A VISIT TO SPRINGFIELD

Troy's Work Table was Simpsonized.

Congratulations to Matt Groening on hitting the "really big time." I remember reading his comic strip Life in Hell in Seattle music weekly The Rocket in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was one of the first things I read whenever I picked up the latest issue. I always wanted to see what was going on with Binky, Bongo, Akbar, Jeff, and company.

I have never been an avid fan of The Simpsons, but would watch it whenever possible. I watch Futurama all the time, however, in its syndicated late night reruns on the Cartoon Network. All of Groening's work is funny, but also touches upon contemporary social and political issues, even if sometimes tongue-in-cheek, which elevates it to a place that many other comics and cartoons cannot or will not go.

And, since my life is dictated by the marketing machine now—Miller Chill and Beer Chips, for example—it makes sense to join thousands, if not millions, of other people who are jumping on the Simpsons bandwagon.

In this case, however, I don't feel so bad in supporting a local "celebrity" in his ascendancy to the heights of cartoon supremacy. Groening and his cohorts have been doing this work for a long time and have become, along with their work, cultural icons. The accolades are well deserved.