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I mean it’s one thing if you’re just goofing around, but if you are genuinely this excited to see someone that you saw less than twelve hours ago, I am going to assume you have a crush.
My pod person replacement came back to the space ship after fifteen minutes dealing with my life and said it was too much bullshit and they let me go. I was really down about it.
Hat is still a fun name. Especially if he stops wearing the hat. Someone meeting them all later on could be like, “Wait, why do you call him Hat? He isn’t even wearing a hat.” “Yeah, but he did at one point.”
For many years, I belonged to a club that did not allow for name duplication. If you had the same first name as someone already in the club, you had to come up with (or be given) a nickname (e.g. one of our multitude of Jeremys became Goose) or a distinguishing adjective (Light Nick, Jen the Elder). It worked well.
In college, in the nerd club (TTRPGs, MtG, boardgames, etc) we had at one point seven François (Francis in French). So obviously all of them got a surname, and one of them was François Chapeau (chapeau is hat).
15 years after, and we still call him Chapeau.
more than a little hot. that would be an absolute epic of a seething hate-fuck. I’m not even really into that kind of thing, but I know what the archetype looks like, and it’s a stellar specimen.
No; the absolute epic of a seething hate-fuck would be if Mary ever let slip the *other* reason she is so vehemently antagonistic to Carla and denies her gender. The reason she’s using religious zealotry to mask.
That being, Carla made Mary realize she was just a tad bit queer. And everytime she has… certain thoughts… she fights harder.
Mary, bent over some woman’s knee, the woman says “Yeah you like that huh”, Mary’s like “No! ”, the other woman patiently says “Tell the truth” and Mary’s instantly all “Okay fine, yes. ”. Time skip to an hour later, Mary comes out of the other woman’s room, missing her shirt, covered in handprints and lipstick marks (overlapping), visibly pissed and enraged. Dorothy asks her what her deal is this time, and Mary grumps “Apparently I’m a fucking queer now. Fantastic, I’m so glad I waited nineteen fucking years to figure this out. ” and she storms off.
i think it’s just a running joke at this point which is a shame since danny’s nice enough/has also grown. i wonder if it’d help if she knew he was bi and almsot asked ehtan out once lol
It’s a joke because in Willis’ previous works, Joyce was obsessed with Danny for a long time, so over here she does not give a single tiny solitary shit about him. It’s got nothing to do with how nice Danny is.
It’s a joke for Willis, by Willis. Roomies! was initially driven by Joyce’s obsession with Danny, and Willis has stated that he finds it hillarious that Joyce doesn’t care at all about Danny in the reboot.
That is funnier than my assumption that Joyce’s flavour of ND is like mine where my brain considers names optional information unworthy of saving (and is generally ungood at connecting names to faces) and so designates nicknames.
Willis can obviously put his characters in whatever classes he wants. But some of these seem odd to me (as an oldster) for freshmen. In this case it seems odd for Joyce – an elementary ed major – to take calculus at all, let alone have the math background to take it as a freshman. Have things changed that much since my time?
Most people I knew had at least some exposure to calculus by senior year of high school, and that was 20 years ago. I imagine it’s become even more standard by now. As for why everyone’s taking it, gen ed requirements?
you can take calculus in high school depending on the shcool, and joyce has stated she likes and is good at math before. she was also homeschooled, so her enjoying math may have just resulted in her doing a lot of it – up through precalc. it doesn’t seem too far fetched to me, clearly her parents were prepping her for college, so if she meets the credentials there’s no reason not to let her take the classes she wants to take. this is also her second semester of math! the girl likes math!!!
Calculus is a pretty common freshman math class, in my experience; standard level math at my high school would take you to precalculus as a senior, so that was what people would go on to take if they needed to satisfy their math credit. That said, you could take something else to meet the requirements of a lot of programs. I never took a mat course in college because I passed my AP exam, so I don’t have firsthand knowledge of the classroom demographics, though.
The Main Sequence for Chicago public schools was algebra, geometry, algebra 2/trig, and pre-calculus. I think all 4 were mandatory, though can’t swear to it. If you were lucky you got a chance to do algebra in 8th (or 7th and 8th grade), letting you take AP Calculus senior year of high school.
Schools vary; someone from Orange County, my age, took algebra in 6th grade. Might have been private school, not sure.
It also just varies on the individual. Plenty of people take math classes that are higher than most in their grade level. I was one level advanced, which put me in AP Calculus BC my senior year, and while most of the class was seniors, there were students from other grades as well, including a couple freshmen.
Yep, I’m from Orange County (California) and took AP Calc BC my senior year, but there was at least a class’ worth of students who took it their junior year and then took AP Stats their senior year. I was taking Algebra in 8th grade and they would have been taking it in 7th grade.
Both of these tracks were considered advanced relative to the standard track, which had students taking pre calculus their senior year.
I was a biology major and only had to take stats in college, as I scored a 5 on the AP Calc exam and so was able to skip any calculus-based math requirements.
Following up on those comments: things might have changed in 50 years.
