RE Log Fall 2019

FALL 2019 Ransom Everglades LOG 9 piece of paper. When it cut back to the paper boat, it was in flames. As the boat burned and sank, the movie ended. Said Phil: “I thought it was hysterical.” It proved hugely successful among the middle-school set. “Whatever you were doing was hilarious,” Annie said. “You were always making art that was accessible. You were always making stuff that people wanted to see or read.” Phil’s mother serves as the family archivist. During her son’s recent visit, Carmen Lord hauled an armload of his art and schoolwork to the dining room table, spreading out a remarkable stash. There were hand-drawn materials from Phil’s “The Dragon Club,” a social club he founded for seven-year-old boys. An illustrated Book of Funny Faces , circa 1980 or so. There were grade reports dating back to when Phil was two. Someone named Miss Kim from Plymouth Congregational Preschool noted that Phil was “very creative” and showed flair in painting, pasting and music, but wouldn’t tolerate sharing at all. As he grew older, Phil crafted his own comic book series with pencil and crayon, calling it Violence Comics . “We gave him 10 years of piano lessons, and all he wanted to do was draw,” Wally Lord said. As a young boy, Phil met Don Martin, a prominent cartoonist at MAD Magazine who lived in Miami and was collaborating with his father on a choreographic work. Martin came to the Lords’ home. Phil, who used to bike to Coral Comics in South Miami to refresh his collection of comic books, was enthralled. The visit gave him the sense that he could truly follow his passion. “I was obsessed with his work,” Phil said. “He came over and made me a little drawing on a napkin that I saved. It made it seem possible.” When Phil went to Ransom Everglades in the sixth grade, the school “In this family, we think that art and music are as important to human existence as breathing.” - Phil Lord ’93 Photographs by Suzanne Kores