"Diane," 2017: grandmother
How to read this transcript: An overall description is provided to give a sense of the style and aesthetic of the comic for those who are unable to view the images. The transcript is then broken down by page and by tier. When transcribing this participant's video, her speech pattern and body language flowed in such a way that it would have been disruptive to break the comic into clearly bordered panels. Therefore, this transcript cannot be broken down panel by panel and instead is broken down by tier (images moving horizontally across the page from left to right). Descriptions of each tier are given from left to right, presenting spoken text interspersed with bracketed image descriptions, and are signified by Page#.Tier# (ex: 1.4 would be page 1, tier 4).
Overall description: This comic is almost completely borderless, so images and text sit next to each other without distinguishing barriers and sometimes overlap. All images are of a white transwoman, "Diane" (her name and appearance have been modified at her request in order to protect her identity) dressed simply in black and sitting in a black swivel chair with one leg crossed over the other, shown from roughly the knees up. She wears glasses and has long, wavy, dark hair and prominent dimples. Text is handwritten in mixed cases with emphasis shown through cursive and is generally presented without speech bubbles. Images are black and white, with clothes and hair inked with a brush and face and hands rendered more delicately with a nib pen.
Page One:
1.1: So, *ahem* in 2016... My grandmother was born in 1914, and she died in 2016. [sitting with hands folded on her knees]
So this means that she saw a lot. She remembers when World War I ended, [facing the viewer, arms spread wide and hands with palms out and slightly blurred with the action, big smile] (which is kind of cool!).
But she was also a World War II vet. She was a Captain in the Army Nurse Corps. [hands resting in her lap, left hand in a fist, head tipped back]
1.2: And so, when she passed away -- When veterans pass away, the White House sends them... [gesturing with her right hand, palm toward the viewer and fingers together, glancing off to the right in thought]
Some kind of... document, I'm not sure what it is. The next of kin gets it. [hands held about 18 inches apart, blurred with movement]
So my dad got it about a month ago... [left hand resting on her knee, right elbow on the arm rest and right hand gesturing palm up]
1.3: And, Lo and Behold! It was signed by Donald Trump. [annoyed expression, arms in roughly the same position but left hand is now raised palm up. Circular panel, speech is in speech bubbles.]
And... My dad was kind of... I don't know, I think he was kind of amused? In, like, an annoyed way? [head posed on fingers of her right hand, arm still braced on the arm rest, looking exasperated and distressed] But I was really upset about it.
1.4: And I have a friend, who is Canadian, and she was like, [same pose, left eyebrow raised] "This is such a travesty!" [left hand resting on knee, right hand lightly touching face] Like, she said, "You should write to Obama and see if he can sign, like, an unofficial certificate." [face angled to the left, fingers of right hand just touching cheek, eyebrows lifted]
Page Two:
2.1: [head tilted back toward center, left hand stretching in the air just above her knees] So I'm thinking about doing that, because...
It is a travesty, from my perspective. [looking to the left, right fingers pressing into her cheek, looking upset] Um.
2.2: She fought in World War II against -- She was, like, the antithesis of Donald Trump, basically. [looking to the right, arms spread wide, right elbow still resting on the arm rest] She was, like, a wonderful person.
[head tipped back, smiling, clasping hands to her chest] (And I'm not just saying that because she was my grandmother!)
2.3: So that... [arms resting on her legs, face fallen, looking off to the left]
[lips pursed] Ehhhhh...
2.4: I mean, it's a small microcosm, but... [looking upset, gesturing with both hands blurred from the motion] I think it illustrates some of the larger issues that are happening.