Some new cartoons

Don't forget that National Cartoonist Day is this Saturday May 5.
The first Comic strip, "Hogan's Alley" featuring "the Yellow Kid" first appeared in newspapers on May 5, 1895. Have you hugged a cartoonist today? Be sure to send them cards with money in them!

Don't pump gas on may 15th

In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in
protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in
protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.

There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network,
and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.

If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take
$2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companys pockets
for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and
lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one
day.

You're not going to believe this...

Confessions of a wallflower
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, May 3, 2007 – Page 3

You're not going to believe this, but I have a terrible problem with shyness. If you know me you're having a hard time believing it because I've got such a big mouth. But don't confuse being over opinionated and often overbearing with being extroverted.

How can you be shy? You have to stand in front of classrooms full of students and teach them all day. What can I tell you, it's unnatural. It's also one thing to be an adult in front of a bunch of teenagers, but it's quite another to be in front of their parents, your colleagues, or administrators.

I like to imagine that all writers are shy. That's because its easier to relate to a keyboard and computer screen that to other people. I've known many an artist who was infinitely more comfortable with their sketchbook than with human company.

One of the most awkward times in life for shy people is high school. I had cartoons and occasional stories running in my high school newspaper since sophomore year, but my shyness was truly put to the test my senior year. That's when I was drafted into being the Editor. I hadn't applied, like any self respecting shy person, I was content being a contributor. But the only applicants were escaped mental patients so the journalism advisor and the outgoing student editor laid a heaping guilt trip on me that included a heavy mantle of responsibility. I didn't wind up being the best editor they'd ever had, but I like to think I wasn't the worst. I missed our first issue because I made my self sick from the stress of the thing and started the school year home with walking pneumonia.

What being the editor of the school paper has to do with shyness is this; the editor wrote a regular column each issue and the advisor felt it was necessary to run columnist's pictures with their stories. Sort of like our publisher now insists in this paper. The sports editor relished this opportunity to advertise himself to all the eligible girls in our school. I wasn't as sure, but I posed with my 1920's antique Remington anyway.

The picture alone isn't what made the editor's office a shy persons' hell, it was the mini-fame that it established. A shy person can hide pretty easily in a school of 2,600 kids, unless their picture appears in the student newspaper handed out to all 2,600 kids every three weeks in homeroom.

What this meant was that absolutely everyone knew who I was while I knew almost no one. Everyone wanted to tell me what they thought of what I drew or wrote, whereas I would've been more comfortable only having to interact with my immediate circle of four or five friends.

This sort of not real fame, but higher notoriety than the general population is made even worse by the fact that I've always been terrible at trying to remember people's names, let alone placing the correct name with the right face.

"Hi Ted, how's it going?"
"Uh, um, fine, 'whats-your-name,' how're you?"

Don't you feel sorry for my kids? God help our middle daughter Ellen, I'm always calling her by either of her two other sisters' names. Maybe that's why she has the most outlandish and memorable personality of the three. It's nature's way.

People who are more comfortable with themselves and with talking and getting to know others don't understand shy people. They think we're antisocial as if we somehow selfishly want to be left alone. I suppose that's true to a degree, insofar as we'd desperately rather hide inside our comfort zones.

But shy people don't deliberately want to be rude or insensitive, we're just paralyzed by the fear of saying or doing something lame- or, as in my case, we're afraid that we're going to come off as rude and insensitive by not remembering who in the world the person is that we're talking to. When you don't remember someone's name, they tend to feel like you don't like them or don't think they're important enough to care about. But you do care about them, that is why you don't want to have to talk to them- because you don't want to accidentally offend them. So... you avoid talking to them and that doesn't just make you appear "aloof" or "elitist," it makes them feel like you don't like them or that you don't think they're important enough to care about. As you can see, it's a regular "Catch 22."

Once at a community event someone complemented me on my column. It was a huge compliment too, comparing me to a writer I have a huge amount of respect for. But what are you supposed to do with that kind of thing? I said thank you, red faced and awkward. But I didn't know how to say, "now who are you?" Especially because I was pretty sure it was someone who I should've known. I was paralyzed by shyness.

Needless to say, my wife chastised me. After all, I probably made myself look rude, aloof, or elitist and no doubt made them feel like I didn't like them or like I didn't think they were important enough to talk to. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel that way. And if anybody else wants to tell me that I'm not bad at this, please don't be shy.

Tenet

I appreciate that people from the administration are finally speaking the truth about Bush and Cheny, but alas, I'm afraid that it may be too little, too late, and under questionable motives.

