Auchtoon!

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
January 25, 2015

In Governor Snyder’s State of the State address, he spoke of a metaphorical “River of Opportunity” and his plans to widen it to include more of Michigan’s struggling residents. Good idea. I tried to help him out with a few more.

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
January 18, 2015

So here’s the point: When I was growing up, I had many friends and neighbors who were members of the National Rifle Association (NRA). It was an organization focused on promoting safe gun use to hunters, collectors, and general enthusiasts. The NRA provided practical services to those with a genuine interest and use for their weapons.

Today, the NRA’s primary focus has clearly morphed into promoting gun sales. Sure, there is still the stuff about gun safety, but its enormous power and influence, its lobbyists and lawyers did not come from gun safety. It has grown from pushing gun sales to new markets. As the number of hunters and outdoorsman has waned, sales have skyrocketed to urban and suburban dwellers, many of whom don’t necessarily like or need guns but feel compelled (usually by fear) to buy them.

The NRA has been so successful that sometimes it gets blinded by its own ideology. Such is the case with a recent bill (SB 789) passed by the Michigan legislature during the lame duck session in December. The purpose of the bill is to reorganize how concealed weapon licenses are issued in Michigan counties. Mostly it is about changing the arbiter from a gun board to the state police. But slipped into the bill was an important change: Currently anybody that has a personal protection order (PPO) against them cannot be issued a concealed weapon license. The bill would have changed that and made it much more complicated. On Friday, Governor Snyder vetoed it citing the risk to domestic violence victims.

If it remains important to the NRA that a handful of people with questionable PPOs are allowed concealed weapons, then they can get a legislator to write a specific bill and try to pass it on its own merit. But I don’t think it does, and that’s why they tried to slip it into a bill that actually did have merit.

Just to be clear: My issue is not with the constitution and the 2nd amendment. My issue is not with gun ownership and our rights as Americans. My issue is not even with guns themselves. My issue, in this cartoon, is with what the NRA has become.

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
January 11, 2015

Last week I had a kind of a lighthearted idea cued up about the latest improbable loss by the Detroit Lions. It was filled with words like “tragedy” and “devastating” and fans who were going to be bitter and disappointed all winter long. (I know this because I have been married to one of these fans for 27 years.) Then after the Charlie Hebdo attack in France, I wasn’t feeling so lighthearted.

I am well aware that on any given day it is not unusual for a dozen or so people to be murdered in the name of extremist ideology. So it seems slightly disingenuous that I should react to this particular instance just because there were four cartoonists among the dead. Still, it did make it personal because these men were killed for doing something that I do, too. It is understood to be part of the gig. Some people don’t understand parody and satire. Some people don’t like opposing views. Some people are so shallow in their own beliefs, striking others is their only defense. Some people have no sense of humor. And these people can hurt you.

I am fortunate; nobody has ever threatened to kill me. I have been threatened with many flavors of physical assault (mostly as a means to help me “learn my lesson”). I have been assured of the certainty of my damned soul. Often I have had the legitimacy of my heritage called into question. Some seemed convinced that I’m hopelessly stupid and then offer sage advice. (But truly, if my head ever did manage to somehow become lodged inside my own rectum, I don’t think I would need to be told to remove it.) But mostly it is just name calling and fist shaking.

The very purpose of an editorial cartoon is to cause a reaction, and so by definition they are volatile. Sometimes the reaction is just a laugh. The better ones inspire hope, challenge positions, poke at beliefs, cause people to think. Occasionally they step over a line, are in bad taste, or are simply wrong. That can happen. But nobody ever should have to die for that. So when I say, “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie), I am not saying I am as good as these cartoonists or as brave. I am saying that I stand with them and forever will be inspired by them.

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
January 4, 2015

The Bruce Springsteen song “Glory Days” is a melancholy story about a group of people whose quality of life basically peeked in high school and has been sliding downward since. They all seem fully aware how pathetic it is to be so relentlessly nostalgic, but better that than face a joyless future. Of course it is a catchy, upbeat song so most listeners hear it as a celebration of glory days and sing along just like the sad people in the story. Maybe that’s how Bruce intended it — his little joke.

And so University of Michigan football fans sing along with the hiring of new coach Jim Harbaugh. I wish them well. But I really, really hope the enthusiasm is more about building a new competitive and honorable program, and not about trying to recapture the Bo Schembechler glory days. Nothing more annoying than wistful U of M fans. Have you ever seen “The Big Chill”?