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Ruth: “The trick is to tell your therapist the truth, but then ALSO make up something a thousand times more horrible. Then when you tell them you were kidding about that, they’re really relieved.”
Dorothy: “…You know, I’ve read that between 60 and 80 percent of therapists see therapists themselves. I think I’m beginning to understand why.”
There is a small independent bookstore literally less than a mile from my house. They sell new and used books. Not a huge selection, but not terrible. I’ve been meaning to take a few things over there to sell.
And I can think of another one about 20 miles away.
And yes, to echo saltchocolate above, both are in Ohio.
There are a few indy bookstores in Bloomington, at least last I checked. IIRC Corner Bookstore, Caveat Emptor, and I think Bargain Books or something like that?
EQUINOX!! Solstice happens when the earth’s orbit hits apogee or perigee. (Winter solstice tends to coincide with the shortest day of the year, summer on the longest) the Equinoxes are ‘midpoints’ in the planetary orbit. (iow the words have actual MEANINGS). It’s bad enough when psuedopagan poseurs don’t ‘get’ what they claim to be involved in… (Words have MEANINGS!!)
Nope. The solstices are about 20–21 June and 21–22 Decemeber, whereas Earth’s perihelion is (currently) about 4–5 January and its aphelion is about 4–5 July.
Earth doesn’t have a perigee or an apogee because those refer to moments of least and greatest distance from Earth, and its distance from itself is constant. Objects in orbit around Earth have perigees and apogees, one of each per orbit.
Small indy stores that provide more personalized service or cater to a specific audience have managed to survive a lot better than the big chains. Considering how much space they devote to things that aren’t books, the remaining chain stores barely even qualify as book stores anymore.
And shot back before they even knew what ptsd was. I am sure that there have been a lot of presidents that had depression, ptsd, or other issues that were either undiagnosed or hidden. On the other hand, being how we haven’t even had one female president yet, having any noted “defects” (thar people can target), would probably instantly remove a woman from the running, no matter how qualified they were.
I think I heard somewhere that Lincoln had depression.
The problem nowadays is everything is online and nothing is sacred. Something like not photographing FDR while he is in a wheelchair or having trouble walking wouldn’t happen nowadays. I also find it really interesting that I don’t think that we have any blind or deaf legislators. Even ones in wheelchairs have trouble accessing certain areas or debate stages.
Teddy Roosevelt? Harry Truman? John Kennedy? Andrew Jackson? the first George Bush? Almost every President in the 18th and 19th Century with a few the salient exceptions?
Presidents who have seen combat is practically a norm. Presidents without any military service is closer to the exception than the rule.
Initially, it was rare to not have served, only 4 before 1900 hadn’t. Then there’s a clump of 6 from Taft to FDR without any military experience. A solid span from Truman to GWHB had served, but out of the last 5, only GWB did.
maybe she’s more so lying to herself. but it would be harder to lie, despite politicans being ‘great’ at it, for someone like dorothy, and even so with live debates and public media appearances and all that, and that she’s a woman, every single action/microexpression/body language she’d show in public would be put under a microscope and analyzed to hell and back or criticized for something she never said/did but ppl assume she disapproves of a certain thing because her default expression twitched half a second and all
I suspect that every time she reviews her decision to turn down Yale, she gets a little more certain that it’s the right thing to do. She’s not currently going back and forth on it.
I think she may still change her mind and go. But if she does it’s going to be the result of significant character and plot development. Like, Joyce will stage an intervention or something.
other than someone in charge of training/micromanaging the day to day aspects and keeping on top of supplies being stocked and bathrooms clean, feels like an ‘assistant’ manager would be a redundant job to a manager unless it’s that big, or the ‘manager’ is also the owner and they want to hire someone else to do the heavy lifting
Someone needs to be overseeing the day-to-day operations, dealing with issues that arise, such as customer complaints, whether legitimate or not. They are the ones on-site if someone calls out and the shift needs to be filled by someone else, has the ability to make calls in cases of minor disputes between employees, and so on. You also need someone ‘in charge’ to make decisions. You might call them a “Shift Lead” or something instead of an “Assistant Manager”, but it still boils down to the same thing.
Unless the shop is only open 40 hour a week, that means you need at least two people with managerial standing. To cover 7 12- or 14-hour days a week, you need at least three, with overlapping shifts so they can ‘hand off’ responsibilities and any issues that have come up during the day. (And even then, you have to be ready to have them work OT when one of the others calls out or takes a vacation; for a true full-time business operation, you ultimately want 4 people in that role, or at least someone who can be declared “Acting Manager” in a pinch.)
This is why so many small business owners burn out while still in the ‘trying to get established’ stage–they end up working 98-hour weeks, because they don’t have anyone they can turn the shop over to so they can get some rest.
Politics, but also therapists, given my experience confirms Dorothy’s paper trail fear.
I can tell how badly she’s internalized ableist stigmas from the 5th and last panels. Evidently she doesn’t even know the difference between a therapist and a psychiatrist, therapists can’t prescribe drugs :p
Oh thank goodness. For second I thought this might be taking a deeply, deeply unexpected hard-right turn into Nazi-vile. Yeah, the undercutting in politics is out of hand – our candidates should be trying to win office by proving themselves a capable leader and making viable promises they indent to keep, not winning by making the other person look bad (leaving them to be almost just as bad).
Also I’d never heard that “Rain” song before. It was awesome and sounded almost like a Queen song. Thanks for sharing.
🥹 Yeah I selected the song for a reason, the lyrics seem to really reflect the severe inner turmoil Dorothy is experiencing:
Mother used to say
If you want, you’ll find a way
But mother never danced through fire shower
Walk in the rain
In the rain, in the rain
I walk in the rain, in the rain
Is it right or is it wrong
And is it here that I belong
But yeah it’s DEFINITELY not democracy that’s the problem, but honestly if stigmas like the kinds Dorothy has internalized prevents one from becoming president, that’s hardly what I’d call free government, just saying.
Her goal was based on over-idealized conceptions of politics she evidently hasn’t revised since grade school. She needs to explore other ways of helping people like she wants to do, and eventually acknowledge that she held on to her goal for all the wrong reasons.
My theory is that anyone whose been in Washington long enough to run for president is already a horrible person.
It’s just a question of which horrible person you pick.
Also kinda wild that Dorothy has no qualms about seeing a therapist but is scared about people finding about that she might have depression because it could LOOK BAD for her career prospects.
I was the exact same way. Terrified to get any real help because I was afraid it would leave me with no career prospects. I’m not entirely sure where I got that idea, and I’m not entirely sure it’s false, but I definitely wish I’d been able to get help for my issues earlier. Hopefully Dorothy doesn’t fall into those same mistakes. It’s really hard to build a viable career in any field when mental illness is ripping furiously away at your foundation. She needs to talk to more people and get some support for herself for once.
My Therapist at 15 literally stopped me as I was saying I was having suicidal thoughts and warned me that if I continued they’d have to put it down on my record. That if it was on my record and I tried to join the military it was likely I’d be denied. This is a very real concern. A lot of companies ask, and shouldn’t but still do, if you have a history of depression.
If you have psychological issues it can close a lot of doors for your future in the US. Flat out, some of us have to choose between getting treatment for our issues and getting jobs.
HIPAA is actually pretty damned recent, and was enacted for a reason.
And it *is* violated, especially for people who are famous or who have “scary” problems. There’s a Twitter alt-righter right now who’s got a nurse spilling a bunch of godawful horrible shit about trans *children* who were under her care.
Oh yeah. I applied to be an engineer in the air force and got blocked on the basis of having been diagnosed with depression at 14. It’s very messed up.
even so , it’s nothing that’d be known public unless medical records are leaked out which def would be a huge violation/end up in lawsuits/malpractice but i’m sure there are ppl that have been like “Diagnosing the president: My armchair perspective of the first term” or shit like that but those ppl should def not be therapists, unless it’s something after being retired and permission from everyone
I think it’s more complicated than that. Especially when it comes to the Presidency, but to a lesser degree for anything that requires a security clearance. Most conditions really shouldn’t matter, but there are some that would be huge red flags.
Of course, for elected office it can’t be a disqualifier. All that could be done is to release it publicly and see if the electorate changes their mind. That makes it even more ethically questionable.
This. For stuff that requires certain security clearances, you basically voluntarily sign away your privacy. My father worked for.private contractors for the government, but had high security clearances, and was well aware getting certain therapy, diagnoses, or medication would mean losing his job. Period.
