I’m just thankful the RSS feed has been working properly for about the past month. I’m used to it working fine for a handful of days (not even a week a week in a row, usually), then suddenly silence for about ten days, then a day where the past ten days’ posts show up all at once. I’m usually pretty good about remembering to check (helps when it’s daily), but sometimes my executive functioning is more of a mess than usual, and I forget to check for several days in a row.
And now that I’ve mentioned this I’ve probably jinxed the feed.
It’s not only me then! I’ve basically been reading it in irregular bursts of ~two weeks worth of content for years, now, but I much prefer the daily fix
I’ll be a third comment full of gratitude for that! This is much nicer 🙂 Especially because once there’s a bunch of updates there it becomes too much to catch up on at once and then I steadily end further and further behind and before you know it, whoops, there’s 2 months to catch up on now!
I’m always afraid that use Chapstick – I always end up getting it in my mouth and it tastes awful (and is probably full of chemicals that don’t belong in the human body).
Just because it doesn’t inst-gib you on contact, doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be better off, long-term, without that exposure.
Also, remember radioactive toothpaste? Made to be put in the mouth, but have you ever seen what radium jaw looks like? (Do not, for the sake of all that is holy, google the pictures.)
She’s become too attached to the relationships she’s formed here. Joyce and Walky the most. That plus the trauma’s she likely wouldn’t have survived without her friends like nearly being stabbed, and getting kidnapped, probably terrify her to be away from them.
I think Dorothy might be underestimating just how much the various happenings on campus have affected her.
She’s not in a healthy place and she’s trying to avoid that by solving other people’s problems, very Billie.
My suspicion is that she made the decision awhile ago in the wake of last semester’s trauma and thought she couldn’t abandon her friends to deal with that alone.
Now she’s worried they don’t need her as much as she thought they did.
That makes a lot of sense. It’s an unfortunate choice possibly, but it could also be a good thing if it means she’s reexamining what she wants in life and what’s really important to her. It might still be a career in politics and she still might want to end up in the Ivy League at some point, maybe for grad school. But figuring out what you actually want your life to look like is a huge part of college and I hope she really embraces that process here.
It could also be that she is struggling with last semester’s trauma and isn’t sharing. Like, imagine going through that shit and then just cutting out your entire support network right after. Can’t be easy.
I would have said this about 5 years ago in real time, but since then it’s become clear that Dorothy would make a god-awful politician, so no, I think she should stay right where she is, get a dual major in polisci and journalism, and write essays for Jacobin or something
I’m becoming convinced that everyone would make a god-awful politician, and it’s just that some of the most especially god-awful are the ones that most often go for it/get attention. Listening to my state legislature’s committee hearings is convincing me that it was a lie that you need to be a good public speaker to be a politician. There’s also no reason she couldn’t attend Yale and then write essays for Jacobin anyway.
I think politics weeds out anyone who can’t handle being scrutinized over everything they’ve ever said or done in their entire lives, and dragged through the mud with exaggerations and distortions of everything they’ve ever said or done in their entire lives. That probably weeds out 99% of good people. So we get to have people who don’t care if everyone knows they were BFFs with Epstein, got drunk with their high school students, and literally lie about everything representing us.
I think most 18 year olds would make god awful politician. But she’s not going to Yale to immediately be a politician. She’s going there to learn the skills necessary to be a good, successful one.
She’s not naturally personable enough for the morning breakfast news shows (Today or Good Morning America), but she could hold down the afternoon hard news slot.
Politics does not come naturally to Dorothy, she just doesn’t have what it takes to achieve her political ambitions.
Now, to be clear, this is a compliment in my book. It is not an easy thing to become president and it is probably impossible to do so while being an even halfway decent person.
Eh, that’s a little too cynical for my tastes. I think Obama and Carter both show it’s possible to make it to the White House while not sacrificing everything you believe in, though you do end up having to make hard choices about what you value more, and where you’re willing to yield.
Dorothy’s weakness, like many youthful idealists, is that last point, of course. Right now, she’s got serious prioritization issues–she can’t go half-hearted on anything.
I would not describe Obama as an example of proving that you can make it to the presidency without sacrificing everything you claim to believe in. The exact opposite, honestly.
What principles or values do you think he gave up to get into office? Other than selling his soul to the Devil to get his opponents to fall upon their swords to clear the way for his rise to power, I mean? (Seriously, his opponents, whether Democrats or GOP, seemed struck with political idiocy the moment they decided to oppose him. It was uncanny. A Faustian pact is about as good an explanation for that as anything.)
Politics is compromise. I think a lot of people are hard on Obama because he promised change and ended up being a lot more centrist than was advertised.
And that’s not to say that I don’t think there were some big wins. I think the Affordable Care Act was a laudable first step, but the escalation of the drone program and the handling of the bailouts are the two particular sore spots in my personal view of Obama’s legacy.
Oh, Obama’s no saint. Never was, though. But I think a lot of the ‘change’ people thought they were being promised was actually, weirdly, a result of listening to the GOP and FOX, who painted him as a hard-core Marxist communist who was going to single-handedly end capitalism as we know it. That was never part of his agenda or ideology.
And while I agree with your assessment of his weak spots, legacy-wise, that’s not quite the point I was taking issue with. Presidents often end up moderating themselves once in office–and I’d argue that the Soggy Cheeto is a good example of what happens when you get someone in who refuses to be moderated in any way.
But I was getting at the idea that the mere road to power must be so riddled with ethical detours that it’s impossible to have some sort of principles intact by the time you win election. I reject that notion, just as I reject the futurist claim that we’re marching towards progress (the ‘arc of history’ argument), so stop worrying. The notion that either is inevitable is, ultimately, an argument to stop trying, either because victory is fore-ordained, or because it’s impossible.
Obama’s rise to power happened in the soup of corruption that is my home city (Chicago). Yet he managed to avoid all the pitfalls, compromises and back-alley deals that would’ve undermined anyone who didn’t have a will of iron.
He pretty much ignored all his campaign promises once elected, but that’s not really unique to Obama. All presidents and politicians do that in America.
I do wonder where Dorothy’s head is at on this. She would want to stay for the people she cares about, but it also seems like she’s trying to tie up loose ends. Does she not know what she wants to do? Or is something else amiss?
Seems the theory about her micromaning others as a way of telling herself she was right to turn down Yale because she’s desperately needed here was right but we will know for sure soon.
I wonder if Dorothy feels like by not going to Yale she’ll be punishing herself for some perceived failure? She’s been spending a lot of time recently trying to fix what she sees as other peoples’ ‘messes’, which can easily be read as her trying to soothe her own guilt. Or maybe the guilt she’s feeling is that she doesn’t WANT to go to Yale anymore?
idk what’s going on in her head but I’m excited to see where this goes!
