There are so many plot twists going on right now that I am dizzy. The woods are on fire in the United States; revelry is happening on the streets of Nice; and skill extraordinary is on display in the mountains and flats of South Korea. When I turn on the television, I don’t know whether to watch U.S. news, the Olympics, or local news on Channel 15 – to say nothing about the various disasters going on in the rest of the world. Sometimes, I cannot take any of it so I watch something distracting, like “Vera” or “Silent Witness” on Netflix or my Eurobox. What can I do about any of it? Stop watching the news? Update my address on “Oversees Voter”? Exercise? I don’t know.
The activist part of me wants to watch the news, yell and scream on Facebook IN ALL CAPS, retweet posts on Twitter that work for me!! The athletic part of me wants to watch the Olympics – especially downhill skiing and all ice-skating events OR do stretches on the floor and go for a 4 mile nighttime walk by the Sea. The “interested in local events” part of me wants to go take 100s of photographs of the people, floats, and events of Carnival. The pacifist part of me wants several glasses of wine and to watch a good movie on Eurobox. None of this surprises me. In fact, I predicted it a year ago to a few people here and there.
What I AM doing – for the record, I am updating my Voter Registration data on the Overseas Voter website for the April election. And, continuing to collect cartoons (for some unknown reason). I have enjoyed satiric cartoons (also satiric plays, novels, poems) all my life. Tongue-in cheek. As a young girl, I read the Saturday Evening Post’s cartoons. I searched them out in New Yorker and Esquire. And, today, I save them when I see cartoons on Facebook. Read them on the covers and cartoons in Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical weekly magazine, browsing them in newsstands. So, today, I am posting cartoons that I have saved – without comment and in no particular order. In addition, I am posting a couple of Carnival pictures (Joyce Marshall, photographer) – without comment. You can draw your own conclusions.
Best, Jay
JAYSPEAK 