Dumbing of Age Book Eleven

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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September 20, 2023

Introductions

by David M Willis on November 4, 2014 at 12:01 am
  • 01 - When Somebody Loved Me

└ Tags: becky, carla, dina, joyce, mary, sal

Discussion (284) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Jen Aside
    Jen Aside
    November 4, 2014 at 12:01 am | #

    the Grand Tour of Indiana University students’ backs

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      November 4, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

      Joyce: “This is Leslie. I keep trying to set her up with some of the cuter male professors, but she doesn’t seem to like any of them.”

      Leslie: “How did you get in my house?”

      Joyce: “This is Galasso. He makes good pizza (and subs).”

      Galasso: “Guards! Seize them!”

      Joyce: “This is Dexter. He’s the star of the best cartoon since McGee and Me!”

      Dexter: “I don’t know how you’re doing this, but it’s totally fucking with my reality.”

      • Jen Aside
        Jen Aside
        November 4, 2014 at 12:22 am | #

        Joyce: “This is ‘Other Jacob.’ Warning: It is NOT an electric nose-picker.”

      • Cephalo the Pod
        Cephalo the Pod
        November 4, 2014 at 10:38 am | #

        Joyce: “This is Robin DeSanto, our totally rad representative”.

        Robin: “Guards! Seize them!”

        • Icalasari
          Icalasari
          November 6, 2014 at 1:39 am | #

          Joyce: “This is Willis. He says he draws this universe or something”

          And then we have Joyce in the real world

          • Rachel Roth
            Rachel Roth
            December 17, 2014 at 3:11 pm | #

            LOL, I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.

    • Pinja
      Pinja
      November 4, 2014 at 6:17 am | #

      “This is Walky, he’s got butts disease”

  2. Dreadhawk177
    Dreadhawk177
    November 4, 2014 at 12:01 am | #

    Poor Dina!

    • Disloyal Subject
      Disloyal Subject
      November 4, 2014 at 12:25 am | #

      At least Joyce cares about her feelings, unlike Mary’s.

    • Kryss LaBryn
      Kryss LaBryn
      November 4, 2014 at 11:19 am | #

      You have no idea how much I want Becky to side-eye her and say, “Joyce, uh–you know that’s true, right?” <.<

      Oh, I know it won't happen. But I want it to.

      • LouisvilleRobin
        LouisvilleRobin
        April 25, 2015 at 3:45 pm | #

        If anyone could, Becky could. She’s got a drive to explore stuff despite, or maybe because of, it being forbidden to her.
        But either way, I agree it would be awesome.

  3. Idon'tcarenomore
    Idon'tcarenomore
    November 4, 2014 at 12:01 am | #

    I love Joyce’s intro’s. She is close to the mark but….

    • newllend
      newllend
      November 4, 2014 at 12:09 am | #

      But she has her own little twist on them.

  4. Communist Canada
    Communist Canada
    November 4, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    The majority of Becky’s Speech Bubbles only have 2 words in them.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      November 4, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

      If she spoke more, Willis would have to pay her extra.

      • John
        John
        November 4, 2014 at 12:40 am | #

        Ah, that’s why she didn’t answer her phone for like two years! They were in contract negotiations.

        • The_Master
          The_Master
          November 4, 2014 at 11:31 am | #

          Or she’s keeping a secret. Characters who are keeping a secret don’t talk very much.

  5. Regalli
    Regalli
    November 4, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    Huh, she knows Carla! Awesome. *Rubs hands together in anticipation of antagonizing*

    … How’d she get into Sal’s room, anyway? Windows?

    • Mr k
      Mr k
      November 4, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

      I wonder how Joyce’ll react to Carla’s secret. Maybe she can set her up with her sister?

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        November 4, 2014 at 12:06 am | #

        Better than you would normally expect from someone like Joyce.

      • Wack'd
        Wack'd
        November 4, 2014 at 12:23 am | #

        Is it a secret? Carla’s loud declaration on the morning of the dick invasion seemed to imply that she thinks the people in proximity know.

        • JessWitt
          JessWitt
          November 4, 2014 at 12:35 am | #

          Didn’t Joyce come out of her room after Carla showed up to vent about the dingdong doodles?

        • Rutee
          Rutee
          November 4, 2014 at 1:01 am | #

          It implies she thinks someone might know. Either she’s open about it, which gives me even more respect for her (and does resonate with herself in SP!), or she was willing to believe the worst had happened.

        • 4th Dimension
          4th Dimension
          November 4, 2014 at 2:35 am | #

          From Sal’s comments last night she prefers to keep it to herself because she umm . . . fears (not the best word) that people might consider her a freak. She wants to be an asshole and not a freak. Second year students and up probably already know about it, but not the newbies.

        • Pinja
          Pinja
          November 4, 2014 at 6:12 am | #

          I’m betting on it being a secret. The line was just a throwaway line.

      • showler
        showler
        November 4, 2014 at 12:57 am | #

        Might be missing a joke here, but since Carla’s asexual and Jocelyne is straight, I don’t think that will work.

        • tinfoil theory
          tinfoil theory
          November 4, 2014 at 1:18 am | #

          The term “straight” is straight out confusing here.

          I propose that instead of heterosexual and homosexual to describe people’s predelections we should use terms like androphil and gynophil.

          • a4lbi
            a4lbi
            November 4, 2014 at 2:12 am | #

            Uh… sounds a touch cissexist.

            You can be transgender and still straight. What you’re equipped with does not affect your orientation.

            • n0z3k1ll3r
              n0z3k1ll3r
              November 4, 2014 at 2:41 am | #

              You can, certainly (I identify as a gay transwoman) but the fact remains “gay” and “straight” were conceived in a cisnormative vacuum and aren’t hugely appropriate to transpeople. Especially anyone nonbinary.

              I don’t really like androphil and gynophil either because they exclude nonbinary too, just on the other end of the equation. There aren’t really any good words for sexuality that are trans inclusive honestly.

              • Insanenoodlyguy
                Insanenoodlyguy
                November 4, 2014 at 2:57 am | #

                I think sometimes you just have to accept that one word won’t do it sometimes, and just go with a full sentence: “I consider myself x. I am attracted to y.”

                • dracorotor
                  dracorotor
                  November 4, 2014 at 3:54 am | #

                  How long have you known you were an algebra class variable?

                • Blue Dragon
                  Blue Dragon
                  November 4, 2014 at 9:38 am | #

                  It all started in algebra class. I was asked to find x. In a panic, I thought quickly and bluffed. “I consider myself x.” It wasn’t until months later that I realized that I really did feel more comfortable thinking of myself as x.

                  I am attracted to differentiable functions, because I like to lie tangent to their curves.

                • Jen Aside
                  Jen Aside
                  November 4, 2014 at 11:49 pm | #

                  The best answer is to draw an arrow and make a note, “here it is”

              • Melissa
                Melissa
                November 4, 2014 at 9:53 am | #

                They’re def not appropriate for non binary folk, but saying that they don’t apply to trans people seems shitty to me. I am a cis lady dating a trans girl, and it upsets me when people say/imply that we aren’t really a lesbian couple because we’re not both cisgender. When you say it doesn’t really apply, it seems like you’re saying trans people aren’t really the gender they identify as (which since you are trans yourself I am guessing I am misunderstanding you). Or is it the words themselves which imply everyone is binary?

                • a4lbi
                  a4lbi
                  November 4, 2014 at 2:26 pm | #

                  > Or is it the words themselves which imply everyone is binary?

                  I *think* that is what n0z3k1ll3r is referring to.

                • Plasma Mongoose
                  Plasma Mongoose
                  November 4, 2014 at 9:26 pm | #

                  I’m sexagesimal myself.

              • a4lbi
                a4lbi
                November 4, 2014 at 1:25 pm | #

                > “gay” and “straight” were conceived in a cisnormative vacuum

                Oh, that makes sense. I need to do some reading.

                My main concern is that people take that logic and go a step further to invalidate relationships and orientations. Melissa’s comment further down talks about it some, and I’ve seen it happen too many times.

                So there’s where my knee-jerk “whoa what’s going on here” reaction is coming from…

                (Disclosure: I’m non-binary and pansexual/queer, so other than this I don’t have a lot to say on the subject.)

