6. Mom before me: an album – SEE SAW Comics, Webcomics from the Sequential Artists Workshop

6. Mom before me: an album

Chapter title page: “6. Mom before me: an album”

This page has a small chunk of text, then a panel taking up a bit more than half the page, followed by another chunk of text. Lynn narrates, “The Great Depression hit when Mom was four. Her father lost his job and was forced to rent the house out to tenants. They bunked in at the grandparents’ farm ‘In order to eat,’ Mom said. Privacy was not an affordable luxury. She never once had her own room until she lay dying and took over my old room.” The panel, roughly square in shape, shows a drawing of a sepia-tone photograph of an older man standing to the left of three little girls. They are all outside, with leafless trees in the background. The man is wearing a 1920s style hat, a light-color long-sleeve collared shirt, darker overalls, and black shoes. He has short-cropped hair and a full mustache. He is using a garden hoe. The three young girls descend in height and age from right to left. They are dressed similarly in wide-brimmed floppy sun hats, long tunic shirts, white shorts, white cuffed socks and black mary janes. The girl to the far left is wearing some sort of leggings instead of shorts, and different shoes; her shirt tucks in slightly, rather than flowing out like the others. They are each holding little garden tools, either a hoe or rake. The oldest girl is smiling, but the other two have neutral expressions. The photo is captioned, “My great-grandpa, Doris, Lorraine and Bobby at the farm in New Auburn, MN, circa 1929.” Lynn continues narrating, “The tiny town of New Auburn is an hour’s drive west of the Twin Cities. It sits on the banks of idyllic High Island Lake. At least, it looks idyllic in ancient sepia-toned photographs. Mom never took us there. It represented her worst years. Someday I’ll make the trek. To date, my perceived ‘adoptee disconnect’ with regards to which ancestors I can lay claim to is still a riddle to be solved. Thankfully, I have no desire to join the Daughters of the American Revolution; they seem to value DNA while eschewing us adoptees. Mom never wanted to join either, but loved telling me about the family members in George Washington’s army. But I digress.”

One panel, another sepia-toned photograph, takes up most of the page. It is overlayed by a smaller, skinnier panel, a cropped sepia photograph. The former shows a house. It has a front yard with a set up steps running through it. There is another, smaller set up steps leading to the front door of the house, which is to the far left and set back a bit from the front face of the house. There are bushes in front, and trees to the side. The house is split in two tones, dark brown on the bottom and light tan on top, with a brown roof and chimney. A large window covers the front face of the house, with gray shutters matching the color of the front door. It is captioned, “The Olson house, East 34th St, Minneapolis.” The second photograph shows an adult man with his arm around an adolescent girl. The man is wearing a button down shirt tucked into straight-leg pants, and a belt; he has short brown hair and a cigar hanging out of his mouth. The girl is wearing a knee-length, 30s-style dress, with a large collar, short-sleeves, buttons, and a belt cinching the waist; it has pockets. She has 30s-style hair, bob-length with a roll on top. She is smiling. The photo is captioned, “Grandpa Olson and Mom.” Lynn narrates, “This house made me know why it was important to Mom to some day provide a large enough house for each kid to have their own room. I grew up in a three-bedroom house. There would be no adopting a third child.”

Published On: January 25, 2024

A baby with glasses, smoking a pipe, wearing a violet bathrobe, and reading a Playboy magazine with an unimpressed expression. The background is pink.

Guy is relaxing on the couch watching TV with a pink-haired woman. His hand is resting on the woman’s thigh. They are both sitting in the same position, right leg crossed over left.

A view of a classroom from Kim’s perspective. A man with a goatee wearing a button down shirt stands behind a podium with a desktop computer, speaking to the glass. There is a projector on a stool in front of him, displaying an image of a rocky formation and body of water on the screen on the back wall. Two men sit in the desks in front of Kim, leaning in and listening. “September 20. Our group had its first presentation today. I had dreaded it, but we did well and now it’s over with.”

Enzo is standing in the kitchen, holding Tonks the cat in his arms like a baby in a front-facing carrier. He is smiling softly. “September 14. Made turkey meatballs before work. Crappy work day. Class after with quiz.”

