Illustration Friday: Phobia

There are so many phobias from which to choose for this week's topic... where to begin? I went to one of the many lists online... hundreds of things to be afraid of.

One stood out, though: politicophobia, or fear of politics/politicians. That got me thinking a step further... how about the politics of fear? There's been enough said about that in the last few weeks and months as we head into the election season. Does the administration and Fox News scare me? You betcha. It's working, Dubya.

Not letting the Democrats off easy, either, though. They've allowed the Republicans to give them a phobia of the L-word (and, no, I'm not talking about the TV show of the same name). No, God forbid that anyone allow themselves to be labeled 'liberal.' When did it become bad to be a liberal?

And then there is the American voting public at large. Do we have a collective fear of the voting booth? With only 55% of the eligible voting population showing up in the last presidential election, we deserve what we get. Those who can get their 'base' out win.

Even if it's a phobia that gets them out of the house.

Peace to you all, and let's not allow our phobias to get the better of us.

Illustration Friday: Change

Here's to that quick-change artist, Clark Kent (aka: Kal-El, 'Star-Child'). As I was drawing this, I was wondering, how the heck does he tuck that big ol' cape into his pants?

Peace to everyone, and don't change just for the sake of change.

Illustration Friday: Farm

In 1974 Papa and his sisters

Sold the farm, and we went
To live in town.

Great grandpa Claus and Grandpa Chris
Had driven cattle and coddled sheep,
Had threshed grain and sprouted beans

From the 1880s to the 1970s...
Our family was there
On the valley floor...

Through flood and drought, we were there.

My boyhood was there;
My adulthood was elsewhere.
Then I ran with my dogs;
Now I walk with my ghosts.

This afternoon I walked
My dog on a leash in this city.
And I, I feel the tether 'round my own neck.

-Twisselman, 2006

Peace to all, and keep the good memories alive.
Illustration is based on a photo from the Solomon D. Butcher Collection, Neb. State Hist. Soc.

Illustration Friday: Safe

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
-CS Lewis

Peace to all, and give someone special the combination.