".... It Became Significantly Less Charming When I Walked Inside."

".... It became significantly less charming when I walked inside."

700 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours and the airstrikes are more violent each night. Gaza's hospitals have fuel left for two more days. Israel only allowed aid into Gaza on the condition they didn't carry fuel. The Indonesian hospital has shut down already, because doctors have no supplies and no choice but to let the wounded die. They're calling it a collapse but the term doesn't do it justice.

Over a 100 incubator babies are at risk. There are 50.000 pregnant women in Gaza right now, and 5.500 due to give birth this month. Menstruating people are taking pills in order to stop their periods, because they do not have pads or water to maintain hygiene. Surgeons are operating without anesthesia. Water is not reaching Gazans because there's no electricity or fuel for water pumps.

There's no excuse for this. Israel justifies the airstrikes by saying they want to destroy Hamas infrastructure and release the hostages, but they have refused to negotiate for their release. Hamas informed Israel they wanted to release two elderly women without anything in return, and Israel refused. Netanyahu said they wouldn't take their own civilians back because it was "mendacious propaganda." When the hostages were finally released, Netanyahu prohibited the hospital from giving press releases. Yocheved Lifshitz went behind their backs and talked to the press anyway, saying she was treated very well by Hamas, but the government abandoned them. They're being used as straw men. Israel is conditioning the entry of fuel to the release of hostages and yet, according to The Wall Street Journal, when Hamas proposed to exchange 50 hostages for fuel they denied. IDF officials have said they fear the release of more hostages because that might withhold the order to their ground invasion. They do not care as long as they can use the hostages as a pretext for their slaughtering.

There's a turning tide for Palestine in public support. Support for Israel was built through decades of propaganda and we are making a dent into it. Zionists are desperate, holding zoom meetings to promote zionism, but we have to do so much more. We have to shame people in power into supporting the Palestinian cause.

Keep yourself updated and share Palestinian voices, looking to inform yourself from the sources. Palestinians have asked of us only that we share, tweet and post, over and over. Muna El-Kurd said every tweet is like a treasure to them, because their voices are repressed on social media and even on this very app. Make it your action item to share something about the Palestinian plight everyday. Here are some resources:

Al Jazeera

Anadolu Agency

Mondoweiss

Boycott Divest Sanction Movement

Palestinian Youth Movement

Mohammed El-Kurd (twitter / instagram)

Al-Shabaka (twitter / instagram)

Mariam Barghouti (twitter / instagram)

Muhammad Shehada (twitter)

Motaz Azaiza (instagram) - reporting directly from Gaza

Take action. You can participate in boycotts wherever you are in the world, through BDS guidelines. Right now, they are focusing on boycotting (don't be overwhelmed by gigantic boycott lists. Only boycott additional brands if you can):

Carrefour

HP

Puma

Sabra

Sodastream

Ahava cosmetics

Israeli fruits and vegetables

Push for a cultural boycott - pressure your favorite artist to speak out on Palestine and cancel any upcoming performances on occupied territory (Lorde cancelled her gig in Israel because of this. It works.)

If you can, participate in direct action or donate. Palestine Action works to shut down Israeli weapons factories in the UK and USA, and have successfully shut down one of their firms in London. Some of the activists are going on trial and are calling for mobilizing on court.

Call your representatives. The Labour Party in the UK had an emergency meeting after several councilors threatened to resign if they didn't condemn Israeli war crimes. Calling to show your complaints works, even more if you live in a country that funds genocide.

FOR PEOPLE IN THE USA: USCPR has developed this toolkit for calls

FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK: Friends of Al-Aqsa UK and Palestine Solidarity UK have made toolkits for calls and emails

FOR PEOPLE IN GERMANY: Here's a toolkit to contact your representatives by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN POLAND: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN DENMARK: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN SWEDEN: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA: Here's a toolkit by Stand With Palestine

FOR PEOPLE IN CANADA: Here's a toolkit by Indepent Jewish Voices for Canada

Join a protest. Here's a constantly updating list of protests:

Global calendar

USA calendar

Australia calendar

Here are upcoming events:

CANBERRA/NGUNNAWAL, AUSTRALIA – Wed Oct 25, 11 am, National Press Club. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyh1xy1BMrU/

OXFORD, ENGLAND – Wed Oct 25, 12:15 pm, Cornmarket. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CykroKeInz3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

SMITH COLLEGE (US) – Wed Oct 25, 12 pm, Chapin Lawn. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CymT8f5vnHN/?img_index=1

ST CATHERINES, ON ( CANADA) – Wed Oct 25, 6 pm, 61 Geneva St Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/889319005528757/

TORONTO, CANADA – Wed Oct 25, 5 pm, Sidney Smith Hall. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyjVbpGvva8/

SANT CUGAT, CATALONIA, SPAIN – Thurs Oct 26, 6 pm, Davant l’Ajuntament. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CynL834tgg9/?img_index=4

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Fri Oct 27, 7 pm, Federation Square. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyhyd0vhP8t/

LIVORNO, ITALY – Sat Oct 28, 2:30 pm, Piazza Cavour. Info https://www.instagram.com/p/CyiWJ06MXpM/

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (US) – Sat Oct 28, 1 pm, Lake Street and Minnehaha.

