Category: General

Look Day for Cartoonists at The New Yorker

Tuesday is “look day” at The New Yorker. That means cartoonists go in to the magazine on 42nd street, ride the elevator to the 20th floor and show their cartoons to the cartoon editor, Bob Mankoff. Mankoff may hold a few cartoons from each cartoonist to  take to a meeting with David Remnick later in the week. The two editors then decide our cartoon fate for the week.  Then, most of us go out to lunch at a great little restaurant in Times Square called Pergola.  This week was much the same except more cartoonists than usual showed up– I didn’t photograph as many as I wish I had. A documentary film is being made about our profession, and we just had to be there. They filmed us eating too. Doesn’t it sound like a fantastic film?

War On Women

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.

Ebooks and Bookshelves

We  actually have a lot of books in a lot of bookshelves; books that span generations in my family. I love seeing them there.  Having written some hardcover books, now, however,  I am writing an ebook. Since I enjoy social networking (and am told I have some sort of “presence” there), my agent suggested I do an ebook. Why not? It’s called Women on Men, and it’s all humor from women’s perspective, mostly about the other half,  and will be out in the next few weeks. I know some of you already know about it, as I have been promising the book’s arrival for a while. But e-publishing is so different than the regular publishing world (from my experience): things don’t necessarily go according to schedule.  But I do know it’s soon!

For those of us who still love seeing books in real bookshelves and not just those virtual ones on your ereader, and for those of us who love holding books:  my ebook will be print-on-demand, too.

Surging Huntsman

If I were a Republican, I would find Mr. Huntsman very attractive. It’s not news that he’s classically handsome, and if I were a Republican, I would find it difficult not to gravitate towards him. If only for his looks. What else is there to go on? Why not make a choice based on looks? Heck, at this stage of the game, they are all not telling the truth anyway.

The lukewarm attitude towards Mitt reminds me of a cartoon of mine that The New Yorker published in 1983. You can just insert Mitt Romney’s name in the fortune cookie caption.  It’s about the Democratic Presidential nominee Walter Mondale, and the cartoon reflects the tepid feelings towards Fritz by the Democratic party. I don’t recall there being such a circus back then as we have now, however. Also, parenthetically, this cartoon was my second sale to The New Yorker, and my first political cartoon for them.

Not My Idea of Fun

Hopefully, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain will come out and explain his behavior and the charges of sexual harassment, and we can move on.  And maybe he can move on. I realize we don’t know for sure who is telling the truth, but the numbers of women alleging this behavior makes it seem like there was a pattern on his part. My sense is the GOP wants him to go; it’s just his supporters–whoever they are–are  sending him money. Not to mention the wealthy Koch brothers organization.

In any event–sexual harassment is real for many, and needs to end. There, I’m done with my rant.