David Rees, the man behind the popular political comic Get Your War On, wants to sharpen you a pencil. Slowly. Attentively. And with a carefully selected sharpener or blade that suits the pencil best. If there are movements for slow food and slow reading, why not for slow writing implements? 

“With an electric pencil sharpener, a pencil is meat,” Rees said. “It’s this thoughtless, Brutalist aesthetic. For me, it’s almost a point of pride that I would be slower than an electric pencil sharpener.”

 - Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times

On working at Pixar and Dreamworks Animation: “None of these events would have happened to me if it hadn’t been for Oberlin’s amazingly nurturing environment, fantastic camaraderie, and the best mentor a student could have.”