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Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
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Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
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(Agreed tho – I tried to learn bass as a young adult, after doing passably with the guitar as a teen and then stopping. I discovered then my tendency for tendinitis by then had gone bad enough to discourage it TwT)
She *could*, but it’s not a must – you can play a right-handed guitar left-handed. Some notable guitarists did so famously – blues legend Albert King for instance. I’ve played right-handed guitars and basses left handed for years and years, and it works very well for me. I’ve yet to come across anything I can’t play simply because I’m a lefty on a right handed instrument. Now stuff I can’t play because it’s just too difficult, that’s another story.
Yes. Also probably bring it to a guitar shop to have it set up leftie; it’s likely more than just changing out the strings (particularly since it’s an acoustic guitar (probably a Martin); I don’t know guitars well, but violins have a sound peg somewhere in the body to set up the sound right, unless she, while learning guitar, motorcycle, etc also happened to learn how to set up guitars.
The guitar looks like it’s a leftie model and in the above pic she’s had it reset rightie. If you look at the Martin site (https://www.martinguitar.com/) you’ll see that a “regular” guitar has the black detail to the right of the hole, not the left (“regular”/rightie stringed insturments have you fretting with your off hand and strumming/playing with your right).
Also, re bass vs guitar fretting, at least at a beginner/moderate level, the fretting is -much- less involved on a bass, because a bass is usually only playing one note at a time, not a chord. as such, instead of making all sorts of odd hand shapes, you’re generally holding down one fret at a time–maybe two for a fast progression.
Kinda hope it is not a Martin, they are overpriced and you are mainly paying for the name. You can get a much better guitar for cheaper by buying a different brand.
There’s more to it than that.Yyou need to flip the nut and the bridge over on an acoustic guitar because the notches in the nut and bridge are sized to fit the strings. The notches are bigger for the lower strings. If you just restring it the low E string won’t fit in the notch for the high E string and it will eventually slip off.
It’s different. I think depending on the injury bass could be better. Also you can play the bass without stretching your hand like crazy, depending how you play seeing as it’s generally only played in single notes. whereas guitar is typically more chords based, which involves some level of agility in your fretting hand (These are generalizations but it works for the sort of alt-rock and pop Sal swems to be into)
Yeah, that happens to me way too often. Except it”s usually in a different location in the comments. Then later I’ll read it and go, “hey that’s what I said!,” maybe worded a little differently. Then I’ll look at the time stamp and realize that they made their comment first.
I have to disagree. He didn’t go thru a character development. He still the same Walky as always. He has to be the center of attention, when it comes to serious issues, he didn’t lecture his mother like he should have, instead he squeaks at her, and couldn’t even respond to the “I voted for Obama” comment. All he did was get people mad at him because he still trying to be everyone favorite so he really doesn’t state what need to be said. Same thing happened at Joyce Halloween party, he insisted on attention by angryly stating how much he miss Mike, that Joyce saw right thru it and got mad at him and shoved him to the ground. Walky really needs to grow up, but then again, if he did, he wouldn’t be Walky anymore. Heh
He didn’t overcome his fear and confront his abusive mom on her racism the way he “should have”?
You might have forgotten the lesson Sal learned: There’s no winning with Linda. You confront her reality and she gets defensive and refuses to listen to reason, or you just go with her flow (like Charles).
There was no argument Walky could have presented that would have made Linda reflect critically on her own behavior.
True with that with Linda, but at least he did it, stood his ground, told her what she is outright, and can say he did even if the outcome failed. Sometimes we fight the fight that was going to fail even before it started but you have the satisfaction that you did your best and you can look at yourself in the mirror in the morning. Linda’s mirror probably cracks in pieces the moment she looks at it.
“Yes, what I did was stupid and worse than pointless, but can you at LEAST tell me you admire the sheer amount of EFFORT I put into it?! I’ve never spent this much effort on ANYTHING in my LIFE, and I’d just like a little positive reinforcement to make sure it sticks.”
Maybe Linda will reflect internally and actually work on being a better person to subvert the established trait of most parents being awful in this comic? Just to change things up.
Walky never told Dorothy that his parents have treated Sal unfairly because of their racism.
Maybe he tells her at some point, and in her manic “I need to fix something!” state, she decided that together, they can fix racism! Yes, this white girl can do it!
After the last interaction they both had, it will seem somewhat complicated and I think in these moments that Dorothy is in now, she will not feel inclined to want to help.
