{Green Tea, Non Profit Money}

I am inspired by the microcosm of issues surrounding small autocrats running non-profit organizations. It seems as though they share the characteristics of tribal chiefs who run their own little kingdom. In this illustration the CEO of the Memphis zoo is having a non-profit tea party with his favorite pal and Memphis zoo superstar, the panda. He is pouring from an amply filled pot of non-profit money, which is sweetened with the syrup of Donations and creamed with City Subsidies. I shall name this work : The Party ain't over till the pork fat runs out!

{Revised Version of Napoleon}

This Illustration was originally projected to be the cover of the Memphis Flyer. However, it was later in editorial meetings to be too lop-sided and controversial (by a thin margin). Although provocative and possibly modifiable by adding a tear jerking tree hugger to the picture, it was still 'too much.'  In a small town like Memphis there is still a significant amount of caution of alienating a potentially troublesome institution, such as the zoo administration. They might find themselves side-lined from future access to media information from the zoo. However even-handedness is the obligation of any publication and that teaches any political satirist to anticipate expectations.

The image you are viewing is an evolution of my earlier creation of Zoo Director, Chuck Brady. I decided to add other components to the illustration to symbolize the complexity of the controversy. 

• The number one contention of the controversy is the irresponsible clear-cutting of a rare piece of ancient forest {symbolized by tree stumps and chain-saw}. 
  

• Number two of the contention is that besides the trees affected, a complex ecosystem was destroyed with complete oblivion {symbolized by the squashed frog underneath the triumphant boot}. 
  

• Number three of the contention is that the zoo professes to be interested in conservation, but to create their vision a perfect piece of natural ecology is sacrificed for an artificial piece of wildlife. {represented by a wooden crate titled 'ACME instant mild-life}. 
  

• Lastly, the zoo has gained a reputation to be run by a self-serving money dynasty that is creating a zoo that is becoming progressively less affordable for the native population of Memphis of who at least a quarter are below the national property line {symbolized by a crop duster trailing a banner with the words 'Cha Ching'}.
  

{The Grinch Who Ate Four Acres of Forest}

{Oh My God He's Back! For Seventeen More Acres}

There he comes, the Grinch who stole the forest. 

This is my second, in a series of political satires on a tragically disastrous political figure in Memphis, TN.  It is a representation of a zoo director who has incurred the wrath of the community by secretively cutting down an ancient forest in a park. He has just unleashed a new political fire-storm by claiming yet another seventeen acres of this virtually untouched forest land for one of his new {Green} projects, which his critics claim to be a sinister land-grab.