Jason could stroll onto the set of any American soccer broadcast and nobody would blink an eye. The “hiding in plain sight” might be a good plan, actually.
thejeff
Well, he’d complain about it being called “soccer” and draw attention that way.
If I recall, Becky eventually told Leslie about taking Robin’s advice and making a “good mistake.”
I think Becky is enjoying having two very different mom figures, and may come to rely on them in different ways.
Though Leslie might not prefer to have the uptight mom role.
Some Ed
Especially considering who is getting to be the relaxed mom.
Of course, I seem to recall even Robin basically stated that she was a RINO at one point. She did, at least, go along with the party somewhat, but it was a party affiliation born entirely from election pragmatics.
Heavensrun
You’re not a RINO if you actually vote along with the party all the time, which she did.
RINOs aren’t even really a thing. The entire party consistantly votes as a unified block on almost everything.
Yeah, RINO is really just a snarl term invented by the alt-right to refer to Republicans who in their eyes aren’t reactionary (bigoted) enough, go fucking figure. ?
I’m glad Ruth is trying to help Jason, not sure if it will go the way she hopes but at least she is trying. Also, how many more jump cuts just before the great part?
BowlerHatGuy showed up, was a jerk in several ways. People responded negatively to some things he said, because they were jerkish, but he did not seem to understand why people were responding that way. (example: He would make a statement about the comic, followed by a statement insulting a vulnerable group of people; people would say, “Hey, that’s not okay to say about people”; he would say, “But here are ten paragraphs defending my views on the comic, so???”)
He got real critical of the comic in kind of baffling, failure-of-reading-comprehension ways. Yesterday he made a comment which, in my own opinion, wasn’t that bad on its own, but was part of his pattern and Willis decided to be done with him.
Mikey
Praise be unto Willis.
RassilonTDavros
Yeah, okay, definitely glad he’s gone then.
Sirksome
I wonder how the banning system works? Like in a few weeks will we see a commenter named “TopHatGuy”. Or some other hat related guy? No offense to any commenters who are or were associated with hats and or guys.
RassilonTDavros
IIRC new commenters have to be actively approved; until they have a previous comment approved then then any comments they make will be invisible to everyone except them (and Willis).
Bryy
The tell will be if they post the same link over and over again as if we’re too dumb to get it.
It’ll be obvious but not like that. Just look for the first new commenter to go off about Bruno š
Stormrunner
But I thought we didn’t talk about Bruno?
š
Taffy
The failure to understand the comic would have been tolerable if the person had ever explained how these bizarre conclusions were being reached. Instead, we got “Well, ackshyually, I read the entire comic for the first time just this week, so I’m the only one who understands it. You’re all a bunch of benighted extremists who can’t count to 2.” and “Have heard the good news about our Lord and Savior Penis Monster????”. The least fun version of what we could a had.
Besides what Yumi summed up, he would actively attack commenters with shit like “you all think in black and white and don’t know” and other lovely aggressive as fuck comments.
Jason likely has requirements on his visa on what kind of job he’s allowed to be on to satisfy them. In this case, it’s likely skilled work pertaining to his field – so TAing would work, bartending doesn’t.
Ruth might be hoping that, being an educator, Leslie might have connections to help Jason get skilled work again.
Jason could apply for a student visa but it can take 21 days to 8 months to get approved depending on an interview process, he also would have to travel to British consulate in Chicago.
BBCC
He has a student visa. You can’t work off campus on a student visa in the US without explicit approval that only counts for emergent circumstances. I dunno if Jason would be eligible for such permission but he clearly doesn’t believe so.
UrsulaDavina
He probably hasn’t which means technically he is documented but he needs to stop working. I am guessing what little I remember about the walkyverse as a whole (I have mostly read DoA and shortpacked ) Jason’s dad is a supervillan which in this universe is probably some posh executive a British firm so he has means but his dad is probably a jerk. Hence why he wants to keep working as a bartender?
BBCC
He has to keep working to afford to stay in the US, yes, but I was incorrect about the student visa, at least last we heard.
Alternately, since Leslie is an Adult (TM) who hasn’t betrayed Becky, she can point Ruth and Jason in the right direction without hurting them. Certainly common for people used to adults like Sir to not believe other adults can help, or else they might think passing the buck to the proper authority, EG ratting one out to Sir, is help.