                • a4lbi
                  a4lbi
                  November 4, 2014 at 1:26 pm | #

                  up, up, go up for Melissa’s comment!!

            • CRtwenty
              CRtwenty
              November 4, 2014 at 6:21 pm | #

              Wait… Carla is a transwoman? I never caught that.

              • gwalla
                gwalla
                November 4, 2014 at 10:16 pm | #

                The author has said so in the comments, but it has not been explicitly stated in the comic itself.

            • CF
              CF
              November 4, 2014 at 7:54 pm | #

              If you think that’s so, what kind of terminology do you consider to be appropriate for folks who don’t give a shit about gender, and only care what kind of equipment they are attracted to?

          • Deanatay
            Deanatay
            November 4, 2014 at 8:01 am | #

            I think that’s the point. Androphile and gynophile don’t say what you are, just what you like. We can come up with other terms for liking both, or nothing, if you need them. They’re a lot more useful than ‘homo’ and ‘hetero’, that’s for sure.

            • N0083rP00F
              N0083rP00F
              November 5, 2014 at 10:14 am | #

              That would give a whole new, or not so new, take in Bibliophile.

          • Kit
            Kit
            January 19, 2015 at 12:00 pm | #

            Actually there is a fairly common term – you just replace the ‘sexual’ with the ‘romantic’. So you can be a panromantic nb, or a homoromantic asexual. Or even the far lesser known possibility of being biromantic heterosexual etc.

    • nothri
      nothri
      November 4, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

      Billie hasn’t been there to lock the door. As Sal exits solely by windows she rarely bothers.

      • nothri
        nothri
        November 4, 2014 at 12:27 am | #

        Assuming she still does that in this universe…

        And it suddenly occurs to me that College age Danny has a thing for women who don’t use doors across the time lines…

        • Cody B
          Cody B
          November 4, 2014 at 8:09 am | #

          She definitely still does that in this universe. She’s done it to Billy too many times to count.

    • AgentKeen
      AgentKeen
      November 4, 2014 at 12:08 am | #

      Shared bathroom, and it seems like Sal and Billie aren’t the best at locking the door to their room (or it may not even lock, which would be dumb).

      • John
        John
        November 4, 2014 at 12:42 am | #

        I gather that the shared bathroom’s doors only lock from inside the bathroom, so the room’s occupants can lock the other half of the suite out of the bathroom, but not out of the room.

        • Pat
          Pat
          November 4, 2014 at 2:14 am | #

          If they’re anything like the ones in the dorm I lived in, they have locks on both sides.
          Theoretically you can unlock them from inside the bathroom with a key, but at some point they changed the door locks and they no longer matched the bathroom locks, so nobody had keys to get out if they got locked in the bathroom by their roommate.

          I lived in suites like that for two years. We never really bothered with those locks, especially after we realized our keys didn’t work and it would be easy to accidentally lock somebody in the bathroom. You’re already trusting one other person able to get into your room, might as well trust three.
          ‘Course, I never had Joyce for a suitemate. I had four different suitemates over those years, and all of them respected that an unlocked door isn’t an invitation. The fact that they also had an unlocked door probably helped.

          • K^2
            K^2
            November 4, 2014 at 3:02 am | #

            A lock is just an illusion of safety, anyhow. A person will either chose to respect a closed door, or not. A locked door is a delay at most. Which is still a practical thing to have on an outside door or on your car, but not so much on any interior door.

  6. Emperor Kiva
    Emperor Kiva
    November 4, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    Joyce you are so far off about, Mary. She’s really a demon from Hell.

    • Disloyal Subject
      Disloyal Subject
      November 4, 2014 at 12:26 am | #

      Demons from Earth are scarier.

      • Emperor Kiva
        Emperor Kiva
        November 4, 2014 at 12:28 am | #

        Says you

      • itachi_0501
        itachi_0501
        November 4, 2014 at 8:57 am | #

        And SCARCER!

  7. zebrathinker
    zebrathinker
    November 4, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    so excited to hear her intro to Dorothy *-* her super super gay intro

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      November 4, 2014 at 12:08 am | #

      “She’s super awesome even if she has this crazy idea that God doesn’t exist…”

  8. LeslieBean4Shizzle
    LeslieBean4Shizzle
    November 4, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

    “but I don’t think it worked very well since she seems to hate everyone.”

    **snorts cider due to sudden laughter**

    • tinfoil theory
      tinfoil theory
      November 4, 2014 at 1:06 am | #

      You would be grumpy too if everyone talked about you like that.

      • MrSirk
        MrSirk
        November 4, 2014 at 2:10 am | #

        I guess Joyce hasn’t gotten the memo that Mary’s important now. Willis said so himself. The days of Mary hate are over.

        • Pat
          Pat
          November 4, 2014 at 2:15 am | #

          Important =/= Good

          • MrSirk
            MrSirk
            November 4, 2014 at 2:28 am | #

            2015’s gonna be the year of Mary, you’ll see……YOU’LL ALL SEE!! Ö_Ö

            • Deanatay
              Deanatay
              November 4, 2014 at 8:06 am | #

              *cue maniacal laughter*

            • gwalla
              gwalla
              November 4, 2014 at 10:17 pm | #

              Did you just give her umlaut eyelashes?

        • Rutee
          Rutee
          November 4, 2014 at 6:14 am | #

          Like Blaine hate.

  9. Idon'tcarenomore
    Idon'tcarenomore
    November 4, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

    Dina just watch’s. Or does she?

    • Vree
      Vree
      November 5, 2014 at 12:13 pm | #

      Dina likes to watch.

  10. AgentKeen
    AgentKeen
    November 4, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

    Dina: “They’re multiplying!”

    • MrSirk
      MrSirk
      November 4, 2014 at 2:16 am | #

      I bet she’s thinking am I going to have to completely own you with logic in front of your friends for like a third time in two months?

  11. bejouled
    bejouled
    November 4, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

    As someone who wears exactly that hat to bed every night, seeing it in a comic made me more than a little excited. Mine is to keep my hair curly rather than straight, but still. ALL GLORY TO THE HAIR.

    • Jen Aside
      Jen Aside
      November 4, 2014 at 12:19 am | #

      I was just thinking, I wonder if any students actually AT Indiana University have seen DoA…

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        November 4, 2014 at 12:20 am | #

        The more important question is, do they also comment?

        • lekoppa
          lekoppa
          November 4, 2014 at 2:09 am | #

          I… almost never comment. Once in a blue moon. I do go to IU, though. I also recommend the comic to people like crazy (I even recommended it to my students when I taught as a peer instructor a few semesters running). I haven’t been especially successful in those attempts, as far as I can tell. Still. I can’t be the only Hoosier here.

          • Plasma Mongoose
            Plasma Mongoose
            November 4, 2014 at 3:11 am | #

            Welcome to DoA.

          • Kelly
            Kelly
            November 4, 2014 at 3:42 am | #

            I’ve definitely seen at least a few other students from IU commenting here. Dunno if they are regular readers though. I imagine David could get a good idea based on the hits from the IU IP block, if he wanted to.

          • Jen Aside
            Jen Aside
            November 4, 2014 at 11:51 pm | #

            haha, so y’all are like, “I’ve BEEN there!!!” whereas a bunch of us are still surprised to find out these fantastic webcomic places are real

      • itachi_0501
        itachi_0501
        November 4, 2014 at 9:01 am | #

        Proud Hoosier Alum, now a “townie.” 🙂

        And, while I missed his most recent visit to Our Fair City (due to a family member being in the hospital), I have met Mr. Willis when he did signings at Vintage Phoenix (yes, “As featured in ‘DoA'”)

        • Swoop
          Swoop
          November 4, 2014 at 11:26 pm | #

          Life long townie here. Not sure, but I think Roz called me a hick once. It felt bad.

      • drs
        drs
        November 4, 2014 at 1:24 pm | #

        Not current, but I was a grad student there.

    • a4lbi
      a4lbi
      November 4, 2014 at 2:07 am | #

      Silk bonnets for bedtime for the win!

  12. newllend
    newllend
    November 4, 2014 at 12:06 am | #

    Joyce I please don’t start up about whats embarrassing, Don’t you dare go there.

