Meeting |
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Report |
Meeting |
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Report |
April 2, 2002 |
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| Charlotte Rotarians were treated to a humorous
autobiographical journey through the life of Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Doug
Marlette. There were high expectations for lots of belly laughs, and we weren't
disappointed. Who else would start a Rotary talk with the question: "Do you know the mating call of a Southern debutant? 'I'm sooo drunk.' Do you know the mating call of the not-so-pretty Southern debutant? 'I SAID, I'm sooo drunk!'" There were poignant moments too: the cartoon after the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, a fire-fighter and a policeman standing tall and proud, side by side in the place on Manhattan where the Twin Towers once stood. Using slides of his work, this man of many talents carried us along on his personal passage from, as he said, the image without words (his ideal pure picture story, an image that conveys the message with not word one) to the recent publication of his autobiographical novel, "The Bridge." Ed Williams, his long-time colleague and friend from "The Charlotte Observer," introduced Doug. The editorial page editor said he was one of the first people in Charlotte to meet Doug when he joined the "Observer" as staff cartoonist in 1972. He called Doug's career "extraordinary." "Hollywood is thinking of making a movie of The Bridge' with Tom Cruise playing Doug," Williams said, "What we're not sure is: Is Tom Cruise thinking about that." Doug left the "Observer" in 1986 for the "Atlanta Journal," then a few years later he migrated north to New York's "Newsday." At every stop along the way he has used and continues to use his keen insights and sharp wit to do what the cartoonist does best — exaggerate our foibles, poke fun at pomposity and stupidity and stimulate us all to question why we hold the beliefs we do, not necessarily to agree. He shared some of his favorite cartoons: a recent one of Jerry Palwell and Pat Roberson ("I'm not sure we should ever let these two characters get together on television," he said.) with Osama bin Laden singing "Gimme that old time religion" after the two preachers on television had blamed the Twin Tower bombing on Americans' sins. There was one about the FBI firing range with three agents shooting at targets on their feet. The message was clear: nothing more need be said. One of his most controversial cartoons, and the only one for which "Newsday" has apologized, showed a large picture of the Pope, his forehead magnified. The caption read, "Upon this rock I will build my church." On the Pope's chest was a small button with the words, "No Women Priests." The cartoon for which he has received the most positive feedback was the one he did in 45 minutes after the explosion in 1986 of the Challenger spacecraft. "I'm not sure how it happened," the visiting lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said, but he settled on a simple image of an American eagle gazing into the heavens with a single tear falling from its eye. The drawing was in that afternoon's special edition and ran again in the next morning's paper. "When I arrived at the office the following day, I found a bouquet of flowers in front of my door, left by some readers. People started calling in tears, thanking me for the drawing," he said. "The Observer," overwhelmed with requests for reprints, ran a notice at the bottom of the editorial page telling readers that reproductions were available. By 10 o'clock the first morning, all 500 were gone. Another thousand were printed and were gone by 2 p.m. that same day, followed by yet another thousand, by 4 p.m., even though people had to drive downtown to "The Observer" lobby to pick them up. "The Observer" ended up distributing more than 70,000 prints. Copies were sent all over the country, even to the astronauts' families and to NASA headquarters. "I still get requests for the drawing," he said. Not satisfied with attaining the editorial cartoonist's highest honor, he launched a most successful daily comic strip, Kudzu, carried in papers throughout the United States and the world. Kudzu, the Rev. Will B. Dunn, Air Nasal, and a host of other characters — born out of Doug's experience growing up as a kid slightly out of step with his redneck surroundings in North Carolina and Florida. Several years ago, Doug purchased a home in historic Hillsborough where he now lives. The home became part of the impetus for him to write "The Bridge," a novel that is centered on a cartoonist who quit his job in a huff over a cartoon his paper didn't like and returned to his Southern roots. There he discovered a whole new world in his feisty grandmother whom he'd always feared, and through the process of the novel he came to know and respect her. After his return to Hillsborough, he discovered while writing his novel that his grandmother and other family members had been involved in the General Textile Strike of 1934. Mama Lucy, whom he described as "the blue-haired ayatollah who dominated my family and frightened and humiliated me as a child," was bayoneted during the strike, and other family played key roles, but no one in the family ever talked about it. "I felt like I came full circle when 1 learned about that. I really do fit in with my family," he said. President Jim was the trail boss as usual. Gene Bratek introduced visiting Rotarians and guests — and there were a number attending especially to hear the speaker. President Jim was led to expect big things from the Health and Happiness, but most likely in honor of April Fools Day the day before, there was no report. "It really is easy to jerk this president around," he joked. President Jim singled out Tony Zeiss, president of Central Piedmont Community College, for special praise. Zeiss and the college were honored Tuesday night by the Newcomen Society for contributions to the free enterprise system. Howard Chadwick led in the singing for the very appropriate "April Showers." Mike Crum gave the invocation. Mike Hawley introduced Warren P. Kean, one of his associates at Kennedy, Covington, Lobdell and Hickman, as the Club's newest member. Others at the head table were Carol Jordan, Chip Gwynn, Doug Bean and Mark Meetsma. * * * |
New Memeber
2002 Architecture Lafferty Architect725 Providence Road #215 (28207) 704-372-4579 FAX 704-372-4580 h.lafferty@laffertyarchitect.com Henry H. Lafferty is an architect with Lafferty Architect. While their workload consists of a variety of project types ranging from healthcare to residential, the firm was established to specialize in historic preservation encompassing restoration, renovation, and adaptive reuse of both commercial and residential buildings. Prior to opening his own firm in July of 1997, Henry was an associate with the FWA Group. During his nearly five-year stay he was the project architect for a variety of school, church, retail, and multi-family projects. Henry worked with the firm of Velvet-ton Architects from 1985 until 1994 and was senior associate at the time of his departure. During his tenure with Yelverton, a number of projects with which he was associated received honor awards at the local and state level. Henry began his career as an intern architect with the firm of Middleton McMillan Architects in 1984. A native of Charlotte, Henry is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he received a BA degree in Religious Studies and Political Science with a minor in History. He attended The University of Texas at Austin and obtained a degree of Master of Architecture. He has been married for 24 years to Debbie Ashe, a native of Concord, North Carolina. The Laffertys are members of Covenant Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, where Henry serves as an elder and a Stephen Minister, works with the youth, and is active on a number of committees. Other free time activities include reading, running and working out at the YMCA, tinkering with computers and vacationing in Montreal, North Carolina. Henry was an active member of the Charlotte Kiwanis Club where he served as president; the board of directors of Historic Latta Place, Inc., where he served as president; the A1A; and the board of directors of the Community Concert Association. Welcome to Charlotte Rotary, Henry. * * * |
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