BLACK FRIDAY 2014

Black Friday is here! If you're a cartoonist what better subject is there than this?

I have yet to see a photograph that adequately covers the subject.

Cartoonists OWN this holiday.

Photos can't do justice to it. What photographer has captured the essence of the crowded escalator?

None! That's the domain of cartoonists!

I'd have loved to have seen this kind of crowd for myself but I couldn't find a friend who'd do it with me, and I didn't want to go alone. I didn't want to shop, I just wanted to see the crowd.




When I watch videos like this one (above) I'm amazed at how many people mill around in a stupor. They seem to be anesthetized by the unfamiliar sights and sounds. It's funny to see the same super charged people who trampled old ladies to get into the store now mill about aimlessly, not knowing what to do next. That must be frustrating for goal oriented people who know exactly where they want to go and feel they have to push others aside to get anywhere at all.

On other videos I notice that nobody in the crowd can take big strides...there's no room...so everybody walks in little bird steps. Tiny steps and a forward inclination make you unstable so you tend to lean on the person infront of you with the result that they lean on the person infront of them. Eventually someone tries to break out by insinuating himself between two other people who are then forced to the sides and have to battle their way to the center again. Fascinating, eh?

BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPERS

 How was Thanksgiving? Get enough turkey? Yeah, Thanks to Milt and Katie I did, too. I could hardly stand.


How about Black Friday? Get any bargains?

Yikes!

I stayed away from the stores on Friday, and greatly regretted it by the time night fell.

After all, it's our job as cartoonists to personally witness things like this. We should be in the thick of it, sketching ideas and impressions and getting photos.

There was humanity in the raw, and where was I? I was listening to records at Mike's house.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd don an old lady wig, grab the zebra-striped handbag I bought at the 99 cent store, and wade into the Black Friday crowd bashing people with my purse. It would make a great blog post!

Geez, I lost priceless opportunities on both Halloween and Black Friday. Am I going to blow Christmas, too? It seems to me that the only fit place for cartoonists in the last days before Christmas (apart from being with family and friends and charity functions) is at the busiest, most crowded, most agonizingly stressful stores we can find. Camera batteries should be fully charged, wallets left at home lest we fall prey to the buying frenzy.