Paul Conrad died yesterday - here is an obit but I have to add a little about me more than him (but then isn't that what we do - we look at life throughour own prism).
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I am a freakishly staunch liberal - I know that.
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.But in reading Mr. Conrad's Obit, I realize that a lot of this might be due to him.
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He was the LA Editorial Cartoonist from 1963 (when I was 4) to 1993 (when I was 44). That is a lot of liberal ideoogy to listen to, day in and day out. And I used to read the LA Times daily.
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.I loved the Times. How much? When I was in my teens I knew my Mom missed it so much I had the Sunday edition mailed to North Carolina for her. When I attened Grad School in San Diego - I had it delivered daily. Orange County - same thing (no right wing rag Register for Scooter!).
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London, San Francisco - I trudged to the bookstores a few days (London) or hours (San Francisco) from the Sunday Edition and spent good money to buy the version flown in.
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.Eddie even had it printed for me here for a while. Of course, all good things come to an end. Paul Conrad retired.
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The Chicago Tribune bought the LA Times and destroyed it before selling it off to who knows whom (thank goodness I was in New York and didn't have to witness that sad sad story - the screw ups the Tribune introduce nearly killed my spirit!)..
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And so things change and the world spins.
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But Paul Conrad gets a head nod from me for making me who I am.
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I liked his sense of right and wrong. Or responsability in the face of a worls tha never takes responsability.
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His savage cartoons about the Rodney King Trial are still a little to raw for me to reproduce - I thought they were that honest.
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Anywho - Rest In Peace Paul Conrad. You won three Pulitizer Prizes and a ton of other awards - but more than that, you helped shape peoples opinions. You made them laugh, but more imporantly think.
.Some of his best Cartoons are here.
