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
August 4, 2013

Dear Michigan,
Yes, Detroit is a mess. It has been for a long time. There are lots and lots of reasons why, and lots and lots of people to blame. We all know this. So, honestly, at this point, we gain no advantage by purging our bile every time the subject comes up. In fact, it may be causing more harm than good. Outside our borders, Detroit and Michigan are largely the same. Okay?

Sincerely,
Michigan

P.S. That Coleman Young sure was an a-hole, huh? Okay, now that’s really it.

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
July 28, 2013

I got a bunch of comments back on this one. There were a range of points that readers wanted to make, but the consensus seemed to be “what’s the matter with you” and “you’re not funny.” My short reply is: “lots” and “oftentimes, yes.”

The slightly longer reply is “I think there’s an uncomfortable inconsistency when the law prevents retirement money from being stolen from old ladies on the streets but allows it through the courts” and “I really wasn’t trying to be funny.”

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
July 21, 2013

And then sometimes it just feels right to vent about personal (although I’m sure shared) experiences….

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
July 14, 2013

Last week, a West Michigan lawmaker proposed legislation for a 2014 ballot proposal to eliminate state income tax. You can click here for the particulars, but it really doesn’t get more thought-out than what I wrote. This sort of deep cynicism can only be met with even deeper sarcasm.

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
July 7, 2013

So last month a Michigan House Representative, Lisa Lyons, made an unfortunate comment during a debate on school reform. I guess we should give her points for attempting to bring something new and witty to the standard politicking  but what came out was “Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.” Yeah, that wasn’t good. Naturally, some people were offended and parsed the words to be offended as they could possibly be. Naturally, Lyons apologized by way of saying she was offended that people were offended and that, my friends, is what is really offensive. And so it spun. There was a “point/counterpoint” article in the MLive newspapers on this. It was really difficult to read with both sides going to great length about the finer points of pigs, hogs, and swine-related metaphors, and very little about the actual issue, which was… wait, what was the issue? Exactly. So instead of me weighing in on the school reform issue, I thought I’d sooth myself with the only positive I could take from it.

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
June 30, 2013

I don’t typically do cartoons on the same subject two weeks in a row. But the Michigan Senate heading for vacation without choosing to vote on providing Medicaid to Michigan’s working poor seemed to have the right level of audacity. And I did take a different approach. Whereas last week’s cartoon has an academic and somewhat more traditional angle to demonstrate the consequences, this week’s is specific and realistic. More of a punch to the gut. I’m hoping some of our Michigan senators got to read it, and it made their vacations slightly less enjoyable.

Side note for myself: Next time I try to draw coffee pots, I should, I don’t know, maybe practice a little. Yeesh, the ones I drew are bad….

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
June 23, 2013

You can go here and here for the full backstory on this on, but the basics are that Republican leadership in the Michigan Senate refused to vote on legislation that would approve providing health insurance through Medicaid to about 300,000 now uninsured folks in Michigan. There were enough votes to pass it, but the leadership wanted a majority of the GOP senators to support it (because, you know, being strict constitutionalists, that’s how it works). Whatever the real reason (ideological purity, pettiness, fear, large collective stick in their bottoms about Obamacare), they decided to do nothing and go on their two month summer vacation. “We have to study it some more.” Uh-huh. And now, Michigan citizens who work and pay taxes but don’t have jobs that provide insurance and cannot afford to pay for their own, continue to exercise and hope it keeps them healthy.

If you call yourself a Michigander (or even a Michiganian, which isn’t nearly as fun), you have got to read this book. “Teardown” is by Gordon Young, a classmate of my sister’s at Flint Powers. Gordie is a writer who lives in San Francisco and of the author of the FlintExpats blog. He is a wonderfully skilled storyteller who does a beautiful job of capturing what it is like to be from Michigan, and specifically Flint. That odd sense of pride and disappointment — of having survived and grateful to be gone, yet still finding yourself caring and still connected to the community. It’s really a terrific summer read — hilarious, melancholy, hopeful.

Gordie is coming to Michigan this week for a book tour. Here’s a link to his site. There are also links there for places to go to buy the book. Make a point of coming out to see him. I plan to be at his Wednesday, June 26th visit to Barnes and Noble at Woodland Mall in Grand Rapids (6:30-7:30PM). Hope to see you there!

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
June 16, 2013

“Seconds tick like boulders whenever you don’t call”
from the song “Greener” by Tally Hall

I love that lyric. I’m not sure exactly what it means — I’m pretty sure it’s saying that life feels heavy and time passes impossibly slowly whenever the guy singing hasn’t talked with his significant other recently. Maybe. Mostly I don’t want or need to know. The more I try to break it down, the less it strikes me.

So, too, with this week’s cartoon, I’m not exactly sure the point I am trying to make. Having the guy deadpan, “Immigrants are gay?” seemed really funny to me. It has something to do with the stereotype of gays moving into and restoring urban areas. I just got done reading the book “Teardown” by Gordon Young about Flint, Michigan and the general theme of the challenges of urban renewal. (See the next blog post for more info on that.) And the has been quite a bit in the news lately about immigration reform and the benefits of immigrants moving into and bringing new life to urban areas. And I think there’s something in there about the similarities and contrasts of these two general groups. I tried like crazy for a couple of hours to rework the cartoon to make more of a direct point. But that only seemed to kill what I found appealing about it. So here it is. Hope it struck you.

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
June 11, 2013

Last week gas prices in Michigan spiked to the second highest in the nation (after Hawaii, which is a bunch of islands with no pipelines). Why did this happen? Was it the changeover of formulas and additives for the summer driving season? Was it production issues at nearby refineries? Was it crude oil pricing instability brought on by some Iranian sneezing? Was it Big Oil squeezing out a bit more profit to demonstrate their authority over us? Was it Obamacare? Was it Obama not caring? Was it Obama colluding with Big Oil to sell Hawaii to the Iranians?

For the Michigan tourism industry, it doesn’t matter how it happened — the fact remains that there’s an obnoxious, smelly guy with an Ohio State-colored belly shirt and banana hammock floating in its pool….