Having been with someone who would just flat out ignore me, despite her usual over-the-top nature, I’m hurting for Carla here. ✊ I hope this doesn’t hurt her. ? Or Charlie.
ahahahahahaha thx. yeah i know Black Dynamite is an exploitation film, but i still find parts of it rather funny
Call Me Deacon Blues
I’ve missed the context to this, but I wouldn’t call Black Dynamite an exploitation film, more of a parody of one. Like, it came out not that long ago, and it’s like that on purpose, as a joke.
Will Charlie be the type to just go with whatever a more forceful personality says, or will she need her personal alone time/space and Carla’s needling will just not mesh?
Maybe Charlie has a The Prestige situation going on where she has a secret third identical twin and they switch places in real life to keep the illusion going and that’s why she doesn’t acknowledge Carla. It’s a different Charlie.
I hope Becky tells Leslie about her mom. It’s a trauma she hasn’t looked at yet because of all the other traumas that followed. A stable and caring adult is what she needs to start that painful journey.
She really does need to unpack it sometime, and Leslie would be a great person to talk to about it. Plus, it’s always nice seeing more of their relationship (found family is wonderful)
Nobody discussed it with Joyce. She thought Bonnie died of cancer up until Ruth ended up in the hospital. Not only did this keep Joyce sheltered from the realities of the world, but it also meant she didn’t have the full context she could’ve needed to help support Becky.
As a teacher, I love my students, but I’m not a therapist, so my listening hopefully only gets them to open up to more helpful people down the line. I know that Leslie’s gone above-and-beyond (including housing), but Becky might benefit from more professional help than just amateur kindness and generosity.
Charlie about to tell Carla something interesting about humpback whales. Because whales identify themselves in whalesong, and she thinks its cute how Carla always introduces herself.
It’s interesting that the fluid identity stuff is something that seems (or is interpreted by Leslie) as being hard for Becky to accept or cope with. She pretty easily coped with Ruth going from dating a woman to dating a man, pointing out that Ruth was bi and also Ruth’s happiness was important. I get that Becky was basically raised up to be little more than a housewife married to a man, but we don’t really get the sense that Becky herself REALLY jived with that and is pretty happy and content to be a lesbian.
Is this supposed to be lead up for someone else’s fluid sexuality experience? Perhaps someone like Joyce, who’s sexuality being fluid (but not fluid enough to return Becky’s affections) would be something that’d be hard for Becky to accept?
I don’t think it’ll impact Becky’s identifiers but it will undoubtedly make her feel some type of way. It’s easier to cope with Joyce not returning her feelings by saying “well, Joyce is straight!!”. It’s harder if it becomes “well, Joyce is actually into girls sometimes. Not me though. Dorothy, yes. But not me.”. Not because I think she wants to date Joyce anymore, but because Becky’s got self-worth and self-esteem issues she hides behind jokes. She internalized Dina being grey-ace as meaning Becky wasn’t desirable enough. She would definitely internalize this.
Florence
This is the it of it, Becky has deep insecurities, she will probably react to any version of Joyce having feelings for girls(but especially Dorothy) to any other Joyce related situation more dramatically just because she feels rejected
Needfuldoer
Their close relationship growing up just further complicates the matter, because that can subconsciously flag someone as “family, platonic love only”. I wonder if Becky bring an only child, while Joyce has three siblings, affected their perspectives.
Florence
Ooooooohhhhh, I hadn’t thought of that but yea that would absolutely create a difference between them on how they view each other
Idk, I think Leslie’s comment about, “Even if you shif you can still keep using the words you like.” is more indicative of Becky’s GENDER shifting rather than her sexuality. She is VERY assertive in her label of being a lesbian and has shown zero interest in or attraction to men. So pushing down any ~weird gender feelings~ for the sake of holding onto her identity of “lesbian” could definitely fit!
Oh my God thank you for reading this as an intentionally written story with foreshadowing and arcs. It makes for so much more meaningful stuff to talk about
First, I feel like everything about the class has been affirming of Becky’s identity so far, but the idea that sexual orientation has drift may be undermining for someone who has spent most of her life dealing with people telling her she can just choose to not like girls and has only recently been able to assert that she was in fact born this way.