Technically Jason would be here on a student visa. Different departments at IU handle their grad students, so I am uncertain the situation a math student would have been in. Biology and Chemistry majors actually get paid decent on top of having tuition paid for while other departments are far less generous. Iād say the thing Jason most misses out on is he probably used to have his tuition reimbursed. He should have still been able to attend classes, though heād be full on the hook for them unless his home country paid anything for his education (some do, but I have no idea about the UK).
If he was on a student visa then technically is he isn’t undocumented but he can’t work outside the school which could have his student visa revoked. Which i don’t know if that has been the case
Bingo. He can’t afford to stay without his job, but he got fired from his on-campus, student visa friendly job. So now he works in a ‘against the terms of his visa’ off-campus job and hopes he’s not caught. He’s hoping to get some help so he can afford to stay but preferably in a more visa-friendly option.
It’s a work visa, that’s been directly stated in the comic.
BBCC
Do you have a link, by any chance? The last time I recall it being brought up, it was Sal asking how his new job affected his student visa, to which he responded ‘By me not thinking about it really hard’ or something along those lines, rather than ‘I’m on a work visa’ or anything of the like.
BBCC
Never mind, someone showed me a link below. You are correct as we last heard.
UrsulaDavina
Well he then has to apply for a student visa which it’s weird he was TA on a work visa beacuse when I worked as a TA all my international colleagues were here on student visas and paid and funded by the University. But I was not in Indiana so maybe it’s different.
Can somebody refresh my memory what Jason’s status on campus WAS prior to the accusations? My memory says PhD student, but work visa sounds more like Post-Doc. PhD students are pretty powerless with regard to… well, everything. But a post-doc would mean he has a PhD and marketable skills in math stuff and can probably get a job that doesn’t care about vague accusations of possible relationships with adult students. Even if he already has an MS in math stuff, he can probably get some kind of math job somewhere if he actually tries.
I don’t know from visa issues, but I wonder if getting a job as a bartender on campus would count as education related. If IU has on-campus bars (no idea).
I finished college working as a full time-dishwasher in a bar on my private college campus. The neat part was that as a full-time college employee I got to take one course per term for free, which let me get the extra credits I needed to make up for the stuff I’d bombed in the first four years.
My last course was “Women and America” with a professor who Leslie keeps giving me flashbacks to.
IU does have an events staff that does hire bartenders, but thatās it. The bar Jason works at is literally across the street from everyoneās walk from dorm to class.
She may not be looking for someone with power or pull, but rather just someone who has more experience with advocacy/ally-ship and navigating The System in the US.
Jason needs a visa that will work for his situation and someone to sponsor it.
Right now, he has a work visa that is good for work in the education sector, but no sponsor. Getting a job with the school as a TA would fix that, but it’s not the only way he could legally stay.
Someone who has more experience navigating The System is definitely going to be helpful. It’s my impression Jason’s under the impression that he’s just SOL, which is a horrible impression to have if you want to fix anything. Ruth knows that working the system is possible, but as a Canadian, she’s not had enough experience with ours to really know what to do – but as a college student from the US, I would not have really known either, other than the obvious step of need to find someone who does know and is willing to help. A lawyer would probably be better than Leslie, so long as that lawyer wasn’t as flaky as, say, Robin. But Leslie’s probably the most prominent character in the story with notable experience navigating The System. (Robin was way more prominent in Shortpacked!, but I think Leslie’s significantly more prominent here.)
Other options would include getting Jason a job that would sponsor him for a different work visa. Getting that different work visa would be difficult, because he’d be expected to be in England for that part. That he’s here already and not compliant with his current visa would make that awkward at best. But at least he has a get out of jail with the smallest amount of hassle possible skin tone, which probably would make changing visas go over a bit more smoothly than it would for other characters, were they in a similar situation.
As others mentioned, having a student visa would work, except his job still needs to be compatible with that. But a student visa would work with him having a job as university staff, while his current work visa wouldn’t (because work visas specify the type of work, and the difference between faculty and staff is the specific sort of distinction that those specifications cover.)
Marriage used to be an option that would work. I don’t know if it would anymore. Republicans keep putting more and more restrictions on it, because first generation immigrants tend to be Democrats. Democrats somehow haven’t picked up the plot that suggests they should counter those moves and I don’t understand why.
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, but I blather online a lot about stuff that’s at least legal adjacent. Sometimes I even do some research to support those posts.
I am the very model of an English major general!
I’m good at spelling “animal,” “vegetable” and “mineral”!
My suplexes, I’m very skilled at using to communicate!
But right now I am having certain troubles when I cogitate!
The head tilt and perspective are necessary to remind us that Ruth to Leslie is just barely not-a-child, instead of an adult authority as perceived by her peers.
