Mail Chipper

Here’s your cartoon for this week’s CNN Opinion newsletter. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday.

What I like about this cartoon is that I think I was original with the wood chipper idea. One of my readers said it reminded him of the movie Fargo. That’s exactly how I referred to it with my editor at CNN, as the “Fargo” cartoon. Plus, it was fun to draw and I was happy it was selected. And I got to go all Don Martin with the sound effect.

The thing I don’t like about the cartoon is that the concept of Post Office drop boxes was used in so many cartoons last week…and they’re continuing to be used. Some were really good. Lots were pretty lame. But hey, nobody else went the Coen Brothers route.

This was drawn in the dining room in the home of my ex-wife and her husband in Mississippi. My editor asked me Friday, what are you doing in Mississippi?

I was there for my son’s birthday. Along the way, I played a game with my followers on social media. I took a picture of each airport or city as I was flying above it and asked, “Where am I?”. Each one was figured out…except one. They’re still trying to figure it out. And the thing is, it’s easy if they put two and two together. Sheesh.

But I had a great time back in the deep south where my career started. I had some great food. Fried Chicken made by my ex and BBQ made by her husband. I got to stroll through a tiny town square which I hadn’t done in over 25 years. I got to see my first editor and his wife (who is also a journalist) for the first time in 23 years. I had sensory overload all weekend.

I love Mississippi and I’m appreciative of it. My son was born there. I built a life there for seven years and I can’t think of a better place to start a journalism career. But I can’t live there again. It’s hot and humid. There are flying buzzing stingy things constantly. And after getting home, I discovered little tiny bites all over my feet. I need to live where there are sidewalks and sushi bars. I need to live where buzzing things aren’t biting me.

I got home yesterday and over the trip, I went through Washington, D.C, Houston, Memphis, and Chicago. I had a four-hour layover in Chicago and I had to wait two hours in Washington for my train to take me home. I’m more impatient on the return trips as I’m eager to get home. I was so happy to finally get back to my apartment, studio, own coffee maker, and the first thing I did when I got home…I locked myself out.

Fortunately, there is a superintendent of sorts in the building and I got myself back in. Then I crashed around 9:00 PM. I had been up since 3:00 AM and was traveling all day.

I plan to actually address the post office issue in a blog but I’ll save that for my next cartoon on it. Since this was for CNN, I need to do a cartoon on it for my newspapers.

I’m home. The conventions start this week. There’s about 70 days left before the election. It’s time to kick ass and take it home.

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