In a media world where it’s important to be unbiased, one man’s job description is to be just the opposite.

“My job description is to provoke debate,” said Milt Priggee.

Priggee , a nationally-syndicated political cartoon artist, will visit Pullman Thursday to give his presentation, “Political Cartooning; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”

“Milt Priggee offers community members an opportunity to view politics through a different media eye,” said Joanna Bailey, director of Neill Public Library.

Priggee’s free presentation will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Hecht Meeting Room at the Neill Public Library following a noon presentation at the United Methodist Church in Colfax.

“It feels like I’m coming home,” Priggee said.

Born in Alaska but raised in Chicago, Priggee worked for The Spokesman-Review from 1987 to 2000, and now resides in Oak Harbor, Washington.

“With all of the current events happening right now, this comes at a great time,” Bailey said.

Milt Priggee offers a different view of politics, she said.

Bailey said Priggee contacted the libraries about giving the presentation, and Humanities Washington, an organization that supports humanities-oriented programs, is funding the event through a grant.

Priggee is part of the Humanities Washington’s Speakers Bureau, a group of 30 speakers who go around Washington and give free speeches to anywhere that will provide them with a platform to do so, Priggee said.

“It brings the world to the Palouse,” said Kristie Kirkland, director of the Whitman County Library in Colfax.

Whitman County Library is sponsoring Priggee’s noon presentation, and Kirkland said it’s an exciting opportunity to bring in a nationally-acclaimed artist.

“I remember watching his cartoons in The Spokesman-Review for years and years,” Kirkland said. “It really made me more interested in what’s happening in the news.”

Priggee has been a professional cartoonist for 36 years, but he started drawing cartoons in junior high school. He said he even has copies of his first cartoon that was published in a school paper in 1966.

“I love drawing,” he said. “I just wanted my drawings to say something, to mean something.”

Priggee’s presentation will feature a slideshow of some of his cartoons that were never published. He will also be prepared to answer any and all questions.

Students can come listen and find out what it really means to be a political cartoonist, he said. “There aren’t too many of us left,” he said.

The Whitman County Library and Neill Public Library both host various events and programs throughout the year, including children and teen-oriented reading programs.

 “A lot of our programming is offered for children or adults,” Bailey said. “There is something for everybody here.”

She said the presentation is a fabulous opportunity and encouraged everyone to attend.

“I’m just looking forward to having a good time,” Priggee said. “Eastern Washington readers are the best.”