Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind the gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics take a look at football. Football is America’s pastime if you don’t include baseball. To be clear, we mean American football, not that low-scoring affair called soccer. As a sport, football is…
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Cartoons for Teachers: How Cartoons can Increase Student Attention and Engagement
Caption Contest Commentary
“Out On A Limb” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
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Anatomy of a Cartoon: Football Fever
“Black Gold” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In Maddie Dai’s drawing, a couple is sitting together having tea while surrounded by barrels of oil. The man is checking his phone and saying something to his wife. I first assumed this was a reference to the reduced demand for oil (a consequence of the pandemic) that has forced companies like Exxon and Mobil…
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Anatomy of a Cartoon: Let it Snow
Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind the gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics take a look at snow. As temperatures drop heading into the New Year, cascades of snow fall across the country. We explore a renewed world wrapped in a white mantel with wide-eyed…
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“Santa on the Couch” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
This week’s contest has a prize, and it’s a great one: the featured cartoon, signed by the artist (Michael Shaw), with the winning caption. If I were competing for this prize, I’d be very upset with whoever decided I didn’t deserve it. More than 1,000 people entered this contest, and now I have to disappoint…
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Anatomy of a Cartoon: Cowboy Up
Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind the gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics take a look at cowboys. Few characters represent the American ideals of independence, self-reliance, and rugged individualism better than the cowboy of the Old West. The cowboy is a mythic figure, made…
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“Cyborg Check Up” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In Lars Kenseth’s drawing, a cyborg is sitting on what appears to be an examining table, while a woman who’s wearing a lab coat and writing on a clip board addresses him. I first imagined the cyborg suffering from and seeking treatment for oxidation: “You need less fresh air.” “It’s not arthritis. It’s rust.” I…
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