WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:03.399 I love having an apartment upstairs and running the art 2 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:05.960 gallery downstairs, so I can toodle up and down all day, 3 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:08.160 and I new to public in the art gallery. It's 4 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:11.279 putin planet. Putin so because you know, with the naked 5 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:13.199 riding the horse, but he is a horse. 6 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:32.679 Welcome to Amusing Jews, where we celebrate Jewish contributors and 7 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:37.119 contributions to American popular culture. I'm Jonathan Friedman and I'm 8 00:00:37.159 --> 00:00:41.200 Joey Angelfield producer engineer Mike Tomren is working somewhere behind 9 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:44.280 the scenes. Amusing Jews is a project of Adad Jabourine 10 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:48.000 Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, the Jewish Museum of the American 11 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.640 West in Atheist United Studios. Hey, Joey, what would cosmic 12 00:00:52.679 --> 00:00:56.640 mythology and primordial folklore look like as an underground comic. 13 00:00:57.320 --> 00:00:59.359 Our guest today has answered that question. 14 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.280 Honored to talk with Barbara Willie Mendez, a fine artist, 15 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.400 an underground comics pioneer whose new anthology, Queen of Cosmo's 16 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.480 Comics Trilogy is published by Fanographics. 17 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:13.200 Willie. Welcome to Amusing Jews. 18 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:15.640 Well, thank you so much. I'm delighted to be here, 19 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:18.840 in particular because people have been dwelling on the weighty 20 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:21.239 parts of my book, like the mid rush in the Kabbala, 21 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:24.439 of which it is not about that, And on the surface, 22 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:26.799 it's a very funny story. So I'm hoping that we 23 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:30.760 can inject some humor and amusement into this interview. 24 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:34.359 Your art work is unique and instantly recognizable. How did 25 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:35.599 you get started in the arts? 26 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:37.680 Well, totally as a little kid. When I was five 27 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.359 years old, I was in Montclair Museum Children's Art School, 28 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:43.480 and then we moved to Brooklyn Brooklyn Museum Children's Art School. 29 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:45.480 By the time I was an adolescent, I was growing 30 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:47.799 the nude at the Art Students League and learning composition 31 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:49.680 and all the adult things in high School of Music 32 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.159 and Art, School of Visual Arts, Hunter College, buying art program. 33 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.319 And then I tuned in, turned on, and dropped out. 34 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:58.120 But there's an ear story of my style that goes 35 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:00.599 like this. I'm sixteen years old, I guess still music 36 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.439 and art. And of course Art Forum was the bible. 37 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:05.000 I mean, if you ever grew up and got an 38 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:07.439 art forum, that would be it. And so I'm reading 39 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:09.719 art Forum and they had this article about the Tate 40 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:13.080 Gallery in London is exhibiting toilet paper on the walls. 41 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:16.080 That's the art. And I said to myself, these people 42 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.000 are like, I am not following this. This is not 43 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.520 something that I have to aspire to. I'm not going 44 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:23.800 to try to be like the white male Western world 45 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:27.400 without putting it into those worlds words perhaps, but I'm 46 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:29.960 going to do what I like. I Barbermanda, sixteen years 47 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:34.759 old girl. I liked Jean Cocteau. I liked French movies, 48 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.560 and I liked color, and I like plants, and I 49 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:40.520 had some interesting dreams throw it all on the canvas 50 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:43.199 and make it beautiful. And I began that. I just 51 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.280 tacked a canvas on the wall and began throwing it 52 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:48.280 all on the wall, make it beautiful and using color patterns. 53 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:51.120 And this is how I developed my style. And I'm 54 00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:54.520 seventy eight years old now and it's quite recognizable and 55 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:57.599 I've gotten good at it over those long years. 56 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.840 Yeah, you mentioned Cocteau and maybe some film work. Were 57 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:04.800 there fine artists that influenced you as well? 58 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:07.560 Oh gosh, Walt Disney, I would say, was the biggest 59 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:10.039 artistic influence on me. And I'm not even going to talk. 60 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:13.360 I'm not giving them my time of my interview to 61 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:16.599 go through the list of famous male artists in my lifetime. 62 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:19.439 Forget about it, let's talk about me. There were no 63 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:23.919 women role models, and the male role models had one 64 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:28.520 big problem. They're males. I am not, so they've been 65 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.439 talked about until anybody's blue in the face. 66 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:34.599 Is that maybe why you were looking at plants and 67 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:38.759 other maybe natural inspirations, because they weren't gendered in that way? 68 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:43.560 Those stale male, white male gaze of Western art from 69 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:47.599 the beginning is not the only way to see the world. 