Historieta Política

¡Viva Posada!

I've been on the phone with the editor of La Prensa, Iowa the Spanish language newspaper. They publish in, Carroll, Storm Lake, Spencer, Perry, Ames, and Des Moines. If she likes my calaveras cartoon, this could be a bigger market than the Mapleton PRESS was. Of course, I barely know much "Spanglish," so I'll need her help translating, but that may force me to use far fewer words so that the images carry the joke. Who knows. We'll see how this goes.

This one has been corrected for better Spanish.

Here is the English:
The Mexican skeleton asks, "We're all the same under the skin, right Mr. King?"
Rep. Steve King replies, "Get away from me with your drugs and diseases!* We should've kept you out with electric fences like cattle!"

*April 27, 2006, the Des Moines Register published an op-ed piece by Steve King regarding the planned May 1 "Day Without an Immigrant" rallies.

King said "(without immigrants) Our hospital emergency rooms would not be flooded with everything from gunshot wounds, to anchor babies, to imported diseases to hangnails..."

Happy Editorial Cartoonist's Day y Feliz Dia de los Muertos.

Meet Jon Doe

Here's another Facebook Portrait- this one for a former student who's in the music industry in LA. Of course, he asked for this like... MONTHS ago and I'm just now getting around to it. Gigi (that last client) had dozens of old profile pictures to choose from, Jon only had one, not that I'm making excuses.

A straggler

Guess some people don't get around to sending out their rejection slips till about six months later.
No sweat, better to do it for love than to do it for a living anyway.

This is gonna sound counter intuitive...

Last year I felt bad that I hadn't really done any work to pursue cartooning as a career. I made a Jonathan Winters quote as my motto- "if you ship hasn't come in, swim out to it."

I sent columns and cartoons to 8 or 9 syndicates and got rejected by every single one. Boy was I discouraged. This on about the time that I backed out of writing and cartooning for our small local weekly newspaper too (long story, kinda personal) gist of it is it was a hard time for me.

Now realistically I understand that this was only one attempt and most successful professional writers and cartoonists wage campaign after campaign for years before they hit get anywhere. I also have come to understand that most of them also have day jobs. But recently I've been reading "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl and I think I have a very different outlook than I used to. (I know, an existentialist psychiatrist's tale of NAZI concentration camp survival- kind of heavy reading for an aspiring cartoonist right? We're all supposed to be zany and light hearted, right?)

One is finding meaning. I've come to believe that any good artist, and certainly me as a high school Art teacher has the same role as that of a good psychologist- "The logotherapist's role consists of widening and broadening the visual field of the patient (viewer/reader/student) so that the whole spectrum of potential meaning becomes conscious and visible to him."

I know, profound, huh?

Anyway, I also found something else very meaningful in Dr. Frankl's masterpiece:
"Don't aim at success- the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than one's self or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success:you have to let it happen by not caring about it... listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go carry it out to the best of your knowledge... -in the long run- success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it."

So in other words, I'm going to start using reverse-psychology on the universe. The freedom is that there's no pressure. I only cartoon what I want to when I want to and I totally get to cartoon however I want to. Cartooning for cartoons sake. Kind of like art for art's sake. The down side is that posting these cartoons here for free all the time is a lousy business model. I only hope that I can forget to think about how I'm trying to play this sly trick on the universe in hopes that God will reward me by making me an obscenely rich and successful writer and cartoonist someday.

Of course, Frankl also really emphasized that bit about it being "in the loooong run," He actually wrote, "Then you will live to see that in the long run---in the long run, I say!---" and between having adult A.D.D. and the fact that my original campaign of mailing cartoons to syndicates was pretty much my version of a midlife crisis- it's REALLY hard to have the patience for anything real long range. It may be pretty tough to forget to think about how I'm trying to convince Providence that I really couldn't care less. Like a watched pot not boiling, I may have to keep peeking over my shoulder to make sure God's noticing how much I don't care if I ever get to write or cartoon for a living, let alone win a bunch of awards and sell a bunch of books.

