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It was both lively and laid back at the AAEC's 52nd confab

For images and footage of this year's convention, check out these links:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRMVGLYEud0
www.flickr.com/photos/japenet/sets/72157605895102403/
www.flickr.com/photos/11572877@N07/sets/72157605912856379
http://gallery.me.com/dwanep#100050

Most American cities, like most American airports, are so much alike in appearance that you can easily forget which one you're in. A few, however, are so different in flora, fauna or physique that you know the minute you walk outside your hotel that you're in that particular city and no other. San Francisco is like that. And New York and New Orleans, and sometimes Seattle. And always San Antonio.

San Antonio is rendered unique to visitors by the Riverwalk, a pathway along a loop of the San Antonio River that was dredged out decades ago as a sort of backwater canal that is now the tourist mainstem of the city, along which cluster the major hotels and numerous restaurants, all serving Mexican dishes, and bistros of every national potable.

And the Alamo. Can't forget the Alamo. As editorial cartoonists join the ranks of endangered species, the choice of meeting site for the 2008 convention was unintentionally symbolic—San Antonio, home of the historic Alamo, emblem of all heroic struggles against overwhelming odds ...
—R.C. Harvey, Rants & Raves

An unpopular war, a shaky economy, the prospect of a border fence, a delicate climate seemingly seeking revenge this summer, soaring food and fuel prices, and a potentially polarizing presidential election — it all adds up to a gloomy forecast for most Americans.

But for Ted Rall and dozens of editorial cartoonists like him, the tumultuous times are providing an ever-growing menu of possibilities.

“These are more interesting times than I've ever seen. Chronicling the possible end of a great empire is far more interesting than peace and prosperity,” said Rall, whose syndicated cartoons raise eyebrows across the country. “The country is bankrupt, we're losing two wars and there's no end in sight, the Constitution is nearly gutted and we're one vote away on the Supreme Court from fascism.

“These are great times for me, not the country.”

Rall is president-elect of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, which begins its annual convention today at a downtown hotel.
Rall and other members of the AAEC said they are not far removed from the endangered species list, especially when they survey the prominent newspapers that have deleted staff editorial cartoonist positions in recent years, instead relying on freelance journalists or syndicate services.

“It's difficult to watch as newspapers re-evaluate the worth of editorial cartoonists,” said Nick Anderson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist at the Houston Chronicle and the current president of the AAEC. “I'm confident editorial cartooning will survive into the future, but the form it takes I'm not sure about.”
Anderson is working to ensure that he translates well into the virtual world of newspapers by blogging and drawing online cartoons that are animated or interactive.
Rall, who freelances and syndicates his work through Universal Press Syndicate, is unapologetically liberal.

“Most reporters and cartoonists are liberal, but most publishers are conservative,” Rall said. “There is a balance there.”

Rall concedes that editorial cartoonists tend to be a homogeneous lot — white, male, middle class and middle-aged, like himself — but says that's changing.

“We're seeing signs of increased diversity, especially among the alternative cartoonists,” he said.

Anderson thinks it's perfect that this year's convention, which runs through Saturday and is not open to the public, is in San Antonio.

“San Antonio is ground zero for some really important things,” he said. “The border fence, immigration and wounded warriors — it was a natural fit.”

Rall said there is one topic he sees as a sacred cow — and it likely will surprise readers. “Try getting an anti-NAFTA cartoon in the newspaper. It would be easier to have a cartoon calling for the president's assassination. It's not going to happen,” said Rall, who is based out of New York City. “Newspapers are owned by corporations that want to see lower wages, and NAFTA helps push down wages.”

Rall, by the way, doesn't consider himself cynical.

