The Kids Are Alright

The Kids Are Alright.* I saw the most wholesome thing on our morning walk: three boys who'd screwed wheels to the bottom of a wooden shipping crate and were taking turns pulling each other around the neighborhood. Kludged together and slightly dangerous, it was like a scene from a century ago. Like an "Our Gang" gag. I couldn't have been more delighted.

If you're driving through a residential neighborhood, slow down and don't cut corners. You never know what's coming around the bend.

*copyright 1965, The Who

Captain America Podcast: How It's Going

Friends may recall that I am cohosting a podcast about "Captain America: The First Avenger" in which we examine one minute of the movie per episode. Sounds odd but it works. 

I haven't mentioned it much on social media because we post three episodes per week and I don't want to try everyone's patience, but we just recorded two episodes I'm especially proud of and want to advise folks to take a listen to:

Our guest for Episode 49 was my friend Justin Thompson, who in addition to being a fine cartoonist is also an actor and stunt performer who in a previous career actually portrayed Captain America in public appearances for Marvel. We talked about the responsibility that goes with putting on the red, white, and blue tights and the nature of heroism. Good stuff!

https://www.capminute.com/cm/podcast/minute-049-the-star-spangled-man-with-a-plan/

Two episodes later, our guest for Episode 51 was comic book writer Mark Waid, whose long career has featured acclaimed work for both DC and Marvel, including a long run on the Captain America comic book. We had a terrific discussion about how he analyzed and wrote the character of Steve Rogers, and what he thinks of the movies' interpretation of him. 

https://www.capminute.com/cm/podcast/minute-051-captain-america-issue-1/

Recommended! And if you like those, there's more where they came from.

Trespassing on the Future

Karen and I often watch the Antiques Roadshow on PBS, and last night someone said something that I liked so much I remembered it and looked it up this morning.

While discussing a rocking chair by mid-century designers Charles and Ray Eames, appraiser John Sollo praised the Eameses by saying: "I like people who trespass on the future."

What a neat way to say that they were ahead of their time. "Trespass on the future." I thought that was great! If it's a common expression, it's a new one to me. 

Two notes: One, Charles and Ray Eames were a married couple--Ray was Charles's wife--who did a lot more than design furniture. If you can picture Mid-century Modern design, art, architecture and even film, odds are they influenced it. Two, the chair was appraised for $800 to $1200.

250 Words on My Favorite Con Story

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

A podcast host recently asked about my experiences with fans at comics conventions. It reminded me of my favorite con story of all.

It happened a few years ago at LumaCon, a small, free comics convention put on by librarians in Petaluma, Calif. to encourage love of reading, creativity, and wholesome fandom. It couldn’t be more sincere if it were Linus’s pumpkin patch. 

A boy about 14 came to my table with his father. The boy had autism, and he said very little. But he had a “How to Draw Dragonball Z” book and had gone through it, meticulously mimicking its manga style, and wanted to show me his work. 

I gently critiqued his drawings and asked if he’d created any characters and stories of his own. He turned to the back pages and showed me some original work, which I encouraged him to keep doing. His dad was beaming. The boy and I had a good chat and he left happy. 

Later, the father circled back to thank me and explain that he once worried his son would never talk. Then he discovered comics. His very first words, at the age of 9, were “Superman’s cape is red.”

Comics were the key to unlocking and engaging his mind. For the father, going from fearing his son might never speak to a few years later watching him share his art with a cartoonist at a comics convention was profoundly moving. 

"Superman’s cape is red."

You don’t forget something like that. 

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Trump vs. The Presidio

This enrages me, mostly because it hits near my home and heart. The Presidio of San Francisco is a beautiful national park at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge and Trump just fired its entire board of directors. 

Trump has had it in for the Presidio for some time, partly because it's in Nancy Pelosi's hometown (ditto Alcatraz). It's a particularly poor target because it's actually a conservative's dream: a national park that pays for itself! The Presidio rents space to businesses, including LucasFilm's Industrial Light and Magic, and hasn't taken a penny of federal funds since 2013. If anything, it should be a right-wing model of "doing it right"! Instead, Trump seems determined to grind it into the sand. We'll see what his replacement board look like. 

