Obit Cartoon

A necessary obituary cartoon

I got to hang out at the Fredericksburg Country Club on Thursday night. Don't take that the way it sounds. I have been living in this town since 1998, and this is the very first time I've been to the country club. I have not gone bougie yet.

The reason they let riffraff like me into the Fredericksburg Country Club for a night was for a fundraiser for the Fredericksburg Advance, the publication this cartoon was drawn for. Much like this blog, the Advance operates on the generosity of its supporters.

Most of the real journalism in this country is at the local level, which is why we need publications like the Advance, especially when you see giants like The Washington Post becoming less and less of what they used to be. And the demise of the Washington Post, or at least from what it used to be, was a frequent subject of the evening.

I'm really glad I made the event because it's not as easy as it used to be for me to get out. I appreciate that my editor, Martin, picked me up, and that Craig, a staffer at the Advance, gave me a ride home. Suzanne Carr Rossi also offered to give me a ride home. She was the photographer for the evening and is a former colleague of mine from the Free Lance-Star. She was one of the people who brought me shorts and T-shirts when I was in rehab with my ass hanging out. Suzanne rocks.

I enjoyed meeting people who read and support the Advance. Basically, people who care about having a quality news outlet in their community. I read too many comments by fascist MAGA assholes this week, gleeful over the Washington Post's demise, so it was refreshing to talk to people who care about journalism and are intelligent.

I even met one gentleman who had been a subject of one of my earliest cartoons for the advance. He was the protagonist in the cartoon, so he wasn't upset with me. It was good to talk to him and hear his perspective and experience from the events that inspired the cartoon. I think more cartoonists should get out and meet their readers and subjects when they can, especially when those subjects aren't politicians. We don't need to meet more politicians. It's even more important to get out to meet readers now since most of us are working from home. I miss the newsroom.

The food looked top-notch at the event, and there was even tiny chicken and waffles on a stick, which I really wanted to try. Unfortunately, everything on the table was bad for a diabetic, so I only had the shrimp without the cocktail sauce. I was able to get one nonalcoholic beer, which is all right.

I was planning to look sharp for the event. I was going to wear black dress pants with a white dress shirt with a black tie under my leather jacket. I was going to look bad ass, as this is a look I’ve rocked before. I just had one problem. The shirt and pants were too small. What happened?

So I put on some jeans and tossed the idea of wearing a tie to the event, and I went for a simple black T-shirt. But even the jeans and belt were too large for me. I was looking forward to wearing pants for the first time since probably September. I know I haven't worn actual pants since the stroke, and since October was kind of warm, probably for several weeks before the stroke.

So, I settled, again, for black sweatpants that at least had pockets. I still wore my leather jacket, though.

I am now at 173 pounds. Holy crap. Did I really lose 5 pounds over the past week? This is getting insane. I remember before the stroke, trying really, really hard to get down to 200 with a goal of 190.

Some people have softly complained that I haven't been giving updates on my recovery. That's because there haven't been a lot of developments with it lately. I still need to start outpatient rehab, which I may want to do for only a short while, and reschedule a doctor’s appointment that was canceled because of the insurance flub back in January. My new insurance has kicked in now, but I'm waiting for all the snow to melt before I move about town to doctors’ offices and stuff. But for the time being, enjoy this pic of Friday night's dinner. It's shrimp, peppers, and onions with a salad on the side. I liked it.

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to @gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
I also take Zelle.
All support is appreciated.

Signed prints and books: I cannot take orders for signed prints or for my books at this time. So please do not send me money or place orders for them until further notice. Because of the stroke, it is an ordeal for me to get to the post office, so we’re gonna hold up until I’m fully capable of doing so. Thank you for your understanding.

Merch: Did you know there’s a Claytoonz store? My cartoons are printed on mugs, clothing, caps, and even a Peezy T-shirt. If you ever want a specific cartoon on some merch, let me know, and I’ll add it.