Afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable

Here's a piece of mine for the Chronicle of Higher Education's Chronicle Review. This issue focused on an important subject:inequality. The article lists the ways that higher education hurts the poor and working class, and helps the elite:

It requires a subscription to read, but you can get to the article here. Thank you to my AD, Scott!

Rove versus Bannon

Here's a recent piece for The New Yorker, exploring the mutual animosity between Karl Rove, and Steve Bannon. Wow, that's like a contest between Jabba the Hutt, and a guy who goes around kicking puppies. Who do you root for?? Either way, like we used to say in school: FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Thank you to my A.D., Kara.

Can I get a material witness?

Real quick: this piece accompanied a story by Sarah Stillman on The New Yorker website yesterday, about material witnesses (victims, or witnesses of a crime, that are essential to the prosecution of the suspect). It details the way authorities around the country jail innocent victims of crimes in order to secure testimony from them. In some cases, material witnesses have been jailed for years.

It is due to an arcane statute, based on the rational reasoning that criminals should not go free because no one is available to testify against them. However, it is used overwhelmingly against minorities, the poor and homeless, and often times against victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Read the piece here. The sad part is just how many stories nowadays involving the criminal "justice" system in the U.S. can be described as Kafkaesque. From episodes like these, to Guantanamo Bay, to the story of Kalief Browder, to so many others. Thanks to my AD, Kara!

Breakin' up is hard to do

Received a good amount of real estate in  The New York Times over the weekend- on the front page of the Sunday Review section (likely the only kind of real estate I'll ever have in NYC). For a piece on Brexit, and two of the guys that have come to epitomize the two opposing sides: Tony Blair and Nigel Farage:

 This was a ton of fun to do, and a great honor to be on the front of the Sunday Review. Thank you to Jim and Alexandra!

TV casualty

Real quick, while I have a minute: here's another piece for Variety I did recently. It's for an article on a television studio that was hacked. They didn't have a draft of the story for me, but they had a concept ready to go, which made things easy.

I'll post a pic of the page if I get my hands on it. Thank you to my AD for this, Chuck!

My brain is hanging upside down

For the July/August issue of The Atlantic: having power, being in charge, can have the same effects as a traumatic brain injury; causing the person to act "more impulsive, less risk-aware, and, crucially, less adept at seeing things from other people's point of view."

Thank you to my AD on this, Paul!

You read my mind

For a book review in The New York Times of Fiona Maazel's third novel: A Little More Human.

Brainiac fiction- as the review calls it- about a man who can read minds, plus a whole lot of other stuff. Read the review, or better yet, read the book.

Thank you to the always wonderful Matt Dorfman, AD on this!

It's Greek to me

For a review in Variety on the new film by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos: The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

They wanted a conceptual image that evoked the tone of the "Greek Weird Wave" film, which is about a heart surgeon whose prior transgression results in him having to choose which member of his family will be sacrificed. The title refers to the Greek tale of King Agamemnon killing one of the deer that belonged to the Goddess, Artemis. He was then forced to murder his daughter Iphigenia to appease her.

Thank you so much to my AD on this, Allison!

Cut it out

I have an Op-Ed illustration in today's New York Times, for a piece listing the negative consequences of proposed budget cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The cuts (which would affect the National Marine Fisheries Service) will have devastating effects on the American fishing industry. It would also mean making it harder for people to be sure that the seafood they eat is safe, and legally harvested, among many other disastrous repercussions. 

Here's the page in print:

You can read the Op-Ed online here. Thank you to the awesome Jim Datz, my AD for this!

Sensational

I worked on this piece for Johns Hopkins Health Review a little while back. The article covers a revolutionary new prosthetic arm that was developed at the school. What makes this prosthesis so ground-breaking, is that it allows the amputee to actually feel the objects she touches:

By connecting the severed nerves in the upper arm to a "sensory cap" on the prosthesis, the feeling of touched is regained. Here's the whole spread

And you can see a great spot from Mitch Blunt on the facing page. Thank you so much to Pam, my AD!

AI-36

I was given word last week that two illustrations of mine will be in the American Illustration 36 show.
My piece "Emergency" from my Jesus' Son series was chosen to appear online in the AI-AP Archive:

And a piece I did for the Los Angeles Times on nonlinear storytelling in recent films was selected to be published in the annual hardcover book:

I'm very excited to have something in the show, and looking forward to seeing this year's book! Thank you to AI and the jury members!

Mayday

I worked on a quick piece for The Intercept recently, that's up now.  From the trove of documents provided by Edward Snowden is a report detailing the classified info that may have been obtained by China, after a collision between a Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet in 2001.