The Presidio is a regional and national gem that I've explored and treasured. I can only hope, as the linked article says, that the legislation that created the Presidio Trust is robust enough to outlast a petty tyrant who's determined to destroy it out of spite. 

Karen and I, with our late dog Riley, picnicking on the Presidio parade grounds in 2023.

Henry Chamberlain

Saturday afternoon I dropped by the Charles M. Schulz Museum to see visiting cartoonist Henry Chamberlain, who was set up in the Education Room sketching pencil portraits for visitors and signing his new book George's Run, about the mid-century science fiction writer George Clayton Johnson (Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Logan's Run). 

In addition to being a cartoonist, Henry is a writer and podcaster who has interviewed me for his "Comics Grinder" YouTube program. I couldn't pass up the chance to see him in person, and we had a nice conversation. I always appreciate a chance to talk shop! Check out his website: https://comicsgrinder.com/

Copperfield's Report

In the window at Copperfield's Books in Santa Rosa, Calif., my favorite heroic local independent bookseller.

Last night's Mom's Cancer talk and signing at Copperfield's in Santa Rosa was terrific! One of the best I've had in a long time. I didn't get a head count but would guess a few dozen...? As Karen said, you know it's going well when the bookstore has to roll away bookcases and find more chairs to handle the standing-room audience.

What made it great were the people who came: friends, neighbors, former coworkers, fellow cartoonists, an artist I haven't seen since we were in high school art class together, my sister Brenda (who had someone ask her to autograph their book, which I loved!), and even some people I DIDN'T know! They comprised a real "world's collide" cross-section of my life that showed up to support me, and that meant a lot.

Thanks to Leo from Copperfield's for hosting the event, glad we could sell a few books for you. Leo will also be selling books for my next scheduled public event on Saturday, May 16 at 2 p.m. at the Charles M. Schulz Museum. If you couldn't make this one, I hope to see you there!

Leo gave me a warm and flattering introduction. He and I have been through a few books together.

A different angle from the audience as I was getting started.

Monty Monty is a local assemblage sculptor who does beautiful work. We were in high school together but only really connected on Facebook in recent years. This was our first face-to-face in mmfty decades. He's one of two people I knew back then who've gone on to become a professional fine artist, which I respect tremendously. Check out http://www.montymontyart.com/

I was very happy to see my cartooning pal Lex Fajardo, creator of the "Kid Beowulf" comic and editor at the Schulz Studio. We don't exactly have a pact, but I think we try to show up for each other when we can, and I appreciate it! Check out https://kidbeowulf.com/

Interview with Publishers Weekly

Here's an interview with me about Mom's Cancer posted yesterday by Publishers Weekly, THE industry journal of the book business. Writer Dean Simons and I had a good, long conversation that he condensed into this article that hits the high points.

I didn't mention it earlier because it appeared to be behind a paywall, and when you click that link you, too, will hit a paywall that reads "PW Pro Content." But I think I stumbled onto a glitch: if you click on the "Questions?" prompt on that pop-up screen, it opens a new tab while revealing the article on the original tab! So just click back to that first tab and it should/might be there.

If you want to go to the trouble.

Getting a write-up in PW is a big deal because booksellers, librarians, critics, and other people in publishing pay attention to it. I'm grateful! 

Wednesday on the Hornet

Snapped this photo of Pathfinder 1 with the USS Hornet while Laura and I were walking to lunch. Wish I'd had the timing or presence of mind to be closer to the Hornet; without all the road and fencing in the foreground, it would have been a real postcard photo!

I spent a few hours aboard the USS Hornet  Sea, Air and Space Museum today, consulting on updates they're making to their Apollo exhibits, to which I contributed 14 or so years ago. It was a beautiful day on the Bay, highlighted by a rare appearance by the Pathfinder 1 Zeppelin, the first rigid airship of its type to fly since the Graf Zeppelin II in 1939. 