70 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:51.479 Excuse me, but there are other things besides elements that 71 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:55.680 arouse males. That's not the only subject of art. Excuse me, 72 00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:00.240 But I found others not being a male myself also, 73 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:03.680 and that didn't preclude extalling women. I extoll women for 74 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:06.800 their beauty, for their power, for their glory. But the 75 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:10.879 titulating the males, I leave that to the ninety nine 76 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:12.439 percent of the art in the world. 77 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:14.680 You were part of the underground comics movement of the 78 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:17.199 nineteen seventies. How did you get involved with that? 79 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:19.519 I got in through Kim Ditsch from he was a 80 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.959 friend of my first husband, Rick Kunstler, and Trina Robbins 81 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:25.639 was Kim Ditsche's girlfriend, and in the beginning, that's how 82 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:28.360 it was. And I got into a lot of boys 83 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:32.680 comic books before Trina gained her power in nineteen seventy. 84 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:36.360 I also have a very rare page from Gothic Blimp 85 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:39.639 Works which Kim got me into this underground comic of 86 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:43.120 the nineteen sixties. So that was the earliest how I 87 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:45.120 got into it. And then I showed you some of 88 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:48.199 the boy books, and then along came Trina. This was 89 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:50.480 really big. Ron Turner gave her a thousand bucks to 90 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:52.920 make an all woman comic book and get on the 91 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.639 woman's liberation trail, and this is the cover of it. 92 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:59.199 It ain't me, Babe, and so I did the back over. 93 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.639 Trina and I sharing a house with our guys with 94 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:06.759 Kim Diisch and Rick, So we actually shared a house 95 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:10.600 on Edgar Place in San Francisco right before this, and 96 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:13.160 we were both having babies. We were both pregnant, so 97 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:17.040 Trina had her baby first, Hasey and I had my 98 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.040 baby later. But this is really the iconic picture of 99 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:23.360 us in that era. So I did the back cover 100 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:27.399 of this book and the first story Alma, which became 101 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.519 later when I gave birth to my daughter and she 102 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:33.439 was a girl. I named her Alma after this page. 103 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.959 So we followed that up with the second all woman 104 00:05:37.079 --> 00:05:40.240 comic in the world, All Girl Thrills, and again I 105 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:42.680 did the back cover and I did a piece of 106 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:45.360 art for the first story, which is so iconic. It's 107 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:47.680 in the history of illustration on the same page with 108 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:50.920 Robert Crumb and its realm of Karma comics. 109 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:53.600 What was your opinion of Robert Crumb in some of 110 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:56.920 his artwork in those days, given your your response to 111 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:57.879 male artists. 112 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:00.560 On the one hand, Robert Crumb is a genius, and 113 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:04.399 he's the funniest guy, and he's the most genius artist 114 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:08.079 of just drawing our times, our life and our times 115 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.519 and capturing different types and of all his drawing is amazing, 116 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:14.560 So that's the truth of it. But what did he do? 117 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:17.800 Of course I had horrid with abhorred with every fiber 118 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:20.839 of my body. But my really favorite one was s 119 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:24.000 Clay Wilson, who makes Robert Crumb look like a pussycat 120 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:28.680 with his subject matter. I mean, he just had the 121 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:33.040 s Clay Wilson had the worst subject matter ever, but 122 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:37.600 his art was not only fantastic, it was also beautiful 123 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:41.439 in its ugly subject matter, no matter despite it in 124 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:44.480 a way that Crumb is not like gorgeous beautiful, it's 125 00:06:44.519 --> 00:06:45.959 just fantastically genius. 126 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:50.920 Like enjoying the show, click like and subscribe. What led 127 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:53.920 you to incorporate Jewish law and iconography in your work? 128 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:56.240 Well, that's the famous story of how it all happened. 