Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands: One of Barack Obama’s Favourite Books of 2022

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Kate Beaton and I are the same age, and we hit the indy comics scene at roughly the same time. Like everyone else in the world I became a fan of her work - the funny historical stuff and the (also funny, but serious too) autobio stuff. We made friends, another one of those weird internet friendships that feels both intangible and invaluable. The run turned Roach from a recent University of Toronto grad and aspiring law student into a household name in Canada. It is very firmly rooted in the time and place when Beaton was doing this work. The only revelations we encounter are ones Beaton herself had near the end of her time in the oil sands, and that includes about issues of misogyny, class, sexual harassment, and sexual assault that pertain directly to her, let alone things like climate change, environmentalism, colonialism, and Indigenous rights.

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands - The Comics Journal Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands - The Comics Journal

The worst part for me about being harassed here isn’t that people say shitty things…The worst thing is that your heart breaks.’ King Baby (New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2016, ISBN 978-0545637541) a b c d Salkowitz, Rob (2022-09-27). "Kate Beaton's New Masterpiece Just Rewrote The Standard For Graphic Memoirs". Forbes . Retrieved 2022-11-07.The oil sands operate on stolen lands. Their pollution, work camps, and ever-growing settler populations continue to have serious social, economic, cultural, environmental, and health consequences for the indigenous communities in the region.

Ducks Hark! A Vagrant: — Here is a sketch comic I made called Ducks

I'm a Careful Person': An Interview with Kate Beaton - The Comics Journal". www.tcj.com. 4 November 2015 . Retrieved 10 February 2018.At the cost of our lives-as long as they get their money. They don't care how many of us they kill off.’ The debates will take place live at 10:05 a.m. ET (that's an hour earlier than recent years). You can tune in live or catch a replay on the platform of your choice. You can see all the broadcast details here. In this "man's world", she put up with a whole lot of crap. It was terrible. At the same time, I appreciate how she points out that it was the place they were in and the circumstances that made the men act this way. I used to work in a factory, and later doing a uniform and floor mat delivery at factories and a lot of the depictions of labor hit very close to home. I would go to a good 30some factories a week, some that I knew every time I left I’d have weird allergies or feel ill from physically (I think of Beaton saying there ‘ just shit’ in the air and when she asks ‘ Do I even want to know what kind of cancer will have in 20 years?’ I think of all the glues and sprays we used in the sign-making factory I once worked at with no ventilation), and the thing that bothered me the most was the odd comments people would make to me during my stops. I think a big part was wondering what made them think I was a person they could say that too, and if they’d say that to a stranger what sort of terrible comments do they make around people they feel comfortable with. And what am I going to do, complain? I’ll just be replaced on that stop on the route. All the homophobic comments when I worked in the factory sure hurt but what was I going to do, out myself as pansexual by complaining? How’s that going to go for me after that? I mean, I can’t possibly truly understand what Beaton went through but I did have a lot of difficult memories about working in physical labor jobs while reading this. It happens everywhere, and part of the problem is that this sort of behavior is almost coded into the image of “tough labor guy.”

Ducks - Penguin Books UK

It’s hard to describe what I felt while reading this. First and foremost, of course, it was empathy and sadness for the main character, Beaton herself. The need to leave home is not necessarily one that is present for those in Ontario (and especially Toronto). I would be devastated if I were told that this was to be my reality. But another part of the sadness I experienced was due to the corner in which Beaton found herself. Needing to make money, pay student loans off, do something right now, versus putting up with the culture that is the norm in the oil sands – one of crass phrases, raunchy remarks, and full on sexual assault. It was grim. Holy shit, what a book!! I've been reading Kate Beaton's work online since the livejournal days, starting in roughly 2009, just after the events which this memoir recounts. It's humbling to sit with the narrative of what was happening in the real life of an author I knew for her humorous history jokes in Hark! A Vagrant. A fascinating, harrowing, unforgettable book about a place few outsiders can comprehend."— Kirkus, Starred ReviewThankfully, there is just one incident mentioned, and it's not very graphic (pun intended). Otherwise, I would have had to DNF this.

Ducks by Kate Beaton - Penguin Books Australia Ducks by Kate Beaton - Penguin Books Australia

I love the way that Kate tells stories through her art and through prose," Roach said on Commotion. "One thing that graphic novels do so well is that they cut to the core of emotions, they cut to the core of storytelling because they have to present things in a way where they are not being too wordy and they are able to express really deep feelings through the artwork." A masterpiece graphic memoir [that] makes a shattering statement on the costs of ignorance and neglect endemic in the fuel industry, in both powerful discussions of its sociopolitical ramifications and her own keenly observed personal story."— Publishers Weekly, Starred Review I need to tell you this--there is no knowing Cape Breton without knowing how deeply ingrained two diametrically opposed experiences are: A deep love for home, and the knowledge of how frequently we have to leave it to find work somewhere else.’ I've had so many cool opportunities come across my desk as a result of Jeopardy!, things I could have never really imagined," they said. "I feel like my life is still in the process of changing because of Jeopardy!" Known primarily as the creator of the web-based comic series “Hark! A Vagrant,” Beaton moves to memoir with this examination of the two years she spent working in the oil sands to pay off her student loans. The author begins with an introduction to her home in Cape Breton, where the people have “a deep love for home, and the knowledge of how frequently they will have to leave it to find work somewhere else. This push and pull defines us. It’s all over our music, our literature, our art, and our understanding of our place in the world.” On the surface, the book is a chronicle of the three years following the author’s college graduation (she also spent a year working at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia), but Beaton captures much more than her personal story. She delves deep into the milieu of Fort McMurray, highlighting the complex relationships among the work camps, the oil companies, and the people living and working there. As the author recounts her time through several jobs, companies, and locations, she alternates the narration between the daily grind of the workers and the vistas of startling beauty surrounding them. She introduces each section by location and includes a list of the characters by job and home province, and she is careful to incorporate issues related to the local Indigenous peoples. After all, she writes, “the oil sands operate on stolen land.” Beaton captures numerous poignant, sometimes heartbreaking moments throughout the book, but the cumulative effect of her many stories is even more impressive. She creates an indelible portrait of environmental degradation, fraught interpersonal relationships among a workforce largely disconnected from home, and greedy corporations that seem only vaguely aware of the difficult work’s effect on their employees.Am I defending them? I don’t know, just, they are still my people. Even at their worst, they’re more mine than she is”. In October 2018, Beaton ended the ongoing serialization of her webcomic, saying, "I feel like this is a project that has run its course." [34] Milligan, Mercedes (17 March 2022). "Trailer: Kate Beaton's 'Pinecone & Pony' Charges to Apple TV+". issues still facing the Athabaskan Chipewyan First Nation, Fort McMurray, Mikisew Cree First Nation, as well as the Métis communities in Northern Alberta.