I have to give a shout out to Huegel Elementary School here in Madison. I visited their school last year and did a little cartoon workshop with all of the students. As usual, I had a blast. They want to have me back for an encore performance, but this time for a little more in-depth instruction. And it will be made possible because of a few boxes of Bucky Books. Bucky Books are coupon books that come out annually that schools sell to raise money. (For those of you unaware, Bucky Badger is the beloved mascot of the Univeristy of Wisconsin.) Apparently, the company that produces the Bucky Book has a contest every year in which they give 125 free books to one school that writes in and tells them what they would do with the funds raised from selling the books. Parent volunteer Susan Palmer of Huegel decided to make this pitch for her school: "With the money, our students could enjoy a cartoon workshop presented by Jason Kotecki, the creator and illustrator of ‘Kim & Jason.’ Last February, Jason visited our school to discuss his work as a cartoonist and illustrator. Since then, our children have not stopped creating their very own comic strips, even during the summer months! Plus our parents have not stopped talking about their children’s experience with Jason! Creating cartoons allows the children to be creative in their drawings, increase their vocabulary, and build their storytelling skills. Most of all, reading cartoons helps build those necessary reading skills! If we could have Jason back this school year to work with the children in smaller groups of 25 at least three or four times, we could bring immeasurable joy to the kids! We also hope to collect our own comic strips into one publication for our school community. Selling Bucky Books would help us bring this dream one step closer to reality." I am left scratching my head that Bucky Book awarded this year’s bounty of free books to Huegel Elementary, so it looks like I’ll be headed there in October. What an honor. Thank you, Susan and Huegel. And thank you, Bucky.
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I was asked to create some special artwork for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin’s holiday card. Being that I love Make-A-Wish, I gladly jumped at the opportunity – I am honored and humbled to have been asked. Of course, it was a challenge for me to come up with something with a purely secular theme – no Santa! – but I think this works. Here is the finished art that will be on the card…
Last weekend we made a K&J Tour Stop to Monroe, Wisconsin, home of Cheese Days. That’s right, a two-day festival devoted exclusively to cheese (what can I say – only in Wisconsin). Monroe is also the home of Frame It, the first ever Kim & Jason Retailer. It was a fun time, as we got to meet some old fans, make some new ones, and sell a few books and candles as well. Plus the fried cheese curds were to die for. Pictured here are me and Kim and our trusty Sales Servant, Jenna. We had someone who challenged one of our signs that touted Kim & Jason as the best comic strip since Calvin & Hobbes. They didn’t read the fine print that said "…according to the artist’s mother." 
A Kim & Jason reader recently sent us this photo of her son Joey. She claims that this is actually the first time EVER he fell asleep all on his own (with a little help from Boompa.) Apparently, he’s a big fan of Kim & Jason and wants to have his annuals read to him ALL the time. I think it’s a cute picture. I just hope there isn’t a rash of people falling alseep at their keyboards as they visit our site… 
This week kicked off my fall speaking tour. Kim went wild this summer and has gotten me almost completely booked through March of next year. I’m looking forward to it as a way to hopefully inspire and encourage some folks, and get the word out about Kim & Jason (the never ending assignment). Yesterday was a marathon day in terms of range of audience. I was at a Catholic school in Waunakee, Wisconsin, and spoke to the children in Kindergarten all the way up to sixth grade. As you might imagine, that requires a little bit of a different take for each age group. The little ones have a short attention span and like to tell lots of stories. Mostly stories about things completely unrelated to the topic at hand. On the other hand, they’re the easiest to make laugh. Draw Stinky with a little “stink” coming off of him and they’re rolling in the aisles. When you get up to the fifth and sixth graders, you get to be a little more advanced with the terminology and technique. They’re still really into drawing, and they get really excited about it. At the end of my talk, when they get to practice drawing using their newfound techniques, they always put a lot of effort into it. By the end of the day when I leave the school, kids are waving to me in the halls. It’s great to be a cartoonist. Or should I say, it’s great to be a cartoonist that gets to wind up the kids and then leave for somewhere calm and quiet. Kind of like your unmarried uncle. I came back to the school in the evening to do a presentation for high school seniors who are preparing for confirmation. They had their sponsors with them, so that pushed my age range of the day from five years old to approximately sixty-five years old. Quite the spectrum. I was able to utilize an LCD projector they had, so that helped add a little color to the presentation. I’d really be interested in acquiring one of those babies if not for the fact that they cost several thousand dollars. (If anyone is looking to unload a nice quality used projector, you know where to find me.) After the long day was over, Kim and I stopped at Perkins to split some onion rings. She remarked at how impressed she was that I am so comfortable doing such a large age range. I do know that to be successful with any group, you need to do a good job relating to them and where they’re at. To be honest, I’ve never really thought about it, but since I am now, I think it’s just how God made me. I remember that when growing up, I was able to relate pretty well to people of all ages. I was one of those nerds who got along with the teachers as well as I got along with my friends. And I was able to blend into almost any clique in high school fairly well. It’s a neat gift that I didn’t really know I had, or at least one I never knew would be of any use. Truth be told, it’s really hard for me to say what type of group I like best, although 8th graders would be a the end of the list – they have the tendency to be too cool for themselves. When I work in schools, I’m not sure who enjoys the presentations more, me or the kids. But when I’m presenting with adults, there’s a lot less crowd control that needs to happen and I can be way more involved in what I’m talking about. All in all, it’s just a really great gig. And I am grateful that God has given me the opportunity to connect and meet with so many interesting people. I can only anticipate that there is much of the same ahead, so I should have plenty of time to come up with even more ways to crack up kindergartners.
