Bless You Red Baron

Freiherr Hermann von Richthofen, former ambassador to the UK from the Federal Republic of Germany, has died at the age of 87 after a short illness.

As the great nephew of the WW1 flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "the Red Baron", it was difficult for him to escape constant references to his famous relative, as well as the usual "We won the War" tropes.

Although I certainly grew up watching The Dam Busters and The Great Escape every 5 minutes on television, I also had a parent who loved Peanuts, and therefore knew all about Snoopy's exploits in the early days of aerial warfare.

Thus, when Ambassador von Richthofen arrived in London in 1989, my father found it very difficult to resist raising a fist and uttering the traditional cry, "Curse you Red Baron!" Von Richthofen graciously overlooked this, they became friends and, at the end of his posting, the ambassador bestowed the honour of Grosses Verdienstkreuz on the rabbi.

They remained in touch until my father's death in 2004 - I remember that he gave a speech at an intimate party in Potsdam in 2001 celebrating my parents 40th wedding anniversary.

If you can get past the paywall, there is a good analysis of von Richthofen's work in the UK in the Times here. My condolences to his family, may he rest in peace.

Drawing Inspirations

There are some dreams that are just that, a wish for something that will probably never be, but now and then one may procrastinate for a moment and think what if ...? And then there are those that one may actually try to reach, which involve drive and stamina, and practice. 

I've always been a bit lazy, and definitely afraid of doing things badly. When I was little, I wanted to be a cartoonist like Charles Schulz. I decorated my exercise books with wobbly Snoopys and Charlie Browns. I doodled. I doodled on my schoolwork so much that the History teacher suggested I should transfer to the Art department. Or away from the History department. I made cute cards for my friends. I created a character. But although he wandered in and out of my notebooks and diaries, I never explored his world. There are so many excuses. But the fact is, I did not put in the practice. 

A few years ago an ad led me to attend a JW3 Masterclass with Ariel Schrag.  Then a gift from my beloved L of the ticket to an evening with Alison Bechdel (who did not flee from my fangirl affection and had a serious chat with me) led me to Laydeez Do Comics and the wonderful Sarah Lightman. Sarah, who forbade me to buy her book until I could show her six months of drawings done every day, sent me to Graphic Medicine and their weekly Drawing Together online meetings which included, a couple of weeks ago, a class with Lynda Barry. 

The encouragement of these individual people, as well as the kind and enthusiastic members of the Drawing Together group, have given me wings. After Lynda's workshop I wanted to draw. In fact, while I was waiting to be let into the Zoom room, I looked at the holding page and sort of sketched her face (that's the first pic above). And after it was all over, I thought I'd have another go (2nd pic), and then another:

Ok, they probably all look like different people, but it was good practice to draw what I saw and see how that comes out (proportions need a LOT of work). And this next one I was quite pleased about:

There are a couple more, and I guess I will keep drawing Lyndas for a while. I'm using some screenshots from the video as a model. Meanwhile, I want to thank everyone for being so positive. It really helps me to be less afraid and draw more.

PS  Here's a link to Lynda's #DrawingTogetherGM class.

Drawing Together

Today was a day of work and drawing. There was joy for the hard work and great questions asked by my students taking their first steps in learning Hebrew. Then I joined the Graphic Medicine "Drawing Together" workshop for the first time. What a wonderfully safe place to do some drawing! We were given 10 minutes to draw 4 imaginary insects in 4 panels:

Then, in the next 10 minutes, we were invited to imagine a conversation between two of our insects:

Finally, we had a chance to show our work to the other (c. 45) people in the Zoom Room. Despite my current self-promotion, I find it makes me very anxious to let others see what I draw. It has felt a bit easier to share what I've done whilst under lockdown. Sending things out into the world when I remain safely in my bubble seems a little less scary! So I enjoyed what others had done and, right at the end of the session, held my page up to the camera. I hope to join the group again next week.

But the drawing wasn't over for the day. I checked Instagram (I'd posted a sweet photo of a flower in a friend's window box yesterday) and saw a short video showing how to draw Charlie Brown. So I thought I'd have a go.

NB when I was 11, the first Art task at SPGS was to paint a self portrait. Emptying our mother's flat, my sister recently came across that painting, lost for an unmentionable number of years:

That was the first version. And earlier this evening, this is what I managed to draw:

Hopefully the Snoopygrams Insta will offer guides to drawing the other characters also. I'll be keeping my eyes open. 

This was really a good day. I haven't even mentioned the wonderful Ayurvedic massage from L to help me recover from my little fall on Friday (everything's fine, poo poo poo, just a rather bruised dignity). It is important to remember the good days. Vi auguro una buona settimana.

Gentleman Gigi Loses It

Juventus goalie Buffon explains to referee Oliver that he does not agree with the last-minute penalty kick awarded to Real Madrid that might end his team's fantastic fight-back (Photo:  Getty Images)

My beloved L impressed me the other night when she mentioned that she had heard about a great football match that Roma had recently won. I asked her if she had also heard about the dramatic end to the Juventus - Real Madrid tie and she had not. Of course, I had to tell her all about it!

Whether or not you are a tifoso, the sheer drama of that evening was utterly intense. For a full match report, here is something from the Guardian. Suffice it to say that Juve were 0-3 down from the first leg in Italy. They came to the Bernabeu, surrounded by Madridniks, and against all odds fought back to level the aggregate score at 3-3. In the 3rd minute of added time, with the game seconds away from the extension of 30 minutes extra-time, the referee gave a penalty kick to Real. Of course, if they were to score, the game would end immediately, and Juve's fightback would be for nothing. 

