CAKE AND BEYOND

Hi Folks,

This weekend is CAKE, the wonderful comix festival in my dear old hometown, Chicago.  I hope you'll come on by if you have a chance.  I'll be at Table 86 with the ALL-NEW King-Cat #75 (the All-Maisie Issue!) AND --- the new Scholastic Books edition of my previously OOP book Thoreau at Walden.  In addition, I'll have a load of distro stuff, including new and exciting work from Pow Pow Press, Conundrum, Nick Maandag, Tom Van Deusen, Noah Van Sciver, Marc Bell (Stroppy!), Pascal Girard, Not My Small Diary, Swimmer's Group, Colour Code, AND MORE!

FRIDAY NIGHT before the show, drop on by Quimby's at 7 PM for a slideshow and panel discussion with Eleanor Davis, Keiler Roberts, and myself, moderated by Hillary Chute.  These are two of my favorite cartoonists, and it'll be an honor to sit down and talk with everyone!

If you can't make it, but would like to order copies of King-Cat 75 and/or Thoreau at Walden, they are both available at the new Spit and a Half site: www.spitandahalf.com.

Thanks everyone!
John P.

EVERY DAY IS GROUNDHOG DAY

Hal the Groundhog

So, if you've read King-Cat for awhile, you know that the Groundhog, AKA the North American Woodchuck (Marmota monax), is sort of my totem animal.  I've been canoodling with them ever since my family moved out to the wilds of Hoffman Estates in 1979.  And for all those years, I held within a deep wish-- to touch a groundhog.

Thoreau famously sat with one until it felt comfortable enough to let him touch it, but the closest I ever got to a groundhog in recent years was probably ten feet or so.

So it was much to my delight when Stephanie told me that the Big Run Wolf Ranch in Lockport, IL was holding an upcoming open house, at which their very own Hal the Groundhog was scheduled to make his first Winter Prognostication.

We drove in towards the city, picked up my pal Ray, and headed down to Scenic, Historic Lockport.  (Lockport was headquarters to the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which I wrote about in King-Cat #60.)  We pulled in at the Wolf Ranch and walked around, over the stream and past the weird ducks and chickens.  We met Charlie the Cougar and Khan the Siberian Tiger, and a bunch of lovely wolves.  Two delightful porcupines, and a skunk named Kirby (!).

The porcupine's nose was very charming.

Kirby the Skunk

He put his cheek against mine!

JP, Kirby, and Ray Rehayem; with volunteer.

Hal wasn't scheduled to make his appearance until 1 PM, so we got back in the car, drove downtown, and had a great lunch at the local raw, organic, gluten-free cafe (!!!).  It was so good we had Key Lime Pie for dessert and had to hustle back to the Ranch for Hal's appearance.

When we got there, Hal was in his Pet Carrier, and the volunteers were explaining the habits of this wily creature, including a brief history of the lore behind the only major* holiday named for a rodent.  Finally they opened the cage, and coaxed Kirby out onto the tabletop...  did he see his shadow?  I don't know, but he did leap off the table and hustle across the yard, past the barbecue, and into the open garage.  Presently they rounded him up again and brought him back out for all the kids to see.

Hal enjoying some string cheese.

He was just a little guy, about 10 months old, a Minnesotan by birth.  He was very cute, and seemed nonplussed by all the goo-gooing children.  After some time with the kids, he went back inside to relax, and then... the main attraction:

A month or so before out visit, Stephanie had gotten in touch with the Ranch Manager, Renee, and had arranged for me to have a bit of private time with Hal afterwards.  We huddled in the cold garage while Renee went back and brought him out.  He was adorable.  We fed him some string cheese to calm him down a bit and Renee picked him up.  I got to pet him a little, stroking his neck and ears.  He was soft.  I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to actually hold him, but she held him up for me and I picked him up.

He was lighter than I expected, and felt just like a big squirrel-- soft, loose fur, and a warm muscular body beneath.  He trembled a bit like a squirrel.  His nails felt long and quite sharp, as he held on to my jacket and squirmed.  It was all happening so fast!  Renee took him from me again to calm him down, and then I got to hold him one more time.  This time he felt a little more settled and I got to look down at him and really try to remember the moment.

She took him from me once again and brought him back inside.  He'd had a long day.  And so had we...

We said our thank yous and got back in the car for the ride home.  A dream of mine, come true.

*If I say it's major, it's major.

All photos by Stephanie Dorman
Special thanks to Stephanie, Hal, and Renee

MAY 2011 TOUR DIARY, Pt. Five: Walden and Home Again

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

* * *

I left Montréal Tuesday morning at 5 AM, so I could make it to my next signing, at the Thoreau Society in Concord, outside Boston, that afternoon.  It was a rainy, grey day.

Montpelier, Vermont in the early hours.

Vermont State Capitol.

I finally made it it to Concord, in a pounding rain.  Here's my set up.  If you could see out the window behind the screen you could almost make out the eastern shore of Walden Pond.

Photo by Fred J. Robertson.

The turnout was small but enthusiastic.  Just be be there was an incredible honor to me.

I stayed that night at the studio of artist/teacher Cara Bean.  Above:  Looking down on Moody Street, WalTHAM, Massachusetts.

An illustrated box by Ms. Bean.

The next day I had a lecture on Thoreau to give at a Lynn, Mass. High School.  Here is the large (200+ people?) crowd filing in.

Luckily, only a few of the students taunted me during the lecture!

Hooray.

Afterwards, I stopped by the Science Lab, where I met these adorable Blandings Turtles (one of Thoreau's favorite animals...).

(For more on my visit to Lynn Classical HS, click here!)

Bay outside Swampscott, cloudy day.

The Boston skyline gradually emerges.

The next morning I hit the road for Albany, NY, a place I'd never been, to visit one of my favorite people in the world, Patrick Porter.

The first thing I did in Albany was step in this puddle.

Washington Park bandshell, Albany.

Tricked out chrome Saturn.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

New York State Capitol Building.

Porter: The Halls of Power™.

View from the Egg.

Can someone please let me know what these mysterious stone holes are, just east of the The Egg?

Allegedly the red brick building in the center of this photo is a veritable museum of graffiti inside.

Patrick in the Concourse, below the Capitol, featuring artwork from the Nelson Rockefeller Collection.

Detail of one of Patrick's paintings.

Porter sketch.

Home Decor®.

"I'm scared.  I wanna go home."

Porter Stylee Sweater Rack.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed, after a night of sleep in an upstate NY rest area.

Lake Eerie.

Before long I was once again in Mysterious Cleveland.  And once again I just passed through without stopping. Can someone please explain the Cleveland underground scene to me?  There must some zine-friendly/comix-friendly shops there, right?

Downtown Cleveland from the interstate.

Back in the midwest.

Dan Ryan, Wednesday night. (Everyone's at the Bulls game.)

Home Sweet Home.

TOTAL MILES: 2,530.1

Special Thanks to Alex and all at Pop Sandbox, Chris Butcher and Peter Birkemoe (TCAF/Beguiling), Kingston Homies, Julie D., Chester, and all at D+Q, Mike Frederick, Cara Bean, Kelly Hourihan and all at Lynn Classical, Porter and Amber, and Price Chopper for the place to pee.