Sketchbook: In, not of

Before my mission, I was a news junkie. I wanted to know everything that was going on. But after being out for a few months, I noticed that somehow the world kept rolling along — and so did I. 
 

The one that you feed

My journalist friends will like this.
 

Headline news

I often find myself thinking what news broadcasts would be like in different eras. I kind of liked this one.
 

No news is good news

I remember the days of being blissfully ignorant of the news for two years as a missionary.

Well, not completely ignorant. Every now and then we'd see the cover of a Time magazine in the window of a bookstore, and my dad kept me up-to-date on the important headlines — like the BYU basketball and football scores. 

I guess you could say I was mostly ignorant!

Then again, it didn't really matter. The locals were all convinced that the missionary gig was just a cover for working in the CIA anyway.
 

Tell me what the papers say

It can be a scary world out there. Be careful, and have a safe and happy Halloween!

 

Sketchbook: By their fruits

Remember the days of Walter Cronkite, when he'd sign off with his tagline: "And that's the way it is"?

When I was in j-school, we were required to have multiple sources for each article, plus we needed to include opposing viewpoints if it was a controversial subject.

Nowadays, those lines are blurred. Anyone can claim to be a journalist. Opinion is represented as fact, and facts — like the points on Whose Line Is It Anyway? — really don't matter.

I'm feeling a little jaded at the moment. Maybe I'll put away my electronics, grab some Calvin and Hobbes and go sit in the garden for a while. See you tomorrow!

Fill the bowl

Sometimes the easiest way to get through the day is to keep doing the little things. 

Anyone else feeling' it?

It doesn't matter which channel

OK, this one might be just a little on the cynical side...

But he's amazing!

 Nearly every missionary thinks his or her mission president is one of the most outstanding people in the world! I know mine were!

I read the news today, oh boy

Don't you feel like that some days?

Monday Sketchbook: Dress Code

I know they say that fashion always comes around again, but please keep us from leisure suits, platform shoes for men and loud, plaid bell bottoms!

Imitating life

A few days ago, American Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for being "a subversive who was plotting to overthrow the government."

This was my reaction when I first heard the news:

Well, there was a follow-up to the story, and apparently Rodman had the same idea. He asked Kim Jon Un to "do him a solid" and release Bae. Now, he says that he's planning on going to the North to ask Kim in person.

Weird.

• If you were expecting this to be an update on Kerry Jo's mission, sorry! You can keep up with her on her personal blog.

No mas

Today's originally scheduled a cartoon showed some missionaries at a shopping mall, but after the events of this past week here in Oregon, the setting of a mall kind of lost its appeal (maybe I'll just save it for next year). Then, after the events in Connecticut, this Good Heavens cartoon seemed much more appropriate.

No mas.

There's been a quote attributed to Mister Rogers that's been circulating on the Internet that says something like: whenever there's a tragedy, look for the helpers, see the good things that people are doing.

It's a basic law of physics that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Let's be that opposite reaction; let's be that force for good.

I'm reminded of the lines from "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" --

Then in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

All the news that's fit

I've been fascinated with newspapers ever since I was a little kid, back in the day when my dad would run out in his underwear to grab the Salt Lake Tribune first thing in the morning. That's an image I can't (but would like to) forget! I still have a little blue spiral binder full of comics that I cut out of the paper way back then. I think that's when I first got the cartooning bug, back in the day when I spent hours tracing Peanuts and all those other strips that I loved.

A little while back we took the Cub Scouts down to the Statesman Journal to take a tour with Dick Hughes, the editorial page editor. He's done the Cub Scout tour for us for a couple of years; the kids have a good time and he gets a kick out of showing off for them. It's fun to talk to someone who loves newspapers, the newspaper business and the news. It's nice that there are good guys like him who are willing to take the time to share that passion with the rising generation.