This dilemma is what Frankl would refer to as hyper-intention, which is where you want something too much so you end up making it impossible to ever get and hyper-reflection, which is a neurosis where you can't stop thinking about something. These what he contends is the cause of most sexual dysfunction in both men and women. Ah ha, but see, writing this somewhat satirical blog entry poking fun at myself for being so over analytical about it all is what he'd call "dereflecting," or engaging in a therapy known as "paridoxical-intention." That means I'm so charmingly self-efacing in my humorous essay about cavalierly and nonchalantly not caring about whether or not I ever get anywhere as either a writer of cartoonist that God's GOT TO see how sincere I am and go ahead and give me what I USED to want but now couldn't care less about (but if He INSISTED on blessing me that way, I guess I'd have to be gracious and accept it even though I don't really want it anymore). He's just GOT TO!

Isn't this the most sincere pumpkin patch you've ever seen? Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.

But seriously, I don't know if this is how metaphysics work, or just how my maladjusted mind plays tricks on me, but I know that all through junior high and high school and some of college I was absolutely miserable because I didn't have a girlfriend and finally I told God, "screw it, I give up!" And that's about the time that He dropped my wife into my life. So maybe there is something to it.

Completely coincidentally, I named my religious cartoons "Sheep in wolves' clothing" before I ever read "Man's Search for Meaning," and it's kind of one of his ideas. I THINK I can get away with it without having to pay his descendants or estate any royalties because he didn't quite use the exact same wording- he said "one may howl with the wolves, if need be, but when doing so, one should be, I would urge, a sheep in wolf's clothing." Of course now I feel OBLIGATED to draw more of them and they have to all be amazingly deep and meaningful and powerful and perfect and all that in order to be worthy of the name, so now I've got THAT hanging over me. Sheesh.

Well, they say that a picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words and I always meant to just make this a quick, short little entry here and not bore people with something so flippin' long, so I guess I'll stop now. Dang it! Why can't I ever do ANYTHING right?! Stupid! STUPID!

NEW YEAR, NEW MOTTO

"Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant -- there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing." ~Georgia O'Keeffe

I tried swimming out when my ship hadn't come in. I think that was pretty much just a midlife crisis. Not long ago I said on my mal•toons Facebook group that I'd decided to cartoon for "you" (whoever that is, readers of this blog, members of that Facebook group, a vague, general "you?").

Who do writers write for? Who do dancers dance for? Who do actors act or singers sing for? Who do poets po fo? Who do butchers butch for? (okay, maybe that analogy doesn't work as well). The point is, screw ever "making it," If I'm going to bother to cartoon, I should just cartoon for cartooning sake.

May your 2009 be a billion times better for you than my 2008 was for me. Screw "success," just keep making the unknown known!

Journalism is dead, killed by corporate media

From Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonist Index's BLOG-

"I was sorry to read that Brian Duffy was laid off today. Brian was famous for being one of only two cartoonists in the nation who's cartoon appeared on the front page of the newspaper every day (the other is Corky Trinidad). Our condolences go out to Brian, who is an excellent cartoonist and we apprciate his contributions to our site. See Brian's cartoon archive here."

What is wrong with Gannett? What is wrong with newspapers all across this country? Think I should mail samples of my work to the Register? Just kidding. Seriously, Duffy is one of the greats. Why would they treat him like that? What a shame.

'nother one

I don't know why this one sounds so congenial to me, when she says herself that it's a form letter in the very first line. Alas, whatchyagonnado? Guess I'm meant to wallow in obscurity and merely do this as a hobby. Kinda tough to stay motivated, but I've been trying.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind

In case you hadn't noticed, my column and cartoons haven't been running in the Mapleton PRESS for a few weeks now. It's complicated. Suffices to say that it was my personal decision to go on hiatus, not an editorial decision on their part. It has been difficult. It is a personal leave of absence, and it is still indefinite.

I always believed in talking about "sex, politics, and religion- not necessarily in that order," and that it is important to speak the truth as you believe it. But this election has superheated. I never minded complaints about me or the occasional hate mail, but it got intense. People feel so passionately about their sides that they become angrier and uglier faster.

While other people may be hypersensitive and wrapped up in rancor, I'm probably culpable too. I'm very passionate about what I believe too, so no doubt my tone became more acidic and less light hearted. I had planned to go "cold turkey," and never post anything here if I couldn't write a weekly column too- but obviously I didn't have enough self control for that.

My dream was that being held to the discipline of writing a weekly column might someday lead to being able to write professionally full time. In my mind, blogging was extra, superfluous, a past time- column writing was the meat, blogging the side dish. If this is all I have, I'm just another prattling voice in the vast blogosphere, that hardly anyone ever bothers to read. In the PRESS, it was farm league, small time, but there were 4,000 readers- even if most of them disagreed with me and several of them thought I should be tried for treason.

