The Sorensen Monologues
My Chat With Harvey Pekar
As you’ve likely heard by now, the great comics writer Harvey Pekar died on Monday. I didn’t know him personally, and am probably less qualified to share stories about him than those cartoonists who did, but I did get to hang out with him once. It was the summer of 2005, and I was in Cleveland for the Funny Times anniversary party. I’d arrived a little early, and found myself sitting in a small yard behind the Funny Times offices, waiting for other people to show up. I was chatting with the staffers, and maybe one or two other cartoonists, when all of a sudden Pekar appeared and sat down just a few feet away. It’s not every day Harvey Pekar pulls up a seat next to you; I hadn’t known he was coming, and was momentarily overwhelmed with surprise.
We got to talking about the American Splendor movie and his various projects, and I nerdily told him about my senior thesis that referenced a comic his wife Joyce Brabner had written. What I remember most clearly from our conversation was how disarmingly frank and down-to-earth he was about having to make a living again now that the flurry of attention from the movie had subsided. He put on no celebrity airs; he seemed preoccupied with the practical matters of life. Just like in his comics.
I had some audio equipment with me at the time, lent to me by a friend who asked me to interview cartoonists for a podcast. I remember being tempted to get Pekar on tape, but decided against it. It would have ruined the moment. I’m glad I didn’t.
This Week’s Cartoon: “All You Need Is Like”
A little while ago, I was startled to see my Facebook friends popping up on the Washington Post website. More recently, Facebook has added “like” buttons to individual comments, so you can not only like somebody’s post, but the replies to that post. Now, I’ve got nothing against positive reinforcement. I find it encouraging and helpful when people “like” one of my cartoons (which, incidentally, you can do RIGHT NOW on the Slowpoke Facebook page!). But it’s starting to feel like the internet is getting a bit too interactive. Every single infintesimal thing has to be voted upon, commented upon, socially bookmarked, and generally subjected to the fickle whims of the Zeitgeist. And usually, what comes out on top is kitties. Oh, the kitties! Makes me almost yearn for the days of one-way information beams boring directly into your skull. Those were some good times.
This Week’s Cartoon: “Unemployment Solved!”
Would’ve posted this sooner, but in addition to being busy with moving, the internet at my current location went down yesterday and shows no sign of returning until the cable company comes tomorrow. (I’m typing this in a coffee shop.) I’m not sure what’s the biggest time-waster: when the internet is working, or when it isn’t. Suddenly everything I need to do has become ten times as complicated.
Sharron Angle is far from the only fruit loop when it comes to unemployment benefits. Most of the Republicans and Democrat Ben Nelson have been sucked into the cruelty cult. Paul Krugman’s Monday column was, coincidentally, a perfect companion piece to the strip. Is it really too much to ask that people running for office understand basic economics? Like, at the very least, that there are way fewer jobs right now than there are people looking? If you can’t grasp that, you should be in remedial math, not in the halls of Congress.
Service Announcement
Thought I’d mention that my online activities may be a little light for the next month or so. Mr. Slowpoke and I will hopefully be moving into our new Seattle digs soon, and I’ve got some freelance work piling up (can’t complain about that!). So I may not be posting much more than the weekly cartoon here until we get settled. In the meantime, I will probably continue to issue occasional bleats on Twitter, and you should, of course, join the Slowpoke Facebook page.
This Week’s Cartoon: “Spawn of Hot Yoga”
I’ve been sort of burned out on politics lately, so apologies to those of you wanting something about the general in charge of a mostly-stupid war saying something stupid, and people asking stupid questions about whether the stupid comments should have been published.
I have nothing against hot yoga; I actually think it sounds kind of interesting. It’s been on my mind because I follow Black Francis of the Pixies on Twitter, and he tweets about it all the time. Some people have said they don’t get this one, which I find a little surprising — to me, it feels like a Life in Hell strip, or maybe a Roz Chast cartoon that’s just riffing on a concept. I suppose I’ll try to be more down-to-earth next week.
This Week’s Cartoon: “Let’s Get Ugly”
Whenever I travel by highway, I am struck by how determined we seem to destroy the country with ugliness. The drive from Seattle to Portland is not especially ugly compared to others, but it has its moments (I’m looking at you, Tacoma-area sprawl). This grotesque lack of attention to aesthetics really, really bothers me. We’re letting commercial developers ruin everything that’s not within an urban core. Opposing this stuff doesn’t make me a snob; it makes me patriotic. The song is “America the Beautiful,” not “America the Sh!thole,” dammit.
My parents recently reported that their neighbors, who have a deep affinity for crap (among other things, they bought their children an actual golf cart to drive in circles around the neighborhood), just installed a hideous above-ground pool in their backyard. That’s where the pool reference in the comic came from. [UPDATE: The pool has apparently developed a case of mustard fungus! Schadenfreude? Yes.]
AAEC Wrap-up
Okay, okay, I know I said I was going to blog from the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention, but I truly didn’t have a moment to spare. Considering that my primary activity consisted of stuffing my face with food and drink, I’m not entirely sure you needed a play-by-play anyway. Here, then, is an executive summary of Important Convention News, from a me-centric perspective.
I was nominated for the Board of Directors. I guess this marks the start of my political career. Today the AAEC, tomorrow the halls of Congress! Or at least Assistant to Tri-Cities Deputy Comptroller.
