GoodWill Toward ALL...

For the past twenty-five some odd years (& some have been very odd indeed!), I have created holiday cards for friends & family to celebrate the season. Although I waiver between atheism & agnosticism, my belief in this most wonderful time of the year & the spirit of giving & sharing therein has never been stronger.

My holiday scribblings started with a skankin' Santa, rockin' to the holiday groove (replete with "Fishbone" tattoo), & have continued unabated up until this year's offering, a plaintive plea during this wondrous time of the year for equality for all the boys & girls...

Please feel free to save, send, print, & otherwise share in any way you'd like in the spirit of the season as it were...

Last year was the way more lighthearted "Santazilla"

 which you can peep by clickin' here 

(& witness even more holiday frivolity therein!)

"There’s only one rule that I know of, babies -- God damn it, you’ve got to be kind."

Kurt Vonnegut has always held a special place in my heart as well as in my head.

His writings, his beliefs, simply his way of being, influenced my younger self profoundly & still hold a great deal of sway in this somewhat older body in which I now find myself. Of course, Vonnegut would claim, & I think rightfully so, that these two identities are interchangeable, occupying the same time-line albeit at different points, but both exist together, now & forever intertwined.
More important than his works & his philosophies though was his place in the literary triumvirate that is one of the foundations of my relationship with my dad. Devouring those books off my dad's bookshelf in my pre-pubescence became a catapult to help us traverse that leap from being father & son to being friends.
As high school reared it ugly head, the oh-so-long (but equally wonderful) times we spent editing my school papers dwindled. Our Scrabble games also slowed a bit (although they picked up with a vengeance whilst I was in college~ when I finally beat him for the first time!).
But Vonnegut has always remained a cornerstone.

For better or worse, he & my father are responsible for the writer I am today, & a good deal of the man I am today as well.

So it was with quite a good deal of joy that I found this portrait I had drawn of Mr. Vonnegut in one of my old sketchbooks. It's unfinished, smudgy pencil & all. It's certainly not an antique per se, but it is somewhat vintage.
I had the pleasure of sharing it with Mr. Vonnegut at a book signing that I went to with my dad. He looked at it quite intently, then looked up at me with that same bemused smile that he wears in the drawing.
That was a good day indeed.

so it goes...

Happy birthday, my friend.

It does indeed get better...

My kids are doing a benefit reading of 

"It Gets Better" 

for our school's Gay Straight Alliance, 

the only middle school GSA in New Jersey & 

one of only a handful in the entire country.

More info. after this adorable poster...

On Friday 1 May, a group of wonderful & caring middle school students will perform a staged reading of stories from 

“It Gets Better”.

Please come support this important endeavor that will 

benefit our school’s Gay Straight Alliance- 

the only middle school GSA in New Jersey, 

& one of only a handful in the country.

Suggested donation for tickets is two dollars, 

but any amount will be greatly appreciated (read: more, not less!).

I hope you will consider sharing this information 

as well as the 

attached poster to any & all interested parties.

Please email, tweet, facebook, 

socially-media-ize, pony express, 

et al  this event to all your peeps.

The kids would really dig a huge turn-out & 

they so deserve it for their bravery & hard work.

The show will take place on 

Friday 1 May at 7pm at the 

Melvin H. Kreps Middle School Theatre, 

5 Kent Lane, East Windsor, NJ, 08520.

For more information, please contact the director & GSA advisor 

Robt Seda-Schreiber

rsedaschreiber@ewrsd.k12.nj.us

We look forward to seeing many friends, family & supporters come out & help us celebrate this extraordinary endeavor.

¡Muchas gracias!