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Is “I was heavily traumatized at a convenience store as a child” information you normally volunteer? They’ve only been sinlings a few months and before that barely talked. I would be really surprised if Joe did know.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she had, but she really shouldn’t. Amber doesn’t volunteer the information and spreading details about other people’s traumas without their approval is generally a bad idea.
I think it’s more acceptable if it’s a parent telling a new spouse some important information about their child, but I also don’t think Stacy is actually fully aware of the trauma Amber went through. Like Amber once outright stated that she disassociates and Stacy just kind of ignored it?
Honestly I kind of think Stacy might have a few traumatic issues herself. She took the brunt of Blaine’s abuse for a long time both physical and mental. And she seems to think unconditional support and optimism will just work things out. In fairness she did remarry to a rich doctor so maybe her approach has its merit?
If you are an absolute gem of an abuse sponge like Amber’s mom is, you may well just find an utterly perfect person who will treat you right off of that, alone, because if you are totally tooled to satisfy every whim of a narcissist and be likeable enough for them…well, non-shitty lovers will actually appreciate those traits, more. Even to the point you realize that those traits within you, come from a place of pain, and that you need to be healthier and more fair to yourself.
I wouldn’t recommend banking on that, though. If you have friends or close loved ones who don’t make you feel like you are a stronger, better, more capable person when you are around them, you should try to reconsider what the things you deserve actually are. I promise y’all can do better.
If the child is still a minor and the new spouse is going to have to act in a guardian role for them, that’s certainly reasonable. They may need to make decisions for or about the child and need information to do so properly.
Even then for older children, this should be discussed openly with then, not simply with the new spouse.
Amber is an adult. Specifics of her trauma being revealed should be up to her.
That’s true. Not sure the O’malley’s or the type of family that often has open discussions though. And having thought on it for a bit I’m pretty sure Blaine either lied or never told Stacy about the convenience store incident at all. At least that would be very likely.
And yes, Stacy’s an abuse victim herself with plenty of issues of her own. Along with huge blind spots. If she brings up the convenience store incident it’ll likely be as a family story, not a source of trauma.
She’s more likely to tell him to watch Amber’s blood sugar.
I’m not entirely sure on that. Mainly because he decided to stand by the door, as a possibly subtle “I’ll make sure no one else comes in” for Amber. It just seems weird that he wouldn’t walk around the store with her to pester about how much he wants to talk about Joyce.
I’m only familiar with the movie, but one of the seven evil exes there was a woman, Roxie Richter, meaning Ramona was at least bi-curious, but unlikely to be above a 3 on the kinsey scale, considering the ratio.
Yeah, Ramona went through a “phase” and dated Roxy. Roxy seems to have taken it more seriously. In the comic they’re actually still friends, despite the “evil ex” thing.
I can’t think of any other lesbians, but in one scene Knives and Kim make out while tipsy, so I guess they’re bi. And there’s a good amount of gay representation; in addition to Wallace and his various conquests, Stephen Stills eventually discovers that he’s gay and gets a boyfriend.
Scott Pilgrim is really 00s about its queer characters, most likely stemming from being written in the 00s.
O’Malley’s improved a lot in that regard, where both Seconds and Snotgirl are a lot kinder and more natural about their queer characters.
Really, the weirdest part of re-reading Scott Pilgrim a few months ago was experiencing the existentialist nightmare that this loser slacker who runs away from reality was going through it at 23, and I was five years older.
Does he though? The only one talking about Joyce this entire time has been Amber. Joe hasn’t mentioned Joyce except for when Amber brought her up out of seemingly nowhere.
It’s not time zones that cause this, it’s latitude. The closer you get to the tropics, the more consistent in length the day/night cycle becomes year-round; Bloomington is at around 39°N, about 1,700km north of the Tropic of Cancer.
Yep. As someone who does in fact have seasonal depression (that layers on top of the regular depression) it really sucks when we reach this time of year and the What Is Sun period.
I’d argue that sunset being so absurdly early has more to do with daylight “savings” (such a BS name for it) than anything else. If we just never fell back in November, then we’d get an extra hour of sunlight before it got dark. 5:30 is still rather early, but significantly more reasonable than 4:30.
If anything, I’d argue that jumping forward is what should be done away with. Otherwise you’re talking only sunrise at half til 10 AM, this time of year.
(As someone from a northern country which in recent years actually tried the “let’s jump to using DST permanently” thing you’re suggesting, it failed miserably in large part because of the above.)
Where I live is also in ET like Bloomington, but I’m so much more East that the sunset is an hour earlier.
It depends on what state/province/etc you live in. It’s not a coincidence that IN and AZ are the places with the most timezone / DST upheaval, as they are each on the edge of zones.
God temperate countries sound disorienting. I visited america once in the summer and i thought my brain was breaking when i saw it was 8:30 but the sun was still up
You know I’ve completely lost track of what time it’s supposed to be in DoA right now. I thought it was still daytime, early even since neither Amber or Joe have done much besides talk to a few people. Now it looks like sunset. Where did the day go?
Same. It’s that part of the year where the sun comes up as most people are headed to work, and it sets as they’re on their way home. It sucks but at least the days are starting to get longer again.