Wow, I underestimated how much Dorothy is suffering by trying to be perfect. She needs a hug, and to talk to her therapist, but also a hug. Go hug Joyce, she will always offer Dorothy a hug.
I mean, the sliding timescale has probably already pushed her future bookstore out of business. And this Dorothy doesn’t really have “become a superweapon to fight for Walky’s hand and maybe also go fight some Martians in the future” as a backup option.
My money’s on her getting a job at Galasso’s. Willis could get a lot of good stuff out of that.
Not really. Whatever the opposition can leverage to deep-six your goals, whether those are elected office, or just buying a firearm like a normal American for most of our history, they will use.
It’s not paranoid, nor ablest, to assume that someone else will do those things, if they can. It’s willfully blind to assume someone else will not do those things.
It is a real fear, but she was already trying to be president of the US as a woman and an atheist. Worrying that depression or PTSD is more disqualifying than anything else about her…Wellerman has a point. It very well could be some internalized ableism; either way, it’s hurting Dorothy
“Disqualifying” is the wrong term here, though. I’m sure she’s fully aware that several presidents have had mental issues (Lincoln’s depression is pretty solidly documented at this point).
Rather, it’s a matter of recognizing other people’s ableism, and how that would play out in an election. Different people have different prejudices; every box you tick will eliminate some more potential support. So as an atheist woman, she’s already in a position that cannot afford any further losses. If she was a male WASP, she might very well be able to push through a therapy/diagnosis revelation, but as it is, not so easily.
As someone with a mom who is a doctor of clinical psychology, and was brought up to believe that pretty much EVERYONE could benefit from therapy at some point in their lives, and who has been in therapy MANY times during my life (including now) and sees therapy and mental health treatment (I’m also on anti-depressants), I have some thoughts about this.
IMHO there is an instinctive rejection of mental health treatment in the U.S. that has existed for a long time. IMHO I think some of it is fostered by insurance companies that don’t want to pay for mental health care (my mom has some absolute HORROR STORIES about that back when she had her private practice and right now my therapist is seeing me on a sliding scale because my insurance, as good as it is for other things, *barely* covers anything for mental health) but also because of the entrenched and, IMHO, VERY wrong U.S. ideology about “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.” (Which, incidentally, is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE!). But I am aware that we (I am a USian) often and unfortunately look down on those people who need any help from anyone else. (As a Queer disabled woman I DEFINITELY fall into the category of sometimes “needing help!)
At this point the ableism has become so institutionalized that I’m not even sure what to say about it. I have both physical and mental disabilities and work in a very progressive and sympathetic workplace. I’ve *hinted* at my clinical depression and trauma to my colleagues and chairperson, but I’m still not okay with fully disclosing everything because I don’t know how that would be received.
Long story short, I’m not sure that Dorothy is being ableist but rather acknowledging the ableism of the rest of the world – and it is DEFINITELY true, at least in the US, that if she had a public history of mental health problems, that could bar her from not only the presidency but also other political positions.
PS: PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO *NOT* THINK THIS IS OKAY!!!!
Dorothy’s theoretical action here would not be ‘sticking to a prejudice’, but rather what has commonly been referred to as ‘passing’–pretending to not be a member of an oppressed group in order to be able to evade some of that oppression.
In this case, in fact, the most powerful thing she could do would be to get elected, have a successful first term and win re-election–and then, as the phrase goes, ‘come out of the closet’ as suffering from mental illness.
Note, it’s possible for some folks who are passing to ALSO be actively perpetuating the oppression–think Robyn before her career-change, or that RL Congressman who became known for his ‘wide stance’. Obviously, this is a completely different matter. But Dorothy isn’t proposing to run on a platform of stigmatizing and isolating people with psychological issues.
There’s a “Meet Cute Bookshop” near me (and a ton of other cute little independent bookstores too). Though their original plan had been romance bookshop/Soda bar and I’m disappointed that the soda bar part fell off.
I know Mr. Willis writes these far in advance, but serendipitously the news has been talking about Senator Fetterman checking himself into for depression and taking a break from full on senatorial duties while he recovers. The right has been eating him alive for being unfit, and while you don’t want a President or something with currently active severe mental illness (not that they seemed to mind with Trump), I think that a senator could and should take medical leave for these things when they happen. I think it was brave for him to admit a problem and as someone who has really struggled with that in the past I feel better knowing there are those in power that understand what I and many other Americans go through. It is certainly better than a senator who hides all his illnesses to avoid appearing weak, and having his work suffer. Dorothy could learn from him in my opinion. What do you think?
Honestly one of the things to come out of the pandemic is the increase in people seeking mental health treatment and also a bi partisan effort in the senate and house to legalize psychedelics for mental health treatment shows that the stigma of seeking mental health has decreased. The only problem is the health care industry in the United States is as per usual failing patients I had to switch Healthcare providers beacuse my income increased and now they won’t bother covering my mental Healthcare until I reach my deductible also fuck highmark blue cross blue shield seriously my car and renters insurance are far more responsive and give me a receipt immediately when they charge my account Getting a receipt from HMBCBS to submit to my employer to refund my costs through our ICHRA is like screaming at a wall.
Tldr the biggest problem to treating mental health in us is the damn health care industry nationalize it along with the rail network and other essential industries!
Of course your car insurance is more responsive. It works the way insurance should work. You rely on it only for large, unpredictable expenses, not minor problems or routine maintenance. Medical insurance is expected to pay for anything and everything, including minor and entirely predictable expenses. Anything routine should be paid out of pocket as part of one’s regular budget. Financing it through insurance adds layers of administration that drive up costs while doing nothing to improve care. (If you want to provide subsidized care to low-income people, you can make a case for that. But don’t call it “insurance”, because it isn’t.) If auto insurance worked the way health insurance does, insurance would cover car washes, and a basic car wash would cost $200.
First i understand that it shouldnt be that way for basic administrative procedures like getting a recipt for payment thing is I was asking for a receipt when they charged me it’s a basic tenement of any bussiness if you charge someone for something you give them a recipt unless they request otherwise. it should not take more then 2 weeks after charging someone after they request it multiple times!
Along with failure to cover essential medical services until you reach an certain ammount of payments which if you are making between 25 to 30k is alot of money some deductibles are around 5 grand after paying 700 dollars a month! Mental health and minor procedures are always bellow the deductible and beacuse by law you have to have medical insurance there is nothing you can do unless you want to payb alot more for a lower deductible Furthermore the US health insurance industry is still a broken mess with the health insurance network system, god forbid you get sick or injured outside of a small radius of counties which is what some networks have even if you have out of network coverage the deductible is so high that what’s even the point. Also some areas have maybe two insurance company both of which charge you high costs beacuse there is no competition.
Counterpoint: The right would eat him alive for anything and everything anyway, even if they had to make it up. They have absolutely no issues with politicians having mental problems (see: Herschel Walker), it’s him being in the other party that’s a problem for them.
There is a few independent bookstores in my area, and they’re doing quite well. In fact, on S. Padre, there’s a bookstore/coffee shop that is, to use current slang, making bank.
I know an independent book store thats doing fine but they also share the space with a coffee joint and sell mostly novelty gifts and healing crystals so
And lol didn’t know many ppl with it/fairly uncommon around here so i don’t remember it happening too much but i remember ppl occasionally complained around st paddy’s day when they got shit for not wearing green despite their eyes being green lol
I mean there is doctor patient confidentiality and it would take some digging and HIPAA violations for any opposition candidate to find that out not saying that isn’t beneath some political actors but in the mean time you don’t need to tell anyone you’re on anti depressants or anti anxiety also you can’t run for president for like another 15 years and honestly if you’re still intrested it’s likely you will be in your 40s or 50s. The stigma towards having mental health is seemingly declining more and more I am hoping in 20 to 25 years it won’t be as bad or non existent.
There is some proof there was bi partisan momentum being proposed to legalize the use of 0sychedelics for treating mental health so that’s a pretty good sign that the stigma is decreasing. Also the whole pandemic resulted in a boom in people seeking mental health treatment.
Also running an independent coffee shop is a life goal for me one I probably won’t acheive but really want to do it.
I think even without any doctors violating privacy, if she were some politician that made it into the spotlight, just the paparazzi alone could potentially get a polaroid of her swallowing a pill and the tabloids and talk shows wildly discussing what drugs she could possibly be on.
