Mike May

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” 
― Edgar Allan Poe

This is an ink drawing. Done with a brown 0.25 Hi-Tec-C gel pen on a small accordion sketchbook, hence the title. My plan was to fill 8 panels of the book, but stopped at the odd african art-like heads on the branches. Initially, the idea was to begin in the earth, and end in either the clouds or space. I decided that continuing from this point wasn't necessary to make it feel like a finished piece. I liked the look of it, and felt it told enough of the story... no need to overdo it when it works well as-is.

I heard a tragic story listening to NPR during my daily drive. This has been a work inspired by it. What underscores the tragedy is how I can't recall enough of the event to find the story. There are so many rough goings-on, that I can't even track this down on NPR's site. I've searched other news sites. I enlisted the aid of friends and followers on my Facebook page, and those who helped in the search offered links to similarly alarming stories; including an article at The Washington Post that, for a few moments, I thought had brought an end to the hunt, but I fear I'm still at a loss.

I know this much: The story started off with the man covering the story saying something along the lines of, "Yesterday a woman was gunned down. Men with assault weapons pulled up on mopeds and shot her dead before nonchalantly driving away. The story is nothing new. What makes this event unique is that the woman was (insert name), a key figure in furthering the female standing in Islamist culture..." -I'm terrible at paraphrasing. I *THINK* it was Islamist, but I'm not sure. I know it was Middle East news. I know she was an inspiring figure with a brave background. I know that her offices were held hostage by gunmen at some point months before, and she had helped foil the attempt through her fearless attitude. I remember she laughed while recounting the details.

However, with my terrible memory, lack of proper keywords for the search engines, and so many important headlines elbowing for the spotlight, I remain perplexed.

This drawing is of her, trying to light the world and inspire growth in humanity, but her torch now poisoned, her message of hope turns in on itself. With the help of the type of short attention I exhibit in this matter, and the barrage of similar headlines, she dissolves in an irrational landscape.

So I've titled this "Embargo of Hope". Contact to and from are effectively cut off.

I didn't mean for this explanation to sound so dark. I certainly don't feel dark or melancholy. I'm just bothered like mad that this story doesn't resonate more- enough to be a bigger news presence and open our eyes a little wider. She was all about peace. She was defiant. That, too, I remember. She had foiled an earlier attempt on her life with her fearless actions. I just detest that this story is so hazy now... already -like the drawing, you see? Perhaps cloyingly melodramatic, but I drew this to reinvigorate her hope, and not let this appalling event fade quite so quickly. This was an introspective piece for me. I found my creative flow in this. I love this form of drawing or painting, and I plan on creating after this fashion, as often as possible.

I have a couple of character drawings I have named "feeb", which has been my online nickname for over a decade. One is a silly face, which truthfully is one a friend drew once and I loved so much I redraw it often. The other is this character, which was a for-fun drawing (many are) that I still very much like.

Trick-or-treat role reversal.