Linda Watson

Comic. In panel 1, a woman dreams of the statue of liberty while a city burns outside her windows. Liberty says "Arise, Alma! I am Lady Liberty, come to lead you in restoring peace and justice for all." Her cat sleeps at the foot of the bed. Panel 2: She wakes up abruptly. "Snork .. wha ... hun?" Her cat says "Mrreow?" Lady Liberty has disappeared in a poof. Outside, a moon shines on a calm scene of trees at night. Panel 3: The cat has poked his head under the bed, tail twitching, with a pair of bunny slippers next to him. The text says "Congress and the Democrats are MIA while the President attacks Venezuela, ICE shoots to kill, and the US leans in to sickness, ignorance, and climate disaster." Panel 4: The text says "We the People must save ourselves. Alma is standing on a city street holding a protest sign that says "ICE OUT! Healthcare not Warfare!" She doesn't look happy. She thinks "I'd rather be baking. A bunny in the grass says "Let's go, Grassroots!" An ICE agent in a balaclava walks in front of Alma and says "Fucking bitch!".

Latest Our Turning comic on the #ICEOUT protests and the state of our democracy. #comics #cat #protest #ice

Spiral comic with LOVE list at the center: Local, Low Waste, Organic, Vegan, Ethical, Sustainable, and Sober. The spiral starts blue for night, showing outdoor lights turning off at 10 pm and me sleeping on organic sheets with an old comforter. The spiral turns orange at dawn when I feed the cat and put her on the screened porch. I get dressed, wearing something old, something newish, something thrifted, something blueish. I go to the farmers market in an electric car, then plant in my wildlife garden. I send data for citizen-science projects. I send emails to an editor, the mayor, and a senator. I make and share tasty vegan food. The spiral turns yellow. My husband and I watch a nature special on TV. I think "Flight free is fine." My house has a reflective white roof and a heat pump. I volunteer for the Voter Protection Hotline, say "Yes! Let's go to the rally!", send out Linda's Handy Voting Guide, and send money to candidates. A group of people represent my garden club, the native plant society, and the Triangle Vegans group. My cat is next to me while I zoom online classes and with my sangha. I read library books and used books, plus new books and zines directly from artists, publishers, and local book stores. The spiral turns green for community, then blue for world. Scientists use my data. Publications and officials consider my emails as they choose content or action. Moths thrive in a dark landscape. Cows are happy I didn't eat them. Fewer cows means less methane, some farmers switch from raising animals to growing walnuts. The airport is not expanded. The power company doesn't need to use peaker plants. People go to protests and vote, feeling safe and informed. Comics make people laugh, think, and feel less alone. Triangle Vegfest, schools, libraries, bookstores, and zinefests flourish. Organic farming protects farming communities and the soil. Quote from Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell: What is any ocean but a number of drops. I must begin somewhere.

Did this in the Comix Activism class from @comicsworkshop.bsky.social. Prompt: three concentric circles showing your environmental actions and the effect on your community and the world. My spirals show I'm part of both. Still much to do, but glad to consider positive ripples. #comics #environment

Clear and useful poster that looks very official, wrapped up with that Beyoncé quote.

Thanks to @gailsimone.bsky.social for starting this juicy discussion. I'm learning so much and finding so many cartoonists to follow.

What's hard is drawing humans and putting in the right amount of practical information. Each strip links to a source site, so that provides more info for folks who want it. I'm happy if you just come to watch Mr. Smiggs get up to cat hijinks though.

It's fun to include cats, insects, frogs, and birds to say the serious stuff. Each human character is well-meaning but flawed, so there's lots of room for drama and exploration. I'm lucky to be studying at the @comicsworkshop.bsky.social with great mentors and other cartoonists.

Cartoon strip. Panel 1: A tabby cat balancing on a windowsill talks about Joanna Macy's vision of The Great Turning, away from the jaws of industrial growth and into the arms of life-supporting sustainability. Panel 2: The cat is on tall cabinet and says "Step One: Stop letting bad things get worse." He knocks a ball of hot-pink yarn off the cabinet and thinks "whoops." Panel three: The cat is on the floor in the sun, playing with the yarn. He says "Two: figure out the structural problems and come up with better solutions. Make those systems real however you can, from art to practice." Panel four: Cat sleeping by a bookcase, with Joanna Macy's book Active Hope on top of the stack. The cat says "Three: shift your consciousness for this new way of being. Remember rest and recovery are part of the Great Turning. So sayeth Joanna Macy." The mood is cheerful.

An Our Turning comic with four panels. Mood: funny and colorful. Panel 1: Two friends are in a wooded backyard. One says, "Alma, we can border this oak with Neville's rescued branches. As the leaves fall, we'll leave about six inches here as mulch. Caterpillars will shelter here, then turn into butterflies and birds." Panel 2: off panel, she continues "Less raking for you. No piles of slippery leaves in the street. Less work for yard-waste crews." We see a line of yard-waste trucks carrying leaves to a Mountain of Leaves. A man with a cap that says Solid Waste Manager says "We might finally have room to compost food scraps!" Panel 3: closeup of log. Willow says "Fungi start the party. Insects move in, such as roly-polies, fireflies, and emerald sweat bees." We see all those on the log, with the roly-polies singing "Rollin', rollin', rollin' down the old log." Panel 4: The closeup of the log continues, but it looks older. Willow says "Lizards and toads will live in the branches as they soften." A skink lizard says to a toad "Hey, that mosquito was mine!" The toad says "You snooze, you lose Skinky!"

