With no national plan to control the pandemic, nor a coherent program to reopen schools safely, the Trump Administration has trapped school districts in a Sophie’s Choice: to open schools and risk community spread or to keep kids at home, stuck behind a computer screen in the care of their parents or guardians. In a follow up to his graphic essay for Truthout, “Going Remote: Flattening The Curriculum,” (which is featured in the forthcoming book, Project Censored’s State of the Free Press | 2021), English professor and parent Adam Bessie, along with illustrator Peter Glanting, continue their exploration on the impossible choices President Trump’s negligence has foisted on our schools, communities, and their families.
Adam Bessie writes comics, which have appeared in The New Yorker, Project Censored, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, Believer, and Truthout. Adam won The New York Association of Black Journalists 2018 Award for his graphic essay “Betsy Devos’ ‘School Choice’ Movement Isn’t Social Justice. It’s a Return to Segregation” (with Erik Thurman). Adam is a community college English professor in Northern California.
Peter Glanting is a cartoonist and illustrator. His work has appeared on advertisements for liqueurs, covers for rap albums, blogs about San Francisco, and books in which he can profess his undying hatred for the Trump administration. Peter lives in Oregon.