Auchtoon!

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, January 21, 2011

Unlike, say, the UK’s parliamentary system where the executive leader (the prime minister) is also the leader of his/her political party, our system is set up so the executive leader (the president, or in the case of a state, the governor) is merely a member of the party. So our executive doesn’t necessarily have obligations to narrowly follow the party line. This is a good thing. Unless you’re a Republican legislator in Michigan and you want your damn Republican governor to narrowly follow your damn party line….

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, January 14, 2011

Justin Amash is our US congressman from Grand Rapids. He’s a Republican and a freshman and can generally be lumped together with the other tea party influence newbies from the class of 2010. I say generally because he tends to vote like them, but Amash definitely thinks for himself and is nothing if not his own person. He has very high standards, he takes his job seriously, and seems to be quite keen on representing his constituents well. I think he’s a good guy. But then, it’s also the sacred duty of an editorial cartoonist to poke fun at the deeply ideological….

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, January 7, 2011

I was hoping to be less right about the third panel than I actually was — for Jane’s sake….

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, December 31, 2011

This is a pretty inside joke for West Michiganders. You can click here for some context, but here’s the basic story: The piece that won ArtPrize this year was “Crucifixion,” a stained-glass mosaic of Jesus Christ on a cross. This did not sit well with some who saw it as purposely pandering to the Christian inclination of West Michigan. There was some interesting debate around the topic. But the most interesting thing to me is how a few just would not let it go. I thought it’d be funny if this was their very first thought of the new year….