And Leslie is trying to gently remind her that labels are how we want society to see us and don’t always or ever capture all edge cases. If Becky should meet someone that reveals she might like 1/1000 guys, or enby’s, or transmen does that make her stop being a lesbian?
Only if she wants it to. But easier said than done.
Or it’s because she doesn’t want to start fantasizing about putting Joyce through gay conversion therapy.
The sexuality itself isn’t the fluid part, the fluid is the identity itself. For instance, if someone grows up thinking they are straight, because that’s all they think there can be, only to realize as they get older that they find the same gender attractive. Maybe they’ll adopt the label bi-curious, then bi. Then, as they dabble, they realize they’re gay and feel nothing for the opposite gender. That’s the fluid part.
Yeet
That unnecessary lecture applies to everything equally as much as it does to bisexuality
Becky’s acceptance of Ruth is no more difficult than it is to accept anyone else doing or being anything else
Saying Becky understands fluid identity because she accepts Ruth’s bisexuality does not follow loigcally unless you think bisexuality is somehow more fluid than other identities
Doopyboop
Joyce had difficulty understanding the fluidity of Ruth dating a man after dating a woman. THAT is where I’m basing the comparison, because in story Joyce had difficulty understanding that. Please don’t make assumptions on what you think I believe when you do not know me. Sorry I offended you somehow but please back off, thanks.
Meagan
This may apply in some cases, but there are also plenty of people who experience a shift in who they are actually attracted to at different points in their life.
168 thoughts on “Time to go”
Ana Chronistic
It’s-a me! Carlio!
Decidedly Orthogonal
Having been with someone who would just flat out ignore me, despite her usual over-the-top nature, I’m hurting for Carla here. ✊ I hope this doesn’t hurt her. ? Or Charlie.
darkoneko
wow, we’re closing on to 20 minutes shift lol
Proxiehunter
Just a minute let me do some math based on the time this comment is tagged with.
Proxiehunter
According to the time stamps 14 minutes off. But the new comic wasn’t loading for longer than that.
Claire
Yeah it’s ..quite a bit now. Used to be 3-5 mins after the hour.
NGPZ
A whole universe of gender and discovery, waiting for you!!!! ^^
*plays “Phendrana Drifts” from Metroid Prime on hacked muzak*
True Survivor
I think I see what you did there. Also, thanks for the video on logic the other day – it was great.
NGPZ
ahahahahahaha thx. yeah i know Black Dynamite is an exploitation film, but i still find parts of it rather funny
Call Me Deacon Blues
I’ve missed the context to this, but I wouldn’t call Black Dynamite an exploitation film, more of a parody of one. Like, it came out not that long ago, and it’s like that on purpose, as a joke.
Dante
I’ve moved across the entire rainbow. Life is weird and what matters is not the destination but the road!
Needfuldoer
A rainbow road, you say.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuX5_OWObA0
Kazuma Taichi
such a good OST
darkoneko
ok Charlie is absoltuely doing it on purpose now 😀
anon
well, it looked like her smartwatch? is giving her an otification
tho it would be an amusing troll like. “grab a snack at x time, ten minutes later, smooch carla”
Taffy
Nah, Charlie just noticed she has boobs. This is the first time she’s really stopped to register them, and she’s pleasantly surprised.
Needfuldoer
Charlie interacts with the world at 5000ms ping time.
thejeff
High bandwidth, low latency.
cain
I think you’re right about the watch. It’s not shaded in the last panel, implying the screen lit up.
NGPZ
Booster told Carla to show their sister understanding and patience:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/02-its-the-love-i-havent-got/unsettling/
Charlie is very likely neurodivergent, wouldn’t be surprised if she has ADHD and/or autism
Florens
Or cognitive disengagement syndrome, which is another proposed attention disorder separate from ADHD (but often diagnosed as ADHD currently).
cain
And apparently sometimes comorbid with ADHD, according to the wikipedia page. Thanks for mentioning the name, hadn’t read about this before 🙂
NGPZ
oooo interesting!
