A month ago their time that was probably true. I don’t think she currently is able to do that. Dorthy needs to get her groove back. Or get a different groove, that would probably be better. Point is Dorthy’s lost her groove.
A guy seven feet tall with shoulders almost as wide, with “guard” written all over his features, confronts Raidah: “I’m sorry, but you’ve thrown off the (future) President’s groove.”
Raidah, flying out a third-story window: “Sorry!!!”
“you’re right joyce, i’m off to kill raidah and bury her in a ditch/dump her in the river, that’d def make me happy”
…i doubt we’d see it within the next five years unless the next few arcs is more sarah focused but i imagine other than dorothy being confronted by joyce about yale, Sarah’s “growth” would finally culminate into a…confrontation(? can’t think of a more neutral/positive word, i guess reunion/meeting lol) between her and dana finally hashing things out.
i mean, unless dana is still heavy into drugs, id think an intervention is more of a group thing of them all supporting her or so, unless she joined like AA or so where she goes around talking to and ‘forgiving’ ppl in the past tho i can imagine dana not rly forgiving/wanting anything to do with sarah even if her decision was ‘better’ for everyone in the long run
I feel like Sarah hasn’t actually changed all that much, especially when she’s not alone with Joyce. She’s still a pretty, misanthropic grumpy person who’s afraid to open up but has a caring, protective core inside, same as she was at the beginning. She has friends now but she still either doesn’t like or pretends not to like most of them
At least with Walky, she felt more confident in expressing herself without fear of being judged.
The detail is to see what Joyce’s reaction will be like, because she has also put her on a pedestal. No one doubts that Joyce really wants to help to Dorothy, what intrigues is how she will do it.
Walky’s pedestal for Dorothy is different than Joyce’s. Walky thinks she’ll be back to normal, wise beyond her years. Joyce thinks sometimes Dorothy doesn’t actually know what she’s talking about.
Dina, I think she and Sarah sincerely consider each other friends and I… don’t think Dina and Joyce are friends. Or, well, I guess they’re becoming friends now after the autism thing. But Dina and Sarah have been friends for a while.
Joyce isn’t a friend. She’s FAMILY. *insert Vin Diesel here*
And I think Shrub’s point is that a lot of people who hang out with Joyce and are friends with her, are more Sarah’s friend because she’s Joyce’s roomie and is their friend by proxy. That’s why I suggested Dina, because we’ve seen Dina hang out with Sarah without Joyce around or initiating the interaction in some way. Feel free to prove me wrong though!
Not a big fan of “these kinds of friendships don’t count as friendships” metrics. Just because a circle of friends has someone whose the natural glue doesn’t mean the other people in the circle aren’t friends with each other.
Sal has been more open, Sarah should probably apologize to Sal and Danny and nobody else. And Joyce too, I guess, and nobody else. And Mandy, and nobody else.
I guess the thing about Sarah, outside of her pride, is if she wants to evolve. Like, I think she’d actually enjoy what that’d bring her, but the issue is I don’t think she likes to embrace change.
other than a physical appearance with her hair/outfits/wardrobe change or going out of your way to have show off a ‘personality’ to where it’d either be burning out or coming off as performative i imagine most changes would be little by little versus anything huge versus “oh i just realized i’m gay”
although while some ppl stubbornly stay the same or backslide into worse habits, there are prolly some who do change throughout the years despite actively resisting it but depends on what aspects of themselves or just not noticing it
i mean i’m sure she could be less visibly miserable if she does do things for herself/ take a step towards trying to ‘enjoy’ college, relationship or not tho i think anyone other than joyce would prolly raise an eyebrow/be concerned if they observed sarah being in a ‘good mood’ for more than 2 hours lol
like how ppl were freaked out at mary being in a ‘cheery’ mood before we found out she was dating another religious guy
Dotty had a chance, she really did. Instead she dumped Yale and her life’s on the skids… Amber stays alone and her dad’s to blame, she just sits at the computer playing a video game…
some ppl are fine as they areas ways for other ppl to change around them, but it would be interesting to see a variety of charas have growth, and one or two more or less not needing to change for better or worse
tho more frustrating irl when someone refuses to ‘grow’ versus staying ‘static’ as a fictional chara but not necessarily in a mary sue/gary stu way
She used to be so timid and unsure of how to relate to her peers. Nowadays she doesn’t always understand social norms, but she moves through the world with so much confidence. She wouldn’t get accidentally swept up and taken to the beach without anyone noticing.
There we go! My mans Robin just not here for comic relief! But for Important Hijinks, that lifts the story and brings clarity to the struggles and developments of the characters around her.