Also here’s the thing, I’m pretty sure if they had some sort of psychological evaluation for the presidency that would have derail the campaign and election of a lot of presidents since a lot so far seem to be 60 or 70 year old plus old men with the minds already deteriorating.
Plus I’m pretty sure the Whitehouse job was supposed to give you depression in the first place so ain’t such a big deal.
It’s one of those things that seems like an really good idea, but also impossible to implement in any reasonably fair way.
Course it would be nice not only to weed out the ones with serious problems, but also dampen the speculation that others are going senile just because they’re older.
I mean this in the best possible way, nobody cares. In thirty years running for president people will bring it up, but the people who bring it up wouldn’t vote for you anyway and the people who vote for you won’t let it stop them. Who you are does not matter as long as you’re in the right district.
Old Fart moment: In 1972 Thomas Eagleton was the Democratic candidate for Vice-President of the US, but had to withdraw from the ticket after it was revealed he had received electroshock therapy for clinical depression during the 1960s.
if they didn’t have issues before, feels like even 4 years if not the total 8 would do quite a number on your mental/physical health. Ppl have already criticized hypothetical female presidents for being too ’emotional’ to run things
Do you really think anyone goes through Life without getting beaten to a pulp in a thousand different ways a hundred thousand times?
Are we to expect that the President never had medical issues? Are we to expect a 100% Pristine Perfect Life with absolutely no Inner or Outer Conflict?
“The President of the United States” is a Job Title.
A Military Rank is a Job Title.
The Entirety of Human Organizational Structures are Fictional.
Are you expecting some Divine Ordainment to lead over 330 Million People?
Politics is a Skill. Government Administration is a Skill.
You seem like Mark Zuckerburg thinking if he just got into the right clubs and connected with the right people, that would lead to a better life.
What we want from a President is someone who has spent a Lifetime in Civil Service.
Its something you do after you gain a Professional Reputation that reaches far and wide, not as a wannabe or even someone chasing a dream.
You do the work because you love it, even if you don’t get the reward.
A Good President doesn’t actually care about the Rank because they are much too busy working.
Forget your dreams and immerse yourself in your work, and the work will show the world who you are.
Dreams never come true. If they do, then they aren’t dreams anymore.
Your dreams are hurting you, because you want an escapist fantasy, not what that fantasy actually represents.
A President needs to have been beat up inside and out over a lifetime because that is what Experience does to you, and there is no escaping that.
Right. So I’ll just restore indigenous sovereignty without holding major political office somehow. After all, the titles don’t matter.
“The Entirety of Human Organizational Structures are Fictional.”
Being social constructs does not make things fictional. Money is a social construct, but if I don’t give enough of it to the bank every month, they’ll come and non-fictionally throw me out of my non-fictional house. If I start ignoring traffic laws, the fictional police will come and non-fictionally beat the shit out of me and throw me in non-fictional jail. “President” might be “just a job title”, but try authorizing a drive strike without it.
Is there anything that makes you think Dorothy hasn’t considered her political career outside of being president? Has she said it done anything to make you think she isn’t planning on spending time working as a court clerk or a Congressional aide and working her way through the political ranks? Are you the one expecting some “divine ordainment” if Dorothy isn’t supposed to aspire to high office? Is she supposed to work hard doing non-presidential things until the country notices her and makes her president in spite of herself? How does your “good president” ever become president of they are “too busy working” to care about becoming president? So they not need to run for office? To campaign and raise funds?
A lifetime in “public service” brought us our current disaster of a President. OTOH, our previous disaster of a President had essentially zero political experience, which also didn’t work out so great. So, POTUS probably shouldn’t be an entry-level position, but I think they should have accomplished something outside of politics.
*aggressively believes in your dreams @ you* It sounds like too big a job for one person, for sure. I hope you can find others with the same goal and work together, and/or identify stepping stones that can help you get there!
Wait ’til senior year, Dotty, then the true crisis will start. Or not, das cool.
Crossing out student-run publications and independent bookstore chains, I consider Bonnie Slotnick’s bookstore as small and independent. A bucket list item, too.
“walkyverse dorothy ran a small independent bookstore but do those even exist anymore”
I was just in a town a little north from me the other day that had a cute independent bookstore on their main street but they also had a goddamn yarn store in a corner shop in what must be prime real estate so who knows what was going on there.
A fun exercise if you live in a city with a lot of independent bookstores may be going around and asking them if they know their landlord personally. From what I hear these bookstores exist basically as the private libraries/hobbies of the idle rich, owned either by landlords themselves or their friends or family.
Not a bad system, I suppose, in the same way as a feudal lord providing culture and entertainment to soften the blow of taxes was better than the alternative of not having any access to such things.
there was a starbucks? built in/next door to one of the barnes & nobles i’ve been to, though other than indepdently own/more of a community thing idk if being a part of something like that would be considered fully ‘independent’ (unless if like the bookstore suddenly shuts down, then the cafe wouldn’t necessarily close with it)
Could be depression, a nervous breakdown, PTSD, autistic, and she’s thinking about what being the president actual entails for the first time with mostly adult understanding.
Good alt-text to get people to advertise the independent bookstores they know. Like Subterranean Books (new only) in University City, MO or Book House (new and used) in Maplewood, also in St Louis County.
well, medication isn’t for everyone but actively refusing it/thinking that way probably isn’t the healthiest anyways (I hear some anti depressants do mess with birth control but these days i’d be worried about a high ranking politician /not/ having a therapist and ‘rawdogging life’ as they say)
Definitely brings some clarity to Dorothy’s ableism towards Joyce. Dorothy is terrified to admit to herself and her therapist that she may not be “normal”. Does she have depression? PTSD? Could she perhaps be on the spectrum? Whatever’s going on with her, it’s frightening to consider and she refuses, insisting that she is NORMAL because NORMAL people UNDERSTAND people unlike those NON normal people…!
The irony too is this is exactly what Joyce is going through. Is Joyce, Joyce, because of her traumatizing upbringing? Because it’s how she was born? Because she was always Joyce? Because she might be on the spectrum? It’s a terrifying thing to navigate, but recognizing that you might be neurodivergent is very helpful.
For example, I am some flavor of neurodivergent. I definitely have PTSD, but I might also have ADHD that was never diagnosed. One of the main things I’ve struggled with is sensory processing. Namely related to audio. Sometimes when people talk to me, the speech gets jumbled and I may take a few extra moments to understand what someone has told me. Also, I would often get overwhelmed and exhausted in situations such as parties because of all the noise. For a long time, I never understood either of these things about myself but now that I understand what auditory processing disorder is, I can recognize “oh, the sounds are a little too loud, I need to step away” so I can avoid becoming exhausted or so irritated that I snap at others. I can take the steps to help myself now that I understand myself. It’s what Dorothy (and honestly a lot of characters in this comic) need as well.
True dat! Really wish I had been aware much earlier that other people process audio better. So much time worrying about stuff like “I finally got invited to a party, and now I can’t understand a damn thing anyone is saying, wtf is wrong with me?!” XD
I wonder if finding out she turned down Yale will cause a crack in her parents’ really positive image. Not necessarily that they like, scream at her and tell her she’s not trying hard enough or anything (unless they do), but that we’ll get a less perfect view as they try to convince her to do otherwise or sus out her problem beyond what they know.
Getting invited into Yale itself is a majore accomplishment, I don’t see her parents flipping THAT badly. But I feel like if word broke out around campus that there’s a freshman student that turned down the #1 Ivy league school in the country I bet there would be an uproar of jealous ace students giving the side eye.
I don’t read Dorothy’s parents Jerry and Deborah that way at all. They seem to love their daughter for who she is, not for what she may one cay achieve. They let her make her own decision about following religion, and I take this as an indication that they will let her conduct her life as she sees fit.
We can contrast this attitude with that of Linda Walkerton, who has a script for her children, against which she measures them.
Of course, on the flip side, I assume sending her to Yale would be more expensive than sending her to IU. They’d pay for Yale if that’s what she wanted, but …
I think people in Dorothy’s situation know what they need to do, but they can’t bring themselves to do it, so they suppress it to the point that they can’t think about it, and instead blame the problem on something that they think they should be able to handle. It’s a hard situation to get out of by yourself.
Aye, “I can’t let anyone know how much of a mess I am” is the cause of sooooooo much crap, and it is particularly nasty at preventing you from actually seeking help.
To be fair, I could TOTALLY see Dorothy marrying Walky and the two of them living a simply, but happy life running a small independent bookstore/cafe. (Assuming that Dorothy has truly had second thoughts about becoming POTUS and won’t wind up consumed over “What if?” regrets down the line.)