I've seen plenty of blimps but don't think I've ever seen a real rigid airship before. The Pathfinder is a pet project of billionaire Sergey Brin and is about half the length of the Hindenburg, which must have been extra awesome in its day because Pathfinder was plenty impressive enough.

It felt especially meaningful for me to revisit Hornet's Apollo exhibits as Artemis returns from the Moon (Hornet was the ship that recovered Apollos 11 and 12 from the Pacific in 1969). I worked on my little project, took my museum-CEO daughter to lunch, and headed home, all the time thinking about the Moon and the 57 years between then and now.

Among the Hornet's artifacts are an Apollo command module boilerplate--a prototype used for testing (CM-011 if anyone wants to look it up)--and a Sea King helicopter, the same type used to recover Apollo 11 and 12. The actual helicopter used in those missions crashed in the '70s. This one is the same model that was painted to look like the original for use in the movie "Apollo 13."

The Hornet also as the Mobile Quarantine Facility (i.e., Airstream trailer) used for Apollo 14, as well as one of the Biological Isolation Garments the astronauts donned to protect the Earth from potential Moon germs. (Spoiler alert: there weren't any Moon germs, but they weren't sure of that at the time.)

The Hornet is closed to the public on Wednesdays, but it would be a lie to claim I was alone. There were museum staffers on hand plus two school buses worth of students. However, an aircraft carrier, even an old one like the Hornet, is big enough to swallow a hundred people without a belch, and once in a while you can still get half a hangar deck all to yourself.

San Francisco shining across the Bay, featuring three modes of transportation: rigid airship high in the sky, ferry plying the waters toward Alameda, and, in the distance above the city, a red Coast Guard helicopter.

Copperfield's Book Event, April 9

North Bay Friends! A reminder that I will be doing a talk and book signing for the Mom's Cancer Anniversary Edition Thursday night, April 9, 7 p.m. at Copperfield's Books in Santa Rosa, Calif. Copperfield's is a terrific independent bookstore chain, and my event will be at their Montgomery Village shop.

I don't have many personal appearances on the calendar, so take advantage of the rare opportunity! I'll be happy to sign any of my books, or even anyone else's. I'm not too picky or proud.

Copperfield's is asking people to RSVP at this link, although I promise that nobody who shows up without a reservation will be turned away. Hope to see you there, thanks!

Artemis Earthset

Just made this my new monitor background image. I like it more than the better-publicized close-up photo of Artemis's Earthset you're seeing today. I think it provides more scale and perspective, plus from a practical POV it has a lot of neutral gray that makes my desktop icons pop. What a view, what a thrill, what a time to be alive!

By the way, it took me longer than it should have to find a reasonable-quality version of this photo. NASA is sharing all their best stuff at this link.

250 Words on Overwriting

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

"I have made this letter longer than usual because I did not have time to make it short.” --Blaise Pascal

I tend to overwrite. I learned that about myself in my first job out of college as a reporter for a small daily newspaper. I also learned to use it to my advantage, and made it part of my writing process. 

For example, when I write a first draft and check my word count, I'm very happy if it comes out 10 to 20 percent long. I know I can tighten it into a nice lean piece that clearly says what it must and nothing else. That's my goal.

On the other hand, if my first draft comes up 10 or 20 percent short, I’m in trouble. Padding is agony.

That’s even more true in comics. I’m a words-first cartoonist, which means I script my story and then draw it. I’ve known pictures-first cartoonists who work out their story as they draw, which to me is voodoo. My scripts look like a theatrical play or screenplay: very lean, mostly dialog with some descriptions, directions and doodles. 

Once I have a script, I go through every line to find opportunities to show instead of tell, deleting any text I can replace with art. My ideal comic is one in which half the meaning is conveyed with words, half with pictures, and neither makes complete sense without the other. 

I don’t always achieve that ideal, but when I do it’s enormously gratifying. 

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Artemis II

I'm utterly absorbed by NASA's live coverage of the Artemis mission today, as the spacecraft takes a long loop around the back side of the Moon. 

