CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 160, Pt. 3 February
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February 25, 2014 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 160, Pt. 3 3141 MORNING BUSINESS tings, which reflect the terroir of his adopted Koren was drawn to the arts early. As a state. Take a recent New Yorker cartoon kid, he was inspired to draw by Al Capp’s Li’l Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I whose locale was instantly recognizable to Abner, especially the simple lovable cartoon ask unanimous consent that the Sen- any patron of the Three Penny Taproom in characters known as ‘‘Shmoos.’’ He began ate proceed to a period of morning Montpelier, from the layout to the bartender drawing cartoons in the mid-1950s at Colum- business with Senators permitted to to the list of beers, which included ‘‘Curtis bia University for the college humor maga- speak for up to 10 minutes each. India Pale Ale’’ (his wife’s name is Curtis) zine, ‘‘Jester,’’ and then went on to study The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without ‘‘Onion River Saison’’ and ‘‘Camel’s Hump graphic arts in Paris and to receive an MFA objection, it is so ordered. Imperial Stout.’’ from Pratt Institute. He was feeling tugged ‘‘I kind of bring it home,’’ he says simply. in several career directions—city planning, f ‘‘It’s like a tribute to friends. It’s capturing architecture, and graphic arts—when a TRIBUTE TO ED KOREN what I like about living here.’’ ‘‘kindly response’’ from The New Yorker It’s entirely fitting, then, that on Feb. 27, about looking at his cartoons put his future Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, late Koren will be recognized as Vermont’s Car- on course. this week, Vermont will recognize the toonist Laureate at the Statehouse, and will Koren landed in the magazine’s pages in its noteworthy legacy of Ed Koren, who give a talk at the Center for Cartoon Studies literary heyday when the legendary William was recently named Vermont’s second in White River Junction, which nominated Shawn was editor. His illustrations and car- Cartoonist Laureate. A resident of him for the award. (Burlington’s James toons began appearing in The New York Brookfield, VT, Mr. Koren is best Kolchalka was the first.) Times, Time and Newsweek magazines, as Koren is honored and, typically, quick to well as in ads for financial publications and known nationally for his distinctive riff humorously about the nomination, creature cartoons that appear in the Fortune 500 companies, and in a wide range quipping that he may have to wear a neck of books. Always a freelance artist, for a New Yorker. His work has also been brace. ‘‘It’s a weighty thing,’’ he says of the number of years in the late 1990s he fell out featured in many other publications. honor and a potential swelled head. He then of favor at the New Yorker (it was ‘‘an unre- Mr. Koren grew up in Mount Vernon, dredges up a quote from his literary mind, liable family member’’) but now seems to be NY, and attended Columbia University, attributed to politician and UN ambassador back in the magazine’s cartoon graces. where he first began sketching car- Adlai Stevenson: ‘‘Flattery is all right so Koren is vague in describing how he came toons for the university’s magazine. long as you don’t inhale.’’ up with the creatures in his cartoons, which Truth is, there’s little danger of flattery he roughs out and then refines in a lengthy Encouraged by a favorable review of going to his head. Koren lives a well-ground- one of his earliest works, Mr. Koren process using pen and ink on large pieces of ed rural life in Brookfield: For 26 years he art paper measuring about two feet on each then dedicated himself to drawing in- has served in the volunteer fire department, side. Those squiggly lined creatures of his vestigative and satirical cartoons. His a job he loves, though he admits at 78, haul- just sort of happened, he says, explaining his hard work, quick wit, and unique social ing hoses and pouring water on house fires, style had a ‘‘lax way of evolving’’ and that commentary are evidenced in his work. the ‘‘real grunt work,’’ is beyond his capac- he ‘‘wasn’t trying to do any of what I ity today. achieved.’’ In true Vermont tradition, he has also ‘‘I’m getting to be too old,’’ he says. found the time to volunteer as a fire- When it comes to cartoons, few artists Koren draws in a spacious and cluttered fighter in his small community for the have a style as distinctive and easily rec- studio at one end of his house, with two ta- past 26 years. ognizable as Koren’s squiggly creatures, bles, stacks of books and walls pinned with which have appeared all over Vermont, his illustrations, hand-written quotes and I am proud to recognize Ed Koren’s mementoes. Underneath one table is a bank achievement as Vermont’s Cartoon donation to nonprofits and other organiza- tions he deems worthy. Koren himself is of 40 drawers that hold decades of his life in Laureate. The Vermont Digger re- pen and ink. cently published a profile of this ac- small-beaked and not very large, with a bushy gray mustache, a frequent twinkle in ‘‘I save everything. I’m a pack rat. I hate complished man who has adopted his eye and a sprightly gait that reflects his to throw things away,’’ he admits. Vermont as his home that captures all exercise pursuits, which range seasonally As for his captions, which often nail smug that is so unique about his character from cross-country skiing to biking and pad- and self-important people and modern life in and creativity. I ask that the article, dling. He’s famed for exercising daily, which general, he says he keeps his ears open ‘‘like he says refreshes his mind and his sense of two giant antennas,’’ especially when he is ‘‘Cartoonist Ed Koren earns a Vermont visiting New York City. At home he reads a laurel, but don’t expect him to rest on the beauty in the world. Imagine a lean, fit fatherly elf with a lot and listens to radio (WDEV, VPR and it,’’ be printed in the RECORD. curmudgeonly tinge, and you’re not far off NHPR.) There being no objection, the mate- (though it’s more grandfatherly these days, Does he ever think of retiring? ‘‘Never!’’ he rial was ordered to be printed in the thanks to grandkids from his first marriage). says, recoiling at the idea. Besides, human- RECORD, as follows: He now lives with his wife Curtis and an el- ity is constantly providing inflated egos to [From the Vermont Digger, Feb. 16, 2014] derly Siamese feline named Catmandu. puncture and trends to lampoon. Koren, who was raised in Mount Vernon, ‘‘It’s part of my life. If I didn’t do that, THIS STATE: CARTOONIST ED KOREN EARNS A what would I do?’’ he asks. VERMONT LAUREL, BUT DON’T EXPECT HIM N.Y., was doing a teaching gig in graphic TO REST ON IT arts at Brown University when Vermont f beckoned and he moved here permanently. (By Andrew Nemethy) ‘‘I fell into this house in Brookfield from a TRIBUTE TO DAVID RUBENSTEIN From his rambling 1840s farmhouse in year-old copy of Country Journal,’’ he ex- Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, in re- Brookfield in central Vermont, Ed Koren plains. He saw an ad for the house in the looks out on Sunset Lake and a quintessen- magazine, checked it out, fell in love with its cent years, as difficult budget ques- tial Vermont village whose famed floating village location, and, while living in New tions have beset the debate in Wash- bridge is an icon of the state. But as a car- York City, bought the place in 1978 as a sec- ington about how best to rein in spend- toonist, Koren’s off-beat, pinballing mind is ond home. ing while meeting our shared respon- focused on a different view, as he scans the His ties to the Green Mountains go much sibilities to Americans, our commu- strange landscape of human foibles, fads, so- further back, however, to his teens when he nities, and the world, our Nation’s cial mores and culture. It’s a scene that has attended a summer theater camp in treasures—from the monuments that sustained him for more than five decades. Waitsfield. The lush landscape and way of dot the National Mall to the historic ‘‘There’s something always new, or quirky life was beguiling. ‘‘Like a lot of kids, it or nutty or outrageous,’’ he says, describing stays with you,’’ he says. relics that line the halls of the Smith- the lode of material that keeps inspiring his While Vermont offers fodder and settings sonian museums—have had to shore up cartoons. ‘‘To me, it never ends, and it’s for his cartoons, he admits to living a yin spending and face the reality that the great for that.’’ and yang existence. ‘‘I’ve always been a New government simply can’t foot the bill By a cranial alchemy that even he is hard- Yorker because I’ve spent so much of my life the way it used to. pressed to explain, what he sees out in the there. I’m at a heart a city guy, but I’m at Tough decisions in Washington have world gets distilled into cartoons populated heart a country guy,’’ he says. And like led many with the means to increase by fuzzy big-beaked creatures and captions many a Vermont country guy, he’s now, in that capture the essence of whatever tickled mid-February, admitting to being weary of their charitable giving, but none com- his perceptive fancy.