    • Mr k
      Mr k
      November 4, 2014 at 12:07 am | #

      Dina gets mad and forces Joyce to take a biology class.

      • newllend
        newllend
        November 4, 2014 at 12:10 am | #

        Better yet Dina gets mad and tricks her into taking a sex ed class

    • Dreadhawk177
      Dreadhawk177
      November 4, 2014 at 12:09 am | #

      Give her a break. She just fainted and fell in a bunch of old human hair.

      • newllend
        newllend
        November 4, 2014 at 12:13 am | #

        proving my point and ya how the hell is she still alive ?

        • Emperor Kiva
          Emperor Kiva
          November 4, 2014 at 12:30 am | #

          I revived her

        • JessWitt
          JessWitt
          November 4, 2014 at 12:36 am | #

          The detritus merged with Joyce, forming a symbiotic relationship.

          • tinfoil theory
            tinfoil theory
            November 4, 2014 at 12:59 am | #

            So that is how she got done showering before Dina!

            • begbert2
              begbert2
              November 4, 2014 at 1:43 am | #

              Dina stayed in line for the clean(er) stalls. She understands biology and microoganisms well enough that it was worth the wait.

          • The E-man
            The E-man
            November 4, 2014 at 12:28 pm | #

            That’s where the clothes came from in the last comic!

        • Emperor Kiva
          Emperor Kiva
          November 4, 2014 at 8:53 pm | #

          Joyce’s got over 9000 extra lives

  13. Yotomoe
    Yotomoe
    November 4, 2014 at 12:07 am | #

    It really is embarrassing Joyce. That you don’t believe that.

    • Dragon
      Dragon
      November 4, 2014 at 12:15 am | #

      Yeah. I feel embarrassed for her.

    • newllend
      newllend
      November 4, 2014 at 12:25 am | #

      Dina: I’m taking this from a girl who had to Google what a strap-on is because she thought it was some sort of hat ?

      • newllend
        newllend
        November 4, 2014 at 12:26 am | #

        no offence Kernanator

      • Disloyal Subject
        Disloyal Subject
        November 4, 2014 at 12:27 am | #

        To be fair, they do make pretty rad hats for those who don’t mind a little ridicule. Nothing like a phallic protrusion on your head to make you feel like a champ.

        • Kryss LaBryn
          Kryss LaBryn
          November 4, 2014 at 11:25 am | #

          Or like a sexy unicorn?

      • Jams
        Jams
        November 5, 2014 at 2:16 pm | #

        Willing to bet Dina also does not know what a strap-on is.

    • ninja_jesus
      ninja_jesus
      November 4, 2014 at 12:32 am | #

      Except it’s not about beliefs. It’s about accepting facts. That the Earth is approximately billions of years old is a fact.

      • AustKyzor
        AustKyzor
        November 4, 2014 at 9:00 am | #

        “The thing about science is that it remains true whether you believe in it or not”

      • Aris Katsaris
        Aris Katsaris
        November 4, 2014 at 12:16 pm | #

        Everyone has a subjective view of reality — when you speak of your true beliefs, the ones you’re really confident about, what it looks like to you is like speaking facts, regardless of whether you’re actually right or wrong.

        So that you say “Earth is billions of years old” merely means that you are really quite confident in your belief that the Earth is billions of years old. You’d bet your life on that belief, and be comfortable doing so.

        Someone on the other hand saying “I believe the Earth is billions of years old” signals that they believe this, but that they’re not quite as confident about it — if they were really 100% or thereabout in their belief they’d not need to preface this with “I believe”.

        • ninja_jesus
          ninja_jesus
          November 4, 2014 at 2:18 pm | #

          The thing is that I don’t need to be confident in that fact; there is tons of science to prove it, and I’m willing to change my stance if there’s research to suggest otherwise.

          Also, the words “I believe” doesn’t necessarily imply doubt.

          • Aris Katsaris
            Aris Katsaris
            November 4, 2014 at 2:48 pm | #

            “The thing is that I don’t need to be confident in that fact; there is tons of science to prove it, and I’m willing to change my stance if there’s research to suggest otherwise.”

            That just means you’re *correctly* confident about this fact.

            The example you gave from the Book of Mormon very *clearly* shows the doubt in question that I’m talking about — in pretty much every verse, it shows that the very reason the guy shouts “I believe” is that he’s been having a crisis of faith about his religion and he feels the emotional need to reaffirm it.

            • ninja_jesus
              ninja_jesus
              November 4, 2014 at 9:51 pm | #

              It sounds like arguing semantics, but you seem to be conflating “beliefs” with “ideas”. I would not say that I believe in something that’s so far shown to be quite true, but rather that I “think” that something is correct. 🙂 Unlike Elder Price, I don’t need to reaffirm that the Earth is billions of years old, or that animals evolve over time; I just have to look at the multitude of scientific evidence that backs up those claims.

          • Lanval
            Lanval
            November 4, 2014 at 10:27 pm | #

            I’m an evolutionist myself (I can count on my hand the number of creationists I’ve met) but to say Evolution is true/fact is to do a disservice of scientific method. Nothing in science is “fact” so much as it is “theory that has been rigorously tested to the point where we can pretty much accept it”

            Evolution and Creationism are both theories. The difference lies in why we should adopt them;

            Evolution offers an explanitory account that has been tested on a smaller scale and holds up in principle while offering a more complete and detailed explaination of the world that seems pretty compelling and has stood up to a century and a half of scrutiny. While difficult to wholly falsify, it is committed to several smaller elements which have held up pretty well (though I’ve heard challenges to specifics, apparently Lamarck is making a come back in microbiological evolution).

            Creationism doesn’t explain a lot of things; vestigal features, similarities between specifies, artificial breeding are all pretty much unexplained. Further, many of the commitments it makes have largely been falsified by reputible studies; these can be rejected but only by refusing a lot of theories (like evolution) which also explain a lot.

            So, yeah. I think a serious Empiricist’s objection should lie more on the grounds that the Creationism is a weak theory that demands a lot of good highly useful theories be discarded than that Evolution as it currently stands is “Fact”.

    • FantasyFreakVI
      FantasyFreakVI
      November 4, 2014 at 7:24 am | #

      Especially now since even the pope is saying that the Earth is that old.

      • fogel
        fogel
        November 4, 2014 at 9:38 am | #

        If the Pope says that it is, that confirms for Joyce that it is not.

      • sun tzu
        sun tzu
        November 4, 2014 at 4:13 pm | #

        Actually, the Vatican has held that position since at least 1950. The recent pope’s claim wasn’t a turnaround, it was just him saying “by the way, folks, I’d like to REMIND you that this is our position, so please stop confusing us with the Protestant fundies”.

  14. Kernanator
    Kernanator
    November 4, 2014 at 12:07 am | #

    Becky doesn’t say anything in response to Joyce’s last comment.

    A LITTLE SUSPICIOUS, HMMMMMM?

    • AgentKeen
      AgentKeen
      November 4, 2014 at 12:08 am | #

      HMMMMMM, QUITE.

      • saltchocolate
        saltchocolate
        November 4, 2014 at 12:56 am | #

        Did you notice that her smile gets less and less perky with each new intro? By time they reached Dina, she was either wondering what kind of awful dorm this is OR what kind of awful person Joyce has become. You’re thinkng the latter, Kernanater and Agent Keen?

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      November 4, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

      Of cause, everyone knows that Arceus created everything and you can capture him with a Master Ball.

      • Gadgeteer Smashwidget
        Gadgeteer Smashwidget
        November 4, 2014 at 12:47 am | #

        too bad we don’t have a technology that can literally store gods as energy at present.

        • begbert2
          begbert2
          November 4, 2014 at 1:45 am | #

          Sure we do! It’s called a battery. There are no gods I know of that can’t be stored in a AA. Well, not counting fictional ones, of course.

    • Wack'd
      Wack'd
      November 4, 2014 at 12:26 am | #

      Eh? What’s that, Chatterton? Come along, my boy!

  15. Emoroffle
    Emoroffle
    November 4, 2014 at 12:07 am | #

    “And here’s Billie. She’s totally in love with some boy. Right?.. Billie?..”

