By Gary Martin
In times of stress it’s good to have coping mechanisms — whatever the cause. Perhaps I could have drawn Miss Liberty doing downward dog while eating a pizza or getting a massage, but I thought — why not make good use of that torch? Do what you gotta do to keep calm and carry on.
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Gary B. Martin is an illustrator and animator who has lived on the Upper West Side for over 30 years. His illustrations appear in the Rag on Sundays, chronicling life in the neighborhood, New York City, and the Universe. See them all here. For a broader range of Gary’s work, including animations and other motion graphics, please visit www.martoons.com
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Sigh. Our new reality.
For me, it’ll be Woodford Reserve and dark chocolate.
What is the “new reality”?
My favorite bourbon.
Hopefully Lady Liberty remains a beacon…thanks Gary. Also I’ll try edibles
Ha!!! Bring me your tired, your poor, your best sativa. This cartoon speaks for so many of us, more gently than we would.
But we are not in 1883 anymore. Immigration and the world in general have changed.
Whatever it takes Gary. Lady Liberty stood for hope for immigrants…..she’s pissed and so am I.
Or maybe she is just exhausted, since her city is scrambling to tend to an estimated undocumented population of 560,000…
Exactly!
As Sinatra used to sing, “I know how the lady in the harbor feels.”
Taking drugs is a good way to deal with problems? No wonder this city is in the state it is.
Lighten up!
Red wine. And a LOT of whining. Thanks as always Gary!
A nationwide Irish wake or sitting shiva for many of us. Getting some solace from Robert Reich’s substack post today. https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/tomorrow-will-be-a-terrible-day?r=sfh9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Oh boy! We all will Gary. Thanks for expressing what many of us are feeling.
Amazing how you think the last 4 years were ok.
Immigration legally is the way into this country. As in every other country.
Why don’t people just immigrate legally? Because the people who complain about illegal immigrants have made purposefully made legal immigration as difficult as possible (see this chart! https://reason.org/wp-content/uploads/files/a87d1550853898a9b306ef458f116079.pdf)
Yes as it should be. America is what it is because coming here is difficult, bringing the best. Otherwise you become like France with a welfare oriented immigration.
The NY Post stopped their nonstop anti-migrant coverage once the election was over. #youvebeenplayed
Is she smoking a
1. Spliff
2. Paper straw
3. A minuture baguette?
Yes.
Also a peppermint stick. It’s a sign of how stressed-out she is.
Some of us are feeling quite hopeful, as we look at whats already happening. We are watching some Israeli hostages be freed, and seeing the lines of people trying to get **back** over the border because yes, ICE is planning a lot starting tomorrow. My own family came through ellis island, right past lady liberty–that is to say, they did it legally.
Oh and they came here to work hard and assimilate. Not to sit around smoking a joint.
this comment by “Best Side” is so self-righteous. If his/her forebears came in the immigration surge of 1880-1920, as mine did, they have no idea how many came “legally”, and in fact what that even meant in those days. Some came through Ellis Island, and their names were taken off the boat manifests… often the wrong names. They were checked for lice and a few other diseases and that was about it. Then, if they were anything like my maternal great grandfather, they went back and forth multiple times, bringing new relatives each time: what the right wingers now dismissively call “chain migration.”
Further, a lot of people came in other ways, such as crossing the Canadian border, as my paternal grandfather did.
Assimilation often wasn’t on the agenda. My father was born in the US (Elizabeth, NJ) but didn’t speak a word of English until he went to the 1st grade. They all spoke Yiddish. This was quite common.
As for the dopey comment that the modern undocumented are “sitting around smoking joints”: do you actually KNOW any undocumented immigrants? they work super hard for very low wages and no workplace rights.
Does anyone even remember the recent pandemic? We cheered the “essential workers” every night at 7 PM. How many of those who kept the city going were undocumented? Start with almost all the delivery workers.
I would hope that those of us whose families immigrated not too long ago would have a higher degree of empathy for current immigrants. There were waves of anti-immigrant xenophobia back then, too. Give them a path to citizenship, not mass deportation.
Please stop making sense,
People get upset.
Yes! Let’s go back to the Ellis Island days when all you needed to immigrate legally was a boat ticket!
Best comment!
I truly hate this cartoon.
While drug users light up, non drug users choke on their second-hand drug smoke.
Please leave lady liberty out of your addiction world.
The normalization of casual drug use, which is damaging the brains of increasing numbers of children and teenagers, is appalling, not amusing or comforting.
Find a healthier way to deal with your stress. At the very least, please stick to edibles so the rest of us don’t have to breathe in your nasty miasma.
I was to going to post a comment along these lines, but you’ve said it better and more thoroughly than I could have. Thank you!
Please add me as a strong second to each of the points Anna has made.
Add me as a third.
My issue is the second-hand smoke.
How about a cartoon of Uncle Sam using the Constitution to light up a joint?
Anna, I’m with you.
God is good!
Love it
Amen
Don’t Bogart that joint my friend…
Right on point, Gary!
Preach Gary!
Cheer up. Things are going to drastically improve for NYC, whether or not you decide to give credit where it is due.
The edge is back! ❤️
Well said.
I think we’re all going to have to find our own coping mechanism. At least New York is enlightened enough to make that particular coping mechanism legal.
Don’t let the squares get you down, waking up in the morning is as good as they’ll feel all day
Be careful with red wine, chocolate, and other acidic things. Too much acidic food and/or drink can mess up your stomach and esophagus big time!
Will the media treat the new Potus with any respect?
What should they? He doesn’t treat them (or anyone else, for that matter) with any respect.
Ah, the stoners think more drugs cure derangement syndrome. Why am I not surprised…
Bill, Opoe, Peter, et, al. Do you ever drink alcohol? Asking for my lady liberty friend.
Here’s a question. Do some the commenters here not understand the difference between a cartoon and an op-ed? I am stunned by some of the literal reactions to something that is merely meant to represent a feeling, a sense of the zeitgeist many of us are experiencing. Half the country is stressed out right now. And this is how a cartoonist expresses that feeling.
This is a cartoon folks! Not an endorsement of using drugs!
Thank you. As I tell my friends on social media, not every post requires a soapbox.
Smoking weed is still a federal crime. But no worries, Biden can pardon Lady Liberty. He’s pardoned everyone else. What a joke. Rule of law my backside.
At least he didn’t pardon people who broke into the Capitol, beat up police and and tried to overturn an election. Or start his term by signing unconstitutional “executive orders.”
Get you through what – 4 more years of prosperity?
I can’t imagine anyone who won’t need SOMETHING to help them get through some aspect of the next four years. For some it may be alcohol or cannabis (both perfectly legal!); for others it may be prayer, mediation, or chanting; some may rely on counseling or therapy… for me it will be reading comic-books, playing Worldle (no, not a typo), and running. I would urge those upset by this week’s cartoon to breath a little deeper, ponder the meaning a little longer, and then do the think that will help YOU get by whatever issue and through the day. Thank you, Gary.
Thank you!
Gary and the rest of you guys need to let it go and move on with your “trauma”… You guys are getting annoying. Stop acting like poor victims that will see their everyday life turned upside down! Enough! Quit the never ending UWS virtue signaling!
That explains the smell.
Let’s just hope they don’t rename the statue with that of Confederate general
Thanks, Gary. We’re all looking for our own personal survival hacks…
Go, Gary!