When the pandemic hit in 2020, I was working as an English language arts teacher at a charter school in NYC (shoutout to all teachers out there!). I was finishing up my Masters in teaching that year and thus still "learning the ropes" of the trade. From one week to the next, my school moved to online learning. Boom. Deal with it.

We remained remote for 1.5 years (the rest of that year and the following year). That was one of the toughest times in my life; generating new curricula and learning material, ensuring students were regularly attending class and engaged (while they were facing their own challenges) — the work was draining

.Additionally, the strategies I had previously developed to separate job and private life, i.e. work from play, had been upended. Looking after my 80-some students, I felt like I was carrying the world on my shoulders (see my recent reflections on public education). A lot of my cartoons are from this time, as you may have discerned.

When I start drawing, I'm not really thinking about relatability. I feel like that's approaching things backward; if I try to guess what others like, I'm left making stabs in the dark — that doesn't make me happy, and readers are left with generic, half-baked content. Instead, my cartoons are inspired by situations and challenges from everyday life. Depending on the day, getting up and (finally) sorting the laundry can feel like a heroic task. Right? In that sense, a lot of my drawings are based on self-observation. Especially during the pandemic, I got to spend a lot of time with myself — and thus with my thoughts.

Cartoons help me get my thoughts on paper. They also help me to make fun of myself — to not take myself too seriously. It is a cathartic process, really; (1) articulating exactly what the issue is, (2) finding a general way to express that idea visually, and (3) letting that visual run free, i.e. on the internet. If the cartoon captures something fundamentally "true" in a meaningful way, it might generate a response. At this point, I love reading the comments rolling in, hearing people make sense of an idea and relating from their own experience.

Whether the idea resonates with an audience (relatability) depends on a number of factors, I think. I try not to think about these too much. Instead, what I've found best is just to keep at it, to trust in the process — eat, draw, repeat. And to enjoy that process!

What has really helped me: I made a habit of doing a #drawingaday. Some years ago, I met someone who was doing that, and I was inspired. For almost three years, I've been able to maintain this pattern (with some exceptions). This has helped me generate a lot of material, to get my work out there, and to get better at the mental gymnastics that every cartoonist likely knows — and eventually comes to love, I trust.

The way I see it, a good cartoon will distill a general feeling or idea into an image — one that is so simple, yet so clear, that you go, "Yes, exactly!" Sometimes, it may touch on a difficult subject — perhaps because as a society or we as individuals consider it a taboo — and I think this is where the comedic element comes in. As a cartoonist, I feel a kinship with standup comedians, because their work, as far as I'm concerned, is very similar; the difference is they use words to paint their scenes. They embody characters and tell stories for us to imagine, laugh, reflect on ourselves — and society at large.

With technology making such rapid advancements, I think it's important to not lose sight of our values. For instance, smartphones are a wondrous innovation, but they can also feel like a curse sometimes. Diving into a Netflix series or exploring Instagram can be nice, but these services are also programmed to keep us engaged; a binge watching or a doom scrolling session is never far.

Today's abundance of audio-visual stimuli reminds me of the "Cave of Wonders" in Aladdin — so much glitter, so much gold, and a genie called Siri to grant me any wish. I am all-powerful! Cartoons bring these matters to our attention — in a non-invasive way, that invites us to reflect on our own habits and potentially make a change. Because self-awareness is often the first step towards making a change.

Technology is so pervasive, I feel it will always be a subject of my drawings. I mean, where would we be without our cell phones? Remember the last time your cell phone battery died? When this happens to me, I am reminded how much of society runs on iOS/Android by now — public transportation, payments, group communications, etc.

Besides technology, I also find myself also thinking a lot about social situations (i.e. dating) and work (i.e. corporate landscape, career paths, and work routines). I'd say those are my three largest "buckets" these days. Perhaps those are subject to change, the future will tell.