ROME, ITALY – Sat Oct 28, Rome. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyi7ey-MMs1/?img_index=1

ROME, ITALY – Sat Nov 4, Rome. Info TBA: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyndKUitnMU/

WASHINGTON, DC (USA) – Sat Nov 4, 12 pm, White House. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyiecRtr9-B/

Wollongong: Rally at Crown Street Mall Amphitheatre on 21 Oct at 1 PM

Melbourne: Blak and Palestinian Solidarity Rally at Victorian Parliament House Steps on 25 Oct at 6 PM

HOUSTON: Thursday, October 26th, 5:45PM, Rice University, Central Quad

VANCOUVER: OCT 28 at 2PM, Vancouver Art Gallery

KITCHENER: Wednesday October 25th at 5 PM at CBC Kitchener

SANTA ANA: 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701, October 25th at 5:30 pm

TORONTO: WED. OCT 25 at 7PM at Queen's Park

[CAR RALLY] WASHINGTON D.C: Wednesday 10/25 outside the US State Department on the 23rd Street side

Feel free to add more.

Was going to do comics, did this instead. At least it's art! I wanted to try a different digital painting technique here, which lets me paint like I'm doing traditional watercolors (light to dark, lighting first, etc.). I'm actually pretty happy with it! And yes, I DID get my reference from The Princess Bride, it's literally the only place I could think of with this specific sword pose.

"... She told me that David likes to go play around "The Old House" - an ominous name if ever I heard one. She also told me that the roads to the Old House had washed out long ago, and the safest way to reach it was through the woods on the east side of the manor.

Left out of this description was the mud, the giant rocks, the oddly thorny trees, and the spectacular lightning storm with 20 mph winds that kicked up the moment I set foot outside the house."

*************************************************

Heya, I still have a few pages left of this story, so I'll be continuing into November! Yay!

There are many things to say.

But really, everything can be said in one image.

Handala is a character that was created by Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali. Handala is a 10-year-old boy who is a refugee, most often drawn with his back to the viewer - representing how the world has turned their back on Palestine.

Naji al-Ali was a refugee. He was forced out of his home with his family at the age of 10 during the 1948 Palestinian expulsion - an incredibly violent and excruciating event that was central to the current-day displacement and persecution of Palestinians today. Naji al-Ali grew up in a refugee camp. He went on to join the Nationalist Arab Movement, but was expelled several times and finally left altogether.

He eventually found his voice with drawing political cartoons, which were widely distributed and read. He was forcefully detained in 1985 by Israeli forces during their invasion of Lebanon, but managed to get out. He then left the Middle East altogether and moved to London, where he lived until he was shot in the neck outside of the office of the newspaper he worked for. He fell into a coma and died shortly afterwards. His assassin was never officially found, although there were strong suspects.

Naji al-Ali never committed an act of violence against anyone. He spoke through his art. Handala was/is his most famous character. al-Ali described him as being drawn as a humanisation of Palestine - channelling himself as the 10-year-old boy who was violently forced to leave his home, poor, wearing worn clothes and no shoes.

In al-Ali's words: "Handala was born 10 years old and he will always be 10 years old. It was at that age that I left my homeland. When Handala returns, he will still be 10 years old, and then he will start growing up."

He also said that Handala would "reveal his face to the readers again only when Palestinian refugees return to their homeland."

(Just to be clear, I'm pulling all of my info and a fair bit of wording from Wikipedia here, but you can easily find this information corroborated all over the Internet.)

With the current attempt at blatant genocide being perpetuated by the Israeli government against the Palestinians once again, artists all over the world are showing their support for Palestine by drawing themselves with Handala, or their own version of Handala. I'm not Palestinian, or even Arab. I'm just a white girl from California who barely knows anything. But this - I can at least do this.

I don't often talk about my Ph.D here, because it's usually so difficult to describe in such a way that I can convey its importance. I joke all the time that I'm just getting a degree in comics, but the reality is, it's much, much, much more than that. Comics are, in my opinion, the oldest form of art there is. And the reason comics are viewed as being a "low" or "crude" form of art - sometimes to the degree that it's not even regarded as "art" at all - is that they're accessible. They're so easy to read. They're so easy to publish. They're so easy to understand. And this accessibility has been recognized by artists and political authorities. Comics have been used as weapons to perpetuate political agendas. And they've been used to protest that weaponization. They've been used to spread lies, and truth. Sometimes both at the same time.

Naji al-Ali used comics to tell his story, and the story of all Palestinians - a story that is, horrifyingly, still being hidden. I would implore all of you to read, and to watch, and to listen, and to give whatever you can, to help the people who have been hidden all this time by hateful words and violent agendas.

A while ago, I did a painting inspired by one of my favorite books, Uprooted (by Naomi Novik).

A few hours after I posted it, I decided I hated it.

So I started a new painting. And then put it aside and forgot about it. And then I found it again, and finally finished it, and here it is. I do not hate this painting, which is a major accomplishment for me! If you want a comparison, you can find the original painting a few posts back on my Instagram.