Although there is something that intrigues me, if Dorothy had sought something simple instead of being president, would Linda have accepted her?
I think it made Linda like Dorothy more because of it? It was something she could respect. But Linda still treated Sal better than in her entire life, just because Danny existed.
I adore Danny btw. Just, yeahhh, feels like dudes don’t have to work so hard to impress her T_T
But it’s nice for Danny, to be honest. Even if they are being racist shits, he deserves the tiny feeling of parental approval. Considering his parents are very much not approving figures.
Walky shoes are untied – which fits him perfectly. I really all the tiny details that go into these strips – its how you can tell they are made with love.
Darn it, I forgot the apostrophe before the possessive ‘s’ and the word ‘enjoy’ after ‘really’. Its the tiny details like these that really let you know that I make my comments while very tired.
lol i know it’s in his chara model a lot tho i’m surprised he wouldn’t rly trip over them style choices aside, i haven’t had too many issues but it bothers me when one’s even a little loose/keeps getting untied to where i wish i had more laceless sneakrs
You have to think of calling Linda out as an exercise in unity Walky. Unity in you and Sals equal dread whenever your parents pay a surprise visit now that Linda probably won’t bother sending you warning messages.
I would love Sal to give Walky a little dub for finally finishing the race but I get her not giving him this one. It’s very ‘Took you long enough, champ’.
Yeah as nice as it was to see Walky taking the step forward can’t blame Sals reaction here. He’s kind of acting like hes just made this genius gambit and here’s Sal with all her previous experience thinking God bless your soul bro.
Honestly, I kinda wish “WASP” was retired as a term. It mostly just means “very white and not blatantly non-Christian”, which is really frustrating when people describe you, an agnostic, as a WASP, when you know quite well what that P stands for.
Like, yeah, on the scale of “common parlance terms that should be retired”, this is real low on the list, but at the same time, unless I’m mistaken Danny’s never shown any inclination that he’s religious at all in the DOA-verse.
And why the fuck would anyone that’s not a Protestant want to be lumped in with them?
Even if the Anglo-Saxon and Protestant parts aren’t literal anymore, it does imply class too, a class that for a long time was dominated by Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The class that’s been over-represented in power. The class that the proverbial Karen is a member of. Lucky on King of the Hill is not.
I feel like that should be even lower on the list, because it’s in rebuttal to someone’s behavior (something they can change) rather than attacking their inherent traits (which they can’t change).
Sorry to all the Karens in the world; just know you’re not Karens by default.
I don’t know, I think there are probably better insults to use to describe that behavior, even if we have to make it up. I just think it’s kind of messed up to make an insult out of somebody’s *name*. Like, that’s a very important part of somebody’s identity and to turn it into a social brand of shame is a pretty shitty thing to do.
Like Chad and Melvin are 4chan manosphere terms. Plenty of those people are happy to use “Karen” for its potential as a misogynistic weapon, and I’d say only a few of them are really willing to pretend to care enough about misogyny to use it as a specific example of “racism against white people”.
I mean, I don’t call people that? I’m not really sure what point you’re trying to get across here. Is it that you apparently think I’m ideologically inconsistent, in spite of the fact that you know absolutely nothing about me?
Using people’s actual names as epithets is cruel. There is nothing about your rebuttal which contradicts my assertion.
Nah. It’s a good word for that specific brand of entitled middle class white behavior. usually white women bc they’re in a weird specific class of their own on the intersect of oppression and privilege that racist ones like to turn to their benefit to punish poc. Sure it gets misused, but every word does
Eh, the “Karen” thing is annoying, but it’s also unabashedly stupid and jokey enough that I don’t really think it’s worth the effort to try and fight against. It’s generational slang, so I expect it’ll fall (mostly) out of use eventually.
Think of Protestant as someone who thinks “Protestant work ethic” is real and that they have it, even if they don’t have it, and it’s why they’re better off than someone who works for a living.
The more *traditional* meaning is “Not visibly an ethnicity associated with catholicism” [e.g. Irish, Italian, Polish]. But that’s, like, some *vintage* racism. And still technically redundant with the AS part.
for me, Wasp defacto include being Protestant, and is strongly tied to the mentality that exist within white Protestant families. So I don’t consider Catholics to be Wasp. So you can be white and Christian and still not be Wasp.
Interesting and I’ve never really thought about this before since WASP isn’t really a common term anymore, but it’s no longer what I associate with Protestant. It definitely excludes Catholics, as you say, but for me it also implies mainline Protestant and thus wouldn’t be used for fundamentalists. Who are what I would now think of first for Protestants.