“I'm not taking joy in (the country's situation). Retire the debt, bring the troops home, close Guantanamo, restore habeas corpus, stop invading other countries without good reason, and I'll go back to investment banking,” he said. “To be a political cartoonist, deep down in your heart, you have to think it's possible for people to change.”
—Amy Dorsett, Express-News, June 25

I Come Not to Praise the Obit Cartoon But to Bury It
Mike Thompson of the Detroit News and Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald Leader paneled a discussion on the pros and cons of obituary cartoons, loved by editors and readers but universally despised by most cartoonists.

“If you're a celebrity, you automatically go to heaven,” Thompson said, referring to the reoccurrence of cartoons featuring a famous person who has recently died standing in front of the pearly gates of heaven, with St. Peter as his or her judge.

The main complaint cartoonist have about obituary cartoons is they really don't say much other than ?this person has died, and it's sad.”

But readers seem to love them, and the change in the type of letters readers send in is astounding, according to Joel Pett.

“Normally, the letters say ?you suck', ?you can't draw', ?who are you related to at the newspaper',” Pett said. “But when you draw an obit cartoon, suddenly you're a genius, and the readers love you.”

But Pett was hardest on himself as he showed an obituary cartoon for Barbaro, the famous race horse much beloved in Kentucky.

“In Kentucky, you have no idea how many people loved this,” Pett said of his cartoon featuring Barbaro as a constellation in the night sky. “I think it sucks. People lose their jobs in our industry and I do this shit?”

“I guess you really can beat a dead horse.”
—Rob Tornoe, Politico.com, June 26

Some readers live for them. Some contain ideas that have been done to death. They're obituary cartoons, and the bad and the good ones were autopsied during a Thursday session at the AAEC convention.

One panelist, Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press and Copley News Service, offered a “12-step recovery program” to avoid weak obit cartoons.

He said don't draw Pearly Gates scenes “unless there's a twist,” don't draw a tear coming out of something (like the cartoonists who drew a crying NBC peacock for Russert), don't place just-deceased celebrities in heaven just because they're celebrities, and don't do a celebrity obit cartoon unless the person merits one (that leaves out Anna Nicole Smith, he noted by way of example).

Thompson also said it's OK to put politics into an obit cartoon, and that you can be negative about people who passed away. “You can't offend them; they're dead,” he observed wryly.

Thompson, who gave an elaborate computer-generated presentation, spoofed the overuse of Saint Peter by showing a sketch of Saint Peter entering heaven — but there was no one there to greet him at the Pearly Gates.

Obit cartoons praised for their originality during the session included one by Jim Borgman showing the ashes of a dead Nazi scattered into the sea as fish swam away in disgust, and another by Matt Davies marking the first anniversary of 9/11 with a tribute to a neighbor he knew who had died in the World Trade Center.

Also praised was a cartoon by Steve Sack picturing Enron's corrupt Ken Lay swiping death's wallet as death took him on the boat trip to hell, a drawing by Bruce Plante of the Tulsa (Okla.) World showing Don Knotts locking himself into heaven (as he'd lock himself in jail in “The Andy Griffith Show”), and a cartoon by John Cole of The Scranton (Pa.) Times-Tribune showing seamstress/civil-rights icon Rosa Parks sewing black and white pieces of cloth together (Many other cartoonists did a cliched scene of Parks riding a bus to heaven.)
Possible future obit cartoons? Among those shown was a sketch by Mike Keefe of Dick Cheney telling death “F—- you” and one of a Corel Painter software package shedding a tear for Corel user Nick Anderson.
—Dave Astor, E&P, June 26

Interrogating Ignatius

Things started off well during the lecture by guest speaker David Ignatius, columnist for the Washington Post — who spoke fondly of working with Herblock and his love of editorial cartoons — before descending into a discussion about pundits getting the facts wrong and manipulating the truth prior to our invasion of Iraq.

