Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, October 3, 2005.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I believe it bears repeating (for me, not so much for you; it's mostly just complaining): Modern day editorial cartooning is often made difficult by the lack of common experiences among readers. There was a time, for example, when a cartoonist could draw a man in a whale and be reasonably confident that everybody would get the Jonah metaphor. (There is, by the way, a movement afoot to make available a "secularized" bible for public education. We all know that this will never work because zealots on both sides will find a way to screw it up, but I gotta say, especially from an editorial cartoonist viewpoint, I think it would be wonderful.)

Alas, classic literature is no longer the common touchpoint, and so for this week's comic I was compelled to go with the next best thing: classic literature inspired by a television character. If you weren't raised with Sesame Street it is likely you have your own kids, nieces, nephews, friend's kids who were. And chances are you've read (or have had read to you), "The Monster at the End of This Book." If you are not familiar with it, I won't try to explain its brilliance; here's a link so you can read it yourself:
http://smollin.com/book/mikes/tmonstr/mon001.html

That's only half of it, though. To get proper experience, you have to read it out loud in Grover's voice. You can do this by tightening every muscle in your throat to the edge of cramping and then speaking in a sort of happy, sing-songy way. Always a crowd-pleaser in my house. Parenting hint: save it for an encore; you won't want to have to talk much afterward. Goodnight, kids! You've been great! Don't forget to tip your waitress!

Anyway, yes, Grover is a friendly guy with the best of intentions, but not really the sharpest knife in the drawer. And that works for Grover because in the end he seems to recognize his mistakes and acknowledge what is now obvious. Other not-so-sharp knives have trouble with this last bit. Other not-so-sharp knives seem incapable of taking responsibility for mistakes and often won't or cannot(!) grasp the obvious. Either way it's scary. So scary that it makes me want to run to a safe place: Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?