Dorothy, there are better ways to help people than becoming president, especially in a corrupt system where almost all the politicians are owned by the rich and the big corporations.
Dorothy believes that she can be the first female atheist president, but not that she can be the first president who briefly took antidepressants in her teens. Wonder what that says about the state of mental health stigma.
Well she’d be the first female atheist president who briefly took antidepressants in her teens.
These things stack for the difficulty level. If they don’t multiply. The depression would definitely tie into “females are too emotional” attacks.
You’ve come to the right place, Dorothy. Ruth will make a notorious Maple Leafs fan of you, so you can get help from your therapist without further consequences.
Well, I hope Ruth, known taker of mental health meds, doesn’t take offense to thar last line… though I do think Ruth would be pretty okay with a future of running a coffee shop.
Lol, you’re already atheist and female, Dorothy, and presumably your political career would begin in the Republican stronghold that is Indiana. A non-perfect mental health would be the LEAST of your problems.
Wow that’s pretty insulting, Dorothy. People on antidepressants accomplish tons of things, not that there’s anything wrong with working in a coffee shop either
Yeah, exactly. It isn’t about what YOU know you are capable of. It is what those who make or break your position believe about you.
i totally want a Black disabled working class trans woman in office.
Someone who’s experienced anything other than growing up with tons of privilege.
I don’t think being a perfectionist is exactly the same thing as internalized ableism, but they’re both not terribly healthy or realistic. But Dorothy’s a smart person who is seeking advice. I think she’s doing pretty well with this new and surprising feeling called “doubt.”
to be fair dorothy by the time you become 35 america might not even be a thing anymore.
(get it. cause comic time moves slower than real time. *funny eyebrow wiggle*)
There will always be small independent bookstores. That said, eventually, all independent bookstores will be run by people who are independently wealthy and like running a bookstore as one of their hobbies. With time, their merchandise will change a bit, eventually reaching the point where they not only do not sell any books, but nobody will remember exactly what a “book” is, or why it’s called a book store.
People will come up with all kinds of harebrained ideas, eventually coming up with something that they can agree on, and they will once again start selling “book”s, but now it won’t be something someone from our time will recognize as a book.
It’s at some point after this that I ended up when I traveled into the future. I fear giving an actual description of the thing might break the timeline, but it felt incredibly surreal, like it was all a dream. And then I woke up back in the what is now the past.
Being prescribed something can cause your dreams to shatter because of the debilitating, potentially permanent side effects. Not only that, but if you don’t take the meds or at least try them people constantly judge you for being “non compliant.”
Dorothy is dealing with a lot right now, but at least she doesn’t have Akasthesia.
As aspiring future president of The United States with PTSD?! That’s-That’s almost as bad a deal-breaker as *dramatic music* Getting an ‘F’ in her second grade gym class!!!! The HORROR…
George W. Bush would’ve NEVER let anything short of perfect ‘k-12 permanent record’ history befall him! We would’ve never elected him, otherwise. *Gasp!* What would Former President Donald Trump think?….
I blame America’s Public education, how else to explain how a politically aware, college-level young woman would be unaware that from 2000 to 2008 we had a self-admitted recovering Cocaine Addict in the white house? (the scandal isn’t the addiction OR emotional trauma, it’s DENYING IT that gets you in trouble).
Unfortunately, being a well-balanced, reasonable adult is no longer a requirement for POTUS.
Dorothy, stop fretting, you’d still be the best president the US has ever had!
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Ruth: “The trick is to tell your therapist the truth, but then ALSO make up something a thousand times more horrible. Then when you tell them you were kidding about that, they’re really relieved.”
Dorothy: “…You know, I’ve read that between 60 and 80 percent of therapists see therapists themselves. I think I’m beginning to understand why.”
Sorta like how when a dentist asks if I smoke, I tell them, “Oh no, I would never do that. I use meth instead.”?
I’d imagine there are a few presidents who might disprove you there, Dotty
certainly by at least the time you’re actually eligible for office yuk yuk
alt: there’s a specialty one in National Harbor! https://www.mahoganybooks.com/
They do exist—even in OH, Willis!
There is a small independent bookstore literally less than a mile from my house. They sell new and used books. Not a huge selection, but not terrible. I’ve been meaning to take a few things over there to sell.
And I can think of another one about 20 miles away.
And yes, to echo saltchocolate above, both are in Ohio.
There are a few indy bookstores in Bloomington, at least last I checked. IIRC Corner Bookstore, Caveat Emptor, and I think Bargain Books or something like that?
Merry Spring solstice, you filthy pagan.
*machine gun sounds*
And happy fertility goddess day.
Joyous vernal equinox to you as well.
EQUINOX!! Solstice happens when the earth’s orbit hits apogee or perigee. (Winter solstice tends to coincide with the shortest day of the year, summer on the longest) the Equinoxes are ‘midpoints’ in the planetary orbit. (iow the words have actual MEANINGS). It’s bad enough when psuedopagan poseurs don’t ‘get’ what they claim to be involved in… (Words have MEANINGS!!)
Nope. The solstices are about 20–21 June and 21–22 Decemeber, whereas Earth’s perihelion is (currently) about 4–5 January and its aphelion is about 4–5 July.
Earth doesn’t have a perigee or an apogee because those refer to moments of least and greatest distance from Earth, and its distance from itself is constant. Objects in orbit around Earth have perigees and apogees, one of each per orbit.
Small indy stores that provide more personalized service or cater to a specific audience have managed to survive a lot better than the big chains. Considering how much space they devote to things that aren’t books, the remaining chain stores barely even qualify as book stores anymore.
Absolutely impossible to be a president with PTSD, it’s not like any of them ever got shot or something.
And shot back before they even knew what ptsd was. I am sure that there have been a lot of presidents that had depression, ptsd, or other issues that were either undiagnosed or hidden. On the other hand, being how we haven’t even had one female president yet, having any noted “defects” (thar people can target), would probably instantly remove a woman from the running, no matter how qualified they were.
I think I heard somewhere that Lincoln had depression.
The problem nowadays is everything is online and nothing is sacred. Something like not photographing FDR while he is in a wheelchair or having trouble walking wouldn’t happen nowadays. I also find it really interesting that I don’t think that we have any blind or deaf legislators. Even ones in wheelchairs have trouble accessing certain areas or debate stages.
The idea that we still won’t have had one by the time Dorothy is 35 is depressing.
I dunno, at the comic’s current pace I kinda feel like the number of presidents will be in the triple digits when she hits 35.
With the comic’s weird timeline, she may hit that age while we are under geriatric care.
Teddy Roosevelt? Harry Truman? John Kennedy? Andrew Jackson? the first George Bush? Almost every President in the 18th and 19th Century with a few the salient exceptions?
Presidents who have seen combat is practically a norm. Presidents without any military service is closer to the exception than the rule.
Initially, it was rare to not have served, only 4 before 1900 hadn’t. Then there’s a clump of 6 from Taft to FDR without any military experience. A solid span from Truman to GWHB had served, but out of the last 5, only GWB did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_military_service
Lying is ridiculously easy.
But it’s funny that Dorothy’s still tackling her issues in the most Dorothy way possible.
maybe she’s more so lying to herself. but it would be harder to lie, despite politicans being ‘great’ at it, for someone like dorothy, and even so with live debates and public media appearances and all that, and that she’s a woman, every single action/microexpression/body language she’d show in public would be put under a microscope and analyzed to hell and back or criticized for something she never said/did but ppl assume she disapproves of a certain thing because her default expression twitched half a second and all
So did she actually turn down Yale? Seems like she told Becky she just hasn’t responded, but here she says she turned them down.
She could be exaggerating/simplifying. I’m not taking this as new information, personally.
I suspect that every time she reviews her decision to turn down Yale, she gets a little more certain that it’s the right thing to do. She’s not currently going back and forth on it.
I think she may still change her mind and go. But if she does it’s going to be the result of significant character and plot development. Like, Joyce will stage an intervention or something.
