Palladium-Item, Richmond, Indiana, June 5, 1926

Clare Briggs

August 11, 1922 It Happens in the Best Regulated Families by Clare Briggs

You've heard of people griping about "these dumbass kids these days," now meet its more interesting (and true) sibling, "kids these days are a whole magnitude smarter than we were."

[ID: A balding man with mustache and spectacles leans back in his armchair, one hand holding open a magazine, the other ashing his cigar. The magazine is opened to an article titled, "My Job as a Father by Edgar Guest." A headline on the other page reads, "Be a Companion to Your Boy." /end] Father: A good idea. A VERY good article. I agree with Mr. Guest. We should take more interest in our sons.

[ID: The father puts his magazine down and eagerly greets his son, who stands with his hands in his pockets in front of his father's chair. /end] Father: Yes, Willie? Willie: I want to talk to you, Dad, about my radio.

[ID: The father puffs on his cigar and goes red in the face as the boy explains things. /end] Willie: A wire came off the variometer and I wondered if it fastened to the grid leak or the vario-coupler.

Willie: Buddy Guest said it would cause high frequency oscillations in the amplifier. Father: He DOES, does he!?

[ID: The boy goes on as the father, deeply embarrassed, tries to read the article further. /end] Willie: I think it would more likely affect the grid potential so as to get highest possible inductance in order to produce voltage amplification, don't you?

[ID: The father slinks down into his chair and buries his face in his magazine. Willie walks off, dejected. /end] Father: Yes, I think you're right. Willie: Ah-h-h...

The Democratic Genius of Clare Briggs

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Group portrait of Aboriginal women and girls knitting socks, jumpers, and balaclavas for the war effort at Cumeroogunga Government Mission, New South Wales (opposite Barmah, Victoria) on the Murray River. Identified, left to right, back row: Merle Morgan, June Morgan, Weeny Charles, Amy Briggs, Valda McGee, Edna Walker, Sheila Charles, Joan Charles, Elsie Cooper, Midge Walsh, Florry Walker. Front row: Joyce Atkinson, Clare Charles, Alma Charles, Ada Cooper, Nelly Davis?, Elizabeth Morgan, Lauraine Charles, Greta Cooper, Violet Charles, Wynnie Walker, Hilda Walker, Georgina Atkinson, Lydia Morgan, Reta Cooper, Maggie Weston. Photographer: Beatrice Austin, 1941. Source: Courtesy Australian War Memorial: P01562.001. 

Taken from the article "'The families were… too poor to send them parcels': the Provision of Comforts to Aboriginal Soldiers in the AIF in WWII" by Kristyn Harmon in the December 2015 issue of Aboriginal History.

Moving? Fortresses

I recently tracked down a copy of the Enrique Alcatena graphic novel Moving Fortress, published along with its sequel, Subterra, in the late eighties by 4Winds, a publishing company run by Tim Truman and Chuck Dixon. While Alcatena didn’t make a big name for himself in American comics, most of his work for DC was in collaboration with these two men, inking Truman on Hawkworld and drawing some Batman annuals Dixon wrote. I don’t know if that work really flatters his skill-set, reading these translated books, written by Ricardo Barreiro, it struck me that the work Alcatena is doing is that of a concept artist, taking pretty standard pulp plots (where a wanderer is forced to be a slave, than proves himself adept in battle to earn his freedom) and creating weird visuals so that the world becomes deeply fantastical. A lot of the story is carried by narration, while pages are built around strong weird images. These comics are cool, definitely, they are worth looking at if you are a fan of comic art. I’ve previously compared Alcatena’s art to Mat Brinkman’s, it’s easy to imagine an eighties D&D player looking over these pages, being influenced, but what Brinkman brings of himself to the table makes Multi-Force far superior work. Alcatena’s comics don’t evince much in the way of emotion from the reader, though they do stimulate the imagination such that they might envision a better comic.

