The Star-Ledger editorial cartoonist Drew Sheneman has opted to take out a buyout and leave his staff position behind. In an interview with Rob Tornoe, Drew says that leaving now, in his mid-30s, made more sense.
So you decided to take a buyout from the Star-Ledger. You survived one round of cuts. Why leave now?
It just seemed like the right time. I?m 35 years old and over the past few years it became increasingly obvious that I wasn?t going to make it to retirement as a staff cartoonist. I figured now would be as good a time as any to start reinventing myself and figuring out what?s next.
Rob reports that Drew will continue to syndicate his national editorial cartoons, draw two local cartoons for The Ledger along with a monthly comic strip for InJersey magazine.
I can appreciate Drew’s thinking, and wish him all the best… but this is still very sad news.
But NOT as sad as being fired. Or laid off. But still sad, true.
Gosh, it seems like more of these notices come at this time of year more than others ?
Best of any luck to one of the younger stars around here.
Looks like a smart move. My department was offered a buyout a few years back that, in my case, would have given me six months salary to bridge me through to the next adventure, but the offer turned out to be a trap to find out who could be pushed into quitting. Which I eventually could, and they replaced me with a part-timer.
Sounds like Drew got the money in his hand, a decent client list to start out with and a road out of corporate melt-down hell. There are a lot of people in newspapers who still have their jobs and aren’t doing nearly that well.
Good luck, Drew! It’s weird to hear this, since I was always jealous of Drew’s amazing opportunity to draw in Newark. Such a target-rich environment for a cartoonist.