Today April 1, The Economist reports about a new theme park being built in Europe. You can read the entire article here.

On March 30, Maryland Public television will air the terrific documentary “Citizen Schaefer”.  The show follows the formidable career of the colorful Maryland politician William Donald Schaefer. For 50 years Schaefer reigned as a larger than life character in state politics serving as Baltimore city councilman, President of the city Council, Baltimore city Mayor, Maryland state Governor and Comptroller.

Schaefer’s flamboyant style and paper thin skin also made him a gift for cartoonists and caricaturists. During the course of my 17 year stint as editorial cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun, I had ample opportunity to lampoon Hizzoner in pen and ink… much to his chagrin.

For the MPT documentary, I was approached to share some cartoons and stories about the Schaefer years. I was also commissioned to create a selection of short animations to act as chapter headings for the documentary. The clips were designed to look as if they were my black and white cartoons on the page of the newspaper coming alive.

The animations are assembled together in the short film above.

While much attention is focused on how we cartoonists are adapting to the new president… there is another person whom we must master. The First Lady may not dominate the news as her husband, yet Michelle Obama is clearly becoming a household personality.  I enclose one of my earlry versions of Michelle Obama from this week’s Economist.

On March 24 the award winning public affairs series Frontline will air a special program titled “Ten Trillion and Counting”.  I was asked by the producers to create a simple cartoon image as a lead illustration and advertisement of the show.  You can see the artwork above. You can get information about the show and where it is airing in your area here: Frontline show.

I have had the great honor to be the Artist-in-Residence at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) since 2006. My experience has been enriching and extraordinary. I have worked along side talented and generous colleagues and with energetic and engaged students. Now my rewarding experience has been captured in words by writer and editor Richard Byrne. The inaugural UMBC magazine profiled me in their recent cover story.  You can read it here: UMBC story

My students describe me a demanding creative force. I guess that is a charge I will not deny… as I am very demanding of myself!