I’ve been reading various blogs and reports from the editorial cartoonists’ convention, and it seems everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. I brought my wife and two daughters, so I was bouncing energetically between cartooning and familial duties, but they really enjoyed being with all the cartoonists in DC too.

I was a speaker on two panels, one of which was on blogging of all things…Not being a gifted or prodigious blogger, nor even a fan of the term “blog,” I considered my presence to be merely as a representative of the many staff cartoonists who are grabbing an oar and helping their newspapers make some type of transition from the well-charted seas of print news into the vast, unknown primordial gumbo that is digital media. I think the panel came off as fairly ambiguous, seeing as most cartoonists go to great lengths to make their opinions clear through their cartoons…And feel that a blog is a pretty tough extra layer to add, but concensus was that it is a necessity in order to build a healthy online presence.

I honestly enjoy the opportunity to speak to the people who enjoy/hate my cartoons, though I feel that most times my cartoon alone is quite enough.

I read several blogs every morning myself, (usually while listening to Brian Lehrer’s excellent talk show on WNYC in the background) and sometimes I check out the blogs of a few cartoonist friends of mine, each with varying aproaches to the idea of blogging their cartoons. Here are some of my favorites: Jim Borgman, Mike Luckovich, Scott Stantis, Ed Stein, Clay Jones, and Marshal Ramsey (who is a one-man blogging machine…If he is startled awake at 2AM, he’ll write about it – at 2AM. I don’t honestly know how he does it!!!)

Well, I think I just broke my personal record for links, and time spent farting around with finding stuff to link to…So I’ll stop there for the time being. If there is anything you would like to see, or have any suggestions as to how to make this blog better/more interesting, let me know…And I’ll see what I can do (though don’t ask me to change my political views, unless of course you are willing to toss yours aside…)