Sunday, October 22, 2006
Garry "Doonesbury" Trudeau in the Wash Post!
Gene Weingarten has written a profile of Garry Trudeau in today's Washington Post. An excerpt:
[Trudeau] hunkered right down in front of the soldier, eye to eye, introduced himself and proceeded to ignore every single diplomatic nicety.Yeah. The Marriott Hotel where I stayed for F2C:Freedom to Connect last April served as lodging for Iraq War vets who were customers of nearby Walter Reed Hospital. They were getting their shiny, springy, Delrin-and-stainless computer controlled prostheses tuned up, and for other work that didn't require hospitalization. They were young enough that the hotel was a novelty. Some sprang around as if they were showing off new roller skates. Some had jigsaw puzzle scars where their face was stitched back together. I watched them frankly with admiration and empathy, but didn't interact as artfully as Trudeau.
"So, when were you hit?" he asked.
"October 23."
Trudeau pivoted his body. "So you took the blast on, what . . . this side?"
"Yeah."
Brian Anderson, 25, was in shorts, a look favored by most of the amputees, who tend to wear their new prostheses like combat medals. His legs are metal and plastic, blue and knobby at the knee, shin poles culminating abruptly in sneakers.
Trudeau surveyed Brian's intact arm. "You've got dots."
"Yeah." Dots are soldier-speak for little beads of shrapnel buried under the skin. Sometimes they take a lifetime to work their way back to the surface. At this, Brian became fully engaged and animated, smiling and talking about the improvised explosive device that took his vehicle out; about his rescue; his recovery; his plans for the future. Trudeau, it turned out, had given him what he needed.
I edited out "long" and "thoughtful" from my description of the Trudeau profile. It is a revealing glimpse, for sure, but how many ways can you say a man is humble and publicity-shy? Somehow it doesn't penetrate past the surface of Doonesbury's restrained bitter repartee. I was hoping for more. But, if Doonesbury speaks to you like it has to me for decades, it's certainly worth your time to read it.
Technorati Tags: Doonesbury, toons
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