Beware The Ides of March!

Frank Mariani

Frank Mariani is seasoned (but young-at-heart) artist with over 40 years of experience in the visual arts. Like many of his colleagues, his roots go wayyyy back to childhood where his creativity revealed itself not just in art class, but in the margins and odd free spaces of notebooks, much to the chagrin (and sometimes scolding) of his teachers. When the muse strikes, the hand draws!

Frank Mariani

March 15, 2021

In 44 BC, March 15 became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar which made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history. More broadly, the Romans used it as a deadline for settling debts. At least that’s what the omniscient Wikipedia tells me. I’m here to make good with the first installment.

Image by Bogdan Radu from Pixabay

Remember the phrase “bump on a log” which referred to an impediment to progress? A bump, of course, keeps the log from rolling. I’ve created a figurative variant called a blog bump. Simply stated, while accumulating a variety of text snippets and images that I think would make interesting posts, I have failed to post ANYthing!

Today ends a 72 day absence from blog posts. Woo and Hoo.

As I approach the one year mark from my initial foray into the world of editorial cartooning, I’ve come to appreciate how difficult it is to walk a fine line where a subject an be presented—through attempted humor—that garners interest from opposing point of view. I don’t do this an a vehicle for my personal political beliefs; I’ll leave that to the hard-hitting columnists who are better informed than me. Rather, I give a topic the eyeball test and see what strikes me as an amusing angle. If hubris is a man on a see saw, then humor is the guy on the other end.

Image by yeTis from Pixabay

Finding the Edge

In trying to convey humor that’s “safe” one can end up with humor that’s “blah”. Considering that most comedy is the result of somebody’s misfortune and that misfortune is built into politics, there’s no shortage of fodder for the editorial cartoonist.

There is a fuzzy line that separates funny from fury in a reader’s mind depending on their sensitivities and inherent sense of humor. That’s the edge I try to find without crossing over because like a good chef’s knife, a cartoon can serve up a feast or cut you if poorly handled.

I’ve taken a few playful jabs at Governor Andrew Cuomo in recent weeks and intermittently throughout the past year. He become a globally recognized figure with daily Coronavirus updates that were first centered around a ravaged New York City and later centered on the hot issue of nursing home deaths. His facial recognition was right up there and even surpassing the celebrity of many national leaders. These were and are issues that have visited great pain upon many families, and I have tried to be careful with the images and words I cobble together.

In recent weeks, our beguiled Governor has been fighting an additional war on a new front, that being alleged sexual misconduct involving state employees. “Finally!”, I thought, a theme as old as humankind, gift wrapped by one of the more prominent figures in American politics if not the world. Surely the misfortunes of Andrew Cuomo could not go unexploited by the artist/writer cartoonist within me.

I thought my idea was a sure fire hit as I sent it to the Niagara Gazette and submitted here for your approval, voiced by my inner Rod Serling. Not no fast, I soon learned. Comedy is indeed in the mind of the beholder.

What’s your reaction? And why? Give me a black eye, a scolding, a laugh or any combination of the aforementioned. Comments can be left beneath the cartoon and I will review them behind the scenes. I’ll compare them to the editorial feedback I received and share that information soon. Your identity will be kept confidential.