Action | Student News
A Shark Ate My Homework?
“Sherman’s Lagoon”Cartoonist Jim Toomey Shows
his Serious Side —Sometimes—as a DEL–MEM Student p.2
It is his love of family that drove his decision to pursue a master’s degree at Duke. “When my first child was born four years ago,” he says, “I automatically became a stakeholder in the world that will exist after me. When it can be 65 degrees Fahrenheit in Durham, N.C., in December, what will it be like in 2035? Will my kids be facing malaria?”
Questions like this compelled Toomey, who lives with his wife and two children on the Chesapeake Bay, to consider a second career in environmental advocacy. Although he has volunteered for oceanoriented nonprofits and kept wellinformed about environmental matters while drawing “Sherman’s Lagoon,” he decided to solidify his credentials by pursuing a master’s degree.
Toomey was well aware that he would be an “oddball”—his term—in a degree program populated with professionals from organizations like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Conservation International, Environmental Defense and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Before he applied for the DEL-MEM program, he talked to Norman L. Christensen Jr., Nicholas School founding dean and DEL executive director, about his qualifications and prospects. “I didn’t want to be just a cartoonist with a degree,” he says.
“Norm told me that we were going to need people who understand and can communicate about environmental issues on a longer timeline than four or six years,” says Toomey, referring to the typical political term in office.
Any concerns Toomey had about fitting in with students from more traditional backgrounds have been allayed, according to Christensen. “He has a different background from most students, but he has a lot of experience in the environment, particularly marine conservation, that is reflected in his volunteer work with various organizations and in his cartoons.”
Toomey, who uses a maximum of 30 words in each four-panel strip, has, not surprisingly, excelled at his written work in the DEL program. “He has a wonderful crispness and economy in his writing,” says Christensen. “Not a word or idea is wasted.”
In addition to courses on environmental management, land use policy, decision analysis and environmental economics, Toomey and his fellow students are getting an education from each other, not the least of which is learning about how different organizations work for the environment and developing a network. “We’ll all come out of here with a pretty deep Rolodex,” he says. “Our extended network includes classmates and professors, and it could lead to a job, a project, or a contract.”
Toomey is no stranger to Duke, having received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1983. He drew political cartoons for the Chronicle during his undergraduate career, honing his drawing skills and learning what makes people laugh. “You get instant feedback when you have lunch with your readers,” he says. He was a political cartoonist for a newspaper chain in Virginia before launching “Sherman’s Lagoon.”
Fans of “Sherman’s Lagoon”—like Christensen, who has lobbied local newspapers to pick up the strip—need not worry that Sherman will become extinct when Toomey finishes his degree in 2008. After 15 years of drawing it, he says, he is able to create a week’s worth of strips in a couple of days, leaving him enough time for a consulting job or a position with flexible hours.
Toomey is unsure at this point exactly what sort of second career will evolve from his time at Duke. In this regard, he is like other DEL-MEM students, says Christensen. “Most of them are poised for a change or for advancement with their current employers,” he says, although most of them don’t know exactly what form they want that change to take. “This program is ideally suited to help people like Jim answer that question.”
In Toomey’s case, the answer will almost certainly involve his superb communications skills. He is considering writing a syndicated column on environmental issues, making documentary films, or becoming a spokesperson for a corporation that is embracing environmental stewardship. With his background in engineering, the possibility of launching an entrepreneurial venture involving technology in aid of the marine environment also is in play.
He is anxious to get started. “We need to start the dialogue now,” he says. “I want to make the world better for my children.”
Lisa M. Dellwo is a freelance writer in Durham, N.C.