this is what concerns me

It’s been so long since I did one of these that I forgot to compensate for the Flickr wash-out with my watercolors, so it’s a little light ‘n bright. Two more on the drawing board, then I can finally get to some TIWCM updates.

Me: It’s like Chicken Fucking Little over here. I’m planting my seeds and sifting my flour and no one’s around til I’m done baking my bread.
My mom: Um, it’s the Little Red Hen, dear.
Me: Oh. Well. Whatever.
My mom: (laughter) Chicken Little was the one who said the sky is falling.
Me: Oh the Little Red Hen had a pessimistic kid and everyone was surprised??

This will be a comic when I’m done with the diaries I’m sure. Four more, so keep your pants on! I know I am!

Sorry for the lack of updates. This past week I was lucky enough to tag along with my father on a trip to Israel where he was on a State Department-sponsored speaking tour. I’m slowly posting the photos on my Flickr, and will be putting up the juicy action-packed diary comics I drew there as soon as I slap on some watercolor. Plus! New weekly This is What Concerns Me’s are sitting on my drawing table waiting to be scanned. Soon this blog will look like a normal one, so please don’t unsubscribe just yet. At least wait until I offend your political notions.

My father is on a U.S. State Department-arranged speaking/democracy propaganda tour of universities in China right now. This is what the Q&A was like:

Do your cartoons hurt your personal relationships with the politicians you draw?
No, I don’t have personal relationships with the people I draw.

Do you worry that your drawings will hurt the reputation of someone you have drawn?
No, if one of my cartoons hurts the reputation of a politician that I am criticizing, then I am pleased. (Sometimes the crowd murmurs when I say this. It doesn’t seem to be what they expect me to say.)

Do you ever draw cartoons that are supportive of China?
No, I don’t draw cartoons that support anything. I just criticize. Supportive cartoons are lousy cartoons.

Now that you have visited China, and have learned more about China, will you be drawing cartoons that support China?
Probably not.

He and my mom were supposed to head to Chengdu today but of course, post-quake, they were re-routed. Now they’re spending some extra time in Harbin, “the Moscow of China,” where they still have ample Internet access for IMing while I Google child prodigies — that is, until sight-seeing resumes after breakfast. “We’re going to the tiger sanctuary today, where visitors throw live chickens to the tigers.”

So I guess they’re having fun.