I wrote an article for the Washington Post, interviewing 7 cartoonists for The New Yorker about their thoughts on gender and their work drawing humor and drawing bodies…including their own!
I found what they said fasicnating, and I even drew small comics to highlight some of the artist’s ideas. Here are two samples:
For the third straight year, I have live-drawn Women’s Marches in Washington DC and New York City. This year, I took a train down for the day to Washington and drew my impressions of what I saw and felt. I made the trip in part for myself, because I wanted to see where the movement was and where it may be headed. (more of my thoughts here at CNN.com)
What I noticed immediately was that it seemed very well organized. Workers greeted us as we emerged from the Metro, giving us directions to the rally. It was really cold, and when I inquired as to if there was a coffee shop nearby, I was directed to a stationary “warming shuttle,” the purpose of which was solely to help people get warm. There were a million porta-potties, probably more than they needed. The music that was broadcast on a loudspeaker was fantastic, and when they played Aretha Franklin singing “Respect,” the crowd responded by breaking out in dance and song. It seemed like it was the anthem of the day.
There were some pink hats on the heads of marchers?—?I frankly didn’t expect to see any this year. What there were a lot of were signs. Signs of all kinds: about voting, the ERA, intense (and sometimes vulgar) anger at the president, pleas for kindness, equality, inclusiveness, equality, freedom. There were not as many humorous signs this year, but clearly more signs in general. As if people wanted to not only be seen, but heard.
The crowd was racially mixed, with a good handful of men and a few children. Marchers represented many generations as well. The speakers were very diverse, from all religions, races, gender definitions and sexual orientation. It was a friendly and passionate crowd.
The signs and the speakers addressed the controversy that has followed this march in recent months, in fact it was dealt with head-on. In general, that attitude was warm, friendly and there was a feeling of a desire to be inclusive and not hateful going forward.
Since there were women’s marches all over the world on the same day, I now believe that this movement is about grass roots organizing in individual communities. This is as it should be. The large marches are effective in bringing national attention to the need for equality and respect for women. But how to acheive that will have to be done on the local level in many cases.
Electing women to higher office and as heads of companies, along with changing legislation, is key . But each individual community has to decide for itself how to implement change at the local level.
As a cartoonist, it’s my job to observe society. I see what needs to be changed and understand that the lionshare of change has to happen on the personal level. Change comes one person at a time.
I arrived at the Women’s March in NYC around 10:30am and easily moved to the press area. There was a buzz of activity and musicians were onstage testing equipment. I had seen protesters—many with signs and pink hats—on the subway on my way to Columbus Circle, but the area was not crowded yet.
As soon as the program began, the area got very crowded. I was able to draw the first speakers, but soon was unable to draw anymore because it was too crowded. And it was freezing, my hand wouldn’t really function until it warmed up.
I left the stage area and after warming up in a cafe, began walking around. Columbus Circle was amass with people, most of whom appeared to be there for the march. Traffic was nowhere to be seen, and baracades attempted to keep people contained to certain areas. I overheard someone say the marchers were backed up to 84th street (Columbus Circle is at 59th). They were waiting for the marching to begin once the speaker part of the rally was over.
I wandered around somewhat aimlessly, looking for interesting subjects to draw. I stumbled on a table set-up for children to draw and write signs for the protest.
There were signs everywhere, and I tried to chose the ones that were more positive in nature. As I saw it, the march was about a variety of concerns: extreme disagreement with President Trump, hope and desire for women’s and girls’ rights, a call to get out the vote and a call to elect more women to public office. One woman just stood in the middle of the street and held her sign for a long time. Another group of young women expressed their strong feelings, chanting and holding their signs about the importance of diversity in the women’s movement.
A father had brought his two sons, and they posed for me. I had not seen any boys of any age, so I thanked these two for being there.
Some of the other signs I saw:
I started to walk south as the march began, following them at a distance because the police would not let us get close.
As I watched the marchers and drew them, I had the chance to hear a policeman standing next ot me answer quite a few questions from passers-by. He was patient and quite funny. To one questioner, he said,
“Are those angry people with pink hats bothering you?”
Eventually, I got closer to the marchers as they turned onto Central Park South. Sign carrying on-lookers stood on the rock wall in the park, across from my position on the sidewalk.
I enjoyed watching people watching the march, too. Sign carriers were asked to stop for photos, and people generally just hung out on the sidelines observing the mass of humanity marching down the street. Sometimes the marchers were thick in numbers and moved as if one unit. Other times it was thinner. It was fun to see doormen stand by their buildings on Central Park South, watching the marchers. One man was looking out the window and smiled broadly at me as the march reflected behind him in the window.
Around 45th Street, the marchers began to disperse, being told by police?—?there were a LOT of cops everywhere?—?to turn right and head towards Broadway. Everyone dutifully did, politely and quietly. As I headed that way too, I saw pink hatted protesters looking for food and drink. I saw them go into into pubs and coffee shops. Hot dog anyone?
Just as I left the area, I spotted a group of people looking down at the street, between several baricades arranged in a triangle. Apparently, marchers had been tossing their signs into the pile of signs. To be thrown away? Used again? Or perhaps saved in a museum.
Recently I was fortunate to be invited to attend a conference in Iceland. What a fascinating place. The conference was terrific also: called WE2015, the conference was founded by Halla Thomasdottir, a wonderful and powerful person whom I met when we both spoke at TED in 2010 (here is my talk about women and humor). The conference was a series of fascinating discussions about closing the gender gap, and the importance of including men in our fight for equality around the world. Geena Davis was the keynote speaker, and she could not have been more inspiring as she spoke about her Institute On Gender In Media. I live tweet drew the conference as well as some of Iceland. Statistics show that Iceland is the best country for women to live and work, and they celebrated their hundredth anniversary of women’s suffrage while I was there.
I wrote about my trip for NewYorker.com, which you can read here. The post includes more drawings that I did on my visit to this alluring country.