See, I never understood why daylight “savings” was set up that way, like, we only get roughly one workday’s worth of sunlight per day this time of year, and they decide to piss it away by putting it when most people are contractually obligated to be indoors and as miserable as possible? Like, why not set it up so the sun sets at least an hour or two *after* most people are off work so they have time to socialize and engage in extracurriculars before the drearies set in. Granted, I work nights so I’m generally unaffected either way, but it’s still dumb.
Daylight Savings Time is the “unnatural” time zone though; standard time is, by name and definition, the “accurate” time more in line with the actual solar cycle. DST is simply whatever enforcing governmental entity deciding to pretend as a legal fiction that since the sun’s rising earlier, an hour must have gone “missing” from the last non-DST night.
i recommend the episode of the podcast 99% Invisible called “Matters of Time” and specifically the segment about DST.
I learned 2 things:
1) all sorts of permutations of DST have been tried through history
2) each configuration makes lots of people unhappy; in particular delaying sunset means delaying sunrise and that makes people working outdoors (agriculture, construction etc) upset.
In conclusion i think we just need to agree that winters suck, and the norther you are the worst they suck, and make our peace with that (don’t @ me, i just hate winters but if you think winters are swell, well that’s fine)
“It sucks but at least the days are starting to get longer again.” – Needfuldoer
Are you mad? That’s fantastic! The shorter daylight hours are the only redeeming quality this miserable time of year has! It’s just such a pity that the daylight has to come back.
She gave Dorothy options of three different kinds that she had readily at hand, she definitely not only has a stock pile, but has at least 3 not already spoken for. Also, while Joyce is picky, she doesn’t strike me as the type to restrict her Mac&Cheese consumption to specific dates and times.
Also, as far as stockpiling goes, the Sam’s Club here in Bloomington has cases of Kraft Mac&Cheese with 18 boxes for a little under $10, so it’s super easy to stockpile them, but that’s only for standard, you’d have to go elsewhere to get the variety Joyce demonstrated having, but even then it would be most economical to go to Sam’s for a case or two, then while on the West Side stop in at Walmart and grab a bunch of boxes of the non-standard varieties (the Walmart *usually* has a very nice variety, but it’s been a long while since I’ve availed myself of the selection, so I dunno how expensive it is). Granted, we haven’t seen how Joyce does her shopping, and AFAIK she doesn’t have a car, so getting to the West Side could be problematic, I mean she *could* take the 2 bus from down town to Walmart, walk to Sam’s, walk back to Walmart and take the bus back, but it would be rather tricky to transport the cases from Sam’s PLUS the bags of boxes from Walmart on the bus, so she probably does her shopping somewhere closer, either that or she gets her groceries delivered, but I don’t think Sam’s is part of any of the delivery services here, meaning she’s almost definitely over paying for her stock of the standard stuff, at the very least.
I never lived in a dorm, so I dunno how it’s done, but personally I think it would be most efficient to have a group of people, preferably floomates or at least kitchen mates for a smaller group, have someone with a car go on weekly or so shopping runs, everyone puts in what they want, at least one person goes with the driver (rotating shifts), and everyone pays back the ones who actually did the shopping, possibly with a small markup for the trouble.
Students in the dorm are probably all covered by the campus meal plan. So the need for “extra” food (like mac and cheese) is limited.
A once-a-month run on a bus would probably be enough for joyce to pick up enough non-campus food to tie her over, without the need of big weekly grocery purchases requiring a car.
Generally with a meal plan in the dorms most people don’t put that much effort into it. This is more kind of a special treat thing than a “budgeting for groceries” thing.
Well, I think this article, in light of TV Tropes articles on the Trauma Plot, are a nice starting point to breaking the mold of the standardized Trauma Plot™ in fiction, instead creating stories that emphasize the many diverse ways people can react to trauma, and that there is really no “right” way to react to it or deal with it.
I have many many words to say about this New Yorker piece that honestly I’m too [gesticulates with the hands, a lot] to parse now, and even less here. A Softer World is, though an excellent counterpoint – And one that, though beautifully worded in very few words as always, makes my brain go “y’know what? I’ll take the third option”
Trauma, the wound is the backstory. It doesn’t make you, but saying “it was always you” assumes a soul of sorts. An unchangeable core wherein you, no matter the hardship, will always end up becoming the version you’re meant to be, for better or worse.
Far from taking away the idea of all of us being at least a little wounded, and subject to an inherently unfair system that doles out pain on the undeserving, now we have finally the language to express it (and now there’s more people than ever creating art; and expressing, same as the Greeks, the tragic feel of being at the mercy of things stronger than yourself) – What can we become? Not everything is trauma, I wanna believe I’ve got a thousand little quirks that I can explain just as “I like this” without psychoanalyzing myself as writers are prone to do because, (p)symbolysm is kind of our thing. My wounds are certainly a part of myself, and if random quirks enrich a character, Woolf’s setup of the crying woman certainly means her crying is relevant – Even as a starting point. So what will I be?
(What Joyce, bringing it back to DOA, will become?)