I confess I doubted that having the crew take turns looking out the window and describing what they see would have any real scientific value. I couldn't imagine what they'd see that hadn't already been photographed close-up by other missions like Apollo or the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has photographed every inch of the lunar surface. 

But I'm convinced that their perspective is unique and has unique value. LRO sees trees, the astronauts are looking at the forest. And regardless of whatever scientific value their observations have, the feeling of being there with them is priceless. It's riveting.

250 Words on the Colbert Questionert: Part Two

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

Talk show host Stephen Colbert sometimes asks his guests to take the “Colbert Questionert,” which he says is meant to reveal a person’s soul but is mostly for fun. Since Colbert’s “Late Show” ends on May 21, I’m giving it a go here. I answered half the questions last week; here are the rest. 

Favorite smell? Cinnamon rolls rising on Grandma's fireplace hearth.

Least favorite smell? Mercaptans, because if you can detect their sulfurous rotten-egg scent you’re probably near a dangerous gas leak. 

Flat or sparkling? Flat is fine, but I’ll take sparkling if offered.

Most used app on your phone? Texting and Facebook are my boring answers. My less-boring answer is Flightradar24. 

Window or aisle? Window. No matter how often I fly, soaring over the clouds is always a thrilling miracle. 

You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life, what is it? Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, all four movements. That counts as one song, right?

The one thing you own that you should really throw out? Artifacts we dug out of the ashes of our fire that have been sitting in bins we haven’t had the heart to open.

What number am I thinking of? 137.

Describe the rest of your life in five words? About the same but better.

I am a fan of Colbert’s, and I’d be sadder and angrier about his show’s cancellation if I weren’t sure he will soon be doing something even greater. Best wishes to him and his staff. 

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Comics 4 All Podcast

I had a great time Sunday afternoon doing a LIVE podcast for Jameson Rohrer's "Comics 4 All" show. Jameson is a librarian with a passion for comics in general and graphic medicine in particular, so we took some deep dives into those subjects plus pretty much my entire life as a cartoonist. 

Two notes: 

1. The Australian psychiatrist whose name I couldn't remember at 24:40 is Neil Phillips. To be fair to me, I haven't seen him in nine years. To be critical of me, I bought two pieces of artwork from him, so I probably should have been able to conjure his name.

2. I didn't realize until I watched some of the replay that I was blinking weird. I just want to reassure viewers that my twitchiness is not due to an undiagnosed neurological condition, but because I have terrible hay fever irritating my eyes right now and my choice was to either blink weird or claw at my corneas with my fingernails. I think I chose wisely.

Thanks to Jameson for the invitation and his time, I appreciate it!

No Kings Day 2026

Karen and I getting into position for the start of the march. My "Antifa" sign got some attention from people who said they'd also had relatives who served in World War II and had partly come to honor them, as I did. Grandpa fought fascism; I figure I owe it to him to do the same.

Karen and I made a little good trouble in Santa Rosa, Calif. this afternoon. Our daughters were also with us, but I only post photos of them (as adults) with their permission, which I definitely didn't have. Demonstrators gathered in two areas and then converged on Old Courthouse Square in the center of the city. 

Police estimate attendance at 6,000; the local newspaper says 12,000. I honestly lean toward the lower end of that range, but will say that I've been in that square for a lot of events, including a past demonstration that drew about 5,000 people, and it was much more packed than I've ever seen it. Like a summer Saturday at Disneyland. 

This stream of demonstrators, which included us, approached from the south. Another stream approached from the north. We converged in the heart of the city.

A giant bird marionette in Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square. Contrary to common belief, the building with the clock tower in the background is NOT the old courthouse, which was razed decades ago. However, that building, which is called the Empire Building, does make a cameo in Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt," so I like to include it as a landmark when I can.

As always, demonstrators were good-natured good citizens. Karen and I both thought that the march wasn't as well organized or policed as past marches. There was some poor traffic control and confusion. Organizers needed more people shepherding the crowd.

Quibbles. As our family discussed afterward, the real value of these things isn't imagining that the four of us made a real difference. It's being part of a community. Letting each other know we're not alone. Being a pebble in an avalanche, a snowflake in a blizzard. 

