This is an old family story. It’s about social distancing sixty years ago. Of all the characters in this tale, only my mother and my aunt are alive today. When I researched the story for this cartoon, some corroboration remained shaky. I do know, however, that my mother has told this story since I was a little girl myself. When my mother retold this story again recently on Facebook my sixty-eight year old aunt posted in the comments: “I can confirm. True story. I was there. Though had no idea why we couldn’t enter (the) dining room!” Whether it be word mouth from mother to daughter or pixels on screens from Facebook account to Facebook account, this family legend endures.
Phoebe Cohen has walked many paths in life including living in the Gobi Desert as a Peace Corps Volunteer and working as a paramedic in several states. Her hardest job by far, however, is being a single mother to her beautiful son. She is hoping, through her comic strips, to send a message to other single parents that they are not alone in this world. Cohen’s work has been featured on Graphic Medicine and BorderX. She regularly posts her work on her website Merry Misandrist. Cohen is a part-time cartoonist and current nursing student. She has been known to go for up to five hours without drinking coffee.