GDI I DID END UP SAYING TOO MANY WORDS ANYWAY, SEE. Further proof I should’ve gone for that Lit. degree but frick, don’t I wish I could edit post-posting >8(
I’m a trauma survivor (like most people) but I feel mostly OK most of the time, except when I don’t. I kind of like the TV show, “United States of Al” because, while it shows people who have suffered horrific wartime trauma, and who DO experience psychological symptoms because of it, it mostly just shows them living their lives — going grocery shopping, going to work, studying, joking, dating … having normal sit-com lives, despite the various issues that they are working through.
Narratives about pain aren’t inherently bad and have kept many good company through bad times. It feels like an important part of recovery is realizing there’s more to life than unrelenting misery (so thanks for the rec!) – And even depressed and/or deeply wounded people have a sense of humor, some preferred form of escapism that brings them joy, or idk. They sign notes with little stars, or favor citrus over chocolate. DOA is compelling because it’s a daily strip with a varied cast that has#backstories, but they’re set in a stage that begets growth, and the format encourages a punchline, which is very deep and sexy from it.
Pretending everyone gets like, straight there to “maybe we should do more than a racconto of trauma” is very [technical gesture] ugh. So the article is reductive; and mean-spirited the second it starts invoking narcissism. Lets allow people talk about what hurts them now they’ve got the words! And also lets allow people to make bad art? Or art that this dude from the NY thinks is bad. Like yeh, medicalization isn’t groovy and neither are cultural monolyths (who abuse these tropes because it draws us on), but if the testimonial lit is a sign of the times, welp, we’ve been given some reasons to dabble on it anyway.
Well, yeah, definitely let folks make art of all kinds, “good” and “bad” that speaks from their experience. No question.
I think it’s just reacting against the idea that trauma somehow legitimizes narrative, to the point where people feel like they have to one-up each other’s trauma just to be heard.
I’m guilty of that, for sure. Since my own trauma experience doesn’t fit into neat boxes, I find myself describing it as something other, just so that people will have some way to understand what I’m talking about and be able to relate.
Fiddlesticks, both Sarah Rees Brennan and Wonkette have done terrific satires on this topic and I just can’t seem to find them.
I feel that the core of the issue is that the Trauma Plot tends to be the beginning and ending; character has Trauma, and then they get over Trauma, and that’s the whole story. Stories about overcoming trauma are in aplomb, but I think we’re missing out a lot on stories about living with it, since living with trauma is something best told in sequential, ongoing fiction where you don’t need to wrap the character arc up in in an hour and a half.
And, y’know, the moment of triumph is still rad, there’s an obvious level where the character going “I have defeated my past!” is viscerally cathartic for both the outsider audience (though I feel most of the triumph stuff is written for them, as they otherwise wouldn’t get it) and it feels good for the audience going through it. That’s art, yo, it means whatever you want it to.
Something I’ve spent the last month worldbuilding that I’ve only just yesterday committed to meaningfully writing has been plotted out for multiple stories in this universe, because the main crux is the hero overcoming his past trauma and learning to live in the now, but that doesn’t happen at the end of the first story, he’s just started to make some progress by the ending and gradually makes some every installment, but it takes a long time for him vocalize out loud that he’s been looking for a heroic way to kill himself because he thinks he has no value, and once he does those feelings don’t just magically disappear, let alone the other issues that motivated him to start feeling that way. Sometimes it’s there but it’s not the A-plot, sometimes he accidentally doodles in the Necronomicon and summons a fictional representation of his past self that he has to kill because he’s too embarrassed to admit he wants to draw cartoons for a living.
Meanwhile two of the other main characters also have baggage in much the same way, but expressed differently. One has it quietly simmer unnoticed until she’s forced to go home and her entire life and outlook is recontextualized as growing up in an abusive religious cult that she dismantles in a big heroic moment, the other is a dude who already got therapy by learning dark magic in college that he used to go become a film actor, so he’s still morose and kind of quiet, but mostly at peace and able to live in the moment.
Trauma’s a story and like all stories, you just gotta speak from the heart about it.
From the last paragraph. “The trauma plot flattens, distorts, reduces character to symptom, and, in turn, instructs and insists upon its moral authority. The solace of its simplicity comes at no little cost. It disregards what we know and asks that we forget it, too—forget about the pleasures of not knowing, about the unscripted dimensions of suffering, about the odd angularities of personality, and, above all, about the allure and necessity of a well-placed sea urchin.”
The sea urchin surprised me, until I recalled the earlier passage:
“Plot and originality count for crumbs if a writer cannot bring the unhappy lady to life. And here [Virginia] Woolf, almost helplessly, began to spin a story herself—the cottage that the old lady kept, decorated with sea urchins, her way of picking her meals off a saucer—alighting on details of odd, dark density to convey something of this woman’s essence.”
Like sea urchins is a metaphor for as-yet-unexplained quirks (such as checking behind aisles in a convenience store).
Don’t forget tho, Amber’s most epic moment still is “I made me.”
Yeah, she’s still really fucked up because a Crowning Moment Of Awesome doesn’t erase the past, but damn if it wasn’t a very defining moment. She’s not out of the woods (and maybe will keep checking behind aisles for a long time, in spesh without therapy) but hope + empowerment can do some Amazing things.
He’s taking the necessary steps to talk about feels despite how uncomfortable he is about it – Physically and otherwise. Let the dude complain a little, both him and Amber know why he’s there :’3
… How fast is Amber tho? Because Dorothy (track runner) couldn’t keep up with her, back in the day. Even if she says she’s slower now, Joe didn’t lose sight of her.
