Today’s posting will be big on links, because, for some reason, I’ve suddenly come across a number of really good things you should go explore on your own.
And if you are properly locked down and socially distant, you’ve got time for that, right? Right!
So we’ll start with Sarah Cooper, who, if you haven’t already discovered her, you need to start following.
She’s been posting these ridiculous short pieces in which she points out the banality of Dear Leader by simply lip-synching his most erratic, nonsensical ramblings.
Those of us who attempt to use, y’know, logic and facts to point out his errors should stand in awe of someone who simply points out his cofvefeness.
Juxtaposition of the Day
(Frazz)
I’m not a huge fan of toilet paper gags, though these aren’t bad. I just think the topic has been beaten to death and, besides, I’m starting to see it come back onto market shelves, though they sure aren’t full.
But I am a big fan of “On the Media,” as well as of explanations that make you say, “Now I get it!” and On the Media recently ran this explanation of why we have toilet paper shortages.
That link offers you the chance to listen now or download it for later. Back when we used to drive around, I’d download full-length episodes of On the Media and Fresh Air and get smarter by the mile.
We refer to that as “The Good Old Days” and they’ll be back at some point, though gas won’t be $1.75 a gallon when it happens.
This segment is only 11:14, however, so it’s not a huge time commitment, and it’s completely worth it, not just for the toilet paper but because it opens up additional areas.
Like bananas. If the bananas in your grocery store suddenly seem smaller, this will explain why.
Jason Chatfield, in his official capacity as president of the National Cartoonists Society, passed along this jaw-dropping look at the Manhattan apartment that Israeli cartoonist Ranan Lurie — who did the above collection of familiar faces — is selling for a mere $5 million.
Which link I was going to pass along, but when I went to find a link to his Expo ’67 story — in which he was summoned by secret message from an art exhibit in Montreal to return home and lead a tank squadron in the Six Days War — I came across this extensive and fascinating article about him from Ha’aretz, which I strongly endorse because there aren’t many people like him.
And it not only has a larger version of that illustration but some others.
Back when I was doing educational/newspaper stuff, I tried to work out a deal with Lurie to create a regular editorial cartooning publication for schools.
He had already started one himself, but testing it at a private school in Greenwich, Connecticut, gave him an unrealistic idea of what teachers could afford, and I wanted to do something not in full color on slick paper.
There was a paper in our chain near his Connecticut home, so I had our newspapers-in-education person there go over to Lurie’s house for a cup of coffee and some discussion on the topic.
Nothing came of it — getting a whole chain of newspapers to buy into any project involves a lot of cat-herding — but I did get a smile out of said NIE coordinator’s star-struck response to Ranan Lurie, she being a Jewish girl from Brooklyn and him being an Israeli artist and veteran of the struggle for independence and the Six Day War and someone with photos on the wall of him with every known famous and powerful person in the world.
He’s pretty damn impressive even to an Irish Catholic.
Granted, if I wanted to live in Manhattan, which I don’t, and if I needed that much light in my workplace, which I also don’t, I think I’d find the five-mill a little tough to come up with at the moment.
Ask me again when my stimulus check arrives.
But I’m glad he’s got it. I wish all cartoonists did that well, but, then again, I wish all cartoonists drew that well.
So go read those two things.
And here’s another complex drawing of lots of things, this one from the polar opposite end of the cartooning world.
Chelsea Saunders is a just-starting-out cartoonist, and a woman of color, neither of which descriptors apply to Ranan Lurie, and I’m also going to assume she doesn’t work in a $5 million well-lighted apartment in Manhattan, but perhaps that’s just my prejudice showing through.
In any case, she created this satiric piece showing the worst nightmares that rightwingers have about colleges, and, predictably, some rightwingers have saluted it as a good reflection of what them damn commies are up to.
It’s something you can enjoy right here, but in keeping with today’s theme of sending people elsewhere, here’s what I wrote when I met Chelsea at the Billy Ireland last year.
It’s worth a look. You’ll be seeing her again.
On a related note …
On my way home after meeting Chelsea Saunders at last fall’s AAEC convention, I popped up the four hours from Columbus to Jamestown, New York, to visit the National Comedy Center, which I wrote about here.
If you’re at the Billy Ireland, it’s worth tacking an extra day onto your trip, because it’s a fun place and an easy drive.
And you can enjoy some comedy tonight, as seen in that above illustration, at 8 pm EST this evening, by going to this address.
