Auchtoon!

Originally published in the Ann Abor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
June 17, 2012

This scene from Casablanca is something of an old-school editorial cartooning standard (to the point of cliché), and I really, really try to avoid cliché. I also try to avoid old-school because 30 years ago knowledge of Casablanca was regarded as common knowledge — nowadays, I’m sure I absolutely confused a large chunk of readers. (Here’s a clip of what I was vamping on.)

But it was so perfect — from the bald-faced hypocrisy of the opposition to new bridge to Canada to the fact that Governor Snyder’s first name is Rick. But where this all started was me seeing a picture of Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun and thinking he looks a lot like Peter Lorre. (Peter. Peter Lorre. Creepy little guy in all those old movies. Don’t tell me you don’t remember him!…)

Originally published in the Ann Abor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
June 10, 2012

In Michigan, we are generally blessed with a distinct lack of natural disasters. Paraphrasing Garrison Keillor talking about his native Minnesota, other than January and February doing their level best to kill us, we don’t have a lot of worries about Mother Nature. (We know what to expect from January and February….) So it’s a bit extraordinary to have an enormous fire burning in the Upper Peninsula for the past couple of weeks. And because it’s happening in the UP, I’m sure most Michiganders are completely unaware. That’s the subtle social commentary I was going for, anyway. Too subtle? Yeah, probably….

Originally published in the Ann Abor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
June 3, 2012

 Even though I am very much an advocate for keeping an open mind, I will admit to having certain prejudices. For instance, music by punk bands should never be played on “Classic Rock” radio stations — Foghat; Emerson, Lake & Palmer; then The Clash? That’s just wrong.
 
Also, breakfast cereals should never be mixed. Chemical engineers in the manufactured food industry have taken a great deal of time and effort in formulating just the right combinations of food-like materials to create a single cereal. To take the last bits of nearly empty boxes, combine them in a single bowl, and then activate the highly volatile mix with milk — you’re just inviting trouble.
 
And Newt Gingrich should never be elected to be the President of the United States of America. Some people were seriously considering this only a few months ago! I’m not kidding — look it up!

But one maybe slightly unreasonable prejudice that I can’t seem to shake is that I believe professional ice hockey teams from the southern United Sates should not be successful. They have sun and pleasant winters and no Canadian coins mixed in with their loose change. How could they possibly have the proper appreciation for a good hockey team? They can’t! They don’t! And that’s why it’s unsettling to see the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup finals. But I know this is my problem that I just have to work through it. Maybe next year it will be something like Detroit vs. Montreal and the world will make sense again….