Arkansas Democrat-Gazette tour

I took Diamond in the Rough to see the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newsroom a few days ago. I had hoped we could meet Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial page editor Paul Greenberg. He was, unfortunately, out that day, but his friendly secretary Paula volunteered to give us a tour.

On our tour of the newsroom, she introduced us to editorial cartoonist John Deering, who was in the middle of drawing his "Zack Hill" comic strip for the May 27 funny papers, but he put his pencil down and graciously visited with us for about 15 minutes. He explained how he draws his comic strips in pencil and then how they get colored.

Here's a photo of Mr. Deering showing his cartoon for the May 27 comics to Diamond in the Rough during our recent tour of the newsroom.

But that's not all. Mr. Deering offered to draw a caricature of myself and Diamond in the Rough. It took him perhaps five minutes to sketch us. Wow, I wish I had that talent, which he said was mostly self taught. Here is the drawing. (That is my camera strap around my neck.) Thank you, John, for the wonderful gift. We will frame it and proudly hang it in our office.

I hope we get the opportunity to meet Mr. Greenberg. Paula wrote a detailed message for us. He's a very good writer. It was his "Redemption" editorial on Chuck Colson in the May 2 edition of the paper that prompted me to take our son down to meet him. Chuck Colson died recently, leaving a big hole in the American evangelical landscape. Mr. Greenberg's editorial is a nice tribute to a great American.

Thanks, Paula, for your wonderful hospitality.