I took calculus in high school, as did a bunch of the other “academic types”, but that bunch was at most maybe 5-10% of the senior class (there were about 1200 in my senior class). The general sequence at the time was Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Trigonometry/Analytical Geometry (one semester each), then Calculus. My guess is that the bulk of students either stopped at Algebra 2 or took a more general “pre-college refresher” as seniors. When I was in college, the people who took calculus (and higher) were those in what would now be called STEM majors and maybe finance majors, but generally not liberal arts, education, other business majors, etc. There were some “Math 101” type classes for those that weren’t going to take more advanced math but needed some more basic stuff (or refreshers), perhaps prior to taking statistics or similar.
I don’t remember if my kids (about 15 years out of high school) drool calculus in high school. Perhaps the one headed into the sciences did – if not, he did as a college freshman. The other was a music major and I’m pretty sure he didn’t, even in college.
The fact that Joyce was homeschooled actually makes it seem less likely to me – unless her parents were in professions where math beyond algebra was important, I’d be surprised if they would have been able to teach trig well (even if they read some textbook and tried to stay ahead). Of course, that’s how I feel about homeschooling in general – I question its efficacy for most, because teaching isn’t easy and having expertise in the range of needed subjects is difficult, so few can do it well. (I’ve seen reports of what is considered a valid homeschooling curriculum in this state, and it’s pretty horrifying in terms of how little academics there were)
Indiana University requires everyone take a choice of two (maybe three? Haven’t checked in a while) math classes. This calculus one is one of them.
Joyce is in it because she loves math.
Walky and Sal are in it because they are Walkertons and it is expected of them.
Dorothy is in it ’cause she’s a big ole nerd.
Jennifer and Joe probably took it because it was the next level up from what they took in high school (we know Joe’s school had pre-calculus because Dorothy took it). I suspect that either that or Walky’s presence is why Lucy took it.
Dina (and now Becky) took it because they need it for science.
Sarah explicitly did not take calculus because her major doesn’t need higher math.
We don’t know anything about anyone else’s math choices, but yes, calculus isn’t universal but it’s very common in many schools. Trigonometry was like grade 10-11 in my school (but I took college/university math instead of university in grade 11 so what the fuck do I know, maybe university math had calculus).
I feel that a relationship between Jennifer and Sarah would be a lot like a nuclear reactor – possibly incredibly long lasting source of energy and light but highly toxic, and never more than a hair’s breath away from a catastrophic meltdown followed by an terminal roaring explosion that terrifies everybody in a 100 mile radius.
They have very strong sibling energy. So, they were either going to be best friends or harmlessly hostile. And Walky led things off with laughing at her closely held beliefs, and that kinda sealed the dynamic.
A lot of it is because of Dorothy, though she actually already had friction with him before that due to his dunking on her conservative fundamental Christian attitudes early on. Dorothy entering the picture just escalated it.
That being said, a lot of it is performative. He was able to break through to her when she was having trouble knowing what to do with herself after she stopped going to church (the time he got her to ditch her pants, only after he had left, obviously). She also does trust him, ultimately.
This is further complicated by both of them being physically attracted to each other, but due to their personalities, being extremely reluctant to admit to it because they have zero interest in acting on it. She crushed on him unknowingly as a kid when he was in the Psalty videos, and he pieced together Ethan was gay due to his disinterest in being sexual with Joyce, timidly making a comment like “I mean, look at her” to Dorothy, to her utter amusement. There are other moments, too, but those are probably the most explicit ones.
Insignificant continuity goof, but in fall Dorothy, it’s implied that Dorothy both took Calc and didn’t take Calc. On one hand, you can do fancy interpretations so there’s no contradiction. But on the other hand, it amuses me that Willis just gave Dorothy classes willy nilly, so there was an impression she was taking too many classes.
Obviously by “in a while” and “may be a little rusty”, she means it’s been at least sixteen hours and she’s forgotten one or two specific answers she gave on an old bit of homework.
She never said she was doing advanced calc for a class, probably just learning it to boost grades via extra credit or something.
I think Dorothy just extra beefed up on math during high school (which is why she could help Walky with it), and she just didn’t take Calc 101 because it would be too easy for her.
I think the continuity goof just makes way more sense, because I’m not sure why a non-calculus class would have advanced calculus problems as extra credit.
I do assume Dorothy took calculus in high school and likely received AP credit for it, so she’s not taking it now. (And also isn’t actually “auditing” their class, but that was kind of a given.)
Then again, Dorothy would absolutely turn in a page of completely unnecessary and unprompted homework she gave herself, on a loose assumption it might get her extra credit.
Where are they all going? Surely they’re not all going to audit a calculus class. I still have no idea what half these chumps even do or where they go. Your class is either taught by a queer woman, a scientist from Back to the Future, or it’s not interesting I guess.
Sarah (and presumably Jacob)’s pre-law class is on their way to math, they’ve done this route before. Dorothy is tagging along. Everyone else is in math.
Have we seen the calc class at all? Is it taught by someone either queer or unhinged, likely both? I only know Jason used to TA a math class but that bridge has been thoroughly destroyed and our bowtie TA is in a new hell now.
