The cartoon “the Moo variant” is a play on words with the actual COVID variant, the Mu variant first reported in September of this year. The first cow mentions to the other cow “mad cow disease” because mad cow disease was a disease that affected both humans and cows in the early 2000s. The cows flying in the air represent the cows affected by the “Moo Variant”. The cartoon demonstrates the odd COVID variant names with a light hearted perspective.

As a personality psychology enthusiast, I often enjoy learning about the Myers-Briggs personality types, which are famously known for their categorization of four-letter “personalities” (i.e. ENTJ or ISFP). However, to someone not aware of the complexities of the personality indicator, the combination of these four letters seems arbitrary: almost like the acronyms we encounter in everyday life. In my cartoon, I strived to depict four“of my chosen “unrecognized”” personality types based on common acronyms from daily life.

This cartoon demonstrates that during class time, students work on assignments pertaining to other subjects, whether it be to lighten their busy schedule or to finish last-minute assignments. It also touches on the subject that teachers may not really know what is going out on the other side of their students’ screen or in their students’ minds.

Throughout the average high schooler’s day, the number of tabs they must open builds up. For math class, they open a graphing calculator application. For English class, they open tabs for sources for their upcoming paper. And so on. As the days go on, the opened tabs stay open to the point where high school students look at all the tabs that have built up and barely recognize the site they opened three weeks ago. And yet, the websites are too precious to close, so the chaotic nature of high school life is mirrored in the sheer number of tabs on a high schooler’s computer.

According to a January 14, 2022 New York Times article, a Starbucks employee was so inspired by Bernie Sanders’ platform regarding union workers that she decided to act towards unionizing her store. As Starbucks tends to be a more liberal corporation in terms of its employees and customers, it would not be surprising if we see more unionization attempts in the future, which is reflected in this cartoon by the new Starbucks cup design.

Due to Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic’s insistence to remain unvaccinated, the Australian government has ordered his deportation from the country before the Australian Open. Djokovic and the Serbian government were enraged at Djokovic’s potential loss of an opportunity to vie for the Grand Slam trophy for the 21st time. In our photoshop illustration, we display Djokovic playing tennis while potentially spreading coronavirus due to his unvaccinated status.

Although from different cinematic worlds, there’s a widespread debate when it comes to Star Trek’s Borg and Doctor Who’s Daleks about which villain would win. Both fandoms believe they could easily defeat the other, which can be compared to opposing political parties. They both claim to be best and are constantly put head to head. This cartoon shows political parties embodying fictional villains in a face off. The irony is that both fictional villains require unquestioning groupthink. Do our politicians?

The Hallmark movie Princess Switch portrays the lives of two identical yet genetically unrelated women played by Vanessa Hudgens. Each woman has a different role in society: one is the soon to be Queen of Belgravia and the other a baker. Throughout the movie, the two fill in for one another due to their striking similarity. The premise of the Princess Switch is not dissimilar to the variety of personas US politicians have to assume to please their constituents. Oftentimes, the public only sees one image of politicians. The gracefully hand-waving, baby forehead-kissing, charitable image, to be exact, but some political speakers have an unforeseen private life, often one laced with crime or allegations of it. For my cartoon, I portray Chris Cuomo, an outspoken political commentator who has faced allegations of sexual misconduct. While in his public life, the younger Cuomo brother is opinionated and professional on the screen, his private life may not reflect these qualities.

The Princess Switch follows the story of two identical women, portrayed by Vanessa Hudgens, both dealing with different problems. Their solution to these problems is simple: switch places. Throughout the movie, the uptight baker and soon-to-be queen swap positions and live in each other’s place for a few days. However, their secret is soon revealed, and they must face the consequences. American politicians act in a similar way; while they present one side of themselves to the public, sometimes there’s another side they try to hide. In this cartoon, Matt Gaetz’s double identities are portrayed beside each other. While Gaetz is a congressman for the Republican party, he has also faced accusations of sex trafficking. While he presents himself as a politician, it seems another version of himself portrays other qualities.

Who doesn’t like waffles? Politicians. Waffling in politics is used to describe a political figure who is inconsistent in their decisions. In November, President Joe Biden placed travel restrictions on eight southern African nations due to the emergence of the new Omicron variant, which was first detected in Botswana. However, since then, some European countries with the same variant have had higher case numbers but have not been branded. This inconsistency and the unclarity with mask restrictions has led to describing President Biden as waffling.

The man standing on the stage is a cartoon drawing of Dr.Oz, who has announced that he will be running as a Republican for the Pennsylvania Senate. The cartoon is a play on the fact that Dr.Oz has the same name as the Wizard from the Wizard of Oz. The two characters at the bottom left of the cartoon are discussing Dr.Oz’s Senate campaign, when one of them remarks that he has been a wizard and a doctor, and wonders what he’ll do next.

