Off The Cuff

Having been around newspapers most of my life I suppose it’s natural there are parts of the publications that really appeal to me more than others.

I know. You’re thinking comics. Well, yes and no. I grew up with the Katzenjammer Kids, Maggie and Jiggs, Smokey Stover, Joe Palooka and Dick Tracy, to name a few. Now you know.

As an aside, what makes newspapers so much a part of our lives is the printed word, something we can hold in our hands which get a little blackened with ink, but more particularly, something we can put down and come back to later (the record cycle on the TV just doesn’t have it) and I appreciate the variety of content in papers, particularly the dailies.

Weeklies are different, of course, and those in small towns like Gravette have a unique challenge to try to inform the locals of local happenings. That’s why it is so important they continue to focus on the towns and area they serve. That will be the goal of the new “Westside Eagle Observer” which will come into existence in early August when the Gravette, Decatur and Gentry papers merge. That will be the primary goal, providing a paper to serve a broader area while focusing on each community.

But back to the first paragraph of this Cuff. One part of the daily publications that I really enjoy are the editorial cartoonists. I envy their ability to condense sometimes complex topics into thought-provoking, satirical and/or challenging drawings.

Personally, I can’t draw recognizable stick figures. Ask me to do a caricature of somebody and it or they would all look like prunes or mud pies or a bundle of sticks.

If I could draw what is in my mind a panel I would construct this week would involve the Gulf oil leak featuring the BP execs, federal officials and the President, and a contrasting panel depicting Detroit pitcher Armanda Galarraga who was robbed of a perfect game by umpire Jim Joyce’s botched call.

I’m not real sure how I would depict all those characters but the theme wouldbe to show the real class act of Galarraga and Joyce as they demonstrated integrity by not pointing fingers and shifting blame or holding resentment. The honesty and forgiveness displayed is such a contrast to those in that other panel of finger pointers, name callers, blame assigners and retribution seekers.

I could go on and on. Just conjure up a mental picture for yourself as I have. It can be a thought-provoking exercise.

-Dodie Evans

Opinion, Pages 4 on 06/09/2010