    • Mr k
      Mr k
      November 4, 2014 at 12:08 am | #

      “For some reason she seems to be friendly with the RA. Weird, cause they used to be enemies”

      • Dreadhawk177
        Dreadhawk177
        November 4, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

        “Nothing that a super-religious person like myself could imagine…”

  16. Romanticide
    Romanticide
    November 4, 2014 at 12:09 am | #

    Mary’s introduction is the best XD

    • newllend
      newllend
      November 4, 2014 at 12:18 am | #

      I always thought that Bathtism didn’t take, probably had to drain and clean the fuck out of that pool when they were done with her.

      • 4th Dimension
        4th Dimension
        November 4, 2014 at 2:45 am | #

        Her being religious about bathing might explain her nakedness at odd times. But I think you actually meant to say baptism 😉

  17. OnyxIdol
    OnyxIdol
    November 4, 2014 at 12:09 am | #

    Well after all my built up tension this feels anticlimactic. I guess we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for the big reveal – or the big unreveal.

  18. Fletcher
    Fletcher
    November 4, 2014 at 12:12 am | #

    Does it count as “born again” if you were born into the faith? I thought to be born again you had to be born as something else first? Born-again Christians thus being the (usually overzealous) adult converts?

    • David M Willis
      David M Willis
      November 4, 2014 at 12:17 am | #

      Everyone’s born a sinner. It’s repenting and going through all the pageantry of properly becoming Christian which makes you “born again.” In my church, you weren’t properly Christian until you were baptized. You can’t just naturally be Christian due to your upbringing.

      • ninja_jesus
        ninja_jesus
        November 4, 2014 at 1:02 am | #

        So wait, if you sin after you become born again, does that make you… unborn? :O

        • Opus the Poet
          Opus the Poet
          November 4, 2014 at 1:11 am | #

          Undead…

          • gwalla
            gwalla
            November 4, 2014 at 10:23 pm | #

            Undead undead undead

        • begbert2
          begbert2
          November 4, 2014 at 1:48 am | #

          I know that for some sects there’s something like being born again which is actually discovering (via feelings!) that your name is in the holy book of life, in which case you’re saved no matter what the hell you do. Rape, murder, all good. Don’t know if they called that “born again”, though.

          • 4th Dimension
            4th Dimension
            November 4, 2014 at 2:46 am | #

            WTF?!?

          • Fletcher
            Fletcher
            November 4, 2014 at 4:35 am | #

            It sounds like you’re talking about predestination, Begbert2, which is a predominantly Calvinist idea. The gist of it (from my sinful atheist understanding, at least) is that the universe was created by God at the beginning of time, fixed and unalterable; His will is absolute, fate spins out like clockwork, and free will is an illusion. As such, salvation exists, but the Elect have been chosen by God at the beginning of time (as have the damned) and everything will play out according to the Divine Plan. As such, salvation is unconditional and absolute – but since God is pulling all the strings, the Elect will not act in a way contradicting their status. So the problem of unconditional grace conflicting with mortal sin never arises – the Elect are manufactured in such a way that they do not sin.

            Of course, non-Calvinists can point out flaws in this logic – personally I think that predestination contradicts free will and would invalidate all sin, all good, and indeed render irrelevant and pointless Christ’s sacrifice (along with the universe in general) since humanity would be merely meat puppets dancing to God’s tune – but then, as I am definitely not one of the Elect, I would think that.

            • begbert2
              begbert2
              November 4, 2014 at 3:38 pm | #

              I’m mostly pulling from half-remembered lessons about what the pilgrims believed, so I could be wrong here, but I don’t recall it being based on predestination so much as God being infallible. The Book of Life (mentioned once or twice in scripture) is supposed to list all those who are/will be saved, and since it’s God’s book it can’t be wrong. So whether or not we have free will or are fully predestined, that book is still there, and it can’t be wrong about who’ll be saved no matter what we do.

              But you’re right that the theory was that persons who felt the fuzzy feelings and decided they were saved were supposed to also be good. And of course the community always had the ‘out’ that if they decided somebody was too naughty to be pre-saved then they could declare his moment of realization as mistaken or a demonic deception. (Which their own salvations definitely weren’t.)

              • gwalla
                gwalla
                November 4, 2014 at 10:32 pm | #

                The Pilgrims were Brownists. The Brownists were an Anglican splinter movement influenced by the Puritans (the main difference is that the Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England from within, while the Brownists broke off), who in turn were heavily influenced by Calvinist theology.

      • Kryss LaBryn
        Kryss LaBryn
        November 4, 2014 at 11:32 am | #

        The Anglicans christen babies at birth (which is a parental choice), and then confirm them as adult Christians who are there by their own choice when they’re about seventeen or so, after which they’re allowed to take Communion.

        Do you guys have Anglicans in the States? I hear that Protestants are the same thing, but the head of the Anglican church is the British monarch (so there’s a picture of the Queen in all the churches, same as in Canadian schools) which I find unlikely for American churches; and they allow female priests and gay marriage, which I’m reasonably sure is a combination no American church has (at least, not that I’ve heard).

        So I guess if anyone wants a gay wedding and still have a church wedding, come on up to Canada?

        • AgentKeen
          AgentKeen
          November 4, 2014 at 12:13 pm | #

          It looks like sort of?
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican_Church_in_America
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopal_Church_%28United_States%29

          As far as US churches allowing women to be priests and gay marriage, I think there are some starting to move that way. For one, I’m pretty sure my grandma’s church ordains women, and I recently saw that they were planning on beginning to allow performance of same-sex marriages in states where it was legal (I think starting this year?).

        • The Phantom's Belch
          The Phantom's Belch
          November 4, 2014 at 1:34 pm | #

          We call them Episcopalians instead of Anglicans, but we have them. They share a lot of practices with the Lutheran church I grew up going to, it seems.

          Of course, being an openly bisexual born-again pagan, I wonder how Joyce would react to me. 😉

        • drs
          drs
          November 4, 2014 at 1:42 pm | #

          US Episcopalians are our branch of the worldwide Anglican communion. No, they don’t swear loyalty to the Queen; they’re still part of the communion. They have not just female priests but an female archbishop, and voted last year to allow gay marriage. The United Church of Christ was years ahead of them on both counts, with their first woman pastor in 1853. The Presbyterians have had women pastors and are in the process of affirming gay marriage. The Unitarian Universalists have affirmed marriage equality since 1973 and women pastors since probably a long time ago. Quakers were founded by women leaders and the more liberal side supports gay marriage.

          Quite a lot of US churches have female pastors. Gay marriage is rarer but present.

          “Protestants” are in no way the same thing as Anglicans; it’s a broad category including Lutherans, Calvinists, Baptists, etc. One could argue about whether Anglicans are Protestant, as they didn’t come out of the Protestant Reformation per se, but the Episcopal Church calls itself “Protestant and Catholic”.

          Most Protestant churches are pretty decentralized, so even if the synod doesn’t support gay marriage, a local pastor might marry you. The reverse might be true as well for e.g. the UCC.

          • Kryss LaBryn
            Kryss LaBryn
            November 6, 2014 at 1:18 am | #

            Really? Awesome! 😀

            Sadly up here we pretty much only hear about the nutbars, like Westboro (who oughtn’t be considered Christian at all, IMO) and pretty much nothing at all about the more gay- and women-friendly ones. So that’s great news.

    • AgentKeen
      AgentKeen
      November 4, 2014 at 12:21 am | #

      I believe it’s a reference to baptism (and possibly tangentially to the eternal life provided by Christ’s sacrifice?) being a ‘rebirth’. And, as my grandma told me more than a few times, you don’t go to heaven if you’re not baptized (‘reborn’).

      • AgentKeen
        AgentKeen
        November 4, 2014 at 12:22 am | #

        Or I should just refresh and see someone that knows this stuff a lot better than me comment. 😛

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        November 4, 2014 at 12:35 am | #

        If that was the case, then those guys who was hanging on their own crosses with Jesus wouldn’t be going to Heaven like Jesus claimed.

        • Opus the Poet
          Opus the Poet
          November 4, 2014 at 1:12 am | #

          They got in on direct recommendation of the Head Dude himself.