This cartoon depicts the GOP as Prince Florian kissing DeSantis as Snow White. The GOP has had their eyes set on Ron DeSantis for the 2024 Republican presidential candidate. For quite some time he has been their top choice, up until recent criticism of his handling of COVID in FLorida emerged. Now the party must choose whether to keep endorsing DeSantis or set their sights on the next candidate. What if their princess turns out to be a frog?

Democrats and Republicans are constantly arguing about everything, including the debt ceiling. Due to Biden’s spending for his Build Back Better plan, the Democrats have been forced to ask the Republicans to raise the debt ceiling, which is the amount of money the government can borrow every year. However, the Republicans have been reluctant to raise the debt ceiling, leading to many discussions about what will happen to the country and White House.

Since The Chinese Civil War, relations between Taiwan and China have been tense. The Chinese passed laws allowing the use of non-peaceful means against Taiwan.” The US gave military support to Taiwan, but since then China has taken extreme measures to prevent others from acknowledging Taiwan as a country. In Hamilton, King George sings the song “You’ll Be Back” to the colonies. Similarly, here, President Xi Jinping is dressed as King George, singing “You’ll Be Back” to Taiwan, and holding a red paintbrush, showing his intentions to reclaim Taiwan as a part of China again.

Someone is wishing upon a shooting star for a stable income and livable working conditions, but the star is in fact Jeffrey Bezos on his rocket. Jeffrey then replies no. This cartoon plays on the idea that the wishes and hopes of medium and low-income Americans can be impossible to achieve due to growing inflation and income inequality. In addition, the entrance of billionaires into the space race can seem like the wealthiest Americans are planning on escaping to ”Planet B” rather than using their resources to improve conditions for their fellow humans.

If you’re a Spotify listener, you know how exciting the end of December is. Seeing your top songs and artists is a great way to debrief and get excited for the new year. But what if the political parties had a Spotify wrapped? Some of these songs are more self explanatory than others. Try to test your political knowledge by guessing why these songs were chosen.

This cartoon depicts a politician holding an umbrella over himself and a woman’s pregnant stomach while the majority of the woman’s body is soaked. This cartoon illustrates the flaws in pro-life arguments such as their tendenancies to focus solely on he baby while ignoring the health and safety of the mother. The woman’s situation, such as the manner in which she became pregnant or who will support the childafter birth is ignored continually, according to the New York Times.

This cartoon depicts Russia as a large, imposing elephant about to step on a small mouse, representing Ukraine. This reflects how Russia is currently massing troops on Ukraine’s border. However, at the time this issue was sent to the printer, they have not yet invaded due to NATO’s forewarning, represented by a shield in the cartoon. But the sheild is very small and the elephant is very big. Things do look ominous for the Ukraine.

If you were born 8000 years ago, and you worked since birth making one dollar a minute for every minute of your 8000 years of existence, that’s $1440 a day, that’s $525,600 a year, for a grand total of $4.2 billion give or take, you would still have less money than our dear Elon Musk. By thinking through this fairly simple math problem one can clearly see that it is impossible for him to be self-made, rather at the top of a pyramid built on manual workers’ and actual innovators’ physical and mental labor that he bought from an already privileged position. Tesla is often held up as a model of a green company, while the corporation’s human costs, environmental costs, and the blatantly greedy ulterior motives of its owner are fully ignored.

The show Squid Games gained popularity at the end of 2021 because of its intense plot. The plot illustrates the main characters, who are in debt, completing fatal games to win a cash prize. The first game in the show is called “red light, green light.” The players are forced to move when “green light” is called because of the timer. The players have to be careful not to move when “red light” is called or they face death. The cartoon highlights the ridiculous work conditions of the monopoly, Amazon. Many employees reported being fired for not working fast enough. Obviously, the employees will not face death for being slow workers, but the actions taken against them are cruel.

We all hope that we’re contributing to the environment around us as good stewards of the planet. But people have a tendency to get caught up in short-term green fads that may not make much difference for true conservation. Go ahead and buy a metal straw–environemtal studies show that if you use it correctly, you’ll make less waste–but it doesn’t make you the next Greta Thunberg. What else can we do for our planet?

Throughout history, women have been viewed as weak, subservient individuals. Powerful men controlled women to show their prowess. Now, the roles are reversed. Today, we see powerful women controlling men. Take Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson, Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, or Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly. Here, Pete Davidson, becomes, due to his relationship with Kardashian, a fetishized trophy object, a traditional or waif-like Victorian boy, depending on a woman for patronage.

These days, we hear of a new COVID variant almost weekly. So far, we have seen the variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron, Lambda, and Mu and surely, more variants are on the way. Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Moderna are in a race against the COVID variants to create vaccines that will protect us. In this cartoon, the viruses are popping up like moles in whack-a-mole. The mallet is trying to quash all of the variants as fast as possible. Currently, it is attacking the Omicron variant due to the large breakouts around the world.