I know a coffee shop that just opened in my hometown in Pennsylvania. They need an assistant manager.
other than someone in charge of training/micromanaging the day to day aspects and keeping on top of supplies being stocked and bathrooms clean, feels like an ‘assistant’ manager would be a redundant job to a manager unless it’s that big, or the ‘manager’ is also the owner and they want to hire someone else to do the heavy lifting
Someone needs to be overseeing the day-to-day operations, dealing with issues that arise, such as customer complaints, whether legitimate or not. They are the ones on-site if someone calls out and the shift needs to be filled by someone else, has the ability to make calls in cases of minor disputes between employees, and so on. You also need someone ‘in charge’ to make decisions. You might call them a “Shift Lead” or something instead of an “Assistant Manager”, but it still boils down to the same thing.
Unless the shop is only open 40 hour a week, that means you need at least two people with managerial standing. To cover 7 12- or 14-hour days a week, you need at least three, with overlapping shifts so they can ‘hand off’ responsibilities and any issues that have come up during the day. (And even then, you have to be ready to have them work OT when one of the others calls out or takes a vacation; for a true full-time business operation, you ultimately want 4 people in that role, or at least someone who can be declared “Acting Manager” in a pinch.)
This is why so many small business owners burn out while still in the ‘trying to get established’ stage–they end up working 98-hour weeks, because they don’t have anyone they can turn the shop over to so they can get some rest.
Spot on.
There’s an independent book store in my nearby town (where I attended undergrad), called Firefly Bookstore… So alt text is covered too…
It’s not fair Dorothy. It was never fair.
It’s a system that brings the worse out of everyone.
*plays “Rain” by The Seat Belts on hacked muzak*
Therapy or politics or democracy?
Politics, but also therapists, given my experience confirms Dorothy’s paper trail fear.
I can tell how badly she’s internalized ableist stigmas from the 5th and last panels. Evidently she doesn’t even know the difference between a therapist and a psychiatrist, therapists can’t prescribe drugs :p
Oh thank goodness. For second I thought this might be taking a deeply, deeply unexpected hard-right turn into Nazi-vile. Yeah, the undercutting in politics is out of hand – our candidates should be trying to win office by proving themselves a capable leader and making viable promises they indent to keep, not winning by making the other person look bad (leaving them to be almost just as bad).
Also I’d never heard that “Rain” song before. It was awesome and sounded almost like a Queen song. Thanks for sharing.
Mother used to say
If you want, you’ll find a way
But mother never danced through fire shower
Walk in the rain
In the rain, in the rain
I walk in the rain, in the rain
Is it right or is it wrong
And is it here that I belong
But yeah it’s DEFINITELY not democracy that’s the problem, but honestly if stigmas like the kinds Dorothy has internalized prevents one from becoming president, that’s hardly what I’d call free government, just saying.
Her goal was based on over-idealized conceptions of politics she evidently hasn’t revised since grade school. She needs to explore other ways of helping people like she wants to do, and eventually acknowledge that she held on to her goal for all the wrong reasons.
My theory is that anyone whose been in Washington long enough to run for president is already a horrible person.
It’s just a question of which horrible person you pick.
the truly horrible people are hoping voters believe all candidates are equally corrupt.
Also kinda wild that Dorothy has no qualms about seeing a therapist but is scared about people finding about that she might have depression because it could LOOK BAD for her career prospects.
Because seeing a therapist is the Correct Thing To Do™, and if she’s telling other people to do it, it’d be Hypocritical™ not to go herself.
I was the exact same way. Terrified to get any real help because I was afraid it would leave me with no career prospects. I’m not entirely sure where I got that idea, and I’m not entirely sure it’s false, but I definitely wish I’d been able to get help for my issues earlier. Hopefully Dorothy doesn’t fall into those same mistakes. It’s really hard to build a viable career in any field when mental illness is ripping furiously away at your foundation. She needs to talk to more people and get some support for herself for once.
Is it, though? Is it really?
My Therapist at 15 literally stopped me as I was saying I was having suicidal thoughts and warned me that if I continued they’d have to put it down on my record. That if it was on my record and I tried to join the military it was likely I’d be denied. This is a very real concern. A lot of companies ask, and shouldn’t but still do, if you have a history of depression.
If you have psychological issues it can close a lot of doors for your future in the US. Flat out, some of us have to choose between getting treatment for our issues and getting jobs.
What? Can Companies looks after your medical historic? Are they allowed to discover if you have mental issues?
I just can’t…
What, for real? No medical secrecy or whatever it’s called for psychologists? That’s kinda ducked.
HIPAA is actually pretty damned recent, and was enacted for a reason.
And it *is* violated, especially for people who are famous or who have “scary” problems. There’s a Twitter alt-righter right now who’s got a nurse spilling a bunch of godawful horrible shit about trans *children* who were under her care.
If it’s the one I’m thinking of, not a nurse, but basically a receptionist
Oh yeah. I applied to be an engineer in the air force and got blocked on the basis of having been diagnosed with depression at 14. It’s very messed up.
It’s against the law to do that… But it still happens sometimes. That’s why lawsuits exist.
Yeah, there should be no stigma and the info should be private.
Also, don’t tell anyone.
even so , it’s nothing that’d be known public unless medical records are leaked out which def would be a huge violation/end up in lawsuits/malpractice but i’m sure there are ppl that have been like “Diagnosing the president: My armchair perspective of the first term” or shit like that but those ppl should def not be therapists, unless it’s something after being retired and permission from everyone
I think it’s more complicated than that. Especially when it comes to the Presidency, but to a lesser degree for anything that requires a security clearance. Most conditions really shouldn’t matter, but there are some that would be huge red flags.
Of course, for elected office it can’t be a disqualifier. All that could be done is to release it publicly and see if the electorate changes their mind. That makes it even more ethically questionable.
This. For stuff that requires certain security clearances, you basically voluntarily sign away your privacy. My father worked for.private contractors for the government, but had high security clearances, and was well aware getting certain therapy, diagnoses, or medication would mean losing his job. Period.
Wow, I underestimated how much Dorothy is suffering by trying to be perfect. She needs a hug, and to talk to her therapist, but also a hug. Go hug Joyce, she will always offer Dorothy a hug.
Those are all possibilities, Dorothy, but let’s get one thing straight – if you leave politics, it’s a bookstore you end up in.
I mean, the sliding timescale has probably already pushed her future bookstore out of business. And this Dorothy doesn’t really have “become a superweapon to fight for Walky’s hand and maybe also go fight some Martians in the future” as a backup option.
My money’s on her getting a job at Galasso’s. Willis could get a lot of good stuff out of that.
I’d much rather run a bookstore than try to delude myself into thinking I could run the country.
Okay, who votes for Dottie moving to Northampton to buy in on an existing coffee shop?
That’s hilarious… I brought that up myself yesterday!
Or go to Cubetown and co-found one
Cubetown could really use a better coffeeshop than the coffeepot in Liz’s room.
Or the bar that’s apparently a completely empty room.
And has Miller High Life as the ‘best beer’ available….
If it weren’t for the buffer, this would look like a big wink at the current QC storyline.
She would want to rename it “Coffee of Hope” and have a bulletin-board full of mental-health and social-action resources.
Somebody make this real!
There’s a library job opening up there.
Fifth panel, totally see her internalized ableism.
Not really. Whatever the opposition can leverage to deep-six your goals, whether those are elected office, or just buying a firearm like a normal American for most of our history, they will use.
It’s not paranoid, nor ablest, to assume that someone else will do those things, if they can. It’s willfully blind to assume someone else will not do those things.
Yeah, it’s unfortunately a very real fear.
It is a real fear, but she was already trying to be president of the US as a woman and an atheist. Worrying that depression or PTSD is more disqualifying than anything else about her…Wellerman has a point. It very well could be some internalized ableism; either way, it’s hurting Dorothy
Not necessarily more disqualifying, but it would stack on top of the existing hurdles she has to clear.
“Disqualifying” is the wrong term here, though. I’m sure she’s fully aware that several presidents have had mental issues (Lincoln’s depression is pretty solidly documented at this point).
Rather, it’s a matter of recognizing other people’s ableism, and how that would play out in an election. Different people have different prejudices; every box you tick will eliminate some more potential support. So as an atheist woman, she’s already in a position that cannot afford any further losses. If she was a male WASP, she might very well be able to push through a therapy/diagnosis revelation, but as it is, not so easily.
As someone with a mom who is a doctor of clinical psychology, and was brought up to believe that pretty much EVERYONE could benefit from therapy at some point in their lives, and who has been in therapy MANY times during my life (including now) and sees therapy and mental health treatment (I’m also on anti-depressants), I have some thoughts about this.
