Perspicuity

References - None (yet)
Merchandise

References - None (yet)
Merchandise

The Slinky was invented in 1945 by Robert James as an anti-vibration device for Navy ship instruments. The Navy couldn't use them, so Mr. James turned them into a toy. They've been going down stairs ever since.

At my Junior prom, my date was allergic to my wool suit. It's been going downhill ever since.

References
Merchandis

This was my first funny cartoon - assuming, of course, one finds it funny.

I got the idea for this while walking to work in east Cambridge, Ma. in 1990. There was construction going on near my office and a huge pile driving machine was pounding away. Each day I passed it, I would break into the chanting part of "Give Peace a Chance"--you know, where all the singers are stamping and clapping and John Lennon is spewing off lines in traveling preacher fashion: "Everyone's talking 'bout Bag-ism, Shag-ism, Drag-ism, mad-ism, rag-ism, Tag-ism, This-ism, That-ism, Isn't it the most? All we are saying, is give peace a chance." Well, in my usual way, I would chew the words around and around, and one time peas came out for peace.

Damn. I’m about to go to my 21st High School Reunion and I’m not rich, I’m not famous, and I haven’t been elected to anything.¹

Going to a high school reunion is a bit of a scary endeavor. You will see people you haven’t spoken with in years, and you’re faced with telling them what you’ve done with your life; revealing who you’ve become. It’s judgement day.

What exactly should I say about myself? Do I tell them that I like to memorize things? No, that would be weird. Do I tell them that I have a Master’s degree in three dimensional computer animation? No, that would be bragging. Do I say that I’m chief surgeon at a major metropolitan hospital? No, that would be lying.

(See "Of Course Yonomamö" Cartoon/Essay)

First published November 28, 2000 in Editorial Humor (Vol. 12, Issue 259).

• Chagnon, Napoleon, Yanomamö - The Fierce People (third ed.), Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1968.
  
• Editorial Humor, Dean Wallace, Jr. (publisher), Jason Schneiderman (editor), Hop Publications, Somerville, MA, 2000.
  
• Slate Magazine, . If you search their archives under “Yanomami” you will find a handful of articles that question the veracity of The New Yorker’s article (listed below). The original Slate article can be found at: http://slate.msn.com/?id=91946.
  

Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye) was an American cowboy-actor-singer-restaurant owner. He started singing on the radio in the early 1930s. After that, he acted in movies, had his own TV show and made record albums right up to the early 1990s. He died on July 6, 1998 at the age of 86.

Roy Rogers was the canonical good guy, wearing a white cowboy hat and shooting the guns out of the bad guys’ hands rather than killing them.

In 1938 he starred in “Under Western Stars” which was the first movie to feature his Palomino horse, Trigger (born Trigger). The two appeared together from then on and Trigger died in 1965 at the age of 33.

(See "Trigger Treats" Cartoon/Essay)

First published Halloween 2000 in Editorial Humor (Vol. 12, Issue 257). This was done on commission. My editor asked, “Can you draw me a Halloween theme?” This is what I came up with.

• Editorial Humor, Dean Wallace, Jr. (publisher), Jason Schneiderman (editor), Hop Publications, Somerville, MA, 2000.
• Internet Movie Database (IMDb), http://www.imdb.com. One of the best Web sites on the internet. Search for titles under “Zorro” and you will get 67 different films and six different television series.