Tag: cartoon

Rendering the Unspoken: My TED talk

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKdvdNU7AmU

Two weeks ago, I was fortunate to speak at a TEDx in the Bay Area of California, called TEDxBayAreaWomen (TEDxBAW). The conference was a day long gathering of men and women who spoke about the International Entrepreneurship of women, and I learned a lot about business and micro-finance and global trade. It was fascinating. I chose to speak about something that all women have in common: our bodies. As a cartoonist, I deal in bodies, and my thinking was that no one else at the conference would speak about this in the way I chose to. My talk begins humorously, personally, but then I take the audience into the more serious subject of freedom for women’s bodies. We may be doing amazing things around the world–and women are–but many of us are not able to truly be ourselves or truly succeed because of restrictions on our physical presence. I discuss the appropriation of our bodies by culture, but also the violence against our bodies. I hope you enjoy.

Drawing Bodies

I am excited to have the opportunity to do another TED talk, and to speak at the TEDxBAW event next week. I have been at work on my talk over several months–it is a long process to craft something using images and words into a coherent 18 minute message.  And know it so I don’t use notes.

The talk is about women’s bodies. Drawing bodies of all sorts and genders is my bread and butter; and in the talk, I explore many of the funny and serious issues that confront my own, and all women’s, embodiment.

The cartoon above is one from the talk. I also created a video, but cannot show it to you until the talk is delivered. Stay tuned!

 

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.

DSK: One More Tip of the Iceberg

Most weeks, I just do cartoons that are about life, culture and are sometimes indirectly political. However, there are issues in the news that I can’t ignore, like the one above. Since I do a weekly cartoon for Womens Enews, there are events I feel I have to do a cartoon on, particularly when it involves women’s rights. The above cartoon is appearing there now– as a daily web-based magazine, they post my cartoon right away. The New Yorker is a weekly, and they would most likely not run a cartoon like the one above, although I show them everything I do.

Maybe we need a magazine totally dedicated to the stupid things powerful men do.

Sarah, Michelle, and Newt

So we have two confirmed candidates in the Republican party, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. My first thought is, can we have a president named “Newt?”   I found it interesting that Mr. Gingrich, as advanced in age as he is, immediately sought to make his age a non-issue by announcing his candidacy on FB and youtube. He’s hip, we are to think.  At least his staff thinks they are.

What I look forward to seeing is what the little girls in the cartoon above are thinking. While I am not sympathetic to the Republican cause, I am nonetheless happy to see candidates who are women stand up strongly to candidates who are men. Plus, it would make great theater, don’t you think? Throw a little Trump in there, mix it up with a dash of Huckabee and garnish with Mitt. You might like it spiced with Jindal or Rudy. And, of course, Pawlenty on the side.

 

Being Worried Still

copyright Liza Donnelly and The New Yorker Magazine, 2002

 

This cartoon was published in The New Yorker in the months following September 11th, 2001. I think it’s appropriate to publish here again, with news of the death of Osama Bin Laden yesterday.  The little girl in this cartoon would be about eighteen now, and would probably still be worried today. New York City, and those who lost loved ones in the attacks on 9/11 may feel some relief, but the people who listened to and followed Bin Laden are still out there, hating Americans. President Obama is doing an a remarkable job to make our country new again, to work with our allies and the world to solve problems and rid the world of terrorism. But it’s not going to happen with the death of one individual, no matter how powerful he once was. Let’s hope the Arab Spring continues and combined with this news, we are one step closer to peace.