I might actually have this, if only because it seems to be a neurodivergent stripe that falls under both autism and ADHD?
(what a joy it is to have executive dysfunction :/)
Sirksome
Carla and Charlie could be married and we’d never know.
Yumi
And Carla wouldn’t be sure either.
Nono
Hm.
Will Charlie be the type to just go with whatever a more forceful personality says, or will she need her personal alone time/space and Carla’s needling will just not mesh?
True Survivor
Its too late Carla, the seahorses have her now.
BBCC
Leslie is still a good mom.
Sirksome
Maybe Charlie has a The Prestige situation going on where she has a secret third identical twin and they switch places in real life to keep the illusion going and that’s why she doesn’t acknowledge Carla. It’s a different Charlie.
pope suburban
I hope Becky tells Leslie about her mom. It’s a trauma she hasn’t looked at yet because of all the other traumas that followed. A stable and caring adult is what she needs to start that painful journey.
ian livs
She really does need to unpack it sometime, and Leslie would be a great person to talk to about it. Plus, it’s always nice seeing more of their relationship (found family is wonderful)
Slartibeast Button, BIA
As I noted a while back she hadn’t even discussed it with *Joyce*, which means she almost certainly hasn’t discussed it with anyone*.
* Certainly not her “spiritual leaders” of the time, though I’d have though that sort of thing was their JOB.
Bryy
They would have the same reaction that Carol had to Mike dying.
Needfuldoer
Nobody discussed it with Joyce. She thought Bonnie died of cancer up until Ruth ended up in the hospital. Not only did this keep Joyce sheltered from the realities of the world, but it also meant she didn’t have the full context she could’ve needed to help support Becky.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/superglue/
https://www.dumbingofage.com/indebted/
(Also, fuck cancer.)
thejeff
Not just that she didn’t have the context, but that Becky couldn’t even open up to her about it.
Opus the Poet
Confirmation that Americans will use any weights and measures to avoid the metric system when Dina stated her weight in atrociraptors.
Opus the Poet
If this comment area had an upvote this comment would get my upvote.
Jammy
As a teacher, I love my students, but I’m not a therapist, so my listening hopefully only gets them to open up to more helpful people down the line. I know that Leslie’s gone above-and-beyond (including housing), but Becky might benefit from more professional help than just amateur kindness and generosity.
cain
I would also not be surprised if Becky has had negative experiences with therapists in the past.
Needfuldoer
I would be surprised if Becky had experiences with therapists in the past.
Toedead would be more likely to lay hands and pray, throw hands, or bring her to the pastor.
HueSatLight
Charlie about to tell Carla something interesting about humpback whales. Because whales identify themselves in whalesong, and she thinks its cute how Carla always introduces herself.
clif
Carla who?
Doopyboop
It’s interesting that the fluid identity stuff is something that seems (or is interpreted by Leslie) as being hard for Becky to accept or cope with. She pretty easily coped with Ruth going from dating a woman to dating a man, pointing out that Ruth was bi and also Ruth’s happiness was important. I get that Becky was basically raised up to be little more than a housewife married to a man, but we don’t really get the sense that Becky herself REALLY jived with that and is pretty happy and content to be a lesbian.
Is this supposed to be lead up for someone else’s fluid sexuality experience? Perhaps someone like Joyce, who’s sexuality being fluid (but not fluid enough to return Becky’s affections) would be something that’d be hard for Becky to accept?
Amós Batista
Wow, if story will go there… wow, awesome!…
Laurathesull
My guess is Dorothy!
NGPZ
Would be rather fitting if it happened to coincide with the imminent distribution of fluid at a particular party…
Meagan
I’m now putting 50/50 odds on this happening.
Dante
Raising a 60%, this is foreshadowing, not tinfoil hatting
Frelance
I don’t think Joyce being lowkey Dorothysexual impacts anyone’s identifiers.
Dante
Impacts Dorothy’s, who reciprocates and had previously described herself as straight but openminded to change.