129 00:06:56.279 --> 00:06:58.759 It was eleven eleven ninety two. Picture this, I'm unfair 130 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.480 Fox Boulevard, a Jewish Los Angeles that you may have 131 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:03.839 heard of. And then I'm painting a mural of a 132 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:06.879 Treifa restaurant called Tropical Garden, and a guy stops me, 133 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:09.160 and he says, excuse me for stopping you. I want 134 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:12.160 you to paint my synagogue. And I said, I'm Jewish, 135 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:15.160 I'll do it. So I go on. It's a Sephardic synagogue, 136 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:17.560 which I have Sephardic roots on half of it. I 137 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:20.000 just knew that, And I painted the Garden of Eden 138 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:24.079 and Noah's Ark in the courtyard of the Pinto Torah Center. Meantime, 139 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:27.079 Gabriel's friend Nathan courted me and I got a boyfriend 140 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:29.920 who later became my second husband. Meantime, there was a 141 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:33.160 movement in America, I don't know, around the world called 142 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:36.319 the Boochuva movement to take Jewish people, adults such as 143 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:39.759 myself who know they're Jewish but know absolutely nothing about 144 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:44.040 Judaism and teach them absolutely everything. So the Yeshiva of 145 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:47.759 Los Angeles, known as Ula, they had a community adult 146 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:50.439 program or four nights a week. I would go and 147 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:53.759 learn from the biggest rabbis, and the most inspiring rabbi 148 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:57.879 taught me Hebrew, doctor Jujudaberdugo. I learned Hebrew from the 149 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.920 most inspiring teacher who would say, class, this is a 150 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:04.000 class like no other because Hebrew is the language of God. 151 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:06.560 And he totally inspired us. And he'd said, class, this 152 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:10.720 is very beautiful. So these are the things that brought 153 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:13.879 me to Judaism. So how did I express it? Immediately 154 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:15.800 I put it into my art. So it began with 155 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:20.000 these biblical murals. This is the Berat sheet mural. So 156 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:24.199 it starts with the days of creation and then the 157 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:26.759 outer border. I decided to make all the stories, which 158 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.439 we'll see more in some of the other ones. When 159 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:31.959 I sold it it's in Florida. I created the Shimote mural, 160 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:36.320 so this is the boxes are bigger and it's everything 161 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:39.360 that happens in the Book of Exodus. And they're divided 162 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:42.080 into boxes, which are the weekly tour aportions, because in 163 00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:46.720 Queen of Cosmo's comics, for the first two chapters of 164 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:51.200 each volume, I parody the Bible the weekly tour aportions. 165 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:54.120 So this is my third biblical mural vy eu crem mural, 166 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:57.879 and it's every single verse in the Book of Leviticus. 167 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:00.559 Now there are eight hundred and fifty nine verses in 168 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:04.039 the Book of Leviticus, and each one is a tiny picture. Well, 169 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.000 it was around twenty sixteen that I received a phone 170 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:11.320 call from doctor Robert Lovejoy, a professor at American University, 171 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:15.200 who was editing the Underground Comics section of the History 172 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:17.720 of Illustration, and he invited me to be in it. 173 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:20.679 A which page you want first page of Roma Karma comics, 174 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:24.399 which I always knew since I was twenty one years old, 175 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:28.200 and made it that it was a good page. So 176 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:30.960 then it validated me. I went, bast as, WHOA, my 177 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:33.159 comics were really good. You know, I'm going to read 178 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:35.840 the history book. So then I got the idea A 179 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:38.720 long about this time, I had been Orthodox Jewish already 180 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:41.000 for thirty years, I left the second husband, but I 181 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:43.960 continued in it, and I did those three biblical murals. 182 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:48.360 I'm orthodox, I'm so from you couldn't believe it. Thirty 183 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.960 long years, and I finally really got tired of the 184 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:56.360 patriarchy on the ground in Judaism, particularly Orthodox Judaism. However, 185 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:58.200 they have all the mystic stuff, they have all the 186 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:01.000 godly stuff. They have the priests the bless you every day, 187 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.879 and no, that's not the blessing. I just made that 188 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.639 up as a victory symbol. But they have a lot 189 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:10.679 of holiness and Orthodoxy which is absolutely missing, possibly in 190 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:14.279 other areas. But it's so patriarchal, and the men are 191 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:17.200 so arrogant. Oh, I couldn't take it anymore. That's when 192 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:20.320 I made a painting which led directly to my comics series, 193 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:23.919 Queen of Cosmos Comics, and this is volume one, and 194 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.159 I really planned it as a one off. I didn't 195 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:29.759 plan it as a series, but it was a no 196 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:32.519 brainer to put the Judaism in there, since I'm already 197 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:36.960 drenched in It starts with creation and let us create 198 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:40.200 a world. The second one starts with there's a Hebrew 199 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:43.159 is lech Lecha, but the English