Yeah, I definitely saw Dorothy’s decision here coming. There was a strip last storyline about her almost mentioning missing something important to help Joyce go to the pharmacy, and a lot of people called it being something to do with Yale. But as much as she really wants to go to Yale, she’s made a lot of friends here, and moreover she’s also come to see herself as the only thing keeping Joyce going. Which is why these last few days, where Joyce has actively rejected the “identity” Dorothy has constructed around helping her, are hitting her hard.
But also Becky, seriously wtf, don’t snoop in people’s shit
If you’re nervous because of the reaction you’d get making porn of a trans character, I can give you a token trans friend pass if it’ll help! For 24 hours after you open it you become immune to all negativity or input by claiming that we’re friends and I approve.
Eh, I don’t know about that. Carla is only like 19 and I feel like a lot of surgeons are hesitant to perform a major surgery like that on someone under 18. Plus scheduling it, planning, recovery, etc. would all be a lot for someone who’s currently in college. And that’s even if Carla *wanted* bottom surgery.
Carla is SO cute, and even though I know she’s probably canonically 10000% sexuality-repulsed, I as a trans girl on the ace spectrum always appreciate getting to see horny ace trans girls. We do exist! <3
given what we’ve seen she def loves herself enough to self-indulge even if she doesn’t want to be with anyone else (minus the comment of wanting malaya to be ‘mean’ to her but that ‘attraction’ might not necessarily be sexual versus malaya not caring as a contrast to carla’s ‘superiority’ complex or so)
Haha I legit debated having her just having sexy sexy thoughts about how great she is. (Either watching videos of vaudeville actors getting pied in the face, but even as a joke I don’t wanna besmirch the pure wholesome love of pies in the face with masturbating…though there is a creampie joke in there somewhere I’d love to make.)
A while ago, I think last chapter or the one before it, when Dorothy snapped at Joyce she mentioned something about her missing something in order to help Joyce
It felt odd at the time but I wonder if it’s relevant now
she needs this breakdown. she plays big sister for too long plus events she had no control over (kidnapping) creates a paradox in her head. she has to break down to put herself back together because now she’s a cracked bust of some idol
Well, when we first saw the letter, that was my interpretation, but now I’m not sure how that would tie into the current arc. As I recall, the letter referred to next semester, but we don’t actually know how long ago she received it.
It may be the case that when we go back and reread the post-break stories some of them may read very different.
Honestly, I was really surprised by the time skip. I didn’t think we’d get past the New Year for another decade. So, at this point, anything goes, in my mind.
now i see mad max style punk reading someone’s resume and saying “unfortunately, for the position of a maniac with a bloody machete, we are looking for someone with higher education”
Hrmmm Dorothy is 18 now. You need to be at least 35 to run for president. Is 17 years long enough for the U.S. very partisan political state to evolve enough to allow Dorothy to have a chance without the frankly arbitrary Ivy League credentials? Maybe. I think we’d have to elect at least one woman before then.
I mean, it’d be refreshing compared to a 60 year old president, but plenty of 35 year olds haven’t matured past 18, idk if i’d want a younger president other than AOC (tho still not sure how good she is, but compared to the stuff that ppl are talking about everyone else, she’d be less likely to cause as much trouble as trump lol)
lol somehow robin will fall backwards /succeed into being president or someow on the team meanwhile dorothy is either fuming or distracting her/hiding the ‘big red button’ from her as llong as she can
A good decision by Dorothy, she currently doesn’t have the much needed charisma to become a politician nor does she seem to want to make herself become more charismatic (this isn’t a dig at her)
Did she ever state why she wanted to become president?
She makes good grades and now that shes given up her dream of becoming President she might actually be able to relax a bit and loosen up somewhat or at least have the time to other fun hobbies
Which might, ironically, make her more charismatic and likeable
Dorothy’s a helper, is serious about her work, and a high achiever. Being President would statistically allow her to help the greatest number of people possible.
Not to mention she focuses specifically on helping the immediate people in her life as opposed to the campus as a whole. Not saying being president is out of the question but I do think her reflex to fix peoples immediate issues would get very frustrated in the presidential role.
it’s like when leslie knope tries to micromanage everything and work when she was ‘suspended’ or when she was offered a ‘promotion’ and not getting to do all the details
“Good, I hate paperwork. I hardly ever do it in my bed on a Saturday night listening to old Spice Girls CDs”
‘charisma’ aside i’m sure some ppl would make good politicians, or at least local mayors if they kept their heads down and limited any media appearance and actually put in the work. unless it’s all delegated/foisted onto the interns/nameless workers under them lol
other than a high quality laundry room it seems like there’d be on campus ‘maid services’ to do all of it but that might be ridiculous even for an ‘ivy’ school, can’t keep picking up after trust fund kids forever lol
congrats to all the readers that called it and goddamn this is supremely stupid of Dorothy. Giving up on your DREAM SCHOOL to babysit a dork (even if she’s a lovable dork by all accounts) is real Dumb bongo hours. Dorothy wouldn’t put her dreams on hold for a BOY, and by the same token shouldn’t do it for Joyce, who certainly didn’t ask for this
Eh, Dorothy was already struggling to keep her grades up and have a social life while she was just a first semester freshman at a state school. I don’t think transferring to Yale would go well for her right now. She’d have even harder classes and even less of a support system.
I’ve had several friends who went to top Ivies, and by their accounts, it actually isn’t hard at all once you get there, and the hardest part is, in fact, getting there. The logic of the grading system at HYS is apparently premised on the assumption that everyone there is genuinely smart enough to do well, so the system is BS and the students really just rely on the name of their school if they want a job, or professor recommendations if they want something incredible/selective.
…It’s also how these schools are able to get top athletes without flunking them or shoving them off into a BS major (which lesser colleges have gotten a LOT of grief for recently). Not saying that athletes are dumb (although I personally know at least one Harvard athlete who cheated his way through high school), but the Olympic-hopeful distance runner simply wouldn’t have time in the day to even be competitive for a good grade when he’s up against that year’s Thomas Edison incarnate.
that’s life sometimes, maybe not as high stakes/consequences but it has been a cliche story of “i followed a lover/partner and moved 100+ or so miles away from our hometown but they dumped me/left me for someone else” it’d be hard to bounce back from that even if it’s amicable or they sorta have their own setup going on after moving out
I’d like to think she’s growing out of the dream of following a minutely detailed 80 year plan to become someone who’s capable of getting elected president and be good at it that was neither going to ever work in reality nor be any kind of healthy self-actualization, and instead thinks of having a life she might care about with meaningful personal relationships and stuff.
I don’t think dramatic ironies automatically equal vindication. Especially in this circumstance – even if Dorothy wasn’t planning on leaving, her relationship with Danny was not long for this world.
Yeah, as far as their relationship goes, it was never about her leaving for Yale. Dorothy wanted to move on from Danny and Yale was an excuse for that. I just thought it was amusing Dorothy not going to Yale was predicted so early.
Interesting that Dorothy wants to argue that lying via omission isnt a real lie. Guessing between Yale snd her personal issues she’s been doing alot of that.