L tells me that Gianluigi Buffon, one of the greatest goalkeepers ever to play the game, and coming to the end of an illustrious and successful career, also has the reputation of being a gentleman. She was shocked to hear how he responded in this moment of disaster.

In that moment, Gigi Buffon lost it. I don't think we know exactly what he said. Afterwards he apparently said that he meant every word. Huffpo published quotes including:

"Cosa ho detto all'arbitro? Avrei potuto dirgli qualsiasi cosa ma lui doveva avere la sensibilità per capire il disastro che stava facendo. Se non hai quella sensibilità devi stare in tribuna a mangiare le patatine e mandi qualcun altro perché significa che non riesci ad arbitrare queste gare. Uno che si comporta così, al posto del cuore, lo ripeto, ha un bidone dell'immondizia, perché è troppo eclatante."

With my limited Italian I understand this as not sharing the actual words he used at the time. Buffon basically says that if the ref doesn't have the sensitivity to get what a terrible thing he is doing, he shouldn't be a ref, and should go sit in the stand and eat some chips! Then comes the quote that has already become a meme throughout Italy - the referee has a dustbin instead of a heart!

So, Buffon was sent off, and thus denied his team their best chance of responding to the penalty. Juve had to bring on poor old Wojciech Szczesny to face Cristiano Ronaldo, the scorer of 40 goals in 37 appearances this season so far. Ronaldo buries the penalty. Real Madrid win. 

This is already so last week. Except today L, armed with her new calcio knowledge, greatly enjoyed the latest Snoopy cartoon:

Why would anyone leave the crusts on pizza? Surely they have a dustbin instead of a heart?!

If you find any other examples of this meme, do let me know, and I will link to them. I may also need to send them to the idiots who sent vile & angry texts to the referee's wife. For crying out loud!

Update - here are some Twitter examples of the meme (#BuffonDiceCose):

When Harry Met Sally
Oliver gets some chips
(my favourite so far) Buffonic version of Jane Austen
& finally:

a sweet cartoon of Gigi's mama taking him home after the game

Cartoon Heroes: Origins

Stuck at home recovering from the flu it crossed my mind to trace the family tree of my interest in cartoons and comic strips. It was always my dream as a child to have a career as a syndicated cartoonist. The minor obstacle to the fulfilment of that dream was that I'm not very good at drawing. Not that this is a definitive obstacle. The main reason has more to do with not putting in the time and effort, i.e., I created a character but did not develop his world.

The very first cartoons that I remember were Peanuts. Old paperback collections with crumbling yellow pages on my father's desk, and once a week in colour on the inside back page of the Observer Sunday magazine.

First Peanuts comic October 1950

Charlie Brown was hapless but loveable, Lucy was a smart and grumpy girl just like the women in my family, and Snoopy was so cool. Curse you Red Baron! I drew Snoopies and Charlie Browns all over my rough books at school. They've been with me all my life. My character - Pomme de Terre - is clearly related to that round-headed kid. When Charles M Schulz died in 2000, many cartoonists dedicated a strip to him. This one made me cry:

Those Sunday newspaper glossy magazines were the source of the other cartoons that got my attention as a pre-teen. Jules Feiffer was also published in the Observer magazine, although nearer the contents page at the front. I loved his spiky drawings. I was probably a bit full of myself for having such grown-up tastes.

Feiffer started out in the mid-1940's as an assistant to the Parent of graphic novels Mr Will Eisner, and got his first strip in the Village Voice in 1956.

Feiffer's coverage of US politics, and focus on President Richard M Nixon, coincided with my political awakening thanks to Bonnie & Henry teaching me about Watergate.

It also helped that Feiffer illustrated one of the greatest books of all time, i.e., The Phantom Tollbooth.

These were the cartoons with which I began. Otherwise, I was a Marvel comics fan, saving my pennies for the monthly import of The Fantastic Four, and regularly reading Spiderman, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and the Silver Surfer.

To this day Peanuts rules, even in reruns. The Observer stopped publishing Feiffer in 1978, but I got his book Tantrum (1979). It's considered by many to be one of the first graphic novels. And Neil Gaiman loved it also :-)

I'm Not a Cartoonist But ...

What did I want to be when I grew up? Easy - a syndicated cartoonist. My hero was Charles M Schulz, and I covered my schoolbooks with Snoopy and Charlie Brown. I even created my own character, a round baby in a romper suit called Pomme de Terre.

So nu, what happened? I guess it depends how you look at things. On the one hand, I've always been pretty sure that I'm not much good at drawing. I consoled myself with the knowledge that SJ Perelman began as a cartoonist, and eventually the captions grew, the drawings dropped out, and he became a writer. On the other hand, I never did put in the time needed to create and develop Pomme's world.

These days I'm coming up to 18 years since rabbinic ordination. As you can see from the pic, cartoons are occasionally part of my work. And now that I've found Laydeez do Comics, it has crossed my mind that it may still be possible to try drawing some more ...

Happy 2013 from the ravaj!

Whether or not you celebrate 1st January as a New Year, it's always good to have an opportunity to clear the decks and start over. If I were to reduce all my hopes and wishes and plans to one central thought, it would be to hold dear and close those I love.

with best wishes for a healthy and fulfilling 2013!