At least Dana is still alive… That probably wouldn’t be the case if she kept wallowing in self-pity and recreational drug abuse. Tours something, right?
I think it’s more the depression that both caused the overuse of weed and was then probably exacerbated by it (because it can do that). When you’re smoking drugs THAT often and for that kind of reason, yes, it is bad. And that’s the kind of drug abuse that *does* serve as a gateway, because at some point it’ll stop helping. If you’re using a drug for fun, it won’t necessarily be a gateway, but if it’s self-medication of sorts then at some point, it’s going to stop working.
…and though my opinion regarding Sarah has shifted somewhat (I’m trying more to see things from the perspective of others, and to give credit for attempts to do the right thing, even attempts that end in misguided failures), I still feel this way.
However, it was remiss of me not to add that sometimes in life, one can reach a place where one needs someone else to be that asshole that knows better than they do, to make that choice that they couldn’t make on their own.
It will probably take a very long time, but unless it turns out that Sarah was either A) actually acting selfishly rather than out of concern (which strikes me as unlikely, given how many other faster, more vindictive ways there would have been to simply “remove the distraction,” so to speak), or B) grossly mistaken about Dana’s state of emotional health at the time she made the phone call to her father (which also strikes me as unlikely, given the social withdrawal, greatly increased drug intake and late-night sobbing), I think that Dana will want to apologize to Sarah. Probably also give her a huge hug and tell her how grateful she is for giving her that kick in the ass that she sorely needed.
Or, hell, maybe going home was the worst thing that ever happened to her and her life has been even more sharply downhill ever since. Maybe being in college and close to her friends was the one thing keeping her from the razor blade, and being taken away from that caused her to shut down completely. Who knows? Raidah seems to think she does, but there’s no way to be sure that she’s right.
Those are the risks you run when you make a choice like the one Sarah made, but I (having examined my own thoughts on this many, many times now) would like to think I’d have made a similar choice in her position. I’d like to think I’d have to courage to force my friend to help themselves instead of allowing them to sink deeper and deeper into sadness and loneliness and isolation and pain. I’d like to think I would take the risk of alienating people if it would help someone who was a friend to me.
Present-day me might. College-age me almost certainly wouldn’t have. Sarah is a better person than I was when I was 19.
Also could have brought her contacting of Dana up at any time, but waited until Sarah brought her up first. The more this plays out, the less it seems to have to do with Dana’s prospects and more to do with something else. Raidah is clearly is smarter than Sarah by this point as well.
It would be decidedly odd to illustrate an ordinary meat patty as being gray with red and green bits in it. She also put no cheese on it. Balance of evidence says it’s a veggie burger.
That’s what I keep TRYING to order but I keep getting various shapes of plywood. One was in the shape of a bread box and I thought I was getting close.
You seem to be forgetting that Hebrew is a different language with different words for things. Different words referring to things like ham, for example. Words that may not rhyme with the same things their English counterparts do.
Eating a veggie burger does not a vegetarian make. I’ve had plenty of Veggie burgers, in fact Morningstar’s garden burger is quite delicious. however I still eat primarily meat.
Sarah–if you want to prove you give a shit about someone besides yourself (which you clearly don’t, but you should at least pretend you want to so Raidah might get off your back) why not ask how Dana’s doing and why life at home isn’t working out? Best case scenario the only problem is Dana not being allowed to smoke. You can fire a few quips off of that.
Well, I guess if her dad remarried in a year or if he were divorced and remarried before her mom died. That might explain why there’s some tension at home.
I don’t think Sarah only cares about herself. She seems to care about what happens to Joyce. She could’ve just let her go to that party, and not follow after her to make sure she was ok.
However, I am surprised she didn’t ask how Dana was doing. I don’t know if she never really cared about her in the first place, but she sure doesn’t seem to now. I know she was starting to get pissed off at Raidah again, but it seemed like she would’ve said “Wait, what do you mean that she’s not in a better place – – what’s going on with Dana?” But she didn’t.
