In the summer of 2009, I was heavily into the performance artist/comedian Andy Kaufman.  This enthusiasm led me to being fired from my job as an assistant manager lifeguard.  I may have had a few beers and said some choice words to a patron who was in no mood for tom-foolery...or…shenanigans. Still, I had about 1100 dollars saved up and the fourth of July was approaching.  My mother found a hotel in Manhattan with rooms for under 300 dollars a night and so it was settled that I would spend the nation’s birthday in the cultural center of the universe.  On July 3, the morning I was to take my bus I packed $40 worth of grass. I also brought a black and white composition notebook as well as a banana for snacking.  Once I checked into the hotel and entered my room I made a b-line for the bathroom and became quite influenced.  I ended up staying put for the entire 3rd of July working on “The Adventures of Monty Malone and Banana B.”  Only about three or four people have ever seen it, well, maybe more since it’s disappearance… I will never try to write/draw another draft because what happened in that hotel chamber in Manhattan was magical.  And I think the images are cool, and may one day become trendy, or punk rock, or in vogue, but, hopefully, never political.