Teenagers all across the globe have experienced sending a text and never getting a response. Maybe you tell yourself they simply didn’t see it or there was some kind of technical glitch resulting in your text never being sent. There’s an infinite amount of imaginary scenarios that explain why that person failed to respond, and this cartoon provides one more. The Valley of Unanswered Texts is a desert wasteland where those ignored messages reside, forever waiting to be read.

Genetically modified corn is out, and GMO babies are in! The new phenomenon in fetus development is the ability to change small details about your unborn child. This new technology was first intended to clear dangerous diseases for the unborn children. Now, it is used as a “customization feature” for expecting parents. Does this end the excitement parents feel about being handed their baby for the first time and seeing that they have passed down their mesmerizing eyes to their children? Possibly a quest for perfect traits subtracts personality and individuality from future kids.

One of the largest complaints of high school students is the dress code, and this cartoon criticizes student objections by comparing the Bolles dress code to uniforms in the show Squid Game. Uniforms intentionally create a standard of dress that lacks any form of expression, while dress codes, especially Bolles’’, still give students the freedom to choose clothes that they find more comfortable, stylish, and suitable. So, dress codes aren’t all that bad, and people should stop complaining when we might find this dystopian alternative way more restrictive.

In the movie Spiderman: No Way Home, Peter Parker, Ned, and MJ all apply to MIT yet are surprised when none of them get accepted. As if MIT wasn’t already a challenging school to get into it’s not like they list world-saving on their resumes. And Flash has already gotten in. Get real, Spiderman, MIT would never take four students from the same school. Also, who even gets their replies in letters from colleges anymore? We just hit refresh and wait for the email.

It seems that these days every teenager is glued to their phone. The reason? TikTok. Each day they grow more addicted to TikTok, and are constantly wasting and losing precious time staring at their small phone screens. Each one is addicted to a different niche. They end up scrolling so much they find some crazy and unforeseen niches such as baking tok, Bieber tok, Harry Styles tok, and others.

Hand turkeys made from construction paper and waiting for reindeer are now things of the past. Teachers used to fill the classes before the holidays with fun activities. Now, their lesson plans consist of last-minute assessments to fit in the semester and exam preparation. This creates so much of an impact on students that exam stress has been identified as a real form of anxiety that is common this time of year.

This cartoon is a depiction of how the stress from a major assignment or assessment, especially ones that can make or break a student’s grade, can influence the performance of students. Although a student may study for hours on end and have an understanding of the material, he or she may miss familiar questions due to glancing over the question, second-guessing themselves, or overthinking the question. When receiving their graded assignments, students often think to themselves, ‘How could I have missed that question?!’”

Helicopter, Snowplow, and many other types of moms have been called out on different platforms.While moms do offer support, these are the moms whogo too far in observing their kids or smoothing obstacles away. Mothers that will do anything for their kids, including eliminating their competition., create a scary mom culture and kids that have a hard time growing up. The cartoon shows a more intense version of the snowplow mom. It’s my honor to introduce Missile Mom!

Eternals is a Marvel film by Chloe Zhao, the mind behind the critically acclaimed ”Nomadland. Unfortunately, Eternals was quite a different story. Eternals was not only one of the most underhyped and forgettable movies of the year, but it also was Marvel’s worst rated and lowest performing movie of all time. To display this humorously, I made all the characters into silhouettes, a reflection of their forgettability. I also replaced the title Eternals”with Ephemerals”, displaying the movie’s insignificance within popular culture.

Aired on January 1st, the cast of Harry Potter reunited for Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. When the first movie was released, the actors were young children, relating to their prime audience of equally young children. Now the cast are adults, and so are their original audience. Seeing their favorite childhood actors grown up and moved on has caused the biggest fans a mortality crisis as they reminisce and realize they’re growing up along with the cast.

The donkey represents the Democrats and is sitting in a patriotic hat with the animal symbol of the Republicans, which is the elephant. While both parties are notorious for disagreeing on many different issues, this cartoon is drawn in an effort to symbolize how the two parties could find common ground. Here, they are able to unite over the fact that Taylor Swift’s new song ‘All Too Well’ is excessively long. Instead of fighting over this topic, the animals are seen having a friendly conversation that results in them agreeing about the fact that Taylor Swift should simply make a shorter song that is maybe not about her ex-boyfriend.

Students get the plagiarism talk every year. They are adamantly warned about the consequences, such as going to Honor Court and failing the assignment. Many students are afraid of accidental plagiarism and constantly question if they are plagiarizing while completing an assignment. In this cartoon, the student is writing an essay with the Grim Reaper looming behind his computer. The Grim Reaper is labeled plagiarism to symbolize every student’s fear of plagiarism.

Russia’s space station: the Soyuz, had a one-sixteenth inch of a whole drilled into its hull (which was patched with epoxy once it landed). Their initial investigations came up with nothing until Head of NASA Kathy Leuders admitted to a NASA employee making the hole. The leaders of the US and Russia have, historically, not proven to be terribly mature in their communications with each other. This cartoon compares our major governmental agencies and leaders as little kids in a sandbox, fighting over their toys.