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"The kids at the bus stop were talking about your presentation. I loved how you addressed them so interactively." Christine, a mother from Virginia |
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Archive for 2007
Beschloss bellylaughs
Written on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 [permanent link]I love living in the Historic Triangle — where a fun Saturday night is a TV talking head historian busting jokes about Hubert Humphey! And the audience GETS the jokes!
From time to time I still write for the Daily Press (the newspaper that hired me in 1992 and asked me to create Chester the Crab in 1995 and then gave me a great run of creating five years of daily educational comics). Last Saturday I went to Jamestown Settlement to report on a speech by Michael Beschloss, author and frequent contributor to NBC and PBS.
He was just what history needs. He didn’t talk in droning philosophical frameworks. He kept involving the audience, asking for shows of hands about questions he asked. He spoke off-the-cuff, not from a dense speech. He told funny stories about people. Now, some were hard to believe — LBJ really owned a car that could travel in water and would scare visitors to his Texas ranch by driving at high speed towards a lake?!?! But some anecdotes I had heard before, and I trust Beschloss’ truthfulness. And I’m old enough that I remember Minnesota politician HHHumphrey. So me and the . . . ah, MATURE audience had a good time.
In promising to keep his speech short and “not go all Humphrey on you tonight,” Beschloss told this crowd-pleaser: Hubert had droned on awhile to a crowd and then caught himself going long, so he asked the crowd what time it was.
“Does anyone have a watch?” Hubert asked.
A heckler replied, “How about a CALENDAR?!”
Posted in History Teacher | No Comments »
Welcome
Written on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 [permanent link]Welcome to the new Chester Comix website!
It will be much more interactive than the previous version, with photos, fun stuff, new teachers guide material and a weekly blog posting from me about the latest in history and graphic novels. It’s an exciting time for this unique American art form, and I’ll share each new step of the way with you! For example, I’m looking forward to being at the Ohio State University’s Festival of Cartoon Art in October for a three-day discussion of graphic novels and nonfiction storytelling. Ohio State has one of the biggest collections of cartoon originals in the United States and hosts an academic conference every three years. I last went in 2001, just weeks after 9/11. It was a powerful session for reaffirming American values and an American art form.I’ll let you all know what happens at this one! In the meantime, keep checking back here for the latest updates on my work and the way comix can boost literacy and test scores — I’ll soon have charts showing how my books meet each state’s social studies standards!
Have fun reading!
Bentley
Posted in Author's Purpose | 13 Comments »
