June 11, 2007
Got back to Phoenix at 11:30 yesterday morning. Did some good sketches on the plane (below)



It was the last page of my current sketchbook (3,949 sketches and counting) and so I gave it a little extra oomph, and it's nice to sketch on the plane because I can't do anything else. Ha. I was full of Robber's Roost and Castle Gate imagery so it kind of spilled out. When we landed the guy sitting to my right said, "You've got a serious talent there." Made my day.

I also worked on the Jerkwater train studies and here a couple pages from the sketchbook on that. Coming right along, but need to finish it this week.



Who Did Short-Shorts?
"The Royal Teens did Short Shorts."
—Unkle Sherm and Mary Fiore

Mountain Mormon Facts Massacre?
"You need to be correct about the Mountain Meadows Massacre--most of the victims were Arkansans, not Mizzoorians. Fancher and his folks were from the northwest section of the Bill Clinton state. And one of the reasons that the Mormons were not pleased with them was because Parley Pratt, one of their most popular church leaders, had been killed by some folks in that region of Arkansas just a few months before. There were rumors that some of the killers were in the wagon train--or that, at the very least, some of the travelers were making jokes about Pratt's murder.

"The rumors weren't true. But with everything else going on—the US Army headed toward UT to bring Brigham Young to heel, the somewhat justified persecution complex that the Mormons had, the ongoing tensions as the Civil War loomed, etc.--this was just icing on the cake.

"The Utah people will forgive you—I don't know about the Arkansans. But for god's sake, don't wear those shorts."
—Mark Boardman

Winterset Wonderings
"The official crowd estimates at the John Wayne 100th Birthday Anniversary Celebration were in the 15,000 to 20,000 range. We estimate there were 4,500 to 6,000 huddling in the occasionally rainy streets during the groundbreaking and unveiling. So just how big was that fish you said you caught?" [the photo will run tomorrow]
—Dave Braga, managing editor, Winterset Madisonian

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
National Poetry Month Raises Awareness Of Poetry Prevention

"Habits are the shorthand of behavior."
—Julie Henderson