That's worthwhile--at least it's worth a couple of hours on a nice Saturday afternoon.

I ran into two good old friends, Jana and Bill. Nearly forty years ago we were all chemists working in the same lab. Bill in particular was sort of a mentor to me. Now none of us is still a chemist and we meet up at demonstrations. Two of the smarter and better people I know.

I liked this.

A slightly higher, standing-on-a-planter-box angle on Old Courthouse Square as it filled up.

Mom's Cancer in the Press Democrat

My hometown newspaper, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, published a feature today about me and the Mom's Cancer Anniversary Edition. Writer Dan Taylor has been a real champion of local arts in general and comics in particular, and it was good to talk to him again.

Dan also interviewed my friend MK Czerwiec, who did me the favor of writing a new foreword for my book. I wasn't surprised that Dan quoted MK, since I asked her permission to give Dan her contact info, but I was surprised he also reached out to librarian, teacher, and graphic medicine wrangler Matthew Noe, who luckily for me also said nice things. Thanks to them both!

Two quick stories about the photo. Photographer John Burgess, who is a pro's pro, came to my studio and tried to wring some liveliness out of me. He was joking "Work it, work it!" and got me laughing, until I said to him, "Here's the thing. I don't want to look like I'm yucking it up promoting a book about my mother's cancer." John immediately switched gears. "Got it. Mona Lisa smile." Click.

Second story about the photo is that in the top left corner you can see an out-of-focus stained-glass hummingbird hanging in my studio window. Mom made that, and my sisters graciously gave it to me after the fire. If you'd like to interpret that as Mom literally watching over my shoulder, be my guest.

PNW

Karen and I are home from a vacation in the Pacific Northwest to celebrate our anniversary. We spent three days in Seattle and two in Victoria B.C. I figure you don't really want to hear a long travelogue or see my 200-photo slide show, so just assume we saw and did all the things, got lucky with the weather, and had a great time.

Instead, I'll tell three stories in two photos. First is a spray of glass flowers by Dale Chihuly at the base of the Space Needle. Karen and I agree that the Chihuly Garden was a breathtaking highlight of our trip, a guaranteed must-see. 

Second is two stories in one photo. Story 1: there's a great bookstore in Victoria called Munro's that had one copy of the "Mom's Cancer Anniversary Edition." So if any readers in the vicinity want an autographed copy of the book, Munro's has one. I didn't stealth-sign it; I asked a clerk (I'm always astonished that when I say "I wrote this book, do you want me to sign it?" nobody ever asks for I.D.) and they put a sticker on it, so it's official. 

Story 2: We discovered a neat little hat shop in Victoria called Roberta's, where I finally found a hat I like. I've been looking for one for a long time, but choosing a hat is no simple chore. It's more like the hat has to choose you. So I explained to the clerk that I used to have a fedora-like hat I loved but lost years ago, and I've been looking for one since. I tried on the one I'm wearing in the photo and said, "I like it, but I don't want to look like Indiana Jones."

She replied, "Oh, I don't think you could ever look like Indiana Jones."

To which I said, "Thanks, that's very nice--HEY!!"

But she was good-natured about it so, despite the insult, I bought the hat. 

Good trip.

250 Words on the Colbert Questionert: Part One

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

Talk show host Stephen Colbert sometimes challenges his guests to take the “Colbert Questionert,” which he says is meant to reveal a person’s soul but is mostly for fun. Since Colbert’s final “Late Show” episode airs May 21, I will never get the opportunity to have him quiz me (as if I had a chance otherwise), so I’ll share my answers here. 

His questions vary, but have included: 

Best sandwich? Reuben, although I could make a case for classic grilled cheese.

First concert? In high school, I took my friend Andrea to see Victor Borge. We were nerds. He was great.

Scariest animal? The spiny candiru fish of the Amazon, which reputedly swims upstream into human urethras, although scientists say those claims are exaggerated. 

Apples or oranges? I like both but if forced to choose: apples.

Cats or dogs? I have loved both but if forced to choose: dogs. 

