sentinel, “After the book was published, my students begged me to talk about it.”

After teaching at Boston College for 14 years, he became a lecturer at various colleges and universities in the U.S.

“And now it’s taken over my life,” Christian said during The Sentinel interview.