translation is get up 200 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:47.240 and go, and again it is they're all humorous, they're funny, 201 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:49.679 get up and go, chows wine women in songs, so 202 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:54.639 you can punch that in. And then volume three begins, 203 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:57.279 and I'm going to bring out the actual original artwork 204 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:59.679 because of course the book isn't published. Ye, it'll be 205 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:03.440 out in trilogy. And this is the first page of 206 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:07.120 volume three. And here's a joke because I want it 207 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:12.480 to be funny. It's the fifth weekly Tora portion after 208 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:17.679 creation in the Torah, the Bible, and the Hebrew name 209 00:11:17.720 --> 00:11:20.840 of this Torah portion is Hia Sarah. Hia Sarah means 210 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:25.159 the life of Sarah, Hia himla hiam. Right, everybody knows 211 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:28.679 that Hi means life in Hebrew. We know from saying 212 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:32.960 the hiam to life to life him so Hi means life, 213 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:36.759 and the Hebrew meaning of Hia Sarah is the life 214 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:38.559 of Sarah. It goes on to say, what was one 215 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:41.240 hundred and twenty seven years? So I make a joke. 216 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:46.000 I call it Hia Sarah. So she's saying hi because 217 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.360 I made the female character of Sarah Sora that she's 218 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.559 on Hia Sora. And then there's a bunch of other jokes. 219 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:56.240 So with all my Bible parodies, the more you know 220 00:11:56.360 --> 00:12:00.399 about the Bible, and certainly the weekly Tora portions, then 221 00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:03.639 you'll get a lot of the jokes. So I think 222 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:07.240 that answers how I wove Judaism into my comics and 223 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:09.639 my paintings, and how it was just a natural progression 224 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:13.639 since that's my life. Because one last thing I've shown 225 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:18.360 all Bible imagery, but going into the Orthodox community inspired 226 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.919 me visually with the people and the rituals and even 227 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:24.679 the holy meals, because I'm talking three times every shop 228 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:27.600 as we have holy meals, communal meals and everything, and 229 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:31.919 it was just so aesthetic, so beautiful, and everything in 230 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:35.000 the Sephardic world is beautiful, the torres draped in scarfs 231 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:39.240 and silver and gold, and I was very aesthithically taken 232 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:42.120 with the on the ground, the same world that I 233 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:45.039 had to leave behind because I found it too patriarchal. 234 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:48.120 But I missed some great beauty and joy, and I 235 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:51.799 will mention the singing, particularly the Sephardic singing, So I 236 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:52.720 missed that, Dearly. 237 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:55.440 What can you tell us about your central character, Queen 238 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:56.279 of Cosmos. 239 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:58.559 Well, I'm happy to tell you about the Queen of Cosmos, 240 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:00.799 because people come into my gallo read I round all 241 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:03.120 the time, and I've said this a million times. It's 242 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.759 like this, the one God, the God of the Bible, 243 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:08.720 he has no body. Like the poem that you may 244 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.519 bring up says, it's a body, this being, it has 245 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:15.679 no body, it has no gender. It is neither a 246 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:19.879 male nor female. It is a giant, non body, non 247 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:25.000 bodied being. It's God. So we can't think about such 248 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:28.200 a blady concept, so we use metaphor. A metaphor is 249 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:31.039 a word that means something else, but it reminds us 250 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:32.759 of that's something else, so it can kind of stand 251 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:36.840 in for that something else. So therefore people have said God, 252 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:42.039 our father, our father, who are in heaven a vinubashamayam. 253 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:46.960 So it's a metaphor for God. And besides, in all 254 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:48.480 up into the world. And I'm going to read your 255 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:52.000 poem later that I wrote today. Men have ruled the world, 256 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:54.399 and so it was natural to think that God would 257 00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:56.799 be a man and God would be our father. However, 258 00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:01.039 if you happen to be female, it's no sacrilege whatsoever 259 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:04.240 in my opinion, to use a female metaphor for God, 260 00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:07.080 particularly since it's clear in the Bible that we are 261 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:11.039 in God's image, and therefore I just made it up. 262 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:13.720 And you know, you've heard of King of the Universe, 263 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:17.200 Queen of Cosmos. It's just a total parody, but it's 264 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:21.879 using a female metaphor for the one God, and she 265 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:24.039 mixes in. But she's a woman, so she's different from 266 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:26.600 the male God. The