Well, yeah, but having them walk the same route to different classes is as good a way as any. I did that with plenty of people – we were going the same way so we walked together.
Still, the extra time together will advance the plot by sowing division in this loosely associated friend group. It’s a bad sine if tensions start to rise exponentially.
Sometimes a class is just boring filler even to the person taking it. Can’t imagine everything they go to is exciting, and probably less interesting to read about when it’s something only one of the group takes. If Joyce is still in on education then she’s probably got a Being A Teacher course or two that nobody else does and wouldn’t be all that fun to check in on.
I think there’s stuff to work with. Like Sarah is pre law. I’d love to know if she’a actually good at understanding our legal system or maybe passionate about justice or even just in it for the money instead of just assuming she has her reasons. I’d also love to know if Joe is interested in anything beyong women and working out. Is he a good student? I know the story isn’t about them attending classes but the occasional glimpse at their potential would be nice to see.
I believe Sarah and Jacob are walking to the building after Swaim Hall (and no, I don’t mean Swaim Hall West, which is a thing). That’d be the School of Law building.
It’s because he is a dork. Remember how bad it was when the comic first started? Jennifer wants to look cool, and she’s embarrassed by him. But she’s also gotten locked into that dynamic of thinking she’s better than him, and gets very uncomfortable when that is challenged. When they all went to brunch, she was at first worried that he would embarrass her. And then when he didn’t, that was even worse.
The funny thing about it is that he is far less of a disaster than she is. He is a dork with Gifted Kid Syndrome but generally pretty decent person while she is a Fallen from Grace Popular kid with Alcohol problems and DUI before she was even allowed to legally drink.
It’s unjustified, but her hatred of him seems like a combination of a lot of things. She always tries to define herself and how people see her, and Walky’s the one who (inadvertently) gave her the nickname Billie that she’s trying to run from. How she wants to be seen is different from how he knows her, so she sees him as a part of herself that she wants to get away from. Plus, she resents that he feels comfortable being himself in social situations, while she feels like she has to impress people, which is why she gets so angry when Walky makes a good impression on Raidah by being himself. And a bunch of other stuff. So it’s complicated.
“Hang out with my friends while they’re in class”, from context. She’s not going to her own class, so what else does she have to do right now? This is more fun.
It would be really funny if neither Sarah nor Lucy wound up being all that into Jacob long-term, but then they started hanging out and gay gay gay gay gay
Ooh, solid possibility I think. Lucy gets what Sarah wants, so if Sarah acts like Lucy then SARAH gets what Sarah wants. It’s both terrible and not-terrible reasoning.
How long can she stand to do this? Will she crack, or will she become the mask? If the latter, how long until she puts on a heal-the-world concert while wearing a cape?
Roomies? Oh, I have so much to learn. I have not yet gotten over people being required to share a bedroom. Next stop finding out what pod people are. It’s fin learning about other cultures via comics.
Aww, c’mon, Willis! This “crowd” isn’t even _close_ to the entire cast so far! Keep bringing people in. Make it a whole story arc, just expanding the crowd. (how many named characters we got now? like forty?)
I’ve got 38 names on the F-bomb chart, and that’s not nearly everybody. Jacob’s not on the scoreboard, for one. Offhand, there’s also Sierra, Grace, and Mandy, Agatha, Other Rachel, Ken, Arnold, Bryan, Jim, Duncan, Dorothy’s parents, Danny’s parents, Mike’s parents, Linda, Hank, Joyce’s siblings, Dina’s parents, Ethan’s father, Sierra’s parents, Daisy, Galasso, Conquest, Pamela, Sydney, Faz, Zaph, Rose, Nash, Riley, Alex, Alan, Penny, Professor DocBrock, Dean McHenry, Tony, Ron, Alice, Kaitlin, Reginald, Duke of Thingley… I guess Buckets of Blood Guy doesn’t actually count as a “named character”… Norville, Peter Paul, Carl, Chan… a bunch of Tylers and Taylors and whatnot from Joyce and Becky’s church…
I think Sarah’s really changed, just as Lucy did. Got a friends group for probably the first time in college. Her “friends “ from freshman year all plot to destroy her. I think she woke up and decided that she doesn’t need to live in that world. She has actual friends who don’t hate her. Must be a serious relief to drop all the tension and anger.
And I think I’m also getting tired of Joyce’s constant insulting and dismissal of Walky.
I know there are “friends” that do that playful insulting… but there’s a limit. You actually do have to balance it out with being kind and nice to them.
After having a brother do that my entire life, and we have no real relationship… yeah, I don’t really have a taste for that. I prefer to be kind to my friends. (Sorry if TMI)
Pod person, shmod person. Everyone has forgotten that Sarah becomes happy when someone else she knows is miserable. No-one here seems unhappy enough to be the trigger, so it’s someone not yet seen this this morning. Someone must be positively wrecked, possibly from the party.
How about Dina?
Dina: OW! Ow. ow. why does my head hurt so much for reasons not related to creationist nonsense?
I think Jennifer’s unhappiness is more then enough for Sarah though Lucy might also still be mad about how Joyce flat out told her she still wants Jacob and Sarah to be exclusive.
