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The New Yorker and me
Published: 11/5/2010 4:36 PM
Last Modified: 11/5/2010 4:36 PM

For the third time in four years, something I've written has been published by The New Yorker.

Granted, it's been the exact same thing thing each time. And by now, I'm not entirely certain that I can legally say it's mine. But I still receive credit for it.

My work's most recent appearance in The New Yorker is the issue currently on sale, dated Nov. 1, 2010. It's the magazine's annual Cartoon Issue, and the final two pages of its 18-pages of nothing but cartoon are devoted to "Best of the Caption Contest."

Five years ago, the magazine began this contest, where readers could try their hand at creating captions for images by some of the magazine's regular artists.

In those five years, the magazine has received, and I quote, "something like a million and a half entries to produce 257 winners."

"In honor of this anniversary," so goes the paragraph on page 89, "we decided that it was time to cast our own vote, so we reviewed all the contests and picked what was, in our opinion, the best caption of each year."

For the year 2006, the caption selected as the best was mine.

It's not easily accessible on the magazine's website, so I'll have to describe it: Two soldiers in full combat gear and the stereotypical mime -- black and white striped t-shirt, white-face, beret -- are peering around a shattered wall in an obviously war-torn locale. One soldier is looking through binoculars, and all three are staring intently into the distance.

What I came up with was: "It's not good -- looks like they've got a full interpretive dance troupe."

This is the third time my caption to Alex Gregory's cartoon has been appeared. The first time was when it was one of three finalists that readers were to vote for, the second was when it was chosen the winner. This makes three.

I have a framed version of the cartoon at home, which is the prize people receive for writing a winning caption in The New Yorker's contest.

I'm not one to meticulously document everything I do, but when I learned that my caption was chosen as one of the best in The New Yorker Caption Contest history, I started to do a bit of figuring.

What I came up with was that, in the course of my career as a journalist, I have probably written something in neighborhood of 5 million words about various subjects.

But I have the feeling that the 12 words that make up my caption to Alex Gregory's cartoon will likely be the words for which I am best remembered.

And that's fine. After all, those 12 words allow me to claim, with all sincerity, that I have been published by The New Yorker.

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rghton (2 years ago)

That is awesome! I know people who have been trying for years to get their caption in the New Yorker. Yours is one of the funnier captions I've read.

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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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Archive

Past Articles By James D. Watts Jr

2/15/2013		'Concept/OK' exhibit ends Saturday
2/14/2013		Symphony to host piano soloist
2/14/2013		Broadway tours bring 'Shrek,' improv musical to Tulsa area this weekend
2/14/2013		Arts roundup: Improv reigns at several upcoming theater events
2/14/2013		'Lion King' returns to Tulsa PAC June 4
2/12/2013		Review: Signature Symphony reprises '100 Years of Oklahoma Music'
2/11/2013		Tulsa Symphony's concert salutes diverse American music
2/10/2013		Cherokee artist weaves messages into baskets
2/10/2013		Tesla Quartet set for Tulsa residency next week with variety of activities
2/10/2013		Jim Murphy wins 2013 Anne Zarrow Award
2/10/2013		LBJ chronicler Robert Caro to speak at TU on Tuesday
2/9/2013		Theater review: Playhouse makes "Barefoot in the Park" believable

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