I think Dorothy means that it’s not the same kind of lie. If Becky wouldn’t lie directly and out load, it means she’s telling the truth about not snooping through Dorothy’s things.
(I’ll gonna put this title for whenever investigation I do)
I was surfing through DoA’s tumblr, and I get a theory that Dorothy will still on one more storyline in Indiana, at least.
This is the last character preview and there’s no more of her after that: https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/693436229190041600/dorothy
I could respect it if the reason is “I’m already drowning in responsibilities in a less competitive school, and also I’ve realized that my ambition to become president isn’t the best way to help the world, so I don’t think it’s worth the incredible expense and elitism.”
given what we’ve seen of her, despite her ‘smartness’ she might be best suited into a ‘personal assistant’ job versus being the leader. tho it’d be hard to accumlulate enough power to puppetmaster someone actually powerful without being a little corrupt/unethical
she could even be a different kind of politician. local elections and policy are super important for people’s day to day life. I don’t see her as a super successful politician, but that’s much more doable and is helpful to people around you.
Architect and construction worker experience/education aside, i suppose her being a ‘city planner’ would be ideal? Or whatever leslie knope does but more focused on the part of the area /city she wants to work on
Most of them are almost certainly running off their parents, simply by virtue of us seeing their parents show up. We’ve seen quite a few parents, at this point, and only a few of them seem like they wouldn’t or couldn’t pay for college.
I mean, you can have a pretty comfortable lifestyle and still not have tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to spare.
Dan and Joe seem pretty likely to be (I just reread a strip saying they went to a private elementary school, and also Amber’s mom talked a bit about Joe’s dad having money for lawyers), and I forgot Billie in the original list.
i mean, kinda a powermove to turn down yale, but unless dorothy spirals into like, alcoholism or something equally concerning, she should be fine/bounce back.
I am honestly surprised that Dorothy is having doubts. She’s always made it abundantly clear that she knew what her goals were and was prepared to make great sacrifices in pursuit of it. (It’s not a goal I would choose for myself, but I respect somebody with that kind of clarity of ambition.) What’s more, if her main motivator for turning back now is Walky, then I am all the more concerned. As much as I like the both of them, I do not believe that Dorothy and Walky are a good long-term match. Dorothy is driven, ambitious, and wants to do great things with her life, to have her name remembered and spoken of in awed, respectful tones. Walky is very much the exact opposite; he wants a comfortable, carefree and happy life, enjoying what he loves, with whom he loves. The two of them are bound to grow apart at some point; Dorothy will start to become frustrated with Walky’s lack of drive and may even think of him as “holding her back.” For his part, Walky may likewise feel guilt over Dorothy always having to “rescue” him from his own lackadaisical efforts, or if she starts pushing him to dress better, work harder, may even start resenting her for trying to “change” him and move him into a life pattern he never wanted. Ultimately, I think the two of them would wind up separating, and not necessarily amicably.
I think Dotty got hit in the face with the reality of life outside of a small suburban environment, and has suddenly realized how utterly *un*ready she is for everything in the bigger pond that is adult life, specifically politics.
She didn’t even have the wherewithal to keep Danny from lamprey’ing himself to her at the start of the comic, let alone everything else that’s gone on. And now she’s seen part of the shit show with Robin’s political work, and how she has no answers for any of it.
She’s a big fish from a small pond, realizing she was happier in the small pond.
Even if it might be the right decision for her (grades were already slipping for her previously and she had to cut back on a bunch of stuff!) there’s no way that sort of choice doesn’t end up being a regret – she wanted it too much for it to be anything else.
I don’t know; it’s not like Yale was her dream school – she just wanted to go there because it’s the school a bunch of presidents went to. It’s a step toward her larger ambition, not something she wants for its own sake. And if I had to take a guess about her thought process, that ambition is, by its nature, a lifelong project, and so it can wait while she deals with more pressing concerns. There’s always grad school, etc.
That being said, I do worry that she’s turning down Yale because she feels like Joyce (and co) absolutely need her, which is some martyr complex bullshit that she absolutely needs to disabuse herself of.
I wonder if there’s any option for her to defer her decision. There was never any indication of a deadline for a response, maybe she can ask to finish out the semester before she chooses. (Or maybe I’m projecting too much humanity onto Ivy League admissions)
Oooh that would actually be quite interesting and maybe add some context to why her lamenting over the acceptance letter was like the first thing she did post time skip. And why it seems to be such a sore spot.
Fall isn’t really “imminent”, since it’s half a year away.
If she’d just seen “spring semester” and hadn’t looked more closely, she might thing Dorothy had just got it and was going to be packing up right away.
I want to say her getting utterly rolled by Roz and Billie recently as having a bigger hold on her reasons for not going to Yale, then her thinking she needs to mom all over Joyce.
Not sure how good Roz would be as a politician in reality.
Yes she seems to have a lot more appeal to her fellow students than dorothy does. But she also seems incredibly inflexible and incapable of handling anything that doesn’t reinforce her own views. She might have a shot as maybe being a congress critters in a left-leaning district, but anything that requires the support of more than just a group of college kids(senator or president) would probably be beyond her skills.
Roz absolutely has a better shot in terms of electability.
How good she’d be is an entirely different question, sadly.
If this were a system like New Zealand’s or Germany’s, Dorothy would have a much, much, much better shot since she’d mostly just need her party’s support and let the party worry about electability.
I’ve been wondering for a while how this was going to get handled, purely on a meta level. With Dorothy’s presumed departure to Yale, I was very curious if the plan was to drop a major character almost entirely, or if Willis’ plan had been for this comic to tell the story of the characters’ freshman year (Sarah’s sophomore year, etc) and leave off there*. Mind you this would still take DoA well through 2030 at current pace, possibly years longer given that we had a major timeskip at the end of their first semester.
I can’t wait to see how the implications of this strip continue to play out, both on a textual and meta level.
*As I type this I realize there’s at least one more option, but given how much of Willis’ cast we’ve already seen return, I don’t think I’d expect to see a Yale spinoff following Dorothy and a bunch of new folks. Who knows though? There are probably other options I haven’t thought of too.
Willis’ stated plan has been for the comic to encompass only one school year, so it shouldn’t make any difference in that regard: whether she transfers to Yale next semester or not, she’d be around until the planned end of the comic. Her decision really only matters inasmuch as it shapes the character dynamics taking place this semester.
Plus, even if he changes his mind and continues into the next school year, we have quite compelling evidence that Willis has no qualms about writing out major characters.
I feel really sad for Dorothy. Her sadness saying she won’t go to Yale is deep. I thought she wouldn’t go because she felt she had to take care of Joyce, but now I wonder if she feels incapable of going to that school because she thinks she has not the talent to support her old dreams. So many things in the last few months have undermined her confidence and I fear she’s devaluing herself and falling into depression.
Definitely surprised that she would decline going. She really doesn’t have a reason to stay. They can always contact each other and see each other over the breaks if possible.