          • StClair
            StClair
            November 4, 2014 at 7:35 am | #

            “It’s cool, they’re with me.”

            • Lanval
              Lanval
              November 4, 2014 at 10:41 pm | #

              Jesus knows that you can’t go to heaven with out a posse.

        • Animal
          Animal
          November 4, 2014 at 1:00 pm | #

          http://youtu.be/WlBiLNN1NhQ

          • Plasma Mongoose
            Plasma Mongoose
            November 4, 2014 at 3:27 pm | #

            So always look on the bright side of death…(Whistle)
            Just before you draw your terminal breath…(Whistle)

            Life’s a piece of shit, when you look at it
            Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke, it’s true
            You’ll see its all a show, keep ’em laughin as you go
            Just remember that the last laugh is on you

    • Wizard
      Wizard
      November 4, 2014 at 12:26 am | #

      Still counts. Evangelicals don’t do infant baptisms. Even if you’re raised in the church, you’re expected to make a formal profession of faith once you’re old enough to truly understand what you’re doing. Only then would you be considered “born-again”.

    • fogel
      fogel
      November 4, 2014 at 9:48 am | #

      Some branches of Christianity believe in adult baptism, that you can only accept Jesus as your savior when you are grown, versus, eg, being baptised as an infant and have godparents accept for you.

      • gwalla
        gwalla
        November 4, 2014 at 10:38 pm | #

        The Baptists, notably, only practice “believer’s baptism” and not infant baptism. It’s one of their defining tenets.

  19. Boomwolf
    Boomwolf
    November 4, 2014 at 12:13 am | #

    That description of Mary was pretty accurate

  20. Dragon
    Dragon
    November 4, 2014 at 12:13 am | #

    Why does Carla get her own room? …..Is there something I’m missing here? I feel like there is.

    • Mr k
      Mr k
      November 4, 2014 at 12:13 am | #

      She’s transgender. She probably wants to keep it a secret.

      • Jen Aside
        Jen Aside
        November 4, 2014 at 12:16 am | #

        More generally speaking, she could have paid for one. After freshman* year, anyone who wanted a private dorm just paid 1.5x to 3x the rent (depending on which dorm).

        *freshmen might’ve been able to do it, too, but I sure didn’t know any who did

        • Jen Aside
          Jen Aside
          November 4, 2014 at 12:17 am | #

          in our dorms, anyway, I didn’t (re-)read the IU brochure to see if that’s an option

          • Brady Kj
            Brady Kj
            November 4, 2014 at 9:15 pm | #

            Why would IU be so restrictive about its single dorms? Where I went to school, single dorms were for anyone who doesn’t want to share a bedroom with a total stranger and is willing to pay for it. And it doesn’t cost 3x the normal price, even if you have a double as a single. In fact, I don’t think a double as a single is even 2x the price.

            • Jen Aside
              Jen Aside
              November 4, 2014 at 11:54 pm | #

              I’m saying where I went (which I mistakenly left out of the original comment), the “regular” dorm rooms were optionable as singles, and prices ranged from 1.5x to 3x rent based on location [close to the student center = 2x or 3x, out in BFE = 1.5x]

              • Jen Aside
                Jen Aside
                November 4, 2014 at 11:59 pm | #

                and I just realized I may have misinterpreted your comment:

                Why would IU (or any college) be restrictive about dorm rooms? I bet they aren’t–it’s just that Joyce doesn’t realize it’s an option because 1. her parents are the ones paying for it (and what college kid straight out of high school and getting a free ride is gonna look at the paperwork) and 2. the point of living on campus is to socialize, which is hindered by hermiting like an old misanthropic grump.

                • Brady Kj
                  Brady Kj
                  November 5, 2014 at 1:40 am | #

                  That’s reasonable. But in earlier discussions of the topic, a lot of people have stated that her having the room to herself is strong evidence of her transgender status, and that when they hear about somebody having his or her own room, they suspect the person is a transexual. Having one’s own room clearly is more rare in some places than where I went to school. When I was about to start school, I understood very little of the paperwork I saw, but I did understand that having my own room was an option, but sharing a room would save me money.

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        November 4, 2014 at 12:16 am | #

        But is it as secret as Ethan’s ‘leanings’?

      • Dragon
        Dragon
        November 4, 2014 at 12:18 am | #

        Jesus Christ, lightning commenter, I just posted that like two minutes ago. Are you the Helpful Information Fairy?

        • Plasma Mongoose
          Plasma Mongoose
          November 4, 2014 at 12:23 am | #

          We can be quick little comment imps when we want to. ^_^

          • Disloyal Subject
            Disloyal Subject
            November 4, 2014 at 12:30 am | #

            They (we?) are legion.

            • Plasma Mongoose
              Plasma Mongoose
              November 4, 2014 at 12:37 am | #

              We Legion are pretty good until that Jesus fellow forces us into some pigs instead. 😛

              • Anderhail
                Anderhail
                November 4, 2014 at 1:41 am | #

                Accurate internet metaphor is accurate *shrug* honestly I just said that because I like the thought of it. I don’t think it applies to most of this comic’s crazy customary comment crew. Ack, alliteration always attacks abruptly.

      • Flight03
        Flight03
        November 4, 2014 at 12:22 am | #

        She’s way too open about it for that to be the case. It could be that she’s still legally male according to her birth certificate and ID, so she can’t have any female roommates, but they’re letting her live in a female hall as a compromise.

        • Deanatay
          Deanatay
          November 4, 2014 at 8:17 am | #

          It could have just been an executive decision from the dorm staff. they may have worried that a girl (or her parents) might be offended, or object to, having a trans roommate, and decided that soaking the extra expense was worth avoiding a potential lawsuit.

          Don’t think Willis hasn’t thought about this – I wouldn’t be surprised if a future comic expands on this.

          • John
            John
            November 4, 2014 at 11:57 am | #

            It’s kind of weird thinking about her being someone’s daughter other than Joe and Rachel. I’d just gotten used to them being parents, and now they’re not anymore, but the daughter is still around. And I can’t really imagine anyone else filling that space.

            • Lanval
              Lanval
              November 4, 2014 at 10:44 pm | #

              Time Machine.

              Honestly though, I’m sort of hoping she’ll be Joe’s cousin or something. Or at least have a suspiciously similar looking Dad.

              …assuming we see her parents, at all. Until we do, the Time machine is my head canon.

      • Just Karen
        Just Karen
        November 4, 2014 at 12:25 am | #

        Many colleges don’t allow transgender students to share rooms with cisgender students.

        • Plasma Mongoose
          Plasma Mongoose
          November 4, 2014 at 12:38 am | #

          That’s bad if you wanted a room-mate, but great news if you prefer a room to yourself.

        • Kladeos
          Kladeos
          November 4, 2014 at 11:45 am | #

          I don’t know if it’s don’t allow, but most trans students prefer their own room and can be accommodated. At my school whether you got a single or double (or triple) was by lottery, but when applying I did mention I was trans. To this day I’m not if I got a single because of that or just luck.

      • Foxhack
        Foxhack
        November 4, 2014 at 12:49 am | #

        Has that been revealed in the strip?

        I mean, that’s what immediately sprung to mind when I read the ‘she gets a single room all to herself’ bit, and considering characters here have character elements from the Shortpacked universe in somewhat different forms, her being transgender in this universe makes sense.

        • Starling000
          Starling000
          November 4, 2014 at 12:57 am | #

          She is canonically transgender according to the authors tumblr, which is just, so great. I’m so pleased about that.
          And she references it during the Whiteboard Dongs incident. When she got shouty about the dong on her whiteboard being a hatecrime, that’s what she thought she was getting hatecrime’d over.

          • Regalli
            Regalli
            November 4, 2014 at 9:31 am | #

            Also in that “you’ve got height” “yeah there’s a reason” exchange back at the beginning of this storyline.

            • gwalla
              gwalla
              November 4, 2014 at 10:41 pm | #

              Basically the actual references in the comic have been consistent with, but not really suggestive of it.

          • Foxhack
            Foxhack
            November 4, 2014 at 3:16 pm | #

            And here I thought she referred to the awful drawings -as- the hate crime, in a jokey manner.