Excellent memory! Thanks for the precision, it was 5 am in Chile and I was starting to fade.
It was always impressive to me that Dorothy couldn’t keep up considering this, and her being one of the few characters we had actually seen PRACTICING their physical skills
The “longer legs” is a good point, but the second one is even better. Proves that Amber despite it all did wanna talk to him. In her heart of hearts :’3
Only if we go full DID and give AG a character arc in her own right. Without any vigilante shit. Just, like, her roller derby exploits and perhaps her own therapist.
Hell, maybe the realization her share of the day is expanding at Amber’s expense.
Did Joe knows that Amber is Amazigirl? Is he ready to deal with his other stepsister? Why he is not going inside and prefer to frozen outside the store?
A skinny sliver of “Amber is not Amazi-Girl” (the denial/unknowing version)
A big ol’ almost-circle of “Amber is Amazi-Girl”
A skinny sliver of “Amber is not Amazi-Girl” (the “gets it” version)
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oh shit
Joe doesn’t know
I haven’t seen either Cheetos OR Nachitos, lately it’s weird flavours of ramen
As long as it’s not raw men.
no that’s a different establishment
i could go for some RAW men. Thought Smack down every now and then is good too.
yeah, dang.
Is “I was heavily traumatized at a convenience store as a child” information you normally volunteer? They’ve only been sinlings a few months and before that barely talked. I would be really surprised if Joe did know.
I don’t imagine it’s come up naturally in conversation, no.
I’d honestly be surprised if Richard knows. Doesn’t seem like information Stacy would volunteer, though she probably should.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she had, but she really shouldn’t. Amber doesn’t volunteer the information and spreading details about other people’s traumas without their approval is generally a bad idea.
I think it’s more acceptable if it’s a parent telling a new spouse some important information about their child, but I also don’t think Stacy is actually fully aware of the trauma Amber went through. Like Amber once outright stated that she disassociates and Stacy just kind of ignored it?
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/introduced-2/
Honestly I kind of think Stacy might have a few traumatic issues herself. She took the brunt of Blaine’s abuse for a long time both physical and mental. And she seems to think unconditional support and optimism will just work things out. In fairness she did remarry to a rich doctor so maybe her approach has its merit?
If you are an absolute gem of an abuse sponge like Amber’s mom is, you may well just find an utterly perfect person who will treat you right off of that, alone, because if you are totally tooled to satisfy every whim of a narcissist and be likeable enough for them…well, non-shitty lovers will actually appreciate those traits, more. Even to the point you realize that those traits within you, come from a place of pain, and that you need to be healthier and more fair to yourself.
I wouldn’t recommend banking on that, though. If you have friends or close loved ones who don’t make you feel like you are a stronger, better, more capable person when you are around them, you should try to reconsider what the things you deserve actually are. I promise y’all can do better.
If the child is still a minor and the new spouse is going to have to act in a guardian role for them, that’s certainly reasonable. They may need to make decisions for or about the child and need information to do so properly.
Even then for older children, this should be discussed openly with then, not simply with the new spouse.
Amber is an adult. Specifics of her trauma being revealed should be up to her.
That’s true. Not sure the O’malley’s or the type of family that often has open discussions though. And having thought on it for a bit I’m pretty sure Blaine either lied or never told Stacy about the convenience store incident at all. At least that would be very likely.
There were cops involved. No way Stacy didn’t know about it.
He might well have tried to distort the story and shift blame for what happened, but he couldn’t have hid it from her.
And yes, Stacy’s an abuse victim herself with plenty of issues of her own. Along with huge blind spots. If she brings up the convenience store incident it’ll likely be as a family story, not a source of trauma.
She’s more likely to tell him to watch Amber’s blood sugar.
I know it’s a typo, but ‘sinlings’ has… potential.
Yes… Mr Burns “Excellent”
How long until Sal happens to wander in?
I’m not entirely sure on that. Mainly because he decided to stand by the door, as a possibly subtle “I’ll make sure no one else comes in” for Amber. It just seems weird that he wouldn’t walk around the store with her to pester about how much he wants to talk about Joyce.
More so, him putting an emphasis on ‘usually’ implies that he knows about her exceptional experience.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like ending the year on a good note.
Schpoonman asked for it, and here you have it —
https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/thewellerman/super-saiyan-joyce
Sweet! Looks like a DLC boss for the Scott Pilgrim video game.
…Though Joyce is getting broad minded if she’s one of Ramona Flowers’ exes.
Wait, ARE there lesbian couples in Scott Pilgrim?
It’s been so long…
I’m only familiar with the movie, but one of the seven evil exes there was a woman, Roxie Richter, meaning Ramona was at least bi-curious, but unlikely to be above a 3 on the kinsey scale, considering the ratio.
Yeah, Ramona went through a “phase” and dated Roxy. Roxy seems to have taken it more seriously. In the comic they’re actually still friends, despite the “evil ex” thing.
I can’t think of any other lesbians, but in one scene Knives and Kim make out while tipsy, so I guess they’re bi. And there’s a good amount of gay representation; in addition to Wallace and his various conquests, Stephen Stills eventually discovers that he’s gay and gets a boyfriend.