It’s possible that she’s keeping in contact with Dana as well, and it’s also possible that Raidah has gone into more detail during previous times she harassed Sarah. They may have had the “being put into a drug program is not the same thing as being sent away in shame!” argument already.
(And it’s also totally possible that she has no idea what’s up with Dana but is just tired of discussing the whole thing and wants it to go away now. There are many possibilities, is my point.)
That wasn’t actually meant to be a defense of Sarah, but it’s still more like “This girl keeps harassing me about this, and then I sat down and explain the whole thing in detail to two other people even though I really didn’t want to, and then one of them threw it in my face and accused me of other shit that isn’t even true, and now I’m making myself apologize to the girl who was harassing me earlier and she still won’t let it drop for five minutes, and I don’t even care anymore, I am just DONE, okay?” (This is speculative of Sarah’s state of mind…but it sounds in-character to me.)
Remember that time Sarah did try talking out Dana’s problems with Raidah? Yeah. I can see why Sarah doesn’t look for her input on these things now. If she wants to know how Dana’s doing I’m sure she’ll just call up Dana and ask rather than trusting Raidah to be in the know.
Though personally I’m inclined to believe that Raidah isn’t actually bringing up anything that Sarah was unaware of.
I’m glad to have something on Raidah’s side, that is, that she keeps in touch with Dana. I doubt that Sarah does. (I mean, what would she say?)
I still think that Sarah made the best call possible in that situation, but it’s good to have a little doubt whether, in hindsight, it created the best possible results for Dana.
It’s a lovely Arabic feminine name (which I am seriously considering naming my own kid, should I ever go that far) that means “leader.”
She chronically shows signs of having control issues regarding a need to influence how her social circle is supposed to act. Her acceptance of Sarah’s apology gives signs she hasn’t given up on setting Sarah straight yet.
Also, there are examples of history actually vindicating people. Lincoln, for instance, was pretty unpopular for drawing out what was seen as an unnecessary war.
The vast majority of people who use drugs don’t have any long term fall out from it. The notable exceptions being alcohol and tobacco. There are literally more people who die from aspirin than from all illegal drugs put together. 2000 vs 6000 out of 350,000,000 people. Alcohol and tobacco are about 300,000 deaths. Cars are about 40,000 deaths. 12 years of Vietnam was about 40,000 deaths.
I’d like to see the percentages of deaths per drug, rather than numbers. Everyone and thier grandmother uses asprin, of course there are going to be more deaths.
Do it by percentage, I’m betting Heroin’s going to look more lethal. I really object to the term ‘drugs’ in general. It’s like lumping all food together. Well, yes, certain foods will make you unhealthy if you eat too many of them.
Once or twice a week use of cannabis (with a water bong or as edibles) is not going to hurt you much. Bi-monthly (there’s no point to doing them more, your tolerance will build and it’ll get too pricey) shrooms will eat your time, but hurt you even less than the pot. Same deal with Salvia.
More addictive sh*t like speed or MDMA WILL f*ck you up if you’re not careful, and if you have an addictive personality, I would never even touch heroin or cocaine. You’ll want it again because it was that much fun, not addicting, and then next thing you know you *will* be physically addicted.
Eating too many cherries will give you diarrhea. Eating too much fried chicken will give you a possibly fatal heart attack.
The general concensus of the comments (and who would know better than us? Wills? Naah.) has been that the bigger risk was her depression, which was (in combination with the ineffective escape of weed) in a continuous downward spiral that made suicide start to look like a real possibility. I’m not sure what the death rate of suicide is, but when you limit your attention only to morbidly depressed people, I imagine it starts looking a bit scary.
I pretty certain I survived it any way, I don’t know if there are any other survivors of suicide but at least my survival has to count for something right?
There are literally only three people drawn in this strip, and yet after noticing the tags I must have stared and squinted at it for a good 45 seconds trying desperately to find Danny.
