Optimism

I recently commented on Facebook that I was finding it difficult to write a totally optimistic song without sounding maudlin or corny. For every Walking On Sunshine or Shiny Happy People, there are a dozen Afternoon Delights or Everything Is Beautifuls. A friend asked if that was because I was a "cynical old fart". I replied that indeed I was; but another friend corrected me. Point well taken. Yes, I am actually an overly optimistic optimist.

It's appropriate than I've wound up drawing cartoons. I'm better at coming up with a funny moment than an ongoing tale of tragedy and woe. If I had to come up with ongoing storylines all the time, I'd go crazy. The first real storyline that I'm planning for QlownTown involves a trip by some of the characters to work on a Indian reservation. It will deal will injustice, poverty and frustration, yet I plan to end every day's strip with a humorous moment. It may be humor born of sarcasm over a ridiculously wrong policy or a bitter humor that informs (one hopes) while it amuses, but I think I can find those funny moments in the pain that appears overwhelming from the outside. Even in my conscious goal of teaching people about the things I earned working on "The Rez" for a week, there's a conscious goal to amuse in the process. There's the old saying, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar". (Of course, the two together make a nice vinaigrette, and I hope that's how the series turns out.)