It seems that some of your work is aimed at the children, whether it is Halloween sculptures or Christmas cutouts; you also helped illustrate a children’s book, **There Goes a Mermaid! A NorFolktale, by Lisa Suhay, to benefit local children’s charities. What is your outlook on giving back to the younger generation and what are some of the ways you have done so?

Well, I don’t do nearly enough for youngsters, but I visit high school art departments and give demos and talk about being a newspaper illustrator (as if this occupation will exist in a generation). I think it’s important for kids to know that you can have fun as a grown-up, which is one reason why Halloween is the greatest holiday ever invented. Each year, I try to give the neighborhood yutes a sense of what makes it the best night of the year – imagination, adventure, laughter, overcoming fear, acting like an idiot – and 95% of the kids truly get it. But there’s always that one kid who shouts, “I know that’s you in the spider costume, Mr. Sam!” and the spell is broken!

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