#JeSuisCharlie

They murdered people but they will never murder ideas or the artistry to make them come alive. #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/j6rQAZOqcZ

— Glendon Mellow (@FlyingTrilobite) January 8, 2015

From tweets I wrote after the one above, linked in a Twitter essay:

-I am not a political cartoonist (or even a cartoonist) so thank you to those sharing and RTing my sketch.

-As someone working in illustration and the media, I have felt distracted and dismayed all day about what happened at Charlie Hebdo.

-I don't think I would generally enjoy Charlie Hebdo, but that's not the point. They were murdered for making art people disagreed with.

-Free speech and freedom of artistic expression are not only for the wittiest writers & most technically skilled artists.

-We must protect the crass and outrageous artists and speakers in free society. We must. Society shifts when they move the needle.

-I do not think this crime against art was committed specifically with religious zeal. Not as a primary motive; rather

-This murder was committed by control freaks who want everyone to think like them. And that's just never gonna happen.

- So I hope the Parisian police are reaching out to the Muslim community and offering aid against backlash.

- As an atheist, I think it is vital that no one die over a difference of artistic expression. Too many already have today.
 

You may feel free to share this image wherever you like, but please link back to my handle @FlyingTrilobite or here at glendonmellow.com.

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Wonderful Start to the New Year at the ROM

My oldest son and I learning about this hadrosaur lower jaw and the magnificent teeth, being uncovered by  Jessica Hawthorn (@JHawthornUTM). Photo by Michelle Follett.

A perfect start to 2015: my family and I went to the Royal Ontario Museum (@ROMtoronto) today. We have a family membership, and since our youngest was born almost a year ago, it's been challenging to all head out together. So today was a great day. 

Photo by Michelle Follett

A personal highlight for me was finally meeting Kiron Mukherjee (@kironmukherjee), the tireless social media presence for the ROM. The man is a machine on Twitter. One of my favourite features of the museum is how social media seems woven into their worklife. Many people from the ROM team are active on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and more. As a kid it was my destination of choice for birthdays and events: now, thanks to so many personalities there - @RudkinDave, @aprilsMuseum, @mesozoicmuse and the departments like @ROMpalaeo & the rest - the museum feels woven into the everyday fabric of life in Toronto.

I first wrote about about the ROM here in The Flying Trilobite back when this blog was only a couple of months old, in 2007. It's exciting to watch the museum change and grow, especially now that I have two children to share it with. 

Here are a few more pictures from today's adventures.  

I did not have time to sketch while scrambling after our 4 year old but that's alright. We don't live far away and the membership takes the pressure off of doing everything in one day. 

If you'd like to see some of my ROM sketches, I posted about them on Symbiartic a while back:  Little Museum Sketches

The most significant sketch I have perhaps done on-site was a preparatory sketch of the Allosaurus skull commissioned by author Brian Switek (@Laelaps) for a place on his arm.

© Glendon Mellow

 I have another tattoo commission in the works and took some more reference photos at the ROM today.  It's going to be a good year, and it's such a tremendous feeling to know that Michelle and I could take our boys to a museum that excited and continues to educate us as well. 

(Kiron: next time instead of harassing you while you're working, we should go for coffee.)