Why do you lie to me, tags!? I see only Sara and Raidah! There is no Danny, only… ohh. There he is. >_<
So Dana would rather be drugged out in misery than in rehab? Actually, given the way some college-age kids are, that’s probably true. But if Dana ever grows up, she’ll be thanking Sarah.
Raidah is conveniently concerned about Dana NOW, as opposed to the “Oh, no, she’s fine, stop worrying” that we saw from her in the flashback.
I really want Dana to be in a comic, not just a flash back or a memory. I think we really need to meet here before we can say if she’s better or worse.
I hope Willis will show more of Dana in the present. I’d also like to see more of Raidah, not in relation to Sarah. She seems like an interesting character.
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Zing!
Oh, so she is still in contact with Dana. Well that’s good, making sure her friend’s fine.
Raidah is a sweetheart. Heart of Gold, that girl.
Yeah. Now let’s hope Sarah can bring herself to contact Dana.
With fists of steel?
At least Dana is still alive… That probably wouldn’t be the case if she kept wallowing in self-pity and recreational drug abuse. Tours something, right?
Sorry, “that’s”, not “tours”.
I blame autocorrect and regret nothing.
“At least Dana is still alive… That probably wouldn’t be the case if she kept wallowing in self-pity and recreational drug abuse.”
yes she would have weedsmoked her way to death
or gateway druggsed her way to meth, that obv happens to everybody on the devilweed
I think it’s more the depression that both caused the overuse of weed and was then probably exacerbated by it (because it can do that). When you’re smoking drugs THAT often and for that kind of reason, yes, it is bad. And that’s the kind of drug abuse that *does* serve as a gateway, because at some point it’ll stop helping. If you’re using a drug for fun, it won’t necessarily be a gateway, but if it’s self-medication of sorts then at some point, it’s going to stop working.
Yeah…people don’t die from smoking cannabis. Period.
Assuming you know better than someone else does what to do with their life makes you an asshole.
Even if it turns out later that you really did.
Funny thing, but a true one.
…and though my opinion regarding Sarah has shifted somewhat (I’m trying more to see things from the perspective of others, and to give credit for attempts to do the right thing, even attempts that end in misguided failures), I still feel this way.
However, it was remiss of me not to add that sometimes in life, one can reach a place where one needs someone else to be that asshole that knows better than they do, to make that choice that they couldn’t make on their own.
It will probably take a very long time, but unless it turns out that Sarah was either A) actually acting selfishly rather than out of concern (which strikes me as unlikely, given how many other faster, more vindictive ways there would have been to simply “remove the distraction,” so to speak), or B) grossly mistaken about Dana’s state of emotional health at the time she made the phone call to her father (which also strikes me as unlikely, given the social withdrawal, greatly increased drug intake and late-night sobbing), I think that Dana will want to apologize to Sarah. Probably also give her a huge hug and tell her how grateful she is for giving her that kick in the ass that she sorely needed.
Or, hell, maybe going home was the worst thing that ever happened to her and her life has been even more sharply downhill ever since. Maybe being in college and close to her friends was the one thing keeping her from the razor blade, and being taken away from that caused her to shut down completely. Who knows? Raidah seems to think she does, but there’s no way to be sure that she’s right.
Those are the risks you run when you make a choice like the one Sarah made, but I (having examined my own thoughts on this many, many times now) would like to think I’d have made a similar choice in her position. I’d like to think I’d have to courage to force my friend to help themselves instead of allowing them to sink deeper and deeper into sadness and loneliness and isolation and pain. I’d like to think I would take the risk of alienating people if it would help someone who was a friend to me.
Present-day me might. College-age me almost certainly wouldn’t have. Sarah is a better person than I was when I was 19.
At least I hope Raidah’s actually talked to Dana and isn’t just assuming
When you assume you make an ass out of Uma Thurman.
Wait, that was *my* fault? Uh, sorry, Ooms.
That would be bad, she might through a shark at you.
Heads, she actually did, tails, she’s assuming.
Even if she did, “last I checked” could mean _any time_.