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DOROTHY
The others settled for their plus ones, but Dorothy seized her integral.
A very straight response to seeing your best friend.
Joyce probably isn’t straight, I’ll grant the comments that, but it’s not inherently gay to be excited to see your best friend.
I respond similarly to my best friend and I’m largely asexual/aromantic.
I mean it’s one thing if you’re just goofing around, but if you are genuinely this excited to see someone that you saw less than twelve hours ago, I am going to assume you have a crush.
Some people just get excited about their friends. Also, Dorothy doesn’t usually join for this walk, so she’s a pleasant surprise.
Hate to break it to you, but Aroace people can be excited people too. Doesn’t have to be anything but platonic love and adoration.
“Last night at 12:30, why?”
“I accepted the pod and its beautiful truth. It’s better this way. As I am now, you will all be, soon.”
My pod person replacement came back to the space ship after fifteen minutes dealing with my life and said it was too much bullshit and they let me go. I was really down about it.
This is why it’s so important to learn to drive a stick shift. Trying to figure it out in the moment gives the pod aliens time retake the ship.
I prefer Hat actually. Danny is pretty generic. The guy named “Hat” you remember.
Hat is only distinctive for as long as you’re the only dude with a hat. What happens when someone arrives with a bigger, more impressive hat?
Hat is still a fun name. Especially if he stops wearing the hat. Someone meeting them all later on could be like, “Wait, why do you call him Hat? He isn’t even wearing a hat.” “Yeah, but he did at one point.”
There’s a place in Canada called Tunnel Mountain, on account of how it is a mountain without a tunnel.
There’s also a town in Canada with a suburb that contains “This Street”, “That Street”, & “The Other” Street…
Something about the ice up there starts really messing with people’s brains. XD
They become Hat 2.
Gesundheit.
you just hat-two make this comment, didnt you?
Then they are called Other Hat. No one can usurp first Hat.
That’s the sort of arrogance that gets you usurped by a cooler hat
and then? You, obviously, have a Hat Trick!
For many years, I belonged to a club that did not allow for name duplication. If you had the same first name as someone already in the club, you had to come up with (or be given) a nickname (e.g. one of our multitude of Jeremys became Goose) or a distinguishing adjective (Light Nick, Jen the Elder). It worked well.
That’s Carla. Nobody can be confused with Carla.
Hyu beats dem op und takes deir hat uf course
That sounds like something Hat (danny) would say.
Well fuck I can’t html for shit. Just copy paste it
https://youtu.be/yVHnQY5ZQ8o?si=0g3E7cpJU5RLfaj4
Hat Guy sounds good.
In college, in the nerd club (TTRPGs, MtG, boardgames, etc) we had at one point seven François (Francis in French). So obviously all of them got a surname, and one of them was François Chapeau (chapeau is hat).
15 years after, and we still call him Chapeau.
Do you think it’s possible Joyce believes Sal is dating Danny’s hat, and the guy underneath is just there to sort of transport it?
Wait, you mean she’s not dating the hat? I thought the hat was named Danny
(I fat fingered the buttons and accidentally reported your comment. Sorry)
You know she’s dating the Uke
But it’s a uke wearing a hat
Sal’s the one here who’s actually in a polycule, with Uke, Danny, and The Hat. In that order.
I’m pretty sure they aren’t supposed to have orders, but hey… I never said it was a healthy polycule. This ain’t Geniusing of Age.
The Uke would be Danny’s name if he had ended up with Ethan.
Danny’s the Uke, Sal’s the SEMME.
Holy shit, I wish I could upvote this comment into apotheosis
If it happened three times, does that make it a hat trick?
I admit that’s a funny concept, but more likely to be she momentarily blanked on Danny’s name.
Sounds likely. I Played Mario’s Hat in Super Mario Odyssey and I got all the princesses.
That’s very polite of Hat. I mean Danny.
I think you mean Wonderbread.
Right, that was Hat’s real name. Where did I get Danny?
jennifer and sarah WOULD be a little hot, i suppose
Eh, I’m not the Biggest Sarah fan, but she DEFINITELY deserves better than Jennifer.
well it’s a good thing that this isn’t about deserving anything, this is about what i think would be hot.
Does anybody non-villainous (like Mary) even deserve Jennifer at this point
Maybe Malaya, that would be kinda funny.
Sal would spontaneously combust
Would she? Might be mad on Marcie’s behalf depending on how it shakes out, but she knows Jen has bad taste.
Eh. I feel like they’d just hate each other, and not in a fun way
not relevant. the exact manner in which they hate each other does not alter my opinion on the hotness of the hypothetical scenario.
I just don’t think there’s any chemistry there
Since when was chemistry a prerequisite?
They weren’t being shipped for longevity or emotional health.
JD said they’d be hot together. Just hot. That’s all. No further compatibility required.
Exactly! I don’t agree, but I think I can kinda see where they’re coming from.
… Mostly behind Jennifer, right?
more than a little hot. that would be an absolute epic of a seething hate-fuck. I’m not even really into that kind of thing, but I know what the archetype looks like, and it’s a stellar specimen.
