My birthday was this week (I’m a Sag queen, yes) so today we are celebrating with some fun old cartoons plus new commentary—also from me! It’s just you, me, and Dupree over here. Or Me, Myself and Irene? Whatever. Enjoy! Feel free to print these out as last minute gifts for an enemy / to throw darts at if I’m in fact your enemy.
Tis The Season
It’s really that time of year, where everyone you’ve dated/ghosted/fucked/loved comes a calling. Or, it’s really that time of year where we are the ones crawling back in the DMs of everyone we’ve ever dated/ghosted/fucked/loved. Ah, well. The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend…
Speaking of WoT (if you missed the dick ranking, here it is) this is me:
I’m At Capacity, Thanks:
I went to see what Frou Frou was up to—the absolute hold she had over us, god those songs are still so good—and wow, was I in for a surprise. Imogen Heap (Frou Frou) did create “the music of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two In Four Contemporary Suites” in 2018. There are 42 contemporary suites, to be precise. They are quite beautiful on a cursory listen, that voice still so haunting, but my god tell me you don’t think it’s unbelievably funny that Imogen Heap created something called Suite Two: McGonagall’s Office.
This One Happened To Me:
He was right, I am always up to something and am bird-like. I found/find it hilarious. He was hilarious! And a terrible, completely awful boyfriend. The end.
This One Also Happened To Me:
Must have been a really hot dog!
From My Book, Please Buy It
Read my book to learn more about how obsessed I am with the myth Pygmalion and how it helped me think about things, but also, are you familiar with the very specific Type of Guy who is a "photographer” and “just wants to shoot”? There are, obviously, normal and cool people amidst those types who do want those things and are good at them—but there’s something extremely weird to me about seeing those Types of Guys on dating apps because it fully blurs the boundaries between work / pleasure and I suspect that’s very intentional. The guys with the bios like, “looking for a model.” Pay someone, or have genuine relationships with people in your life where they would feel safe to be intimate in that way. Is what I feel about it.
Not About Rupi Kaur:
People loved to tell me that this cartoon (and most others) was about a specific person. I said, as I often did, that my work was about patterns, not people. If the shoe fits, etc. I would repeat a theorem I had come to develop: that my work, so specific and yet so uniform in appearance, functioned like a Rorschach, each viewer bringing to life a seemingly implicit meaning that though very real to them, had no bearing to my “intentions” in creating it. Which is how art and shit works, right. But the strange thing about making and sharing in our digital age is that viewer interpretation and meaning-making is not limited to the viewer and their experience, but shouted into a chamber where other viewers can agree/disagree, which in turn is bundled up and heavily projected back unto the creator, pigeon-holing them to adopt the correct stance, reverse-engineered, about why a thing was made, or about whom. Indignant, they would refuse to accept that perhaps the subject they had fixed in their minds as the only possible subject of such art may, in fact, not be as unique as they think. See also:
Choose Your Fighter:
The Check In (Also From My Book)
It’s true, I admit it, I’m a check-in queen, and sometimes this is to my detriment. Yeah yeah communication is great, and I value it deeply. But also…sometimes I just can’t stop bringing shit up, it’s like a compulsion, and I find myself wondering: are these people I’m with not capable of communicating the way I want or need, or am I asking for an absurd amount of emotional work, that not everyone wants or can do? It’s probably something in the middle, as it usually is, but I’ve been reflecting at the end of this year on the best ways to process things—when to do so alone, at what point to bring it to the other person, how much to ask of them in processing along with me, and what stuff is really my own shit I have to work out. It’s hard! I’m working on it!
In Theory I Am Open To Being Wrong (But I Am Always Right)
Lastly, one of the first awards I ever made, and one I firmly and undeniably made for myself. This picture is from around the time of the book release (2019) when these fancy ribbons got made (not by me) to help promote it. I love it so much.
Thank you for going on this meandering tour with me! I have lots of “meaty” newsletters cookin but I’ve been feeling quite reflective these last few months and am appreciating slowing down, being silly, letting big thoughts percolate, working on projects in other mediums, and letting myself truly disconnect from social media.
Excuse me while I put on my exit music:
Good day!
Shelby (and Clem)
lovely toons and takes. hope u had a good bday (from a dec 5 baby)
hbd!!