Pulitzer Prize Winning Cartoonist Draws Laughs at Stony Brook
By Michael Kelly Most people who begin their workday by showing up at 10:30 in the morning only to plop their feet up on their desk while they surf around the internet and watch television are generally not the most productive workers. Such a morning routine is enough to get you fired - or, at the very least, merit a stern lecture from their boss. Unless, that is, you're Walt Handelsman. "I can see you're busy," his boss will say. "I'll come back later." Such is the life of Handelsman, Newsday's syndicated political cartoonist. He is famous for his animated cartoons that feature topics from aging baby boomers to what Bill Clinton would do if he were back in the White House. On a Feb. 20 visit to Stony Brook as part of the School of Journalism's "My Life As…" series, Handelsman took his audience inside the life of a political cartoonist - one filled with humorous drawings and thought-provoking depictions. From the neck down, Handelsman, 51, has the appearance of a hard-hitting, straight-line journalist, with his black jeans and blue button-down shirt. His slightly mussed brown hair and an ever present smile under his glasses give off a boyish vibe - one he seems to embrace. "I did not grow up," he answered in response to a question about what, as a child, he wanted to be when he grew up. An admittedly poor student, Handelsman said he always got in trouble for drawing pictures of his teachers during class. The urge to draw and the spontaneity of when an idea hits him continues today. He spoke about routinely jumping out of bed at night to write down ideas for cartoons or scribbling on napkins at the dinner table with ideas. And while Handelsman enjoys voicing his opinions in his cartoons, actually drawing them seems to be what he relishes most. While the journalists who have participated before in the "My Life As…" series were incapable of showing their audience themselves working at their craft, Handelsman displayed his talents by drawing caricatures of the presidential candidates right in front of his spectators. Up on the screen came long-tested products like Hillary Clinton—"The hair is the main thing," he said—and John McCain, whom Handelsman likened to Mr. Peanut, the Planters Peanuts icon. The most telling glimpse into Handelsman's job though was his effort to try to recreate Barack Obama, a relative newcomer to the political cartoon scene. "He has slits for eyes", Handelsman said, as he began the Obama drawing. "A wide smile, long chin and very round ears. A little too round," he chuckled. It's not all fun and games for Handelsman. Being a political cartoonist carries certain strains, he said. He spoke about barely seeing his children for the first two years that he began to do animated cartoons -- a time consuming process that he hopes more cartoonists will take up despite the difficulty. The most strain, though, appears when he takes on the task of making a cartoon that has no intention of making people laugh. One such cartoon was an Oct. 9, 2005 cartoon called "Headway." The cartoon, which depicts President George W. Bush standing in the middle of dozens and dozens of graves, was captioned "…We're making headway in Iraq…" Micheline Maroni, a journalism student, said she might have felt offended by that cartoon if she were the relative of a perished soldier. "But once he explained the cartoon to the audience, how he simply wanted to bring attention to the unnecessary deaths and poor decision making on the presidents behalf, then I fully understood how the cartoon came to life," she said. "I do plenty of cartoons that aren't meant to be funny," Handelsman said. He added that it is good for people to sometimes get "smacked in the face" with somber depictions. He said, however, it is difficult to defend such cartoons, though he gladly takes the calls of people who are upset by his work. He said dealing with war veterans and the families of those who have had a son or daughter die in Iraq is painful, but necessary. "Not everyday I'm laughing," he said. But most days, it seems like he is. Cartoons are not just his job and his passion, but something that he shares with his family. His wife now does the voice of Hillary Clinton for his animated cartoons. His two kids, big fans of the "Zits" comic strip, help him decide the speed at which to deliver his songs in cartoons. "That's too chipmunky," they'll say, if his delivery is too fast. While comments during the lecture hinted that he's an Obama supporter, Handelsman seems excited at the prospect of writing cartoons for another Clinton administration. He chuckled at the thought of Bill Clinton with nothing to do all day in the White House, and Hillary hard at work "with half of the country hating her." His Feb. 11 animated cartoon "Frisky Business" features Bill Clinton singing about what another Clinton administration would be like for him, to the tune of Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll." The animation, which shows Clinton dancing around in his underwear and crooning, "I'll stay at home and wrestle my libido," was met with lots of laughter from the crowd. "He's just tons of fun," Handelsman said of Bill Clinton. "All the Bill Clinton cartoons are so funny." Whatever he draws, Handelsman gets his message across. "I think that sometimes it is easier for people to take harsh commentary when it is made into comedy," said Anjelica D'Esposito, a journalism student. "It's just easier for people to digest." |
