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Goodbye 2009

It's a very cold, very damp, very stormy day in the Pacific Northwest, pretty typical for New Year's Eve, but dreary nonetheless. As I close down the studio for the last time in 2009 I can't help but wonder about 2010 and the future of cartooning.

Recently, the Washington Times (DC) decided to eliminate comics altogether. I don't think it's a big paper, and it's not one of mine... but it worries me. Without funny pages what is a newspaper?

Newspapers are evolving... so comics must evolve. I like how my work looks online, and I see the future there... but it may not provide a way to make a living for cartoonists as syndication has in the past.

Which is the root of my dilemma whenever someone interested in cartooning asks me for advice.

Cartooning, comics, graphic novels, funny papers, animation... it's all evolving and evolution is inevitable. But as far as advice is concerned? Well, I just don't know.

I only know that you can't go wrong doing what you love, writing about what interests you, and drawing funny pictures that bring it to life.

So if you love it, do it, and see where it takes you. I suppose that applies to most anything, doesn't it?
 

Happy 2010. Yowsa.

 

Women Build

To wrap up the posts on my travels this fall, I'd like to talk a bit about the Women Build program within Habitat for Humanity.

Val and Joan are fans, of course, and honored to represent Women Build in a small way.

 

I asked Lisa Marie Nickerson from Women Build / HFHI, for a history of Women Build, which was the brainchild of a group of women in Charlotte, North Carolina. So here's a BIG shout-out to the Habitat Affiliate in Charlotte for getting the Women Build ball rolling!

The Complete History Of Women Build:

1991
A group of women in Charlotte, North Carolina complete the first women-built Habitat for Humanity house. With this event, the seeds for Habitat for Humanity's Women Build program are planted.

A handful of Habitat for Humanity affiliates continue to build houses with women crews.

1997
As part of the Jimmy Carter Work Project, U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton, Kentucky first lady Libby Jones and Oklahoma first lady Cathy Keating participate in a Women Build. The idea for Habitat’s First Ladies Build is born.

1998
Habitat for Humanity International forms the Women Build department and the Women Build program becomes an official HFHI initiative. 

1999–2001
The Women Build department hosts the First Ladies Build. Women governors and first ladies from all 50 states join Habitat for Humanity to build houses with families in need.

2001
Women Build launches “Women Building a Legacy.” United States’ first ladies, celebrities and women from all walks of life swing hammers to actively address the problem of children in poverty.

2003
Lowe’s signs on as Women Build’s underwriter. Home Interiors and Gifts, Inc. becomes Women Build’s major sponsor. Since 2003, the program has more than doubled in size.

2006
Thirty-two thousand volunteers complete 160 Women Build houses.

2006–2007
Women Build’s “First Families Building Homes Across America” unites women volunteers with governors' spouses, local and statewide leaders to construct Habitat homes in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia. Fifty-two homes are built throughout the country.

2007
Women Build volunteers build more than 200 houses.

2008-2009
Lowe’s sponsors National Women Build Week, held in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. In 2008, more than 6,000 women volunteers participate at more than 150 Habitat affiliates across the United States. In 2009, more than 7,000 volunteers joined in at more than 200 Habitat affiliates.

Today
More than 1,500 official Women Builds have been completed since 1998.

  

 

 

 

Emily Bergl, currently in "Southland" on TNT and formerly a co-star with Anne Heche in "Men In Trees", added some star quality to our Women Build lunch in Thailand.

Well, OK, Rosalynn Carter was the REAL star.

 

Yeah, we went co-ed on our Women Build house in Chiang Mai, Thailand. But as a credit to the principle of Women Build, all of us worked as equal partners. Everyone did everything, which in the end is the goal. 

I encourage any woman reading this to consider participating in a Women Build if the occasion arises.

Women... you don't need to be skilled, just willing to learn. Women Build, and Habitat in general, are organized to accommodate beginners.

Guys, we love you, but when you're around we tend to step back and let you run the tools. When you're not, we have to learn. Women Builds often include great guys when qualified women are not available. Like all things feminist... it's not about excluding guys, it's about bringing women to the front.

Next post... back to cartooning.