Earliest memory? I remember climbing out of my crib.

Exercise: worth it? Absolutely! That doesn’t mean I will do it.

Have you ever asked someone for their autograph? Apollo astronaut Dick Gordon signed a model of his command module for me. Generally, autographs don’t mean much to me. I’d rather have a conversation. 

What happens when we die? I think we are the sum of the thoughts, personality, knowledge, and memories contained in our brains, and when our brains are gone, so are we. There's beauty in that. 

Favorite action movie? “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

More Colbert Questionert next week!

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250 Words on Reframing

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

I once read about a foreign diplomat who met with the elders of a remote village and was offered a cup of tea. The tea was a revolting, nearly undrinkable sludge, but it would have been a grievous insult to refuse. 

“Then,” he said something like, “I found that if I didn’t think of it as tea but rather as soup, it was actually pretty good.”

That stayed with me. Adjusting your perception of a situation can entirely change your feelings about it.

For example, we’ve all had a driver speed past us, weaving dangerously through traffic just to get a minute ahead. “They must be a surgeon on their way to an emergency operation,” I joke to anyone in the car, but I’m half-serious. I remember driving through the city at 2 a.m. to get to my wife in the hospital before my daughters were born, and strictly following traffic laws was not my top priority. 

Yes, the driver in that careening car is probably an angry, rude, arrogant idiot. But I don’t know that, or them, or what’s going on in their life. I might have looked exactly like them racing to the hospital in the middle of the night. Since I can’t do anything about it anyway, reframing the situation is a good way to get on with my day a bit less stressfully. 

I don’t know you. You don’t know me. Nobody’s always at their best. Let’s try to afford each other a bit of grace. 

* * * 

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Book Launch by the Bay

Evidence of how beautiful a day on the Bay it was. This was on the ferry to San Francisco (if you're not familiar with the geography, the skyline of S.F. is just out of frame to the left). Alcatraz is on the right and the Golden Gate Bridge is in the background. Clear skies to the horizon.

Had a pretty good event at the Book Passage Bookstore in the San Francisco Ferry Building yesterday. Turnout was light--fewer than a dozen--which the store manager warned me might happen. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day in the City, and she explained that in her experience people would rather enjoy a blue-sky afternoon on the Bay than in a bookstore. 

Still, I got to take my new Mom's Cancer: Anniversary Edition talk for a spin (verdict: solid!), sold a few books, and met some good people. In addition, as my friends and readers may recall, yesterday was my daughters' birthday so we made a whole family day out of it.

Stack of books by the door. Book Passage actually stocked copies of ALL my books for people to buy, which is unusual. They went the extra mile.

My introduction. Most photos by my wife, Karen (thanks!).

Cartoonist/teacher/fellow-Abrams-author Justin Hall showed up to interview me as part of the program. I’ve met Justin a few times but don’t really know him, but his questions were so good and thoughtful, and our discussion so lively, it was like we’d planned and rehearsed it for weeks. I wish I could take him everywhere. Thanks so much, Justin! I owe you.

Justin Hall really did a fantastic job with this Q&A. As a cartoonist himself, he asked all the right questions and built thoughtfully on my answers without getting too deep in the weeds for "civilians." I could have talked with him for hours, and wouldn't mind a chance to do that sometime.

Book Passage had a nice display of Abrams books, which I was happy to see.

When you write a book like Mom's Cancer (or A Fire Story), you meet some extraordinary people in the signing line, and yesterday was no exception. My last was an older woman who’d just happened into the store while waiting for her ferry, and explained that her daughter had died of cancer three months ago and left her to care for her two grandsons. She cried, I almost cried, and she bought the book to help explain to the kids what had happened to their mother. 

Other graphic novelists don’t make those connections.

Thanks to Book Passage and Justin for a good launch on a great day.

The Book Passage store is inside San Francisco's historic ferry building, which for several months has been guarded by a giant woman made of steel and chicken wire. This sculpture was controversial when it was installed but I think people have come to appreciate her. I do.

