*PUSSY vs. WUSS..
I must be getting old. I sent the latest comic in and wake up the next morning feeling guilty about putting the word "pussy" in it. So I sent out another version with it changed to "wuss". So some of you will see it one way and others will see it the other.

*L.A.FESTIVAL OF BOOKS WRAP-UP..
Super awesome extra-special thanks to McSweeney's for allowing me to share a sliver of their table. I didn't know what to expect seeing it was my first foray selling books in my new hometown. But to my surprise, a decent amount of folks recognized my work. Some local cartoonists and animators came by...Even someone I went to college with 2o years ago (of course, I couldn't remember her, due to my somewhat questionable behavior as a 3rd year sophomore). And in additon to ye olde McSweeney pals, San Francisco lit legends Jon Longhi and Jen "Manic D" Joseph were right around the corner.

Overall, a great two days was had. A most enjoyable weekend.
Shout outs to Leigh Rubin, Mike and Kersti!

*LOOKING FORWARD..
..to the trip to Philadelphia for ECBACC this month. Not only because "the K Chronicles" and "(th)ink" are again nominated for the Glyph award for Outstanding Comic ("the K Chronicles" won last year), but also because Bernadette Stanis, a.k.a. Thelma from "Good Times", will be in the house!!

*EMAILS OF THE WEEK...
Hi, Keith

Your cartoon of April 4 about Jackie Robinson touched a lot of us
here in St. Louis. I work with Beth Louis, Branch Rickey's
granddaughter, and gave a copy of your cartoon to her. She in turn
mailed and e-mailed copies to all the Rickey cousins. Thanks for a
fine tribute.

G.

(Branch Rickey is the man who broke baseball's color barrier by signing Robinson. Great stuff!! -kk)
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Hello Keef-er,

(Please stand by whilst I hold in a joke about you now
being Keef-er Suth-er-land, now that you moved down to
LA.) (Hmm, I don't think that quite qualifies as
holding it in.)

Point of interest: I think we have taken vaguely
opposite journeys. I see that you say your skateboard
is from Revere, you used to live in SF and now in LA.
I grew up in LA (Malibu, dooood! - BTW, it was wayyy
more rustic then, but I'm glad to see that the Feed
Bin is still there at Topanga/PCH!), went to UC
Berkeley, and now live in Winthrop, MA! (I also went
to Berklee out here, just to confuse people.)

ANYWAY, been a fan for a while and was looking at this
week's strip and just had to make sure I am seeing
this correctly. In the square where you are in the
hospital after a skating mishap, it appears that you
have a cast on your, um, johnson. Of course, you only
put casts on broken bones, so you must have been
skating while turgid (ie, sportin' a boner)! You perv!
(Yes, I'm joking around, I know email doesn't always
convey that...)

Keep up the fine work (and keep your skating clean!),
M.
--------------------------------------------------------

Dear Keef,

First off, congrats on your move to L.A. and good luck with all your
projects there.

Second, I've written to you a few times before on the subject of
race. To refresh, I'm a white girl married to a muslim Asian man (so
we get it from all sides). Anyhoo, not to make light of the student
massacre at Virginia Tech, but I've noticed that the unfortunate
event suddenly elevated Asian men from being seen as submissive,
impotent nerds to seething timebombs of virility to be feared by the
white man....at least one could come to this conclusion by reading
the racist barbs that often pepper the comments section of any and
all places where anonymous commentary is allowed (even on the most
innocuous YouTube clip). In other words, yellow is the new
black. My husband wasn't sure whether to take this as a step up or a
step down. In any event, this all seems like perfect fodder for your
toons. I'm sure you get tons of people telling you what to draw so
I'm sorry in advance if this annoys/offends. You can take it or
leave it, I just had to share it.

Sincerely,
G.
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I just discovered your strip today with the Jackie Robinson reference on
Salon. You are a riot.

You need to be nationally syndicated, really funny stuff. I don't mind
that it is very localized either.

Thanks, I wasted a good hour backtracking while working. I'll have to make
it up but it was worth it.

R.
Ft. Snelling, MN
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Hey Keef,

I've got a life's little victory for you. It may not be pithy enough for a
comic strip, but I just had to brag about it.

I was riding my bike when I saw someone toss some trash (a half-full
McDonalds sauce container) out of the window of a car. Fortunately, the car
was stopped at a stoplight, so I stopped my bike, picked up the trash,
handed it back to the guy in the car through his still-open window, looked
him right in the eye, and said "Excuse me, but I think you dropped this."
The fathead (literally) just looked at me dumbly and said "okay..." After
one last scornful glance, I hopped back on my bike and sped off, slightly
worried that the litterbug was going to chuck the trash at the back of my
head, but nothing of the sort happened. I like to think my confrontation
left him too dumbfounded to retaliate.

I've wanted to do that for so long, and I finally got my chance! Yes!

Labels: Emails of the week, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, pussy