Investigation Should Have Drawn On Artistic Standards

To the editors:

I recall one of the most intriguing parts of my Advanced Placement United States politics course involved the interpretation of political cartoons. Our teacher, in an effort to diversify the usual assignment of essay questions assigned us the task of drawing our own cartoons. The assignment, due a week after President Bush’s infamous “axis of evil” State of the Union address, resulted in almost the entire class drawing various depictions of a triangle surrounded by the leaders of Iran, North Korea, and Iraq, with hazardous waste symbols, and the words “axis of evil” somewhere in the four-by-five-inch space. Plagiarism? I think not.

The decision to remove Kathleen Breeden, by far the most artistically talented of your cartoonists, was rash and uninformed at best. A full consultation of artists, cartoonists, and journalism experts on the issue was warranted. As an occasional artist myself, I draw inspiration from visual media I see every day and my artwork reflects influences by others, whether published or unpublished. Historical examples of reproductions of great masterworks also highlight the reciprocal and sharing nature of the world of arts and music. A slight aberration from another piece of painting can result in a masterpiece; art itself invites sharing and appreciation.

JEFFREY KWONG ’09

November 1, 2006