Even though there are human figures running around the world of monsters, there is none of the attention paid to people and their body language that constitutes the subtle work of comics that’s considered the truly hard stuff to do. There’s a lot of attention paid to the ‘boring’ stuff of human gestures in alternative comics like Love And Rockets, as well as in the nineties Vertigo stuff that for a time set a standard of what was considered ‘good.’ In the eighties, the question of how to make good comics wasn’t yet a settled question. Catalan Communications was a going concern. Both DC and Marvel had their own series of “graphic novels” which were meant to be, in some way, more sophisticated than their monthly fare, a cut above, by working in a space aspiring to the European comics model. In recent months I’ve also ordered off Ebay the Pat Mills/Kevin O’Neill graphic novel Metalzoic and the the Alex Niño-drawn Space Clusters. Space Clusters, in particular, is a gorgeous science-fiction comic that’s pretty unsatisfying as a narrative, though every page is interesting in its use of color and layout. (Long-time Comics Journal writer Kenneth Smith put Space Clusters on a list of top ten comics contributed to a Hooded Utilitarian poll a few years back.) These are comics whose idea of a sophisticated comics reader is someone that reads Heavy Metal, whose idea of good comic art is Philippe Druillet.

In Eddie Campbell’s How To Be An Artist, he calls Druillet’s work “monstrosities,” citing more subtle work (I don’t remember what — Clare Briggs? Posy Simmonds?) as what people eventually realized was more worth looking at. At roughly around the same time, the early 2000’s, Tom Devlin edited a Highwater Books issue of The Comics Journal where he attacked the EC Comics tradition as inferior to early twentieth century comic strips like The Gumps. They were gesturing towards a literary sensibility beyond genre that still has populist appeal on the basis of its broad relatability. When (incoming TCJ print magazine editor) Austin English made a post arguing that a comics tradition going back to George Herriman has lost out to a a comics tradition going back to Milton Caniff, (former TCJ website editor) Dan Nadel was in the comments going “WTF are you talking about?” because if you see a line of influence from Herriman to Charles Schulz, that seeds all of alt-comics or anything attempting a poetic sensibility, whereas if you see Caniff’s influence going to Hal Foster, and then to EC Comics and Druillet — you can see the latter camp as having faded out, losing pretty decisively. (Even the people that make genre comics have learned you need to have quiet moments of people interacting if you want people to care at all about your characters.) And if you’re going to take a historical dialectical view of things, that’s probably the way to to go, because it makes sense as a narrative.

Still, it’s a frustrating argument to watch occur, because it’s two different people sorting large numbers of artists into different camps according to individual criteria of professed or perceived influence. I could argue these eighties graphic novels fall into the same camp as Lyonel Feininger: They’re real weird, and while they look great, my brain needs to do a great deal of work to make sense of them. While it’s visually engaging, part of my enjoyment stems from the thrill of the arcane, like I am doing archival work simply by possessing these comics, that immediate predate chronologically a paradigm shift that would make them obsolete. Dave Gibbons and David Mazzucchelli would teach DC an important lesson in how to tell a story visually that’s readable enough to be capable of literary affect. Manga would’ve been slowly trickling into the market at this point, largely being dismissed, and that presents a completely different way of making comics than what these comics are up to such that I imagine anyone who grew up on it would be lost looking at these things. These comics are fossils, dinosaur shit from right before the comet hit. They are playing a European comics game that’s post-Druillet, who’s arguably following in the footsteps of Hal Foster — creating comics I have never been able to read, and whose subject matter doesn’t seem like it would reward me if I could. But once you accept that the stories are nonsense, and just confront the art, they again begin to function as fantasy or science fiction, because they conjure a dream of what could be if things were completely different, if evolution had happened differently.

[image credits - Alcatena from Moving Fortess, Alcatena from Subterra, Alex Niño from Space Clusters, Kevin O’Neill from Metalzoic, Alex Niño from Space Clusters]

Friday 25 April 1834

6 55

11

two kisses last night fine F51 ½° at 7 am – breakfast at 8 - out with the workmen till 10 ½ then had Mr Bradley the architect to beg of coming on Monday – to come on Thursday - had written to Mr Taylor, the architect London for Gilpins’ address - dressed - off with Miss W- in her carriage at 11 ½ - drove to the vicarage – not home – Miss W- set me down at Throps while she called at Clare Hall (nobody at home) and on Mrs Bramley in Akeds road and I walked to Stoney Royde and sat 3/4 hour with Mrs Rawson 1st  time I have seen her since my return from Copenhagen – had not to wait at Throp’s on returning a moment – we then drove across the moor to Darcey Hey and sat 20 minutes with the bride Mrs John Edawrds – then to Pye-nest – nobody at home – then ¾ hour at Willow field Miss W- eating a sandwich – she set me down at the foot of the street and drove to Mill House while I walked to Haugh end and sat 55 minutes with Mrs Henry Priestley - Miss Prescott and Miss

