By Kathleen M. Muldoon
Yvette Silver www.yvettesilver.com
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Every November I think back to one of my favorite high school events, the Sadie Hawkins dance. The difference between it and the other dances was that girls invited guys to be their dates. Now, this might not sound like a big deal today, but back in the “Dark Ages” when I was a teen, boys did all the asking. So my girlfriends and I would dare one another to ask a guy to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and then we’d report back on our success (or failure). I hate to brag, but I never had a guy say no.
Who was Sadie Hawkins? She was a cartoon character created by cartoonist Al Capp. He drew my favorite comic strip, “Li’l Abner.” He set it in a hillbilly town he named Dogpatch. Sadie Hawkins was daughter of one of the big shots in Dogpatch, but she was mighty homely. So in his comic, Capp had Sadie’s father create Sadie Hawkins Day. This was actually a foot race in which Sadie could marry any guy she caught on that day. Soon readers of this popular comic started Sadie Hawkins dances in high schools and colleges.
Al Capp drew Li’l Abner for over 40 years. When he died, a lot came out about his life. Most exciting for me was to learn that Capp was an amputee like me! When he was 9 years old, he was involved in a trolley accident. Doctors had to amputate one of his legs. Capp wondered if he would ever be normal again. His dad wanted him to know that even though he could no longer play certain sports or dance, he could use his many talents and build a life for himself. So Capp began drawing as part of his rehabilitation. Little did he know that one day he would be one of the most famous and beloved cartoonists in America.
Across the Atlantic Ocean in England, another disabled cartoonist has sketched out a life for himself through his art. His name is Dave Lupton. Unlike Al Capp who was disabled as a child, Lupton was already a cartoonist when he was involved in an automobile accident that cast him in a whole new world of wheelchairs and architectural barriers.
Rather than let his new disability get him down, Lupton used it to launch a whole other branch of his cartooning career. He decided to draw a body of cartoons revolving around disabilities and the barriers that people with disabilities face each day. He drew these under the pen name “Crippen.” Within a few years, Crippen was the leading disabled cartoonist in the United Kingdom. He learned that humor was an effective tool for educating the public about the physical and social barriers faced by disabled people.
Dave Lupton didn’t limit his activism to his cartoons. He has also worked with film and television companies in England to help spread the word that people with disabilities are still vital members of our communities. His “Crippen” cartoons have been translated into several different languages and are enjoyed by people around the world, including those in the United States. If you have a computer, you can see some of his cartoons at www.daveluptoncartoons.co.uk/crippen.
Have you thought about what you will do with the rest of your life? For some of you, that might seem a long way off. But take it from a former Sadie Hawkins dance pro, the time to make career decisions will come sooner than you think. You might not be able to be the next Michael Jordan but maybe you can be the next great cartoonist-or writer-or poet. We each have strengths upon which to build. I was delighted to discover that I could compete in the world of writing. Editors don’t care whether I have one leg or no legs. They only care that I can write and can meet deadlines.
Do you have an idea of how you might carve out your career path? If so, please share it! E-mail it to action@unitedspinal.org or mail it to:
KIDS IN ACTION
United Spinal Association
75-20 Astoria Boulevard
Jackson Heights, NY
11370-1177
In the meantime, happy Sadie Hawkins Day!
Kathleen M. Muldoon is a children’s book author and writing instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
