The Crapper Point Journal

The Crapper Point Journal was a response to the official student newspaper for The Evergreen State College, The Cooper Point Journal.

Here's how I got roped into this. During my very last quarter at Evergroove a faculty member who shall remain anonymous but is named Margaret Gribskov contacted me and asked if I would be willing to participate in a spoof of the CPJ. Of course I would. So she introduced me to a fellow named Ken Silverstein.

Ken was a new arrival to TESC and was struck by how pompous and lockstep the place had become as contrasted to the earlier reputation the school had enjoyed as a more libertarian institution. His idea was to create a newspaper for the college set in the future. That's why even though the paper was really released on June 6, 1979, it carries a date of December 12, 1985.

So I drew the masthead and a couple cartoons. Ken, I think, did all the writing. Margaret bankrolled the project. For most of the humor in this publication all I can say is you really had to be there at the time to get it. The jokes were extremely local and topical.

In the brief time I worked with Ken I was impressed by his sharp observations and energy. Today he is a well known journalist and writer, mostly known his work in the Los Angeles Times and Harpers. Today he appears to be in freelance transition. Definitely an engaging journalist to follow.

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Forest fire survivors
Yakama Indian Reservation

Technical Difficulties

Blogger has been experiencing technical problems during the last couple days. If you saw some earlier posts here but no longer can find them, it isn't your imagination. They were around not long ago but as of tonight are out in the Phantom Zone.

It won't be a big deal for me to re-input them, but Blogger says they are still restoring missing posts, so hopefully we'll be back 100% soon. It can't be a fun job for them, so kudos to Blogger for putting all the pieces back together.

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Yakama Indian Reservation

Comics F/X Morty Awards

For a brief time the Morty Award was sort of the Oscar for obscuro/small press comix, bestowed upon unsuspecting artists by their peers. I found a couple articles covering the awards and in the process accidentally found a neighboring piece about the rebirth of City Limits Gazette, so I'm including that for good measure.

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Giant wind turbines
Klickitat County, Washington

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This area contains poison oak

At a rest stop near The Dalles, Oregon

Woofer the Psychic Dog

This play has been mentioned a few times in this blog before. Now it's time to haul out the posters.

Note the name Ken Lonergan on the credits. He went on to be nominated for the Academy Award-- twice, and the Pulitzer once. But I'll always remember him for being part of the NYC cast that appeared in the performance in Olympia, Washington in 1988.

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Oakville, Washington
Supposedly this rail car was once used by President Truman, now it's a place to eat and drink

Wanted! Horseman!

And speaking of Crimewatch, be on the lookout for this desperado-- Horseman!

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Crime Watch Area, Summit Lake, Washington

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

"Hey guys, wait up! Don't walk so fast! Give me a chance to ketchup!"

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Sarah's favorite sign

Ten Seconds in the Life of Fenwick Green

Little did I know that when I drew three little panels for Cranium Frenzy # 3, those lines on paper would inspire my brother to write a play called Ten Seconds in the Life of Fenwick Green.

The image was also used on a few posters promoting the play, starting, I think, in 1989. It was also used on a t-shirt.

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A Picture of Crime in Progress

A Salt and Battery

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So I was in an Olympia department store and this little cardbord ring rolls out from a side aisle and rested artfully in front of me. I snapped this phone photo right where the ring stopped. Almost like it was saying, "Don't forget to include me in your blog!"

But where it came from I know not, as no one appeared to be around. I tuned my back for only a minute, and the thing had vanished. Spooky.

Now you are getting the idea just how exciting my life can be these days.

SPSCC Exhibit, 1999

South Puget Sound Community College art instructor Carol Hannum organized a series of exhibits which were displayed in the college library in 1999. She asked me to prepare one for the July 5-August 12 slot. At the time I was employed by SPSCC as a librarian and member of the faculty.

I still have the narrative cards, but the images themselves have long since been given away. The exhibit consisted of 7 pieces. One of them was a Woofer the Psychic Dog t-shirt. The others were: The Tall Elf, As I Recall The 'Sixties, various library-oriented comix, Morty Prima Facie, a selection from The Tragedy of Morty, Prince of Denmarke, and Write-In Morty for McCleary Mayor.

The copies of comix were glued to foamboard, and each board had a border with covers of minicomix and other art. Last I knew those boards were distributed to my brother, to the back room of a local jewelry store, and to a juvenile correctional facility south of here.

It was Carol's choice to call me a "Renegade Cartoonist." The term seems redundant to me, since most good cartoonists are renegades in one form or another anyway.

At the same time this event was taking place, just four miles away The Evergreen State College was displaying a TESC Alumni Authors Exhibit, which included covers of As I Recall the 'Sixties, Cranium Frenzy # 1, The Tall Elf, Dante's Coat, as well as "The Four States of Being," the Outside In SW/Morty portrait, the earliest known drawing of Morty the Dog, and others. I believe this is the only time where my work was in two exhibits in the same town at the same time!

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The whole gang shows up in the kitchen at Steve's Acres of Cats