Joyce wouldn’t be a WASP – her family’s church was far too culty to fit in.
I mean, speaking as someone with WASP grandparents, I can say with some confidence that it’s still, like, a notable CULTURE which EXISTS in America! It’s just not as DOMINANT a culture as it used to be, because young people have been leaving it in droves for several generations in a row now in order to become athiest or agnostic or whatnot. The remnants of its symbols of power have sort of been swallowed up by the “anti-woke” brand that a lot of politicians, corporations, and media have been trying to sell people on lately, but that seems to have happened entirely independently of any actual WASP families on the ground. So I think it’s okay to use it when you’re actually referring to that particular subculture, but you’re right that people need to stop using it like a synonym for “looks kinda generically white.”
That being said, I think Sal is correct in using it to refer to Danny. I’m not sure how to articulate why he has such a specifically “waspy” vibe, but he just does, ok?
It was during the timeskip, it’s first visible in https://www.dumbingofage.com/juke/ but it was still the original version in This Was Halloween. it’s easy to miss, there’s not a lot of scenes with it visible in January because of coldness I assume.
Yeaaaaaah, while I respect Walky taking a stand? I can’t say I would’ve recommended it as long as he’s financially dependent on Linda and Charles. (Nor would I have recommended it to Sal… and while we don’t know the details of the fights she’s had with Linda except the big one, I suspect by this point it’s a thing she doesn’t bring up by name to try and avoid escalating.) The onus is not on the abused kids to call their abuser out, and doing what they need to to keep themselves safe until they can get themselves independent of her is priority one.
Fortunately, Walky exists on a very different timescale than we do, and as such, Linda probably won’t be a problem any time soon. So this can stand as “he did a character development” and not “this is going to make things SO MUCH WORSE when they’re home for the summer at LATEST.”
I don’t think she’ll stop him funding his education. She still wants him to be a doctor, or at least not to be a dropout. That would reflect badly on her, after all. But she’ll definitely rear her ugly head again somehow.
That would have to be very much a joint decision (or at least presented as one) on her and Charles’ part, as well. It depends on him being able to stand up against her. Charles isn’t the hammer of judgment Linda is, but he is kind of spineless when it comes to Linda. We don’t know if he’s the kind of guy who will prioritize his kids over Linda’s crazy.
I said it last thread and I’ll say it again today – she’s going to get back at Walky by threatening Sal’s tuition. After all, Sally is the one who put those mean thoughts in David’s head, right?
Well, he didn’t get a big hurray from his sister, but at least here it can be seen that with everything and fear, he faced her… but yes, Walky, think carefully about what you will do from now on.
I do hope Linda starts treating Sal (when Danny is not standing next to her) better, even if the only reason is because Linda wouldn’t want to prove Walky right. Really, though, if the result is that Linda doesn’t decide to visit her children on the weekend on a whim? That still sounds like a win to me.
From their last encounter I think Sal is over false parental love, she probably wouldn’t appreciate Linda treating her better just to look good. Best case is no more surprise visits and tuition keeps getting paid.
So long as they’re dating, she’s probably going to show up again just to see Danny and Jennifer. Which is going to be really great for her continued relationship to both her kids.
As Astrid Lindgren put it in The Brothers Lionheart, sometimes there’s a thing you have to do or else you’re not a person at all, but just a speck of dirt.
She’s talking about standing up to tyranny, even if it’s not smart, even if it can only get you hurt, just so you can live with yourself.
What happens next is the next time someone is bigoted to someone he cares about to their face, he’s more likely to side with his friend in that moment instead of taking a day to summon the courage.
Walky might seem distressed now, but due to the fact that he’s kind of a slow-cooker, I have a feeling he’ll only be able to decipher only 10% of these ramifications once he’s well into his golden years.
That guitar just doesn’t fit my mental picture of Sal, it should be electric, and a badass model. Also wondering why she is playing a leftie guitar right handed.
She might have gotten a left-handed guitar because its easier with her injury, but she playing it (and restrung it?) right handed to work on her left-hand’s dexterity. … sinisterity?
Sal is more of a singer, the guitar is secondary to that, more for accompanying her singing. If she came into music through guitar or similar instrument, then yeah she would have an electric instead.
doing the right thing often comes with no reward.
sometimes doing the right thing makes life worse for you in the short run.
sometimes doing the right thing isn’t about making things better, it may just be about stopping things from getting worse.
