Lijia, 2018: the day of the election

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 panel. Individual panels are denoted by page#.panel# (ex: 1.3 is page one, panel three). Any words spoken in the panel are written after this #.# signifier, followed by a bracketed description of actions occuring or other important visual changes.

Overall description: Each of this comic's four pages is laid out in a grid of rectangular panels that are evenly paced and sized to fit eight per page. This grid is interrupted periodically by a single longer rectangle in place of two smaller rectangles. Every panel is a tight closeup (top of forehead to chin or mid-forehead to mid-neck, roughly) on the face of a Chinese-American woman (Lijia) wearing large, white headphones. She has dark hair pulled into pigtails and bangs that are swept to either side. Speech bubbles are mostly within the panels but crossing over the borders of them, outlined in black and with handwritten text in all caps.


Page One:

1.1: Um, so, I was working with Mexican immigrant students when the election happened, [looking off to the left]

1.2: and I remember the day of the election,

1.3: eeeeverybody at the school I was working at [tops of folded hands visible under her chin]

1.4: - which was, like, 90% Mexican immigrants - [looking toward the camera, right hand obscuring her lower face with her palm toward the camera]

1.5: eeeeverybody was, like, on the verge of tears. [right hand slightly lowered, looking sincerely into the camera]

1.6: And I couldn't think about how my kids... [head tipped back, hand lowered further still, eyes looking to the left]

1.7: who were probably... going to be... [looking to the left]

Page Two:

2.1: you know, deported [looking to the left, solemnly]

2.2: or just go through terrible traumas that none of them deserve to go through.

2.3: [pausing to process, solemn and deep in memory]

2.4: Um. And then obviously the election played out. Obviously.

2.5: Um. [left hand raised to her face, pointer finger pressing into her cheek]

2.6: [finger still pressing into her cheek, a bitter smile that's almost a cringe on her lips]

2.7: I wasn't exactly wrong. Many of them have been deported.

Page Three:

3.1: [resting her chin on her fists and looking distressed]

3.2: I don't really know what else to tell you. [smiling uncomfortably]

3.3: ...It affected me personally just in, like, the level where i-it...

3.4: ...scares me what happens. [head turned to the left, one fist still bolstering her chin]

3.5: And I don't wanna know what's happening in the country and I wanna run away... [looking into the camera, making sincere eye contact, hands still by her face]

3.6: [borderless panel, glancing off to the side with her hands still supporting her chin, looking pensive]

Page Four:

4.1: But I also wanna do what I can to... try and make a...

4.2: Make the country be what it can be

4.3: for its immigrants, its poor, its minorities. [head angled to the left, fists still at her chin]

4.4: Um. [facing the camera, eyes half-closed, solemn]

4.5: But it's hard to stay vocal. [making sincere eye contact]

4.6: So that's kinda where I'll leave it.

4.7: [eyes half-closed but still making eye contact, her mouth is pressed into a bitter smile/cringe of exhaustion and disappointment]