No; the absolute epic of a seething hate-fuck would be if Mary ever let slip the *other* reason she is so vehemently antagonistic to Carla and denies her gender. The reason she’s using religious zealotry to mask.
That being, Carla made Mary realize she was just a tad bit queer. And everytime she has… certain thoughts… she fights harder.
THAT is a hate-fuck. Carla/Mary as BDSM Dom/Sub.
Mary, bent over some woman’s knee, the woman says “Yeah you like that huh”, Mary’s like “No!
”, the other woman patiently says “Tell the truth” and Mary’s instantly all “Okay fine, yes. 
”. Time skip to an hour later, Mary comes out of the other woman’s room, missing her shirt, covered in handprints and lipstick marks (overlapping), visibly pissed and enraged. Dorothy asks her what her deal is this time, and Mary grumps “Apparently I’m a fucking queer now. Fantastic, I’m so glad I waited nineteen fucking years to figure this out. 
” and she storms off.
Dorothy Audits Joyce’s Calculus Class: A Dumbing of Age Pornographique
Joe: “can I at watch this time?”
Since threatening to stab everything, I think I hadn’t heard a threat like that from Billiefer.
All my friends got replaced by pod persons, somehow now i’m the one who stands out
Sarah drank the red soda and did a Fortnite dance at 3:33am and now she’s the hottest character.
I’m sure Egg is a very nice person.
A very Good person.
So Joyce is intentionally not saying Danny’s name? I need to know why, and if Joyce is doing so to pretend he’s not there is a dick move.
i think it’s just a running joke at this point which is a shame since danny’s nice enough/has also grown. i wonder if it’d help if she knew he was bi and almsot asked ehtan out once lol
It’s a joke because in Willis’ previous works, Joyce was obsessed with Danny for a long time, so over here she does not give a single tiny solitary shit about him. It’s got nothing to do with how nice Danny is.
I don’t necessarily recommend that any new DoA readers go on a multi-decade archive binge to be ready for when a Walkyverse concept is referenced.
That said, they should know that Joyce being dismissive of Walky and entirely indifferent to Danny is pretty funny.
It’s a joke for Willis, by Willis. Roomies! was initially driven by Joyce’s obsession with Danny, and Willis has stated that he finds it hillarious that Joyce doesn’t care at all about Danny in the reboot.
That is funnier than my assumption that Joyce’s flavour of ND is like mine where my brain considers names optional information unworthy of saving (and is generally ungood at connecting names to faces) and so designates nicknames.
It’s just a thing with her. It likely began due to him being Dorothy’s ex, and now, it’s just a bit.
Danny is actually not there, though? The alt-text even comments on it.
Willis can obviously put his characters in whatever classes he wants. But some of these seem odd to me (as an oldster) for freshmen. In this case it seems odd for Joyce – an elementary ed major – to take calculus at all, let alone have the math background to take it as a freshman. Have things changed that much since my time?
Most people I knew had at least some exposure to calculus by senior year of high school, and that was 20 years ago. I imagine it’s become even more standard by now. As for why everyone’s taking it, gen ed requirements?
you can take calculus in high school depending on the shcool, and joyce has stated she likes and is good at math before. she was also homeschooled, so her enjoying math may have just resulted in her doing a lot of it – up through precalc. it doesn’t seem too far fetched to me, clearly her parents were prepping her for college, so if she meets the credentials there’s no reason not to let her take the classes she wants to take. this is also her second semester of math! the girl likes math!!!
Calculus is a pretty common freshman math class, in my experience; standard level math at my high school would take you to precalculus as a senior, so that was what people would go on to take if they needed to satisfy their math credit. That said, you could take something else to meet the requirements of a lot of programs. I never took a mat course in college because I passed my AP exam, so I don’t have firsthand knowledge of the classroom demographics, though.
The Main Sequence for Chicago public schools was algebra, geometry, algebra 2/trig, and pre-calculus. I think all 4 were mandatory, though can’t swear to it. If you were lucky you got a chance to do algebra in 8th (or 7th and 8th grade), letting you take AP Calculus senior year of high school.
Schools vary; someone from Orange County, my age, took algebra in 6th grade. Might have been private school, not sure.
It also just varies on the individual. Plenty of people take math classes that are higher than most in their grade level. I was one level advanced, which put me in AP Calculus BC my senior year, and while most of the class was seniors, there were students from other grades as well, including a couple freshmen.
Yep, I’m from Orange County (California) and took AP Calc BC my senior year, but there was at least a class’ worth of students who took it their junior year and then took AP Stats their senior year. I was taking Algebra in 8th grade and they would have been taking it in 7th grade.
Both of these tracks were considered advanced relative to the standard track, which had students taking pre calculus their senior year.
I was a biology major and only had to take stats in college, as I scored a 5 on the AP Calc exam and so was able to skip any calculus-based math requirements.
Following up on those comments: things might have changed in 50 years.
