Reverend Rall
Posted by Mikhaela Reid

You may know Ted Rall as a cartoonist, columnist, editor, graphic novelist, radio host and/or Central Asia expert. But he's had quite a few other odd jobs over the years, as he chronicled in one of my favorite sections of Revenge of the Latch-Key Kids: stock trader, investment banker, taxi driver...

And now, wedding officiant! On Sunday, Sept. 2, in Lowell Massachusetts (birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution and American labor movement!), Ted officiated my wedding to fellow Cartoonist With Attitude Masheka Wood. Note the official cartoonist wedding Hello Kitty binder. For the most part, Ted played it straight and serious (and sweet!), but his introductory remarks were classic Rall:

When Masheka met Mikhaela, the rivers ran red with blood. Swarms of locusts filled the skies. The dead walked among us....no, wait. That was when I officiated at George W. and Laura Bush's wedding.

His remarks were a big hit with the friends and family--all agreed it was the best wedding officiant speech they'd ever heard.

This was not the first case of an editorial cartoonist performing a marriage of other cartoonists--Cindy Procious and Clay Bennett (both of whom were in attendance at my wedding!) were married by fellow cartoonist Dennis Draughton.

P.S. No, Ted is not an ordained anything or a judge or a sea captain. An obscure Massachusetts law allows a friend or family member to perform a single wedding with permission from the governor—good thing Mitt Romney was no longer in office when I sent in the application!