Scott Pilgrim is really 00s about its queer characters, most likely stemming from being written in the 00s.
O’Malley’s improved a lot in that regard, where both Seconds and Snotgirl are a lot kinder and more natural about their queer characters.
Really, the weirdest part of re-reading Scott Pilgrim a few months ago was experiencing the existentialist nightmare that this loser slacker who runs away from reality was going through it at 23, and I was five years older.
It was a real Frank Miller moment for me.
haha! very cool!
M u S c L e S
I like it!
Okay that was weird. I wrote “that’s rad wtf” twice and they both got eaten somehow, but then the above went through.
Yeah, and last strip, I couldn’t get “so fucking beautiful” to go though either.
Gotta LOVE the sporadic censor-bots.
You got somewhere I can DM you for those bones? This is fantastic.
So, should I leave my Discord handle or should you leave yours?
To be clear, I currently don’t have a means by which you could pay me, but I might set up an itch.io account in the near-future, so stay tuned!
You know Joe you could have just found her in her dorm room later and not gone outside
He could have…but as Amber pointed out, he *really* wants to talk about Joyce.
Feels like Joe knows that if he backs out now, he won’t ever do it. #Relatable as hell, but also the healthy choice so…
Can confirm #relatable status.
A dude in love will actually take every opportunity to talk about it if he can convince himself he’s still an ubermasculine powerhouse while doing so.
Does he though? The only one talking about Joyce this entire time has been Amber. Joe hasn’t mentioned Joyce except for when Amber brought her up out of seemingly nowhere.
Is there a scene I am missing?
This is nacho year, Joe
Or anybody else’s, for that matter
I like the sky in the first panel. It’s almost an upside down bi flag.
We cannot POSSIBLY be nearing the end of the storyline already. How is it so dark outside?
… I mean, January, but still!
It’s 4:30!
Axial tilt is more damnable than even you.
My quarrel is with time zones.
It’s not time zones that cause this, it’s latitude. The closer you get to the tropics, the more consistent in length the day/night cycle becomes year-round; Bloomington is at around 39°N, about 1,700km north of the Tropic of Cancer.
(Time zones are very specifically an effect arising from longitude, for comparison.)
But if the longitude were different, it’d be a different time.
Still wouldn’t change that this latitude, at this time of year, only gets nine-and-a-half hours of daylight.
Yep. As someone who does in fact have seasonal depression (that layers on top of the regular depression) it really sucks when we reach this time of year and the What Is Sun period.
I’d argue that sunset being so absurdly early has more to do with daylight “savings” (such a BS name for it) than anything else. If we just never fell back in November, then we’d get an extra hour of sunlight before it got dark. 5:30 is still rather early, but significantly more reasonable than 4:30.
If anything, I’d argue that jumping forward is what should be done away with. Otherwise you’re talking only sunrise at half til 10 AM, this time of year.
(As someone from a northern country which in recent years actually tried the “let’s jump to using DST permanently” thing you’re suggesting, it failed miserably in large part because of the above.)
I understand that.
What I said w as that I have a different problem with the sphericity of Earth and its unilateral lighting.
Where I live is also in ET like Bloomington, but I’m so much more East that the sunset is an hour earlier.
It depends on what state/province/etc you live in. It’s not a coincidence that IN and AZ are the places with the most timezone / DST upheaval, as they are each on the edge of zones.
God temperate countries sound disorienting. I visited america once in the summer and i thought my brain was breaking when i saw it was 8:30 but the sun was still up
Related: how the movie Midsommar exploits the eeriness of a never-setting sun to add to a generally unsettling atmosphere for horror movie purposes
(it’s set in northern Sweden)
“It’s not easy being Cheesey.”–Chester Cheetah
When the sky hits your eye like a flag that is bi—that’s amore!
Did she bring Joe to a convenience store hoping that he would get kidnapped and be more like Ethan?
Dark.
Joe: Amber, Sal just told me you offered her $20 to take me hostage.
Amber: You can’t prove that.
Joe: And I suppose it’s a coincidence that I somehow got signed up to receive daily emails about new Transformers toys?
Amber: These algorithms are getting very sophisticated.
Joe: And there’s a pamphlet next to my bed about the benefits if making out with dudes.
Amber: Actually, that has nothing to do with Ethan, I gave those to all my male friends.
Joe: …Yeah, that tracks.
Somehow I doubt it
Hey I finally understood what Pun Jacob said in this strip
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/majesty/
You know I’ve completely lost track of what time it’s supposed to be in DoA right now. I thought it was still daytime, early even since neither Amber or Joe have done much besides talk to a few people. Now it looks like sunset. Where did the day go?
It’s post Christmas. Where I live, it’s dark by 5 PM every day now.
Same. It’s that part of the year where the sun comes up as most people are headed to work, and it sets as they’re on their way home. It sucks but at least the days are starting to get longer again.
See, I never understood why daylight “savings” was set up that way, like, we only get roughly one workday’s worth of sunlight per day this time of year, and they decide to piss it away by putting it when most people are contractually obligated to be indoors and as miserable as possible? Like, why not set it up so the sun sets at least an hour or two *after* most people are off work so they have time to socialize and engage in extracurriculars before the drearies set in. Granted, I work nights so I’m generally unaffected either way, but it’s still dumb.