I’m pretty sure you don’t need to go to Yale (or some other big university) to become president. I’m not sure why Dorothy wants to become president eventually anyway, but if it’s to help lots of people, I hope at some point she realizes that there are much better ways to help people.
There have certainly been presidents who did not go to Yale/Harvard/etc (carter, Trump) but there do seem to be quite a few who have, so you would think it has some advantage (Bush and Obama spring to mind. I was going to say Biden but he is so old he probably studied under Socrates)
Well connections play a huge role so it’s best for the future politicians to hang out in the elite society. Trump has it down thanks to being a rich businessman and so fitting right into the high society.
TBH this is probably a good choice on Dorothy’s part. If she was struggling academically here, my guess is she’d struggle even more at a place like Yale.
(Yes, she had reasons to be struggling, but those reasons won’t go away when she switches schools.)
I’m honestly really surprised. Dorothy’s smart and dedicated, and Yale is her dream school. But she is still 18/19 and they’re not known for making the smartest decisions
How is she immanent for Yale? I think “imminent fer Yale” is kinda weird phrasing, but I can interpret the meaning. Not as sure about that or “immanent.”
Dorothy’s thinking is clearly impacted by trauma, and that sucks, but it’s also something that’s going to have an effect. I hope that she actually talks this through with other characters. I also think that her not going to Yale wouldn’t necessarily be tragic/sad/a regret for her character. It was her dream, yes, and also, dreams change. Which can suck and be painful and fuck with one’s self image! But chasing something because it’s what you used to want isn’t good either.
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for a moment I thought Doroty would accidentally give in to pressure and spill the beans.
12:08 and 50 seconds. The server is getting really weird.
Server must be hosted in Midway, or Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(I’m lazy, somebody make the calc to determine the site world time)
I’m just thankful the RSS feed has been working properly for about the past month. I’m used to it working fine for a handful of days (not even a week a week in a row, usually), then suddenly silence for about ten days, then a day where the past ten days’ posts show up all at once. I’m usually pretty good about remembering to check (helps when it’s daily), but sometimes my executive functioning is more of a mess than usual, and I forget to check for several days in a row.
And now that I’ve mentioned this I’ve probably jinxed the feed.
It’s not only me then! I’ve basically been reading it in irregular bursts of ~two weeks worth of content for years, now, but I much prefer the daily fix
Genuinely thought it was just me.
I’ll be a third comment full of gratitude for that! This is much nicer 🙂 Especially because once there’s a bunch of updates there it becomes too much to catch up on at once and then I steadily end further and further behind and before you know it, whoops, there’s 2 months to catch up on now!
Dorothy knows this comic will never reach next semester.
She’s well aware of this website, she saw that old print of Sarah and Joyce on the dryers and it gave her the idea.
how old is that print, actually ? the only record I found it it was from some agregator comic site dated 2021
I believe it’s one of the one-off images on Slipshine.
uh. I guess I remembered it from an ad banner here to it, then.
2012, here’s the original.
Dorothy took a second before answering to smell her lower lip.
Her new chapstick smells like birthday cake.
I’m always afraid that use Chapstick – I always end up getting it in my mouth and it tastes awful (and is probably full of chemicals that don’t belong in the human body).
… Given that it’s made to be put on the mouth, not really? Like you wouldn’t eat it but it’s not gonna kill you.
Just because it doesn’t inst-gib you on contact, doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be better off, long-term, without that exposure.
Also, remember radioactive toothpaste? Made to be put in the mouth, but have you ever seen what radium jaw looks like? (Do not, for the sake of all that is holy, google the pictures.)
The artist has been reading Jusicka comics. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
…
I admit nothing!
Come to think of it, Jusicka and Jennifer do look rather similar 🤔
And we’ve never seen them in the same room at the same time.
mmmm suspicious.
Jusicka is Amazegirl?
Don’t be silly. Sal looks nothing like Jusicka.
…Really looking forward to the in-universe logic for this. I’m sure there is some! But I am really curious!
“I asked some Yale students, the dryers on campus are stacked vertically, you can’t climb up on one. It just won’t work, a girl has needs.”
She’s become too attached to the relationships she’s formed here. Joyce and Walky the most. That plus the trauma’s she likely wouldn’t have survived without her friends like nearly being stabbed, and getting kidnapped, probably terrify her to be away from them.
Like her relationship with the dryer?
pretty sure it is “Joyce* needs me here”
*(and maybe others)
I think Dorothy might be underestimating just how much the various happenings on campus have affected her.
She’s not in a healthy place and she’s trying to avoid that by solving other people’s problems, very Billie.
My suspicion is that she made the decision awhile ago in the wake of last semester’s trauma and thought she couldn’t abandon her friends to deal with that alone.
Now she’s worried they don’t need her as much as she thought they did.
That makes a lot of sense. It’s an unfortunate choice possibly, but it could also be a good thing if it means she’s reexamining what she wants in life and what’s really important to her. It might still be a career in politics and she still might want to end up in the Ivy League at some point, maybe for grad school. But figuring out what you actually want your life to look like is a huge part of college and I hope she really embraces that process here.
It could be, but I don’t think she is. Or at least not yet.
It could also be that she is struggling with last semester’s trauma and isn’t sharing. Like, imagine going through that shit and then just cutting out your entire support network right after. Can’t be easy.
aw dotty
Come on Dorothy, don’t through away your future for these losers. You’ve got dreams, you’ve got drive, you’ve got heart!
I would have said this about 5 years ago in real time, but since then it’s become clear that Dorothy would make a god-awful politician, so no, I think she should stay right where she is, get a dual major in polisci and journalism, and write essays for Jacobin or something
True, she has too much integrity. Also, she’s a bit neurotic – maybe needs to do some more dumbing of age before she find her real calling.
I’m becoming convinced that everyone would make a god-awful politician, and it’s just that some of the most especially god-awful are the ones that most often go for it/get attention. Listening to my state legislature’s committee hearings is convincing me that it was a lie that you need to be a good public speaker to be a politician. There’s also no reason she couldn’t attend Yale and then write essays for Jacobin anyway.
I think politics weeds out anyone who can’t handle being scrutinized over everything they’ve ever said or done in their entire lives, and dragged through the mud with exaggerations and distortions of everything they’ve ever said or done in their entire lives. That probably weeds out 99% of good people. So we get to have people who don’t care if everyone knows they were BFFs with Epstein, got drunk with their high school students, and literally lie about everything representing us.
It’s sorta a lie. You need to get a good public speaker to be a *good* politician.
To just be a politician, you need citizenship and a following.
I always figured she’ll end up a policy wonk on some issue.
I think most 18 year olds would make god awful politician. But she’s not going to Yale to immediately be a politician. She’s going there to learn the skills necessary to be a good, successful one.
You don’t go to Yale for skills. You go for connections.
I was looking for this comment.
