thrift store finds: rejected finds, y’all!

It’s time for another round of Thrift Store Rejects. These are purchases I made at thrift stores which, for one reason or another, could not be stretched into their own post here. I take two or three of these “lesser” finds and quickly talk about them. Check ’em out behind the cut!

odds and ends: panera top teachers of SW ohio, michael ian black

I wanted to take a moment this morning to sincerely thank all of you who took a couple of minutes out of your day this past week to vote for me in Panera’s Top Teachers of Southwest Ohio contest.

Voting ends in 16 hours and it looks like my entry will come in second overall as far as votes.

How that factors into the overall contest, I have NO earthly idea. A lot about this thing is vague to me; at first, it looked like there were many prizes to be awarded… now when I read the rules, it seems like there will only be three. Originally it looked like voting was to end on Wednesday; that was instead extended to yesterday evening. Even the overall judging is a mystery… although the rules do say individual votes count, they also make it clear a panel of judges are going to be making the ultimate decision.

That’s OK. I’m not sure I really expect to win, although it would be fantastic if I did. I’m proud that my students cared enough about my work to nominate me… and I’ll tell you what I’m really proud of, if you want to take a look over at the final tally of contestants. The entry about me received 22 comments, almost all from my students. Some of them said a couple of sentences… and some of them just wrote “I voted!” Either way, those kids made this whole process worth it. This might sound bad, but I rarely think about what opinion my students have of me. I give ’em the best I have, I try to make sure they leave my class smarter than they were when they came in. If they like me or dislike me… that’s not my primary concern.

That being said, what a great bunch of students I have to hop on and say the nice things that they did about my classes. If any of you all are reading this, you’re truly the best and I love working with you all. To the readers of this comic who took time to vote, I also give you my thanks. I know I’ve been a pretty annoying flea in your collective ears’ these past few days, but you came through in fine style. I truly appreciate it. If you’d like to vote one last time, please do!

If I hear anything more about the contest, you’ll all be the first to know.

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I have a huge prejudice against books written by comedians; this unnatural distrust is born entirely out of the mini-boom of the mid to late 1990’s. Top funny men like Jerry Seinfeld, Tim Allen, and Dennis Miller were given fat book deals and used them to churn out unoriginal, repetitive garbage. Most seem contented to simply regurgitate their stand up routines in print form. I suppose there was (and still is) an audience for that kind of exercise, but I remember buying those books and feeling distinctly cheated by their content.

I’m going to have to get over that impulse, because in the past month, I’ve read two excellent books by comedians; these offerings go above and beyond simply representing jokes and monologues in print. I’ll likely talk about the second book next week but for today I wanted to mention how very much I enjoyed Michael Ian Black‘s You’re Not Doing It Right: Tales of Marrage, Sex, Death and other Embarrassments.

Black’s well-known to my generation as one of the players from MTV’s much-beloved sketch show The State and has gone on to a career in Hollywood, often appearing on television and in commercials. He’s carved out a distinct niche for himself as a snarky know-it-all and I’ve enjoyed much of his work post-State… but I wasn’t chomping at the bit to read his book. I decided to give it a shot and I am ridiculously glad I did.

You’re Not Doing It Right is quite simply, the most accurate book I’ve ever read about what it’s like to be a husband and father in the 21st century. There’s depth to this book I did not anticipate. Black’s observations are shrewd and often biting… but they’re never inaccurate. The bald-faced way Black lays out his feelings is sometimes shocking; at various points he details the times where he has flat-out hated both his wife and children in a manner which defies the traditional “happy home and family” image most of us carry.

If that was all the book did, You’re Not Doing It Right would be funny but morally bankrupt. I could easily see another comedian taking the short way around and simply presenting that concept, but Black doesn’t do that. What most impressed me about the book was not the laughs (and there are many) but the heart and sentimentality. Black starts from a comedic situation (I hate my wife and kids) and works backwards and forwards to reveal the truth behind being a mate and a parent today. You will occasionally have moments where you despise your kids… but you despise yourself more for being a person who would feel that way, and that motivates you to be better then you thought you ever could be. I can’t say I’ve ever called my wife a c*** (the word Black uses I can’t even bring myself to type) but I’ve experienced many of the same emotions and frustrations detailed here. That marriage is HARD is not a new concept. What is slightly new in our society is that it’s so easy for many to just quit trying. Simply having that option is part of Black’s default view of matrimony; what becomes admirable is the way he combats that view.

It’s a wonderful book which comes with about as high a recommendation as I can give.

YOUR VOTE CAN STILL COUNT!

Apparently you can STILL vote for me in the Panera’s Top Teachers of Southwest Ohio. We’re currently in second place and it would be exciting to move to first!

summer journal comics: elliot made up an insult!

(I colored this using a whole bunch of Prismacolor markers I’m trying out. It looks much better in my sketchbook than it does scanned!)

As we ramp up to the end of the year, I start thinking about what I’m going to do with myself and this blog over the summer. The answer in years’ past has been to turn an eye toward my home life and do a couple of strips featuring Ellen and the boys. In particular, I’d like to do a whole bunch of comics featuring Henry, who has definitely received the short end of the stick on being written and drawn about. Henry’s birth coincided with the second year of my teaching comics and I’ve done very little to detail his personality and character; he’s certainly gotten less attention than his brother… as evidenced in the comic above.

Here’s the wildly ambitious plan right now- I’d like to do a solid month of comics about my homelife. That is, 31 days including weekends. I have no idea if I’m going to be capable or invested enough to get to that point but it seems like a solid experiment to me. It’s a schedule I used to keep pretty regularly, in the days before spousal and parental responsibility.

2011-2012 school year: inspiration!

This is entirely true. Due to budgetary schools and some other issues, our school is without a nurse on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s one of those things where people will really take up and notice the problem immediately following some kind of problem where we desperately need a nurse on call and don’t have access to one.

Here’s Danny’s comic about the situation; I thought it was rather good.

one final plea!

This is the last time I’m going to ask folks.

Take a minute to vote for me in Panera’s Top Teachers of Southwest Ohio contest. I’m currently about 40 votes away from second place. It’s an entirely attainable number of votes! I just need about one out of every three of you jump over to the website and click “Vote for this Entry.” You may need to fill out a small amount of information to verify, but it’s pretty unobtrusive!

The contest ends in seven hours, so get your votes in and tell your friends!

2011-2012 school year: tricks of the trade

It would be awesome if I were more talented and could have differentiated between my editorial comic parody and my normal style. Alas and alack… it was not to be.