Daylight Savings Time is the “unnatural” time zone though; standard time is, by name and definition, the “accurate” time more in line with the actual solar cycle. DST is simply whatever enforcing governmental entity deciding to pretend as a legal fiction that since the sun’s rising earlier, an hour must have gone “missing” from the last non-DST night.
i recommend the episode of the podcast 99% Invisible called “Matters of Time” and specifically the segment about DST.
I learned 2 things:
1) all sorts of permutations of DST have been tried through history
2) each configuration makes lots of people unhappy; in particular delaying sunset means delaying sunrise and that makes people working outdoors (agriculture, construction etc) upset.
In conclusion i think we just need to agree that winters suck, and the norther you are the worst they suck, and make our peace with that (don’t @ me, i just hate winters but if you think winters are swell, well that’s fine)
Normally, sure but the cities near me are on fire so the snow needs to get here asap.
“It sucks but at least the days are starting to get longer again.” – Needfuldoer
Are you mad? That’s fantastic! The shorter daylight hours are the only redeeming quality this miserable time of year has! It’s just such a pity that the daylight has to come back.
Winter days are short!
Crossing my fingers that Joyce waltzes in to buy that mac & cheese at the most awkward possible moment.
Eh, knowing her, she probably stockpiles them. I think. Someone back me up here.
Dated and ordered, no doubt. This, however, is an unscheduled Mac & Cheese date, so it may depend on her emergency stocks.
She gave Dorothy options of three different kinds that she had readily at hand, she definitely not only has a stock pile, but has at least 3 not already spoken for. Also, while Joyce is picky, she doesn’t strike me as the type to restrict her Mac&Cheese consumption to specific dates and times.
Also, as far as stockpiling goes, the Sam’s Club here in Bloomington has cases of Kraft Mac&Cheese with 18 boxes for a little under $10, so it’s super easy to stockpile them, but that’s only for standard, you’d have to go elsewhere to get the variety Joyce demonstrated having, but even then it would be most economical to go to Sam’s for a case or two, then while on the West Side stop in at Walmart and grab a bunch of boxes of the non-standard varieties (the Walmart *usually* has a very nice variety, but it’s been a long while since I’ve availed myself of the selection, so I dunno how expensive it is). Granted, we haven’t seen how Joyce does her shopping, and AFAIK she doesn’t have a car, so getting to the West Side could be problematic, I mean she *could* take the 2 bus from down town to Walmart, walk to Sam’s, walk back to Walmart and take the bus back, but it would be rather tricky to transport the cases from Sam’s PLUS the bags of boxes from Walmart on the bus, so she probably does her shopping somewhere closer, either that or she gets her groceries delivered, but I don’t think Sam’s is part of any of the delivery services here, meaning she’s almost definitely over paying for her stock of the standard stuff, at the very least.
I never lived in a dorm, so I dunno how it’s done, but personally I think it would be most efficient to have a group of people, preferably floomates or at least kitchen mates for a smaller group, have someone with a car go on weekly or so shopping runs, everyone puts in what they want, at least one person goes with the driver (rotating shifts), and everyone pays back the ones who actually did the shopping, possibly with a small markup for the trouble.
Anyway, I’m gonna go have some Mac&Cheese now!
Students in the dorm are probably all covered by the campus meal plan. So the need for “extra” food (like mac and cheese) is limited.
A once-a-month run on a bus would probably be enough for joyce to pick up enough non-campus food to tie her over, without the need of big weekly grocery purchases requiring a car.
Generally with a meal plan in the dorms most people don’t put that much effort into it. This is more kind of a special treat thing than a “budgeting for groceries” thing.
I’m confused by the “so goddamn avoidant” speech bubble. Is that supposed to be coming from Joe?
I think that’s supposed to be coming from Mike, or some other alter. Hence the squiggle in the bubble, like a voice coming from beyond the veil.
I took that as a mumble.
Same
Same, both.
Same
According to Willis on Patreon, it’s Amber calling herself avoidant in response to Joe.
She’s flashing back real hard to the night of the robbery right now.
Yeaaahhhhh, that’s not gonna feel great for the ole’ PTSD. At least not at first.
Now just imagining Joe running through a bog with Amber on his back giving him Jedi training.
Eh, I’m picturing more of a King Kai with Goku thing.
Huh. Hm.
New Yorker: “The Case Against the Trauma Plot
Fiction writers love it. Filmmakers can’t resist it. But does this trope deepen characters, or flatten them into a set of symptoms?”
By Parul Sehgal, December 27, 2021
Tried and failed to post an image using HTML tags. Here it is, though: https://asofterworld.com/index.php?id=911
Not endorsing that perspective, just thought it was interesting.
Any excuse to link to asw is a good one, all-time great webcomic.
I can agree with some of the frustration, but the overall analysis seems incorrect or incomplete to me. Not entirely sure why.
Well, I think this article, in light of TV Tropes articles on the Trauma Plot, are a nice starting point to breaking the mold of the standardized Trauma Plot™ in fiction, instead creating stories that emphasize the many diverse ways people can react to trauma, and that there is really no “right” way to react to it or deal with it.