Indiana University: “I can make her better”
Yale: “I can make her worse”
Robin had her number when she called her a “future cable news anchor”.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/provisionally/
She’ll have to work her way up through “field reporter” and “political correspondent” though.
Nah, she’s not personable enough for that. She would make a great Chief of Staff though.
She’s not naturally personable enough for the morning breakfast news shows (Today or Good Morning America), but she could hold down the afternoon hard news slot.
Politics does not come naturally to Dorothy, she just doesn’t have what it takes to achieve her political ambitions.
Now, to be clear, this is a compliment in my book. It is not an easy thing to become president and it is probably impossible to do so while being an even halfway decent person.
Eh, that’s a little too cynical for my tastes. I think Obama and Carter both show it’s possible to make it to the White House while not sacrificing everything you believe in, though you do end up having to make hard choices about what you value more, and where you’re willing to yield.
Dorothy’s weakness, like many youthful idealists, is that last point, of course. Right now, she’s got serious prioritization issues–she can’t go half-hearted on anything.
I would not describe Obama as an example of proving that you can make it to the presidency without sacrificing everything you claim to believe in. The exact opposite, honestly.
What principles or values do you think he gave up to get into office? Other than selling his soul to the Devil to get his opponents to fall upon their swords to clear the way for his rise to power, I mean? (Seriously, his opponents, whether Democrats or GOP, seemed struck with political idiocy the moment they decided to oppose him. It was uncanny. A Faustian pact is about as good an explanation for that as anything.)
Politics is compromise. I think a lot of people are hard on Obama because he promised change and ended up being a lot more centrist than was advertised.
And that’s not to say that I don’t think there were some big wins. I think the Affordable Care Act was a laudable first step, but the escalation of the drone program and the handling of the bailouts are the two particular sore spots in my personal view of Obama’s legacy.
Oh, Obama’s no saint. Never was, though. But I think a lot of the ‘change’ people thought they were being promised was actually, weirdly, a result of listening to the GOP and FOX, who painted him as a hard-core Marxist communist who was going to single-handedly end capitalism as we know it. That was never part of his agenda or ideology.
And while I agree with your assessment of his weak spots, legacy-wise, that’s not quite the point I was taking issue with. Presidents often end up moderating themselves once in office–and I’d argue that the Soggy Cheeto is a good example of what happens when you get someone in who refuses to be moderated in any way.
But I was getting at the idea that the mere road to power must be so riddled with ethical detours that it’s impossible to have some sort of principles intact by the time you win election. I reject that notion, just as I reject the futurist claim that we’re marching towards progress (the ‘arc of history’ argument), so stop worrying. The notion that either is inevitable is, ultimately, an argument to stop trying, either because victory is fore-ordained, or because it’s impossible.
Obama’s rise to power happened in the soup of corruption that is my home city (Chicago). Yet he managed to avoid all the pitfalls, compromises and back-alley deals that would’ve undermined anyone who didn’t have a will of iron.
He pretty much ignored all his campaign promises once elected, but that’s not really unique to Obama. All presidents and politicians do that in America.
She doesn’t have the soft skills needed for the job. Just look at the “race” for RA with Roz.
You’ve got a hulk.
You’ve got the TOUCH. You’ve got the POWER.
What power?
THE power.
The power of Grey Skull? 😛
The power of voodoo.
You do?
Who do?
Do what?
Remind me of the babe.
What babe?
The babe with the power. (loop back to Proxiehunter)
Yes, and I might add, “So well”.
TRANSFORMERS
The one Snap sang about in 1990?
Yeah
We never saw Dorothy process the kidnapping in any way did she? Right now, I wouldn’t believe for a sec she still wants to be president..
Wonder if she’s in the frame for PTSD?
Maybe the ‘frenemies’ relationship would somehow evolve into Becky being Dorothy’s campaign manager lol
–I did not think the girl could be so cruel
And I’m Never Going Back To My Old School!
Oleanders, growing outside her door
https://imgur.com/a/NQVXnWB (Suggestive)
Listen…I just really fucking love Jennifer.
Oh my. Jennifer looking lovely.
Splendid work, as expected from our Porn Lord in Training. 😍
They both have a type, don’t they?
I do wonder where Dorothy’s head is at on this. She would want to stay for the people she cares about, but it also seems like she’s trying to tie up loose ends. Does she not know what she wants to do? Or is something else amiss?
Seems the theory about her micromaning others as a way of telling herself she was right to turn down Yale because she’s desperately needed here was right but we will know for sure soon.
Maybe.
Though I admit that if I had the look one day ahead option, this is the first time I would have used it in a long time.
If you use it all the time, it gives you no advantage.
Still think he needs the $10 look two days ahead tier to address that problem.
I wonder if Dorothy feels like by not going to Yale she’ll be punishing herself for some perceived failure? She’s been spending a lot of time recently trying to fix what she sees as other peoples’ ‘messes’, which can easily be read as her trying to soothe her own guilt. Or maybe the guilt she’s feeling is that she doesn’t WANT to go to Yale anymore?
idk what’s going on in her head but I’m excited to see where this goes!
entire audience, all in unison: “GASP!”
Why am I gasping? I already knew that.
But what was it you already knew?
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Yeah, I definitely saw Dorothy’s decision here coming. There was a strip last storyline about her almost mentioning missing something important to help Joyce go to the pharmacy, and a lot of people called it being something to do with Yale. But as much as she really wants to go to Yale, she’s made a lot of friends here, and moreover she’s also come to see herself as the only thing keeping Joyce going. Which is why these last few days, where Joyce has actively rejected the “identity” Dorothy has constructed around helping her, are hitting her hard.
But also Becky, seriously wtf, don’t snoop in people’s shit
We established she didn’t snoop, though, like, in this very strip.
You mean we “established” she “doesn’t” “snoop”.
[Dr. Evil finger quotes dot gif]
Also I maaaaay have drawn a lewd picture of Carla, but I also feel a bit nervous postin’ it.
If you’re nervous because of the reaction you’d get making porn of a trans character, I can give you a token trans friend pass if it’ll help! For 24 hours after you open it you become immune to all negativity or input by claiming that we’re friends and I approve.
…..look I really want carla lewd pics ok
I will use this power responsibly!
https://imgur.com/a/OSg9mcn (NSFW)
😍 *excited gasp*
As much as I like trans smut, I really think Carla would have gotten bottom surgery by now.
It could go either way. She’s got the resources to, but not everyone chooses to get bottom surgery.
Personally of all the Trans people I know most haven’t had bottom surgery or expressed a desire to have it.
But honestly I just wanted to draw a dong.
Eh, I don’t know about that. Carla is only like 19 and I feel like a lot of surgeons are hesitant to perform a major surgery like that on someone under 18. Plus scheduling it, planning, recovery, etc. would all be a lot for someone who’s currently in college. And that’s even if Carla *wanted* bottom surgery.
Carla’s 35, wym?
Dude, I love your stuff.
Almost makes me wanna do fanart, have I the capability of drawing human/human-like characters.