“I'm Jealous of cartoonists because you guys get to be caustic, irreverent, and crusading,” Ignatius said to the crowd of attendees during the Thursday luncheon.
“People like me are tagged as pundits and, if we're in Washington, we're Beltway insiders. We use layers and layers of words. We wish we could be as quick and clean.”
—Rob Tornoe, Politico.com, June 26

The issue of whether newspaper pundits who were wrong on Iraq should face consequences came up in very direct fashion Thursday while David Ignatius was addressing AAEC convention attendees.

“Given how wrong they were about the war, should David Brooks and Thomas Friedman keep their jobs?” asked Ted Rall during the Q&A session following Ignatius' talk.
Ignatius, whose column is syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group, first responded: “You'd have to add me to that list” with the two New York Times columnists as far as not getting things right about Iraq several years ago. Then he added that Brooks and Friedman — who he described as “friends” — should keep their jobs.

“People are still interested in reading them,” said Ignatius. “And they do try to learn from their mistakes. I think people should be fired if they're not honest; if they don't tell the truth. I don't think this is the case with them.”

To which another audience member — editorial cartoonist Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press — responded: “Then you favor the impeachment of George W. Bush!”

When asked if he favored the firing of Brooks and Friedman, Rall said yes. “If you're a pundit, you're supposed to be able to predict the outcome of invading a country and the deaths of maybe a million people if you're going to help push the United States into a very bad decision.”

During his speech, Ignatius offered mixed views about the war. The columnist, who has traveled to Iraq numerous times, said: “After completely screwing it up, we have in fact begun to do a better job.”

Ignatius said the surge has reduced violence in the country, and that America's “Provincial Reconstruction Teams” are helping to improve things on a local level in some parts of Iraq.
He also said if U.S. troops on their second and third tours have managed to survive the stress of their prior times in Iraq, they might be doing a better job because they're more experienced and more knowledgeable about the country.

“I don't want to paint too rosy a view of what's still a nightmare,” the columnist added. “But there has been a learning curve.”

And Ignatius said that while many people in Iraq and Afghanistan don't want the U.S. occupying their countries, they also don't want al-Qaeda around.

As for what Barack Obama or John McCain might do about Iraq as the next president, Ignatius thinks voters will be disappointed. Obama will not be able to get the U.S. out of Iraq as quickly as his supporters hope, and it's unlikely McCain will win a “victory” in Iraq as some of his supporters hope, according to the columnist.

And George W. Bush? Ignatius said he'll be quite a subject for future biographers given his Iraq-related mistakes and his lack of public remorse about those mistakes.

“With LBJ, you could hear the anguish in his voice about Vietnam,” commented Ignatius. “He was a tormented man. You don't get that feeling with Bush.”

Clay Bennett said Bush's apparent lack of remorse and failure to take responsibility “seems frightening and twisted and sick to me.”

Ignatius said “it's disturbing how the U.S. has become habituated to lying” from politicians in recent years.

Thanks to the Bush administration, “it's scary to see how angry people in other countries are with the U.S.,” added Ignatius. “That could be our biggest national security problem.”
J.P. Trostle, news editor of the AAEC's EditorialCartoonists.com site, asked Ignatius if there should be prosecutions of people and “war-profiteering” companies involved in the Iraq mess.

The speaker replied that maybe there should be “some looking in the rear-view mirror,” but “I do worry about endless recriminations. At some point, it's time to move on.”
Ignatius is also a novelist, former Wall Street Journal reporter, and former International Herald Tribune editor who joined The Washington Post in 1986. One of his strongest early Post memories was meeting Herblock and being thrilled that he became one of the people the editorial cartoonist would show his sketches to.

But one day Herblock showed Ignatius a cartoon idea in which King Hussein of Jordan was depicted in a very nasty way. “That's a little rough,” said Ignatius — and Herblock never came to him with a sketch again.
—Dave Astor, E&P, June 26

After Ignatius' grilling, I asked him, “You really didn't expect hard questions from a bunch of cartoonists, did you?” He admitted he hadn't, and said it was one of the more difficult crowds he'd had to work.
—JP Trostle, The Notebook, June 26

Come on, spill — what did Hillary really say?