I took calculus in high school, as did a bunch of the other “academic types”, but that bunch was at most maybe 5-10% of the senior class (there were about 1200 in my senior class). The general sequence at the time was Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Trigonometry/Analytical Geometry (one semester each), then Calculus. My guess is that the bulk of students either stopped at Algebra 2 or took a more general “pre-college refresher” as seniors. When I was in college, the people who took calculus (and higher) were those in what would now be called STEM majors and maybe finance majors, but generally not liberal arts, education, other business majors, etc. There were some “Math 101” type classes for those that weren’t going to take more advanced math but needed some more basic stuff (or refreshers), perhaps prior to taking statistics or similar.
I don’t remember if my kids (about 15 years out of high school) drool calculus in high school. Perhaps the one headed into the sciences did – if not, he did as a college freshman. The other was a music major and I’m pretty sure he didn’t, even in college.
The fact that Joyce was homeschooled actually makes it seem less likely to me – unless her parents were in professions where math beyond algebra was important, I’d be surprised if they would have been able to teach trig well (even if they read some textbook and tried to stay ahead). Of course, that’s how I feel about homeschooling in general – I question its efficacy for most, because teaching isn’t easy and having expertise in the range of needed subjects is difficult, so few can do it well. (I’ve seen reports of what is considered a valid homeschooling curriculum in this state, and it’s pretty horrifying in terms of how little academics there were)
Indiana University requires everyone take a choice of two (maybe three? Haven’t checked in a while) math classes. This calculus one is one of them.
Joyce is in it because she loves math.
Walky and Sal are in it because they are Walkertons and it is expected of them.
Dorothy is in it ’cause she’s a big ole nerd.
Jennifer and Joe probably took it because it was the next level up from what they took in high school (we know Joe’s school had pre-calculus because Dorothy took it). I suspect that either that or Walky’s presence is why Lucy took it.
Dina (and now Becky) took it because they need it for science.
Sarah explicitly did not take calculus because her major doesn’t need higher math.
We don’t know anything about anyone else’s math choices, but yes, calculus isn’t universal but it’s very common in many schools. Trigonometry was like grade 10-11 in my school (but I took college/university math instead of university in grade 11 so what the fuck do I know, maybe university math had calculus).
I choose to believe the pod person comment was made by Dorothy because I think it would be funnier if she said it
It’s more in character for Walky tho.
Yep. That’s why. Unexpected things happening is a potential source of humour.
Remembering how Walkyverse Joyce was obsessed with Danny and here she’s just whatevs about him lol
The MST3K youtube channel was playing Pod People today.
I feel that a relationship between Jennifer and Sarah would be a lot like a nuclear reactor – possibly incredibly long lasting source of energy and light but highly toxic, and never more than a hair’s breath away from a catastrophic meltdown followed by an terminal roaring explosion that terrifies everybody in a 100 mile radius.
Toxic Yuri, literally 8D;
Does anyone remember why Joyce became so reflexively disdainful towards Walky? Is it like, the same reason Becky always shits on Dotty?
They just don’t get along. It’s not much deeper than that.
Well, it all started when Walky said Joyce’s dreams of meeting her dream man in college was stupid…
In his defense, it was a stupid dream.
I mean…-gestures to all of him-
They have very strong sibling energy. So, they were either going to be best friends or harmlessly hostile. And Walky led things off with laughing at her closely held beliefs, and that kinda sealed the dynamic.
She’s always found Walky annoying and immature, and Dorothy dating him certainly did not improve matters
No , why would that be similar….
It is. You’ve ruined the comic with your incredibly obvious but hidden insight.
That’s it.
A lot of it is because of Dorothy, though she actually already had friction with him before that due to his dunking on her conservative fundamental Christian attitudes early on. Dorothy entering the picture just escalated it.
That being said, a lot of it is performative. He was able to break through to her when she was having trouble knowing what to do with herself after she stopped going to church (the time he got her to ditch her pants, only after he had left, obviously). She also does trust him, ultimately.
This is further complicated by both of them being physically attracted to each other, but due to their personalities, being extremely reluctant to admit to it because they have zero interest in acting on it. She crushed on him unknowingly as a kid when he was in the Psalty videos, and he pieced together Ethan was gay due to his disinterest in being sexual with Joyce, timidly making a comment like “I mean, look at her” to Dorothy, to her utter amusement. There are other moments, too, but those are probably the most explicit ones.
Joyce even said, last time she was in La Porte, that she wanted Dorothy and Billie and Walky.
DEEP CUT! I forgot all about the Hymmel stuff:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/freezeframe/
Damn, that comic is from 10 years ago. It was a simpler time…
I love this analysis. Great callbacks.
Insignificant continuity goof, but in fall Dorothy, it’s implied that Dorothy both took Calc and didn’t take Calc. On one hand, you can do fancy interpretations so there’s no contradiction. But on the other hand, it amuses me that Willis just gave Dorothy classes willy nilly, so there was an impression she was taking too many classes.
Obviously by “in a while” and “may be a little rusty”, she means it’s been at least sixteen hours and she’s forgotten one or two specific answers she gave on an old bit of homework.
She never said she was doing advanced calc for a class, probably just learning it to boost grades via extra credit or something.