Carla is SO cute, and even though I know she’s probably canonically 10000% sexuality-repulsed, I as a trans girl on the ace spectrum always appreciate getting to see horny ace trans girls. We do exist! <3
given what we’ve seen she def loves herself enough to self-indulge even if she doesn’t want to be with anyone else (minus the comment of wanting malaya to be ‘mean’ to her but that ‘attraction’ might not necessarily be sexual versus malaya not caring as a contrast to carla’s ‘superiority’ complex or so)
Haha I legit debated having her just having sexy sexy thoughts about how great she is. (Either watching videos of vaudeville actors getting pied in the face, but even as a joke I don’t wanna besmirch the pure wholesome love of pies in the face with masturbating…though there is a creampie joke in there somewhere I’d love to make.)
Nice. But you’ve drew Carla naked, before…
Aha, i’ve rumplestilsken style tricked you into 24 hours of friendship! Foolish mortal, cower before my BFFsies bracelets I made us!
Hey now! We talked about those at the last agenda meeting. They are potent and are supposed to be used with care!
I’m into it. Carla’s hot, and hot people deserve lewds too.
https://imgur.com/a/KyTqIjf (NSFW)
ok here’s a second one, couldn’t help myself.
<333
That’s quite a boosh.
Does she seem… bigger to anyone?
Normalize trans smut.
😛 I just never know how it’ll come across.
can’t go wrong with redheads ;P
A while ago, I think last chapter or the one before it, when Dorothy snapped at Joyce she mentioned something about her missing something in order to help Joyce
It felt odd at the time but I wonder if it’s relevant now
Y’know what ? I’m so, so glad Dorothy can finally talk about That subject to someone.
(ok, maybe I also wanted her to have a huge meltdown. Humans aren’t logical, bite me)
she needs this breakdown. she plays big sister for too long plus events she had no control over (kidnapping) creates a paradox in her head. she has to break down to put herself back together because now she’s a cracked bust of some idol
Book 13: I Lie As a Survival Reflex
*sniffs* *bawls out of the room*
I agree with the comment that Dorothy will start Yale fall semester which will be sometime in the 22nd century at the rate we’re going.
Well, when we first saw the letter, that was my interpretation, but now I’m not sure how that would tie into the current arc. As I recall, the letter referred to next semester, but we don’t actually know how long ago she received it.
It may be the case that when we go back and reread the post-break stories some of them may read very different.
Honestly, I was really surprised by the time skip. I didn’t think we’d get past the New Year for another decade. So, at this point, anything goes, in my mind.
It’s ok dorothy, by the time you’re old enough to be president, no one will care about an ivy league degree anymore (hopefully)
By the time Dorothy’s old enough to be President, the US will have disintegrated into feuding tribes.
now i see mad max style punk reading someone’s resume and saying “unfortunately, for the position of a maniac with a bloody machete, we are looking for someone with higher education”
Hrmmm Dorothy is 18 now. You need to be at least 35 to run for president. Is 17 years long enough for the U.S. very partisan political state to evolve enough to allow Dorothy to have a chance without the frankly arbitrary Ivy League credentials? Maybe. I think we’d have to elect at least one woman before then.
I mean, it’d be refreshing compared to a 60 year old president, but plenty of 35 year olds haven’t matured past 18, idk if i’d want a younger president other than AOC (tho still not sure how good she is, but compared to the stuff that ppl are talking about everyone else, she’d be less likely to cause as much trouble as trump lol)
lol somehow robin will fall backwards /succeed into being president or someow on the team meanwhile dorothy is either fuming or distracting her/hiding the ‘big red button’ from her as llong as she can
1) It’s not the credentials, it’s the connections.
2) Dorothy won’t be out of college in 17 years 🙂
The half of the electorate she’s courting probably will.
Meanwhile, the other half will rally behind a completely fictional character, played by somebody like Dwight Schultz.
A good decision by Dorothy, she currently doesn’t have the much needed charisma to become a politician nor does she seem to want to make herself become more charismatic (this isn’t a dig at her)
Did she ever state why she wanted to become president?
She makes good grades and now that shes given up her dream of becoming President she might actually be able to relax a bit and loosen up somewhat or at least have the time to other fun hobbies
Which might, ironically, make her more charismatic and likeable
Dorothy’s a helper, is serious about her work, and a high achiever. Being President would statistically allow her to help the greatest number of people possible.
Only if people want her help
Not to mention she focuses specifically on helping the immediate people in her life as opposed to the campus as a whole. Not saying being president is out of the question but I do think her reflex to fix peoples immediate issues would get very frustrated in the presidential role.
Indeed yes, maybe something like the UN would be more her style
it’s like when leslie knope tries to micromanage everything and work when she was ‘suspended’ or when she was offered a ‘promotion’ and not getting to do all the details
“Good, I hate paperwork. I hardly ever do it in my bed on a Saturday night listening to old Spice Girls CDs”
‘charisma’ aside i’m sure some ppl would make good politicians, or at least local mayors if they kept their heads down and limited any media appearance and actually put in the work. unless it’s all delegated/foisted onto the interns/nameless workers under them lol
But then they don’t get elected. Again, in politics, the skills required to GET the job have no relation with the skills required to DO the job well.
DOROTHY GO TO YALE
I blame the dryer’s failure to provide adequate service. DOTTY FIND ANOTHER, BETTER DRYER.
Maybe they have better dryers at Yale.
They have stacks of them.
other than a high quality laundry room it seems like there’d be on campus ‘maid services’ to do all of it but that might be ridiculous even for an ‘ivy’ school, can’t keep picking up after trust fund kids forever lol
Hilariously, no. They’re terrible.
Though there are services that you can pay for.
Apparently students are mad that Yale is one of the four Ivys that do not include a laundry play with tuition and board.
congrats to all the readers that called it and goddamn this is supremely stupid of Dorothy. Giving up on your DREAM SCHOOL to babysit a dork (even if she’s a lovable dork by all accounts) is real Dumb bongo hours. Dorothy wouldn’t put her dreams on hold for a BOY, and by the same token shouldn’t do it for Joyce, who certainly didn’t ask for this
Eh, Dorothy was already struggling to keep her grades up and have a social life while she was just a first semester freshman at a state school. I don’t think transferring to Yale would go well for her right now. She’d have even harder classes and even less of a support system.
I’ve had several friends who went to top Ivies, and by their accounts, it actually isn’t hard at all once you get there, and the hardest part is, in fact, getting there. The logic of the grading system at HYS is apparently premised on the assumption that everyone there is genuinely smart enough to do well, so the system is BS and the students really just rely on the name of their school if they want a job, or professor recommendations if they want something incredible/selective.
…It’s also how these schools are able to get top athletes without flunking them or shoving them off into a BS major (which lesser colleges have gotten a LOT of grief for recently). Not saying that athletes are dumb (although I personally know at least one Harvard athlete who cheated his way through high school), but the Olympic-hopeful distance runner simply wouldn’t have time in the day to even be competitive for a good grade when he’s up against that year’s Thomas Edison incarnate.