“Why do I gotta be the one to change? I’m doing all the changing here!”
Oh good Sarah is going to change. That’s the last attempt of the ego (I use that inaccurate model of the mind for illustrative purposes) to resist from someone who knows that the change has already started.
“Everyone else is growing too! Look at Dorothy, she’s grown so much! She’s ignoring her grades, only doing things I want to do, and is neglecting opportunities for her future career in poli — wait a second.”
You know as well as I do that if you give Dorothy an impossible demand, no matter the context, her immediate response is to prove to herself that she can do it and *excel* at it, and she rationalizes that impulse as building a future for herself.
If she’s not confronting a task with 200% of her energy then something very wrong has happened, and Joyce just realized that.
Sarah just doesn’t want to be vulnerable and hurt again. Soof course Sarah will be vulnerable and Raidah will get her hurt again which will negatively reinforce being vulnerable yet again.
I do it all the time, it takes more than one to trigger a response I think. Or at least Willis knows not to bother unless it gets a few. It’s probably super common given the buttons are actually side by side.
I feel for Sarah. There are things I want to always change (becoming more compassionate, finding more ways to do action to help people in my community, being a better friend and partner), but there are also things I should want to change (personality flaws, bad coping skills) that I struggle to want because without them, am I myself anymore?
like, I don’t think I’m a *bad* friend or partner, so that doesn’t eat away at me, but at the same time I know I have specific problems I could fix and it would be better for all of us
re: coping mechanisms and stuff, that’s a very practical sense of the phrase, but while “I have bad coping mechanisms” doesn’t weigh on my self esteem, not doing anything to fix it certainly is making me unhappy because the things I’m trying to cope with aren’t being processed great
for a current example, I’m getting a cpap soon, and hopefully that’ll help the fact that I don’t get any restful sleep and can sleep anywhere from 4-11 hours and be equally fucked… but I’m scared that when I’m not half-conscious and slightly confused, I’ll also not be the person I think of myself as. And neither of those (half conscious, confused) are words I’d use to describe myself normally, but I’m worried that who I’ll be without them will be someone different.
I definitely could be projecting but I feel like that’s part (just part) of where Sarah is at. She knows having more friends has been good for her, and has the opportunity to make more, but she is the standoffish person, and doing that would mean leaving part of who she is behind. (I think it is also that she isn’t a super social person in the first place, and is stressed at the idea of more friends ie more people she has to care about and stuff, especially since Dana, and probably embarrassed to tell people like Jacob ‘okay I’m ready to be friends now,’ amongst other things)
I hope it’s not too late for Joyce to help. And I really hope she does help… like Dorothy could use a listening ear and a hug and a good cry. That might not be enough, but if she’d gotten that before she doubled down, I think it would have put her on a healthier path.
What about Walky? Sure, he confronted his parents about their racism, that’s something. But it was to avoid looking at his bad communication habits, and how those made him not a great boyfriend. His emotional growth was to avoid reaching a new plane of self-actualization.
I’m happy that Joyce has finally realized that Dorothy is avoiding doing important things for herself in favor of doing things for her and that she’s in crisis. But it’s annoying this happened right when she was having a serious talk with Sarah. Sarah needs to hear those things from her because Joyce’s opinion is important to her and she would believe her. Hearing the same thing said by Lucy, or even Becky or Dina, is not the same as hearing it by Joyce.
*LE GASP*
(I’m sure Dotty is JUST as able to write a book on her own terms, for her OWN vainglorious satisfaction instead of Jason-adjacent)
adJasont
Not Jason-adjacent: adJason’t
“Don’t talk to me or my adJason’t ever again”
A month ago their time that was probably true. I don’t think she currently is able to do that. Dorthy needs to get her groove back. Or get a different groove, that would probably be better. Point is Dorthy’s lost her groove.
Mainly she must lighten the heavy burden that she imposed on herself and possibly have a vision of what she wants to do.
So, like, solve life. Got it.
And the Universe.
Didn’t they already figure it out and the answer was 43 or something?
42 but who’s counting.
If you’re having trouble remembering, here’s a mnemonic device: “what is six times eight?”
It’s ‘What do you get when you multiply six by nine?’
in Base 12.
6 times 9 is 54 though
A guy seven feet tall with shoulders almost as wide, with “guard” written all over his features, confronts Raidah: “I’m sorry, but you’ve thrown off the (future) President’s groove.”
Raidah, flying out a third-story window: “Sorry!!!”
Please. Radiah is the future president.
