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Is Your Mind Like Your Hair?


Mel-cover

Untamed. Wildly eccentric. Crazy and unpredictable. That’s what architect Art Fenton meant when he asked his protégé Carmelo Monti, “Is your mind like your hair?” Always creative, Carmelo saw his fellow employees and their exploits as “fodder” for his cartoons and caricatures. Politicians and world events received his most sarcastic barbs. With a career in architecture that spanned more than forty years, Carmelo lived in four states and worked with hundreds of people. While most memoirs focus on the life and experiences of the author, this book focuses on all those people who inspired his fertile imagination. Carmelo sorted through dozens of sketchbooks and memorabilia boxes that have moved around the country with him—from St. Louis to Phoenix to Hawaii, back to St. Louis, and finally to Orlando, Florida, where he resides today. The chapters follow his career path (both in architecture and in cartooning) in chronological order, beginning in 1964 with his first political  cartoon, into his college days at the University of Kansas, through his many places of employment. Over 500 cartoons, caricatures, and illustrations stand on their own merits, with limited text to define a period.


Mel-Barksdale toon

A reader seeking further clarification should turn to Appendix A for back-stories. Appendix B will help readers locate images that pertain to themselves, college or workplace friends, or skewered politicians. More than anything, enjoy the wit, the wacky details, and Mel’s outrageous sense of humor amongst the many lampooned.

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