This. Plus massive grade inflation that state flagships don’t have.
that’s life sometimes, maybe not as high stakes/consequences but it has been a cliche story of “i followed a lover/partner and moved 100+ or so miles away from our hometown but they dumped me/left me for someone else” it’d be hard to bounce back from that even if it’s amicable or they sorta have their own setup going on after moving out
I’d like to think she’s growing out of the dream of following a minutely detailed 80 year plan to become someone who’s capable of getting elected president and be good at it that was neither going to ever work in reality nor be any kind of healthy self-actualization, and instead thinks of having a life she might care about with meaningful personal relationships and stuff.
Dorothy deciding not to go to Yale reminds me of this strip.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/through/
Is this like the longest foreshadowing in the comic? Can Danny see the future?
i’d love danny and dorothy to have a friendly conversation about it at some point
I think even current!Danny would agree that chapter1!Danny being vindicated is an awful look
I don’t think dramatic ironies automatically equal vindication. Especially in this circumstance – even if Dorothy wasn’t planning on leaving, her relationship with Danny was not long for this world.
I should perhaps have used airquotes around ‘vindicated’
Yeah, as far as their relationship goes, it was never about her leaving for Yale. Dorothy wanted to move on from Danny and Yale was an excuse for that. I just thought it was amusing Dorothy not going to Yale was predicted so early.
It was impossible to Dorothy to go directly to Yale, instead went to Indiana, isn’t?
He put The Curse of Danny™ on her.
Interesting that Dorothy wants to argue that lying via omission isnt a real lie. Guessing between Yale snd her personal issues she’s been doing alot of that.
I think Dorothy means that it’s not the same kind of lie. If Becky wouldn’t lie directly and out load, it means she’s telling the truth about not snooping through Dorothy’s things.
Who could have seen this coming?
I n d i a n a P a p e r s
(I’ll gonna put this title for whenever investigation I do)
I was surfing through DoA’s tumblr, and I get a theory that Dorothy will still on one more storyline in Indiana, at least.
This is the last character preview and there’s no more of her after that:
https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/693436229190041600/dorothy
I think Willis posted a preview of August 10 strip featuring her today actually. 😛
https://www.tumblr.com/dumbingofage
Clearly right after my comment… Sure I will contact my lawyers about this manipulation.
FFS. No Dotty!
You will go to Yale and be amazing!
Stop this! 😛
Same Dorothy no matter where she is.
If she were to go to Yale, who would be there to stop Joyce from banging Joe? No, no, no, she cannot go.
God I hope she changes her mind.
She will in twenty years.
i wonder how long the offer is valid for in these kinda cases
She probably has a deadline for accepting it. Website seems to indicate Yale’s deadline is in May, so she has AGES in DOA time to change her mind.
Our time, or DoA time?
HUG HER
I could respect it if the reason is “I’m already drowning in responsibilities in a less competitive school, and also I’ve realized that my ambition to become president isn’t the best way to help the world, so I don’t think it’s worth the incredible expense and elitism.”
But I don’t think that’s what she will say.
and/or “I’m not coping well with my trauma and I think changing schools might make it worse”
given what we’ve seen of her, despite her ‘smartness’ she might be best suited into a ‘personal assistant’ job versus being the leader. tho it’d be hard to accumlulate enough power to puppetmaster someone actually powerful without being a little corrupt/unethical
she could even be a different kind of politician. local elections and policy are super important for people’s day to day life. I don’t see her as a super successful politician, but that’s much more doable and is helpful to people around you.
Architect and construction worker experience/education aside, i suppose her being a ‘city planner’ would be ideal? Or whatever leslie knope does but more focused on the part of the area /city she wants to work on
It may very well be the real, underlying reason, but still not be what she says. Or even what she believes.
Or “not enough financial aid, don’t want my parents to have that debt”
Yeah, I’m not sure how most of them* are paying for school anyway, but that’s what I meant by not being worth the expense.
*Joyce, Walky and Sal, Amber, Sarah, and Becky are the known ones iirc (parents, dad/probably his life insurance, scholarships)
Most of them are almost certainly running off their parents, simply by virtue of us seeing their parents show up. We’ve seen quite a few parents, at this point, and only a few of them seem like they wouldn’t or couldn’t pay for college.
I mean, you can have a pretty comfortable lifestyle and still not have tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to spare.
Dan and Joe seem pretty likely to be (I just reread a strip saying they went to a private elementary school, and also Amber’s mom talked a bit about Joe’s dad having money for lawyers), and I forgot Billie in the original list.
Carla’s sufficiently loaded it’s surprising she’s going to a state school and not ivy league.
Jennifer might be in that category as well.
Richard is a bone doctor, so he’s likely well off.
Welcome to another game of “Self Sabotage or Life Reevaluation?”
The Self Sabotage of Life Reevaluation you say? What are the rules?
i mean, kinda a powermove to turn down yale, but unless dorothy spirals into like, alcoholism or something equally concerning, she should be fine/bounce back.
Ouch. This will be a life long regret, turning down a life after Yale for what, 2 years with friends in this university?
I am honestly surprised that Dorothy is having doubts. She’s always made it abundantly clear that she knew what her goals were and was prepared to make great sacrifices in pursuit of it. (It’s not a goal I would choose for myself, but I respect somebody with that kind of clarity of ambition.) What’s more, if her main motivator for turning back now is Walky, then I am all the more concerned. As much as I like the both of them, I do not believe that Dorothy and Walky are a good long-term match. Dorothy is driven, ambitious, and wants to do great things with her life, to have her name remembered and spoken of in awed, respectful tones. Walky is very much the exact opposite; he wants a comfortable, carefree and happy life, enjoying what he loves, with whom he loves. The two of them are bound to grow apart at some point; Dorothy will start to become frustrated with Walky’s lack of drive and may even think of him as “holding her back.” For his part, Walky may likewise feel guilt over Dorothy always having to “rescue” him from his own lackadaisical efforts, or if she starts pushing him to dress better, work harder, may even start resenting her for trying to “change” him and move him into a life pattern he never wanted. Ultimately, I think the two of them would wind up separating, and not necessarily amicably.
I think Dotty got hit in the face with the reality of life outside of a small suburban environment, and has suddenly realized how utterly *un*ready she is for everything in the bigger pond that is adult life, specifically politics.
She didn’t even have the wherewithal to keep Danny from lamprey’ing himself to her at the start of the comic, let alone everything else that’s gone on. And now she’s seen part of the shit show with Robin’s political work, and how she has no answers for any of it.
She’s a big fish from a small pond, realizing she was happier in the small pond.
I agree with you, but is very hard to make news friends after college…
Even if it might be the right decision for her (grades were already slipping for her previously and she had to cut back on a bunch of stuff!) there’s no way that sort of choice doesn’t end up being a regret – she wanted it too much for it to be anything else.