Anyone, INCLUDING Dotty, can ABSOLUTELY write their own book, that’s the point of NaNoWriMo.org
whether it’s up to snuff is a different matter
also, she doesn’t HAVE to write it about politics or anything serious
i mean is it rly that much of an ‘opportunity’ when it’s for robin lol
Hey, write a book for any other professor any they’d probably want to read it first and maybe even change some of your words
i mean, i guess robin might respect you more if you ask for a huge amount upfront and then half ass it or so
Double-ghost-write a book, or make mac n’ cheese?
Decisions, decisions…
¿Por qué no los dos?
That book offer was downright insulting; turning it down flat is a sign she still does have functioning self-esteem
“Uh Oh” makes me think of this Finnish comic discussing the nuances of the English language:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLO_9UOoSt0
Change. Not always for the better.
This message sponsored by Sarah Industries™
[Citation provided] – Death
There it is
The dime drops into the shoe which also drops.
Was it a ….Penny Loafer?
painful, but good. One internet point for Penny Loafer
I love when we reach a preview panel. It feels like the history is going on. And some theories can be confirmed/canceled.
I thought this one would be about something sillier.
Always in motion the future is. The past is as well, but it’s sneaky and won’t let you catch it changing.
because each time it does you now think that’s always how it was
Some change ain’t for the better, honey. Sometimes you just end up worse or a shell of your former self.
“you’re right joyce, i’m off to kill raidah and bury her in a ditch/dump her in the river, that’d def make me happy”
…i doubt we’d see it within the next five years unless the next few arcs is more sarah focused but i imagine other than dorothy being confronted by joyce about yale, Sarah’s “growth” would finally culminate into a…confrontation(? can’t think of a more neutral/positive word, i guess reunion/meeting lol) between her and dana finally hashing things out.
Stupid lag made me accideally tap the report icon/link, about which I feel badly as it wasn’t intentional nor merited.
I understand that multiple people have to report something for it to have any effect.
But go ahead and feel bad if doing so makes you feel any better.
I think the word you’re looking for is “intervention”.
i mean, unless dana is still heavy into drugs, id think an intervention is more of a group thing of them all supporting her or so, unless she joined like AA or so where she goes around talking to and ‘forgiving’ ppl in the past tho i can imagine dana not rly forgiving/wanting anything to do with sarah even if her decision was ‘better’ for everyone in the long run
Is that mouseover text coming form cellblock 1138?
It was a boring conversation anyway.
I hope Dorothy can get to a more mentally healthy place in less than 12 parsecs… punch it, Chewie!
Oh no the inventory of PERIL
No, no you have to face the peril…
I get to face some peril this time?! Normally I never get any peril at all
The penny drops!
[also got caught up since Monday’s comic…yeeesh…]
with inflation she’s about to drop a dime
Ooooh, Dorothy’s in trouble.
Finally she realized… now it remains to be seen what will happen.
Dorothy could have ended up joining a fight club cult and Joyce still wouldn’t have noticed for weeks.
I feel like Sarah hasn’t actually changed all that much, especially when she’s not alone with Joyce. She’s still a pretty, misanthropic grumpy person who’s afraid to open up but has a caring, protective core inside, same as she was at the beginning. She has friends now but she still either doesn’t like or pretends not to like most of them
Also, maybe Dorothy can finally get some help now that Walky and Joyce both notice she’s in a downward spiral
At least with Walky, she felt more confident in expressing herself without fear of being judged.
The detail is to see what Joyce’s reaction will be like, because she has also put her on a pedestal. No one doubts that Joyce really wants to help to Dorothy, what intrigues is how she will do it.
Walky’s pedestal for Dorothy is different than Joyce’s. Walky thinks she’ll be back to normal, wise beyond her years. Joyce thinks sometimes Dorothy doesn’t actually know what she’s talking about.
Well, Joyce is enthusiastic…too enthusiastic and that can also provoke a response…not favorable.
Dorothy does already attend therapy.
I get the feeling though that she really only discusses surface-level thoughts and feelings
Almost like it’s something she feels she should be doing rather than something she needs to be doing
How many friends does Sarah have though as opposed to those that are actually Joyce’s friends
Dina, I think she and Sarah sincerely consider each other friends and I… don’t think Dina and Joyce are friends. Or, well, I guess they’re becoming friends now after the autism thing. But Dina and Sarah have been friends for a while.
So one friend then
Are we … not counting Joyce as a friend?
Anyway, how many of Joyce’s friends are actually Joyce’s friends, by whatever metric you’re using?
Joyce isn’t a friend. She’s FAMILY. *insert Vin Diesel here*
And I think Shrub’s point is that a lot of people who hang out with Joyce and are friends with her, are more Sarah’s friend because she’s Joyce’s roomie and is their friend by proxy. That’s why I suggested Dina, because we’ve seen Dina hang out with Sarah without Joyce around or initiating the interaction in some way. Feel free to prove me wrong though!
