Comic for the New York Times, September 2009
By the fall of 2009, the swine flu pandemic had been raging for a few months. Unlike most flu outbreaks, this one struck down the healthy and infirm alike. People began wearing masks, avoided close contact with others, and some people refused to shake hands. The Times asked me to do a piece about this phenomenon to accompany an article. I remember that the Times fact checkers and editors had a hard time with the term "Bro-Hug", and wondered if it shouldn't be changed to "Brother Hug". Luckily, I was able to convince them.
Soon after this piece ran, I was received an email with the subject line "Greetings in the swine flu era". It read:
Mr MacDonald,
I read with interest the recent NYT article by Sewell Chan on the changes in greetings brought on by the swine flu. It’s an interesting workplace issue. We have a quarantine program for astronauts prior to space missions, so that they don’t get sick and jeopardize the mission. One mission in the past had to be delayed because of the flu. We are updating our quarantine program, emphasizing the educational aspects along as the visitation restriction. I’d really like to change our culture of handshakes and hugs prior to launch, but it’s hard to get people to buy in to the change. Your illustrations of the contagion risk of different greetings is really nice. I’d like to ask if we could use the illustrations in our educational briefing. I think they will make a difference in getting people to swap out handshakes for elbow bumps and hand knocks.
Thank you for your consideration
Regards,
Jim Locke
It's hard not to agree with George Orwell, who said that "Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket".
I was asked by a small magazine to do a full page illustration to accompany an essay on advertising. They had a minuscule budget, but said I could do anything I wanted - they didn't even need to see a sketch. At the time, I was alarmed by all the ads for "male enhancement" that were suddenly seemingly everywhere. They would often come blaring from the car radio as I drove my kids to nursery school. Was this some kind of new epidemic? Was I next?? Then I remembered that one of the aims of advertising is to convince people that they need to buy the cure for ailments they don't have.
This piece ran in the magazine, and then it quietly disappeared, never publishing another issue. I like to think I had a little to do with that...
for Virginia Quarterly Review, 2008
Editor: Ted Genoways
for Virginia Quarterly Review, 2008
Editor: Ted Genoways
Virginia Quarterly Review
Editor: Ted Genoways
It seems like you don't hear as much about so-called Intelligent Design as you used to. Ten years ago, its proponents were doing their damnedest to get us all to take this half-witted postulate seriously, and to cram it down every school kid's throat.
I always felt like much of the evidence pointed in the other direction...
Comic for Virginia Quarterly Review.
Editor: Ted Genoways
for Virginia Quarterly Review, 2006
Editor: Ted Genoways
for Virginia Quarterly Review, 2006
Editor: Ted Genoways
for Virginia Quarterly Review, 2006
Editor: Ted Genoways
for Virginia Quarterly Review, 2005
Editor: Ted Genoways
New York Times, Op Ed page
late 90s to early 2000s
New York Times, Business Section
2005
Comics for Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, 2000 - 2002
Art director: Cynthia Currie
Worth Magazine, 2001
New York Times, Real Estate section
December 2011
Los Angeles magazine
2005
Art Director: Joe Kimberling
