April 25, 2008
Kathy's article in the Sonoran News referencing my heart attack hit the streets yesterday. The publisher, Don Sorchych, graciously added a postscript to her column saying if anyone wants to know more about my condition to come here to twmag.com. For any of you who are coming here for that update, check out the blog date postings from March 25—April 10 for the best coverage of the affair.

Had another appointment with a doctor this morning. This time with a dermatologist who took a sample from a "suspicious mole" on my back. Hey, heart attacks, skin cancer, welcome to the new sixties.

"History—the rational study of the human past—was invented by a single man just under twenty-five-hundred years ago. . .the risible figure in question was Herodotus, known since Roman times as 'the Father of History.'" Thus begins a great piece on two new books on the H-Man (the movie 300 is based on Frank Miller's retelling of Herodotus), in the current issue of The New Yorker, by Daniel Mendelsohn. If you enjoy history like I do, check them both out. I'm sending the issue down to Tommy in Peru. I know he'll dig it.

Finished the biography Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front ("Willie & Joe") a couple nights ago. Emjoyed the book, but did not enjoy reading about the end of his life. Like so many WWII guys, he came home from the war with unhealthy habits: drinking and smoking too much. My own father kicked both "Greatest Generation" habits late in life and probably added a decade to his life, but Mauldin more or less went out feet first, estranged from everyone, suffering from advanced Alzheimer's. When he attended the National Cartoonists Society convention in San Antonio in 1999, he tried to tell war stories but lost his train of thought. Of all people, Charles Schulz ("Peanuts") jumped up on the stage and finished the story for Bill. Mauldin passed away in 2003.

Still working hard on my drawing skills (6,161 sketches and counting). Strugggling with hands and torsos this week. Trying to storyboard a sequence. Gee, I wonder what a bigshot New Yorker artist has to say about this?

"Never draw what you can trace, never trace what you can scan, never scan wht you can photocopy."
—Tom Sachs