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GUEST COLUMN--In another totally random moniker, no doubt aimed at making somebody money, Wednesday was National Coloring Book Day.
Given the ragged state of the union - and because every little crayon-clutching moment of Zen, along with whatever resistance we can summon, helps - we figured we'd take the opportunity to "make coloring great again" by visiting the flood of anti-Trump adult coloring books.
They include the relatively straightforward "The Trump Coloring Book" by M.G. Anthony, "The Anti-Trump Coloring Book: #CureLIFEwithaCrayon" by Mike Browne, "F*ck Trump: An Adult Coloring Book" by Nasty Woman, "Color Me Resisting: A Coloring Book for Persisting When You Are Too Tired to March," with proceeds going to the ACLU, by Judith Krauthamer, "Trump: The Road to Impeachment" by Kim Brown and Eric Tollevsen, and for "coloring therapy" the "Huge and Beautiful Trumptivity Coloring and Activity Book" by Chris Piascik and Shayna Cochefski.
To help navigate this God-awful new phenomenon, there's also "A Child's First Book of Trump" - "The beasty is called an American Trump/Its skin is bright orange, its figure is plump" - by Michael Ian Black, and "We Shall Overcomb: How to Survive the Presidency of the Angry Cheeto: The Resistance" by Day Drankin' Press and Davor Ratkovic, who warn their book "gets a little sweary (because we all have to deal with this debacle somehow."
Vowing "we'll never give up hope or cease demanding the return to decency," they hope to reduce stress with pages like "Mandate My Ass," "Yuge Mistake," "Ban Bigotry," and "Resist the Furor."
Finally, to help keep our perspective, visit Archie McPhee's timeless "Existential Coloring Book," featuring surreal pictures, "mildly depressing activities" and somber quotes from philosophers and others "worried about the essential dark unknowability of the universe." "You can 'color' all the pages," McPhee helpfully notes, "in varying shades of grey."
With a helpful thought bubble on one page, he also muses, "What is Jean-Paul Sartre thinking about?" Maybe how to get through this with our souls and wits intact.
(Abby Zimet writes for Common Dreams … where this CityWatch guest column was first posted.)
-cw