I was interviewed by KBOO. This is Portland’s community radio station. Matt Wuerker and I were interviewed for a show about cartoonists, to be aired sometime later this summer.
Me in front of the funkily-painted KBOO studios.
I drank wonderful beer. At Bailey’s Taphouse, I had something called a Block 15 Super Nebula Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout. This big, bold beauty is aged in oak barrels, boasts 11% alcohol, and will generally blow your socks off. That’s Ted Rall’s arm behind the glasses.
Goblets of ungodly goodness
A special shout-out to Kevin Moore and his wife Jenn for hosting Mr. Slowpoke and me.
Bitchin’!
Oh yes, almost forgot to mention here that there’s a very nice interview with me in the new issue of Bitch magazine. Print only!
This Week’s Cartoon: “The Tale of Tarball Timmy”
One thing I don’t get about this whole oil spill fiasco is why BP insists on denying or downplaying scientific facts about the leak. I’m sorry, I mean the death fountain. It’s not like we aren’t going to find out that there are, in fact, giant billowing plumes of schmutz spiraling out into the Gulf six ways from Sunday. We’re well past the point of spin here, BP! Seems like they’d have less of a PR problem if they just said “Yeah, we really screwed the pooch on this one. Words can’t even express how awful this is. We suck.”
In other news, I’m off to Portland OR tomorrow for 3.5 days of drinking with the nation’s editorial cartoonists. I’ll try to post from AAEC as I can.
Choice Reads
I’ve been too busy with real-life stuff this week to do much babbling on the internet, but a few items caught my eye that I simply must share with you.
First, the Supreme Court ruled against Arizona’s campaign finance laws that provided matching public funds to candidates who ran against wealthy, self-financed candidates.
It was those matching funds that produced a challenge from well-financed candidates, backed by the Goldwater Institute and other conservative interests. The candidates argued that the matching funds “chilled” their freedom of speech because they were afraid to spend more than the limit that triggered the funds.
Just try to wrap your brain around that logic. Can we now all agree that the Roberts court is dangerously stuffed with plutocratic wingdings?
In other irritating news, this Texas billionaire managed to even die at just the right moment, during the one-year lapse in inheritance taxes built into George W. Bush’s budget chicanery. Now his heirs will get a cool $9 billion tax-free (unlike, say, the income one earns through working). On top of that, it seems they’ll inherit some stuffed polar bears too:
An avid big game hunter — Mr. Duncan has more than 500 entries in the Safari Club International record book for killing animals including polar bears, rhinoceroses, bighorn sheep, lions and elephants— he made a $1 million donation in his will to the Shikar Safari Club International Foundation.
On a somewhat lighter — though perhaps no less disturbing — note, the Stranger has an amazing cover story (NSFW!) about a strip club in Seattle called the Lusty Lady, which is closing down. It’s a long piece, but I’ll just say that the details get more eye-popping as you keep reading, and leave it at that.
This Week’s Cartoon: “Great Moments in Astroturf”
I saw a web ad not too long ago that read something like “Stop big government at the cash register! Tell Congress ‘Hands off my wallet!'” (Alas, I can’t find the actual ad online anymore.) These days, any campaign starting with “Hands off!” tends to mean “Stop laws preventing big business from getting its hands on something,” so out of curiosity, I clicked.
It turns out part of the recent financial reform bill passed by the Senate included a provision protecting small merchants from price-gouging by credit card networks. From Sen. Dick Durbin himself:
An estimated $48 billion in swipe fees were charged by credit and debit card networks in 2008 – this money came out of the bottom line of small businesses and consumers across America, and 80% of this money went to just ten large banks… Currently Visa and MasterCard, which control nearly the entire debit card market, set unreasonably high debit interchange fee rates that bear no relation to costs.
You know those little signs at the cash register that say “Purchases under $10 cash only”? Technically, they’re illegal — even though merchants actually lose money when people use plastic for small items. This law would change that, and the big banks are pissed. So they’ve set up a front group called “Consumers Against Retail Discrimination” — C.A.R.D., of course! — to protest this unfair discrimination against poor li’l plastic. Among these oh-so-altruistic “consumer advocates” are Mastercard, Visa, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and many more!
For banks to pull this stunt in this crappy economy, after all the damage they’ve done so far, takes real wontons* — and only a few people seem to be talking about it. So I felt compelled to address it in a cartoon, although I’m afraid the comic barely scratches the surface. Some things just require too much explanation. Oh well.
*Intended as a reference to male or female reproductive organs
Divine Punishment
Got a chuckle out of this letter to the editor in my alumni magazine:
I was dismayed when I opened my copy of Virginia Magazine and found a short article celebrating the appearance of John Waters at the Virginia Film Festival (“Filthy Fun,” Spring 2010).
It is to my shame and regret that I admit to attending a late night showing of his Pink Flamingos in Wilson Hall in the spring of 1975. I remain haunted to this day not by the “fun” of attending the film, but by the fact that it was my first experience with true pornography.
The invitation by the U.Va. arts community to host Mr. Waters is a profound commentary on our social order today. Surely a host could have been found to help celebrate light, goodness and truth in the arts, rather than one who will lead minds and hearts into the descent into the shadows of the soul.
Dr. Kent D. (Col ’76)
Plymouth, Mich.
Shadows of the Soul, Exhibit A
