Nov. 20, 2005 - 18:42 PST

TREASURE DISCOVERED

Some years ago, much to my pleasure I found out that Jane Auel the author of the books beginning with �The Cave Of The Clan Bear� is an Oregonian. It has b een a long time since I have read any of her books, but remember how realistic they seemed to be. Somehow the geography observed seemed to make her things more realistic yet. to me.

The Eugene Register Guard newspaper is good about informing people of local celebrities and is invaluable to me.

So today I read of the author and illustrator of a comic strip that has been a favorite of mine, although not in our Denver newspapers at this time, is an ?Eugenian?

In Today�s issue of the Register Guard there is an article by Mark Baker of that paper about such a person. She seems to fit this area alright as well. The article in part:

TEN YEARS, �STONE SOUP� CREATOR STILL BASKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT OF SUCCESS

�If you see her today, wish Jan Eliot a happy anniversary. Or you can send her some tin -- because that�s what you get on your 10th anniversary, you know.�

�Not bad for the Eugene cartoonist who once made ends meet by doing everything from waiting tables to selling cars to driving a bookmobile.�

�Yes I�m surprised,� Eliot says about her success. �It took me 16 years, from the first time I thought it was a great idea, to get syndicated. �(The strip) is as good as I hoped it would be, and I love doing it.�

�Eliot began producing the strip for The Register Guard in 1990, when it appeared as �Sister City.� Five years later, she signed that first contract, and her work initially was published in 29 newspapers nation-wide.�

�Now �Stone Soup� is a staple in about 175 newspapers worldwide and has an estimated 30 million readers.�

�I�m totally grateful that the strip is published in as many places as it is,� says Eliot, 55. �I get to do this for a living and it�s so cool.�

�Stone Soup� not only appears in newspapers such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Boston Globe, it appears in newspapers in Canada, England, Scandinavia, Portugal and Singapore.�

�Developed from her own life as a single mom living in Eugene, �Stone Soup� follows the lives of two sisters, Val and Joan Stone, who are next-door neighbors. Val Stone. Val Stone; is based on Eliot�s good friend and supporter, Val Brooks of Eugene, who encouraged Eliot to pursue the strip.�

�Most of the action revolves around Val and her two daughters, 13-year old Holly and 10- year old Alix, who were based on Eliot�s own two daughters, Johanna and Jennifer. Both are grown with children of their own now, but their lives continue to inspire the characters of Val and Joan, Eliot says, just as her own life now inspires the character of �Gramma,� Val and Joans mother in the strip.�

�I think even though the characters don�t age, they�re evolving,� says Eliot sitting in the office of her South Eugene home.�

�Stone Soup� strives to address modern families who; do not quite fit the stereotype of a perfect family � with Mom and Dad , 2.5 kids and a white picket fence, Eliot says. The story lines still come from everyday situations encountered by Eliot , her family and her friends.�

�And now Eliot has a new muse. That would be 14-year old Olivia Clingman, a Spencer Butte Middle School student who has been her intern for the past two years.�

�If I feed her enough chocolate, she gives me wonderful stories,� Eliot jokes.�

�Stories such as this one that Olivia and her sister came up with last year: What if Holly got her first period while camping? If you read the strip, you know all about it. Eliot was skeptical that Universal Press would buy it but after agreeing on what the panels would show, they did.�

�Eliot had never thought of employing an intern, let alone such a young one, but now she believes it was meant to be. Olivia spent two years trying to persuade Eliot to take her on after meeting the cartoonist at a book signing when she was only 10.�

�After Olivia finally began working with Eliot her mother saw a photograph of Eliot � on the wall of Eliot�s home � working in the studio of her old apartment years ago on West 12th Avenue in Eugene. She couldn�t believe it.. The studio was in the same apartment where Olivia and her parents once lived. The same apartment where the family was living when Olivia was born, 10 years after Eliot moved out.�

(Commence �Twilight Zone� music here)

�Although Eliot still draws her strip by dipping her pen into an inkwell., Olivia enhances it by drawing on a graphics tablet connected to the Macintosh 65 with the 21-inch monitor that Eliot bought last year.�

�And instead of having to ship to Universal Press by Federal Express a month in advance, Olivia just scans it and e-mails at least 10 days in advance.�

�No matter how the strip gets to the syndicate, it seems readers still respond to Eliot and her characters. Readers such as the 13-year old who sent an e-mail last year after she read the aforementioned strip about Holly and her female issue:�Hi, I am 13 now and my name is Ashley. I wanted to write and say thank you for your comics this week. I just got mine last month for the first time too and I am embarrassed like she is.�

�As the reach of �Stone Soup� continues to grow, so does its popularity. Not only was it voted the No. 1 comic our of 37 by Register-Guard readers two years ago, it was voted No. 4 � out of 44 strips � by readers of the Atlanta Journal Constitution that same year.�

�And the other thing that�s been really great,� Eliot says, �the strip can now generate money for charity.�

�Not only has Eliot been able to help raise money for local charities by having those who donate $1,000 or more get their name in �Stone Soup,� but a recent series of strips that had Holly and Alix building homes for Habitat for Humanity resulted in Eliot getting a call from a Habitat official in Americus, Ga.�

�That has led tgo the strip promoting Habitat�s �Women Build� and �Girls Build� programs and Eliot dedicating a �Stone Soup House� on Long Island, New York.�

�All this and the appreciation of local fans, too. �Not every cartoon artist gets that kind of support,� Eliot says. �To go to the grocery store and have the clerk say, �Oh, I just loved the one about . . . . . . . � It�s really a treat for me to feel so appreciated in my home town.�

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Perhaps on one of our trips to town before Heather and I leave we will meet M. Eliot, that would be an event and a half for us.

Our country has some very talented cartoonists, ones who read human nature and events and put the humorous twist on their efforts. A talent that enables them to make a person nod and say, �That�s me to a tee,� or , �That�s Dad, Grandpa etc.

There are many, really of that ilk. For instance, one strip that surfaced about the time our daughter here in Eugene began to cope with her newborn son - Baby Blues, she collected the ones I sent her and put them in an album. I still get a kick out of Baby Blues; however, that baby boy of daughter�s is now over six feet tall; and plays football at his highschool. Then there are Pickles, Pluggers, Crankshaft and others. There are those beloved strips where the characters grow in maturity, stature and philosophy and some begin to raise their own kids. For Better Or For Worse is probably the best known and of course well liked of that type.

Eugene, Oregon itself is a character out of a book I think. A place where the grass is green year around and the thoughts and philosophies so varied as to defy description. In the depths of winter dress is as varied as other things here. Shorts and sandals are quite evident on the streets in winter time, but anything goes as well. There are few brick houses, mostly frame as this is wooden country.

A safe harbor for folks who think different and dress the same way.

My first acquaintance with Eugene was some years ago and my love for it has grown apace. If it weren�t for Heather�s dislike of the damp weather and the fact that to move here we would be moving away from our other kids I would like to settle here.

Once, long ago, Eugene, Oregon a wonderful TREASURE DISCOVERED . . . . . . . . . .

Blog