Stylistically rendered with bright, flat colors, simplified shapes, and no line work: a man faces the reader across a cyan background with pink buildings and peach clouds. He stands on a pink road between cyan sidewalks. He is wearing aviator sunglasses and has a thick mustache with a stubbly chin. He wears a blue and black coat over a white Armani t-shirt; his hands are in his jacket pockets, to his side. We see down to his knees before the image cuts off. He is rendered with blue hair, peach skin, and a pink nose. He has an air of intimidating confidence.

Lorraine sits next to Lynn’s dad, both looking like young twenty-somethings. They are both dressed in formal wear - Lorraine in a floral print dress, Lynn’s dad in a suit and tie - and they smile for the camera.

Kim is reading from a book opened to a page full of pictures of different kinds of mushrooms. She is lounging, wearing comfy pants and sitting with her knees up. “September 8. Ordered mushroom cultivating supplies after doing some research. Worked until 7 p.m.”

Kim tends to a rack of bananas hanging from a rod in her house. “September 7. Felt crappy again. Made a big wall calendar to help manage time. Had class today.”

A zoomed in view of hands holding a plant’s steam with a leaf attached. In the background are more leaves and plants. “August 27.”

A sepia-toned family photograph, showing five people in formal wear posing stiffly for the camera.

Kim stands among banana trees outside. She is looking down, where a rack of bananas lies at her feet. “August 21. Worked. Blue java rack fell prematurely.”

From behind, we see Kim bend over as she steps into her bathtub. She is naked. “August 15. Sunday. Painted. Bath.”

Derek is in bed lying on his stomach. He holds the pillow over his head, pencil in hand, so he is buried under his blanket and pillow. In the background, the word "FLUSH" is written in large block letters. Derek asks, “What’s the point?”

1. Rory sits in the corner of a large sectional couch, holding her phone close to her face. She is covered in pillows. “August 9. Worked. I had planned on meeting Mom and Rory at the pool after but it was closed. Told my work I’ll need Mondays off (class).”

Close up of Lorraine's hand aggressively crushing her cigarette in her blue ash tray, surrounded by dramatic lighting and jagged lines.

Jasper sits on the foot of Derek's bed, elbow-deep in a bag of popcorn, which he munches on. He stares ahead blankly while chewing.

1. From behind, we see Kim sitting at a desk in a swivel office chair. She is bare foot. She sits in front of a keyboard using a computer mouse. A dog stands behind her, looking to the side. A dark, round table takes up the left foreground, balancing out the panel. “August 2. Worked. Went to UTC Mall after class to get school clothes for Enzo. August 3. Class down in Naples. Finished my journals at 7p.m. Sammi and Carlye took Enzo to registration at school.”

Young Lynn, in full color, looks at herself in an oval-shaped mirror, smoking a cigarette. Her head is tilted slightly to the side and she is smiling with her lips puffed out a bit. She thinks to herself, "I look so cool."

Derek is lying in bed, completely covered by his comforter and the pillow on top of his head. He huffs a “(muffled) SIGH” (drawn in big block letters). From off panel, one of his kids calls, “Dad?”

1. A man, who is only visible by the torso, holds a black and white kitten in his arms like he’s cradling a baby. The kitten’s head is smaller than his hand. He is petting the cat’s head with one finger. “July 27. Class in Naples, more food forest install. Met up with Tony on campus and had a meeting with my advisor. Then we went to the FGCU FF. Tony’s parents got a new kitten.”

1. A close-up view of two mushrooms with umbrella-like caps and long stems. The mushrooms are surrounded by twigs on the ground and a saw palmetto frond above them. “July 20.”

Derek is tucked in bed, lying down on his back with his head on his pillow and blankets pulled up to his neck. He yawns loudly (drawn in block letters). A light is shining on him and chatter comes from off panel.

1. An opossum stands chest to the ground in a spot of light; the rest of the background is dark. Their mouth is open so they look like they are almost smiling. Kim points to the opossum and labels them “Odetta” with a heart. “July 14. Last day in KY. Flew home after a delay involving landing gear. Unpacked, turned the compost pile. It’s good to be home.”

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