Mr. Fitz

MR. FITZ IS EIGHT YEARS IN THE NEWS-JOURNAL AS OF MARCH 28TH, 2008!!

BIG, BIG NEWS!! (DID I MENTION IT IS BIG?)

A MR. FITZ CARTOON IS GOING TO BE THE FEATURED IMAGE ON THE SEPTEMBER COVER OF "VOICES FROM THE MIDDLE", THE MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH. IT'S THEIR VOCABULARY ISSUE, AND THE STRIP IS A 2004 STRIP ILLUSTRATING THE DANGERS OF "VOCABULARY SENTENCES."

HUGE, HUGE, NEWS!! (DID I MENTION IT IS HUGE?)

MY BOOK FOR SCH0LASTIC, WRITING EXTRAORDINARY ESSAYS- EVERY MIDDLE SCHOOLER CAN!, IS FINALLY DONE! WHEW! IT'S SET FOR RELEASE THIS COMING SEPTEMBER AND WILL FEATURE ABOUT 80 MR. FITZ CARTOONS! THE BOOK CAN NOW BE SCENE AT AMAZON.COM AND AT TARGET. COM!

A TASTE OF MR. FITZ (HARRY POTTER GRAND FINALE EDITION - THANKS, J.K.!):

It is such a pleasure and joy to read your comic strip! We are in the midst of our FCAT testing at our school this week which is MOST stressful! Your comic strip has become a treasure beacon of light at the end of what seems like a never ending tunnel of testing! Your comic strip provides us with so many situations we can identify with as teachers! Some of those moments only other teachers can appreciate the humor with! Thanks SOOOO much for your comic strip!

-Marlene Marlene A. Bozeman, Teacher

"Thanks so much for your comic strip. You pack more insight into four little boxes than the NEA packs in its entire magazine." -Kathy Alford, teacher

"Thank you ... for your comic strip, "Mr. Fitz." What a special way to promote reading and learning and to communicate with the community!" -First Lady Laura Bush

"As a fellow teacher, let me tell you how much I enjoy your strip. Any teacher in the world could relate to the comments and the situations that you share. You give insight into what it is really like to be a teacher..." -Jeff Limber, teacher

"'Mr. Fitz' lights up my day!" -Jennifer Houdeshell, teacher

"'Excellent' is one of the adjectives that comes to mind in describing your work." -Kitty Miller

THANKS TO THE FUTURES FOUNDATION FOR MAKING MY TIME AS TEACHER OF THE YEAR FOR VOLUSIA COUNTY 2005 A FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE!... AND CONGRATULATIONS CATHY COLWELL, VOLUSIA COUNTY'S NEW TEACHER OF THE YEAR! AND TO DR. PATTY ARNOLD, SOUTHWESTERN MIDDLE SCHOOL'S NEW TEACHER OF THE YEAR FOR 2007!

THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME TO SANDS THEATER CENTER IN JUNE TO SEE "TREASURE ISLAND", WHICH DIRECTED!

AND THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME TO SANDS THEATER CENTER IN DELAND TO SEE "THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES" LAST YEAR!

I SENT THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES STRIPS TO RAY BRADBURY HIMSELF, AND GOT THE A REPLY BY EMAIL!

I appreciate your sending on copies of your delightful Mr. Fitz. I especially like the one where you did all the characters and the variations of attitudes in The Martian Chronicles. I deeply appreciate this and send my best wishes to you. God Bless, -- Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury Enterprises

Need a speaker for your young authors' conference, educators' event, or other function? Could you use a speaker who can talk about any of the following topics: cartooning, writing, reading, teaching, motivation, readings from my novel, Making My Escape... and more? Email me here to find out about having me present to your group!

Mr. Fitz makes three guest appearances in David Finkle's first novel, Making My Escape, now available at maydavenportpublishers.com, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. Closer to home, The Muse Bookshop and The Family Bookstore in DeLand, Florida are selling "Making My Escape"!

Above: the first Mr. Fitz strip from March 28, 2000. I'm thinking my drawing has improved some.

MR. FITZ 101: Teacher Humor

Plenty of comic strips have looked at school through the eyes of students. After all, in the past students were the oppressed comic heroes under the thumb of the oppressive teachers. Well, as a teacher, I think that things have changed. I think teachers are now the comic heroes under the multiple thumbs of politicians, administrators, a fair number of - um, "assertive" students, and an equal number of "assertive" parents. But in the midst of it all, most of the kids are still good, and most of the teachers out there are doing their level best to reach students who are fighting tooth and claw to not to be educated.

This comic strip, which has been running in the Daytona-Beach News-Journal since March of 2000, tries to take a humorous look at the teacher's point of view. It is not just for teachers however, any more than "Beetle Bailey" is just for army personnel, or "Dilbert" for office drones. For anyone who has ever been a student, raised a student, or even lived in the same neighborhood as a school, "Mr. Fitz" will be, I hope, amusing. For those of you in teaching, I hope it is therapeutic laughter--writing the strip is therapy for me.

"You have amazing talent and I'm so delighted you have chosen to use it as a tool to capture young people's attention and help them learn. Thank you!"

- Jim Warford, former Florida Chancellor of Education

"Mr. Fitz" is not yet syndicated. The syndicates have thus far turned me down. If you'd like to see it in your local paper, then put this site on your favorites, and tell people you know about it. Help me build a following! Some people here in Florida are already mailing strips clipped out of the paper out of state to their friends. Now they can just tell them to look at Mr. Fitz.com!