5 Question Friday With Tacomic's R.R. Anderson
R.R. Anderson is a true Tacoma original. He was one of the people I thought of when I came up with 5 Question Friday but there was a part of me just a bit afraid to have him participate. As anyone who follows R.R.’s online activity can attest to, he has no problem saying exactly what’s on his mind. Personally, I think that’s a fantastic personal trait but, it wasn’t how I wanted to start out the column. Now that we’ve got a few month’s under our belt, I think the site is ready for R.R. Anderson. Of course I could be wrong. I'm only responsible for the questions. I have no control over the answers. This week I'm glad. Enjoy.
1. What is Tacomic?
A hyper-local political cartoon drawn by a blurry-eyed cartoonist in the wee hours of the night and appearing as if by magic elves every Thursday morning in the comics section of the traditional-newspaper-killer site FeedTacoma.com. The Tacomic is quiet, dignified and rational; balanced in a fundamental philosophy of examining not both sides, but all three sides of every issue of every topic for any discussion. The Tacomic takes the secular, non-partisan political world view, asphalting the footpath through the dank forest moon of enlightenment without bogging down in the mud or partisan name-calling. Yes the Tacomic is verily all things to all people. And any resemblance to any hyper-local person, living or dead is purely coincidental. Hello seeker! The Tacomic will be there with hand extended. Whenever you're ready to act like a big boy, unclenching fists or whatever. New creative-commons, open-source political cartoon every Tuesday morning. No refunds.
2. You've been vocal of your boycot of the Weekly Volcano. What's the story there?
I, humble cartoonist, R.R. Anderson, once named by Weakly Volcano readers as the most creative person in Tacoma 2010, had the honor and privilege to besmirch the pages of this divinely-inspired entertainment journal called the Weekly Volcano with my little political cartoon for about two years before the economy drove itself in a non-partisan way into an open sewer and the economic burden of a staff cartoonist became too great, and I was forced at gunpoint to leave the building. Forsaken, dejected, I dove into the water. Only through blind rage was I able to muster enough synergy to loosen the bonds placed tightly around my thumbs, freeing them just enough to paddle down river, surfacing out-of-range of their radio-mind-weapons. I vowed that day to make a difference in the City of Destiny. To free her of foreign (Lakewood) influences that would just as easily fornicate with a billboard advertisement than shiv a young cartoonist in the back with a sharpened flat-head screwdriver. Marsha Moody, The Weakly Volcano, Egg McFuckingMuffins... I don't just boycott them for feeding the monoculture of Clear Channel Outdoor, I boycott the HELL out of them. Which is sad because I like the Driscolls, Ron Swarner and Paul Shrag. If you guys are reading this, MUTINY! ARISE!
3. What's your favorite thing about Tacoma?
The empty, post-apocalyptic feel. Especially downtown... the feeling that you're one of the few survivors and it's up to us to rebuild. You want to be the Omega Man/Last Man on Earth? You can. Start sharpening stakes.
4. You get to ban someone from Tacoma for life. Who is it and why?
The Chinese must go. ha! Our evil racist city forefathers already did that one. I say Tacoma can not afford to lose one more human soul. We need everyone! I don't care if you're legal, illegal, good, bad, ugly, red, brown, black or blue... if you draw breath, you're needed in this fight against the trans-national, mega corporation person-hood non-entity. You know let's use the "Tacoma Method" for GOOD for a change! Start with Clear Channel Outdoor and these proposed digital billboards. Here is a corporation so evil, they've invented a way to install potholes in the sky. Here is a corporation so horrendously black-hearted, they use missing children--dead raped children as one of the main talking points to justify their commercial advertising format. You want to fight crime? Fight gangs? Child Obesity? Global climate change? Pollution? Terrorism? Drugs? Homelessness? Mental illness? Aids? Cancer? The Police State? Step one: take control, reclaim your public spaces. It is the only way to win the war on apathy. The only way to preserve slack and crush the conspiracy.
5. Where's your favorite place in Tacoma to get a drink?
Our backyard garden hose.
Thanks to R.R. Anderson for participating in 5 Question Friday and not holding anything back. You can read his Tacomics at http://comics.feedtacoma.com/tacomic/2011/07/#archives . You can also buy his book at http://www.holisticforgeworks.com/
As always if you or anyone you know would like to participate in 5 Question Friday or if you have any suggestions, feel free to email me at jackcameronis@gmail.com