Early on Friday, former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros spoke with cartoonists about the Thursday-night meeting he attended in Washington between the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton camps. (The meeting was mostly closed to the press.)

Cisneros — who had supported Bill Richardson and then Clinton until they left the presidential race — said he left the meeting impressed with Obama and with the knowledge that Clinton is hurting.

“It's very difficult to give up power,” said Cisneros, who was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton. “Hillary Clinton expected to be the nominee and wanted to be the nominee worse that I imagined. She's giving up a dream here, and you could see it in her face. But she's handling it like an adult.”
When Los Angeles Sentinel editorial cartoonist David Brown asked Cisneros why Clinton lost, the speaker mentioned the well-known reasons of Clinton banking too much on the results of Super Tuesday, Obama concentrating on smaller as well as larger states, Obama raising tons of money via the Internet, and Clinton “picking the wrong theme — experience at a time when people wanted change.”

One thing Cisneros will try to do for the Obama campaign is help convince Clinton's many Latino supporters to back Obama. The speaker noted that the number of U.S. Latinos — and the number of U.S. Latino voters — is growing rapidly.
—Dave Astor, E&P, June 27

Gotta Love The Hate Mail

Here's a new experience for me: blogging by the side of a swimming pool.

I'm in San Antonio, Texas, attending the convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. It's a yearly gathering that I try not to miss since editorial cartoonists are a small and beleaguered band and it's nice to have the chance to share the unique pains and glories of the profession with the only people who really understand what it is I do and why I do it.

The pool time, here at the top of the lovely Hotel Contessa, is actually a rare moment of relaxation. Morning hours have been spent in sessions discussing weighty subjects, such as illegal immigration and the care and rehabilitation of severely wounded U.S. soldiers, as well as career related stuff, like journalism contests and the latest computer graphics technology.

One of the most entertaining panel presentations was about reader feedback — what used to consist of stern letters to the editor and heated phone calls, but is now an occasionally vile stream of insults delivered via e-mail and through comments logged below online cartoons.

Clay Bennett, who, in recent years, has won more awards for his consistently excellent work than any of us, told how he once opened his mail to find a clipping of one of his cartoons dipped in excrement. Another unhappy reader e-mailed him the following pleasant message: “Ann Coulter has more patriotic blood in her one used tampons than you have coursing through your entire body.”

Ted Rall, who regularly pushes the boundaries of offensive commentary in his syndicated work, found reaction went beyond the standard anonymous insults from angered readers when he criticized [the FDNY]. A group of New York City firefighters begged to differ. They showed up outside his apartment in a fire truck and milled around holding axes. They waited for him to come out until a friend of Ted's showed up with a camera and started taking pictures. Soon thereafter, Rall received a phoned death threat from a policeman who left his name and telephone number. When the cops and firefighters want to do you harm, Rall wondered, whom do you call for protection?

As disturbing as reader reaction can sometimes be, Bruce MacKinnon, a fine cartoonist who works in Halifax, Nova Scotia, had a much more chilling tale to tell. Recently, Canadian authorities broke up what they were quite sure was a serious terrorist plot. During the investigation, the wife of one of the alleged plotters threatened to sue the government for millions of dollars. The woman, a Canadian of European descent, is a convert to Islam and unfailingly appears in public wearing a black burkha. MacKinnon did a cartoon satirizing her lawsuit threat in which he drew the woman as she appears in her Islamic garb with no distortion. Incredibly, Islamic groups brought a human rights complaint that led to a police investigation to see if MacKinnon was promoting genocide. The investigation remains open — a frightening demonstration of the fact that, even in a country like Canada, hypersensitivity to the concerns of easily-offended religious sects is leading to infringement of free speech rights.
—David Horsey, Drawing Power blog, June 28

Bruce MacKinnon of the Chronicle Herald in Nova Scotia, Canada marveled over the response he received from a Barack Obama cartoon that suggested the name of the White House would need to be changed due to Obama being an African American.