Here's how hard my day's transportation was: the ferry that we took from Larkspur Landing to San Francisco, the "Mendocino," is on the right. The Book Passage store, as shown by the sign above the pedestrian walkway, is on the left. That's a short commute. When we were done we had dinner nearby and then caught the same ferry back toward home.

Happy Birthday, Pooters

Their first birthday party. More parties followed,
including one later today. They're neater eaters now. 

The Ides of March have had a bad reputation since 44 B.C.--thanks, Caesar!--but at least for me the date was redeemed when my daughters were born on it. Happy Birthday, Laura and Robin. Thank you for making me a Dad!

See You at S.F. Book Passage, Sunday at 2 p.m.

S.F. Bay Area Friends! If you find yourself near the San Francisco Ferry Building this Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m., I'd sure appreciate it if you'd drop by the Book Passage Bookstore, listen to me talk, and maybe even buy a copy of Mom's Cancer: Anniversary Edition. I can think of worse ways to spend a beautiful day in a beautiful city! Thanks.

https://www.bookpassage.com/event/brian-fies-mom%E2%80%99s-cancer-anniversary-edition-ferry-building-event

The Intellectual Life #28

A Peek into the Intimate Intellectual Life of a Long-Married Couple, Part 28:

Me: "Can this serving spoon go into the dishwasher?"

Karen: "Yes."

Me: "I never know which can and which can't."

Karen: "Two of them are stainless steel and can go in the dishwasher. One is silver-plate and shouldn't."

Me: "I can't tell them apart."

Karen: "They're very different."

Me: "Not when you're only looking at one of them."

Karen: "The sliver-plate spoon has a daffodil pattern."

Me: "Now I have to be a BOTANIST?!"

Karen: "It's pretty obvious."

Me: "I'll just keep asking to be sure."

This has been a peek into the intimate intellectual life of a long-married couple. 

Review: "I Felt Myself In It."

Here's an insightful review from writer Susan Palmer, shared with my thanks. Nobody's opinion of Mom's Cancer means more to me than that of someone who's been through it themselves. 

"I didn’t understand until I read Fies’s book the kind of deep skill it takes to bring the right words and the right images together. His mother’s journey was quite different than mine. Yet I felt myself in it. For anyone in any stage of that landscape, I imagine the book may have that effect."

250 Words on the Next Guy

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

Rebuilding my home taught me one nearly universal constant: no matter what trade you’re dealing with—concrete, framing, electrical, HVAC, tile, flooring, painting—the next guy you call in will tell you that the previous guy didn’t know what he was doing.

(I’m using “guy” generically, recognizing that both men and women can be skilled professional tradespeople, although my experience is limited to men.)

“Who put in this 20-amp circuit breaker?” asks the first guy. “Were they trying to burn down your house?” He puts in a 30-amp breaker.

“Who put in this 30-amp circuit breaker?” demands the next guy. “Were they trying to burn down your house?”

You seldom find such staggering levels of confident incompetence as you do when building a home. We did have a good prime contractor, and what made them good was that they recognized the work of bad subcontractors and corrected it fast. We also learned quickly ourselves.

It’s hard not to conclude that documents like the National Electrical Code or state Building Code, which to a layperson seem like detailed engineering manuals with explicit regulations for every situation and contingency, are matters of opinion and debate. More guidelines than rules, really.

I’ve mentioned my observation to a couple of tradespeople we've hired to do work for us, and every time they seem unamused and deeply insulted. And then they take a look at whatever the project is and say, “Whoever did this didn’t know what they were doing! Good thing you hired me!”

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BOOK EVENTS AHOY!

I wanted to announce three upcoming book talks and signings for the release of the Mom's Cancer: Anniversary Edition so you can put them on your calendars. Heck, why not attend all three? (Nobody but me should do that.)

March 15 at 2 p.m. I will be at Book Passage in the San Francisco Ferry Building. That's next Sunday already! Book Passage is one of the great West Coast independent bookstores that big-time authors make sure to hit when they're in the Bay Area, and they've always been good to me. 

