A Struggling Cartoonist

When this cartoon first appeared over at Plead the First, several people noticed.

A few days later, a second cartoon drew my attention.

Adding a local political cartoonist was one of the best additions to the News & Record's editorial pages.

It had not made any sense that the daily newspaper for an area as material-rich as Greensboro/Guilford County hadn't had its own cartoonist to exploit and expose deserving individuals and incidents.

I definitely believe that certain individuals need to be challenged and that certain incidents need to be exposed.

A good cartoonist has a powerful tool (or weapon) at his disposal: the ability to draw images that, sometimes combined with just a few words, have the ability to challenge our thinking about and our understanding of the world around us.

A good writer or a good speaker also has the ability to affect our thinking and understanding, but the cartoonist's advantage is that he usually needs far less time and space to make his point.

At the same time, when he uses his tool/weapon to make strong points, a cartoonist almost always risks negatively affecting someone else's sensibilities.

It's also certainly possible that a person could be hurt by finding himself or a cherished value/issue "cartooned."

Another occupational hazard for the cartoonist is that viewers might misread or misinterpret his cartoon.

I lack the talents necessary to be a good cartoonist: being able to draw at least reasonably well, being able to capture issues and opinions succinctly, etc.

But I greatly admire the artform of cartooning.

I admire (and envy) cartoonists for what they are able to create and accomplish with their cartoons.

My respect and appreciation for Anthony as a cartoonist has only grown from reading his recent explanations and analysis of his own work.

It might be easy for some of us to picture critics (cartoonists/speakers/writers) as people who simply live to skewer others and skew issues.

It's therefore healthy for us to have a glimpse into critics' minds and hearts.

From his words, Anthony strikes me not only as a man of passion but also as a man of compassion.

He's not just sitting back, hoping to throw punches at people and issues for the fun of it.

There's a more sincere hope that we will be inspired to think more deeply about ourselves and about the issues surrounding us.

Inpsiring people to evaluate themselves and the world around them more deeply has always struck me as a noble cause.

Anthony thoughtfully analyzes the complexities of cartooning, specifically examining his recent experiences with two of his cartoons.

By exploring the complex, complicated nature of cartooning in an open forum, Anthony provides important insight and understanding for us all.