I always wondered what a political cartoon of me would look like. I know I could get a cartoon version of myself at any boardwalk or fair, but those are too generic. I wanted to see what specific features an artist specializing in irony and biting satire would choose to portray me. Then, several years ago, a talented student took up the challenge--and I had a toothy, smiling mouth that took up most of my cartoon face and was roughly the same size as my cartoon body. I saw his caricatures of other instructors, and I thought they were dead-on, so I have to assume the one of me was also insightful. I really like the drawing, but I’m not completely sure it was complimentary. I generally think it is a good thing that we rarely know how others describe us, because the picture would clash with the one we have of ourselves and create an uncomfortable cognitive dissonance. Or worse. The descriptions we would probably be the most wise to avoid are those given by our kids when they know we can’t hear them. Would we even recognize ourselves when seen through their eyes? Charles Reasoner’s Sliding Surprise board book Whose Mommy Is This? seems to ask that very question. Each mommy is described and then you pull a sort of drawer to see which baby is giving the description. Scarlett loved the process but I wonder what she would say if she were in one of the drawers.
http://books.google.com/books?id=mSsNAAAACAAJ&dq=Charles+Reasoner&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=2
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