SH:7/ML/E/17/0023

Alexander were there - Mrs Henry Priestley immediately introduced them – I bowed and took no more notice till by and by inquired after Mrs Prescott and Mrs Steward, the ladys’s mother and sister - Mr Henry Priestely at home and in the room all the time – a young man came in - the signal for my departure - Mrs H. P- walked with me as far as the turn-down across the field to Mill House – sat 1/2 hour at the Mill House with Mrs and Miss Emily Rawson - then in returning called on Mrs William Rawson  out  - and on Mr and Miss Mary Briggs – out – then sat 6 minutes with the invalid Miss (Catherine) Waterhouse at Wellhead – Mrs W- out - then at Whitleys – ordered things at Gregorys’ for Lidgate – some time at Miss Hebden’s - complimented then upon Charlotte Booth’s appearance - Miss Hebden just returned from Paris - told her how she might make her journey rather cheaper - told Lowe to come in the morning to alter Thomas’s clothes for James - left parasol at Metcalfe’s - saw unbleached Barnsley diaper at Walkers 34in. wide 1/. a yard 26 yards to the piece a farthing a yard abated on 5 price that might do to cover the studding of my dressing room - home at 6 50 – dinner at 7 25 – coffee - lost 2 hits and a gammon to 3 hits and a gammon – ¼ hour with my aunt (rather better tonight) and came to my room at 10 5 - fine but cold (out of the sun) day F54 ½° at 10 ½

Note to say meeting tomorrow evening of the proprietors of new museum about Leeds and constitution.

Faceclaim: Cassie Clare (The Witcher)

Fandom: Merlin

Love Interest: Morgause

Name: Elysia Bane

Myers Briggs Type: INTJ

Occupation: Alchemist

Quote: "The drive for revenge is more potent than any elixir."

Fic Title: Arcana

Plot Summary: Elysia Bane was banished from Camelot for her practice of alchemy, Uther declaring it a form of sorcery. So Elysia moved to the woods to continue pursuing her craft until she eventually went mad. Now she reappears in Camelot, seeking to make the Pendragon name nothing but a memory. When she discovers a witch who wishes to destroy the Pendragons and their legacy as well, she decides to make an alliance with her. Morgause views Elysia as a volatile ally at first, with her being so unpredictable, but Elysia has a kind of magic of her own, and it could be of great use to her.

If you are interested in writing Elysia's story, please comment, message or inbox me.

Pezzullo Pissing In Political Pockets

Michael Pezzullo, according to 60 Minutes, has been revealed as a Machiavellian character operating inside the halls of power in Canberra. Pezzullo pissing in political pockets in search of influence is operating well outside the remit of a member of the public service. The expose by Nine Fairfax investigative reporters shows him to be a right wing power broker rather than an apolitical appointment. The Home Affairs Secretary in his clandestine relationship with Liberal Party insider Scott Briggs has crossed the line repeatedly and consistently over many years. The trove of once encrypted messages now revealed should ring the death knell on his career. “The Age and 60 Minutes first revealed the series of texts between Pezzullo and Liberal powerbroker, Scott Briggs, in which the home affairs secretary disparaged senior Coalition ministers and advocated for a right winger to be minister responsible for his department. In a statement on Monday, the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, said: “I am aware of reporting regarding communications between Mr Michael Pezzullo and Mr Scott Briggs.” “ - (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/25/home-affairs-department-head-michael-pezzullo-referred-to-public-service-commissioner-over-leaked-texts)

Neoliberal champions who led us where we find ourselves - ripped off by our own economy!

