Eric Shansby

Eric Shansby, commonly known as Shansby (or Shansbini), is a cartoonist and illustrator for various American periodicals, including the Washington Post. His cartoons appear weekly next to humorist Gene Weingarten's "Below The Beltway" column. He is an outspoken member of the American political Establishment, and a noted wit and social critic. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/25/LI2005032501927.html Gene Weingarten - Below the Beltway - washingtonpost.com ] ] [http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/19464 19Jan2007:Yale Student draw fro hometown paper] .

Biography

Shansby is from Silver Spring, Maryland. He studied philosophy at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut [ [http://yale.facebook.com/profile.php?id=300792&hiq=eric Eric Shansby | Facebook ] ] . Shansby attended Montgomery Blair High School, where he studied cartooning under Weingarten Adams.

Awards and Accomplishments

Shansby's cartoons have been featured in the book Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year since 2004. In 2006 Shansby was featured in the Yale Daily News's list of "Mover and Shakers" on campus. [ [http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/19464 Yale Daily News - Eric Shansby ] ] Shansby has won numerous awards for his editorial cartoons, including an American Society of Newspaper Editors award in 2003 [ [http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/awards.php?year=2003 Silver Chips Online - Saturday, May 31, 2008 ] ] and a Maryland State Teachers Association award for media coverage of public education. In 2003 he swept the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Gold Circle awards, taking first place in all three cartooning categories. [ [http://cspa.columbia.edu/docs/contests-and-critiques/gold-circle-awards/recipients/2003-scholastic-circles.html Columbia Scholastic Press Association : 2003 Scholastic Circle Recipients ] ] In 2002, Shansby won the national Amazing Kids Comic Contest, resulting in a yearlong apprenticeship with Nancy creator Guy Gilchrist. In 2001 Shansby became the youngest journalist ever to receive a professional award from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association. [ [http://www.mddcpress.com/events/01editwinners.htm 2001 Editorial Contest Winners ] ]

Aesthetics

Neologorrhea

Shansby is perhaps best known for the frequent use of invented vocabulary in his cartoons, what he has referred to as an "untreatable case of neologorrhea." He has cited Lewis Carroll, James Thurber, and Warren Harding as role models.

Some of his more famous inventions include:
* Malapropriety - The intentional and ridiculous misuse of words. Note: Some commentators have pointed out that Shansby's neologisms tend not to be strict cases of malapropriety, as they are not true malapropisms; i.e. they feature word invention rather than word misuse.
* Socialiste - Socialite + socialist. Pronunciation of the term differs depending upon the revolutionary fervor of its target.
* Whether Forecast - Invoked after plans have been made. An indication of likelihood to follow through.
* Diminutiae - Tasks, esp. trifling ones, taking two minutes or less to complete.
* Remission - The nominal form of "remiss." One of Shansby's few true malapropisms.
* Catachrisis - Portmanteau of "catachresis" and "crisis."
* Rockinjay - Rock + popinjay. Euphemism for "hipster."
* Overeggressive - Characterized by the inclination to frantically search for an exit to every situation.

Etymologically-Grounded Mispronunciation

Shansby is also well-known for his intentional mispronunciation of common words for the purpose of humor, typically by employing pronunciations of etymologically-related terms. One example is his persistent public mispronunciation of words related to "semen" (Latin: "sémen", "seed"). In an appearance on "The Tonight Show", Shansby claimed that his work was "primarily intended for philosophical purposes—for, you know, the disSEMENation of Man's great ideas." Later in the same telecast, he referred to Winsor McCay as "a SEMENal figure in the absurdist strain of the cartoonistic enterprise."

Troubles

Linguistic Difficulties

Shansby's work has always shown a deep concern and respect for the complexities of language. For this reason, it has come as a great surprise to many observers that Shansby has not been able to deal with Yale's lax language requirements. As of late 2007, it appeared that Shansby would not graduate due to this linguistic difficultyFact|date=February 2007. This failure to graduate would allow Shansby to pursue his artistic plans full-time, but he has indicated publicly that it would not be a satisfying conclusion to his academic careerFact|date=February 2007.

Behaviorism & Incompleteness

In 2006 Shansby's work took an unexpected turn towards a reconciliation of two of the 20th century's most notable intellectual results: the development of behavioral psychology and Gödel's proof of the incompleteness theorem. Despite Wilhelm Wundt's early influence on Shansby's emotivist work, the young cartoonist had grown more moderate with time, tending towards a psychological framework that owed more and more to the writings of B.F. Skinner. The devotion to this strand of thought ran headlong into the work of the Austrian mathematician and logician, Kurt Gödel, during Shansby's time working with behavioral psychologist John B. Watson. As the 2006 academic year closed, Shansby found himself unable to assemble his thoughts on behaviorism and its applications into a form cohesive enough to satisfy the famously-demanding Watson. Due to this difficulty in dealing with Shansby's behaviorism, Watson was forced to apply the incompleteness theorem to Shansby's academic record, leaving him with yet another Yale credit in limbo.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/19464.html Yale Student draw for hometown paper]
* [http://www.yale.edu/opa/v32.n27/story2.html A Yale Bulletin feature story on Shansby's employment with the Post]
* [http://www.poynter.org/dg.lts/id.45/aid.92714/column.htm Shansby featured in the media blog Romenesko]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20040918105645/http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/8508902.htm Shansby featured in the Lexington Herald-Leader at the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists]
* [http://www.amazing-kids.org/ezine_05/interview.html Amazing Kids.org interview with Eric Shansby]
* [http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2005/11/29/eric-shansby-success-story/ Shansby featured on The Daily Cartoonist]
* [http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/staff.php?uid=60 Shansby's Staff Page on Silver Chips when he was in high school]