Seen and Sometimes Heard

Seen and Sometimes Heard: Observations 2018-2020 is an homage to the lost art of randomly listening in on other people's conversations. The book references cartoonist Stan Mack's cartoon strip that ran from 1975 to 1995 in the Village Voice: "Real Life Funnies. All Conversations Guaranteed Overheard 100% Verbatim". Problem is, random listening today isn't what it used to be. I tried. I spent a fair bit of time riding buses and subways, wandering around, sitting in coffee shops, hanging out. But social spaces in the 21st Century simply cannot compare to those of the late 20th Century. Then the Pandemic of 2020 hit. Subsequently, what began as a series of illustrated observations of the world around me in 2018 and 2019 ends with personal comments on life lived during Covid-19.