Iowa Independent

Iowa Independent

Welcome to Iowa Independent

by: Chase Martyn

Sunday (04/29) at 17:55 PM

Thanks for visiting Iowa Independent, a new collaboration between bloggers and journalists across the state of Iowa. Please excuse the rough edges as we finish the long process of launching our site.

We look forward to contributing to the discussion here in Iowa on a number of important issues, and we welcome your thoughts and suggestions. If you would like to contact us, email editor@iowaindependent.com.

Cagle: Cinco de Mayo - Cartoonists Day

Hey everybody,

I recently received this interesting email from a list serve I belong to. It got me thinking... "gee, do my friends or I know any of these actual 'carTOONist' people?" What could we possibly do for them to show them our appreciation for the funny pictures that they bring to all of our lives?

Send them money so they could afford the $100 membership fee to join the Society of Professional Cartoonists? Secretly enter examples of their work in big contests like the Pulitzers? Pre-order the upcoming Jimmy Buffett/George Straight/Alan Jackson concert album? Get them lots of Snoopy stuff? Take them out for a Margaritas? Or just send them "Happy Cartoonist Day" Emails?

Hard to say. But you can always read my cartoons at http://tmal.multiply.com/photos/album/2 any day of the year. Feliz Cinco De Mayo and go find some comic book store somewhere and beg for free stuff. Oh- and go see Spiderman 3 when it comes out!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Cagle Newsletter <news@cagle.com>
Date: May 2, 2007 3:56 PM
Subject: Cagle: Cinco de Mayo - Cartoonists Day
To: Ted Mallory < ted.mallory@gmail.com>

Did someone forward this e-mail to you? Click here and you can subscribe to our cartoon newsletter too! Would you like to reprint our cartoons on your site or in your publication? It's easy! Visit us here. Cartoon by John Darkow Cinco de Mayo: Cartoonists Day? On Saturday we'll all sip our Margaritas, munch on our burritos and think about cartoonists. Saturday, May 5 is "Cartoonists Day." Some readers will remember when most of the newspaper comic strips touted Cartoonists Day. As a cartoonist, I love the idea of having my own day where my fans shower me with gifts and adoration ­ in fact, that was pretty much the idea behind Cartoonists Day. The date was chosen because the first recurring character in American newspaper comics, the Yellow Kid, first appeared in print on May 5, 1895. Cartoonists are suffering from a painful transition now as newspapers decline and their traditional markets for gag cartoons and advertising work suffer a prolonged slump. We can cheer Mom up on Mothers Day, make the secretary happy on Administrative Professionals Day and feed the government on Tax Day -- even trees and flags have their own days -- why not make long-suffering cartoonists happy with their own day? The first Saturday in May is also "Free Comic Book Day," where comic book stores join in a promotion to give away comic books and which happens to fall on May 5 this year. This is also Cartoon Appreciation Week. The stars are aligned for cartoonists this Saturday. Unfortunately, Cartoonists Day has had a bumpy ride and cartoonists have allowed it to fade away. It all started back in 1997 when Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman, the creators of the comic strip "Baby Blues," organized "The Great Comic Strip Switcheroonie," where cartoonists traded places to draw each other's comic strips on April Fools' Day. It was great fun and a creative success. When I was president of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) in 2000, Charles "Sparky" Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts," passed away and I oversaw a special day in the comics where almost all of the cartoonists drew a comic strip tribute to Sparky. After 9/11 the NCS organized a successful Thanksgiving Day tribute on the comics pages to raise money for victims of the World Trade Center disaster. Cartoonists usually work in isolation and the opportunities to work together were great fun at first - then the glow started to fade. Some cartoonists were enthusiastic about the idea of Cartoonists Day, and pushed the idea of every comic strip artist participating to display the Cartoonists Day logo in their strips, and write something about it in their strip to "raise awareness" of underappreciated cartoonists. The strip cartoonists were urged to do this every year on May 5. Then charities got the idea; they called the NCS saying, "Hey! You cartoonist guys all got together to raise money for the 9/11 victims, how about raising money for this terrible disease, or that one - you can't believe that Cartoonists Day is more important than my horrible disease, do you? Where are your priorities?!" Of-course, they were right, but there were just too many terrible diseases and social ills waiting in line for space on the comics pages. Then many of the star cartoonists became weary. They would say, "Why are we doing this Cartoonists Day thing in our strips again?" and "Isn't it kind of egotistical and self-serving for us to use our strips to call attention to ourselves like this?" Of course, they were right. Then there was the problem of Cinco de Mayo. Cartoonists who wanted to generate publicity for themselves had to share their day with another topic. Cartoonists in the Midwest couldn't understand why the cartoonists in California were busy with their Margaritas on Cartoonists Day. The NCS stopped promoting Cartoonists Day and it slowly faded away. Some cartoonists hated to see it go. There is still a Web site at cartoonistsday.com. Some cartoonists still lobby for the return of Cartoonists Day, but the day has disappeared. Mexico won the cartoon war because the cartoonists took their pens and went home. And I never got my presents. Get a great discount on our new books! Click here to comment on our bulletin board. Would you like to reprint our cartoons in your publication? Or anywhere? You can, and it's easy, just visit politicalcartoons.com. Click Here to UNSUBSCRIBE to our newsletter. E-mail us. All images copyright each artist. All Rights Reserved. Images may not be reproduced without permission of the artists.