I don’t know; it’s not like Yale was her dream school – she just wanted to go there because it’s the school a bunch of presidents went to. It’s a step toward her larger ambition, not something she wants for its own sake. And if I had to take a guess about her thought process, that ambition is, by its nature, a lifelong project, and so it can wait while she deals with more pressing concerns. There’s always grad school, etc.
That being said, I do worry that she’s turning down Yale because she feels like Joyce (and co) absolutely need her, which is some martyr complex bullshit that she absolutely needs to disabuse herself of.
Why do you think college is only 2 years?
No one’s asking you to sacrifice yourself or your dreams for Joyce, Dorothy!
I wonder if there’s any option for her to defer her decision. There was never any indication of a deadline for a response, maybe she can ask to finish out the semester before she chooses. (Or maybe I’m projecting too much humanity onto Ivy League admissions)
I would imagine it’s for the next semester/year, not a “come on over mid syllabus” thing.
Current working theory is that it was for this semester and she’s already declined.
Oooh that would actually be quite interesting and maybe add some context to why her lamenting over the acceptance letter was like the first thing she did post time skip. And why it seems to be such a sore spot.
considering Becky said “imminent” I think that means it’s the for fall term
Fall isn’t really “imminent”, since it’s half a year away.
If she’d just seen “spring semester” and hadn’t looked more closely, she might thing Dorothy had just got it and was going to be packing up right away.
I want Dorothy to go to Yale too but not because she’d be a good president lol ain’t no such thing
She is too much of a goody two-shoes to even have a shot at presidency. She’d get eaten alive by the internal fighting for candidacy.
I want to say her getting utterly rolled by Roz and Billie recently as having a bigger hold on her reasons for not going to Yale, then her thinking she needs to mom all over Joyce.
Yeah Roz and Billie are the politician type, socially aware, charismatic and ruthless. That’s just not Dotty.
Not sure how good Roz would be as a politician in reality.
Yes she seems to have a lot more appeal to her fellow students than dorothy does. But she also seems incredibly inflexible and incapable of handling anything that doesn’t reinforce her own views. She might have a shot as maybe being a congress critters in a left-leaning district, but anything that requires the support of more than just a group of college kids(senator or president) would probably be beyond her skills.
Well she is still a kid and has time to learn. What matters is that she has the right mental foundations.
Roz absolutely has a better shot in terms of electability.
How good she’d be is an entirely different question, sadly.
If this were a system like New Zealand’s or Germany’s, Dorothy would have a much, much, much better shot since she’d mostly just need her party’s support and let the party worry about electability.
dotty no
And here I thought that Dorothy’s getting into Yale was a lock….
I will crawl back into my hole now…
I’ve been wondering for a while how this was going to get handled, purely on a meta level. With Dorothy’s presumed departure to Yale, I was very curious if the plan was to drop a major character almost entirely, or if Willis’ plan had been for this comic to tell the story of the characters’ freshman year (Sarah’s sophomore year, etc) and leave off there*. Mind you this would still take DoA well through 2030 at current pace, possibly years longer given that we had a major timeskip at the end of their first semester.
I can’t wait to see how the implications of this strip continue to play out, both on a textual and meta level.
*As I type this I realize there’s at least one more option, but given how much of Willis’ cast we’ve already seen return, I don’t think I’d expect to see a Yale spinoff following Dorothy and a bunch of new folks. Who knows though? There are probably other options I haven’t thought of too.
Willis’ stated plan has been for the comic to encompass only one school year, so it shouldn’t make any difference in that regard: whether she transfers to Yale next semester or not, she’d be around until the planned end of the comic. Her decision really only matters inasmuch as it shapes the character dynamics taking place this semester.
Plus, even if he changes his mind and continues into the next school year, we have quite compelling evidence that Willis has no qualms about writing out major characters.
Willis also said no one would die though, and the time skip makes it feel a lot more possible for time to actually pass
I’m very interested to see how this goes. I still think she’s already turned down Yale but we’ll see.
Fuckin CALLED IT
Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. NOPE Dottie! Truce over. You are clearly girl crushing my first girl crush now! Guns out.
So, I see the theme to go.
I feel really sad for Dorothy. Her sadness saying she won’t go to Yale is deep. I thought she wouldn’t go because she felt she had to take care of Joyce, but now I wonder if she feels incapable of going to that school because she thinks she has not the talent to support her old dreams. So many things in the last few months have undermined her confidence and I fear she’s devaluing herself and falling into depression.
Definitely surprised that she would decline going. She really doesn’t have a reason to stay. They can always contact each other and see each other over the breaks if possible.
I’m pretty sure you don’t need to go to Yale (or some other big university) to become president. I’m not sure why Dorothy wants to become president eventually anyway, but if it’s to help lots of people, I hope at some point she realizes that there are much better ways to help people.
Not to mention that she is just too moral of a person to get into country-level politics.
There have certainly been presidents who did not go to Yale/Harvard/etc (carter, Trump) but there do seem to be quite a few who have, so you would think it has some advantage (Bush and Obama spring to mind. I was going to say Biden but he is so old he probably studied under Socrates)
Well connections play a huge role so it’s best for the future politicians to hang out in the elite society. Trump has it down thanks to being a rich businessman and so fitting right into the high society.
Trump is what, 4 years younger than Biden?
TBH this is probably a good choice on Dorothy’s part. If she was struggling academically here, my guess is she’d struggle even more at a place like Yale.
(Yes, she had reasons to be struggling, but those reasons won’t go away when she switches schools.)
No wonder Dotty is not ok. Giving up Yale means, for one, that she killed her relationship with Walky for nothing.
Oh, that hit hard
Dude, Yale sucks. What’s she gonna do, join Skull and Bones? Like ooh prestige, everyone I know is an ambitious conquistador. fuggeddabout it.
I’m honestly really surprised. Dorothy’s smart and dedicated, and Yale is her dream school. But she is still 18/19 and they’re not known for making the smartest decisions
I hope she decides to still go to yale
i’m very confused to see in the comments that anyone ever expected her to go to Yale
Wrong word. Dorothy is immanent for Yale.
How is she immanent for Yale? I think “imminent fer Yale” is kinda weird phrasing, but I can interpret the meaning. Not as sure about that or “immanent.”
Dorothy’s thinking is clearly impacted by trauma, and that sucks, but it’s also something that’s going to have an effect. I hope that she actually talks this through with other characters. I also think that her not going to Yale wouldn’t necessarily be tragic/sad/a regret for her character. It was her dream, yes, and also, dreams change. Which can suck and be painful and fuck with one’s self image! But chasing something because it’s what you used to want isn’t good either.
You. Are. Wise.
How hilarious would it be if next strip was an 8-month time skip?
Joyce has started a laundry service for the entire dorm, her comic career in shambles.
Joe is dating Sarah, Ethan and Booster have broken up. Ruth goes catatonic after the Leafs win the Cup.