Despite the reams of paperwork, obstacles worthy of a horse show, and a wait that can rival an elephant's gestation, adoption feels no different on the inside.

Imagine the talented love-child of Andr Previn and Lucille Ball.

Fidel Castro rhetorically championed the poor. He also held the Cuban economy in a kind of arrested state. He called for racial equality but often cracked down - but did crack down on the press and dissidents and Cuban gays.

Janis Joplin didn't just sing a song, she took it over. She swallowed it whole, then sent it back through her gut and her heart.

There are times when the adoption process is exhausting and painful and makes you want to scream. But, I am told, so does childbirth.

Charlie Hebdo were the licensed anarchist clowns of the society.

I became a pedant of the form. I did my graduate work in art history and particularly in the history of French satirical cartooning. And that made me aware of what a rich and resilient tradition this seemingly scabrous sacrilegious magazine still represented in French life.