It`s a Small World Question, just how small is this industry, animation, we work at? Those of you on the inside know just how very tiny it really is.

Why am I talking about this question today, I may ask me? Very small, says I. In the last 2 days I have been called on, not once but twice, to comment on and make decisions affecting a school that is now being run by someone I taught with some time back, someone who was an out and out jerk to me, someone who stepped on me on his way up to whatever small heights.

The first time, yesterday, I was asked if I thought this school, now run by jerk person in question, was a good school for a former student, later team teacher, and friend of mine to continue his education at?

The second time was when I had to decide today which schools would be offered student comps for the upcoming Annies.

Now the school in question that said person is now running was only marginal on the list at best and was only being considered at all because the animation program had been run at one time by a person that was a good friend to ASIFA in the past.

I tell my students to look around the classroom because if they stay in the industry these are some of the people they will be working with for the rest of their lives.

I still work with, hang out with, and stay in touch with Kevin Alteri, Steve Bissette, Craig Boldman, Dave Dorman, Tom Foxmarnick, Chris Kalnick, Karl Kesel, Ron Randall, Dave Schwartz, John Totleben, Tim Truman, Rick Veitch, Stan Woch, and Tom Yeates, some of the guys that I went to school with at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Human Sacrifice all those years ago in ninteen hundred and seventy nine.

You have got to wonder about a person that does not know this simple truth. How can someone run an animation program and not know that you can`t afford to make enemies in the industry? You might wonder also just what my response was on the two questions about said person`s program?

The guy that asked about the school, I told him the truth. He is a good friend. I told him about cheaper options with better networking contacts. I also told him that the program was run by a person that had been a jerk to me, but that didn`t make it a bad program.

The Annies student comps? Hey, I would have had to justify swinging tickets to this program in the first place. I`m sorry for the students but I am not going out on a limb for someone that was a jerk to me. (/END OF INDUSTRY LESSON)  ¶ 7:24 PM