If/when I return (after this damn election) I'd have to find a way not just to speak the truth, but to speak the truth in love and with more humor and less venom. But at this point, I don't know if or when that day will ever come.

It is important that my detractors and critics know that "I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Communist Party" or Socialist, or Taliban, or Terrorist. I am not a baby killer, a satanist, or a debaucher. I do believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and savior and I believe that might should not make right, but just the opposite- that right should make might. I believe in small town, agricultural Iowa, I believe in family and treating people with kindness and working hard. I Love America and I do not wish ill for her. Please don't feel sorry for my children or talk about me behind my back or avoid making eye contact with my wife or in-laws. Try following Jesus' advice in Matthew 5 "Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you" (sorry if you ever felt like I persecuted you, could ya please try not to deliberately persecute me, okay? Thanks).

It is important that my fans (if I ever had any) know that no one at Enterprise Publishing and the Mapleton PRESS did this to me. I needed to take a break. After 25 years of dreaming, I finally got the gumption to send out both columns and cartoons to national syndicates and got rejected by every single one. I thought I could withstand that, but it really rattled me- though not as much as neighbors who don't think I can possible be Christian because I'm not as rabidly pro-life and anti-gay and anti-immigrant as they are. Thank you for your encouragement and camaraderie. Keep me in your prayers.

It is important for those readers who disagreed with me a lot of the time but still enjoyed reading my column and cartoons, but who don't hold all kinds of animosity towards me that you should always be willing to talk about anything with anyone, and also be willing to listen to anyone talk about anything. Listening and learning, sharing and discussing- even when you disagree, and trying to find common ground- these are what makes America great and make the give and take of democracy work. Thank you, and please pass it on.

Stick a fork in me- I'm done

Another nail in the coffin

Here's the rejection notice from United Media. At least this one was somewhat personal, even a little encouraging- although it makes it sound like maybe I'm "over-qualified." Gotta learn how to dumb it down, I guess.

More Rejection

I thought for sure that these wouldn't bother me, that I'd just be proud to have been trying. My motto was, "if you ship doesn't come in, swim out after it." But you know what? We're not all Micheal Phelps, and the water is icy and the current is strong, and there's sharks and seagulls and jelly fish and the water is salty... eventually your muscles cramp and you get hypothermia, and if you ate less than an hour before you went in, you get stomach cramps too.

I have some new cartoons that are posted as drafts that will pop up on here in the next couple of days, but frankly I think I'm ready to just hang it up. I'm a blue-stater living in about as red a district as they get and I'm tired of being a mutant, weirdo, pariah. Maybe if I quit writing and cartooning I can just try to fit in. I swear God made me with this compulsion (and this political preference). I wonder if this is what gay people have to go through- you can't help who you are but everyone else thinks you're sick or wrong.

More rejection

Got another rejection notice today. I thought going into this that it would never bother me, that it's all about the attempt, not the achievement. I figured I could be proud just for trying, after all, I can't really lose because I already have the most wonderful job in the world- helping kids how to see things differently as an Art teacher. But I have to admit that this is kind of a downer. Maybe it's just because somebody wrote a mile-long letter to the editor to the Mapleton PRESS recently raking me over the coals for being so hard on Sarah Palin.

Anyway, Washington Post Writer's Group is one of the more prestigious syndicates. They're Gary Trudeau's company. I've been a Doonesbury fan since I was too young to understand it- 10 or 12. Not only did it probably influence me wanting to become a cartoonist, but no doubt helped shape my politics and world view as well.

Who knows. Maybe it's not meant to be. There's plenty more syndicates that haven't sent a rejection letter yet.

Rejection #2

Well, here is my second rejection letter finally. This one was just for the column, no word yet from King Features on the cartoons. Those were two separate submissions. Pretty stationary, too bad my scanner didn't capture the watermark of their logo.

Writer's block

Here's a bad business model; offer to draw things free for a student who works somewhere so that the place can use it for say, tee shirts, sweatshirts and water jug labels, then don't even ask for a sweatshirt in lieu of compensation. I like Moose's Fillin' Station, I enjoyed drawing this moose for them back in 2001, but I'm bummin that I don't have a moose shirt. Lesson learned.