Related Posts:Today has been a challenging day. And it’s only 11:30 in the morning.
I apologize in advance for boring you with my life’s unexciting details. Let me begin by stating that I recently got a Franklin Covey planner system to help organize my life. (There was a huge internal debate over whether to go with a paper planner or a PDA, but that’s a subject for another time.) The system has an element called “The Weekly Compass” in which you write down your roles (i.e. husband, coach, dad, account manager, etc.) Then you are supposed to write in something that you are going to do to improve yourself in each of those areas. This week, under “Leader”, I wrote, “stay stable in a busy week.”
It didn’t take long for God to give me an opportunity to work on that one.
I knew in advance that it would be a busy week, but things had been going fairly smoothly up until last night. That’s when I found out that kimandjason.com e-mail was seriously messed up. I interacted with tech support a few times, trying to figure out what went wrong. I went to bed last night hoping to find a nice tidy reply that the problem had been fixed and all was right in the world. No such luck. Apparently, my web host reset something on the server, causing everything to become fouled up. Suddenly, every single person with a kimandjason.com e-mail account was not getting their e-mail. Worse yet, it was all being forwarded to one single account, on a different server. Great.
Today was already slated to be the busiest day of the week, and now I had an unexpected major emergency on my hands. I know how much people depend on e-mail (I know how much I depend on e-mail), so I was frantic to find a solution. More e-mails back and forth with tech support. Each response brought with it an unacceptable solution; and each one seemed to make matters worse.
I had a 9:30 dentist appointment scheduled, to get a crown and a filling. As if I didn’t have enough anxiety going on, I had the distinct privilege of going to get my mouth drilled full of holes. I was so frustrated. I wasn’t sure if I should break something or cry. I settled on just gritting my teeth (which will probably result in more dental work).
Lying in the dentist’s chair gave me an opportunity to relax. (I know, ironic, isn’t it?) In my never-ending quest for self-improvement, I always compare my schedule and my problems with that of the President. No matter who is in office, I can’t imagine a person with more pressing issues and a more jam-packed schedule. When I copare my life with his, that usually helps me to realize that my life isn’t as busy as my current tragedy makes it seem.
And so as the dentist drilled away, I relaxed a bit, realizing that I had done nothing to cause this technological emergency, and I was doing everything I possibly could to solve it. It wasn’t as serious as Al-Qaeda, and it would certainly be forgotten five years from now. Any frantic action on my part was more likely to mess things up further than make it any better. I was mad at myself for not acting more calm and stable. I was mad at myself for being so mad. If I can’t handle something like this, how will I handle a REAL crisis?
I guess at least my response time is better. In the past, I would have been in a sulk all day long, if not longer. So here I am back in the office, with a numb mouth and a problem that has yet to be solved. But I feel a little more peaceful about things. I will continue working calmly with tech support, trying to find a solution and trusting that God will help me to pass this test.
This morning’s appointment with drills and novocain helped me to get some perspective, and realize (yet again) that even though I can’t always control my circumstances, I can control my attitude, which is a good lesson for anyone. I was able to see that things will work themselves out in due course. Who knew a dentist’s chair could serve such a purpose?
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