Raidah, of course, still thinks Dana’s didn’t have any problems so nuts to her
Also could have brought her contacting of Dana up at any time, but waited until Sarah brought her up first. The more this plays out, the less it seems to have to do with Dana’s prospects and more to do with something else. Raidah is clearly is smarter than Sarah by this point as well.
I am liking this mutual respect. Let’s hope they can hate each other in silence, as girls often do.
I’m a guy and I hate things in silence.
I’m Thing, and I hate silence in a guy. “It’s clobbering time!”
I’m The Silence and I hate things looking at me.
Hello Darkness, my old friend.
I’ve come to bother you again….
Or something. That’s how the lyric goes in my head, anyways.
Because a vision softly creeping…
Stole my lunch while I was sleeping…
Great, now I have Simon and Garfunkle stuck in my head.
Hmm…could be worse.
I’ll never forget you The Silence.
Looks like Raidah is a vegetarian, interesting 🙂
It least I hope that green circle is a vegetable.
or it’s a barf pattie with seasoning 😛
So it’s predigested? How convenient!
A reference my ears (or eyes, rather) applaud (if they serve me correctly)
I tried to imagine how one’s ears might applaud.
Looking at your gravatar, I no longer have to imagine.
that quote in itself is a reference to the golden years of Community
wanting a lot of vegatables on your burger doesn’t make one a vegetarian. I put lots of vegies on my burgers and I eat meat regurally
no I mean the patty could one of those meatless ones.
it could have. It could have not.
When you assume you make an ass out of Yumi.
It would be decidedly odd to illustrate an ordinary meat patty as being gray with red and green bits in it. She also put no cheese on it. Balance of evidence says it’s a veggie burger.
For all we know, that could be greeen eggs and ham she’s eating…cuz those things actually exist. Shut up.
They do! My dad made some for me as a kid. Just used some green food coloring when cooking the ham and eggs. I remember being really excited.
For all we know, that could be green eggs and ham she’s eating…cuz those things actually exist. Shut up.
Did you know, that in the Hebrew version, it’s just “Green Eggs and Food”, ’cause ham isn’t kosher and/or doesn’t rhyme well enough?
I’d love to just see, “Food” on a menu. I’d have to order it out of curiosity.
That’s what I keep TRYING to order but I keep getting various shapes of plywood. One was in the shape of a bread box and I thought I was getting close.
It rhymes with Am! And Sam! What else does it need to rhyme with? What is Sam I Am’s name in Hebrew!?!?!?
You seem to be forgetting that Hebrew is a different language with different words for things. Different words referring to things like ham, for example. Words that may not rhyme with the same things their English counterparts do.
Different languages have different words? What madness are you speaking of??
Next you’re going to tell them they put the words in a different order, or some other craziness like that.
That would be totally silly. At least we can still just add an “S” sound to the end of a word to make it more than one.
Yes, like gooses, childs, babys, deers, foxs, boxs, ad other such convenient examples!
Eating a veggie burger does not a vegetarian make. I’ve had plenty of Veggie burgers, in fact Morningstar’s garden burger is quite delicious. however I still eat primarily meat.
I’m not a vegetarian either, but the veggie options at my college were usually better and not as fraught with peril as the meat options were.
I read that first sentence as “I’m not a vegetarian eater, but..”
Or she’s a Muslim and only eats meat if it’s Halal.
On my home Tamaran, this is what we call the BUURRRN.
On my home, Aldaran, people don’t say much these days.
Awwwwh
And that was read completely in Starfires voice.
BOOYAH
So much for Dana setting Raidah straight. Maybe she’s in rehab or was cut off when she refused to do that.
Well ya’now Sarah, Cuba is actually a nice, interesting & progressive place and the USA is still the best
Sarah–if you want to prove you give a shit about someone besides yourself (which you clearly don’t, but you should at least pretend you want to so Raidah might get off your back) why not ask how Dana’s doing and why life at home isn’t working out? Best case scenario the only problem is Dana not being allowed to smoke. You can fire a few quips off of that.
