I remember a high school squeeza giving me a collectors set of Calvin and Hobbes. I could not have been happier. What is it about Calvin and his buddy Hobbes that's so loveable?

Now that I wonder about it, I'm certain it has little to do with Calvin. The popular love of Calvin and Hobbes is more about the inspiration that Watterson generates in the reader. Calvin inspired me. The comical stories, the characters and their adventures uplifted me during my highschool days...and they do the same today. I'm not a fan, but I do appreciate creativity that lifts up the spirits and inspires. Waterson recently emerged for a brief email interview with a fortunate journalist from The Plain Dealer.

If I had to choose out of all the possible affects my work has in the world, it would be that it inspires people. But here's the catch. Wanting to inspire will distort the value of the work. It is better for the work to be true than try to be inspirational. That the work inspires someone in someway will be a natural quality carried by it  from the consciousness of it's creator. I don't think Bill Watterson wanted to inspire people. He knew that Calvin did inspire us. He was just enjoying himself.

And that's where I'm at. I'm having a jolly good time. May you be too!