male God has male attributes. The 267 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:29.759 God is jealous, God is violent, God is this and that. 268 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:33.039 And also all the women that God picks in the 269 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:36.600 Bible are beautiful. Leah is the only exception, and the 270 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:38.639 only time wise women are called for is in the 271 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:42.440 end of Tishebov when we're mourning the destruction. The woman 272 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:45.120 God is different, and I find her funny, and she 273 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:47.840 makes mistakes, and she's always arguing with the angels who 274 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:50.360 surround God is surrounded by angels and they're kippetzing her 275 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:52.960 and she's arguing with them. So it's not that my 276 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:55.240 book is about argument is that the queen isn't so 277 00:14:55.960 --> 00:15:00.000 self assured and arrogant as the male God is. For example, 278 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:02.120 the male God preates the world and then he says 279 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:06.200 and it's good. He doesn't even ask kitty, but he 280 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:10.080 just goes and it's good, whereas my female god says 281 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:13.960 is it good? Because that's what I would say to 282 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.120 you if I show you a new picture, I'd say, 283 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:18.039 is it good? Do you like it? Yeah? 284 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:21.279 George Carlin had a great shtick about how the God 285 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:23.840 of the Bible is obviously male because of all the 286 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:27.919 ways that he expresses himself and all the wars and 287 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:30.360 the you know, retribution and all that stuff. 288 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.600 Yes, it's a valid concept that we both have in common. 289 00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:35.679 I mean, it's it's out there. 290 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.639 I saw it and enjoy it as a loving send up. 291 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.320 Do you kind of see yourself in the Queen of Cosmos? Also? 292 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:44.000 You know only and that she's the only character that 293 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:49.080 looks like me in a very very very idealized way. 294 00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:52.399 But with the tangle hair. I mean, that's what we do. 295 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:57.919 We idolize, we idealize. I would call it an idealized vision. 296 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.919 But I never thought about me being it. I just 297 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:02.759 had to make it look like me, because what else 298 00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:05.360 are you gonna make it look like? 299 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:08.360 Yeah? I was gonna say strive for or aspire to, 300 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:10.879 But then I find maybe that's my maleness coming in. 301 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:11.399 I don't know. 302 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.879 I just made it because it's to me. It's if 303 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:17.480 you look at women's art, which not enough people do 304 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.679 in bulk, and especially on the Internet, women's art, especially 305 00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:23.759 on TikTok, women's art all around the world. Women make 306 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:27.960 symmetrical things, women think themselves. We start our vision from 307 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:32.039 the inside, from inside of us, and it's like a mandala, 308 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:35.000 and it radiates out and the first thing it encounters 309 00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:37.600 is our physical appearance and how we look. But we 310 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:39.639 see so much art is based on how we are 311 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:41.120 and how we look and how we feel. 312 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:44.360 Queen of Cosmo's Comics trilogy, not only we tell stories 313 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:47.360 from the Torah with a psychedelic feminist twist, but also 314 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:50.639 vignettes from your own life's journey. Have these comics played 315 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:52.440 a role in your self discovery? 316 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:55.080 I really grappled with that question in advance because I 317 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:57.399 don't know the answer. They're just all woven together, and 318 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.559 me and my life and my art are woven together. 319 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:03.279 I think one answer I grabbed was from my day books. 320 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:04.599 But I don't have to show you. It's just it. 321 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:07.039 In the beginning of my visual journals, I show what 322 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:09.400 I did that day, what I did that day, back 323 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.279 to front, like Hebrew. It's my ideas and also the 324 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.680 studies for my biblical murals and my other art, just 325 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:19.319 my wild ideas what I feel like, which is most 326 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:22.480 of my pre judaic art, was very wildly about how 327 00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:26.359 I felt. So to me, the two were just woven together. 328 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:28.319 And in the comic, of course, as you know, I 329 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:30.960 wove them together. So the Queen of Cosmos has to appear. 