May 4

My book signing at the Kent State University Bookstore last Wednesday was very enjoyable as usual. It’s always fun to get back to the campus and revisit some great memories. This time the trip down memory lane was a little more somber. I visited the May 4 Visitors Center which memorializes the protest and shootings that took place there on campus in 1970. I’ve been at the Center on previous visits, but this time there was an added draw. On display as well was artwork by artists dealing with May 4, and one of those displays included some cartoons from a five-week-long story arc that Chuck Ayers and I did in Crankshaft. Seeing that work again made me realize that no one has read those strips in some twenty plus years. 

Given what’s taking place on college campuses around the country, it seems like a propitious moment in history for that story to be seen and read again. So starting on Monday May 6th, I’ll be presenting a week a day for five days. Hopefully, this time around we can all learn from history so that we’re not doomed to repeat it.