New Yorker: December 1, 2008

¶ … New Yorker: December 1, 2008 The December 1, 2008 edition of the New Yorker has a cover illustration by Harry Bliss entitled "Family Gathering." It shows a row of pigeons sitting on the window ledge of a gray building, with a large turkey standing prominently in the center of the line looking bored and nonchalant while he is being regarded with some suspicion by his much smaller neighbors. There is no explicit message in this piece, and yet there are many possible interpretations of this cover art.

Given the timing of the issue (dated four days after "Turkey Day") and the turkey as a cultural symbol in the United States, there is an obvious reference to Thanksgiving in this piece. One is not reminded of a that first highly-glorified get-together between Pilgrims and Indians when viewing this piece, however.

The suspicion that is readable on the pigeon's faces -- not to mention the suspicious presence of the flightless turkey amongst them on what is presumably a tall building (suggested by the illustration's extreme upward-looking perspective) -- make this "family gathering" far more awkward and uncomfortable. That, of course, could be the point that Bliss was trying to get across. Perhaps it is a personal sentiment; Bliss may feel out of place in his family gatherings, or perhaps he has a relative that always stands out in a less-than-ideal way.

More likely, however, is that Bliss is equating the common feelings of awkwardness and inadequacy that engulf many during family gatherings with larger issues -- perhaps family history, as in the first article in the issue (titled "Family Matters," strengthening the connection) or something even more abstract. This cover art would make a wonderful poster -- the artwork is clean and engaging, and the intended message is not easily discernable and so avoids any controversy. This would be appropriate to hang in an office or in public as advertising.

One of the cartoons in this issue of the New Yorker is by Jack Ziegler and shows two men playing chess in the park (I assume Central Park, given the New York identity of the magazine), one of whom has his head, arm, and leg bandaged, a sling visible around his shoulder, and a crutch lying on the ground beside him, while the other player leans ominously over the chessboard clutching a pawn the size of a public trashcan and speaking the cartoon's caption: "Do you want to reconsider that move -- or shall I bring back the big pawn?" (Ziegler, 51).

This, like many of the New Yorker's cartoons, is supposed to be funny, but falls short of that mark. Besides the ultimate simplicity of the joke (which might appeal to second-graders, there is the question of WHY this bandaged man sat down to play another game of chess with his violent opponent. The joke is overly simple and at the same time it doesn't make a whole lot of sense -- I would not have published this.

In Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s article, "Family Matters," the author details his families oral history and the way modern science is changing that picture. Descended from an unknown white man and the mulatto Jane Gates of the pre-Civil War era, it had long been family legend that this line of Gates had been fathered by Jane's owner Samuel Brady. The author's research and DNA testing proves this wasn't the case, and the article looks into the social and scientific ramifications of that find. The.