Study Cartoons!

March 9th, 2011 | Uncategorized

CCS_Logo1.2MB.tif

Hey, this week Vermont’s Cartoonist Laureate, James Kochalka is being sworn in at the Vermont state house. 9:30am! I’m gonna get up early so I can be there for his inauguration or coronation or whatever. Update: It’s at 1pm, thank the lord.

There’s a great article my pal Lauren Ober wrote about James in last week’s Seven Days, our local alt weekly.

The whole Cartoonist Laureate scheme was thought up the by the Center for Cartoon Studies, the amazing MFA program in cartooning just down the pike in White River Junction, VT.

CCS is always looking for motivated and talented new students–and it’s not too late to apply for the fall semester! If you think this might be up your alley, or you know anyone up whose alley it might be…check out the admissions page on their site! This place is a remarkable hotbed of cartoonaceousness.

14 Responses to “Study Cartoons!”

  1. hairball_of_hope says:

    Poet Laureate? Ahem, perhaps your artistic neurons are cross-firing from all the excitement. Cartoon Laureate.

    (… I’m first, yaaay! …)

  2. Ginjoint says:

    Damn. I thought I’d finally have a chance to correct one of the smarty-pants at this site, but HoH beat me to it.

    {raising fist to the air}
    “HAIRBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!”

  3. Kate L says:

    Congrats to Cartooneer Laureate, James Kochalka! 🙂

  4. Sheesh! Thanks, HoH. I was very tired when I posted that last night. Fixed now.

  5. Cameron says:

    Hey…poet works for me, think of the dance and grace and poetry of every line.

  6. Ginjoint says:

    Nah, ain’t fixed. Check out your second paragraph.

    (Having finally been able to correct someone, Ginjoint retires for a self-satisfied nap.)

    [(Accompanied by Jedi-hand sweep): You see no misprint. –MentorWan]

  7. Ginjoint says:

    ::blink::

    ::blink blink::

    Wait – this wasn’t the website I was looking for, either! The hell?!

  8. khatgrrl says:

    Nice comic relief Mentor and Ginjoint!

  9. James S. says:

    The State House thing is now at 1pm, Alison…last minute switch…

    And thanks for the nice post!

  10. Kate L says:

    The Republicans in the Wisconsin state legislature have pulled the ol’ switcheroo and passed their union-busting bill all by itself, without warning and in apparent violation of the state open-meeting law. This is the Saturday Night Massacre all over again! 1973 came early this year! This shall not stand! To the barricades! To the barricades, I say!

  11. Kate L says:

    Oh, btw and wtf, the replacement of the Plum Island biowarfare center that is being built less than a mile from where I now sit in my kitchen is awaiting its final go-ahead in the form of $150 million in tax payer funds. I only hope that when the inevitable pathogens release occurs, and the residents of Smallville are transformed into a mob of howling mutants, that the economic shot-in-the-arm for the local economy will have been worth it. A-r-r-o-w-w-w-l-l-l!!!!!!

  12. hairball_of_hope says:

    (… channels her inner Dorothy Parker …)

    “…when the inevitable pathogens release occurs, and the residents of Smallville are transformed into a mob of howling mutants…”

    Really? How could they tell?

    (… goes back to exclaiming, “What Fresh Hell Is This?” …)

  13. Ginjoint says:

    Spoken like a true New Yorker.

    {weg!}

    [I’m not sure why, but this message appears to have been sent to the Spam-bucket. –Mentor]

  14. Kate L says:

    …hairball, It would be difficult, as witnessed by this press release just issue in the state capitol of Topeka:

    STATE REPRESENTATIVES CALL FOR CONTINUED CRIMINALIZATION OF GAY AND LESBIAN KANSANS
    Topeka, Kans, March 8, 2011 –
    State Representatives Jan Pauls (D, Hutchinson), and Lance Kinzer (R, Olathe) said yesterday that being gay or lesbian should remain a crime in Kansas. Pauls made, with Kinzer’s support, the successful motion in the Kansas Legislature’s Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee to keep the criminalization of gay and lesbian relationships on the books. Their action removed key language from HB2321, proposed by the Kansas Judicial Council, which would have resolved inconsistencies in Kansas criminal code, as well as remove unconstitutional laws.
    “Jan Pauls was trusted to be a judge before becoming a state representative, and should know better than to support unconstitutional laws, breaking her oath to defend the Constitution,” said Jon Powell, Chair of the Hutchinson Area chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition. “We are fed up with her obvious support of harassment of gays and lesbians. We will not be bullied.”
    Although one remains on Kansas’ books, all state laws criminalizing gay and lesbian relationships were struck down by the United States Supreme Court in 2003. Writing for the majority in the case of Lawrence v. Texas, Justice Anthony Kennedy said “if protected conduct is made criminal and the law which does so remains unexamined for its substantive validity, its stigma might remain even if it were not enforceable as drawn for equal protection reasons. When homosexual conduct is made criminal by the law of the State, that declaration in and of itself is an invitation to subject homosexual persons to discrimination both in the public and in the private spheres.”
    Disregarding the US Supreme Court, the President of the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, John Wheeler, said in 2008 that “even to this day, homosexuality is a crime in Kansas.” His warning, made to a group of adult college students and caught on video, raised questions about the ability of gay and lesbian Kansans to live free from arrest, and to receive fair trials in our courts.
    “Representatives Pauls’ endorsement of an unconstitutional statute that’s used to threaten and discriminate against law-abiding Kansas citizens is an outrage,” said Thomas Witt, state Chairman for the Kansas Equality Coalition. “She took an oath as both judge and state representative to uphold the Constitution. We insist that Representative Kinzer and she be immediately removed as Chair and Ranking Minority from the House Judiciary Committee. Legislators who willfully ignore the Constitution should never be in positions of leadership and responsibility.”
    The Hutchinson Chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition is organizing a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness of Representative Pauls’ actions, to take place Thursday, March 17, in downtown Hutchinson. The demonstration will begin at 6pm, and will take place at the intersections of Main and Avenues A and B.

    No word yet if the demostration will spread to Avenue Q.
    A-r-r-o-w-w-w-l-l-l!!!!!!