child growing up in America I really
looked forward to Sundays aside from the
quirky tradition of purchasing lemon
filled doughnuts after our Sunday
grocery shopping or watching the reruns
of Saturday morning cartoons the Sunday
newspaper was a momentous occasion in my
family showing my age a little bit but
the internet was still in its early days
so families relied on newspapers and
radio and television stations to know
was going on in the world from the
upcoming weeks whether to newsworthy
conflicts and concerns but those were
trivial things and I didn’t really care
about that what I did care about was
getting my hands on the sunday funnies
page at the time the political
insinuations within many of the comic
strips I read were above my
understanding as an only child with a
large family my cousins and I relished
sharing the sunday funnies and other
comics like Calvin and Hobbes Garfield
and the peanuts simply because they were
hilarious and we could laugh at them
together inspired we told our own
stories what a beautiful concept that
was as I got older however I found that
these adult references were not only
something that I could understand but
they really spoke to me these political
out cries for justice and why they were
so controversial to their time and now
I’m able to join other chromic artists
who use their art to bring people
together you see art and community or
forms of expression they leave lasting
impressions that at times of peace are
the first to be taken for granted both
are always present in the background
always available until times of great
conflict or evil suddenly they come to
us as shining beacons in the darkness a
tell us where we belong
I’m a conflict resolution practitioner
by profession a comic artist by trade
and my background has taught me one
crucial lesson for both simply spouting
facts to prove a point
no matter how noble it is no matter how
important you think it is to the greater
community at large it doesn’t bring
people together it’s quite the opposite
actually
we are bombarded with information all
the time from people to things about we
read on the internet the things that we
see on television so much so that we
can’t hold it in together and we
experience what’s called information
overload and depending on how upsetting
it is depending on how much you really
care about it we experience compassion
fatigue so we have to be sneaky about it
use the way that we see the world into
the public eye and comics have a really
long and rich history in that regard the
first comic strips came around the time
of the printing press and yellow
journalism highlighting satire and
politics with images when literacy was
not as commonplace as it is today so no
matter your reading level you would
still be able to interpret what the
image was trying to convey in other
words comics can be community builders
makers and shakers without anyone being
the wiser
unfortunately the biggest misconception
about comics is that it’s low ground
entertainment for kids or for people who
refuse to see the world as it is in
reality comics is a complimentary art
form to tell compelling stories that
defines current events you could say
comics breathe life into stories which
are so readily sanitized by the written
or spoken word it provides a voice where
it’s too dangerous to do so out in the
open it informs a wide range audience
the realities of an issue they may not
be aware of and perhaps most importantly
it can empower the artists the
storyteller of images and words combined
that equally empowers and drives others
to act so I want to take a moment to try
something and I would like you to brace
yourself
let’s go back to my statement that mere
facts do not instill a call to action
you ready yes fantastic
in 2015 the National Geographic
estimated five and a quarter trillion
pieces of trash were littering our
oceans it’s been a few years right so
you can imagine that number has since
expanded but if that doesn’t really
speak to you let’s fast forward a few
years in 2017 the gun violence archive
verified 344 separate incidents of mass
shootings across the United States
that’s almost one every day to depress
you even further that same year the
missing migrants project reported two
thousand nine hundred eighty two
migrants seeking asylum died crossing
the Mediterranean yeah it’s pretty heavy
I can tell but let that sink in those
three facts are verified by legitimate
sources they’re extremely upsetting and
they’re true and something similar is
perhaps happening right now at this very
moment off the top of my head I can give
you names and locations of organizations
focusing on these specific issues never
mind
what else is going on in the world
because there’s a lot the amount of time
and money and additional resources they
need to potentially make a difference if
they can and if well reported because
sometimes it’s not the people or the
or I can give you stories comics worth a
thousand words representing a thousand
voices igniting a fire within us that
coming together working together being
together makes a difference to someone
somewhere comics are a way of defining a
point in history it’s a way to let
others know that there is someone out
there who is quite literally drawing a
line in the sand
creating satire and spreading
information that entertains you to
enlighten you and I use my conflict
resolution background to tell stories
like these not only to entertain you but
to educate and express things that are
really important to me
environmental activism migration LGBT
minority rights I use fiction to tell
very real in very somber stories with
alter egos and the characters that I
create there the Superman to my Clark
Kent the Miss Marvel to my Kamala Khan
the stupendous man to my Calvin comics
use fiction to speak truth entertaining
while making voices heard and driving
people to seek others who share similar
viewpoints on injustice and fairness
where a character tells another I’m
sorry it took so long for someone like
me coming around to help you with this
on camaraderie and isolation where a
newly made couple is reminded that no
one should tell you how to grieve and on
the power of choice and narrative where
at her darkest hour the heroine is
reminded that she’s not nothing and
you’re not alone art and community are
intricately linked the very aspect of
expression put on paper or online are
like tattoos permanently describing who
you are and what you stand for
Marshall said rapping the author of
Persepolis said it best I think all the
changes of the world come from words and
who’s to say that speech bubbles with
comic a typeface can’t do the same
because she did and perhaps many who
read comics simply do it for the fact of
beautiful art mixed with speech bubbles
to tell great stories there’s nothing
wrong with that there’s community
building in the simple act of a group of
cousins sharing the sunday funnies and
swapping the mini Calvin and Hobbes
books the grandparents had available
there’s community making in including
ethnic and religious minorities as
protagonists without stereotyping and
there’s community shaking and comics who
hold their fists up to politicians and
leaders who dare divide us comics are
for those starved by the lack of hope
aching for change a reminder that these
Illustrated and therefore viewing
justices are neither ok Norville ‘add at
times of great uncertainty art and
community make meaning they give us the
medium to determine where we belong and
throughout my life I can say that comics
did that for me
so no matter where you are in life I
guarantee that there is a comic telling
a story by someone who not only wants
you yes you to be understood by the
greater community at large but wants you
to feel validated and welcomed and like
a physical community it’s often just a
quick search away art is always present
whether in the Sunday newspaper or in a
comic book that a group of cousins share
together and I believe in its power to
bring us together thank you [Applause]