 Play some intro music Go ahead. You need this. [When you get tired of it, right-click on the page and reload] Then play the incredible intro animation here That was fun, but it took way too long to set up. And yes, philosophy. Don't ask! I was a pretty prolific cartoonist everywhere I've been. In university the wall outside my residence room was covered with my creations, including a 'superhero' cartoon strip about my friends. Some of them got published in various places. At the same time I also produced the multi-page superhero strip about my sister entitled 'Armpit the Girl Wonder'. (More on that later). I did the same thing at the first school I worked at in Toronto, where I produced a recurring cartoon strip about fellow teachers, as well as illustrations for the monthly newsletter. When I moved to Worsley I did more cartoons. One recurring bit in that strip that stands out in my memory was a teacher who had a dog named Erin, a completely crazy and hyperactive Irish Setter that was dumb as a post. I named him 'Urine' in the strip. I also produced a monthly newspaper full of cartoons, jokes, fake articles and interviews, called The Polecat. Outside of school I created a monthly fake newsletter in the same vein, for friends, called 'The Worsley Farmer'. The centerfolds were a big hit. I also taught cartooning off and on for many years. Jr High students discovered that it was fairly easy to make a cartoon; the hard part was making it funny. Their humour tended to be along the lines of 'Oh look ... Bobby farted!'. Some of them are in the Yearbooks here. I also did an extensive set of single-panel cartoons about teaching and student teachers. Several of those were also published. Armpit the Girl Wonder was a strip about my family ... my mother, father, brother and sister Trish ('Armpit'). [Remarkably, she continued to speak to me after reading the strip!] 
All of these cartoon strips, including 'Armpit', were done in pencil; this was pre-computer. I often wonder where things might have ended up if I'd had the technology available now when I was making these strips.(Witness the opening animation above). The rest of my family took it pretty well too, although I suspect my brother wasn't thrilled about the jokes about his moustache. My mother in particular was enthusiastic about the whole thing; she even volunteered to let herself be photographed 'in costume' to add some realism.   Obviously my lettering skills left a lot to be desired in those days. I did eventually improve. 
I even wrote myself into the strip >>>At some point I'll digitize the full 'Armpit the Girl Wonder' cartoon strip and reproduce it here. 
In the meantime, let's get back to 'Tales of a Retired Math Teacher'! |