@Firoozeh Mozaffari/Cartooning for Peace

On 3 May 2012 I was honored to be present at the awards ceremony for the first International Prize of Cartooning for Peace. Kofi Annan, Honorary President of Cartooning for Peace and Pierre Maudet, Mayor of the City of Geneva,  Jean Plantu, cartoonist for Le Monde, and Patrick Chappatte, cartoonist for the International Herald Tribune presented  the prize to four Iranian artists, representing a new generation of  brave and talented artists. Their names are Firoozeh Mozafarri, Kianoush Ramenzani, Hassan Karimzadeh.

@Kianoush/Cartooning for Peace

@Mana Neyestani/Cartooning for Peace

@Hassan Karimzadeh/Cartooning for Peace

I was on the jury, and it was difficult to decide what cartoonist(s) should receive the prize. There are many artists working to help speak to freedom of the press. But in the end we chose these four artists for the beauty and strength of their work and their bravery in speaking out in the face of difficulties. I also believe that Firoozeh Mozafarri is representative of a voice of women journalists around the globe. A voice very much in need of being heard.

Winners: Kianoush, Firoozeh, Hassan (Mana was unable to attend)

For a slide show of photos of the ceremonies, please visit my blog: whendotheyservethewine.com

Last week was quite a week for the issue of women in the race for the President. It inspired me to draw the cartoon above.

Whether you want to call it a War on Women or not, the GOP is doing a lot to try to take away rights for women.  When I drew this cartoon, I actually had in mind that the little girl was asking her mother about whether or not she acted to fight against this war on women. But I see now it could be interpreted either way. No matter. Children hear the word war and interpret it any way they can.  It’s just sad we have to have such a word.

I didn’t draw any political cartoons last week. But if you think about it, everything is political. This dog talking is Santorum, and he’s saying what Mitt wishes Santorum would say. Go ahead, you get the ball. Its not my turn.

I am hoping there is a third dog named Obama who will rush in and beat him to it.

This is a cartoon from a few weeks ago, when the war against women in American politics was hot in the news. It has calmed down a bit, perhaps only because the media has a short attention span. But it’s still out there–some in the GOP want us to return to Mad Men days, when women were not really considered full fledged people.

I love Mad Men and I watched the new premier last night. The reason I like it is the characters, the story lines, the history. I do not want to return to those days (I was just a small child then). Yes, it is better now for women in the US in many respects. But you can see attitudes in Mad Men that persist (or have resurfaced), attitudes we are hearing from a certain faction of the GOP.  I look forward to seeing how the writers write Joan, Peggy and Betty as we move further into the 1960?s. I’m hoping there aren’t too many headbands.

I don’t think anyone has broached the subject. If newspapers totally disappear, how are we going to train the puppies? Forget that with the end of newspapers a lot of people will be out of a job: talented journalists, editors, photographers, cartoonists, delivery kids.  If newspapers do go out, I will certainly miss them. The local news, the spreading out of newsprint on the table.  But as the above cartoon depicts, I worry about the puppies, too.

Perhaps, with so many people buying so many ipads and ereaders now (over and over again with each new edition), we will have a surplus. If we don’t already. However, I just don’t think they will work as well as newspapers in this case. And, frankly,  in many other cases as well.

One thing I’ve learned as a parent is to not question your child’s reason for going to college. Maybe he wants to learn how to be snobby, maybe she aspires to be like President Obama (who in my humble opinion, is not a snob at all).   Reasons may start out as a desire for prestige, or a desire to fit in, or even a desire to get a job. She may not even know why she wants to go to college, that’s fine. But learning is never a bad thing, be it technical learning or book learning. It’s good for the person, and perhaps good for the country. But whatever the reason, when a large number in a population go to college, it’s a good thing, as this NYTimes op-ed piece by Thomas Friedman points out. And it should not be used as political grist in a presidential election.

Except it gives me more material for my cartoons…

Usually, my cartoons come out of ideas, not outrage.  But this time, I felt both, and felt I needed to say something about this trend of attacking women’s rights and health care. Ever since the last election, when the House turned red, some in the Republican party have been attempting to chip away at these issues. It just seems like we are going backwards, or rather we WOULD go backwards if some members of the right wing GOP had their way. Contraception?  Vaginal probes?  What next, feet binding? The Republican party is heading so far to the right that yesterday Maine Senator Olympia Snowe announced that she was going to call it quits. She can’t take it anymore.  I don’t blame her, it must be hard to be a moderate in her party. And, on that note, what’s new with Rick Santorum?

The economy is getting better, but it’s still tough out there.  Actually, that’s only what I’ve heard–I sit at my desk, pitching cartoons and trying to get illustration jobs. I rarely have to go in person and “perform” for work.  My cartoons do a lot of the performing, and that’s just fine with me.

I have started doing public speaking, however, and that kind of performing I really enjoy. Because I have my cartoons with me, projected behind me as my support system. And it’s absolutely wonderful to hear people laugh. It’s addictive. It’s something you do not hear in the quiet of your studio.

If you would like to see me “perform,”  to the right you can view two videos I did recently. And in fact today, I am shooting a video trailer for my book.  Wish me luck.

I just was listening to Rachel Maddow commentary on the fact that  last night the Newt Campaign released files on his work with Freddy-Mac.  But: they couldn’t find some of them. And apparently, there are no notes, records, written or otherwise, about what he actually did for them. Did the dog eat them?  What do we do with Newt, then? Do we give him another chance? Do we mark his grade down, do we call Callista and see what the truth is? None of this will work, sadly.

Simulataneously, I was looking through my files for a cartoon to post today.  I did this one last week with no obvious thought in mind of politics. But maybe subconsciously I was thinking about politics. I feel like we are in grade school with the GOP field. Doesn’t each of those guys remind you of some guy you hated in High School?

Newt, the know-it-all tubby creep who always seems to wear the same clothes and talks back to teachers;

Mitt, the awkward rich kid who thinks everyone loves him and who you catch looking in the mirror frequently,

Ron Paul, the nerd who won’t stop telling you all about stuff he thinks is important because he knows of no other way to talk to a girl,

Santorum, the religious nut who is looking for people to tattle on.

It would be fun, if it weren’t so scary. No, actually it is fun, I take that back.