Editing Stephan Pastis (section)

==Background==
The son of Greek immigrants, Pastis was raised in [[San Marino, California]].<ref name="Chron">{{cite news |last=Hartlaub |first=Peter |title=Cartoonist Stephan Pastis cast aside his career in law to put Pearls on the comics page |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Cartoonist-Stephan-Pastis-cast-aside-his-career-2577604.php |date=September 16, 2005 |access-date=August 29, 2011}}</ref> He started cartooning as a child; his mother brought him pens and paper to amuse him when he was "sick a lot" and had to stay in bed. He attended the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Berkeley]], earning a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in political science in 1989. The next year, Pastis attended [[law school]] at [[UCLA School of Law|UCLA]], where he received his [[Juris Doctor|J.D.]]<ref>{{cite web |publisher=The State Bar of California |title=Stephan Thomas Pastis – #168717 |work=Attorney Search |url=http://members.calbar.ca.gov/fal/Member/Detail/168717 |access-date=August 29, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Stephan |last=Pastis |work=Pearls Before Swine |title=Comic for March 18, 2011 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2011/03/18 |date=March 18, 2011 |access-date=August 29, 2011}}</ref> He kept drawing during this time, coming up with the first ''[[Pearls Before Swine (comics)|Pearls Before Swine]]'' character, Rat, during what he said was a boring class in law school.<ref name="jd">{{cite web |publisher=JDBliss |title=Interview: Stephan Pastis: Attorney Turned Cartoonist |url=http://www.jdblissblog.com/2006/11/stephan_pastis_.html |date=November 2006 |access-date=August 29, 2011}}</ref> <blockquote>When I wrote for him [Rat] it seemed pretty honest. It was the first character where I could really say what's on my mind. When I put it on paper, it's my voice. So it works for me.<ref name="rsmith91">{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Richard L. |title=Stephan Pastis: Animal Attitude |work=Crescent Blues |url=http://www.crescentblues.com/8_9issue/int_pastis.shtml |volume=9 |issue=1 |year=2006 |access-date=August 29, 2011}}</ref></blockquote>

From 1993 to 2002, Pastis was an insurance defense litigation attorney in the San Francisco Bay area, but he quickly became disenchanted with the legal profession. He did not like its adversarial nature or "the anxiety and tension it produced",<ref name="jd" /> so in the mid-1990s he revisited his earlier ambition of becoming a [[Print syndication|syndicated]] cartoonist by submitting various concepts to syndication agencies. ''The Infirm'',<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Baywalk.com |title=Cartoons and Funnies – The Infirm |url=http://www.baywalk.com/cartoons/infirm.htm |access-date=August 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905041635/http://www.baywalk.com/cartoons/infirm.htm |archive-date=September 5, 2011 }}</ref> ''Rat'',<ref>{{cite book |first=Stephan |last=Pastis |title=Sgt. Piggy's Lonely Hearts Club Comic: A ''Pearls Before Swine'' Treasury |publisher=[[Andrews McMeel Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-7407-4807-3 |year=2004}}</ref> ''Bradbury Road'',<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Baywalk.com |title=Cartoons and Funnies – Bradbury Road |url=http://www.baywalk.com/cartoons/bradbury_road.htm |access-date=August 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905041627/http://www.baywalk.com/cartoons/bradbury_road.htm |archive-date=September 5, 2011 }}</ref> and others were repeatedly rejected.