“A lot of the readers were conservatives who would've vote for him, but seemed to want to be offended on his behalf,” he said.

Small-market editorial cartoonist Mike Lester of the Rome News-Tribune generated a lot of response for his cartoons, including suggestions for future cartoons by readers.
One reader wrote in to say, “reading your cartoons is like admiring a baseball player who plays for the Yankees. I hate the Yankees!”

Urination and homosexual insults seem a constant among many readers' reactions, and even ideas suggested by readers for future cartoons. Once such idea involved Iraqi officials urinating in the mouth of George W. Bush.

Another wrote in to Lester to say, “you're a faggot, you faggot. Yes, I'm calling you a faggot.”

Finally, one reader wrote in, to the applause and laughter of the cartoonists listening to Lester read the e-mail from a reader, “I've grown up in Rome reading Mike Lester's cartoons. Too bad he can't be more like Mike Luckovich.”

Lester jokes about all the hate mail cartoonists receive, and surprisingly enough, it all really doesn't insult him.

“The only insulting mail I get every two weeks is my paycheck,” he joked.
—Rob Tornoe, Politico.com, June 27

As a panel of editorial cartoonists discussed the hate mail they receive, several expected and not-so-expected themes emerged: war and 9/11 are sensitive subjects, firefighters can overreact, and angry readers often describe cartoonists with a certain homophobic slur that begins with “f.”

Panelist Rex Babin of The Sacramento Bee recalled an orchestrated e-mail campaign by firefighters angry with a 2005 cartoon he did. One correspondent even said Babin might not get any service if his house was burning.

The AAEC vice president drew the three-panel cartoon after some on-duty Sacramento firefighters attended a porn-star costume ball, drank on the job, and cruised city bars looking for young women and then giving them rides on firetrucks. One of Babin's panels played on the famous 9/11 photo of the American flag being raised by three firefighters at Ground Zero; this time, the men were hoisting a flag with the Playboy bunny logo. Another panel played on the famous 1995 photo of a firefighter holding a baby who died in the Oklahoma City bombing; in Babin's version, a firefighter was carrying a scantily clad woman.

Mike Lester of the Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune and Cagle Cartoons was one of the panelists mentioning the frequent use of the homophobic “f” word in some hate mail. When readers demand why he doesn't draw “positive cartoons,” Lester's stock reply is: “Because those are greeting cards.”
—Dave Astor, E&P, June 27

CRNI Award to Baha Boukhari from Palestine.

In what has come to be an AAEC convention tradition, the Cartoonists Rights Network once again held its annual award dinner at this year's convention venue, the Hotel Contessa. With over seventy convention-goers and others looking on, Baha Boukhari, one of the most noted and admired cartoonists in the Middle East was given the 2008 CRNI Courage In Editorial Cartooning Award by CRNI board president Joel Pett, who hailed Boukhari as “an example to all of us who often take our press freedoms and First Amendment rights and protections for granted.”

CRNI Executive Director Robert Russell spoke about current trends in human rights for cartoonists, noting that Boukhari had been arrested in Palestine by the Hamas government for a cartoon that embarrassed the Parliament, and detailing Boukhari's unusual case, which sparked popular street demonstrations following his arrest. Palestinians from all walks of life protested the arrest and the closing of the paper, al-Ayyam on February 6, 2008, after the cartoon was published on November 8, 2007.
Eventually, the charges against Boukhari were dropped but his paper remained closed for some time.