330 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.319 My daughter, Kirby, my living daughter, is one of my 331 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:38.079 role models and idols, and she said to me while 332 00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:39.599 I was making it, momm you got to keep the 333 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:41.799 Queen of Cosmos in there, you know, because that's your 334 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.759 main character. So I wove the Queen of Cosmos through 335 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.039 all the stories about my life. But I really felt 336 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:50.039 like that, like how did we go under the bridge 337 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:53.039 of the Brooklyn Bridge to meet this lady and smoke 338 00:17:53.079 --> 00:17:54.759 a joint? And she was the one who knew the 339 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:57.519 healer and ps. My daughter didn't die in one year, 340 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:02.640 she died in thirty three years, so oo, but a 341 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:05.279 lady God would have set that little meeting up. I'm 342 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:08.359 just saying to me, that's a divine thing, and divine 343 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:10.839 things like that happened to me. I'm very mystical I 344 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.160 lived my life in a mystic fashion, and mystical, amazing 345 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:16.880 things happen to me all the time. That was one 346 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:17.200 of them. 347 00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:20.000 You have a page in the book that reads, I 348 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:25.200 believe in feminine cosmic consciousness. Women can regain power in 349 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:29.839 spiritual and worldly realms. Women are hardwired to be compassionate 350 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:33.799 and seek solutions. Men shake the world into a frightening 351 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.359 horror escape instead of the bountiful earth we were given. 352 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:40.599 Are you hopeful about a woman led future? 353 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:44.480 I absolutely am. And the poem that you just read, 354 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:47.559 which happens to be a tic tac rap that I did, 355 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:50.160 it's a pin to the top of my TikTok page. 356 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:54.359 Barbara Willie Mendez, uhm, sums it up. I mean, I 357 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:56.359 think you answered the question before you asked it. I 358 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:00.039 absolutely believe not only that women will rise, but that 359 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:03.079 women will save the world by rising because of the 360 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.160 contents of that poem. But here we are today, April ninth, 361 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:10.000 I wrote a poem today to add to this answer 362 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.200 to this question. Okay, short, I see women rising, but 363 00:19:14.359 --> 00:19:18.599 men still ruling with drooling gaze and unsafe ways. Just 364 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:23.440 look around that gaze is found. Those ways resound opponents 365 00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:27.640 downed by men's rule. We bow to a fool. I 366 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:30.400 see women rising, but men still ruling. 367 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:34.240 Why the part of what you're getting at two maybe 368 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:40.000 is that the whole sort of persona of maleness can 369 00:19:40.039 --> 00:19:43.119 also change right to accommodate the rising women. 370 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:45.880 I forgot to add that part. I mean, I'm a 371 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:49.200 straight person. I love men, and I love what makes 372 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:52.200 them manly and testosterone. That's beautiful. That's what I want. 373 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:57.920 And the man, however, and those new men are all around. 374 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:01.000 It's just that they don't rule the world yet. But 375 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:03.160 those men are all around, and people like me, those 376 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.240 are the only men that they know, because the other 377 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:09.720 men don't remain known by me. But there's absolutely wonderful 378 00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:12.359 dudes around, and they are cumminating because what are you, 379 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:16.079 simon Lagrae, You want you don't want to be overlord, 380 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.440 So then you accommodate the new way to look of things. 381 00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:22.160 But when my day, I'm old, I'm seventy eight. When 382 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:25.440 I was in my twenties and thirties, men with some 383 00:20:25.559 --> 00:20:28.359 a new women's libbers. You wanted this, you wanted that, 384 00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:31.880 you know, like get back in the kitchen. So it's 385 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.319 very new. These new males that they're visible, and of 386 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:39.799 course in TV shows and everything, welcome, thank you, because 387 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.519 in the Queen of Cosmo's comics it says the males 388 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.079 will come in handy, they'll help everybody with their strength, 389 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:47.319 and that's how it should be. Like you guys are 390 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:51.359 physically the general stronger, So come and help me move 391 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.200 this chair, and help come and help take care of 392 00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:56.279 the house, and give a hand with the kids even, 393 00:20:56.440 --> 00:20:59.279 you know, like lend a hand with this wonderful strength. 394 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:02.720 But the whole way that they're hardwired to use it 395 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:05.960 for calm, forget about it. I don't like that because 396 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:09.160 we have babies and they're so difficult to nurture. From 397 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.759 their tenius point till like two years old. They could 398 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:13.640 be dead a hundred times if you didn't save their 399 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:17.920 lives with your brilliant adult wisdom. They're so fragile, So 400 00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:21.440 to bring anybody up like that just to slaughter them 401 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:25.119