Comics

One of my first forays into the creative world was making comic strips. I loved reading Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts, Garfield and many others. Creating my own real life scenarios became a part of my way of coping with the most challenging times in life. Although I never took my strips into the commercial realm, while I was in high school, college and later in my employment, I found humor enough to share with others.

The first comic was one I got to provide for my school newspaper. It was a fun beginning and I am glad to have shared it those many years ago.

This first comic was one I started in high school. It was a way to look back at my youth and put my little sister in the forefront. I depicted her as the fun-loving, adventurous child I always wanted to be.

This was one of the first comics I published in college. Even back then I was a scifi fan and also aware of the smoking bans underway. Good times.

As I continued with my college experience, working two jobs, a full load of classes and less sleep than was healthy, I quickly learned the existence of java and my unending relationship with caffeine was born.

College life soon exposed me to activism and the constant encouragement of others to turn topics of conversation into seeds of violence. Funny, but I hadn't realized such actions would continue to evolve until they spread onto the realm of politics years later.

The computers of the day were often bulky, slow, and prone to bugs and loss of files. It just seemed natural to look at them as every science fiction tale depicts them. Living entities with their own brand of humor.

This one was a no-brainer as I discovered how much it was costing me to remain in college and how much everyone was being charged to sit in a chair, buy overpriced books and learn how to take tests for the privilege of a piece of paper. Perhaps if I hadn't gone in, I'd have ended up with a better outlook instead of nearly thirty years of debt. Oh, well. Live and, uh... learn.

As I took part in clubs and groups, I discovered the insanity of politics in college as well. Goodness, how tame those days seem now.

After college, I jumped from job to job, often ending up in a position few enjoyed and fewer remained for long periods of time. I learned much about warehouse life. Mostly that it wasn't for me.

As my job prospects became more promising, I worked at several places, including document processing at a bank. I enjoyed the job while I was there and often wonder what might have been if I had remained.

Of course, once I became gainfully employed, I finally returned to my passion of writing. There was no helping putting together a few comics as my journey began. Was it hard to start writing again after well over a decade of avoiding it? In a word: YES!

Writing groups became a part of the process of returning to the world of writing. I had fun and learned much. More from some and less from others, but in the end, learning about what I wanted to put down and discovering what other creatives were like became an adventure in itself.