WEEK X

Global Panic? Guess I’ll Draw

I have gone 4 days without leaving my neighborhood block and I have since discovered that the only thing able to lure as many Midwesterners outside to stand on their driveways and yell across the street at one another as a tornado warning, is a pandemic.

As I sit at home and watch the news, it is easy to reflect on what I am doing during this global crisis. Inevitably, the spring of 2020 will be one of those moments about which people will ask me, “What were you doing when…?” I often ask my dad these kinds of questions regarding the Vietnam War or Moon Landing. His response is usually, “I don’t know, I was 5.” 

Unlike major events such as the 9/11 terror attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and Boston Marathon bombing, I cannot write off the Coronavirus as an event I am too young to remember well. The consequences of this pandemic are directly affecting my life. So, what am I doing right now, during an historic outbreak? Drawing cartoons. 

The cartoon is an oft overlooked but extremely important primary source. Cartoons give a look into popular culture and make news more palatable and engaging. Visual media in the form of drawings and images entices readers to engage with written media more closely. 

My group and I are taking this spirit into our History of the History Department project. As information is now limited, we must figure out how to create an exhibit with what we have already uncovered in the archives and what is available in Loyola’s digital archives. Therefore, we will put more effort into engagement and audience interaction. The goal is to excite the audience about broad, general topics so they will be motivated to learn more of the specific details awaiting all of us in the archives.

Though my weekly cartoons may seem to serve only as supplementary images and jokes, I see them as an indispensable part of my blog.

Cartoons are universal and may resonate with audiences for a variety of different reasons. My fellow classmates can most directly connect with the cartoon I have drawn for this week, but most college students will be able to relate to leaving behind a necessary part of their learning experience at campus, whether it be a library, lab, studio, or gym. Parents and teachers may look at this cartoon and understand that many students are legitimately upset to be leaving behind learning opportunities, and would rather be back at school than quarantined at home for the next five months. Everyone else hopefully can find some enjoyment and humor in the various mischievous facial expressions. 

My cartoons generally depict experiences that are personal or only directly apply to a small group of people, but their appeal is universal and encourages engagement. Cartoons have an infinitely important role in documenting personal experiences during historical moments. Perhaps high school students will be analyzing my cartoon on their AP US History exams 20 years from now.