Russell warned that there was a sea change coming in the atmosphere for editorial cartoonists around the world. Recent changes in the UN's Human Rights Council membership have led to the Council's domination by governments such as North Korea, Zimbabwe, China, Myanmar and others known for their attacks on freedom of expression and indifference to human rights. Fundamentalist religious elements have successfully changed the language defining freedom of expression at the Council, making “insult to religion” an offense, not a protected form of free speech. The global support for freedom of expression is changing in response to the United States' policies of tightening security and lowering tolerance for dissent after 9/11 and because of the extreme events following the publication of the twelve Danish cartoons in 2006. “Insult to religion” is going to creep into all aspects of the political cartoonist's world now, making cartoonists afraid of pointing their pens at religious excesses and hypocrisy,” he said.

The evening's entertainment was provided by Pett, and by a familiar face with the AAEC, stand-up comic and juggling phenom Chris Bliss, who spoke of his current non-profit efforts on behalf of the Bill of Rights.

Drew Rougier-Chapman helped with the preparation for the dinner as did Hemamalie Russell of ASHOKA, and Kathy Mannix of Young DC, who also works as a CRNI editor.
On another note, Russell told the Notebook that CRNI has established a Board of Advisors. Presently, Bob Mankoff, Pat Oliphant, Chris Bliss, Drew Rougier-Chapman, Joan Mower and Will Durst are serving.

Judging the Judges

As editorial cartooning moves online and more cartoonists begin to dabble in animation, members from the other side of the fence weighed in on how this shift might change the way awards competitions judge our work.

Richard Oppel, an editor at the Austin American-Statesman and a Pulitzer board member, spoke of animation being a evolution of cartoons in the digital age. None of the finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer prize included animated cartoons, but in 2006, all three finalists included animated cartoons in their submissions.

Oppel feels the media the cartoon is presented on is secondary to having a strong point-of-view and being a successful execution of an artist's idea, and that “animation is part of the evolution of the craft.”

“Ann Telnaes going exclusively online with animation for the Washington Post did not go unnoticed,” Oppel said. “We are watching with great interest.”
Harry Katz, a Herblock Award juror, also believes that the nature of cartooning is changing, but that the issues in the field aren't exclusive to the shift towards animation, but also include multi-panel cartoons and works with more verbiage.

“Bells and whistles versus a strong image. What are we judging?” questioned John Young, the editorial page editor for the Waco Tribune-Herald and a 2007 Pulitzer cartoon juror.
“Animation lends itself to more slapstick humor, where as traditional cartoons tend to act like a hammer bashing someone over the head and creating an impact.”
Clay Bennett felt as though animated cartoons and traditional cartoons should be judged separately for different awards.

“It's like comparing apples to oranges,” Bennett said in the question and answer position of the panel. “Can a news video and a still photo be judged in the same category?”
He went on to make a point that he doesn't feel like animated cartoons are less important or deserving of praise as their traditional counterparts. “I don't think they should be ghettoized, just separated.”

Ed Stein, the editorial cartoonist for the Rocky Mountain News, voiced concern that animated cartoons lend themselves to larger newspapers with bigger budgets and more time to develop quality pieces of work.

For his part, John Young felt relieved about the fact that all the entries that had been selected as finalists for the 2008 Pulitzer prize were all traditional pieces and didn't include animated cartoons.

He was also relieved that our 43rd president didn't have to look through this year's entries.

“If I were George W. Bush, and I sat through two days of looking at thousands of those cartoon entries, I would have walked out the front door and thrown myself in front of a subway car.”
—Rob Tornoe, Politico.com, June 27

LBJ (heart)s U

During a convention session about editorial-cartoon lover Lyndon Johnson, LBJ Library archivist Claudia Anderson played a 1963 tape of the president talking on the phone with Graham, who wanted Johnson to speak at a newspaper publishers meeting.

Meanwhile, Johnson wanted the Post to write editorials urging Congresspeople to get back to Washington to start passing some legislation. But before he got into that, the president said to Graham: “Hello, my sweetheart. How are you? The one thing I dislike about my job is I'm married and can't get to see you.” Presumably he was joking.
In addition to phone recordings and other items, the LBJ Library has more than 4,000 cartoons amassed by Johnson.

