La Voz

Cartoonist and actress Lela Lee spoke in Conference Rooms A and B on Wednesday for Women's History Month.

The author of "Angry Little Girls" and "Still Angry Little Girls" spoke mainly of her experience as not only a minority, but a female. Lee grew up one of few Korean- Americans in a conservative Los Angeles suburb and was taught most of her life to be accommodating because she was female. It wasn't until she began attending the University of California, Berkeley that she realized the breadth of the discrimination she had faced.

"I started getting angrier; I felt like [gender and racial issues] had been sugar-coated my whole life."

But Lee's artistic inspiration came after she attended Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival. She left disgusted because the festival featured offensive racial and sexual content, and the friend who accompanied her challenged her to make her own cartoon.

She spent that evening birthing "Angry Little Asian Girl" with nothing but typing paper, Crayola markers and a camera.

Afterward, surprised by the anger she expressed in it, she put it in a drawer where it would remain for years.

Later, she repeated her project and began showing it to others. When she followed by printing "ALAG" on shirts, the idea spread and soon people were calling her for more shirts.

This inspired a Web site that is now www.angrylittlegirls.com. Lee created an entire cast of "angry girls" from various ethnicities and backgrounds for her comic strip.

She published these in a book, "Angry Little Girls," which went into its fourth printing only one month after publication.

"Angry Little Girls" deals with issues that girls commonly encounter, like chores and boys, but usually with an angry twist.

"I wanted to address [racism and sexism], but in a fun format that people could relate to," Lee said. Although she has guest-starred on several popular television shows, she prefers making "Angry Little Girls" as a career.

According to a flyer distributed about Lee, she said, "Nobody wants to talk about racism, overt or slight. But with this comic strip, now I can."

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