She went home and her parents sent her to a boarding school where she’s hit in the face with a dodgeball every time she thinks of weed.
Boarding school?
For a college student?
(Technically, Dana already was at a boarding school.)
Parents?
Well, I guess if her dad remarried in a year or if he were divorced and remarried before her mom died. That might explain why there’s some tension at home.
I don’t think Sarah only cares about herself. She seems to care about what happens to Joyce. She could’ve just let her go to that party, and not follow after her to make sure she was ok.
However, I am surprised she didn’t ask how Dana was doing. I don’t know if she never really cared about her in the first place, but she sure doesn’t seem to now. I know she was starting to get pissed off at Raidah again, but it seemed like she would’ve said “Wait, what do you mean that she’s not in a better place – – what’s going on with Dana?” But she didn’t.
It’s possible that she’s keeping in contact with Dana as well, and it’s also possible that Raidah has gone into more detail during previous times she harassed Sarah. They may have had the “being put into a drug program is not the same thing as being sent away in shame!” argument already.
(And it’s also totally possible that she has no idea what’s up with Dana but is just tired of discussing the whole thing and wants it to go away now. There are many possibilities, is my point.)
I agree, she’s probably sick of discussing it with Raidah. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t care. I spoke too quickly.
And it’s also totally possible that she has no idea what’s up with Dana but is just tired of discussing the whole thing and wants it to go away now.
“Oh well here’s my halfassed apology for unlawful assault, now I’M ALL TIRED”
That wasn’t actually meant to be a defense of Sarah, but it’s still more like “This girl keeps harassing me about this, and then I sat down and explain the whole thing in detail to two other people even though I really didn’t want to, and then one of them threw it in my face and accused me of other shit that isn’t even true, and now I’m making myself apologize to the girl who was harassing me earlier and she still won’t let it drop for five minutes, and I don’t even care anymore, I am just DONE, okay?” (This is speculative of Sarah’s state of mind…but it sounds in-character to me.)
I didn’t say Sarah only cares about herself. I said she doesn’t care if other people think that.
She cares whether Joyce thinks that. It appears that she’s given up caring about Radiah’s opinion.
And the way Radiah’s been harassing her, I would have stopped caring too.
Agreed. Stop helping Raidah’s case.
Remember that time Sarah did try talking out Dana’s problems with Raidah? Yeah. I can see why Sarah doesn’t look for her input on these things now. If she wants to know how Dana’s doing I’m sure she’ll just call up Dana and ask rather than trusting Raidah to be in the know.
Though personally I’m inclined to believe that Raidah isn’t actually bringing up anything that Sarah was unaware of.
I’m glad to have something on Raidah’s side, that is, that she keeps in touch with Dana. I doubt that Sarah does. (I mean, what would she say?)
I still think that Sarah made the best call possible in that situation, but it’s good to have a little doubt whether, in hindsight, it created the best possible results for Dana.
I would be unsurprised if Sarah has touched base with Dana’s father once or twice, to check up on her, though.
That’s the sort of cowardly, childish thing I’d expect her to do, yes.
Lettuce not be enemies…
Give peas a chance.
It’s a butter alternative.
I hope Raidah doesn’t think that becoming a vegetarian was a missed steak.
I’m sure cheese satisfied with her decision.
And here I was hoping the puns wouldn’t sprout up.
Too late, time to Chicken to punville
No! Asparagus these puns!
I don’t carrot all for these puns.
I doughnut know about that. It’s chedder than other pun topics. at yeast try to like them.
All you have to do is be sure to pickles the best buns.
Beans not bombs.
The Land of the Fritos
Beans are bombs.
I’m seeing a pattern with Raidah here…Talk about your meaningful name trope.
She gets in, raids and pillages then runs back out?
It’s a lovely Arabic feminine name (which I am seriously considering naming my own kid, should I ever go that far) that means “leader.”
She chronically shows signs of having control issues regarding a need to influence how her social circle is supposed to act. Her acceptance of Sarah’s apology gives signs she hasn’t given up on setting Sarah straight yet.