While I get why Sal is being cynical here, I hope she also is touched at how he’s changed.
I also hope he sticks to his guns with this, as the only way I see Linda or Charles (more Charles here) ever seeing any sort of light is through Walky continuing to call out their shitty behavior.. We already have seen how they don’t listen to Sal no matter how calmly she tries to make the point.
Me if I ever see Tony Hawk: Hey you’re Tony Hawk the famous skateboarder. That’s right I recognise you. Won’t be able to get any content out of this will you, you piece of shit
How to read all 28 issues of my Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane run on Marvel Unlimited:
1: The first four issues were published as the miniseries "Mary Jane."
www.marvel.com/comics/serie...
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
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btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
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It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
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Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
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Pavel
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Yoooooo, she’s playing guitar!
OH YOU’RE SO RIGHT. She mentioned bass because the fretting was gentler on her stabbed hand, right?
I don’t think that’s true. I’ve usually heard that guitar’s easier to fret, though as a uke player I haven’t really tried either.
Guitar sounds good with ukulele, though.
As a guitarist and bassist for a long, long time – definitely. Bass takes more strength in your hands, and usually also more stretching.
(Agreed tho – I tried to learn bass as a young adult, after doing passably with the guitar as a teen and then stopping. I discovered then my tendency for tendinitis by then had gone bad enough to discourage it TwT)
sdjghsk I think I forgot the guitar had appeared before……. But weirdly enough, did remember when she told Danny about the bass like, six years ago.
~Just ADHD Things~ =w=
We’ve seen her playing this one before, such as in this strip where she mentions getting it for Christmas: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/01-this-bright-millennium/fret/
(Incidentally, this is not a bass guitar, and she also mentions the cold helping her stab hand fret better.)
Ooh interesting detail! She’s holding the guitar the other way around here to then. Nice.
Wouldn’t she need to restring the guitar to play it left-handed, though?
She *could*, but it’s not a must – you can play a right-handed guitar left-handed. Some notable guitarists did so famously – blues legend Albert King for instance. I’ve played right-handed guitars and basses left handed for years and years, and it works very well for me. I’ve yet to come across anything I can’t play simply because I’m a lefty on a right handed instrument. Now stuff I can’t play because it’s just too difficult, that’s another story.
Jimi Hendrix played a right hand guitar left-handed all his life. don’t ask me how as I was just a kid and never knew Jimi personally.
Yes. Also probably bring it to a guitar shop to have it set up leftie; it’s likely more than just changing out the strings (particularly since it’s an acoustic guitar (probably a Martin); I don’t know guitars well, but violins have a sound peg somewhere in the body to set up the sound right, unless she, while learning guitar, motorcycle, etc also happened to learn how to set up guitars.
The guitar looks like it’s a leftie model and in the above pic she’s had it reset rightie. If you look at the Martin site (https://www.martinguitar.com/) you’ll see that a “regular” guitar has the black detail to the right of the hole, not the left (“regular”/rightie stringed insturments have you fretting with your off hand and strumming/playing with your right).
Also, re bass vs guitar fretting, at least at a beginner/moderate level, the fretting is -much- less involved on a bass, because a bass is usually only playing one note at a time, not a chord. as such, instead of making all sorts of odd hand shapes, you’re generally holding down one fret at a time–maybe two for a fast progression.
Kinda hope it is not a Martin, they are overpriced and you are mainly paying for the name. You can get a much better guitar for cheaper by buying a different brand.
Just noticed, headstock looks wrong for a Martin.
There’s more to it than that.Yyou need to flip the nut and the bridge over on an acoustic guitar because the notches in the nut and bridge are sized to fit the strings. The notches are bigger for the lower strings. If you just restring it the low E string won’t fit in the notch for the high E string and it will eventually slip off.
Is she trying to learn RH-strung guitar simply because they’re more common?
It’s different. I think depending on the injury bass could be better. Also you can play the bass without stretching your hand like crazy, depending how you play seeing as it’s generally only played in single notes. whereas guitar is typically more chords based, which involves some level of agility in your fretting hand (These are generalizations but it works for the sort of alt-rock and pop Sal swems to be into)
Woops, @mneme made the same point. Forgot to refresh before commenting
Yeah, that happens to me way too often. Except it”s usually in a different location in the comments. Then later I’ll read it and go, “hey that’s what I said!,” maybe worded a little differently. Then I’ll look at the time stamp and realize that they made their comment first.
she and danny can have guitar/ukelele duets lol
and that last panel would be for a great reaction meme
“I went through character development for nothing?!”