Maybe it's not writer's block, maybe cartoonists get "Cartoonist's Block?" Whatever it is, I don't want to do another fat Freddie and Fanny falling on the tax payers cartoon like everybody seems to be drawing right now and frankly Sarah Palin makes me so mad I can't seem to think of any way to lampoon her. What's worse, I'm afraid that whatever I drew would only embolden her supporters all the more rather than persuade anyone into opposing her. Blech.

If anything I'm a little too wrapped up in this election (which has given me a great idea for a column- but not for any cartoons). I wish I could lighten up and see the humor in life instead of just being so anxious and indignant about effective Republican election strategies. Maybe it's time for more psychologist cartoons so that I can get unstuck from my imagined neurosis.

Meanwhile, still no new rejection notices, in spite of all the self-addressed, stamped envelopes I included. Maybe this is a good sign, maybe some editor somewhere is seriously considering me. Or maybe it's a bad sign, maybe all the syndicates are SO inundated with submissions that they can't ever get through them all.

On another front, I received an email from a writer down in the Florida Keys who fancies herself something of a female Hunter S. Thompson and said that she's looking for a Ralph Steadman. Once I read some of her stuff I'll see what I can come up with. Anything for a fellow Jimmy Buffet fan. But this time, I'm gonna ask for a tee shirt up front!

First rejection notice

Since I sent out my first packet of cartoons or columns the image I've held in my mind is that of Charlie Brown, sitting against his mailbox, waiting for a valentine.

As of this Friday, the picture I now have is of snoopy atop his doghouse, in front of his typewriter, reading a letter from a publisher rejecting his latest stab at the great American novel. "Dear sir,... Thank you for your recent submission... does not meet our needs at this time... cordially"

I would like to share it with you now, as sort of a badge of honor.

I mean no disrespect to the people at TMS by posting their letter here- and I certainly do hope that they will "keep me on their radar" (though since the returned my samples, I'm not sure how likely that is). As much as I enjoy fostering an image as a beleaguered, downtrodden victim of the corporate machine, I'm actually more proud of myself for trying than I am disappointed in the apparent failure.

On the one hand, I submitted to them first because my heroes as a teenager were columnist Mike Royko and cartoonist Jeff McNelly, both of the Chicago Tribune. Come to find out later, Royko spent a career loathing the Trib from his post at the Sun Times, and only came over to the Tribune when univerally reviled media mogul Rupert Murdoch (FOX) bought the Sun-Times.

On the other hand, I never thought I'd ever actually have the nerve to take a stab at this.
If nothing else, I can get my mother off my back, the next time she nags me about trying to make something of myself as a cartoonist or a writer. After all, I am a member of the most noble, most important, and most alturistic profession on earth- I teach. I may not be a full time professional cartoonist or writer, but hey- at least I'm not a lawyer, politician, or televangelist!

Blue news

Got my first rejection letter. From Tribune Media Services.

I'll scan and post it on tedstoons.blogspot on Monday, but now I'm off to the Cousin Campout.

Bummed out. ________________________________________________
Ted's Cartoons
http://tedstoons.blogspot.com

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One more down

Sending a packet to King Features today. Maybe a couple more to go for columns and one more for cartoons, unless searching the web uncovers any more syndicates that I've missed. I'll try to get my last three packets out by this Wednesday. No word back yet from any of them.

The other strategy I may take is the "self-syndicating" route. I'll prepare similar packets, only I'll change the cover letter and make up a price list or flier or something offering newspapers my features directly. If I do this, I think I'll start with the other papers published by Enterprise first. Brad, my publisher in Mapleton already let me know that it wasn't really cost effective for him to run my stuff in the Missouri Valley paper, but maybe if I sold the other editors and publishers in the company on it first, I could come back to him.

If I don't have much luck within the company, then I can always start working on neighboring papers in the region outside of Enterprise. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Inspirational quote

My motto. Of course, I think the water's cold, so I think I may be getting cramps. Serious case of writer's block for my Aug 28 column.

Lucky Strike

I found some stamps in my Dayrunner! Woo hoo!
I'm sending a packet to Universal Press Syndicate in KC today.
Seven down, four to go. No replies or returns yet.

One more down

I sent an envelope to United Features Syndicate today. I have five more packets to send out, but I'm going to have to buy more stamps first.