I think Dorothy just extra beefed up on math during high school (which is why she could help Walky with it), and she just didn’t take Calc 101 because it would be too easy for her.
I think the continuity goof just makes way more sense, because I’m not sure why a non-calculus class would have advanced calculus problems as extra credit.
I do assume Dorothy took calculus in high school and likely received AP credit for it, so she’s not taking it now. (And also isn’t actually “auditing” their class, but that was kind of a given.)
Then again, Dorothy would absolutely turn in a page of completely unnecessary and unprompted homework she gave herself, on a loose assumption it might get her extra credit.
And then have all that knowledge pushed right back out, to make room for her next 100 completely unnecessary and unprompted homeworks.
dang even dating sal isn’t enough for joyce to acknowledge his name
Where are they all going? Surely they’re not all going to audit a calculus class. I still have no idea what half these chumps even do or where they go. Your class is either taught by a queer woman, a scientist from Back to the Future, or it’s not interesting I guess.
Sarah (and presumably Jacob)’s pre-law class is on their way to math, they’ve done this route before. Dorothy is tagging along. Everyone else is in math.
Joe is not in math class with them.
And I don’t think Jacob has walked with them before.
Joe does have a class in this time slot though. And it’s not terribly far from the math building.
Have we seen the calc class at all? Is it taught by someone either queer or unhinged, likely both? I only know Jason used to TA a math class but that bridge has been thoroughly destroyed and our bowtie TA is in a new hell now.
Yes. Joyce’s poor eyesight story
I don’t know, that just doesn’t add up. Advancing the plot by bringing these characters together has to be a factor.
Well, yeah, but having them walk the same route to different classes is as good a way as any. I did that with plenty of people – we were going the same way so we walked together.
Still, the extra time together will advance the plot by sowing division in this loosely associated friend group. It’s a bad sine if tensions start to rise exponentially.
Sometimes a class is just boring filler even to the person taking it. Can’t imagine everything they go to is exciting, and probably less interesting to read about when it’s something only one of the group takes. If Joyce is still in on education then she’s probably got a Being A Teacher course or two that nobody else does and wouldn’t be all that fun to check in on.
I think there’s stuff to work with. Like Sarah is pre law. I’d love to know if she’a actually good at understanding our legal system or maybe passionate about justice or even just in it for the money instead of just assuming she has her reasons. I’d also love to know if Joe is interested in anything beyong women and working out. Is he a good student? I know the story isn’t about them attending classes but the occasional glimpse at their potential would be nice to see.
I believe Sarah and Jacob are walking to the building after Swaim Hall (and no, I don’t mean Swaim Hall West, which is a thing). That’d be the School of Law building.
For the time being Joyce.
I love Willis but he’s wrong about his own universe.
Joyce REALLY doesn’t remember Hat’s name.
She’s incapable of believing Sal is dating an empty hat.
Is that Walky or Dorothy asking about pod people last panel?
Walky, because Dorothy would put a comma after “Wait” in that sentence.
Accurate
Jennifer, don’t fucking lie like that. You’d murder Walky for like, fifteen different reasons. You’d murder Walky for a Klondike Bar.
I’d kill for a mint chocolate chip Klondike bar! But I think I’d just mame someone for a regular Klondike bar.
Billie’s hatred of Walky is kind of fascinating because it’s existed since high school and yet seems completely unmotivated.
It’s because he is a dork. Remember how bad it was when the comic first started? Jennifer wants to look cool, and she’s embarrassed by him. But she’s also gotten locked into that dynamic of thinking she’s better than him, and gets very uncomfortable when that is challenged. When they all went to brunch, she was at first worried that he would embarrass her. And then when he didn’t, that was even worse.
Yeah, she called him a slur and everything. It was really out of pocket, as the kids say.
The funny thing about it is that he is far less of a disaster than she is. He is a dork with Gifted Kid Syndrome but generally pretty decent person while she is a Fallen from Grace Popular kid with Alcohol problems and DUI before she was even allowed to legally drink.
It’s unjustified, but her hatred of him seems like a combination of a lot of things. She always tries to define herself and how people see her, and Walky’s the one who (inadvertently) gave her the nickname Billie that she’s trying to run from. How she wants to be seen is different from how he knows her, so she sees him as a part of herself that she wants to get away from. Plus, she resents that he feels comfortable being himself in social situations, while she feels like she has to impress people, which is why she gets so angry when Walky makes a good impression on Raidah by being himself. And a bunch of other stuff. So it’s complicated.
It’s performative. He’s her brother.
He’s embarrassing and she hates that and doesn’t want him hanging around, but he’s also who she turns to when she’s at her lowest.
To answer the question in the last panel: About 5 strips ago
I cannot for the life of me remember what “audit your calculus class” is supposed to be a euphemism for.
It’s when you take a hands on approach to teaching someone how to multiply.
“Hang out with my friends while they’re in class”, from context. She’s not going to her own class, so what else does she have to do right now? This is more fun.
It means Dorothy doesn’t want to go to her class so she’s making an excuse on why she should sit in on theirs
She means she’s going to put her integers in Joyce’s function until the numbers become imaginary.
