Auchtoon!

Good cartooning news! Starting tomorrow, I will be doing a weekly editorial for the Grand Rapids Press. The folks down at the Press are trying to give the editorial page of their Saturday edition a decidedly local/state issues angle, so they wanted a local/state editorial cartoon. (Hey! That’s me! I can do that!)

I dunno how this will all play out in the online world, so here’s what you need to do: tomorrow, go buy a newspaper. (And this will work out best if you buy a Grand Rapids Press newspaper.) Read it. Enjoy it. Subscribe to it. In fact, while you are out and about, pick up a Grand Rapids Family magazine — they’re free. Then come Monday, that’s right, back to the newstand for your Grand Rapids Business Journal.  Then start a new publication with the name “Grand Rapids” in it and decide it needs cartoons!!! (Okay, getting a little carried away now….)

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, February 22, 2010

’nuff said. Seriously! That’s enough!!!

We hear enough bad things about failing schools and wasted public funds — how about a success story? I submit to you the orchestra program at Grandville Public Schools. Check out these YouTube links that my friend Jim Wildgen posted:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qhF5DMFyS4
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4mV3S4A900
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO7GencAkrI

These are high school kids from a middle class school system. The three selections are from a recent concert, which was actually only a tune-up ahead of their annual competition. You don’t have to be a classical music fan to appreciate how extraordinary it is for a group this size to work together so well. It’s amazing to me. (Full disclosure: That alabaster cellist in the first chair is my daughter Elisira.)

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Family magazine, February 2010

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, February 15, 2010

As I alluded to last week, my local congressional representative Vern Ehlers recently announced he has no intention of running again this fall. Good for Vern. He’s a physicist by training, and I’m sure he will get much more enjoyment pursuing his scientific interests (Honey, I’m going to build a cyclotron in the basement!) than dealing with a dysfunctional congress. Ehlers is a decent guy — a Republican and fiscal conservative with an open mind, particularly for environmental issues. Or, as the cartoon refers to him, an endangered species.

So it will be interesting to see who wins the Republican nomination, which is essentially the de facto winner for our district. Already there are true bloods lining up to out zealot each other with “I hate government, government hates us” this and “taxes ruin everything always every time” that. Bad for us. Perhaps if Ehlers has something left in his tank for serving his country, he will work toward devising a ray gun that can be used on politicians who follow their party’s line too closely — the beam would stimulate the disused reason and thoughtful consideration parts of the brain back to activity. How about it, Vern? Please?