I'm working on a hopepunk / solarpunk strip about a group who become friends while responding to the polycrisis. Various nonhumans chime in, like the cat Mr. Smiggs. Follow it @ourturning or www.ourturning.com Maybe next year this will be a weekly strip. Here are two of my favorites:

Following now! I love bugs and I love comics!

Panel 4: The cat purrs in the sun next to a bookcase with these books: Active Hope and Thinking Like a Mountain by Joanna Macy, plus The Sixth Extinction, A Plea for Animals, An Immense World, The Story of Upfront Carbon, Time to Stand Up, Fight Oligarchy, Under the Sky We Make, Walkaway, Peace in Every Step, The Overstory, Hidden Systems, Thinking in Systems, and Utopia for Realists. The cat says "Three: shift your consciousness for this new way of being. Remember rest and recovery are part of the Great Turning. So sayeth Joanna Macy."

Check out Alma's bookshelf from my strip Our Turning: Joanna Macy of course and @elizkolbert.bsky.social @edyong209.bsky.social @lloydalter.bsky.social @thanissara.bsky.social @sanders.senate.gov @kimberlynicholas.bsky.social @projectdrawdown.bsky.social @dan-nott.bsky.social @rutgerbregman.com

Comic: Mr Smiggs, a tabby cat, balances on a window ledge. He says "The big adventure of our time is the Great Turning, away from the jaws of industrial growth and into the arms of sustainability." Panel 2: The cat says "Step one: stop letting bad things get worse." He knocks a pink ball of yarn to the floor and thinks "whoops." Panel 3: The cat plays with yarn on the floor in the sun and says "Two: Figure out the structural problems and come up with better systems. May those systems real however you can, from art to practice." Panel 4: The cat purrs next to a bookcase with books by Joanna Macy and others, including her "Active Hope." Mr. Smiggs says "Three: shift your consciousness for this new way of being. Remember rest and recovery are part of the Great Turning. So sayeth Joanna Macy."

Speaking about my comic strip Our Turning at the Global Environmental Health LAB's 8th Int. Symposium for Sustainable Development Nov 14 9:15 pm EST. Then Maja Milkowska-Shibata will discuss "Comics for Global Goals: Visual Storytelling as a Tool for Awareness and Change." gehlab.org/symposium-2025

I'll buy your comic if you get published by @fieldmouse.press because I buy all their books! Please submit your riveting comics.

Terrific comic by Bryn Adams mixes having long Covid with the survival show Naked and Afraid. Good reminder of why I keep masking and update my vaccine next week. www.crucialcomix.com/comic/naked-... Thanks to @crucialcomix.bsky.social for publishing this! #zines #medicalcomics #longcovid

Yes. bsky.app/profile/gove...

Just saw your incredible segment on the PBS series Bugs that Rule the World. Riveting! Hope you'll post more on Bluesky. (For those who haven't seen it, check out episode 1 about 26 minutes in.)

Just realized that these are my 1499th and 1500th observations on @inaturalist.bsky.social #inaturalist

Female bullfrog in sun on stone pond edge. Her ear is the same size as her eye.

Male bullfrog also on stone pond edge, looking out into the water. His "ear" is bigger than his eye.

These are two American Bullfrogs sunning on the edge of my pond. We call them Binkette and Binkie. Notice the green "hubba hubba" faces. It's nearly time for the frogs to start singing and mating! #frogs #wildlifegardening

Thank you, Nancy! Your kindness means a lot!

Thank you for raising this important issue and protecting our votes!

Comic showing a couple explaining to their mother/mother-in-law, "We're sorry, but our bosses just demanded that we come back to the office in Seattle / DC even though they don't have enough desks or parking ... or hearts." The grandmother looks distressed. In the next panel, the grandmother says, "But you moved here to take care of me! And so little Freddy could have a yard and good schools!" Little Freddy says "What about my friends? And the team? And our basketball tickets?" The mom and dad say, "We're sorry." There is a dog and cat under the kitchen table, and a Home Sweet Home embroidery framed and askew on the wall behind them. Original cartoon by Linda Watson (me).

Relocation blues. Oh, the ripple effects we are about to see!

Just heartbreaking. And we are going to see / experience so many consequences of the New Cruelty ahead.

My "mom" was Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz (pre-Wicked).

Snow covers my wildlife garden, making the branches of the coastal redwood and the limbs of the dogwood stand out. In the foreground, a water feature with snow-covered rocks and carnivorous plants. Mood: early morning peace.

Sunny snow scene with a black dog racing down a sledding hill and several kids with snow saucers and sleds. Looks fun!

When the sun came up, the kids and dogs came out! I'm lucky to be able to see the neighborhood sledding street from my window.

Composed photo of a person (me) in a puffy magenta sleeping bag sleeping in a bright yellow closet. All you can see of the person is her hand on a white teddy bear on the closet shelf next to her. The closet is otherwise empty except for a set of keys on the shelf above and embroidered shoes below. Mood: mysterious and either bleak or cozy.

Mood, January 2025.

Cartoon of a lattice-work pie, with the stages of making a vegan Thanksgiving dinner on each square of crust, from thinking about the menu to making a seitan roast to being thankful with my husband after dinner.

Here's the true story of how I made Thanksgiving dinner.

Medium-sized woodpecker hanging on the the rim of a glass birdbath, looking up. The bird has a bright-red patch on the back of the head and beautiful black wings with white spots.

I've never seen a red-bellied woodpecker visit a birdbath like this before. What a beautiful world.