Good evening everyone:

Last week, I mourned the passing of Paul Farmer, one of the pioneers of addressing the social determinants of public health. This week, I wanted to note the death of one of the nation’s great satirical cartoonists, whose work graced the pages of the Detroit Free Press for many years: Richard Guindon.

Guindon began his career by poking fun at the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of the Midwest – first in Minneapolis for the Minneapolis Tribune in the 70’s. One of his enduring legacies is the creation of an iconic coffee mug that is still sold forty-years later in the “Hello Minnesota” stores:

When he moved to Detroit in the 80’s, his cartoons for the Free Press were sometimes merciless toward his new hometown: 

That didn’t mean that other parts of the Midwest got off free:

Guindon took aim at some of our most cherished rituals in both of his adopted hometowns:

Midwest State Fairs, particularly the Arts and Crafts competitions:

Our inexplicable obsession with fishing, particularly for carp while sitting in an ice-house:

Minnesotan Legislators who insisted on wearing really ugly plaid suits:

Sports-crazed, Superbowl-deprived Vikings football fans:

I’ve probably worn out my friends with recitations of my favorite Guindon cartoons: 

• When I’m feeling particularly frumpy myself while working at home, I recall his image of a very frumpily-dressed woman sitting by herself on a bus with a caption reading: “Gertrude likes to wear the same clothes two days in a row so that people think she’s fooling around”;

• When I contemplate one more Michigan snowmaggedon, I think of his picture of a policeman standing by a huge mound of snow on the street, with the caption: “If you’re a car, I need to see your driver’s license. If you’re a house, I’ll need to see your building permit.”

• When I hear some of my suburban neighborhoods casting shade on Detroit, I remember his picture of a mother from Minneapolis’ wealthiest suburb telling her young son: 

In his quirkiness, his draftsmanship, his irreverence, and his ability to make us wonder what the heck that means, Guindon reminds me of Jerry Van Amerongen, whose cartoons I have called on so often over the last two years of nightly notes. Cartooning is an art that Jerry once told me has the ability to be ironic without offending, to make us think without exhausting our patience, to embrace the serious through the fanciful. It’s a gift that seems in rarer and rarer supply.

Rip

Rip Rapson (he/him/his)

President and CEO

The Kresge Foundation

www.kresge.org

248-643-9630

rrapson@kresge.org

Why Sharing Gender Pronouns at Work Matters 

‍