IMHO there is an instinctive rejection of mental health treatment in the U.S. that has existed for a long time. IMHO I think some of it is fostered by insurance companies that don’t want to pay for mental health care (my mom has some absolute HORROR STORIES about that back when she had her private practice and right now my therapist is seeing me on a sliding scale because my insurance, as good as it is for other things, *barely* covers anything for mental health) but also because of the entrenched and, IMHO, VERY wrong U.S. ideology about “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.” (Which, incidentally, is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE!). But I am aware that we (I am a USian) often and unfortunately look down on those people who need any help from anyone else. (As a Queer disabled woman I DEFINITELY fall into the category of sometimes “needing help!)
At this point the ableism has become so institutionalized that I’m not even sure what to say about it. I have both physical and mental disabilities and work in a very progressive and sympathetic workplace. I’ve *hinted* at my clinical depression and trauma to my colleagues and chairperson, but I’m still not okay with fully disclosing everything because I don’t know how that would be received.
Long story short, I’m not sure that Dorothy is being ableist but rather acknowledging the ableism of the rest of the world – and it is DEFINITELY true, at least in the US, that if she had a public history of mental health problems, that could bar her from not only the presidency but also other political positions.
PS: PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO *NOT* THINK THIS IS OKAY!!!!
The thing, though, is that sticking to a prejudice to “blend in” is, in fact, being prejudice.
That’s not what she’s doing, though.
Dorothy’s theoretical action here would not be ‘sticking to a prejudice’, but rather what has commonly been referred to as ‘passing’–pretending to not be a member of an oppressed group in order to be able to evade some of that oppression.
In this case, in fact, the most powerful thing she could do would be to get elected, have a successful first term and win re-election–and then, as the phrase goes, ‘come out of the closet’ as suffering from mental illness.
Note, it’s possible for some folks who are passing to ALSO be actively perpetuating the oppression–think Robyn before her career-change, or that RL Congressman who became known for his ‘wide stance’. Obviously, this is a completely different matter. But Dorothy isn’t proposing to run on a platform of stigmatizing and isolating people with psychological issues.
Oh shit, I didn’t parse the implication of her last line trailing off on my first read. Good catch.
There’s a “Meet Cute Bookshop” near me (and a ton of other cute little independent bookstores too). Though their original plan had been romance bookshop/Soda bar and I’m disappointed that the soda bar part fell off.
I know Mr. Willis writes these far in advance, but serendipitously the news has been talking about Senator Fetterman checking himself into for depression and taking a break from full on senatorial duties while he recovers. The right has been eating him alive for being unfit, and while you don’t want a President or something with currently active severe mental illness (not that they seemed to mind with Trump), I think that a senator could and should take medical leave for these things when they happen. I think it was brave for him to admit a problem and as someone who has really struggled with that in the past I feel better knowing there are those in power that understand what I and many other Americans go through. It is certainly better than a senator who hides all his illnesses to avoid appearing weak, and having his work suffer. Dorothy could learn from him in my opinion. What do you think?
Honestly one of the things to come out of the pandemic is the increase in people seeking mental health treatment and also a bi partisan effort in the senate and house to legalize psychedelics for mental health treatment shows that the stigma of seeking mental health has decreased. The only problem is the health care industry in the United States is as per usual failing patients I had to switch Healthcare providers beacuse my income increased and now they won’t bother covering my mental Healthcare until I reach my deductible also fuck highmark blue cross blue shield seriously my car and renters insurance are far more responsive and give me a receipt immediately when they charge my account Getting a receipt from HMBCBS to submit to my employer to refund my costs through our ICHRA is like screaming at a wall.
Tldr the biggest problem to treating mental health in us is the damn health care industry nationalize it along with the rail network and other essential industries!
*health insurance industry
Yeah, that’s worked out so well in other countries…
It kind of has most of the OECD nations have nationalized health insurance
Of course your car insurance is more responsive. It works the way insurance should work. You rely on it only for large, unpredictable expenses, not minor problems or routine maintenance. Medical insurance is expected to pay for anything and everything, including minor and entirely predictable expenses. Anything routine should be paid out of pocket as part of one’s regular budget. Financing it through insurance adds layers of administration that drive up costs while doing nothing to improve care. (If you want to provide subsidized care to low-income people, you can make a case for that. But don’t call it “insurance”, because it isn’t.) If auto insurance worked the way health insurance does, insurance would cover car washes, and a basic car wash would cost $200.
First i understand that it shouldnt be that way for basic administrative procedures like getting a recipt for payment thing is I was asking for a receipt when they charged me it’s a basic tenement of any bussiness if you charge someone for something you give them a recipt unless they request otherwise. it should not take more then 2 weeks after charging someone after they request it multiple times!
Along with failure to cover essential medical services until you reach an certain ammount of payments which if you are making between 25 to 30k is alot of money some deductibles are around 5 grand after paying 700 dollars a month! Mental health and minor procedures are always bellow the deductible and beacuse by law you have to have medical insurance there is nothing you can do unless you want to payb alot more for a lower deductible Furthermore the US health insurance industry is still a broken mess with the health insurance network system, god forbid you get sick or injured outside of a small radius of counties which is what some networks have even if you have out of network coverage the deductible is so high that what’s even the point. Also some areas have maybe two insurance company both of which charge you high costs beacuse there is no competition.
Covering cheap preventative care actually reduces costs. Things get caught early or prevented entirely, thus saving the insurance companies money.
The routine stuff is a tiny fraction of medical spending, even with administrative overhead, compared to treating a single heart attack for example.
Counterpoint: The right would eat him alive for anything and everything anyway, even if they had to make it up. They have absolutely no issues with politicians having mental problems (see: Herschel Walker), it’s him being in the other party that’s a problem for them.
They don’t see it as a problem, they see it as an opportunity.
Monsters.
And they dropped Walker *like a rock* the moment he lost.
Walker’s a black dude, the moment he was no longer useful he’s lucky they didn’t drop him WITH a rock.
There is a few independent bookstores in my area, and they’re doing quite well. In fact, on S. Padre, there’s a bookstore/coffee shop that is, to use current slang, making bank.
Your “current slang” is 30 years old—but still very apt here. Carry on!
“The 1990s were only a decade ago, right? RIGHT???”
I know an independent book store thats doing fine but they also share the space with a coffee joint and sell mostly novelty gifts and healing crystals so
Dorothy, Dorothy, Dorothy. They’ll never even bother looking into your depression once they find out about the atheism.
https://imgur.com/a/fzB1sD2
I promised Henry a drawing so here’s Ruth and Jason at St. Patricks
Thanks it came out well, my only regret is not having a better idea for a request.
Thanks to the both of you for bringing that green dress into our lives
That’s not a real green dress. That would be cruel.
They probably do have to eat Kraft Dinner
But with a million dollars, they’d eat more of it.
Off the shoulder? Yes please and thank you.
🤩 Looks splendid! Thanks Yoto!!!
Cute!
And lol didn’t know many ppl with it/fairly uncommon around here so i don’t remember it happening too much but i remember ppl occasionally complained around st paddy’s day when they got shit for not wearing green despite their eyes being green lol
Man, I do love some freckly cleavage.
No one could make a webcomic about a coffee shop work.
To try would be to invite Doom, you could say.
if they did, i’m sure it would make for dubious material.
At least the wouldn’t be any butt jokes.
Poor Dorothy. It’s all making more and more sense.
Today I got a special post on reddit involving taste in music
: https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbingofage/comments/11w8afi/what_i_think_certain_characters_would_have_on/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I mean there is doctor patient confidentiality and it would take some digging and HIPAA violations for any opposition candidate to find that out not saying that isn’t beneath some political actors but in the mean time you don’t need to tell anyone you’re on anti depressants or anti anxiety also you can’t run for president for like another 15 years and honestly if you’re still intrested it’s likely you will be in your 40s or 50s. The stigma towards having mental health is seemingly declining more and more I am hoping in 20 to 25 years it won’t be as bad or non existent.
There is some proof there was bi partisan momentum being proposed to legalize the use of 0sychedelics for treating mental health so that’s a pretty good sign that the stigma is decreasing. Also the whole pandemic resulted in a boom in people seeking mental health treatment.
Also running an independent coffee shop is a life goal for me one I probably won’t acheive but really want to do it.
I think even without any doctors violating privacy, if she were some politician that made it into the spotlight, just the paparazzi alone could potentially get a polaroid of her swallowing a pill and the tabloids and talk shows wildly discussing what drugs she could possibly be on.
You’d be surprised how many people only actually start opening up to their therapists after YEARS.