I have many many words to say about this New Yorker piece that honestly I’m too [gesticulates with the hands, a lot] to parse now, and even less here. A Softer World is, though an excellent counterpoint – And one that, though beautifully worded in very few words as always, makes my brain go “y’know what? I’ll take the third option”
Trauma, the wound is the backstory. It doesn’t make you, but saying “it was always you” assumes a soul of sorts. An unchangeable core wherein you, no matter the hardship, will always end up becoming the version you’re meant to be, for better or worse.
Far from taking away the idea of all of us being at least a little wounded, and subject to an inherently unfair system that doles out pain on the undeserving, now we have finally the language to express it (and now there’s more people than ever creating art; and expressing, same as the Greeks, the tragic feel of being at the mercy of things stronger than yourself) – What can we become? Not everything is trauma, I wanna believe I’ve got a thousand little quirks that I can explain just as “I like this” without psychoanalyzing myself
as writers are prone to do because, (p)symbolysm is kind of our thing.My wounds are certainly a part of myself, and if random quirks enrich a character, Woolf’s setup of the crying woman certainly means her crying is relevant – Even as a starting point. So what will I be?(What Joyce, bringing it back to DOA, will become?)
Well, that’s the story. And that’s why we read ;3
GDI I DID END UP SAYING TOO MANY WORDS ANYWAY, SEE. Further proof I should’ve gone for that Lit. degree but frick, don’t I wish I could edit post-posting >8(
I feel you, friend.
And I don’t think you wrote too much, honestly.
Very cool. I like the deep dive.
I’m a trauma survivor (like most people) but I feel mostly OK most of the time, except when I don’t. I kind of like the TV show, “United States of Al” because, while it shows people who have suffered horrific wartime trauma, and who DO experience psychological symptoms because of it, it mostly just shows them living their lives — going grocery shopping, going to work, studying, joking, dating … having normal sit-com lives, despite the various issues that they are working through.
Narratives about pain aren’t inherently bad and have kept many good company through bad times. It feels like an important part of recovery is realizing there’s more to life than unrelenting misery (so thanks for the rec!) – And even depressed and/or deeply wounded people have a sense of humor, some preferred form of escapism that brings them joy, or idk. They sign notes with little stars, or favor citrus over chocolate. DOA is compelling because it’s a daily strip with a varied cast that has#backstories, but they’re set in a stage that begets growth, and the format encourages a punchline, which is very deep and sexy from it.
Pretending everyone gets like, straight there to “maybe we should do more than a racconto of trauma” is very [technical gesture] ugh. So the article is reductive; and mean-spirited the second it starts invoking narcissism. Lets allow people talk about what hurts them now they’ve got the words! And also lets allow people to make bad art? Or art that this dude from the NY thinks is bad. Like yeh, medicalization isn’t groovy and neither are cultural monolyths (who abuse these tropes because it draws us on), but if the testimonial lit is a sign of the times, welp, we’ve been given some reasons to dabble on it anyway.
Well, yeah, definitely let folks make art of all kinds, “good” and “bad” that speaks from their experience. No question.
I think it’s just reacting against the idea that trauma somehow legitimizes narrative, to the point where people feel like they have to one-up each other’s trauma just to be heard.
I’m guilty of that, for sure. Since my own trauma experience doesn’t fit into neat boxes, I find myself describing it as something other, just so that people will have some way to understand what I’m talking about and be able to relate.
Fiddlesticks, both Sarah Rees Brennan and Wonkette have done terrific satires on this topic and I just can’t seem to find them.
I feel that the core of the issue is that the Trauma Plot tends to be the beginning and ending; character has Trauma, and then they get over Trauma, and that’s the whole story. Stories about overcoming trauma are in aplomb, but I think we’re missing out a lot on stories about living with it, since living with trauma is something best told in sequential, ongoing fiction where you don’t need to wrap the character arc up in in an hour and a half.
And, y’know, the moment of triumph is still rad, there’s an obvious level where the character going “I have defeated my past!” is viscerally cathartic for both the outsider audience (though I feel most of the triumph stuff is written for them, as they otherwise wouldn’t get it) and it feels good for the audience going through it. That’s art, yo, it means whatever you want it to.
Something I’ve spent the last month worldbuilding that I’ve only just yesterday committed to meaningfully writing has been plotted out for multiple stories in this universe, because the main crux is the hero overcoming his past trauma and learning to live in the now, but that doesn’t happen at the end of the first story, he’s just started to make some progress by the ending and gradually makes some every installment, but it takes a long time for him vocalize out loud that he’s been looking for a heroic way to kill himself because he thinks he has no value, and once he does those feelings don’t just magically disappear, let alone the other issues that motivated him to start feeling that way. Sometimes it’s there but it’s not the A-plot, sometimes he accidentally doodles in the Necronomicon and summons a fictional representation of his past self that he has to kill because he’s too embarrassed to admit he wants to draw cartoons for a living.
Meanwhile two of the other main characters also have baggage in much the same way, but expressed differently. One has it quietly simmer unnoticed until she’s forced to go home and her entire life and outlook is recontextualized as growing up in an abusive religious cult that she dismantles in a big heroic moment, the other is a dude who already got therapy by learning dark magic in college that he used to go become a film actor, so he’s still morose and kind of quiet, but mostly at peace and able to live in the moment.
