Gary Larson Made Me Do It

I was a power-type-of-guy in Washington, D.C. in the mid-1980's. I had a cushy job, and wore nice clothes. I resided near the Smithsonian on Capital Hill, a place I rarely frequented unless company was in from out of town.
One day, my friends Julie and Beverly called me and told me to get dressed, that we were going to a Gary Larson Far Side exhibit at the Smithsonian. I didn't want to go.

Don't get me wrong, I loved and still love The Far Side, but at the end of the day I was usually exhausted and the though that went through my head was, "Why wait in a long line for an exhibit, when I can simply open the Washington Post the following day and see the cartoon?"

They were persistent and I got dressed. They picked me up and we were on our way. The lines, though long, moved quickly and the exhibit was beyond my wildest imagination. The panel cartoons had been blown up onto 5 or 6 foot poster boards and were hanging from the ceiling. Many of them were my favorites from the past.

The blown up paperboard only served to make the Far Side better and funnier. The details that made it so brilliant were no longer so subtle or hidden. It was like Disneyland.

Suddenly a feeling came over me that I can't explain. It was an odd one and not very comfortable. Though I laughed and chatted with my friends about our favorites throughout the event, I remember the discomfort that I couldn't seem to shake.

It was a long exhibit with hundreds of images but well worth it. Now, back home, I was too sad to eat or watch television. Then I remembered. I had created a similar panel cartoon in the early '70's and stuffed it away in both my psyche and closet. I had done so with so many dreams, I wondered if any of them would ever die. Obviously this one was with me a long time.

Everyone has dreams. Some are more potent than others. I Continued to do my homework in business clases nd had no idea why I was even in colege. But there I sat.

I remembered sharing them with mom and her negative response, but, I remember thinking, "Even if Mom is not around, I would still be scared to launch such a project for fear that people had thought I lost it". It was then that I realized Gary Larson was not just a cartoonist but a brave pioneer in the world of print journalism.

If anyone thinks art is not a powerful medium, think again. It cultipated me from obscurity to heavy Interet saturation.

In the movie "Field Of Dreams" Kevin Kosner says, "Build It And They Will Come." Though I found the line a bit arrogant, it turned out to be true. No hype, no pop up ads, just a site full of good humorous free content.