Why Open Windows?

It's been 5 years since Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization

Some of you may wonder why my substack is called “Open Windows”. When I first started in 2022 I had planned to use this platform only to post my personal projects and creative interests, one of which was a mural created in the early days of the covid pandemic.

I had just moved to California to teach an editorial cartooning class for a semester when the world shut down and all courses went online. Since my planned stay was temporary I didn’t have much furniture or anything on my walls…so of course those blank spaces looked like a big, beautiful canvases to me. Like most people during that time I felt isolated and a little lonely so rather than draw my usual political subject matter, I decided to use the space to create something more personal. Looking at how my neighbors, my friends, and people online were dealing with their isolations, I created this:

I used what paper I had on hand, which was a roll of bristol measuring about 42” high.

Some individual windows

At the time I thought (or more accurately, hoped) that the pandemic would enable people to recognize how the arts connect all of us and are essential for our existence and humanity. And it did for a while with people rediscovering their creative selves through music, writing, painting, cooking, etc. It’s difficult for me to see that now but hope it will resurface after we get through the dark period we are in.