Who knows! It’s hard work, but if you pace it out and be persistent, you can probably get the business together one step at a time, right?
Also here’s the thing, I’m pretty sure if they had some sort of psychological evaluation for the presidency that would have derail the campaign and election of a lot of presidents since a lot so far seem to be 60 or 70 year old plus old men with the minds already deteriorating.
Plus I’m pretty sure the Whitehouse job was supposed to give you depression in the first place so ain’t such a big deal.
It’s one of those things that seems like an really good idea, but also impossible to implement in any reasonably fair way.
Course it would be nice not only to weed out the ones with serious problems, but also dampen the speculation that others are going senile just because they’re older.
I’m not sure how you’d tell, anyway. In more than one case, they’re just saying the same stupid shit they’ve been saying for decades.
I mean this in the best possible way, nobody cares. In thirty years running for president people will bring it up, but the people who bring it up wouldn’t vote for you anyway and the people who vote for you won’t let it stop them. Who you are does not matter as long as you’re in the right district.
A President is not allowed to be depressed? What a sick joke if that is true. I wouldn’t take that job for 100 times the Salary.
Old Fart moment: In 1972 Thomas Eagleton was the Democratic candidate for Vice-President of the US, but had to withdraw from the ticket after it was revealed he had received electroshock therapy for clinical depression during the 1960s.
if they didn’t have issues before, feels like even 4 years if not the total 8 would do quite a number on your mental/physical health. Ppl have already criticized hypothetical female presidents for being too ’emotional’ to run things
https://youtu.be/ZKtGXd_C4EY
if anything feels like they should have a team of advisors on call
Do you really think anyone goes through Life without getting beaten to a pulp in a thousand different ways a hundred thousand times?
Are we to expect that the President never had medical issues? Are we to expect a 100% Pristine Perfect Life with absolutely no Inner or Outer Conflict?
“The President of the United States” is a Job Title.
A Military Rank is a Job Title.
The Entirety of Human Organizational Structures are Fictional.
Are you expecting some Divine Ordainment to lead over 330 Million People?
Politics is a Skill. Government Administration is a Skill.
You seem like Mark Zuckerburg thinking if he just got into the right clubs and connected with the right people, that would lead to a better life.
What we want from a President is someone who has spent a Lifetime in Civil Service.
Its something you do after you gain a Professional Reputation that reaches far and wide, not as a wannabe or even someone chasing a dream.
You do the work because you love it, even if you don’t get the reward.
A Good President doesn’t actually care about the Rank because they are much too busy working.
Forget your dreams and immerse yourself in your work, and the work will show the world who you are.
Dreams never come true. If they do, then they aren’t dreams anymore.
Your dreams are hurting you, because you want an escapist fantasy, not what that fantasy actually represents.
A President needs to have been beat up inside and out over a lifetime because that is what Experience does to you, and there is no escaping that.
Stop dreaming and get to work.
The work is what matters, not a stupid title.
“You seem like Mark Zuckerburg thinking if he just got into the right clubs and connected with the right people, that would lead to a better life.”
I don’t know if Zuckerberg thinks this, but “connected with the right people” is DEFINITELY important in politics, possibly THE most important thing.
“What we want from a President is someone who has spent a Lifetime in Civil Service.”
It’d be nice if you (general you, not you you) started voting accordingly, then.
“The work is what matters, not a stupid title.”
Right. So I’ll just restore indigenous sovereignty without holding major political office somehow. After all, the titles don’t matter.
“The Entirety of Human Organizational Structures are Fictional.”
Being social constructs does not make things fictional. Money is a social construct, but if I don’t give enough of it to the bank every month, they’ll come and non-fictionally throw me out of my non-fictional house. If I start ignoring traffic laws, the fictional police will come and non-fictionally beat the shit out of me and throw me in non-fictional jail. “President” might be “just a job title”, but try authorizing a drive strike without it.
Is there anything that makes you think Dorothy hasn’t considered her political career outside of being president? Has she said it done anything to make you think she isn’t planning on spending time working as a court clerk or a Congressional aide and working her way through the political ranks? Are you the one expecting some “divine ordainment” if Dorothy isn’t supposed to aspire to high office? Is she supposed to work hard doing non-presidential things until the country notices her and makes her president in spite of herself? How does your “good president” ever become president of they are “too busy working” to care about becoming president? So they not need to run for office? To campaign and raise funds?
I appreciate what you had to say here so much.
A lifetime in “public service” brought us our current disaster of a President. OTOH, our previous disaster of a President had essentially zero political experience, which also didn’t work out so great. So, POTUS probably shouldn’t be an entry-level position, but I think they should have accomplished something outside of politics.
Running a independent coffee shop is a life goal for me!
more admirable goal than becoming US prez! Best of luck to you!
Thanks I don’t think it’s acheiveable there is a lot to it and a passion for a good cup of coffee and ethically sourced beans isn’t enough.
*aggressively believes in your dreams @ you* It sounds like too big a job for one person, for sure. I hope you can find others with the same goal and work together, and/or identify stepping stones that can help you get there!
You could get more love from that Coffee Shop than a President does during their entire administration.
People love the fruits of genuine human crafting.
You will figure it out.
Failing means you should do it more, because you correct your course on the chaotic seas to acheivement.
Good luck ! have a boba option, i pretty much go to places for the tea with a coffee being an alternate/bonus lol
If I did open up a shop Boba would also be on the menu
See “Coffee of Hope” upthread.
COFFEE SHOP AU LET’S GOOOOO
“let you be president”
Sweetheart…
Wait ’til senior year, Dotty, then the true crisis will start. Or not, das cool.
Crossing out student-run publications and independent bookstore chains, I consider Bonnie Slotnick’s bookstore as small and independent. A bucket list item, too.
For that, we’d not only need to be time travelers, we’d probably have to wait for Willis to be reincarnated at least once or twice.
Well that answers my “has she talked to her therapist about this” question.
“walkyverse dorothy ran a small independent bookstore but do those even exist anymore”
I was just in a town a little north from me the other day that had a cute independent bookstore on their main street but they also had a goddamn yarn store in a corner shop in what must be prime real estate so who knows what was going on there.
Alt-text: https://lithub.com/turns-out-that-americas-most-recession-proof-business-is-bookstores/
A fun exercise if you live in a city with a lot of independent bookstores may be going around and asking them if they know their landlord personally. From what I hear these bookstores exist basically as the private libraries/hobbies of the idle rich, owned either by landlords themselves or their friends or family.
Not a bad system, I suppose, in the same way as a feudal lord providing culture and entertainment to soften the blow of taxes was better than the alternative of not having any access to such things.
Re: alt text: of course they do!
Independent coffeshopes could probably be found in a barns n nobles.
there was a starbucks? built in/next door to one of the barnes & nobles i’ve been to, though other than indepdently own/more of a community thing idk if being a part of something like that would be considered fully ‘independent’ (unless if like the bookstore suddenly shuts down, then the cafe wouldn’t necessarily close with it)
Could be depression, a nervous breakdown, PTSD, autistic, and she’s thinking about what being the president actual entails for the first time with mostly adult understanding.
Good alt-text to get people to advertise the independent bookstores they know. Like Subterranean Books (new only) in University City, MO or Book House (new and used) in Maplewood, also in St Louis County.
also a bit of ‘gifted kid burnout’ as well maybe
well, medication isn’t for everyone but actively refusing it/thinking that way probably isn’t the healthiest anyways (I hear some anti depressants do mess with birth control but these days i’d be worried about a high ranking politician /not/ having a therapist and ‘rawdogging life’ as they say)
Definitely brings some clarity to Dorothy’s ableism towards Joyce. Dorothy is terrified to admit to herself and her therapist that she may not be “normal”. Does she have depression? PTSD? Could she perhaps be on the spectrum? Whatever’s going on with her, it’s frightening to consider and she refuses, insisting that she is NORMAL because NORMAL people UNDERSTAND people unlike those NON normal people…!
The irony too is this is exactly what Joyce is going through. Is Joyce, Joyce, because of her traumatizing upbringing? Because it’s how she was born? Because she was always Joyce? Because she might be on the spectrum? It’s a terrifying thing to navigate, but recognizing that you might be neurodivergent is very helpful.