Presumably if Joe’s there he can give Dorothy a hand with his squaring function so she doesn’t have to calculate π by herself.
It would be really funny if neither Sarah nor Lucy wound up being all that into Jacob long-term, but then they started hanging out and gay gay gay gay gay
Re: alt-text: That was nice of him. Danny’s a good egg.
No, Sal, she really, truly does not know that. His name has been said around her many times but she just does not retain it.
I’m sorry this is so funny to me because not only does Joyce not say Danny’ name, Sal corrected her by ALSO not calling him Danny at first
I absolutely loved that myself
I’m sitting here like “oh good, you know his name is Danny because at this point I wasn’t sure”
On another note, is Sarah…. trying to act more like Lucy?
Ooh, solid possibility I think. Lucy gets what Sarah wants, so if Sarah acts like Lucy then SARAH gets what Sarah wants. It’s both terrible and not-terrible reasoning.
I think you may have called it here. Panic move. Act like the person Jacob is with to get with the Jacob. Fake it until you make out with it.
It won’t work because it’s a terrible idea, but i can see the panic logic.
How long can she stand to do this? Will she crack, or will she become the mask? If the latter, how long until she puts on a heal-the-world concert while wearing a cape?
I think if Danny took that hat off Joyce would cease to perceive Danny.
Sal is putting her foot DOWN!
There’s, wow, nine people now. And I don’t think we’re done yet? This may be shifting from a friend group to a mob.
Roomies? Oh, I have so much to learn. I have not yet gotten over people being required to share a bedroom. Next stop finding out what pod people are. It’s fin learning about other cultures via comics.
Oh. THOSE pod people. Way back when I was born. That’s a long time ago. Do people watch the movie(s) for fun at a particular time of year?
“No longer answering questions like this spitefully.” yeah we’ll see how long this lasts
Welp. I continue to feel worse for Sarah, while thinking that Jennifer is getting pretty much what she deserves.
Aww, c’mon, Willis! This “crowd” isn’t even _close_ to the entire cast so far! Keep bringing people in. Make it a whole story arc, just expanding the crowd. (how many named characters we got now? like forty?)
I’ve got 38 names on the F-bomb chart, and that’s not nearly everybody. Jacob’s not on the scoreboard, for one. Offhand, there’s also Sierra, Grace, and Mandy, Agatha, Other Rachel, Ken, Arnold, Bryan, Jim, Duncan, Dorothy’s parents, Danny’s parents, Mike’s parents, Linda, Hank, Joyce’s siblings, Dina’s parents, Ethan’s father, Sierra’s parents, Daisy, Galasso, Conquest, Pamela, Sydney, Faz, Zaph, Rose, Nash, Riley, Alex, Alan, Penny, Professor
DocBrock, Dean McHenry, Tony, Ron, Alice, Kaitlin, Reginald, Duke of Thingley… I guess Buckets of Blood Guy doesn’t actually count as a “named character”… Norville, Peter Paul, Carl, Chan… a bunch of Tylers and Taylors and whatnot from Joyce and Becky’s church…Joyce, come on.
You can humanize Walky AND Danny and stop treating them as annoying and/or irrelevant.
They are not Hot Beefy Hunks so they obviously have no human rights.
I mean, Jennifers comment is hella mean, but it is also a real good zinger.
I think Sarah’s really changed, just as Lucy did. Got a friends group for probably the first time in college. Her “friends “ from freshman year all plot to destroy her. I think she woke up and decided that she doesn’t need to live in that world. She has actual friends who don’t hate her. Must be a serious relief to drop all the tension and anger.
The funniest thing ever: a DOA pornographique
I can get behind the way Calm Sarah’s face is drawn
Sarah’s trying to show Jacob she can change and be more personable if not friendly but it’s going to be in the most obnoxious way possible …….
And I think I’m also getting tired of Joyce’s constant insulting and dismissal of Walky.
I know there are “friends” that do that playful insulting… but there’s a limit. You actually do have to balance it out with being kind and nice to them.
After having a brother do that my entire life, and we have no real relationship… yeah, I don’t really have a taste for that. I prefer to be kind to my friends. (Sorry if TMI)
This is how I feel about Becky’s “rivalry” with Dorothy.
+1, I truly don’t like it – it still feels possessive and meanspirited instead of For The Bit.
Pod person, shmod person. Everyone has forgotten that Sarah becomes happy when someone else she knows is miserable. No-one here seems unhappy enough to be the trigger, so it’s someone not yet seen this this morning. Someone must be positively wrecked, possibly from the party.
How about Dina?
Dina: OW! Ow. ow. why does my head hurt so much for reasons not related to creationist nonsense?
I think Jennifer’s unhappiness is more then enough for Sarah though Lucy might also still be mad about how Joyce flat out told her she still wants Jacob and Sarah to be exclusive.
Oh yeah!
Oh NO! This is literally her first hangover, she must be in AGONY T_T
It’s weird that Joyce seems to have even less regard for Danny than even Walky, based on how she was originally portrayed in the Walkyverse.
Damn Dorothy is really thirsty for this three-way to happen, huh?