Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Keep your distance

As this is the week of Independence Day in the United States, I've been thinking about symbols of the Revolutionary War.

One of the most famous is the Gadsden flag — often referred to as the "Don't Tread On Me" flag. It was a flag used by the Continental Marines, and it has its roots in a political cartoon by Benjamin Franklin.

The symbol has been co-opted by several groups over the years, and in some contexts can be considered offensive or even racist.

It's not meant to be any of that here. It's just a reminder to wear your mask.

Monday, June 29, 2020

Sketchbook: Church and state

When the days blend together, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Line upon line upon line

You've gotta be careful when you wear those masks!

Friday, June 26, 2020

Fill the bowl

Sometimes the easiest way to get through the day is to keep doing the little things. 

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Supply and demand

Remember those old Mervyn's commercials where the gal would stand outside the closed store saying, "Open! Open! Open!"

There's been a lot of family history work done while we've been sheltering in place. With the temples mostly closed, nobody's been able to get in to do any temple work.

When they finally do open to proxy work, there are going to be a lot of people ready to go!

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Office days

Even though a lot of restrictions have been lifted, a lot of people are opting to keep working from home. I wonder why that is?

Monday, June 22, 2020

Sketchbook: An accounting

It's nice to start getting back to some normal operations at church. We're still a ways out from holding sacrament meetings, but at least we don't have to do everything by Zoom anymore!

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Every dad has his day

There were dinosaurs in the '70s and '80s, weren't there?

Happy Father's Day!

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Siblings: the nursery strikes back

I realized as I was coloring this that it's been a long time since I drew a cartoon that was set inside the church! And not only is this inside a church building, neither one of them is wearing a mask!

It's weird that that seems weird.

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Monday, June 15, 2020

Sketchbook: When a choice is placed before you

When I sketched this out, my thought was that left was opposite of right. But as I looked at it a second time, it occurred to me that some folks could misconstrue this as a political message.

Personally, I feel like the world has plenty of controversy in it right now, thank you very much! So this one is staying in the sketchbook!

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Missionary attire

Some of our local missionaries did a Facebook livestream the other night, and neither one of them was wearing a tie. I thought it was some sort of object lesson they were doing. No! They were piloting the updated missionary dress code! I think it's going to take a little getting used to...

Friday, June 12, 2020

Pomp and unusual circumstance

Congratulations to all the graduates of the Class of 2020! What a long, strange trip it's been!

Our local high school has tentatively scheduled some sort of graduation ceremony for sometime in August. By then, many student will be long gone to work, school or other commitments. How much interest there will be in going to a graduation ceremony is anybody's guess.

On one hand, I feel a little sorry for them — not having the big Pomp and Circumstance of a graduation ceremony in a packed auditorium. On the other hand, they don't have to go through a long graduation ceremony in a packed auditorium!

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

A light message

Some of our local sister missionaries livestreamed a lesson in which they used balloons to teach a series of object lessons. At first they were serious, but they got progressively sillier as the lesson went on. It was entertaining, and there was a good spirit in what they did.

The apartment sure was a mess when they were done, though!

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Lift up your voice

One thing that has impressed me during the "church at home" time is the creative ways that people have fulfilled their callings.

I've heard of Primary classes that organized singing and sharing time for their kids. I've seen virtual firesides. Our stake president sends out video messages.

I just read about a Young Mens group that were scheduled to go camping last week. That was canceled, so they held a virtual campfire instead.

Let's keep up the good work!

Monday, June 8, 2020

Sketchbook: A little political sidenote

It's been all over the news: Black Lives Matter. It stirs up a lot of emotions and uncomfortable conversations.

One metaphor that I liked was this one: a lifeguard's job is to make sure everyone at the swimming pool is safe. If someone is in trouble, that's where the attention goes.

Right now, a lot of blacks feel like not only are they in trouble in the pool, the lifeguard is helping to hold them under water.

This ought not to be.

For me, one of my goals is that people can see themselves in my cartoons. I make a conscious effort to include different ethnicities, different hair colors and different skin tones in my characters (like Sunday included black, white and green!). I promise to do a better job of that. It's not a huge thing, but it's something I can do. Another thing that we can all do is listen — and act on what we hear.

There are lots of experiences I could share that have brought home the importance of this to me. And yes, everyone matters. But right now we have a group of our spiritual siblings who are asking for help. We can't ignore them.

My bottom line: I believe that we're all children of our Heavenly Father, and we'd all be better off if we treated each other like it!

Sunday, June 7, 2020

And now, a word of thanks.

Cartoonist Rick Kirkman of Baby Blues fame came up with an idea to have cartoonists say thank you to the front line workers today. Cartoonists were asked to include six symbols to represent the people who have been on the front lines: a mask for medical professionals, a fork for food service workers, a shopping cart for grocers, an apple for teachers, a steering wheel for those in the transportation industry, and a microscope for the scientists and researchers trying to find a cure..

At the same time I got that news, I was studying in Come, Follow Me — about Alma and the mighty change of heart. Which evolved into this. It may be more of a Halloween-themed cartoon...but its heart is in the right place!


Saturday, June 6, 2020

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven

We got word this week that plans are in place that we can begin to return to church for our sacrament meetings...soon. Maybe this month, maybe next. Or who knows?

At the same time, we also received the news that General Conference will be a virtual experience again in October. What an interesting world!

Friday, June 5, 2020

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Our cooking experiments while we were in lock down went pretty well for the most part. We found a great alfredo recipe, and we made some good breads and some good soups.

Don't ask about the deconstructed cabbage rolls. At least the bread was good!

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Classy sounds

I have a friend whose kids are doing dance class via Zoom. I'm glad we're just doing French.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Follow the prophet. Really.

If y'all know Sis. Kerry Jo, you know she couldn't just sit quietly and let this pass. Everyone deserves respect — some people just don't know it yet!

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Transformers: Optimus furniture

One thing about having church at home, it gives a reason to keep some places just a little bit cleaner.

Monday, June 1, 2020

Sketchbook: Making amends

There was a period between Alma the Younger's conversion and their missionary labors. The scriptures say they spend their time trying to cure the ills that they had done. How did they go about doing that?