Trauma’s a story and like all stories, you just gotta speak from the heart about it.
From the last paragraph. “The trauma plot flattens, distorts, reduces character to symptom, and, in turn, instructs and insists upon its moral authority. The solace of its simplicity comes at no little cost. It disregards what we know and asks that we forget it, too—forget about the pleasures of not knowing, about the unscripted dimensions of suffering, about the odd angularities of personality, and, above all, about the allure and necessity of a well-placed sea urchin.”
Damn. I feet so seen.
Fuck it. *I’m* endorsing it.
*feel. Ffs
The sea urchin surprised me, until I recalled the earlier passage:
“Plot and originality count for crumbs if a writer cannot bring the unhappy lady to life. And here [Virginia] Woolf, almost helplessly, began to spin a story herself—the cottage that the old lady kept, decorated with sea urchins, her way of picking her meals off a saucer—alighting on details of odd, dark density to convey something of this woman’s essence.”
Like sea urchins is a metaphor for as-yet-unexplained quirks (such as checking behind aisles in a convenience store).
Don’t forget tho, Amber’s most epic moment still is “I made me.”
Yeah, she’s still really fucked up because a Crowning Moment Of Awesome doesn’t erase the past, but damn if it wasn’t a very defining moment. She’s not out of the woods (and maybe will keep checking behind aisles for a long time, in spesh without therapy) but hope + empowerment can do some Amazing things.
Oh wait, those speech bubbles-are those from the original incident?
I think you might be right. Anyone have the link?
Hrm. Here are two sequences of the original incident:
Amber’s recollection
Sal’s recollection
So… no. Unless I was unsuccessful with my archive dive.
If you don’t want to talk about feels, you can nope out now, Joe
If he didn’t want to talk about feels, he wouldn’t be standing there denying how much he wants to talk about feels.
He’s taking the necessary steps to talk about feels despite how uncomfortable he is about it – Physically and otherwise. Let the dude complain a little, both him and Amber know why he’s there :’3
Yeah.
It’s masculinity aesthetique.
I am kind of glad we are back to Joe and Amber. The comment section is so intense when it comes to the Joyce and Becky thing.
And now in less cultured stuff
… How fast is Amber tho? Because Dorothy (track runner) couldn’t keep up with her, back in the day. Even if she says she’s slower now, Joe didn’t lose sight of her.
Joe could chase a cat with a line of paint on its back all the way across Paris.
You have it the wrong way around; ’twas actually Amber/Maisie who was track and field, and Dorothy who was cross-country.
Excellent memory! Thanks for the precision, it was 5 am in Chile and I was starting to fade.
It was always impressive to me that Dorothy couldn’t keep up considering this, and her being one of the few characters we had actually seen PRACTICING their physical skills
Joe has much longer legs.
And Amber isn’t taking advantage of any of the track and field/parkour skills to lose him.
The “longer legs” is a good point, but the second one is even better. Proves that Amber despite it all did wanna talk to him. In her heart of hearts :’3
Dorothy could run a marathon, but that doesn’t necessarily make her fast in a sprint.
I want to see the return of Amazigirl. I think Amber misses her as well.
Amazi-Girl never left, her vigilante days are just over ‘s all. She does roller derby now instead.
Only if we go full DID and give AG a character arc in her own right. Without any vigilante shit. Just, like, her roller derby exploits and perhaps her own therapist.
Hell, maybe the realization her share of the day is expanding at Amber’s expense.
Did Joe knows that Amber is Amazigirl? Is he ready to deal with his other stepsister? Why he is not going inside and prefer to frozen outside the store?
I think he may be one of the few remaining casts members who doesn’t. Even if he does, he probably doesn’t know that Amazi-Girl isn’t Amber.
The Venn diagram would look something like this:
A skinny sliver of “Amber is not Amazi-Girl” (the denial/unknowing version)
A big ol’ almost-circle of “Amber is Amazi-Girl”
A skinny sliver of “Amber is not Amazi-Girl” (the “gets it” version)
I know it isn’t how it looks but to a Cashier it might seem like she’s casing the joint while he blocks the exits.
I worked nights at a 7-11 in the 1970’s and that would have been my thought.
Dear alt-text: if you use “nachitos” here the Walkyverse will seep in through the cracks.
Don’t forget the soda fountain, with cups in “Small”, “Medium”, “Large”, “Bladder-Buster”, and “X-TREEEM!!” sizes.
I’m still pretty sure of all the people Joe could talk to about Joyce, Amber’s probably not the right person.
She’s exactly the right person-you just need to remember to listen what she says and then do the opposite.
Amber’s advice is going to be “have you considered making out with Danny or Ethan instead?”
okay but
imagine if Amber wingmans for Joe but all her advice is dumb comic bullshit where she’s trying to get Cap and Bucky to smooch
and then it works
Wait, I thought Nachitos were Doritos.
I was gonna say the very same
Huh, wonder if there’s any visual symbolism in Amber wearing the Amazi-Girl colours right now.
Kinda like Joyce’s black and white hoodie.
Oh noes. The personas are mixing..
Is Village Pantry still a thing in Bloomington? I think I last saw them in Indianapolis in the 90s or early 00s.
Staying just next to the ATM is gonna scare people, Joe.