Thanks, this is what I meant.
Not a big fan of “these kinds of friendships don’t count as friendships” metrics. Just because a circle of friends has someone whose the natural glue doesn’t mean the other people in the circle aren’t friends with each other.
She hasn’t, but her growth is slow. Being playful and open with Joyce is already a lot for her.
Sal has been more open, Sarah should probably apologize to Sal and Danny and nobody else. And Joyce too, I guess, and nobody else. And Mandy, and nobody else.
but also, “reach a new plane of self-actualization?” she sounds like she’s in a psychedelics cult
Seems like the lightbulb went off & Joyce realized Dorothy’s recent changes are a sign of bad things.
Though I say she’s 100% about Sarah’s situation.
I guess the thing about Sarah, outside of her pride, is if she wants to evolve. Like, I think she’d actually enjoy what that’d bring her, but the issue is I don’t think she likes to embrace change.
other than a physical appearance with her hair/outfits/wardrobe change or going out of your way to have show off a ‘personality’ to where it’d either be burning out or coming off as performative i imagine most changes would be little by little versus anything huge versus “oh i just realized i’m gay”
although while some ppl stubbornly stay the same or backslide into worse habits, there are prolly some who do change throughout the years despite actively resisting it but depends on what aspects of themselves or just not noticing it
Yeah, Sarah’s clinging more to the grumpy shell and Dorothy is falling into the blahs. I’m starting to think the kids aren’t alright.
i mean i’m sure she could be less visibly miserable if she does do things for herself/ take a step towards trying to ‘enjoy’ college, relationship or not tho i think anyone other than joyce would prolly raise an eyebrow/be concerned if they observed sarah being in a ‘good mood’ for more than 2 hours lol
like how ppl were freaked out at mary being in a ‘cheery’ mood before we found out she was dating another religious guy
Dotty had a chance, she really did. Instead she dumped Yale and her life’s on the skids… Amber stays alone and her dad’s to blame, she just sits at the computer playing a video game…
Maybe Amber could be president and Dorothy could fight crime.
It’s fine, we’re fine here, everything’s fine…how are you?
The only person who I don’t think has really changed at all is Dina, and this is fine because Dina is already a perfect being.
Well, she did change her beliefs about the sound that dinosaurs make.
“We will inevitably alter each other as we continue to interact.”
— Dina, to Becky
some ppl are fine as they areas ways for other ppl to change around them, but it would be interesting to see a variety of charas have growth, and one or two more or less not needing to change for better or worse
tho more frustrating irl when someone refuses to ‘grow’ versus staying ‘static’ as a fictional chara but not necessarily in a mary sue/gary stu way
She used to be so timid and unsure of how to relate to her peers. Nowadays she doesn’t always understand social norms, but she moves through the world with so much confidence. She wouldn’t get accidentally swept up and taken to the beach without anyone noticing.
I think Dina has become more confident in social situations. And she discovered sexual arousal!
Don’t forget about her teaching you how to properly use the washing machine,Joyce.
…. I think it was technically improper, but I still approved.
I suspect the washing machine does feel*very* used
Maybe the washing machine is into that. We don’t know.
oh no
“Sorry, Sarah. We’ll have to call it a day. I’ve realized that I have a more urgent friend crisis.”
Oh oh indeed
FLY! FLY TO HER! KISS! KISS!
Here it comes, the incredibly normal and proportionate reaction.
Prediction: Dorothy’s situation coming out into the open will NOT make the reverse smile vampire actually smile. Because growth.
There we go! My mans Robin just not here for comic relief! But for Important Hijinks, that lifts the story and brings clarity to the struggles and developments of the characters around her.
DeSsntos, my Santos
“Why do I gotta be the one to change? I’m doing all the changing here!”
Oh good Sarah is going to change. That’s the last attempt of the ego (I use that inaccurate model of the mind for illustrative purposes) to resist from someone who knows that the change has already started.
“Everyone else is growing too! Look at Dorothy, she’s grown so much! She’s ignoring her grades, only doing things I want to do, and is neglecting opportunities for her future career in poli — wait a second.”
Robin made a comically impossible demand to exploit her. It wasn’t an opportunity, and Jason told her so outright.
You know as well as I do that if you give Dorothy an impossible demand, no matter the context, her immediate response is to prove to herself that she can do it and *excel* at it, and she rationalizes that impulse as building a future for herself.
If she’s not confronting a task with 200% of her energy then something very wrong has happened, and Joyce just realized that.