The Navy's EP-3E plane was badly damaged and needed to make an emergency landing on China's Hainan Island. Although the crew was blamed by many for allowing secrets to fall into the hands of the Chinese government, the report makes clear that higher-ups did not provide the crew with the training or equipment needed to destroy all sensitive material on board. A very interesting read, check it out here. I was very excited to hear from The Intercept, I've been a big fan since its inception. Thank you to Philipp, my AD for this.

Reconquista

Here's another New York Times Op-Ed, this one about an attempt to have the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo nullified. As you may or may not remember from your U.S. History class, that treaty allowed for the taking of almost half of Mexico's territory in 1848, which was turned into all or part of the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and even a bit of Wyoming.

It was in print in the International Edition of The Times, and online on the Spanish site. Thank you so much to Jim! Pueden leer el artículo en español aquí.

You're a loudmouth, baby

Just wanted to post this real quick: a recent Op-Ed piece from last Sunday's Los Angeles Times. The Op-Ed by Stephen Marche explores the phenomenon of "mansplaining", which he explains is a term used "to describe male domination of speech" (and coined in an essay by Rebecca Solnit).

Read the piece here, it's an interesting one. Thank you so much to the wonderful Wes Bausmith!

More NY Times Op-Eds!

I had a few more pieces for the NY Times Op-Ed over the last several days. This piece was slotted to run last Friday, but ended up going into yesterday's Sunday paper, where I was able to give it some color. For a piece on the outrageous financial costs (the moral costs are a given) associated with Trump's plan for a border wall, detention centers, deportations, etc.

This piece ran last week, looking at Trump's pick for National Security Advisor, General McMaster, and advising Trump to defer to the General's expertise.

This one is out today, for an editorial explaining that the one proposal Trump made during the campaign that could get support across the political spectrum- his infrastructure plan- is indefinitely on hold, and might not get off the ground for years, if ever.

Always a blast working on these super-quick turnaround pieces! Thank you to my AD on these three, Sarah!

Shine a light

This piece is in today's New York Times, for an Op-Ed recommending that congress look into various issues involving the Trump campaign/administration, if the Justice Department is too conflicted to do so. Listed are the Flynn firing, and the alleged contact between Russian Intelligence and Trump campaign members. They also threw in the various intelligence agencies' assertions about Russia trying to undermine the election (and whether Trump colluded in that respect) for good measure.

The web version:

The article describes Russia as a nation that "has tried to thwart American foreign policy since the Cold War," and demands info clarifying whether our new Prez is in cahoots with "an enemy." I wasn't aware that Russia is officially an enemy now. If it's due to the supposed attempt (or desire) to influence our election, I guess we have a lot of enemies around the world. Not because they've meddled in our elections, but because we've "meddled" in theirs. Like maybe Guatemala, Iran, Chile, Indonesia, Vietnam, and others where we either directly overthrew their governments, or supported the people that did. That's coups, to say nothing of plain old meddling or interfering, which we've engaged in dozens and dozens of times. And maybe if some of our foreign policy since the Cold War had been thwarted, those catastrophes wouldn't have happened. Along with many other catastrophes, like Iraq and Libya. It goes without saying (though I still will) that illustrators need not agree with every word in the articles they illustrate for. Investigation? Sure, why not? But I could do without the demonization that sounds an awful lot like a gin up for more interventionism. Anyone up for another round of regime change? Síganme, los malos! Meanwhile, those who decried leaks when they exposed Clinton campaign/DNC unseemliness are cheering on the Flynn leaks, while the Trump supporters giddy about leaks and whistle-blowing during the election are now crying foul. Who knew intellectual consistency was so hard to come by?
Thank you to Nathan, my AD.

Balancing act

This piece ran today in The New York Times. For an Op-Ed detailing just how much hangs in the balance, with regard to foreign policy in the Middle East (specifically, in this editorial's case, Israel and Iran.) And it's all in Trump's hands now:

Thank you to Nathan, my AD on this!

Twisting the night away

With apologies to M.C. Escher and Sam Cooke. This piece appeared in the L.A. Times Envelope section last week. For an article profiling a crop of new films that are challenging audiences with their unorthodox storytelling. Films like Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, and Nocturnal Animals are using twists, nonlinear narratives, and other unusual methods to tell a story.

Here's the page:

Read the article here. Thanks so much to Wes!

Four lives to live

I did this New York Times Book Review piece a couple weeks back, and it ran in yesterday's Sunday paper. For the new Paul Auster novel,
4 3 2 1:

The book follows the formative years of Archie Ferguson, through four, alternate, parallel lives. One of the few commonalities between all these lives: Amy Schneiderman. As Tom Perrotta's review remarks: "The multiple love stories of Ferguson and Amy- sometimes consummated, sometimes thwarted- form the heart of the novel and bring the strengths of Auster's peculiar narrative structure into sharp focus." Read the review here, or pick up a copy of the book. Thank you to Matt!