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Lalo Alcaraz seamlessly blends art, comedy, and politics daily in his nationally syndicated comic strip, La Cucaracha. Biting social commentary on the most controversial issues of the day is sugar coated with an appreciation for humor that exposes the absurdity of injustice, and the resilience of those who are most attacked in society. With few words, a La Cucaracha strip can capture all the nuances and hypocrisy of the biggest news of the day. A few Thanksgivings back, during the height of the attacks on President Obama’s citizenship status, a single-panel La Cucaracha strip depicted a white Pilgrim orating in front of a group of Native Americans who demanded, “Show Us Your Birth Certificate.” In June 2009 Alcaraz poignantly summed up the potential for a sea-change with the nomination of Sonya Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court with a single panel cartoon showing a young Latina girl playing make-believe in her bedroom, dressed up as a judge, presiding over a hearing of stuffed animals with Sotomayor’s picture on her pink-painted wall. Not surprisingly, the Occupy Movement has inspired Alcaraz, this time into creating a poster depicting a statue resembling the Monopoly man being toppled over by the masses, with the caption, “We are the 99%.”

GUEST: Lalo Alcaraz, artist, writier, cartoonist, and creator of the nationally synidcated comic strip La Cucaracha. He is also a programmer here on KPFK and can be heard regularly as one of the crew of hosts for the Poncho Hour of Power, Friday’s at 4:00pm.

Visit Lalo’s website at www.laloalcaraz.com