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_____________________________
Pirate Prayers at:
http://malloryprayer.blogspot.com

Ted's cartoons, artworks, photos, and commentary at:
http://tmal.multiply.com

"The gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." ~Garrison Keillor

CartoonistDay.com » Cartoonist Day - Press release

CartoonistDay.com » Cartoonist Day - Press release

Cartoonist Day - Press release

Feb 17, 2007 @ 01:02 am by Cartoonist Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cartoonists Day, Free Comic Book Day Share Same Date: May 5, 2007

Lovers of comic books, comic strips and all forms of cartooning will have two reasons to celebrate these art forms this year when Free Comic Book Day and Cartoonists Day fall on the same date: Saturday, May 5, 2007!

Fun-loving people everywhere are also urged to enjoy CARTOONISTS DAY and CARTOON APPRECIATION WEEK May 3-9. May 5 has been designated as CARTOONISTS DAY because the first comic strip, “The Yellow Kid,” appeared in the newspaper on May 5, 1895.

CARTOON APPRECIATION WEEK offers a chance to recognize the positive influence and laughs this art form has provided for so many years in films, books, newspapers, magazines, comic books, and commercial art.

Ricketts Reunion

Hi there,


My name's Ted. I live in a little town in Western Iowa called Charter Oak. By little, I mean in the neighborhood of 500. Quaint, huh? It is.

I write a weekly column in the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper,
a publication that we obviously share with a neighboring town across the county line. Living in a small town is a wonderful way of life.

Recently someone who's a native of another town asked me about creating a website for a group of friends who try to get together every year and want to be able to keep up on their home town. The town is Ricketts, Iowa. I like to think of it a a suburb of Charter Oak. It's a burgeoning metropolis of say 150 people.

Here it is http://rickettsiowa.blogspot.com

Their annual "Ricketts Kids Reunion" is always the 3rd Saturday in July. This year it will be 7-21-2007

While I like to poke fun at it, I appreciate- no, I ADMIRE the affection that folks from Ricketts have for their town, and for each other. You gotta love a town that's this small and yet SO German Lutheran, that it has THREE churches!

If they like what they see, I hope they'll adopt this little website. No doubt it will grow and improve, especially as they themselves contribute to it. If they aren't crazy about, I'll just delete it- more roadkill on the information superhighway.

the Ricketts Reunion

Hi there,


My name's Ted. I live in a little town in Western Iowa called Charter Oak. By little, I mean in the neighborhood of 500. Quaint, huh? It is.

I write a weekly column in the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper,
a publication that we obviously share with a neighboring town across the county line. Living in a small town is a wonderful way of life.

Recently someone who's a native of another town asked me about creating a website for a group of friends who try to get together every year and want to be able to keep up on their home town. The town is Ricketts, Iowa. I like to think of it a a suburb of Charter Oak. It's a burgeoning metropolis of say 150 people.

Here it is http://rickettsiowa.blogspot.com

Their annual "Ricketts Kids Reunion" is always the 3rd Saturday in July. This year it will be 7-21-2007

While I like to poke fun at it, I appreciate- no, I ADMIRE the affection that folks from Ricketts have for their town, and for each other. You gotta love a town that's this small and yet SO German Lutheran, that it has THREE churches!

If they like what they see, I hope they'll adopt this little website. No doubt it will grow and improve, especially as they themselves contribute to it. If they aren't crazy about, I'll just delete it- more roadkill on the information superhighway.

Video Vets

These video testimonials from Iraq vets are very moving

VideoVets: Peter Granato

Which VideoVets video should be a TV ad?
Vote at http://pol.moveon.org/videovets