Less than nothing! He got negative future birthday money for his trouble!
One could argue it costed him dearly
At least he recognizes that there will be consequences, that will also give him points and more character development…and he’s going to need a lot.
“Adversity prepares us for…more adversity!” — Lucy van Pelt
It was in that moment that Walky knew he screwed up.
Did he, though?
Longest Day reference for the win.
Don’t worry. The evil parents set up their hate cannons nearby, so that character development will still allow you to take them out.
I have to disagree. He didn’t go thru a character development. He still the same Walky as always. He has to be the center of attention, when it comes to serious issues, he didn’t lecture his mother like he should have, instead he squeaks at her, and couldn’t even respond to the “I voted for Obama” comment. All he did was get people mad at him because he still trying to be everyone favorite so he really doesn’t state what need to be said. Same thing happened at Joyce Halloween party, he insisted on attention by angryly stating how much he miss Mike, that Joyce saw right thru it and got mad at him and shoved him to the ground. Walky really needs to grow up, but then again, if he did, he wouldn’t be Walky anymore. Heh
He didn’t overcome his fear and confront his abusive mom on her racism the way he “should have”?
You might have forgotten the lesson Sal learned: There’s no winning with Linda. You confront her reality and she gets defensive and refuses to listen to reason, or you just go with her flow (like Charles).
There was no argument Walky could have presented that would have made Linda reflect critically on her own behavior.
True with that with Linda, but at least he did it, stood his ground, told her what she is outright, and can say he did even if the outcome failed. Sometimes we fight the fight that was going to fail even before it started but you have the satisfaction that you did your best and you can look at yourself in the mirror in the morning. Linda’s mirror probably cracks in pieces the moment she looks at it.
“Well…I guess I made sure it would STAY your turn?”
Dumbing of Age Book 14: Ahh Shit
Tell the alt-text we could have been watching karaoke.
Don’t worry Walky. I’m still proud of you!
Honestly same
Hear hear!
Omg Sal acknowledge it was at the very least cool. Will Have Consequences like basically all cool shit, but glsdkjg
(Or commiserate together. That works too :’DD)
Right? I’m sittin’ here thinkin’, “Let him have this one, Sal.”
“Yes, what I did was stupid and worse than pointless, but can you at LEAST tell me you admire the sheer amount of EFFORT I put into it?! I’ve never spent this much effort on ANYTHING in my LIFE, and I’d just like a little positive reinforcement to make sure it sticks.”
Maybe Linda will reflect internally and actually work on being a better person to subvert the established trait of most parents being awful in this comic? Just to change things up.
Yep that’s right Walky, no point in doing a good thing if no one knows you did it
Linda knows.
[Ominous music swell]
Y’know, just a thought, but…
Walky never told Dorothy that his parents have treated Sal unfairly because of their racism.
Maybe he tells her at some point, and in her manic “I need to fix something!” state, she decided that together, they can fix racism! Yes, this white girl can do it!
Cue a collective clenching of anuses.
After the last interaction they both had, it will seem somewhat complicated and I think in these moments that Dorothy is in now, she will not feel inclined to want to help.
Although there is something that intrigues me, if Dorothy had sought something simple instead of being president, would Linda have accepted her?
They already accepted Dorothy, Linda and Charles had no issue with her.
She and Walky broke up for different reasons.
I mentioned it, because Linda, in addition to her obvious racism, loves the top and the glory, so that’s why that thought came to mind.
I think it made Linda like Dorothy more because of it? It was something she could respect. But Linda still treated Sal better than in her entire life, just because Danny existed.
I adore Danny btw. Just, yeahhh, feels like dudes don’t have to work so hard to impress her T_T
Good point
But it’s nice for Danny, to be honest. Even if they are being racist shits, he deserves the tiny feeling of parental approval. Considering his parents are very much not approving figures.
I mean, assuming that aspiring librarian Dorothy still behaves recognizably like Dorothy, I don’t see why she wouldn’t.
Actually yes.
But I mentioned it because we are talking about Linda and her peculiar way of seeing the world.
Walky shoes are untied – which fits him perfectly. I really all the tiny details that go into these strips – its how you can tell they are made with love.
Darn it, I forgot the apostrophe before the possessive ‘s’ and the word ‘enjoy’ after ‘really’. Its the tiny details like these that really let you know that I make my comments while very tired.