Doopyboop
I don’t think it’ll impact Becky’s identifiers but it will undoubtedly make her feel some type of way. It’s easier to cope with Joyce not returning her feelings by saying “well, Joyce is straight!!”. It’s harder if it becomes “well, Joyce is actually into girls sometimes. Not me though. Dorothy, yes. But not me.”. Not because I think she wants to date Joyce anymore, but because Becky’s got self-worth and self-esteem issues she hides behind jokes. She internalized Dina being grey-ace as meaning Becky wasn’t desirable enough. She would definitely internalize this.
Florence
This is the it of it, Becky has deep insecurities, she will probably react to any version of Joyce having feelings for girls(but especially Dorothy) to any other Joyce related situation more dramatically just because she feels rejected
Needfuldoer
Their close relationship growing up just further complicates the matter, because that can subconsciously flag someone as “family, platonic love only”. I wonder if Becky bring an only child, while Joyce has three siblings, affected their perspectives.
Florence
Ooooooohhhhh, I hadn’t thought of that but yea that would absolutely create a difference between them on how they view each other
SunflowerBanjo
Idk, I think Leslie’s comment about, “Even if you shif you can still keep using the words you like.” is more indicative of Becky’s GENDER shifting rather than her sexuality. She is VERY assertive in her label of being a lesbian and has shown zero interest in or attraction to men. So pushing down any ~weird gender feelings~ for the sake of holding onto her identity of “lesbian” could definitely fit!
Justnobodyfqwl
Oh my God thank you for reading this as an intentionally written story with foreshadowing and arcs. It makes for so much more meaningful stuff to talk about
Doopyboop
Happy to contribute to a more interesting comment section!
zee
That’s a real cute Ms Marvel
fridge_logic
First, I feel like everything about the class has been affirming of Becky’s identity so far, but the idea that sexual orientation has drift may be undermining for someone who has spent most of her life dealing with people telling her she can just choose to not like girls and has only recently been able to assert that she was in fact born this way.
And Leslie is trying to gently remind her that labels are how we want society to see us and don’t always or ever capture all edge cases. If Becky should meet someone that reveals she might like 1/1000 guys, or enby’s, or transmen does that make her stop being a lesbian?
Only if she wants it to. But easier said than done.
Or it’s because she doesn’t want to start fantasizing about putting Joyce through gay conversion therapy.
Yeet
Being bi isn’t more fluid than any other identity.
Joyce being Joyce doesn’t mean it’s any harder for anyone else to follow.
Doopyboop
The sexuality itself isn’t the fluid part, the fluid is the identity itself. For instance, if someone grows up thinking they are straight, because that’s all they think there can be, only to realize as they get older that they find the same gender attractive. Maybe they’ll adopt the label bi-curious, then bi. Then, as they dabble, they realize they’re gay and feel nothing for the opposite gender. That’s the fluid part.
Yeet
That unnecessary lecture applies to everything equally as much as it does to bisexuality
Becky’s acceptance of Ruth is no more difficult than it is to accept anyone else doing or being anything else
Saying Becky understands fluid identity because she accepts Ruth’s bisexuality does not follow loigcally unless you think bisexuality is somehow more fluid than other identities
Doopyboop
Joyce had difficulty understanding the fluidity of Ruth dating a man after dating a woman. THAT is where I’m basing the comparison, because in story Joyce had difficulty understanding that. Please don’t make assumptions on what you think I believe when you do not know me. Sorry I offended you somehow but please back off, thanks.
Meagan
This may apply in some cases, but there are also plenty of people who experience a shift in who they are actually attracted to at different points in their life.
Amós Batista
… Becky will throw all these things on this drinking party, won’t she?
Bryy
Of course she will.
Bash
It’s been simmering under the surface so long that I would welcome this, even if it’s a complete disaster.
Suet
She wouldn’t fret over the synopsis, she is the synopsis(?)
Still not…
IntangibleMatter
I genuinely forgot about the rest of the strip as soon as Carla appeared. Carla time!
ZerglingOne