Welcoming Walter

Walter the turtle is the latest addition to THE GNU LIFE thanks to an interior journey and exterior walk yesterday under the sage guidance of Charles Tack. Will Walter ever come out of his shell? As long as he has HBO the odds don't look so good. Thank you Charles for leading me on this turtle hunt. Now, back to the jungle. I mean, the drawing board.

Pair of noids

Sunny side down

Gideon seems to be having "one of those days". Unfortunately for him they tend to stretch into weeks and months. Of course that's the danger these days of reading the paper. Between global warming (Australia is now on bake at 450 F) and the disappearence of our honey bees, not to mention war without end...Say. Anybody know a good gestalt therapist?

The Gummint vs Science

Last night a friend alerted me to a political cartoon contest being run by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The theme is government interference and manipulation of scientific research. I created this cartoon and submitted it today.

A gnu logo

My new comic strip just got branded with a logo. It hurt for a little while, but I put some ice packs on it and I'm feeling better now.

Besieged

I am still semi-speechless in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre. Fortunately, I have a pack of critters who keep talking even when I can't.

Holding the horror - Releasing the love

What can one say on a day of unspeakable horror? Years ago my pen spoke for me when I created this logo, using one continuous line.

May we not close down in hate and fear. May we recognize that these sorts for horrors visit the homes of Iraqis every day. Not to mention Darfur. May we keep our hearts open as we walk through this open asylum we call the world.

iFreelance portfolio posted

I just learned of another online marketing tool called iFreelance.com and set up a portfolio there. In the process I came across this cartoon from a few years ago when Robin and I got married. This cartoon was on the back of our wedding program and demonstrated some of the stress we went through in preparation for the ceremony.

You can check out my online portfolio at www.ifreelance.com/pro/20782

Schulz Museum cartoon class

The inmates have taken over the asylum! Believe it or not, I had control of this class for three hours. Once they got hold of my markers though, it was all over. It was another great day that started out with 24 kids and one cartoonist. When it was over there was merely a room full of 25 cartoonists. One tall one and 24 short ones.

Plagiarizing myself

I keep waiting for this cartoon to lose its shelf life but it just keeps going and going like that battery bunny on TV. When I created this cartoon, several years ago now (egad), I stole the caption from a peace commercial I made for television back during the Vietnam War. As if our foreign policy wasn't bad enough, I just saw a film called Broken Rainbow about our current assault on the Navaho and Hopi in Arizona. This is a very low key bit of genocide, but no less devastating to its victims as their lives and culture are devasted so that Peabody Coal can move in with their big shovels and feed on their land. Just a little more deja vu all over again.

Cartoon Safari

This is the logo for my upcoming cartoon summer camp, a weeklong class at the Charles Schulz Museum. This week I'll be teaching several classes there, starting with tomorrow's focus on drawing animals. I loved drawing elephants when I was a kid. I am now passing this affliction on to future generations.

Welcome to the zoo!

Today's strip reveals for the first time that we've been inside a zoo all along, albeit hanging out after work at The Watering Hole, an animals-only tavern that serves water. In this strip we meet Frank the bear as he advised Gideon the penguin on some of the finer points of successful zoo living. (Clink on strip for larger image)

Everything you ever wanted to know...

about MICROBURSTS but were afraid to ask. Okay. So you don't really care. But pilots do. Having just received Advanced Ground Instructor certification from the FAA I'm in the process of creating a cartoon-based curriculum for pilot training. There's a lot to cover because pilots need to know a lot! I hope to make the information more memorable and fun at the same time. Cartooning for pilots? The sky's the limit.

That's not a goat!

I was expecting the arrival of a goat in today's strip. Instead, a semi-depressed penguin shows up. I guess that just goes to show who's in charge around here (and who isn't).

Freedom Fighters 56 is a new computer game that takes you through the actual events of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. I wrote what amounts to an onscreen graphic novel using fictional characters to unfold the actual events of two extraordinary weeks. In the end the Soviet Union squashed their hopes of freedom, but this shortlived uprising proved to be the first stone hurled at that historic Goliath. The game was produced by Red Hill Studios, where I am currently writing for a science-based educational game for high school kids. To see more go to www.freedomfighter56.com

If you can't stand the heat...

I spoke to an editor at McGraw-Hill today. They've requested this political cartoon for inclusion in an upcoming college text book due out in the fall, Writing for College, Writing for Life. This cartoon, and many others, live at a web site I entitled Cartoon Free America (subtitled: Bringing Back Liberty With Laughter). One can hope.

More good gnus

THE GNU LIFE keeps rolling along and helps get me psyched for teaching my next classes at the Schulz Museum in a week. The first class will deal with drawing animals. It's a fun class that borders on zoology credit. Once the kids understand certain zoological distinctions I'll be turning them loose to create creatures of their own. Darwin will be turning in his grave...laughing.

New WHAT TADOO film

This is the fourth film I've written for young kids about child abuse prevention. This one is targeted at a slightly older group (through fifth grade) by enlisting the help of a younger sister to help her brother put an end to abuse at the hands of his soccer coach. Standing up to any abuse is a tall order for a child. Standing up to authority figures is even tougher. That's the focus of this film. Years ago a four year old girl, having seen the first film in this series (What Tadoo) and blown the whistle on the offender was asked by a prosecutor how she knew what to do. "The frogs told me!" she replied. Hearing that was better than winning an Oscar.

This film is available through www.empowerkids.com

Welcome to THE GNU LIFE

Here's a peek at my new comic strip. Its birth coincides with teaching cartooning at the Charles M. Schulz Museum: kids classes next week...their first adult classes in June. So without further ado let me introduce you to a wildebeest and a couple of sheep who, along with their friends, are living THE GNU LIFE. This is a play on the New Life, a significant period in the life of Meher Baba from 1949-1951. Sanskaras are the karmic impressions we gather to ourselves throughout our lives.