Roz Warren's Blog - Posts Tagged "cartoons"
Books, Cats and Love: The Cartooning Career of Stephanie Piro
“Cartooning is the best revenge,” jokes Stephanie Piro when I ask where her ideas come from. A marital spat with husband John or a stranger’s insensitive remark will quickly find its way into Piro’s “Fair Game” strip, or King Feature’s popular “Six Chix” feature, where Piro is the “Saturday Chick.” They may start with a gripe, but her cartoons end in a laugh. Piro knows how to turn the challenges women face each day into good funny cartoons. Of course, all of her comics don’t begin with a kvetch. Her humor is also inspired by her love of cats, dogs and books, the library job she loves, motherhood and her abiding interest in how men and women interact. The typical Piro character is strong, self-assured and witty. Feminist but deeply feminine, she’s attractive and loves wearing nice clothes, but she doesn’t put up with guff from anyone. Quick to stick up for herself (or for a friend) with a snappy remark, she can be acerbic, but she’s never unkind. She’s pushes back at the way our culture limits women, and has no problem complaining about the man in her life. (She usually has a good pal to confide in.) Most important, she knows how to have fun. Piro’s work is upbeat and positive. Her glass is more than half full. And although she’s been at this for decades, her work remains fresh and original. “I read a lot of magazines to stay on top of things,” she says. “I want to stay current.” Just living her life, the cartoonist says, provides her with plenty of material.
Born in Brooklyn. Piro has spent most of her adult life in rural New Hampshire, where she lives with her journalist husband and a fluctuating number of sassy cats. Her love of cartoons began when her mom used the “Peanuts“ cartoon strip to teach her to read. After attending Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, Piro worked hard to establish a cartooning career. Simpson’s creator Matt Groening gave her career advice. “He helped me find my audience,“ she says. In 1984, she started the Strip T’s Design Company to market T-shirts featuring cartoons about cats, dogs, books and dating. Her most popular design? The one in which a woman confides, “I like the concept of men. It‘s the reality I have problems with.” “That’s also the first cartoon I sold to Glamour Magazine,“ Piro recalls. Strip Ts and a Café Press site continue to sell Piro’s cartooned T shirts, mugs, and greeting cards, including special lines for book lovers and librarians. Piro also sells signed originals. “I store all the originals in Tupperware containers out in the barn,” she says.
Piro’s cartoons appear in magazines from “The Funny Times” to “The Chronicle of Higher Education“ and have been collected in three books (so far) “Men! Ha!” “Caffeinated Cartoons” and “My Cat Loves Me Naked.” (“You think I should lose a few pounds? My cat doesn’t think I’m fat! My cat loves me naked.“ )
Although she’s married to a man whose inventive wit in penning the local police blotter earned him nationwide coverage on NPR last year, Piro never shares work--in-progress with her husband. “We don’t always think the same things are funny,“ she says. “But he’s the first one I’ll show a finished cartoon to.“ She does a lot of redrafting before she‘s ready to show her work to anybody. “I go through a lot of paper,” she admits “But I do recycle.”
What makes her happy? Like her cartoons, Piro is positive and upbeat. “Almost everything makes me happy,” she says. “My library job. Checking in with my daughter Nico.” (She’s a librarian living in Washington D.C.) “My husband John cracks me up.” Most of all, Piro loves her work. “Nothing makes me happier than having the time to sit and write and draw,” she says. I love her work too, and I urge you to check it out.
(Note: This piece first appeared on www.womensvoicesforchange.org.)
Born in Brooklyn. Piro has spent most of her adult life in rural New Hampshire, where she lives with her journalist husband and a fluctuating number of sassy cats. Her love of cartoons began when her mom used the “Peanuts“ cartoon strip to teach her to read. After attending Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, Piro worked hard to establish a cartooning career. Simpson’s creator Matt Groening gave her career advice. “He helped me find my audience,“ she says. In 1984, she started the Strip T’s Design Company to market T-shirts featuring cartoons about cats, dogs, books and dating. Her most popular design? The one in which a woman confides, “I like the concept of men. It‘s the reality I have problems with.” “That’s also the first cartoon I sold to Glamour Magazine,“ Piro recalls. Strip Ts and a Café Press site continue to sell Piro’s cartooned T shirts, mugs, and greeting cards, including special lines for book lovers and librarians. Piro also sells signed originals. “I store all the originals in Tupperware containers out in the barn,” she says.
