About Hal Katz:From the time I was 4 years old in kindergarten, I loved to draw. When the school year ended, I was waiting in front of the school for my older sister to come out. The kids from the higher grades were exiting from the school with the work that they had produced during the year. One kids came out with a drawing of a rabbit under his arm. I said to myself, "One day I will be able to draw a rabbit like that." Throughout my entire 12 years of schooling, my main interest was in drawing. When I graduated from High School at 17 years old, I continued my studies in art at Pratt Institute Art School in Brooklyn and then went on to the Art Student League in Manhattan. I worked in Advertising Art for 39 years from 1948 through 1987 starting my career in Manhattan, New York where I eventually had my own Advertising Art Studio for a number of years called, "Hal-Ben Associates" and ending this career in New Jersey.
In my late thirties, I felt that I needed to broaden my perspective. I decided to make a new career for myself in Psychology. I applied to Columbia University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Experimental Psychology in 1966 at the age of 40. I went on to Fairleigh Dickenson University to earn a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology in 1969. I worked in Drug Addictions in Paterson, New Jersey and started my own drug treatment facility in 1970 called, "Damon House." In 1974 when I was 49 years old, I became involved with the mentally ill in Newark and East Orange, New Jersey and formed board and personal care homes for the severely and persistently mentally ill which were licensed by the State as Residential Health Care Facilities. My involvement with the mentally ill continued until 2008 when I was 82 years old. I also formed a psycho-social treatment facility for the mentally ill called "Comm-Unity" which I ran for a period of 10 years from 1997 to 2007. While involved with RHCFs, I also developed a non-emergency medical transportation business with four offices throughout the State of New Jersey.
In my study of psychology, the brain, its structure and function, intrigued me, such that in the past three years when I have had more time, I decided to pursue a deeper study of this subject. This has led me into an investigation of the tools the mind uses to understand reality. The question of the existence of a God has always been of interest to me. When I began to come to Florida for the wintertime about 15 years ago, I began to explore this question in earnest. I am a firm believer that the road to truth is through the scientific method. I have come to the conclusion that, scientifically and knowledge-wise, the question of God is a non-issue. In other words, there is no basis in a belief in a God-figure in any form. Until there is a means of presenting a testable hypothesis about the existence of a God-figure, it is not a matter that can be addressed or accepted. Such a belief belongs in the class of such concepts as a Santa Claus. Adults know that Santa Claus, as constituted presently, does not exist, but perpetuate it to meet their own, and their children's, emotional needs (sense of joy and well being and avoidance of anxiety and fear). Thus, a God-figure has played a significant part in the history of man(woman)kind for good and bad as it has been used by human beings to further their own interests. This is a subject that requires a great deal more time than part of a paragraph gives to it. However, I have no need or desire to convince anyone of my convictions, so I leave it at that. I only put it here to give the reader some insight into me and how I think.
Cartooning has always held a fascination to me, but it is only in the past 5 years that I have put pen to paper and produced some of the cartoons directed to seniors. Life and living is full of humor, and it enriches our lives to see the humor in it.
Hal Katz
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