Cartoon: Martha Rosenberg.
There are multiple sides to Evanston resident Martha Rosenberg. Those who know her mainly from her cartoons for the Evanston RoundTable (she was staff cartoonist from 2001 to 2021) think of her as a visual commentator on modern life, while readers of her 2023 exposé of Big Pharma and agribusiness, Big Food, Big Pharma, Big Lies (original 2012 title: Born with a Junk Food Deficiency) see her as an investigative journalist, raking the fragrant muck of the food and drug industries and the federal agencies that ostensibly regulate them. With the recent publication of Food, Clothes, Men, Gas and Other Problems, Rosenberg reveals her lighter side, mining the humor, awkward moments and small-scale triumphs of everyday life.
Her book is a congeries of comic vignettes, sharp observations about the strange times we live in, as well as interviews conducted over the last 20 years or so with movers and shakers. Also included are more than 50 of her distinctive, thick-lined cartoons and illustrations, which underscore the book’s droll, wise-gal spirit.
If there’s anything that binds together this wide-ranging collection of Rosenberg’s pictures and prose, it’s the simultaneously engaged and ironic tone she maintains. It’s a cool tone, without overt anger or accusation, but leaving no doubt where she stands. One catches a whiff of Erma Bombeck here and there, especially in the pieces on home and the work world. Rosenberg’s book, however, isn’t just about wry acceptance of life’s ups and downs. There’s usually a critique under the surface, but it’s delivered with a gentle touch. In a world with altogether too much pontification and dogmatism, Rosenberg never addresses us from on high. Her stance is that of an Everywoman going through what we go through, and sharing her stories the way a friendly neighbor or co-worker would.
The interview was conducted by e-mail and edited lightly for clarity and space.
HI: Tell me a little bit about yourself, Martha. How did you get into the writing and cartooning field?
MR: I began writing for underground newspapers in New Orleans, then did a stint as an advertising copywriter – which got me so mad at corporate spin that I returned to underground reporting. A few years ago I experienced writers block (nature’s own rejection slip, as they say) so I began cartooning, a skill that uses the right rather than the left hemisphere of the brain. I also attended medical school, which made me more health-oriented.
My writing and reporting style were inspired by Village Voice writers like Alexander Cockburn, James Ridgeway, James Wolcott and Eliot Fremont-Smith, as well as the inimitable Tom Wolfe – writers who could be funny while also challenging the status quo.
HI: What inspired you to write this particular book?
MR: I’ve been reporting on corruption in the food and drug industries for 20 years and just got sick of being such a Debbie Downer. There are so many things that are funny in this world: romance and its mishaps, job searches and interviews, the cluelessness of the fashion industry, etc. I just wanted to be less serious and do some standup-type writing for a while. I especially wanted to look at under-reported social developments like apartment rage during COVID, transit rider aggravations, the changing retail and food landscapes, and the decline of print journalism.
HI: The title – “Food, Clothes, Men, Gas and Other Problems” – suggests this is a woman’s book. But I found much of interest here. How should men approach this book?
MR: The jokes about single women, clothes, PMS and men not helping with housework certainly skew female. But most of the book is general humor about the economy, bad employers, romance, driving, sexuality, Starbucks, cooking, working from home, family and other topics that I think and hope will amuse everyone.
HI: Do you think America has less of a sense of humor than it used to? Have we become a nation of finger-wagging killjoys? If so, why – and what can be done about it?
MR: Good question. Old-time wit has taken a hit as people prefer to listen instead of read and talk rather than write. Universities now consider listening to audio “reading.”
Also, I think a lot of once-tolerant Americans – including maybe myself – have morphed into social justice warriors. Nothing is funny because everyone is potentially offended. People are quick to feel “unsafe” or become victims of “microaggression.” Reactivity and proxy indignation are the national emotions. In the chapter about telling a joke, I note that you can’t tell a “dumb blonde” joke even if you are a blonde, as I am. In Mad Magazine days, people used to say, “That’s not funny; it’s sick.” Today the meme is more like, “That’s not funny; I’m offended.”
But if you look at comedians of the past like Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory or George Carlin, you see that humor can change society, too. Bill Maher certainly gets people mad but his humor gets them to listen.
HI: In addition to the comic observations, your book contains a series of interviews with political and cultural figures. Who was your favorite interviewee?
MR: Well, I had the good fortune of interviewing some public figures like Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart; William Moyers, addiction expert, author and eldest son of television journalist Bill Moyers; former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy; and psychology experts Melody Beattie and Brene Brown.
One of my favorite interviews was with Gail Collins of the New York Times, who wrote a book called As Texas Goes: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda, as well as America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines. She is witty, and had me in stitches with an anecdote about the late Charles Keating, the crooked banker central to the S&L crisis of the 1980s and ’90s. When Collins was a girl, Keating lectured her class at a Catholic school on behalf of an anti-pornography group called “Citizens for Decent Literature.” In his speech, he blamed a fatal car accident on a woman wearing Bermuda shorts.
One of the funniest interviews in the book is with the late cartoonist John Callahan. He was an alcoholic wheelchair user with a spinal cord injury who would joke about his own situation, as in the title of his book, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot. One of his cartoons shows a woman at a 12-step meeting for arm amputees crying “I just need a hug.” He titled one of his cartoon collections, Digesting the Child Within.
HI: Talk about your friendship with the late film director – and one-time National Lampoon editor – John Hughes, whom you interview here. Was he a big influence on you?
MR: John, known for movies like Mr. Mom, Some Kind of Wonderful, Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and many others, was a huge influence on me. He taught me how to find a kernel of sociological truth in characters and events – the skill that made him the undisputed cinema chronicler of the 1980s. John also taught me how to write a screenplay.
If you had met John, you would never have known he was a Hollywood great. He was humble and inquisitive. He thirsted to know about other people’s experiences whether they drove a truck, worked as a landscaper or were 12 years old.
HI: In part, this book is a reflection on social change. In what ways has America changed dramatically for better or for worse, or both, over the past generation?
MR: Certainly, gender roles have changed – for example, as one essay here asks, what would the Camel Filters Man think about cell phones, bottled water and messenger bags – and the recession and COVID have severely squeezed the American pocketbook and workplace.
In terms of quality of life … well, just try to find a live person on the phone or at a reception desk today. Thanks to Amazon, the Internet and cell phones, food, retail products and information are accessed more quickly but are not of better quality. As a result, too many people are overweight, depressed and isolated.
Just as bumper stickers used to read, “Hang up and drive,” I think people need to “Unplug and laugh.” They need to go on a run, a hike, or visit a friend … in person, not online.
HI: Your book points to so many absurdities and nuisances that all of us – men and women – face every day, from the fact that women’s clothing is often designed by men to the widespread inability to tell a joke. If there was one problem you could solve with a stroke of the pen, what would it be?
MR: If there were any way to abolish AI, I would – though of course we can’t; we’ve created a monster. Not only has AI put many writers and others out of work, it is framing our news, creating and placing ads (including clickbait), and spying on our purchasing and computer habits for profit. It has become the new Fourth Estate. I do not talk about AI in Food, Clothes, Men, Gas, and Other Problems because it’s not funny!
The post Looking at the Lighter Side of Life: An Interview with Martha Rosenberg appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Hugh Iglarsh.