Dan Lynch is the editorial cartoonist for The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, IN. Dan was born in Fort Wayne, but grew up in northwestern Indiana, an area known in Hoosier Mythology as the Calumet Region. After dabbling at art all through grade school, his first cartoon for the Bishop Noll High School Warrior was rejected because it was too controversial. In 1966, Lynch enrolled at L. A. Valley Junior College where he entertained Journalism as a possible career. It wasn't until he moved to Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1968, that he discovered drawing political cartoons was much more interesting and fun than trying to become a real journalist. In late 1972, Lynch joined the staff of the Indiana Daily Student at IU in Bloomington, where he remained as staff cartoonist until joining the Journal Gazette in 1975, on the recommendation of then Milwaukee Journal Cartoonist, Bill Sanders. In 1978, Lynch moved to The Kansas City Star, but returned to the Journal Gazette in 1981. "The Star was a great newspaper and a fabulous experience. But Kansas City wasn't home and I knew it would never be. When my old job opened up, I couldn't resist going back." His work was distributed nationally by NEA for 11 years beginning in 1986. In 1997, Lynch decided to retire from syndication to concentrate on local and state issues. His first cartoon collection, "There's Gold In Them Thar Ills" was published in 1985, and features work from the Kansas City Star and the Journal Gazette. His second book, "Dirty Little Secrets" is due out sometime in 2001. Lynch lives in an old home along the banks of the St. Joseph River 12 miles southeast of Auburn, Indiana, with wife, Janet, son, Kelly, and daughter, Anna, two dogs and a cat.