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Without Reservations: The Cartoons of Ricardo Cate
“Caté hits on the irony native people feel and express in humor.” ―Larry Cespooch, Ute Indian filmmaker Cartoonist Ricardo Caté describes Indian humor as the result of “us living in a dominant culture, and the funny part is that we so often fall short of fitting in.” His cartoon column, Without Reservations, is a popular daily dose in the Santa Fe New Mexican. Actor Wes Studi says, “Caté’s cartoons serve to remind us there is always a different point of view, or laughing at every day scenes of home life where Indian kids act just like their brethren of different races. Without Reservations is always thought-provoking whether it makes you laugh, smirk, or just enjoy the diversity of thought to be found in Indian Country.” Ricardo Caté has been drawing the daily cartoon for the Santa Fe New Mexican since 2006. His wry and often poignant humor pokes fun at both the white man and the Indian. Ricardo follows the ways of his Kewa Pueblo heritage and teaches on the reservation. He has three children and lives in the Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico.
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 30, 2016
I enjoyed this book. I enjoy humor from other cultures, even though this particular culture didn't seem that "other" to me.
April 6, 2018
Cate’'s satire does not hold back from making fun of Indians, as well as everyone else. Jokes about Spam, diabetes, child support and Jerry Springer share the page with gags about broken treaties, The Indian Relocation Act and the near extinction of the American bison. Many of his cartoons would justly earn the hashtag “funnynotfunny.” While each comic is ingrained with genuine humor, there is also an underlining sense of irony, a window into how things are and how they shouldn’t be. It can be difficult to laugh when the injustice is so clearly highlighted. But politics aside, Without Reservations is funny. It makes us laugh at ourselves and at the situations we find ourselves in. Both thought-provoking and light-hearted, it is the best of both worlds. (Full review can be read in the Taos News)
October 10, 2020
This is a wonderful collection of political and social commentary cartoons. This Native American cartoonist has a keen eye regarding human behavior and Native American heritage. His cartoons In this collection poke fun at Indian ways, the historical relationship between the white man and the Indian, and technology. This collection provides a Native American perspective of life that is not just humorous. Some are poignant and insightful and make you pause, and some have a universality.
October 14, 2019
Funny
I learned of the author cartoonist from PBS's Samantha Brown travel show, when she's was visiting New Mexico. Ricardo Cate' a cartoons have a big following. You will definitely appreciate the ones on Christopher Columbus landing on America, lol, since today is Indigenous Peoples Day. I laughed and read through one sitting.
I learned of the author cartoonist from PBS's Samantha Brown travel show, when she's was visiting New Mexico. Ricardo Cate' a cartoons have a big following. You will definitely appreciate the ones on Christopher Columbus landing on America, lol, since today is Indigenous Peoples Day. I laughed and read through one sitting.
February 24, 2020
These delightful, but thought provoking cartoons are well worth the time it takes to read and absorb what Ricardo Cate has to say to us about Native Americans. A few make us immigrants to their land ashamed but most are poignant reminders of human nature and the need to be able to not take ourselves so seriously. Read, laugh, cry but most of all just enjoy his wonderful sense of humor.
October 28, 2018
Peruse through this book and you'll find a comic with political overtones who looks at life in a funny way. The book is full of pictorial one liners. You'll enjoy the Chief and his political opponents. It's funny!
February 14, 2023
Hilarious! I was cracking up while reading these! Richard Cate has a simple style and doesn't hesitate to poke fun at both American and Native American cultures. Some of these will only make sense to Natives. These comics offer a refreshing new perspective on life with a large dose of humor.
October 22, 2019
Just like the intro said: some comics made me laugh, some made me think, some I didn’t get. More laughter than anything though.
January 10, 2021
✩ 4.0 ✩
“I like to think that this is a universal cartoon in which the characters just happen to be Native.”
“I like to think that this is a universal cartoon in which the characters just happen to be Native.”
May 28, 2021
More! Need more, please! <3
April 11, 2022
Funny, quick read.
March 23, 2024
Fun cartoons. The drawings are a little like Don Martin’s style.
September 17, 2012
Saw this comic in the Santa Fe New Mexican at the Inn that we stayed in while visiting and found it to be amusing. Later that day when we went to the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian up on Museum Hill and saw the panels down as paintings and laughed when I saw them, and under Ricardo Cate's painting was this collection of his comics.
Some are delightful slices of Pueblo life, some are comments on life in general, and well worth the read.
Some are delightful slices of Pueblo life, some are comments on life in general, and well worth the read.
April 9, 2017
On a recent trip to New Mexico I saw a display of Ricardo Cate's cartoons at the Haak'u Museum on the way to Acoma Sky City They were hysterical. A few days later I found the book in the gift shop of a different museum.
My favorite cartoon (at least for now) is of the schoolchild on a field trip to a Native American museum saying to the teacher "What kind of field trip is this? We have all this stuff at home!"
My favorite cartoon (at least for now) is of the schoolchild on a field trip to a Native American museum saying to the teacher "What kind of field trip is this? We have all this stuff at home!"
January 8, 2017
The cartoons are right down my alley--my sense of humor. Of course, Mark Twain is also my sense of humor. The back cover say that Ricardo Cate uses irony in his humor...isn't that what humor is??? It certainly is in Mark Twain's humor as well. Many belly laughs are in this book. Native Americans are featured in most (not all) of the cartoons. I guess the moral is funny is funny is funny.
November 26, 2021
These comics are fun, yet biting, satire. I actually bought this book because I saw the author's work at at the Pueblo Museum in Albuquerque; it was really cool to see the sort of humor that emerges from life on the Reservation.
October 15, 2014
741.56973 CAT
March 24, 2014
amazing! my new favorite comic strip!
January 27, 2015
Picked up a signed copy at a museum. My sons read it and I read it. He's a Kewa Pueblo. Good to read comedy from another perspective.
December 13, 2015
The Chief and the General made my Sunday ))
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews