Freshman Swimmer Rises To the Top (January 29, 2010)

One of my articles made it to the front page again! This time for the weekend edition:

Freshman swimmer rises to the top

Today is the end of a slow week. The swim team had a week off from competitions, and the gymnastics only had an away meet in Iowa.

But, I've got an exciting assignment for the weekend. Mike Scioscia, the manager for the Los Angeles Angels, is coming to Provo as the keynote speaker for the season kick-off dinner for the minor league team the Orem Owlz. I do love baseball, but to be honest I hadn't heard of him until the assignment came. :S It's one of my lifelong regrets that I haven't been paying as much attention to professional and college sports as does any other male on the planet. But, I'm catching up! I looked up some things and I'm looking forward more and more to meeting Scioscia. It'll be great. (Plus, I get to go to a fancy dinner for free!)

Look for that story on Monday.

Former BYU Football Player Becomes Coach for Dixie State (January 26, 2010)

A nice long story in today's paper:

Former BYU football player becomes coach for Dixie State

The Daily Universe Caption Contest!

As it appears in The Daily Universe on Tuesday, January 26, 2010:

"CONTEST

In Your Words

Cartoon caption contest kicks off

Are you witty? Enter the Universe's cartoon caption contest.

The Daily Universe Issues & Ideas page presents the first appearance of its regular cartoon caption contest and encourages reader participation.

Contest rules:

To enter, submit your caption by e-mail to duletters@gmail.com or in person at the BYU Daily Universe office, 152 BRMB.

All submissions must include the caption writer’s name, home town and e-mail address. Entries must be received by midnight of the Sunday following the Tuesday on which a new captionless cartoon is published. Any received after the deadline will not be considered.

The writer of the winning caption will be notified via e-mail and awarded their choice of candy bar or healthy snack."

You can also submit your captions by way of commenting on this blog post.

I'm looking forward to all of your creative ideas!

Women's Swim and Dive Team Stays Strong After Back-to-Back Wins (January 20, 2010)

A report on last weekend's two swim meets:

Women's swim and dive team stays strong after back-to-back wins

Gymnastics Team Trounces Scores From Last Year (January 19, 2010)

Another story:

Gymnastics team trounces scores from last year

Mr. Grumpy Gills, Y Gymnastics Ready to Hit the Floor and BYU women's swimming, diving teams face San Diego State (January 14, 2010)

Triple whammy today: a cartoon and two articles.

Dory from Finding Nemo is now a judge on American Idol.

And, here's a preview of the BYU gymnastics 2010 season.

The other article wasn't published in the paper, but it was included on the Daily Universe website. You can find it here.

Discerning the Draft (January 12, 2010)

An article on the front page! The very next day!

Discerning the draft

Women's swim, dive teams break record; Men's swim team loses to TCU (January 11, 2010)

The first time I've ever had articles published in the Universe!

Women's swim, dive teams break record

Men's swim team loses to TCU

Pick One (January 7, 2010)

Two events meshed together:

1) Arenas controversy in the spotlight
2) The Long War: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and more ahead

New Year's Resolutions (January 5, 2010)

If at first you don't succeed...

Classless (December 3, 2009)

I'm sorry, I don't care how much you hate your rival, but saying "I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, I hate their fans, I hate everything....I think the whole university, their fans and their organization is classless....I don't respect them..." is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to say. Max Hall didn't simply offend the University of Utah by accident. He deliberately insulted every single one of Utah's 28,211 students and anyone associated with them. You just can't do that. C'mon, Max.

Dreams and Aspirations in Human History (December 1, 2009)

Since when was it socially acceptable to selfishly brandish arrogance and stupidity all in the name of landing a spot on a reality TV show, the downfall of Western civilization?

Good luck with that 15 minutes of "fame." I hope it's really fulfilling and self-actualizing.

Happy Thanksgiving, Cougars! (November 23, 2009)

I was commissioned to do a special cartoon for the BYU-Utah Rival Edition of The Daily Universe.

Girl Power (November 19, 2009)

Sometime during the fall 2009 semester, it was announced that BYU would be dismantling its Women's Research Institute. It wasn't going to go away, though. Its programs and resources were to be dispersed among multiple departments. The spokesperson for BYU said that "the reorganization is taking place to strengthen the program and not to save money. We hope students and others will look closely at what is happening and note that this will significantly expand resources for research."

Even though BYU wasn't getting rid of women's studies at all, a few protesters took it as a symbol that BYU (and, by extension, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is downsizing the importance of women and returning to a pre-suffragette era.

I guess at a glance it might look that way. But to accuse the Church of persecuting and prejudicing women makes me queasy. It's fine to wish the WRI were still around, but I would second guess myself before outwardly criticizing the Church and BYU of mistreating and mishandling women. I know that not necessarily every BYU rule or action is eternal, doctrinal truth (beards may be against the BYU Honor Code, but not against scripture). But I trust that BYU and the Church knows what they're doing.

Anyway, I'm not really sure what this cartoon is supposed to say. Interpret it as you will.