April 9 at 7 p.m. I will be at the Copperfield's Books store in Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa, Calif. Copperfield's is another great indie chain whose support has meant a lot over the years. They're a real champion of local authors, with terrific managers and staff. 

May 16 at 2 p.m. I will be at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, also in Santa Rosa, Calif. I've attended and participated in so many events at the Schulz Museum that it feels like my home away from home, and the ones they held after the 2017 wildfires are personal and professional highlights for me. 

The last two events are not yet on their respective hosts' event calendars, but trust me: I'm booked.

I have other podcasts and interviews in the hopper, which I'll be sure to announce as they emerge. I have no real book tour planned. Those are a lot harder to come by these days. However, if any bookstore within the sound of my electrons is interested in hosting a talk and signing, please let me know!

Career Fair Day

I just spent four hours at a local high school's Career Fair with my pal, cartoonist Lex Fajardo, who is the creator of the Kid Beowulf comics series and editor at the Schulz Studio. Here's why I think that was a good use of my time:

1. Talking shop with Lex. 

2. Offering an alternative. We were surrounded by cops, firefighters, soldiers, engineers, grocery store managers, and many other career choices that there is nothing wrong with except they aren't cartoonists. We had several students and even a couple of teachers who thanked us just for being so different.

3. Approximately 37 out of 38 students couldn't have cared less that we were there, but that one out of 38 lit up like a sun. I would move mountains for the 38th kid.

4. Related: Lex and I agreed that if two people like us has been at OUR high school career fairs, we would have rooted to the spot and absorbed all we could. When I was a kid, I met people who did things I dreamed of doing, and realized that it wasn't magic; they just worked hard and did the things. If they could, then I could. Now I get to be one of those people for someone else. 

5. Free cookies.

That's a good afternoon. 

Review: Near Mint Condition

Here's an extraordinary take on the new edition by a YouTuber who reviews comics under the banner "Near Mint Condition" (I know his name but am not sure he wants it public). 

In more than 20 years of having my work scrutinized, I don't know if I've received a review this detailed, thoughtful, and compassionate. The reviewer read the story closely and brought his own life experience to it. That connection is what writing and reading is all about.

Thanks to my friend Chris Sparks for bringing it to my attention. If you have 13 minutes and are interested, I think it's worth a look! 

A Book Launch Q&A

Timed nicely with yesterday's launch of my new anniversary edition of Mom's Cancer, here's an interview with the Substack pub Autobiographix. This was a Q&A I did a few weeks ago with Amaris Ketcham, who I thought asked some good questions on topics I don't usually get asked about, such as my origin story and stylistic development. For being relatively brief, it goes pretty deep!

Thanks to Amaris and Autobiographix! It's a nice way to mark the occasion of putting a new (or at least updated) book into the world. 

250 Words on Paths

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

Countless stories explore the idea of paths not taken, and how different some other direction might have been. Life can turn on a single choice, particularly when it eliminates other choices. You can’t help but wonder.

Existence only seems like an inevitable chain of events leading to Now in retrospect. At the time, it’s chaos. I can recall many seemingly trivial moments that changed the course of my life in ways I didn’t understand until much later.

Once, when I was a newspaper reporter, my editor bellowed across the newsroom asking if anyone wanted to take a weekend junket to cover an electric utility launching a high-tech energy storage project. Nobody else spoke up so I volunteered, and wrote a full-page feature on it. No big deal. Many years later, I applied for work as a science writer, and that article was the only thing I’d published that was relevant to the job. That began a new career for me, which led to freelance writing, which led to full-time cartooning. 

If I hadn’t been in the newsroom just then, or if someone else had spoken first, or if I’d made other plans for that weekend, I might have had an entirely different life. 

It’s natural to speculate on where that untraveled path would have led. I wish I’d handled some choices differently. But the way I see it, I can’t regret anything before my daughters were born, because every decision led to them and any different path would not have. 

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PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! I am sharing these little "250 Words On" essays via Substack, which will email a new one to your In Box every Tuesday morning. Just follow this link and enter your email address. It's free, and I promise to never use your address for evil purposes.