For example, I am some flavor of neurodivergent. I definitely have PTSD, but I might also have ADHD that was never diagnosed. One of the main things I’ve struggled with is sensory processing. Namely related to audio. Sometimes when people talk to me, the speech gets jumbled and I may take a few extra moments to understand what someone has told me. Also, I would often get overwhelmed and exhausted in situations such as parties because of all the noise. For a long time, I never understood either of these things about myself but now that I understand what auditory processing disorder is, I can recognize “oh, the sounds are a little too loud, I need to step away” so I can avoid becoming exhausted or so irritated that I snap at others. I can take the steps to help myself now that I understand myself. It’s what Dorothy (and honestly a lot of characters in this comic) need as well.
Yup. This explains a lot of Dorothy’s behavior towards Joyce these past few arcs.
True dat! Really wish I had been aware much earlier that other people process audio better. So much time worrying about stuff like “I finally got invited to a party, and now I can’t understand a damn thing anyone is saying, wtf is wrong with me?!” XD
I wonder if finding out she turned down Yale will cause a crack in her parents’ really positive image. Not necessarily that they like, scream at her and tell her she’s not trying hard enough or anything (unless they do), but that we’ll get a less perfect view as they try to convince her to do otherwise or sus out her problem beyond what they know.
Getting invited into Yale itself is a majore accomplishment, I don’t see her parents flipping THAT badly. But I feel like if word broke out around campus that there’s a freshman student that turned down the #1 Ivy league school in the country I bet there would be an uproar of jealous ace students giving the side eye.
I don’t read Dorothy’s parents Jerry and Deborah that way at all. They seem to love their daughter for who she is, not for what she may one cay achieve. They let her make her own decision about following religion, and I take this as an indication that they will let her conduct her life as she sees fit.
We can contrast this attitude with that of Linda Walkerton, who has a script for her children, against which she measures them.
Of course, on the flip side, I assume sending her to Yale would be more expensive than sending her to IU. They’d pay for Yale if that’s what she wanted, but …
I think people in Dorothy’s situation know what they need to do, but they can’t bring themselves to do it, so they suppress it to the point that they can’t think about it, and instead blame the problem on something that they think they should be able to handle. It’s a hard situation to get out of by yourself.
Aye, “I can’t let anyone know how much of a mess I am” is the cause of sooooooo much crap, and it is particularly nasty at preventing you from actually seeking help.
have you seen what you’ve had the last two terms?
pretty sure you have a fair chance, Dorothy
To be fair, I could TOTALLY see Dorothy marrying Walky and the two of them living a simply, but happy life running a small independent bookstore/cafe.
(Assuming that Dorothy has truly had second thoughts about becoming POTUS and won’t wind up consumed over “What if?” regrets down the line.)
With an alligator filled moat.
Dorothy, there are better ways to help people than becoming president, especially in a corrupt system where almost all the politicians are owned by the rich and the big corporations.
Dorothy believes that she can be the first female atheist president, but not that she can be the first president who briefly took antidepressants in her teens. Wonder what that says about the state of mental health stigma.
(I’m lying, I don’t wonder.)
Well she’d be the first female atheist president who briefly took antidepressants in her teens.
These things stack for the difficulty level. If they don’t multiply. The depression would definitely tie into “females are too emotional” attacks.
all of this makes me wish we’d crawl back into the ocean.
Legs and everything that came after was a mistake.
You’ve come to the right place, Dorothy. Ruth will make a notorious Maple Leafs fan of you, so you can get help from your therapist without further consequences.
I plan to open an independent book shop in maybe 25 years from now!
Well, I hope Ruth, known taker of mental health meds, doesn’t take offense to thar last line… though I do think Ruth would be pretty okay with a future of running a coffee shop.
Honestly couldn’t think of the word “psychiatric” when making this comment.
It’s named “No Regrets” and it’s basically a sports bar but with coffee.
could be depression or ptsd but also it doesn’t help that you’ve excised almost all unplanned joy from your life dotty
Hey, for us INTJs the planning is an essential part of the joy.
A coffee shop, eh? Wasn’t it a bookstore in the old continuity?
See alt-text:
> walkyverse dorothy ran a small independent bookstore but do those even exist anymore
Lol, you’re already atheist and female, Dorothy, and presumably your political career would begin in the Republican stronghold that is Indiana. A non-perfect mental health would be the LEAST of your problems.
Wow that’s pretty insulting, Dorothy. People on antidepressants accomplish tons of things, not that there’s anything wrong with working in a coffee shop either
That doesn’t mean that people who are on antidepressants don’t experience institutionalized forms of discrimination.
Yeah, exactly. It isn’t about what YOU know you are capable of. It is what those who make or break your position believe about you.
i totally want a Black disabled working class trans woman in office.
Someone who’s experienced anything other than growing up with tons of privilege.
I love all the green they’re wearing. Greeeeeeen.
Dotty…. <3
Wait, has this college au been a coffee shop au this entire time??
Colleges were born in Coffee Shops. See “Food Theory: Coffee, Science’s MOST IMPORTANT Discovery!” on YouTube for an explanation.
Hopeful, puzzled and ultimately doomed to disappointment Dorothy posed in front of a Leafs banner is great subtext.
my money’s on the ‘or… or…’ being autism
YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP.
Yup.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/sunlight/
Yeah, Dorothy’s hostile response of “I *understand people*” is not only dismissive, but entirely offensive.
I am kind of shocked that I didn’t pick up on Dorothy having internalized ableism sooner.
Didn’t even occur to me that she could be seriously considering if she might actually be autistic there but that makes sense.
I don’t think being a perfectionist is exactly the same thing as internalized ableism, but they’re both not terribly healthy or realistic. But Dorothy’s a smart person who is seeking advice. I think she’s doing pretty well with this new and surprising feeling called “doubt.”
I’m referring to how she’s treated Joyce, as well as her earlier reactions to being implied to have autism (see the above user’s comment).
I know it’s a broad spectrum, but Dorothy is hyper-aware of herself and other people. That doesn’t sound like autism.
to be fair dorothy by the time you become 35 america might not even be a thing anymore.
(get it. cause comic time moves slower than real time. *funny eyebrow wiggle*)
There will always be small independent bookstores. That said, eventually, all independent bookstores will be run by people who are independently wealthy and like running a bookstore as one of their hobbies. With time, their merchandise will change a bit, eventually reaching the point where they not only do not sell any books, but nobody will remember exactly what a “book” is, or why it’s called a book store.
People will come up with all kinds of harebrained ideas, eventually coming up with something that they can agree on, and they will once again start selling “book”s, but now it won’t be something someone from our time will recognize as a book.
It’s at some point after this that I ended up when I traveled into the future. I fear giving an actual description of the thing might break the timeline, but it felt incredibly surreal, like it was all a dream. And then I woke up back in the what is now the past.
Who is President where you are? Is Hillary in the middle of her second term?
Dorothy, just get addicted to an MMORPG for a few months, grow a beard, and start eating marijuana candy, like the rest of the burnouts.
I think that would require a lot of HRT. The beard part I mean, the rest could be done without the HRT.
I think Dora from Coffee of Doom might have something to say about that, Dorothy.
And Martin!
This isn’t true, is it? I mean, it doesn’t seem like the case at all
I love my small, independent bookstores. My town in NC is chock full of ’em.
Being prescribed something can cause your dreams to shatter because of the debilitating, potentially permanent side effects. Not only that, but if you don’t take the meds or at least try them people constantly judge you for being “non compliant.”
Dorothy is dealing with a lot right now, but at least she doesn’t have Akasthesia.
As aspiring future president of The United States with PTSD?! That’s-That’s almost as bad a deal-breaker as *dramatic music* Getting an ‘F’ in her second grade gym class!!!! The HORROR…
George W. Bush would’ve NEVER let anything short of perfect ‘k-12 permanent record’ history befall him! We would’ve never elected him, otherwise. *Gasp!* What would Former President Donald Trump think?….
I blame America’s Public education, how else to explain how a politically aware, college-level young woman would be unaware that from 2000 to 2008 we had a self-admitted recovering Cocaine Addict in the white house? (the scandal isn’t the addiction OR emotional trauma, it’s DENYING IT that gets you in trouble).
She might be aware that the standards are different for a Democrat, much less a woman.
*runs in breathless, badly quoting the first Potter book*
“Rich Mullins is trending on Twitter. Thought you should know.”
*collapses*
Unfortunately, being a well-balanced, reasonable adult is no longer a requirement for POTUS.
Dorothy, stop fretting, you’d still be the best president the US has ever had!
Move to Northampton, start a coffee shop, shorten your name to Dora…