"To ennoble the House and the Family by raising woman to her true position was essential to the future stability of His Kingdom, as one of purity and spiritual worth....He proclaimed the equal rights of woman and man within the limits of the family, and, in this, gave their charter of nobility to the mothers of the world. For her nobler position in the Christian era, compared with that granted her in antiquity, woman is indebted to Jesus Christ." - Elder James E. Talmage in Jesus the Christ, quoting Cunningham Geikie.

This Year's Scariest Halloween Costume (October 29, 2009)

A special Halloween edition:It's still out there...

If Life at BYU Were Like President Obama Winning the Nobel Peace Prize (October 15, 2009)

This may be my favorite cartoon I've ever done. I loved taking a national news story and applying it locally.

No matter where you stand politically, President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize was a surprise and, yes, kind of hilarious. The hilarity that stemmed from this news revealed some possible criteria for winning the award this year...

Peanut Gallery (September 17, 2009)

A connection between Senator Joe Wilson (Rep. - SC) and bad boy Kanye West was inevitable.

Now, if Senator Wilson were going to protest and call President Obama a liar, why didn't he wait until President Obama was actually lying?

(Interesting that at this point, half my cartoons in The Daily Universe include Kanye West. I don't even know his music.)

Childish Behavior? (September 10, 2009)

By this time, Senator Barack Obama is now President Barack Obama. Around the beginning of the school year, President Obama took the time to try and inspire American schoolchildren, the next generation of workers, innovators and leaders. Whatever your opinion of President Obama, I was impressed with his desire to be personable and direct with middle schoolers. Not that a speech from the President of the U.S. will definitely motivate the unmotivated, but to me it was nice to know he cares.

But, of course, the knee-jerk reaction of the paranoid Fox News crowd is to cry out "Indoctrination!" "Socialist brain-washing!" Hey now. It's not every day that your son or daughter gets to sit down and have a chat with the most powerful man in the world. (And, at least recently, it's not every day that the most powerful man in the world has conversational skills* more advanced than that of your son or daughter.) This is a man elected by more than half of the population, so it's safe to assume that he's not an extremist on the fringe. That's more Hollywood stuff. In reality, we have an articulate and intelligent president who endured more trials than most to get to where he is today. He probably has some wisdom to share, and we probably shouldn't deny him the privilege to share it. (If he does say something just a little too far to the left, then discuss it with your children at home. That's your job.)

Some parents I know weren't freaking out over some conspiracy theory, but were still concerned. They argued that they should be allowed to see a speech transcript prior to the speech. I think it's a valid argument, but if it doesn't happen (and it didn't), it's not the end of the world.

*(Number 3 is especially applicable.)

Why Can't I Get a Tax Cut? (October 20, 2008)

Fast forward a few months to the presidential debates between Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. I watched all three (plus the vice presidential debate) as an assignment in my political science class. And what a wonderful source of comedic material they were.

I drew a few cartoons, but this is the one that was published. Both senators were fighting over whose plan gave better tax cuts to the little guy. The real insult in these tax fights was to accuse one another of wanting to give tax cuts to the millionaire CEOs, and that no tax cuts would make it all the way to "Joe the Plumber." Of course, a tax cut to Main Street U.S.A. seems like a good idea (although not all the time*). But, how do you think those millionaire CEOs felt? What if they want a tax cut?**

Evidently, it wasn't too long after this that CEOs from banks and Wall Street became Public Enemy No. 1, what with the ridiculous bonuses and lending subprime mortgage loans.

*(scroll down to this quote: "I mean, this was, if you want to talk firsts for Bush, this was the first time in American history that a president took us into a war and cut taxes.")

**(tongue-in-cheek)

Rock Star for President (March 5, 2008)

My first cartoon published in The Daily Universe.

I was a freshly returned missionary, which is the exact wrong time to be a political cartoonist. My knowledge of current events was next to nothing. But, I did arrive in the United States just in time for the 2008 presidential primary elections.

I had actually heard of Senator Barack Obama years before, when he gave a speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I didn't know a lot about him, but I did know he was the charismatic, "cool" president. He could be this generation's John F. Kennedy - the rock-star president for the 21st century.

Rebirth!

This blog has found a new sense of purpose.

Since September I have become increasingly involved with the BYU newspaper, The Daily Universe. Last fall when I was waiting and preparing to be part of the BYU journalism program, I regularly contributed editorial cartoons for the Views & Opinions page. Cartoons of mine had been published before, but this time almost everything I submitted was included on the page, which motivated me to draw more. (Thanks, Heather!) As for this semester, it hasn't even been a week long and I will already have two cartoons published. (Thanks, Alexa!)

In addition to the cartoons, I also am taking Communications 321 this semester. In this class I essentially work as a reporter for the Universe, for free (other than college credit). In only a few days this assignment has been overwhelming and crazy. But I look forward to all of the experience that I will gain. I have been chosen to work for the sports desk, which is a little intimidating because even though I love sports I don't know a whole lot about it. I'm no ESPN armchair athlete. But I think I'll catch on and catch up quickly. And I'm jumping right into the thick of things. In fact, today I will be attending a press conference with Bronco Mendenhall, the BYU football coach (!).

Sometime soon, I'll post all the cartoons that I had last semester, and I'll start posting cartoons and articles from this semester. Hope you enjoy them!