I admit curiosity, what do you mean by “setting Sarah straight”?
And how does it relate to to Raidah’s “frequent harassment” strategy?
Context, patterns, and being constantly surrounded by the same kinds of manipulative and codependent behavior to this very day.
Sooo many tells, especially in the visuals of Sarah’s ‘Stoooory Tiimme” flashback and the events that prompted it.
I’d link all the right strips and tell you what to look for, but I’m sidetracked enough as it is.
Huh…
Also, there are examples of history actually vindicating people. Lincoln, for instance, was pretty unpopular for drawing out what was seen as an unnecessary war.
I am sure that, deep down, Sarah and Raidah are both sensible people who know what needs to be done to resolve their differences.
Hot lesbian licky-style makeouts.
Truly, diplomacy in action. Its the only way.
they should bring dana in too… to help with the healing
Now Make out…make out right now.
These two would be perfect as best friends.
I wounder if we will get to see Dana’s side of all this?
The vast majority of people who use drugs don’t have any long term fall out from it. The notable exceptions being alcohol and tobacco. There are literally more people who die from aspirin than from all illegal drugs put together. 2000 vs 6000 out of 350,000,000 people. Alcohol and tobacco are about 300,000 deaths. Cars are about 40,000 deaths. 12 years of Vietnam was about 40,000 deaths.
I’d like to see the percentages of deaths per drug, rather than numbers. Everyone and thier grandmother uses asprin, of course there are going to be more deaths.
Do it by percentage, I’m betting Heroin’s going to look more lethal. I really object to the term ‘drugs’ in general. It’s like lumping all food together. Well, yes, certain foods will make you unhealthy if you eat too many of them.
Once or twice a week use of cannabis (with a water bong or as edibles) is not going to hurt you much. Bi-monthly (there’s no point to doing them more, your tolerance will build and it’ll get too pricey) shrooms will eat your time, but hurt you even less than the pot. Same deal with Salvia.
More addictive sh*t like speed or MDMA WILL f*ck you up if you’re not careful, and if you have an addictive personality, I would never even touch heroin or cocaine. You’ll want it again because it was that much fun, not addicting, and then next thing you know you *will* be physically addicted.
Eating too many cherries will give you diarrhea. Eating too much fried chicken will give you a possibly fatal heart attack.
The general concensus of the comments (and who would know better than us? Wills? Naah.) has been that the bigger risk was her depression, which was (in combination with the ineffective escape of weed) in a continuous downward spiral that made suicide start to look like a real possibility. I’m not sure what the death rate of suicide is, but when you limit your attention only to morbidly depressed people, I imagine it starts looking a bit scary.
I think the death rate of suicide is 100% (not counting failed attempts).
100%? Nah, couldn’t be.
I pretty certain I survived it any way, I don’t know if there are any other survivors of suicide but at least my survival has to count for something right?
There are literally only three people drawn in this strip, and yet after noticing the tags I must have stared and squinted at it for a good 45 seconds trying desperately to find Danny.
Why do you lie to me, tags!? I see only Sara and Raidah! There is no Danny, only… ohh. There he is. >_<
Man, I should start actually paying attention to the tags…
So Dana would rather be drugged out in misery than in rehab? Actually, given the way some college-age kids are, that’s probably true. But if Dana ever grows up, she’ll be thanking Sarah.
Raidah is conveniently concerned about Dana NOW, as opposed to the “Oh, no, she’s fine, stop worrying” that we saw from her in the flashback.
I really want Dana to be in a comic, not just a flash back or a memory. I think we really need to meet here before we can say if she’s better or worse.
I hope Willis will show more of Dana in the present. I’d also like to see more of Raidah, not in relation to Sarah. She seems like an interesting character.
A big seconded, save for the part about Dana.
I expect they’ll soon find Dana working in the basement of the local megachurch.
Just out of curiosity when was the last time Radiah actually talked to Dana?