From June 16 to June 19, I went to Portland to attend a conference of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. In the span of a few days, I met cartoonists from around the country and enjoyed many conversations about the state of the industry and about the craft of cartooning. I was initially nervous about meeting some of my cartoonist heroes, but once I started talking to them, they always turned out to be nice and engaging people.

The very first cartoonists that I met were Jesse Springer and Monte Wolverton. Jesse had attended his first convention last year and still considered himself a relative newby, even though he had been doing political cartoons for over 15 years. He does political cartoons for local papers in Eugene, Oregon, and during the course of the convention we got around to talking about the materials we used to create our cartoons.

A list I found of various Christian and other groups involved in the issue of immigration and immigration reform.

• National Council of La Raza
• The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona
• Frontera de Cristo
• The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.
• The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference

Benjamin Franklin has always been my favorite Founding Father. Of all the Founding Fathers, he seemed the most witty, the most personable. When I watched the movie 1776, I really enjoyed the jolly Benjamin Franklin persona that I watched on the screen. I admire Franklin's accomplishments as a scientist, a politician, and a diplomat to France and England. When I read the book Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph Ellis, I didn't realize the extant of Benjamin Franklin's involvement in the fight to abolish slavery in the early nation. Ellis' book details Benjamin Franklin's attempt in 1790 to force Congress to confront the issue of slavery. This last crusade of Benjamin Franklin before he died was the culmination of a lifetime where he evolved in his views on slavery and the equality of African Americans.