I really.
That’s how you know
I! That’s.
I know. Right?
Wally’s shoes are always untied.
Walky, stupid autocorrect.
That’s why he’s so hard to find, he’s always sprawled on the ground behind everyone’s legs
I dont know about EVERYone but hes welcome to sprawl between…oh wait, that says BEHIND doesnt it? Nevermind.
lol i know it’s in his chara model a lot tho i’m surprised he wouldn’t rly trip over them style choices aside, i haven’t had too many issues but it bothers me when one’s even a little loose/keeps getting untied to where i wish i had more laceless sneakrs
You have to think of calling Linda out as an exercise in unity Walky. Unity in you and Sals equal dread whenever your parents pay a surprise visit now that Linda probably won’t bother sending you warning messages.
I would love Sal to give Walky a little dub for finally finishing the race but I get her not giving him this one. It’s very ‘Took you long enough, champ’.
Yeah as nice as it was to see Walky taking the step forward can’t blame Sals reaction here. He’s kind of acting like hes just made this genius gambit and here’s Sal with all her previous experience thinking God bless your soul bro.
Also it’s not like pissing off their parents is a particularly productive use of his newfound awareness.
Dumbing of Age Book 14: Aah. Shit.
DOA 14: As has Been Repeatedly Implied
Honestly, I kinda wish “WASP” was retired as a term. It mostly just means “very white and not blatantly non-Christian”, which is really frustrating when people describe you, an agnostic, as a WASP, when you know quite well what that P stands for.
Like, yeah, on the scale of “common parlance terms that should be retired”, this is real low on the list, but at the same time, unless I’m mistaken Danny’s never shown any inclination that he’s religious at all in the DOA-verse.
And why the fuck would anyone that’s not a Protestant want to be lumped in with them?
Yeah, not uncommon to see people use WASP when they really just mean the “W” part
Even if the Anglo-Saxon and Protestant parts aren’t literal anymore, it does imply class too, a class that for a long time was dominated by Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The class that’s been over-represented in power. The class that the proverbial Karen is a member of. Lucky on King of the Hill is not.
Agreed. Nowadays it means white, middle class, and decently well educated.
White, middle class, and enormously antihumanitarian despite having some college.
While we’re on the subject of terms that should be retired, can we retire “Karen” as an insult, as well?
I feel like that should be even lower on the list, because it’s in rebuttal to someone’s behavior (something they can change) rather than attacking their inherent traits (which they can’t change).
Sorry to all the Karens in the world; just know you’re not Karens by default.
I don’t know, I think there are probably better insults to use to describe that behavior, even if we have to make it up. I just think it’s kind of messed up to make an insult out of somebody’s *name*. Like, that’s a very important part of somebody’s identity and to turn it into a social brand of shame is a pretty shitty thing to do.
Okay then stop calling people Chads and Melvins too.
I think most of the objections to “Karen” aren’t coming from people who use “Chad” or “Melvin”.
Like Chad and Melvin are 4chan manosphere terms. Plenty of those people are happy to use “Karen” for its potential as a misogynistic weapon, and I’d say only a few of them are really willing to pretend to care enough about misogyny to use it as a specific example of “racism against white people”.
I mean, I don’t call people that? I’m not really sure what point you’re trying to get across here. Is it that you apparently think I’m ideologically inconsistent, in spite of the fact that you know absolutely nothing about me?
Using people’s actual names as epithets is cruel. There is nothing about your rebuttal which contradicts my assertion.
What’s a Melvin??
Indeed: I know several Karens and none of them is a karen.
Nah. It’s a good word for that specific brand of entitled middle class white behavior. usually white women bc they’re in a weird specific class of their own on the intersect of oppression and privilege that racist ones like to turn to their benefit to punish poc. Sure it gets misused, but every word does
Eh, the “Karen” thing is annoying, but it’s also unabashedly stupid and jokey enough that I don’t really think it’s worth the effort to try and fight against. It’s generational slang, so I expect it’ll fall (mostly) out of use eventually.
Think of Protestant as someone who thinks “Protestant work ethic” is real and that they have it, even if they don’t have it, and it’s why they’re better off than someone who works for a living.
The more *traditional* meaning is “Not visibly an ethnicity associated with catholicism” [e.g. Irish, Italian, Polish]. But that’s, like, some *vintage* racism. And still technically redundant with the AS part.
