POLITICAL CARTOONIST
October 28th, 2008: President Andy Brack introduced Steve Stegelin, a talented political cartoonist. He is currently publishing original political satire of a visual nature in both the Charleston City Paper and South Carolina Statehouse Report.
He began his fascination with visually showing the true nature of something very early and is now fulfilling his life long dream of being a cartoonist, while working as a technical writer. He likes to poke good-natured fun at the political figures in the local, state and even national arena. His philosophy is that there’s a lot going on in our world today that can make you cry. However, one must to learn to laugh and find humor in situations. For many years his insight has been helping his readers not only understand what’s going on around us, but also developing a brighter outlook.
Stegelin graduated from the University of Cincinnati, is a full-time technical writer at BlackBaud, and is fully enthralled with South Carolina and the quality of our life. He has been contributing to the City Paper for several years and has contributed to the Statehouse Report for approximately a year and one-half.
It has been a 30-year-old dream of his to show the insight and humor in life. Steve gets his inspiration and ideas from the news shows, the media, life around us and even other insightful minds. He is particularly fond of such programs as the Steve Colbert Show and the Daily Show.
According to Steve you must really understand your audience to connect with them. For example, you can take two very different topics and connect them. He showed a number of great cartoons and four are included in the newsletter. One was an example of connecting two different concerns about payday loans in the State budget and putting them into a cartoon poking fun at the State getting a payday loan. His cartoon of going to the door on Halloween and having your 401K say “Boo” really got nervous laughter.
Most importantly, he wants people to have a sharper, clearer image of what’s going on in the world and to get them to respond. The best response is laughter, but that response is not always what his cartoons elicit.
Our speaker showed us how an insightful, creative individual can develop innovative visual art to challenge our thinking and help us enjoy the world around us.
Reported by Wayne Outlaw, Keyway Committee