Here’s one more sketch from my Southland Mall shopping trip. This man had such awesome cheekbones and amazing facial lines that I had to commit him to paper once I returned home. The rough quality of the black outline in this drawing is a result of my having used a ballpoint pen to create it (something I never, ever do because I don’t like the feeling of ballpoint on paper) .

Ajuan Mance

Here’s the one other shopper at Southland (besides me) who appeared to be over the age of 40. He, like me, was in the work clothes store. Coincidence? I think not.

Ajuan Mance

If ever there was a mall that was created to cater to the rapidly changing fashion sensibilities of young people of color, it’s the Southland Mall in Hayward, California. I was there a couple Saturdays ago, picking up some items for my Halloween costume. It had been a while since I’d last visited that shopping center, and I was once again struck by the predominance of Asian American, African American, and Mexican American shoppers, most of whom appeared to be under the age of 30.  I can’t imagine that the fact that the Macy*s at Southland has no tuxedo shirts and no self-tie bowties, but several styles of Stacy Adams shoes has nothing to do with the demographic profile of its shoppers. Something about that strikes me as a little bit creepy. Is there such a thing as department store redlining? If so, then I think Macy*s Southland just might be doing it.

By the way, this baby-faced young man is just one of many I noticed during my Halloween shopping trip.

Ajuan Mance

This brother was a couple people ahead of me in the line at the High Street Walgreens drugstore. If you haven’t been to the High Street Walgreens, then you may not know that it is has the slowest, longest lines of any Walgreens in the East Bay. Make not mistake, though–the cashiers are not the problem. The issue in the store is that at least one out of every four customers has some sort of special request that, apparently, can only be made at the checkout counter. Some people want to renegotiate the terms of a store coupon while others want to return an item without a receipt. Still others are deciding, even as their groceries are being rung up, whether or not they actually want to buy the items in their cart. Today was a particularly slow day in the checkout line, and the man in this drawing was conpletely out of patience. After a couple minutes he began expressing his frustration out loud, under his breath. I clearly heard him say “this is ridiculous,” at least a couple of times. A two of the other people in line nodded their heads in silent agreement. I maintained a poker face throughout, but I certainly understood his irritation, because I was irritated too.

Ajuan Mance

This is the last of my APE (Alternative Press Expo) drawings. The guy in this drawing didn’t stop by my table. He was walking past all of our tables very quickly, and it seemed like he was looking for a specific vendor. Still, I got a long enough look at him to draw him for later display on this blog post.

Ajuan Mance

Here’s another drawing from the APE (Alternative Press Expo) sketchbook. On Sunday, the second day of the Expo, this guy was the second person to stop by my table. He was very friendly and he really took his time looking at my work. He did, however, seem a bit skeptical of my motives. Did I mention that this seemed to be a trend among some of the younger Black men who stopped at my table? I think that some of it had to do with the setting. Among so many comic artists depicting the space age and the supernatural, an artist whose work is essentially a journal of my experience of seeing everyday Black men must have seen a little odd.

Ajuan Mance

Over the course of my two days at the Alternative Press Expo I was able to catalog a number of different times of interactions between vendors (like me) and attendees (like the man in this picture). My interaction with this man is best describe as the catch-pass. In the catch-pass the shopper catches your eye, quickly looks away, and then passes you by. Book fairs and expos can be an eye contact minefield, and if you look at a vendor for too long, she’ll wave you over and, before you know, you’ll be making a impulse buy…which, from this vendor’s perspective, would be totally awesome!

Ajuan Mance

Here’s another drawing from my Alternative Press Expo sketchbook. The tall, slim brother in this picture took a good long look at my table, but said little. He gave me a nod of approval and a warm smile before moving on to the comic book sellers across the aisle.

Ajuan Mance

This is the first of a series of drawings from my weekend at the Alternative Press Expo. This man stopped by my table on Sunday morning, curious about the reason I’d chosen to focus on African American men. He was not displeased by my attention to this subject, but he was a little uncertain about my motivations.

Ajuan Mance

This is another drawing from my series of Black men in suits. This is a composite of several drawings of men I saw in the audience when I recently attended the musical Scottsboro Boys.*

Ajuan Mance

*In case you were wondering, the production was done very respectfully, despite its controversial use of blackface minstrelsy. If it wasn’t for the controversy, though, it probably never would have even made it to Broadway. Despite the previous accomplishments of its creators, whose earlier musicals are simply brilliant and edgy, this one felt thin, cautious, and unusually restrained…which a 21st-century musical in which it’s white creators blackface minstrelsy as a visual metaphor probably should be. Nevertheless, the show was not, ultimately, successful. The printed program, however, was outstanding! Seriously.