Analecta

About the Book

If you're looking for a trite phrase to describe the essence of this book, try "A trip down memory lane." It might be as apt as any. And Jim Whiting's Analecta fits that mold. His bittersweet telling of a  childhood filled with sometimes warm and fuzzy anecdotes may trigger fond memories of your own younger days. The more unpleasant aspects of growing up are also visited here and these tales will have you grateful that your experiences--perhaps similar--are in the past . . . only to be remembered, sometimes painfully.

Analecta begins at a critical point in the author's life. He is on the final lap of a solo car journey from upstate New York to Southern California. Six days ago he had left a life that had become routine, comfortable, and very much a part of himself-- in retrospect, perhaps too much so. He would, in a matter of hours be reunited with his wife, who had taken a job a month prior, in Solana Beach. In New York State they had left behind four of five of their grown children and five grandchildren. He also left behind almost twenty-nine years in broadcasting and an overlapping career in cartooning-that's his resume.

Flashbacks to his preteen years reveal a kid who shows very early entrepreneurial leanings. He has a tendency to want to "belong" but he has difficulty being at ease in belonging. Whiting touches on the uneasy relationship with his older brother (is that so different from many siblings have?) There are interludes about a twelve-year-old kid getting lost in on his first visit to New York City; a high school girl friend; Navy boot camp; magic in New Orleans; personalities in Radio; poems (some very good-- some not so-- but fun); observations made in classrooms, business offices, and on the tennis court. Don't look for gossip, accusations, or grievances; none of them are in this book. It's definitely not a downer.

Returning to Mell Lazarus's Introduction for a final note: "It's a great book! If you're like me, you'll love it. If you're not like me, you'll love it."

About the Author

Jim Whiting was born in Canton, Pennsylvania, but before his second birthday, moved with his older brother, mother and father to Watkins Glen, NY, less than 60 miles to the north. The family increased by one, and all three boys completed high school in the village of three thousand residents.

In 1944, when he was 17 years old, Whiting enlisted in the Navy. While still in the service, Bernita Blanchard and he were married. The GI Bill allowed him to attend art schools in Chicago and in New York, where he began to sell cartoons to national publications. After leaving the city he continued to freelance, doing cartoons for advertising, magazines, and  syndication. A part time job in radio turned into almost 29 years behind the microphone and he left that job to follow Bernita to California, They now live in the seaside city of Encinitas where Jim continues to cartoon freelance for a select group of clients.  Four of their five grown children still live in New York State. One son lives in Los Angeles. There are 11 grandchildren and one great granddaughter.

Whiting was cofounder of what is now the Upstate New York Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society. He was cofounder (and 15 year president) of the Southern California Cartoonists Society, which in now the San Diego Chapter of NCS. He's quoted as saying: "Cartoonists, pound for pound, are as nice as any people I've met."