Also “not Jewish”.
There was a strip between Danny and Joe where they basically called each other out on not going to church/temple respectively.
So Danny’s family is probably Christian/Catholic.
for me, Wasp defacto include being Protestant, and is strongly tied to the mentality that exist within white Protestant families. So I don’t consider Catholics to be Wasp. So you can be white and Christian and still not be Wasp.
Interesting and I’ve never really thought about this before since WASP isn’t really a common term anymore, but it’s no longer what I associate with Protestant. It definitely excludes Catholics, as you say, but for me it also implies mainline Protestant and thus wouldn’t be used for fundamentalists. Who are what I would now think of first for Protestants.
Joyce wouldn’t be a WASP – her family’s church was far too culty to fit in.
Oh so that’s what she meant by Waspy, I was not familiar with this term.
What, you didn’t notice Danny buzzing around, trying to sting Walky?
I thought it was a new form of self-expression and that he was going to get a new hat for that
lol i know waspy also refers to a religious thing tho i just thought she was calling him scrawny at first (which isn’t untrue lol)
Even *as* a Protestant, there’s a lot of Protestants I’d rather not be lumped in with.
2025 – WASP is replaced by WAAAP. White Anglo Atheists And Protestants.
Nothing else changes.
Now that’s a grouping guaranteed to cause fist fights.
I mean, speaking as someone with WASP grandparents, I can say with some confidence that it’s still, like, a notable CULTURE which EXISTS in America! It’s just not as DOMINANT a culture as it used to be, because young people have been leaving it in droves for several generations in a row now in order to become athiest or agnostic or whatnot. The remnants of its symbols of power have sort of been swallowed up by the “anti-woke” brand that a lot of politicians, corporations, and media have been trying to sell people on lately, but that seems to have happened entirely independently of any actual WASP families on the ground. So I think it’s okay to use it when you’re actually referring to that particular subculture, but you’re right that people need to stop using it like a synonym for “looks kinda generically white.”
That being said, I think Sal is correct in using it to refer to Danny. I’m not sure how to articulate why he has such a specifically “waspy” vibe, but he just does, ok?
breaking the bravery seal is good in at least one way. Next time he’s less likely to wait a day.
Still be proud of yourself, Walky. You stood up to her for once
Did Sal’s tattoo change since before the time jump, or have I not been paying attention?
Indeed, she added more details to her spider.
I first noticed it on this strip, as well. Glad I’m not alone.
It was during the timeskip, it’s first visible in https://www.dumbingofage.com/juke/ but it was still the original version in This Was Halloween. it’s easy to miss, there’s not a lot of scenes with it visible in January because of coldness I assume.
full image
That’s fucking sick.
She added more over the time jump. She said last semester she wanted to add to it and eventually she wants a full sleeve.
I also just noticed and went digging through the tags in response! Here’s the strip where she mentions wanting to add to it, back before the time jump: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/04-is-a-song-forever/parental/
Yeaaaaaah, while I respect Walky taking a stand? I can’t say I would’ve recommended it as long as he’s financially dependent on Linda and Charles. (Nor would I have recommended it to Sal… and while we don’t know the details of the fights she’s had with Linda except the big one, I suspect by this point it’s a thing she doesn’t bring up by name to try and avoid escalating.) The onus is not on the abused kids to call their abuser out, and doing what they need to to keep themselves safe until they can get themselves independent of her is priority one.
Fortunately, Walky exists on a very different timescale than we do, and as such, Linda probably won’t be a problem any time soon. So this can stand as “he did a character development” and not “this is going to make things SO MUCH WORSE when they’re home for the summer at LATEST.”
I don’t think she’ll stop him funding his education. She still wants him to be a doctor, or at least not to be a dropout. That would reflect badly on her, after all. But she’ll definitely rear her ugly head again somehow.
That would have to be very much a joint decision (or at least presented as one) on her and Charles’ part, as well. It depends on him being able to stand up against her. Charles isn’t the hammer of judgment Linda is, but he is kind of spineless when it comes to Linda. We don’t know if he’s the kind of guy who will prioritize his kids over Linda’s crazy.
I could see her threatening it, expecting him to cave rather than have to go through with it.
I said it last thread and I’ll say it again today – she’s going to get back at Walky by threatening Sal’s tuition. After all, Sally is the one who put those mean thoughts in David’s head, right?
Linda is 10000% a Conditional Racist, so I see it going either way.