            I don’t follow the author’s tumblr, so thanks for the confirmation.

        • buckybone
          buckybone
          November 4, 2014 at 1:06 am | #

          Willis has confirmed it in the comments, and it’s been very heavily implied in the story.

          • Starling000
            Starling000
            November 4, 2014 at 11:58 am | #

            And it just warms my queer little heart to see her. <3
            She's even got the same skinny hips I do in this comic!

    • Jams
      Jams
      November 5, 2014 at 2:22 pm | #

      Since she’s trans, she might have been barred from sharing a room with a cis girl.

  21. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    November 4, 2014 at 12:14 am | #

    “Is it MY fault I’m saddled with all the exposition?”–Atomic Shakespeare

  22. zathael
    zathael
    November 4, 2014 at 12:14 am | #

    Oh wow, I got here before the comment thread was super long and… now I have no idea what to say for once. >.>

  23. Dreadhawk177
    Dreadhawk177
    November 4, 2014 at 12:14 am | #

    So does Carla need to go to college? She’s yet to throw any pies, and doesn’t have much of a reason to learn much. I kinda figured her to be a bit more like Mike in how he feeds off of other’s strife…

    • JessWitt
      JessWitt
      November 4, 2014 at 12:28 am | #

      If she wanted to throw pies, she’d be in clown school – wait, does IU have a clowning major?

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        November 4, 2014 at 12:41 am | #

        From what I heard, Clowning class might be better than a Bachelor Arts degree if you wanted a job afterwards these days.

        • Betty Anne
          Betty Anne
          November 4, 2014 at 11:00 am | #

          Ain’t THAT the fuckin’ truth. >__<

        • Leorale
          Leorale
          November 4, 2014 at 3:21 pm | #

          I was amused to discover that the most career-useful course I took for my BA was a student-taught class on stilt-walking.

          • Brady Kj
            Brady Kj
            November 4, 2014 at 9:19 pm | #

            Or a bachelor of science degree for any science other than geology, with an emphasis on oil and expensive rocks.

          • Lanval
            Lanval
            November 4, 2014 at 10:48 pm | #

            My alma mater literally had a basket weaving course. I think they took it out before I arrived but it existed.

            • gwalla
              gwalla
              November 5, 2014 at 2:42 pm | #

              But was it remedial?

  24. Flight03
    Flight03
    November 4, 2014 at 12:15 am | #

    Carla’s really not all that tall if you factor in the 4-5 inches of roller skates. In fact, she’d be about the same height as Joyce. Unless she’s wearing normal shoes right now and Joyce is a liar.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      November 4, 2014 at 12:18 am | #

      4-5 inches taller? I can see 1-2 inch increase in height with skates but 4-5 inches is a bit too much.

      • Flight03
        Flight03
        November 4, 2014 at 12:19 am | #

        Roller blades maybe, but old-school skates are pretty huge. At least 3 or 4 inches for certain.

      • Jen Aside
        Jen Aside
        November 4, 2014 at 12:20 am | #

        She’s wearing these XD

        • Plasma Mongoose
          Plasma Mongoose
          November 4, 2014 at 12:27 am | #

          But are they as good as these MIGHTY BOOTS!

          • xKiv
            xKiv
            November 4, 2014 at 8:59 pm | #

            These boots are made for Walky?

  25. Khaner
    Khaner
    November 4, 2014 at 12:15 am | #

    “This is my gay boyfriend Ethan. But he’s not really gay. Just kind of gay.”

    • newllend
      newllend
      November 4, 2014 at 12:37 am | #

      Joyce: “And this is Roz she’s pretty much what you call a wench and between you and me I think she has a phew diseases, nothing deadly I’m shore.”

      Roz: I can hear you jackass.

      • timemonkey
        timemonkey
        November 4, 2014 at 8:16 am | #

        Who even says wench anymore?

        Also it’s ‘few’ and ‘sure’

        • Khaner
          Khaner
          November 4, 2014 at 9:08 am | #

          They’re called puns

          • ninja_jesus
            ninja_jesus
            November 4, 2014 at 2:28 pm | #

            Are they puns if no one understands them?

            • Leorale
              Leorale
              November 4, 2014 at 3:23 pm | #

              If a tree puns in a forest, and nobody understands it…

              • Plasma Mongoose
                Plasma Mongoose
                November 4, 2014 at 3:32 pm | #

                If a disturbingly sexy looking tree falls in a forest and you don’t see it, does it still give you wood?

    • Poo
      Poo
      November 4, 2014 at 11:53 am | #

      Like this?

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        November 4, 2014 at 3:35 pm | #

        Joyce should be shown that video. ^_^

  26. Tom T.
    Tom T.
    November 4, 2014 at 12:15 am | #

    Joyce is just adorable today!

  27. Derek
    Derek
    November 4, 2014 at 12:23 am | #

    Am I the only one that considers Joyce incredibly rude and creepy for climbing Sal’s bunk to look at her and talk about her when she’s sleeping? Seriously, why does Becky go along with this?

    To me, any comic with Joyce climbing into sleeping people’s beds (this far Sal, Billie and Ethan) is -100 points for Joyce, it really bothers me.

    • March
      March
      November 4, 2014 at 12:39 am | #

      Eh. Me and my best friend are in our late twenties, and she still just lets herself into my house and climbs into my bed to wake me up. I’m happy if she confines herself to raiding my food and mooching my WiFi and lets me sleep. Or sometimes she just gets in the bed and goes to sleep after work, because I have an AWESOME mattress. Like, I know some people would find that incredibly creepy, but…I don’t know. For some people, it just isn’t a big deal for friends. Sal is likely going, “Joyce, shut up, it’s quiet time”. Ethan didn’t mind, because he’s Ethan and Ethan is pretty chill. Billie is a cheerleader and likely used to an open sleeping arrangement. Now, if someone tells Joyce she needs to not be so morning-friendly and open with them, and Joyce continues to do so, like how Dorothy would likely feel…that’s a different kettle of fish.

      • saltchocolate
        saltchocolate
        November 4, 2014 at 1:02 am | #

        I think Sal did say that to her last time Joyce crashed in on her sleep!

        • fogel
          fogel
          November 4, 2014 at 9:54 am | #

          Didn’t Sal grab her by the throat?

    • tinfoil theory
      tinfoil theory
      November 4, 2014 at 1:11 am | #

      My thinking her rude is for entirely different reasons.

    • Norah
      Norah
      November 4, 2014 at 3:54 am | #

      Me too. Didn’t Sal or Billie call her out about this once, or am I misremembering? Joyce and Sal aren’t really close friends either.

    • Pinja
      Pinja
      November 4, 2014 at 5:56 am | #

      It’s rude to talk about people like this fullstop, but I feel this can just be allowed to pass as just a joke.

    • Tenn
      Tenn
      November 4, 2014 at 4:54 pm | #

      “Am I the only one –“

      No. Never. If you start a question with those five words, the answer is always, always “no”.

  28. JessWitt
    JessWitt
    November 4, 2014 at 12:26 am | #

    Yipes, Joyce hasn’t a clue about Carla?! How and when will this truth bomb be deployed?

    • March
      March
      November 4, 2014 at 12:41 am | #

      Joyce will likely be very, very confused. Hopefully it leads to a learning experience that allows her to be understanding of her sister, if and when she chooses to reveal herself as a she.

      • JessWitt
        JessWitt
        November 4, 2014 at 12:58 am | #

        Right, those two stories might indeed dovetail together – in some surprising fashion.

  29. shietka
    shietka
    November 4, 2014 at 12:27 am | #

    It’s funny that Joyce thinks Dina is the only one who believes that the earth is that old.

    • shietka
      shietka
      November 4, 2014 at 12:30 am | #

      *universe

      • Totz the Plaid
        Totz the Plaid
        November 4, 2014 at 12:38 am | #

        Well, I think Dina and Walky are the only ones who have confronted her about that fact (I’m too lazy to go back and re-read “Guess Who’s Coming to Galasso’s” to double-check), and she already said that she’s not going to introduce Becky to Walky, so…

        I don’t think Dorothy even confirmed Dina and Walky’s statements about it, though if she did, Joyce might be in denial enough to think she was just being polite to her boyfriend.

