Courtney Peebles, a.k.a. J.R., and Jaime “Jai,” Williams, Christian hip-hop artists, recently talked to students at Hazelwood Southeast Middle School about careers and planning for the future.
J.R. talked about staying in school, preparation and hard work to the group of students sitting in the library before him. He also talked about talent.
“I made my first beat when I was 16 and I remember the power that gave me,” he told the students.
However, J.R. said that talent will not take anyone very far without discipline.
“Who can tell me what discipline is?” J.R. asked his audience. “Yes, sir?” he gestured at a student who raised a hand.
“Discipline is knowing what to do and when to do it,” said Clifford Hopson.
“Excellent response,” J.R. said.
He told his audience that when their parents or grandparents ask them to do a chore, to do it, not say they will and leave it undone, forcing the adult to ask again later.
Next, J.R. asked if anyone knew how to define integrity. Another boy raised a hand.
“Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching,” said Kameron Brantley.
J.R.’s recipe for success includes character and passion as well as discipline and integrity.
“Being on time takes discipline and discipline starts at school,” J.R. said. “Your teachers aren’t telling you these things until they are blue in the face because they get a paycheck, it’s because they see in you the next President Obama, the next Katie Couric or the next Albert Pujols.”
After J.R., Williams took her turn in the student spotlight. Personable and energetic, Jai told the students she remembered her time in eighth grade and he she could not wait to get out of school.
“Y’all remember nap times and snacks in kindergarten? How many of you wish you had those now, in eighth grade?” Several students raised their hands. “We try to rush everything,” Jai told them. “We should spend time in the beauty of the moment because time goes by so fast.”
She advised the group to start planning ahead for college now by searching and applying for scholarships. Jai doled out a bit of information the students probably had not considered – that in the music industry, writers can earn more money than recording artists. She advised students to brush up on their writing skills and research what it takes to get published and to learn about music rights.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial cartoonist R.J. Matson also brought several of his cartoons with him as part of a slideshow.
“I started drawing cartoons and started thinking of myself as a budding cartoonist as early as sixth grade when I drew a comic book featuring my classmates and printed copies, which I sold to them for 25 cents each,” he told the students.
College afforded him more opportunities to practice cartooning and learn how to draw a good editorial cartoon.
“It was always a big thrill to see one of my cartoons clipped from the newspaper and taped to someone’s dorm room door,” he said.
He had been cartooning professionally for more than 20 years when the Post-Dispatch called him in 2005 to offer him a job here in St. Louis.
“When I started drawing editorial cartoons in the 1980s, there were about 200 professional editorial cartoonists working for daily newspapers in the United States,” Matson said.
“Now, there are about 80 so the profession is suffering. It was hard for me and it is becoming even harder for young cartoonists to break in to the business.”
Matson offered his opinion on the future of cartooning.
“There may be fewer newspaper editorial cartoonists in the future, but there may also be new markets for cartoonists on websites and in other digital media. It may be possible for a cartoonist to build a national audience delivering cartoons directly to cell phone screens. It’s up to the next generation of cartoonists to reinvent the profession.”