Piro’s cartoons appear in magazines from “The Funny Times” to “The Chronicle of Higher Education“ and have been collected in three books (so far) “Men! Ha!” “Caffeinated Cartoons” and “My Cat Loves Me Naked.” (“You think I should lose a few pounds? My cat doesn’t think I’m fat! My cat loves me naked.“ )
Although she’s married to a man whose inventive wit in penning the local police blotter earned him nationwide coverage on NPR last year, Piro never shares work--in-progress with her husband. “We don’t always think the same things are funny,“ she says. “But he’s the first one I’ll show a finished cartoon to.“ She does a lot of redrafting before she‘s ready to show her work to anybody. “I go through a lot of paper,” she admits “But I do recycle.”
What makes her happy? Like her cartoons, Piro is positive and upbeat. “Almost everything makes me happy,” she says. “My library job. Checking in with my daughter Nico.” (She’s a librarian living in Washington D.C.) “My husband John cracks me up.” Most of all, Piro loves her work. “Nothing makes me happier than having the time to sit and write and draw,” she says. I love her work too, and I urge you to check it out.
(Note: This piece first appeared on www.womensvoicesforchange.org.)
Roz Reads: When Do They Serve The Wine?
Every day at least one woman comes into the library where I work to put some serious, unreadable tome on reserve, sighing, “I’m probably going to hate it but I have to read it for my book group.” Why do book groups keep assigning books that people dread reading? Sure, these books deal with important issues and provoke interesting discussions. But a good, insightful humor book can accomplish that too -- and it’s so much more fun to read!
Next time your book group formulates its reading list, I suggest including Liza Donnelly’s WHEN DO THEY SERVE THE WINE? THE FOLLY, FLEXABILITY AND FUN OF BEING A WOMAN, an enjoyable, conversation-sparking read that addresses a very important topic -- what does it really mean, here and now, to be female? Donnelly, a staff cartoonist at the New Yorker, takes a sharp look at who we are and what is expected from us. (Everything!) The cartoons, grouped by decade, consider our lives from early childhood through old age, from “The First Kiss” to “Sex in Your Sixties,“ from Barbie to Vaginal Lubricant. Other topics include Cleavage, Hairstyles, Bad Dates, Menopause Basics and Advice for Michelle Obama.
If an overall theme emerges from Donnelly’s work, it’s that however young or old we are, a woman always has something to be anxious about. Our looks. Our popularity. Our achievements (or lack thereof). Our “rebellious body parts.” The humor, while sharply observed, is gentle. Donnelly won’t make you howl with laughter, but she’ll make you grin. Hers is the comedy of convention, addressing the gap between the expectations our gender imposes on is and our reality. The media’s influence on our sense of self is a favorite target. (Three woman watch television together. One asks: “Why do I get this vague notion that something is always expected of us?“) Another favorite topic is negotiating stereotypes (Two little girls are at play. One says to the other: “My doll can be the pretty one and yours can watch her.“) There’s also plenty of fun, empowering material. (A female divorce lawyer says to her client: “I’ll need to ask you a number of questions about your former husband, hereafter called ‘son-of-a-bitch.‘” )
Donnelly begins each section with a brief essay about the challenges and surprises the decade in question held for her. A picture emerges of a smart, savvy woman whose desire to be “nice” is at odds with her anger at what women often have to put up with. She’s resolved this conflict by being a people-pleaser who expresses cultural criticism through her art. The reader will be impressed by both her wit and her insight. Here’s her take on the way our looks change as we age:
“I threw out the scale years ago, and now I want to toss the mirror. But I don’t need to. Although it has taken me fifty years, I know who I am now, wrinkles and all. The mirror doesn’t lie, but it can’t tell me everything.”