      • HiEv
        HiEv
        November 4, 2014 at 8:33 am | #

        What? The universe existed before humans? What would be the point of that? Don’t you know that the universe was made special just for us?

        /sarcasm

        It’s amazing how egocentric most religions are.

        • fogel
          fogel
          November 4, 2014 at 9:56 am | #

          It did, for 5 days.

          • HiEv
            HiEv
            November 5, 2014 at 8:24 am | #

            Which begs the question, why would a supposedly omnipotent and omniscient being take multiple days to do something, when it could do it all at once? Seems pointlessly inefficient to me.

    • Gadgeteer Smashwidget
      Gadgeteer Smashwidget
      November 4, 2014 at 12:32 am | #

      Kinda shows naivete, like the rest of this comic. I love her analysis of Mary, though.

      • Gadgeteer Smashwidget
        Gadgeteer Smashwidget
        November 4, 2014 at 12:34 am | #

        shows HER naivete, I mean

    • Pinja
      Pinja
      November 4, 2014 at 6:05 am | #

      I dunno, when you think something if obvious and common sense its very easy to fall into the trap of thinking everyone else thinks like you.

      And a lot of the people who don’t assume that instead think they are part of a tiny elite who “See things as they really are”

  30. Totz the Plaid
    Totz the Plaid
    November 4, 2014 at 12:53 am | #

    I know Willis has said that he’s going to make an in-universe confirmation of Carla’s trans* status, but I’ve decided to keep track of how many times it’s alluded to before being outright stated.

    This is #3. And it implies that either the folks in charge of assigning rooms were overly cautious about her status (whether due to their own transphobia or covering their asses in case her potential roommate was transphobic) or that Carla hasn’t finished transitioning… or both. (For the record, I don’t give a fuck about what genitalia she currently has, and frankly hope that it doesn’t come up in the comic since it shouldn’t matter [unless it being brought up is so that Willis can spread the fact that it shouldn’t matter to anyone but the person in question, and it’s nobody else’s business unless the trans* person wants ot share it with them].)

    #1 was during “The Whiteboard Ding Dong Bandit” when she thought the penis on her whiteboard was a hate crime before discovering that all the doors were marked and deciding that it was actually hilarious.

    #2 was when Sal referred to Carla’s height when they were talking about Roller Derby before she decided to challenge whether Sal could skate.

    Also, for the record, in reference to the above about trans* people’s genitals: I’m bi-gender trans*. One doesn’t need to be trans* to care about basic respect and manners, but that’s why I’m personally so emotionally invested in the subject.

    • BobaFett2
      BobaFett2
      November 4, 2014 at 1:17 am | #

      Yeah, I counted the same. And ditto on the rest of the stuff, except I’m more agender.

      Also, it has to count for something that her Walkyverse (is that right?) self is also trans – not just a car, but assumed male at…I’m not sure what, it wasn’t explained…, considering that the gender and sexual orientation of characters is basically the same across the two universes. So, kind of #4?

    • buckybone
      buckybone
      November 4, 2014 at 1:18 am | #

      Most places assign dorms based on legal gender, which has varying requirements to change based on the state…IU actually does have some gender-neutral housing, though.

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        November 4, 2014 at 3:39 pm | #

        The “Social Justice Wing” sounds like it belongs in the Superfriends show.

  31. a4lbi
    a4lbi
    November 4, 2014 at 12:56 am | #

    Leave Dina alone *tackles*

  32. Bleeters
    Bleeters
    November 4, 2014 at 1:07 am | #

    Is Mary carrying a bottle? Should I be concerned about Mary carrying a bottle?

    • Kiwi
      Kiwi
      November 4, 2014 at 6:24 am | #

      Pretty sure that’s a sports water bottle. Goes with the whole “never seen without a wrist-sweatband” thing.

  33. Undrave
    Undrave
    November 4, 2014 at 1:11 am | #

    Joyce must have rolled very high on her perception check to notice Dina there! Maybe the detritus gave her SUPER POWER?!

    • tinfoil theory
      tinfoil theory
      November 4, 2014 at 1:14 am | #

      That’s why Becky is looking so confused in the last panel. She can’t see Dina.

      Dina made herself visible to Joyce only to hear her assessment of her.

  34. Black Bumblebee
    Black Bumblebee
    November 4, 2014 at 1:12 am | #

    I must admit, when I first saw panel 1, I thought they were shoving an elephant into a garbage shoot. But then, I’m old, and my eyes see elephants in weird places, I guess

    • begbert2
      begbert2
      November 4, 2014 at 1:57 am | #

      Actually it’s more weird that most people don’t notice the elephants everywhere. Standing. Watching. Waiting.

      • Andrusi
        Andrusi
        November 4, 2014 at 7:57 am | #

        Oh, we all notice the elephants. It’s just that nobody wants to discuss them while they’re in the room.

      • a4lbi
        a4lbi
        November 4, 2014 at 2:29 pm | #

        They never respond to my polite attempts at conversation. ;-;

        So we just kinda chill. Never speaking…

  35. BobaFett2
    BobaFett2
    November 4, 2014 at 1:26 am | #

    Also, apparently there’s a bunch of songs people listed that go with characters.

    Carla’s should totally be Highway Star. It’s perfect for her.

  36. Anderhail
    Anderhail
    November 4, 2014 at 1:49 am | #

    Even though I cannot remember how long ago I stopped being what little bit of Christian I was, to this day I still have that slight mental hesitation every time I hear BCE history of any sort that doesn’t conform with Sunday school. Hell, thanks to that, it took me until the edge of 30 years old to realize the actual definitions for BC (BCE dammit) and AD, because no one ever corrected what my Sunday school teacher taught me. I hate that hesitation.

    • fogel
      fogel
      November 4, 2014 at 10:04 am | #

      Do you think that CE means CHRISTIAN Era or COMMON Era? I was taught the latter, but it never made any sense to me AND it seems weasly. The former at least makes sense in a Chistian dominated society even if you don’t accept AD.

      • BobaFett2
        BobaFett2
        November 4, 2014 at 11:09 am | #

        Christianity didn’t become big for a few centuries until after the death of Jesus, when it became legal in Rome to be Christian. Even then, it wasn’t really the dominant force for a while, so it’s not exactly appropriate in a historical sense to call it “Christian era”.

        • Leorale
          Leorale
          November 4, 2014 at 3:37 pm | #

          It makes no sense to call it the Christian Era if you’re talking about any society where Christianity wasn’t present or dominant. For example, how can the Aztecs in the 1300s be living in the Christian Era? It’s Common Era because non-Westerners and non-Christians are important, too.

          • Aris Katsaris
            Aris Katsaris
            November 4, 2014 at 6:42 pm | #

            “Christian Era” fits best, simply because it’s a dating system that bases its year zero on Christ’s birth, as decided on and believed by the Christians.

          • fogel
            fogel
            November 5, 2014 at 3:18 am | #

            But what’s “common”? CE as Christian Era doesn’t bother me, versus AD, Year of Our Lord. The later is for believers. The former is based on the birth of Jesus, even if they got the year wrong. I don’t have to be a Christian to recognize that they created the calendar I use — part of it.

          • fogel
            fogel
            November 5, 2014 at 3:21 am | #

            True but neither were the Aztecs living in a common era with Christians in 1300.

        • 3oranges
          3oranges
          November 4, 2014 at 3:57 pm | #

          I thought “Christian era” was supposed to mean calendar that the Christians made up. I gather common era is the real intent, but that’s kind of presuming people use it everywhere.

          I’m curious about BC. Everything seems to agree it stands for “before Christ”; what would Anderhail have been taught instead?

          • Leorale
            Leorale
            November 4, 2014 at 7:26 pm | #

            BCE – Before the Common Era. (Less ethnocentric than BC, since not everyone likes revolving around Jesus. However, still understandable and numerically equivalent for the folks who are accustomed to BC/AD.)

            BCE and CE have been in scholarly use since the 1800s. Yay, scholars!

        • fogel
          fogel
          November 5, 2014 at 3:03 am | #

          True. However the bc/ad calender came in way later than Christian dominance in Rome. It was applied retrospectively back to the supposed year of JCs birth and before that.