That’s one of the things I like about Dorothy, but if she’s gonna be that way then she does need someone to keep whispering to her “thou art mortal.”
Joyce also doesn’t know she’s rejecting Yale on purpose.
And she forgot about 5 minutes later anyway.
Sarah just doesn’t want to be vulnerable and hurt again. Soof course Sarah will be vulnerable and Raidah will get her hurt again which will negatively reinforce being vulnerable yet again.
Accidental report sorry
I do it all the time, it takes more than one to trigger a response I think. Or at least Willis knows not to bother unless it gets a few. It’s probably super common given the buttons are actually side by side.
That wasn’t an opportunity, Joyce.
If we all yell it loudly enough at the screen, Joyce will hear us.
Dorothy would have viewed it as one because she’s Dorothy, which is what matters.
Commit self-harm while trying to meet an impossible, arbitrary goal/expectation? Sign her up!
Dumbing of Age Book 14: Is This Change Or Is This a Major Depressive Episode?
Some of you are saying that this question is not posed in this strip, and I retort that it is clearly implied.
Book 14: Is My Friend Going Through a Depressive Episode or Falling in Love With Me?
Book 15: Por Que No Los Dos?
Well, it’s certainly inferred.
What were we talking about again? Oh, yes, book title. I think it has to actually be said. I don’t think miming it counts.
Dumbing of Age Book 14: Uh Oh.
I feel for Sarah. There are things I want to always change (becoming more compassionate, finding more ways to do action to help people in my community, being a better friend and partner), but there are also things I should want to change (personality flaws, bad coping skills) that I struggle to want because without them, am I myself anymore?
Do those things that you want to want to change make you unhappy?
to different degrees, but yes
like, I don’t think I’m a *bad* friend or partner, so that doesn’t eat away at me, but at the same time I know I have specific problems I could fix and it would be better for all of us
re: coping mechanisms and stuff, that’s a very practical sense of the phrase, but while “I have bad coping mechanisms” doesn’t weigh on my self esteem, not doing anything to fix it certainly is making me unhappy because the things I’m trying to cope with aren’t being processed great
for a current example, I’m getting a cpap soon, and hopefully that’ll help the fact that I don’t get any restful sleep and can sleep anywhere from 4-11 hours and be equally fucked… but I’m scared that when I’m not half-conscious and slightly confused, I’ll also not be the person I think of myself as. And neither of those (half conscious, confused) are words I’d use to describe myself normally, but I’m worried that who I’ll be without them will be someone different.
I definitely could be projecting but I feel like that’s part (just part) of where Sarah is at. She knows having more friends has been good for her, and has the opportunity to make more, but she is the standoffish person, and doing that would mean leaving part of who she is behind. (I think it is also that she isn’t a super social person in the first place, and is stressed at the idea of more friends ie more people she has to care about and stuff, especially since Dana, and probably embarrassed to tell people like Jacob ‘okay I’m ready to be friends now,’ amongst other things)
i HaRbOr PeRvErSe SeXuAl LuSt
is the object of it
in the room with us
the issue here is that Sarah is perfect already
yes, Joyce, concentrate on Dorothy. Make her and Walky get back together so Dorothy can dump him as is proper
again
Joyce: I must DESTROY all things that stand in the way of Dorothy going to Yale.
I hope it’s not too late for Joyce to help. And I really hope she does help… like Dorothy could use a listening ear and a hug and a good cry. That might not be enough, but if she’d gotten that before she doubled down, I think it would have put her on a healthier path.
i like the very-well-done and subtle reminder in panel 2 about their height difference
What about Walky? Sure, he confronted his parents about their racism, that’s something. But it was to avoid looking at his bad communication habits, and how those made him not a great boyfriend. His emotional growth was to avoid
reaching a new plane of self-actualization.Sadly, Joyce can never go to Yale because then she’d out of the cartoon.
The little julia gray sketch in the back ❤️
I’m happy that Joyce has finally realized that Dorothy is avoiding doing important things for herself in favor of doing things for her and that she’s in crisis. But it’s annoying this happened right when she was having a serious talk with Sarah. Sarah needs to hear those things from her because Joyce’s opinion is important to her and she would believe her. Hearing the same thing said by Lucy, or even Becky or Dina, is not the same as hearing it by Joyce.
“jennifer has a new name” lmao get wrecked
function getRect() {
return [x, y, x + width, y + height];
}
and nothing else / that is the full extent of the change.
sometimes it takes saying it out loud for it to be run through the executive function neuro-algorithms properly
“rubber duck debugging”
It would be nice if Joyce would let Sarah know she’s been super creepy with Jacob.