I first submitted a drawing to the Sacramento Bee in 1999, and up to 2004 with a series and essay: “Things to Worry About.” I also wrote about the “Pepper Spraying Cop:” memes and a visual in 2011. Starting with the “Me Too,” I self-published. This accelerated into the trump era. Now, in response to the threat to free speech and all the incredibly brilliant editorial cartoonists, I must contribute whatever I can. Between climate change and the assault on civil rights, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by worry.
The Cycles of Time, Published in the Sacramento Bee, Dec. 29, 2011
What if the Mayans are right? The Mayan calendar survives as evidence of what was a sophisticated society with a complex system of mathematics, science, astronomy and writing. The Mayans were obsessed with the concept of time and the repetition of cycles to explain their natural world, to predict and organize events and rituals. In their creation myths, humans were given memory as “bearers of respect,” to maintain the tenuous connections between earth, ancestors and heaven. Early Mesoamerican astronomers created a “count of days” that closely resembles our 365 day year. Stone ruins stand as silent testimony to their cosmic symbolism.
Though we’ve all been feeling apocalyptic, the Mayan calendar predicts an end to an era, a cycle of 5,128 years, not an apocalypse. Fueling our sense of doom, on the winter solstice of 2012, the sun will align with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in 26,000 years. Ancient astronomers didn’t have the science for that kind of prediction. So if a new cycle is beginning, let’s ask ourselves some questions.
Our language, like Mayan hieroglyphs, is symbolic and we have the same human desire for insight and understanding. Conjecture about apocalypse makes me pause, especially as a Cold War Boomer. What attributes symbolize our world today? Polarization, anger, frustration, loss, crisis and chaos? Are we going to spend 2012 fighting over who controls our contemporary democracy? Do we choose to perpetuate toxic antagonism? What keywords describe our current reality?
Whether it’s the end or a beginning, what attributes and symbols would we prefer to choose? How do we want to behave? What do we want to accomplish, as individuals, communities, as a society? Dialogue, pluralism, collaboration, integrity and justice? Can we turn our dark hovering cloud, our upside-down world right again?
