Fear of Blogging Goes to Sweden

...And Denmark too! In early March, I flew to Sweden to lecture on early 20th century women cartoonists at a comics school in Malmo, Sweden, on International Women's Day. I landed at the Copenhagen airport and took the train to Sweden, over the new bridge between the countries. The bridge is beautiful and must be the longest bridge in the world. If you look out over the water, you can't see the other side, yet the entire trip from Copenhagen to Malmo takes half an hour!
Yes, comics are alive and well in Scandinavia, and women are drawing them. Aside from the comics school in the Roda Huset (the red house), I also lectured at the Swedish Comics Organization, then on to Stockholm where I spoke at the comics library and at a woman's bookstore. And in between, I had plenty of volunteer tour guides to show me Malmo and Stockholm. (Thank you, Karolina and Christian) The weather couldn't have been better! Skies were blue and cloudless, and although I had packed for a trip to the arctic, most of the time I didn't even need to wear my coat.
Because it's so fast and easy to get from Copenhagen to Malmo, many people now commute between the countries, and Karen Hansen, one of the Danish students at the Swedish comic school, was my volunteer tour guide for a day in beautiful Copenhagen, home of Hans Christian Anderson and the Little Mermaid. That's Karen up top, in front of the mermaid, who seems to be perched on her head (my bad photography).
Hey, Danes! Stop disparaging your mermaid! Every time I told someone I wanted to see her, they would answer, "oh, well, she's really very small, you know." I think they all believe Americans aren't happy unless the statues are as big as the Statue of Liberty. But size doesn't matter; the mermaid is life-size and very art nouveau and lovely as she sits pensively on her rock, looking toward land. And protestors: stop dumping pink paint on her and cutting off her head! Whatever your grudge with the government, please don't take it out on a beautiful but helpless work of art.
Both Sweden and Denmark have queens, which is still a wierd concept for this American, but of course none of the queens have the power any longer to say "Off with her head." Up top also is the ubiquitous tourist photo of me with a palace guard, and as is always the case, the guard was a good sport about it.
Finally, here also is a photo of me and my host in Sweden, Fredrick Stromberg, one of the teachers at the comics school, and also a historian and writer of many books on comics. Google his books! My thanks to Fredrik, and to Mia, the other teacher at the school and a great cartoonist, and to Kristiina, who runs the Stockholm comics library, and was persuaded to say a few words to me in the language of her home, Finland. The trip was too short, I have to come back!
Next, New York in April, where I'll be lecturing at William Patterson University on April 24th.