15 Comments
User's avatar
Sharon Herrick's avatar

You're right---skirmish is a funny word somehow. The New Yorker is missing a bit of lovely wry humor in not publishing your cartoon. I think the sad part about "skirmishing with the patriarchy" is that we all do it every day---we just don't notice it. It's there---stuck inside our heads---telling us what women do, what men do, what men wear, what women wear, who's in charge and who's not. It's all there every day, it reconstitutes itself and we have to battle with it every day both inside AND outside our heads. Those children in the sandbox have already---by that age---skirmished with the patriarchy. As to Nutlick: Who knew you could turn yourself inside out telling the most outlandish lies and still walk around pretending to be a human being?

Liza Donnelly's avatar

Exactly!!! We don’t always know.

Kay Rae Chomic's avatar

LOVE this cartoon. Thank you!!

Dawn Kiilani Hoffmann's avatar

For me a "skirmish" is for those who cannot afford (yet) a full out confrontation..it is the micro-push back that: one. has. to. do. every. single. darned. day...it gets very tiring. It even feels to me like the word does not have enough zap to be capitalized.. at least for today!

Have you ever noticed that ANY word said multiple times in a row sound ludicrous? Try being deaf and see what the words look like too... lip reading sometimes makes a word or series of words look silly too! So much of what we say has been handed to us..we never stop and think about that aspect of communication!

jean mensing's avatar

"The Note"......true or false......animal, vegetable or mineral.... the entirety of everything is now always under suspicion, however if this is a legit "Note" he has a terrible handwriting and should be sent to the Principal's Office as I was......way way back then.

SKIRMISH: Sounds like some made-up name of a supper dish my mother made out of leftovers.

Joyce Smith's avatar

Men have been dominating for centuries - but not always in ancient times. Guess we women have been blamed since tempting Adam with an apple. Now Apple is in charge (pun intended). I liked your column yesterday about how no one (comedians aside) is courageous enough to write about how eratic (bonkers) our president is. Good to see in today's post that one journalist is now doing so.

I read an interesting piece in the NYT a few days ago about Epstein's "mosque" and his Islamic connections - this guy was connected everywhere - academia, busness, finance, model agencies, etc. Epstein Obtained Objects From Islam’s Holiest Site for His Island ‘Mosque’

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/world/americas/jeffrey-epstein-islam-mosque-island-kaaba-sex-offender-kiswa.html?smid=em-share

And for some fun protest songs: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXlJs8rgcbZ/

https://youtu.be/f-LPQeIl5CE?si=CX7URU5UWkc18Jw5

Attachments area

noel stookey's avatar

love the cartoon! can we start a movement to get it published?!

Liza Donnelly's avatar

Thank you Noel! They’d never take it now anyway since it’s been tainted by being published elsewhere!

Robin S's avatar

Is it a skirmish or a full-on cage match these days? Either way, wonderful cartoon.

Helen Palmer's avatar

the note? the note! ain't nobody out here but us liars.

Elizabeth MacQueen's avatar

On the milleniums old patriarchy - and to understand why- watch on Netflix 2026 - Golding’s Lord of the Flies, written in 1954 - tension between civilization and savagery.

Savagery is still the winner.

Brilliant casting and cinematography but I had to skip some and fast forward to minimize my trauma as it blatantly establishes why we are living in the film right now.

How different it hopefully would be had Kamala been elected surrounded by a majority female cabinet.

It was Golding’s first book written while he was a teacher in a Grammar School in Salisbury England.

More on gender learning differences later.

Great cartoon.

em in Huntsville

Judith Stone's avatar

how about that Epstein's cellmate was a dirty cop? Epstein had a way of embracing a critical mass of crap - all of his contacts, and we are finding out who they were, qualified for Dumpster Ville - a smelly trown of grifters and political underbelly types, sliming around in the muck of yuck, waiting for the cabinet apppointment, and/or oppotunities to steal outright...see how they run!

KittyLiterate's avatar

Funny, I read the caption, and before I scrolled down to see your insight, I thought to myself. "That's a great word...skirmish. Love it...just saying it makes a person smile. It's whimsical." And then, I read what you wrote. (Great minds.) Anyway. I do not think Mr. E. committed suicide. But that's me. And I think Rubio's trip is a waste of taxpayers' dollars, as I don't think the Pope will change his tune. Evil is evil and you can't whitewash it. Anyway, happy mother's day to all, including those whose children have fur and walk on all fours.

Bill6711's avatar

Liza...I love how tough you are, always sticking to the truth as you see it....which is usually the way I, and many, many others see it too. So please keep up your great insight and inspirational cartoons!!!