Well, he didn’t get a big hurray from his sister, but at least here it can be seen that with everything and fear, he faced her… but yes, Walky, think carefully about what you will do from now on.
I do hope Linda starts treating Sal (when Danny is not standing next to her) better, even if the only reason is because Linda wouldn’t want to prove Walky right. Really, though, if the result is that Linda doesn’t decide to visit her children on the weekend on a whim? That still sounds like a win to me.
This fight has gotten intense, all that remains is to see Linda’s response
From their last encounter I think Sal is over false parental love, she probably wouldn’t appreciate Linda treating her better just to look good. Best case is no more surprise visits and tuition keeps getting paid.
So long as they’re dating, she’s probably going to show up again just to see Danny and Jennifer. Which is going to be really great for her continued relationship to both her kids.
I’m seriously afraid that Linda’s retaliation is going to be to weaponize Jennifer.
Linda treating Sal better makes Sal’s relationship with Danny worse.
has that tattoo always been there?
The spider one? Yep. The music sheet? I’m not quite sure.
Sal’s had the Tarantugun since the beginning of the comic. (It’s from the old continuity where the main cast were all alien-augmented superheroes.)
She added the music staff over winter break.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/trainer/
Looks like her martian invasion ship got more baroque since the first time we saw it.
Finnally somebody visit Sal without goddamn Malaya sketch
A refreshing moment for Sal
I expect a “goddammit, Malaya” from you if she appears tomorrow.
Shit is right, yeah.
As Astrid Lindgren put it in The Brothers Lionheart, sometimes there’s a thing you have to do or else you’re not a person at all, but just a speck of dirt.
She’s talking about standing up to tyranny, even if it’s not smart, even if it can only get you hurt, just so you can live with yourself.
are you really, tho ?
What – he did all this so that people wouldn’t think he’s a coward?
What next? Seppuku?
I mean, yeah.
Walky doesn’t believe in big moral principled stands. He hasn’t gotten there yet philosophically speaking.
In fairness, he also did it because his parents’ visit is what set off the chain of events which got him dumped by his girlfriend.
But yes, essentially.
Nah, Seppuku would be more equivocal to what he DID.
Within Bushido, surrender and the entailed dishonor is a fate worse than death, the very point of Seppuku is to show that you’re innocent.
What happens next is the next time someone is bigoted to someone he cares about to their face, he’s more likely to side with his friend in that moment instead of taking a day to summon the courage.
I think it’s more so he doesn’t think they’re right.
Fuck it, give the kid a cookie for trying.
the risk he took was calculated but he only thought he was good at math
Ooh, nice combined reference/callback!
Yee!
I wonder if she’s going to get Amber expelled for hacking the grade system. (Also jail time?)
Walky might seem distressed now, but due to the fact that he’s kind of a slow-cooker, I have a feeling he’ll only be able to decipher only 10% of these ramifications once he’s well into his golden years.
That guitar just doesn’t fit my mental picture of Sal, it should be electric, and a badass model. Also wondering why she is playing a leftie guitar right handed.
She might have gotten a left-handed guitar because its easier with her injury, but she playing it (and restrung it?) right handed to work on her left-hand’s dexterity. … sinisterity?
also, she’s holding it in today’s strip, not playing it. so my previous comment is kind of moot.
Sal’s overall character arc is rediscovering herself, and subverting expectations others have of her is a big part of that.
Sal is more of a singer, the guitar is secondary to that, more for accompanying her singing. If she came into music through guitar or similar instrument, then yeah she would have an electric instead.
Well, we know Walky’s heart is in the right place, at least. Too bad his brain isn’t.
doing the right thing often comes with no reward.
sometimes doing the right thing makes life worse for you in the short run.
sometimes doing the right thing isn’t about making things better, it may just be about stopping things from getting worse.
Have an upvote earthling ^^
Just to even be more of a David Downer, I think Danny may be the Walkerton’s new favorite “child”.
Well, 2nd ranked if Jenny’s still the perennial fave, while Walky’s pinned down to a #4 at best.
If he did this for Sal and not Lucy then he danned this up.
While I get why Sal is being cynical here, I hope she also is touched at how he’s changed.
I also hope he sticks to his guns with this, as the only way I see Linda or Charles (more Charles here) ever seeing any sort of light is through Walky continuing to call out their shitty behavior.. We already have seen how they don’t listen to Sal no matter how calmly she tries to make the point.
walky’s about to learn the very valuable lesson that doing the right thing does not always reap rewards