  37. ThisIsSoLemons
    ThisIsSoLemons
    November 4, 2014 at 2:25 am | #

    Mary is just mad because Joyce interrupted her upcoming attempts to ruin Billie and Ruth’s happiness.

  38. Morty
    Morty
    November 4, 2014 at 3:35 am | #

    Huh, I wonder if Becky’s going to tell Joyce that she agrees with Dina during some point of her stay

    • Norah
      Norah
      November 4, 2014 at 3:49 am | #

      I was thinking the same thing after seeing Becky’s expression on the last panel.

      • Norah
        Norah
        November 4, 2014 at 3:50 am | #

        “In” he last panel.

  39. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    November 4, 2014 at 5:43 am | #

    This oddly makes me want to have theology discussions with Billie and Joyce given she’s the only non-fundamentalist Christian in the group, I think, who takes her faith seriously.

    It would just be WRONG and RIGHT on so many levels.

    “The universe isn’t billions of years old!”
    “Because God can’t make it that way?”
    “He could but he didn’t!”

    🙂

  40. vmgx
    vmgx
    November 4, 2014 at 6:32 am | #

    Normaly i think of she acting like this kinda cute. But there is something wrong this time for some reason. Maybe it’s because normaly she doesn’t put other people’s beliefs as below her on, and I kinda felt like that’s what she is doing now. Or I’m just exagerating, I dunno

    • timemonkey
      timemonkey
      November 4, 2014 at 8:07 am | #

      Actually she does, she just usually doesn’t have anyone to talk to about all the sinning around her.

    • fogel
      fogel
      November 4, 2014 at 10:07 am | #

      She has definitely gone agro on Dina face to face.

      • timemonkey
        timemonkey
        November 4, 2014 at 11:56 am | #

        Probably because Dina and Walky are the only two people who tell her to her face she’s wrong and stupid for believing otherwise. Dina says it more with science and Walky’s more of a jerk about it but the message remains the same. Joyce needs to remain somewhat civil towards Walky since he’s dating her college BFF but she doesn’t like him either.

        • fogel
          fogel
          November 5, 2014 at 2:56 am | #

          Yes, that’s so. I wonder though why she loses it when they challenge her. It seems like maybe she’s not so secure in her dogmas.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        November 4, 2014 at 12:13 pm | #

        They seemed to get along OK .

        • Deanatay
          Deanatay
          November 4, 2014 at 12:13 pm | #

          whoops – here: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/assimilation/

  41. vmgx
    vmgx
    November 4, 2014 at 6:34 am | #

    Her own*

  42. Sam Larkin
    Sam Larkin
    November 4, 2014 at 8:11 am | #

    Thanks again for another priceless Dina appearance. Have her appear more frequently, and I might start donating again.

  43. Anon
    Anon
    November 4, 2014 at 8:18 am | #

    Don’t move a muscle. She can’t see you if you don’t move! She’s an Atheistosaurus Rex and she’s very euphoric.

  44. Deanatay
    Deanatay
    November 4, 2014 at 8:26 am | #

    It’s interesting that Joyce isn’t actually introducing Becky to anyone – she’s just pointing them out to her, almost like they were displays in a museum. I don’t think she’s intentionally being rude, per se (although it is rude of her to do so), I think she just doesn’t want to ‘mix’ Becky with her college life. Whether she’s doing that to keep Becky from being corrupted, or whatever reason, I’m not sure.

    • timemonkey
      timemonkey
      November 4, 2014 at 11:50 am | #

      The only person in the strip above that Joyce actually likes is Sal, who is sleeping. If she runs into Sierra, Billie or Dorothy I’m sure they’ll get an actual introduction. No point making actual introductions between your visiting bestie and people you barely interact with.

      • Salmo
        Salmo
        November 5, 2014 at 12:01 am | #

        Probably more just a function of saving space on the page. Introducing Becky would double the length of each introduction.

  45. garbud
    garbud
    November 4, 2014 at 10:38 am | #

    i wonder what joyces’ reaction to the pope saying that evolution and the big bang are real. i feel that she might explode.

    • kiwi
      kiwi
      November 4, 2014 at 10:56 am | #

      The pope is Catholic though…

      • Kryss LaBryn
        Kryss LaBryn
        November 4, 2014 at 11:47 am | #

        Yes, which a lot of non-Catholic Christians seem to feel is actually not actually a branch of Christianity at all, and possibly actually some kind of heathen (possibly because of the treatment of saints? I don’t know).

        Considering that Catholics also accept Jesus as their saviour, and believe in the Holy Trinity and what, I don’t get it myself, but some people seem to feel very strongly about it. Heh. Visited Newfoundland this past summer, and all the graveyards are labelled with little white signs: “Catholic”. “Anglican”.

        No other labels that I saw so now I wonder if there’s another graveyard someplace for “Other”, or if only Catholics and Anglicans get to get planted there. It was a little weird.

        • OmegaDez
          OmegaDez
          November 4, 2014 at 12:54 pm | #

          Coming from a historically catholic province myself, people here tend to see the various denominations of protestantism as weird little disjointed sects.

          I can’t wrap my mind around the fact it’s the opposite down there.

        • 3oranges
          3oranges
          November 4, 2014 at 4:02 pm | #

          I’ve heard the accusation that the Catholics are polytheist for having a trinity of three gods. I’m not sure if the people that say so actually had a different doctrine where Jesus is less than divine, or just wanted to misrepresent a competing church.

          • gwalla
            gwalla
            November 4, 2014 at 10:45 pm | #

            Well, some Protestant sects are nontrinitarian, but not al. AIUI what usually gets derided as “polytheism” is the saints.

            • Salmo
              Salmo
              November 5, 2014 at 12:00 am | #

              Yup. All Christians believe in the trinity, so they can’t insult Catholics for that. So it’s veneration of the saints and Mary that they go after. The trinity’s just a lame dodge, anyway. They are essentially polytheistic. And Judaism, on paper, is henotheistic. Islam was the only one that was straight up monotheistic from the beginning.

              • 3oranges
                3oranges
                November 5, 2014 at 12:37 am | #

                Except not all Christians: see nontrinitarianism for a list of exceptions.

      • Animal
        Animal
        November 4, 2014 at 1:04 pm | #

        And bears do shit in the woods.

        Trust me on this.

  46. Chengrel
    Chengrel
    November 4, 2014 at 1:35 pm | #

    LGBT dorms are awesome. Having your own dorm is even better. For a while, at least.

  47. Swoop
    Swoop
    November 4, 2014 at 3:01 pm | #

    Oh God, This is giving me flashbacks to my creationist days. I actually tried to convince my science teacher that the earth was 6000 years old. I made so many little comments like that in class. How did I make it so far without being punched?

    • ninja_jesus
      ninja_jesus
      November 4, 2014 at 9:55 pm | #

      Teachers, from my experience, take pity on the ignorant; they’re there to help. 🙂

      • Swoop
        Swoop
        November 4, 2014 at 11:04 pm | #

        She was a good teacher. She never got angry when I condescendingly explained evolution was “just a theory”. She just kept trying to teach me. I like teachers.

  48. Tenn
    Tenn
    November 4, 2014 at 5:15 pm | #

    It really is embarrassing. Memory starts to fail, you’re losing control of your bladder, the fabric of spacetime starts sagging and wrinkling all over the place… What a universe wouldn’t do to be 6000 and young again!

  49. kay
    kay
    August 4, 2015 at 3:10 am | #

    …I was wondering how they were dealing with that. I didn’t really come out until after college, so. *Shrugs*

  50. Sean Franco
    Sean Franco
    August 23, 2015 at 12:53 am | #

    Ah shit. At first sight right here.

  51. zombody
    zombody
    December 14, 2015 at 10:51 pm | #

    more than a year ago, becky and dina (bena? dicky? beckasaur?) TOTALLY FELL IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT LOOK AT THOSE FACES AAAAH

  52. Onion
    Onion
    May 10, 2016 at 8:31 pm | #

    After watching an astronomy video during Physics class today, that last panel kind of ticks me off, even though I acknowledge it’s most likely a joke on the author’s behalf. Just calm yourself, science brain…

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