Auchtoon!

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, April 14, 2008

Michigan roads are notoriously bad, what with our endless freeze/thaw cycles and a maintenance budget that has been bled nearly to death (and a fresh infusion of gas taxes highly unlikely). At least we natives are prepared. We navigate the streets like drunken opossum, staying low, sniffing out possible danger, and swerving wildly when it’s detected. Pity the unassuming tourists coming to seek a pleasant peninsula and making the mistake of taking their eyes off the road momentarily to look about them. WHAM! There goes the alignment….

If I had to do this comic over again (and I always think exactly that when I post these things), I would have spent more time looking for a Photoshop filter with a sharper, more “shatter” effect. I settled for this one under deadline pressure. I think you get the general idea that the driver is hitting potholes, but you may also assume that he also dropped acid at the state line. [Cue Jefferson Airplane sound effect.]

Hmmm… providing LSD to mitigate the unpleasantness of having your car consumed by the highway may actually be a cost effective solution for the state. Or it may be a bad tip, man. [Cue ABC Afterschool Special program.]

This is so cool. My friend, Rosemary, asked me to participate in this year’s National Doodle Day, a fundraising event to benefit NF, Inc., an organization dedicated to providing support to individuals and families affected by neurofibromatosis (NF). Neurofibromatosis is a genetic disorder that affects one in every 2,500 births. NF is more common than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy and Huntington’s Disease combined. Funds raised from the Doodle Day auction will go to support education, advocacy, coalitions, and research for treatments and a cure. For more specifics and links, check out: http://www.doodledayusa.org

So the basic idea is for celebrities (by which I mean actual famous people and then also me) to contribute a quick sketch or doodle, and these are auctioned off on eBay starting May 8th and closing May 18th. It’s an incredibly original and creative idea for fundraising. And fun! Check out the galleries: http://www.doodledayusa.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=134 (Again I luck out — with a name beginning with “A” I’m on the first page.)

Spread the word to friends, family, comic collectors, celebrity fans, and eBay junkies!

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, April 7, 2008

This particular comic is clearly the work of a pre-vacation mind. It has all the tell-tale signs: words that are only slightly distilled into comic form, deep dark sarcasm, general bitterness. This comes from the sprint to work a week ahead and tie up loose ends before the vacation begins. Not to mention the planning and packing squeezed out of precious sleeping hours.

So I think it’s obvious I was an over-caffeinated mess lamenting in a very direct way — why should I have to work so hard when others don’t try and get a “do-over”? Why is my sweat subsidizing their extravagance? My caution supporting their carelessness? All valid, to be sure, but also very much a product of my mental state.

And now having been to the San Francisco Bay area and back on a grand family vacation, I’m taken slightly aback. Life just doesn’t seem to need to be so caustic. No doubt the acid will return when the vacation bills start rolling in…. 

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, March 31, 2008

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, March 24, 2008

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Family magazine, March 2008