“He was an inveterate collector of cartoons,” said session moderator Ben Sargent, cartoonist for the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman.
Michael MacDonald, the library's museum specialist, noted that Johnson had his presidential assistant constantly ask cartoonists for (preferably signed) originals of positive or negative drawings about him and his administration.

The Washington Post's Herblock got so disgusted with these incessant requests that he decided he wouldn't give his originals to anybody, according to Herblock Foundation curator Harry Katz. “That's why we have a huge collection now,” Katz added.

Johnson's love of cartoons began well before his presidency. MacDonald said the oldest drawing in the library collection dates back to when Johnson was a Congressman in 1937.

Thirty-four years later, Johnson invited AAECers to his ranch when they held their 1971 convention in Austin. He also welcomed them to the White House when the AAEC convention was in Washington.

The LBJ Library is marking the centennial of Johnson's birth this year.
—Dave Astor, E&P, June 27

Closing Night Notes

Clay Bennett added the Ink Bottle Award to his 2008 honors at the AAEC's convention Saturday night.

In early April, the Chattanooga Times Free Press editorial cartoonist was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his 2007 Christian Science Monitor work. Later that month, Bennett won the 2007 Thomas Nast Award for best international editorial cartoons from the Overseas Press Club of America.

In fact, Bennett has received so many honors (including the 2002 Pulitzer) that the AAEC played a video spoofing his prize prowess and gave him a trophy for “Outstanding Distinguished Excellence in Winning Awards” before presenting him with the Ink Bottle plaque for contributions to the AAEC and editorial cartooning.

AAEC President Nick Anderson said a major reason for the Ink Bottle honor was Bennett's work as AAEC president in 2005-6. During that “tumultuous and eventful” time, recalled Anderson, Bennett worked on such things as finding a new management company for the AAEC, upgrading the organization's Web site, diversifying the AAEC's membership by attracting more alternative cartoonists, and responding to the eliminations of high-profile cartoonist positions at the Los Angeles Times and The Sun of Baltimore.

“That was a dark harbinger” of more cartoonist cuts to come, said Anderson. “Clay was very eloquent in our defense.”

Bennett also responded to the huge reaction in the Muslim world to the Muhammad cartoons published in Denmark. He did this through proxies such as Anderson, because Bennett didn't want to further endanger then-kidnapped Christian Science Monitor colleague Jill Carroll.

And Bennett later aided the AAEC by helping to coordinate an online auction of cartoons to raise much-needed funds for the organization.
After the Ink Bottle was presented, noted author/historian Douglas Brinkley addressed the AAEC. Brinkley is currently working on a book about the many environmental accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt, and he said editorial cartoonist “Ding” Darling (1876-1962) “helped create the modern conservation movement with TR” during a career mostly spent at The Des Moines Register.

Brinkley, a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans before coming to Rice University in Texas, also urged cartoonists to keep drawing attention to the fate of post-Katrina New Orleans.

The speaker decried the Bush administration's “abandonment” of many of that city's neighborhoods — including those with a strong African-American heritage. “Inaction is a policy decision,” said Brinkley, who authored “The Great Deluge” about Katrina as well as biographies of Rosa Parks and other notables.

Also during the Saturday banquet, Dick Locher presented the John Locher Memorial Award for top college cartoonist. The winner was the Yale Daily News' Samuel Ayres, whose parents accepted on his behalf because he's on a fellowship working with refugees in Uganda.
In closing, John Branch and the aforementioned Nick Anderson thanked various people for their work on the convention. Branch hosted the meeting, while the Texas-based Anderson and Ben Sargent offered co-hosting support.
—Dave Astor, E&P, June 29

For images and footage of this year's convention, check out these links:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRMVGLYEud0
www.flickr.com/photos/japenet/sets/72157605895102403/
www.flickr.com/photos/11572877@N07/sets/72157605912856379
http://gallery.me.com/dwanep#100050

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