Carol

Thanks to Jeanette for sharing this fabulous treasure. In 1971 Jeanette sent a poem to Carol to be read in her opening segment on the classic "Carol Burnett Show." Carol replied with this photo and a typed letter on show stationery, return address CBS Television City, that read:
Dear Jeanette:
Thanks for your nice letter and the cute poem you wrote about me. I'm happy to have it for my poetry collection. I'm glad to know that our show is welcomed in your home, and I hope we continue to entertain you and your family with our future programs.
Sincerly,
Carol Burnett

Goal Achieved

Another reason I decided to take the summer off from the cartoon was to focus on training for my first half marathon. It was yesterday - and it went very well. I finished in the time I'd planned. The weather completely cooperated. And I had a great team of supporters welcoming me over the finish line. The question remains as to what is next - a full marathon? Get a beter time at the half (if I'd been ten years older, my current time would have won me a medal!) or just stick to friendly 5 and 10K races? I'll have to think about all that. There is much to learn from setting a goal and meeting it. But also a question of which goals to set next. Alice isn't worried about all that. She's just happy to have her team medal.

Hiatus Part Two

My feelings about not making cartoons have changed. I've had some new ideas and I'm getting restless and crabby about not drawing. That's a good thing. So I'll draw. Still working on the book, which I suspect I'll be saying for quite some time to come. I'm writing on a new Mac Book Pro, which will require the rest of my summer break to master. But I think good things will result.
Here's one now - it has a built in camera, so I can share my current scene - a neighborhood sandwich shop with a folk singer.

Today's Sun Times has a piece by Cathleen Falsani about Tom Robbins and Siddhartha. (http://www.suntimes.com/output/falsani/cst-nws-fals21.html)

Robbins is going blind and can't write anymore. He talks about dealing with it:

"He jokes. That's Robbins' way. Last year when we had a long discussion about faith and spirituality -- his, mine, ours -- he told me, "We live in hell because we take ourselves too seriously."

I know he doesn't believe that wisdom can be passed on -- one has to find it for oneself -- but still, that's pretty good advice.

"When people ask me for advice -- and I don't know why they're so foolish as to do so, but some people do -- I say, 'Every morning look in your bathroom mirror and say three times: "It's not about me."'

"And when you come to the point where you don't have to say that any more, where that is so ingrained in you that you just gaze in the mirror and you don't have to say it to know it, at that point you can start saying, 'It's all about me.' Because it is," he said, laughing. "Because it's all about you and me and everybody else on a non-ego level. Because there is only one us, ya know?"

I do.

That's the kind of wisdom that you can see better with your spirit than with your eyes. Even if your vision is perfect.

Grace for the journey, Mr. Robbins."

Hiatus

So far my summer break from the Cartoon of the Week is going quite well. I'm working on the text portion of my next book, which will be a graphic memoir of a specific story from my work during the mid 90's on Illinois Masonic's AIDS unit 371. My workhorse computer, which was purchased in 1999, has finally gotten a bug it can't shake. I am able to boot up but as soon as I try to do anything online it freezes. The same is true if I try to open Word or Photoshop. This normally catastrophic turn of technology has proven to be a good thing. I've been released from the virtual leash of my studio and have been getting more done in the outside world. I'm assuming (and handling this so well because I'm assuming) that one way or another I'll get my master art and music files off the system. That's really all I'm worried about. My business has been saving up for a while and will be able to replace the computer. All will be well. And, as I said, in the meantime I'm on a laptop and out in the world. It feels great.

Al Gini, a dynamic and funny philosophy professor from my alma mater, Loyola U of Chicago, is a weekly guest on Chicago Public Radio's award winning awesome daily arts and news show 848. Today Al reviewed a book about the nature and essence of friendship. It's very interesting conversation that highlights what friendship is and what it isn't. Click on the link to 848 above and then click on today's date, 7/13 to listen online. Your friends will thank you.

ChocoPup

Our neighbor's yellow Lab got a new baby sister.