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"(Our son) is only in second grade, but he desires a higher knowledge of things. These were perfect because they gave him better and more detailed information at a level that was easier for him." The Breteys |
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Posts Tagged ‘Chester the Crab’
Newsweek piece: What's wrong with boys in school?
Written on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 [permanent link]Here’s a quick hit that I’d love to hear your thoughts on. It’s a Newsweek piece that asks: are boys really so much less attentive than girls, or have we built an educational environment that is stacked against them?? I’ve come to the latter conclusion through my work with Chester Comix, my raising of my own two boys and my 10 years as a Cub Scout leader. Boys are rarely allowed to be boys anymore – the world is too structured and the concerns for safety have boxed them in. I think there’s a direct link to the rising child obesity and shortening attention span as the elementary-age boy spends more and more time “safely” inside, playing video games. Because they are the main audience for my books, I worry about them and hope we can carefully examine the long-term effects of the decisions we make a parents, educators and community activists.
Tags: Bentley Boyd, boys, Chester the Crab, education, graphic novels, testing
Posted in History Teacher | 1 Comment »
Book Review: Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails by Tom Wheeler
Written on Friday, August 29th, 2008 [permanent link]
I enjoyed all the comparisons between Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln made at the Democratic National Convention this week. If anything, Lincoln was LESS experienced at the time of his election than Obama is now: Lincoln had only one 2-year term in the House of Representatives and was a complete dark horse candidate at the Republican convention in the summer of 1860 and a shock to the East Coast establishment when he got the nomination.
Get ready for a lot more Lincoln – next year is the bicentennial of his birth, and a nationwide commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War will also gear up next year. There’s going to be a lot of blue and gray around, and I’m preparing to do a comic entirely on Honest Abe!
As research for that, I just finished reading Tom Wheeler’s “Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails.” Wheeler’s thesis is a fine one — that Abraham Lincoln’s use of the new technology of the telegraph mirrors our own experience with the new form of communication we call e-mail — but this book reads more like a long piece in the New Yorker than a book. He repeats his thesis over and over rather than to push his analysis into secondary or tertiary levels of description of how lightning-fast communication could be manipulated for the sender’s purpose. A decade into the e-mail practice, we all know now how e-mail can be used or NOT used to get a point across to friends, co-workers, bosses or others. There are glimmers of this kind of analysis in Wheeler’s book – such as when he notes Lincoln’s own perceptive view that a telegraph message ranked below a handwritten letter and far below face-to-face talking in its effectiveness. That hierarchy of human communication still exists today!
But more often Wheeler’s book is a simple review of the events of the Civil War. And a great reminder of what a jerk Union General George McClellan was! This is a fast read that could have moved a little more slowly than the speed of Morse code.
FUN PASSAGE:
“It might be argued that the telegraph’s intrusion had sapped (General) Hooker of his authority. Clearly he was frustrated, observing to a fellow general that dealing with Lee ‘had occupied two hours of his time each day, Washington had required the remainder.'”
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Bentley Boyd, Chester the Crab, Civil War, history, telegraph
Posted in Civil War, History Book Review | No Comments »
Civil War Cartoonist
Written on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 [permanent link]
My son Truman and I did our first Civil War reenactment last weekend at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum. I’m sure I’ll be a bluecoat soldier at some point, but for now it’s easy to act as a cartoonist freelancing for a New York newspaper while embedded with the 79th New York Volunteers unit!
So here’s the reverb: I’m a freelance cartoonist who draws history who is, in this photo, portraying a Civil War freelance cartoonist who draws history with historically-accurate tools. (Which was a great use of time because I had a deadline to meet!!!)
The work I was doing was a rough draft of a Revolutionary War comic I’m doing in cooperation with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. I’ll post some of these rough draft pages soon for you to see how I put a book together, but here you can see that
a. I am indeed an ink-stained wretch (the classic description of a journalist)
b. I am doing cartooning that a Civil War cartoonist could have been doing!
(I’ve tried using a pen like this on my political cartoons off and on over the years but never felt completely comfortable. It’s a slower tool than a brush and I work quickly. But that slower pace sure felt nice during this beautiful day of living history!)
Truman and I found this unit of reenactors when we visited an event at the wonderful Endview Plantation in Newport News, Virginia in March. They are based on the Peninsula, so it makes it easy for us to stay in contact with them. They have great equipment and a lot of experience – and are glad to have a drummer boy! As soon as Truman started hanging out with them Saturday, he cocked his kepi like a veteran. I’m so proud of Truman for investigating Civil War life and then going out and experiencing that history. This love of his has developed over many years and is getting quite rich. (He says he wants to grow up to work at a National Park Service historic site!!)
Tags: Bentley Boyd, cartoonist, Chester the Crab, Civil War, reenactor
Posted in Civil War | No Comments »