See you there.
Meanwhile, here’s a little more Sarah Cooper:
I’m sure I haven’t thought this through enough, but isn’t it likely that the wonderful Chelsea Saunders cartoon will be Archie Bunkered?
I look at those original inks in the full light of the windows, and I keep thinking they’re going to fade! Gorgeous place, but it wouldn’t hold my books. I’d love to put my grand piano in that corner, though.
As Mike said, and Common Dreams expands: “Cartoon of “Campus Seen Through the Eyes of Conservatives” Goes Viral Because Right-Wingers Didn’t Understand It Was Satire”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/11/cartoon-campus-seen-through-eyes-conservatives-goes-viral-because-right-wingers
Hate to have to say it, but there’s some truth to “The Campus.” I remember one of my Sociology professors claiming that, as a white man, I had no protection under the Civil Rights Act. Don’t get me started on how many times I was called a Nazi because of my last name, including by the aforementioned professor, who should have known better. Sadly, ignorance and prejudice are not the exclusive properties of the Far Right.
@phil— The thing is, everybody is in their own bubbles. College campuses (and sociology departments even more so) are these little self-contained ecosystems that bear very little resemblance to “the real world” — which is something that happens whenever you have an environment built around everyone having the same type of expertise. And even colleges aren’t monolithic—your experience with sociology prof’s would’ve probably been different than maybe in the biochemistry department.
I used to chafe around college liberals in undergrad—then I grew up and moved to a state where 90% of my elected officials, not to mention most of the local churches, print media, and radio stations seem to be the same shade of conservative and I STILL hear whining about how oppressed they feel by liberal academia. Let’s just say I don’t have that kind of sympathy anymore.
Sorry you had a bad experience in college. Fortunately you can throw a rock in any direction in this country and find an environment that will give you all the affirmation you require.
Weirdest thing: I was going to college until I graduated about two years ago, and I wasn’t seeing this ‘bubble’ that people who don’t go to college swear is there. I saw students with their eyes open, looking at a messed-up world and trying to figure what to do next.
No need to apologize, Mary. I am self-affirming enough to take it. I was simply making a point. I went back to school in my thirties, so I had more real-world experience than most of my classmates, and even a few of my professors, some of whom were younger than I. I agree whole-heartedly with your “bubble” concept. Too many in academia have spent so much time there that they no longer have any connection to society, perhaps even reality. I predicted the rise of the Far Right over 20 years ago, after taking a course on the origins of Nazi Germany. My professor thought I was nuts.
I don’t hate liberals. I used to consider myself one, until I found out I wasn’t “liberal enough” for the younger generation. I also understand your lack of sympathy for conservatives. After graduation, I moved to Florida, and discovered (the hard way) that
I wasn’t “conservative enough” for them. My problem is that the polarization has become so extreme, and so vitriolic, that I find it nearly impossible to participate in a society that is becoming increasingly rigid and narrow-minded. Glad I’m retired; I can sit and watch the madness from a distance.
As with the gun-totin’ sandwich eaters at Subway, the loudest SJWs do not represent a significant portion of the population. Admittedly, they can close down conversations because they’re in a smaller venue, but they are still not representative of much.
Oremus wrote an article for Medium that was published on April 2nd. There was quite a bit of push-back in the comments. People pointed out that the store shelves were bare of toilet paper well before most people were working from home, and that people who had checked with the industrial suppliers found that they were either out or limiting purchases.
In the long run Oremus may be right, but in the short term, his big takeaway, which was “I’m absolutely convinced that very little was triggered by hoarding,” was about as wrong as it is possible to be. It was absolutely triggered by hoarding.
People saw other people panic buying and that triggered more panic buying, as did the empty shelves. Now that all these people have closets full of toilet paper, suppliers are beginning to be able to meet demand.
https://marker.medium.com/what-everyones-getting-wrong-about-the-toilet-paper-shortage-c812e1358fe0
Interesting, and I’d agree that hoarding played a role, though the lack of supply magnified the impact and thus influenced the phenomenon.
Funny in those comments how many people focused on the “because you’re not in the office” portion rather than the “because they don’t make sufficient quantities” part. Not surprising, just same old same old — people see what they want to see.
And this discursion: If a Johnny Carson joke could trigger an artificial shortage of TP in 1973, why do ostensibly anti-Trump cartoonists insist that their jokes about “old Joe Biden” are harmless gags?