In Joe Dator’s cartoon, the Ancient Mariner from Coleridge’s poem is standing barefoot and alone at a cocktail party, with the albatross tied around his neck. To his left, a female guest says something to her partner. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge’s longest poem, is about a sailor who recounts his story of…
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Caption Contest Commentary
“Math TV” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In Robert Leighton’s cartoon, a woman standing next to a large, wall-mounted flat-screen TV is addressing a man who’s sitting in an armchair and pointing a remote control at the screen, on which there appears an extremely complicated math problem. Seeing a couple and a TV made me think of the now-common phrase, “Netflix and…
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“Head above Water” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In my fellow Chicagoan Pat Byrnes’ drawing, two mobsters have fitted their latest victim with concrete shoes and thrown him off a pier and into the river. His head, however, remains above water because he’s landed safely on top of a pile of other victims. He’s saying something to the mobsters on the pier. My…
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“50 dollar bill” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In J.B. Handlesman’s cartoon, a bartender is addressing Ulysses S. Grant, whose face appears on a huge $50 bill. Ron Chernow, who wrote the Alexander Hamilton biography that Lin-Manuel Miranda turned into a smash Broadway musical, recently wrote a biography of Ulysses Grant, so I initially imagined the bartender speculating about Grant’s chances of becoming…
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