Michael Pezzullo’s Text Messages Reveal Political Power Plays

The stench coming from Pezzullo’s promptings and covert campaigning within the Turnbull/Morrison Coalition government is pungent. This is another light on a very bad government. The disgraceful Robodebt debacle. Scott Morrison secretly making himself the Minister for everything. Sports rorts. Rape and sexual abuse allegations in parliament. The PwC tax scandal. The bodies are mounting up like our SAS unlawful killings in Afghanistan. Many of the bad actors like Stuart Robert, Alan Tudge, Marise Payne and Chistian Porter have already left the building.

Public Servants Behaving Badly Under Morrison

As an observer of the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison federal governments It is hard not to see it as a low watermark in recent Australian political history. A time where self-interest and aggrandisement were modelled and encouraged by the leaders of the day. A decade where the entrenched wealthy become much richer at the expense of fairness and equality within Australia. The Liberal Party  lost its way under the aegis of the leering Tony Abbott and the lying Scott Morrison. Morality and transparency became opaque. Jobs for the boys and a public service aggressively brown nosing its way to fulsome pay packets. Robodebt would cost tax payers $1.8 billion and several vulnerable Australians would lose their lives. Half a million Australians were wrongly accused of owing large amounts of money to Centrelink. The senior public servants in these departments were an absolute disgrace and should be prosecuted.

People like this man! Pezzullo Built His Home Affair's Fiefdom Michael Pezzullo lobbied for and created the Home Affairs department. He would become king of this castle under the Coalition. Pezzullo seemingly adored Dutton, during his time as the minister in charge. Pezzullo had a penchant for strong right wing types, it appears. He wanted Peter Dutton to replace Turnbull as PM, but settled for Scomo instead. He lobbied Scott Briggs tirelessly for what he wanted and there must have been plenty of back scratching in return – it would be interesting to examine his actions in light of this. This could well be a plumb case for the NACC. Corruption and inappropriate behaviours in the halls of power must be properly addressed in Australia. For too long we have been a bad joke in this regard. Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom. ©WordsForWeb

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Clare Briggs

July 28, 1922 Wonder What a Babe in Arms Thinks About by Clare Briggs

[ID: A man balances a baby in his arm while he holds onto the strap on the ceiling of a streetcar. /end] Caption: My Pop is taking me to a park on the street car and it's terrible hot and the car is crowded. And Pop has to hang on to a strap.

Caption: Gee, it makes me seasick. Why doesn't he stand still? He sways back and forth and sideways like ever'thing.

[ID: The man is jerked forward by the motion of the car. /end] Caption: My father swears pretty much. Guess he's kinda sore on account of havin' to hold me. He's havin' an awful serious time.

[ID: The man is pulled backwards, holding on desperately to the strap. /end] Caption: Whoa, we almost turned over that time... It's quite a rough trip, I'll tell the world.

[ID: He's jerked forwards again. /end] Caption: Pop is mad 'cause the car stops so much. Now we're going around a curve and Pop is grunting and muttering terrible, I can hear him plainly.

[ID: He turns around, still gripping the strap for dear life. /end] Caption: He tells me to hold on tight. Everybody for themselves from now on.

[ID: The baby clings around his father's neck as he grips the strap. /end] Caption: I've got a strangle hold on Dad, believe me! I guess he's chokin', 'cause I hear a queer rattle in his throat.

[ID: Father and baby happily exit the car and walk off. /end] Caption: Here we are off the street car and Dad and I are glad of it. He says, "Never again," but he said that before. He's a good natured man, my Pop is.

"Papa Love Mama?": The Quiet Desperation of Mr. and Mrs.

“Papa Love Mama?”: The Quiet Desperation of Mr. and Mrs.

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Money talks Clare Briggs on Getting a Raise January 27, 1926 https://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2029/06/clare-briggs-on-salary.html #ClareBriggs https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgw5jn3LmR5/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Clare Briggs in the Austin American-Statesman, Texas, October 5, 1923

October 14, 1908

#OnThisDay in @chicagocubs history ▸ The Cubs defeat the @detroittigers 2-0 to capture their second consecutive World Series—four games to one and, as this Clare Briggs comic portrays, take home home yet another pennant.

...unfortunately, as we all know, despite Briggs’ optimism, the 1908 World Series banner will be the Cubs’ last championship victory for 108 years...