Donnelly herself appears to have it all -- motherhood, a thriving career, and a loving “feminist husband“ (fellow New Yorker cartoonist Michael Maslin). But it’s impossible to resent her because she comes across as the kind of woman who’d make a great best friend. Funny as hell but kind and caring. You imagine that if you needed a shoulder to cry on, she’d drop everything to be there for you, find the right words to console you, bake you some fabulous cookies and even turn the whole thing into a cartoon that would give you perspective on the fact that your life ain’t really so bad.
Next time your Book Group chooses titles, why not add WHEN DO THEY SERVE THE WINE? to your reading list? On the day it comes up for discussion, bring along a bottle (or two) of good wine, and be prepared to talk about what we wish construction workers would really say, when it feels just great to be a bitch at work and whether or not a vibrator is the perfect bridal shower gift. If what follows isn’t one of the liveliest and most engaging discussions your group has ever had, find another book group.
(This review first appeared on www.womensvoicesforchange.org)
Next time your book group formulates its reading list, I suggest including Liza Donnelly’s WHEN DO THEY SERVE THE WINE? THE FOLLY, FLEXABILITY AND FUN OF BEING A WOMAN, an enjoyable, conversation-sparking read that addresses a very important topic -- what does it really mean, here and now, to be female? Donnelly, a staff cartoonist at the New Yorker, takes a sharp look at who we are and what is expected from us. (Everything!) The cartoons, grouped by decade, consider our lives from early childhood through old age, from “The First Kiss” to “Sex in Your Sixties,“ from Barbie to Vaginal Lubricant. Other topics include Cleavage, Hairstyles, Bad Dates, Menopause Basics and Advice for Michelle Obama.
If an overall theme emerges from Donnelly’s work, it’s that however young or old we are, a woman always has something to be anxious about. Our looks. Our popularity. Our achievements (or lack thereof). Our “rebellious body parts.” The humor, while sharply observed, is gentle. Donnelly won’t make you howl with laughter, but she’ll make you grin. Hers is the comedy of convention, addressing the gap between the expectations our gender imposes on is and our reality. The media’s influence on our sense of self is a favorite target. (Three woman watch television together. One asks: “Why do I get this vague notion that something is always expected of us?“) Another favorite topic is negotiating stereotypes (Two little girls are at play. One says to the other: “My doll can be the pretty one and yours can watch her.“) There’s also plenty of fun, empowering material. (A female divorce lawyer says to her client: “I’ll need to ask you a number of questions about your former husband, hereafter called ‘son-of-a-bitch.‘” )
Donnelly begins each section with a brief essay about the challenges and surprises the decade in question held for her. A picture emerges of a smart, savvy woman whose desire to be “nice” is at odds with her anger at what women often have to put up with. She’s resolved this conflict by being a people-pleaser who expresses cultural criticism through her art. The reader will be impressed by both her wit and her insight. Here’s her take on the way our looks change as we age:
“I threw out the scale years ago, and now I want to toss the mirror. But I don’t need to. Although it has taken me fifty years, I know who I am now, wrinkles and all. The mirror doesn’t lie, but it can’t tell me everything.”
Donnelly herself appears to have it all -- motherhood, a thriving career, and a loving “feminist husband“ (fellow New Yorker cartoonist Michael Maslin). But it’s impossible to resent her because she comes across as the kind of woman who’d make a great best friend. Funny as hell but kind and caring. You imagine that if you needed a shoulder to cry on, she’d drop everything to be there for you, find the right words to console you, bake you some fabulous cookies and even turn the whole thing into a cartoon that would give you perspective on the fact that your life ain’t really so bad.
Next time your Book Group chooses titles, why not add WHEN DO THEY SERVE THE WINE? to your reading list? On the day it comes up for discussion, bring along a bottle (or two) of good wine, and be prepared to talk about what we wish construction workers would really say, when it feels just great to be a bitch at work and whether or not a vibrator is the perfect bridal shower gift. If what follows isn’t one of the liveliest and most engaging discussions your group has ever had, find another book group.
(This review first appeared on www.womensvoicesforchange.org)
