Wonderful piece, Betsy! My journey with pictures and words has been similar, and these recommendations of classics like Marjane Satrapi are so inspiring.
Jul 23, 2022·edited Jul 23, 2022Liked by Elizabeth Marro
Thanks for taking us into the world of graphic novels & memoir, Betsy. Have loved Roz Chast all those years of dedicated The New Yorker reading. My favorite graphic memoir (so far) is Alison Bechdel's "Fun Home." Also loved the musical created from it. Oh, all the ways we can express ourselves, including you in Spark.
Intriguing newsletter today. It made me think about my own love hate relationship with comics, and my ambivalence about my own artistic attempts. I used to draw ALL THE TIME as a kid and my favorite gift was always an empty sketch pad. I dont do any drawing beyond doodles now. Maybe because I'm married to such a talented artist? Or I think it's not important enough to draw simply for fun? Thanks for the inspiration to pick up my pencils again.
Jul 24, 2022·edited Jul 24, 2022Liked by Elizabeth Marro
Thank you, thank you for the shout-out! What a lovely surprise.
This post is such a wonderful read, and gives me new leads for my own TBR list. If you haven’t come across Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples,” I highly recommend—just gorgeously illustrated by Chris Riddell, and is thought-provoking retelling of a familiar fairytale. Gaiman is an incredible author.
ETA that Roz Chast creates amazing, beautiful, and hilarious pysankyeggs (see https://bit.ly/3S8w306) and is just plain an inspiration!
Roz Chast? YES. Her sensibilities, humor, world view and grand cartoons have been on my list of faves for years. I was recently gifted the A-Z book she made with Steve Martin. The letter "F" alone cracked me up and was worth the effort to read!
On each side people look at the empty land and wonder how they can make it theirs? Then someone has the bright idea that, because there is so much land, they can share it. ‘Oh no’ another person shouts. ‘Look at them! We can beat them and have ALL the land. Wait until they get to the middle, then we can take them. We kill all the men, followed by the females who resist and boy child’s. The girl childs we can make our own.’ In the event, nothing went as planned. During the night and all the next day, there was so much rain that the valley became flooded. The two groups turned their backs on the land and trekked away. It had been a close call. The land was safe, but for how long?
Here is where Winta's image leads me: She is the leader of the ground people but she is also an outcast, different in hue, different in spirit, always standing alone, apart from her people until one day, she feels a channel open from the sky like a tunnel of light. She senses she is no longer alone but never sees the figure looking down from her above, herself a leader and also an outcast, and also, perhaps a changeling like the woman on the ground. For five minutes, each stands in the channel of light, alone but together.
Wonderful piece, Betsy! My journey with pictures and words has been similar, and these recommendations of classics like Marjane Satrapi are so inspiring.
Thanks for taking us into the world of graphic novels & memoir, Betsy. Have loved Roz Chast all those years of dedicated The New Yorker reading. My favorite graphic memoir (so far) is Alison Bechdel's "Fun Home." Also loved the musical created from it. Oh, all the ways we can express ourselves, including you in Spark.
Intriguing newsletter today. It made me think about my own love hate relationship with comics, and my ambivalence about my own artistic attempts. I used to draw ALL THE TIME as a kid and my favorite gift was always an empty sketch pad. I dont do any drawing beyond doodles now. Maybe because I'm married to such a talented artist? Or I think it's not important enough to draw simply for fun? Thanks for the inspiration to pick up my pencils again.
Thank you, thank you for the shout-out! What a lovely surprise.
This post is such a wonderful read, and gives me new leads for my own TBR list. If you haven’t come across Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples,” I highly recommend—just gorgeously illustrated by Chris Riddell, and is thought-provoking retelling of a familiar fairytale. Gaiman is an incredible author.
ETA that Roz Chast creates amazing, beautiful, and hilarious pysankyeggs (see https://bit.ly/3S8w306) and is just plain an inspiration!
Roz Chast? YES. Her sensibilities, humor, world view and grand cartoons have been on my list of faves for years. I was recently gifted the A-Z book she made with Steve Martin. The letter "F" alone cracked me up and was worth the effort to read!
On each side people look at the empty land and wonder how they can make it theirs? Then someone has the bright idea that, because there is so much land, they can share it. ‘Oh no’ another person shouts. ‘Look at them! We can beat them and have ALL the land. Wait until they get to the middle, then we can take them. We kill all the men, followed by the females who resist and boy child’s. The girl childs we can make our own.’ In the event, nothing went as planned. During the night and all the next day, there was so much rain that the valley became flooded. The two groups turned their backs on the land and trekked away. It had been a close call. The land was safe, but for how long?
Here is where Winta's image leads me: She is the leader of the ground people but she is also an outcast, different in hue, different in spirit, always standing alone, apart from her people until one day, she feels a channel open from the sky like a tunnel of light. She senses she is no longer alone but never sees the figure looking down from her above, herself a leader and also an outcast, and also, perhaps a changeling like the woman on the ground. For five minutes, each stands in the channel of light, alone but together.