188 thoughts on “Trusts”
Ana Chronistic
technically I think he still has the document, just whenever ICE decides he somehow isn’t white enough they can deport him
Doctor_Who
Jason could hide in a vat of sour cream and stand out by being too white.
ValdVin
Jason could stroll onto the set of any American soccer broadcast and nobody would blink an eye. The “hiding in plain sight” might be a good plan, actually.
thejeff
Well, he’d complain about it being called “soccer” and draw attention that way.
ValdVin
And Cobi Jones or such would say “Soccer is a word invented in England”.
Now I’m wondering what team he’d be a fan of.
LiamKav
Hmm. I picture Jason as either being against sports in general, or possibly being in to rugby if he had a private school upbringing.
bcb
He also has the bonus that his dad is (probably?) rich. Everyone knows that makes him whiter.
Stephen Bierce
“Putting the @$$ in ‘asylum’, I guess?”
Jenniffniff
Nice, Iām already liking these Ruth/Leslie interactions. They have some things in common.
Kyrik Michalowski
I’m glad Ruth is getting help from Leslie with this, although the reminder of Becky leaves me with a different question.
Is Leslie still trying to be a “mom” or “older sister” to Becky? I only ask because it seems like Becky is drawing away from Leslie because of it.
justin8448
If I recall, Becky eventually told Leslie about taking Robin’s advice and making a “good mistake.”
I think Becky is enjoying having two very different mom figures, and may come to rely on them in different ways.
Though Leslie might not prefer to have the uptight mom role.
Some Ed
Especially considering who is getting to be the relaxed mom.
Of course, I seem to recall even Robin basically stated that she was a RINO at one point. She did, at least, go along with the party somewhat, but it was a party affiliation born entirely from election pragmatics.
Heavensrun
You’re not a RINO if you actually vote along with the party all the time, which she did.
RINOs aren’t even really a thing. The entire party consistantly votes as a unified block on almost everything.
The Wellerman
Yeah, RINO is really just a snarl term invented by the alt-right to refer to Republicans who in their eyes aren’t reactionary (bigoted) enough, go fucking figure. ?
Steamweed
I was an English major. But I’m sad that I never had the suplexing class.
Cholma
Well, that’s the state of education these days! Not enough funding for the really *important* skills kids need!
Jamie
Is THAT what we lost when they cut home ec? I thought it was just the knife skills.
Reltzik
I think they usually call it something like “rhetoric”.
Clif
That explains so much.
Kyrik Michalowski
I’m glad Ruth is trying to help Jason, not sure if it will go the way she hopes but at least she is trying. Also, how many more jump cuts just before the great part?
justin8448
I hope someone is keeping track of how many plots Willis is juggling at any one time. This stretch of comics might be a record!
Needfuldoer
“22 Short Films About IU Bloomington”?
“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Campus”?
Yotomoe
“How did you know he was english”
The Wellerman
Hope he gets to stay ?
Also, in other news, BowlerHatGuy was FINALLY banned, yay!!!!
*plays “I Like Your Hat” by Dan Paladin on hacked muzak*
RassilonTDavros
Haven’t been that active in the comments section lately, can anyone give me a rundown on this situation?
Yumi
BowlerHatGuy showed up, was a jerk in several ways. People responded negatively to some things he said, because they were jerkish, but he did not seem to understand why people were responding that way. (example: He would make a statement about the comic, followed by a statement insulting a vulnerable group of people; people would say, “Hey, that’s not okay to say about people”; he would say, “But here are ten paragraphs defending my views on the comic, so???”)
He got real critical of the comic in kind of baffling, failure-of-reading-comprehension ways. Yesterday he made a comment which, in my own opinion, wasn’t that bad on its own, but was part of his pattern and Willis decided to be done with him.
Mikey
Praise be unto Willis.
RassilonTDavros
Yeah, okay, definitely glad he’s gone then.
Sirksome
I wonder how the banning system works? Like in a few weeks will we see a commenter named “TopHatGuy”. Or some other hat related guy? No offense to any commenters who are or were associated with hats and or guys.
RassilonTDavros
IIRC new commenters have to be actively approved; until they have a previous comment approved then then any comments they make will be invisible to everyone except them (and Willis).
Bryy
The tell will be if they post the same link over and over again as if we’re too dumb to get it.
The Wellerman
It’ll be obvious but not like that. Just look for the first new commenter to go off about Bruno š
Stormrunner
But I thought we didn’t talk about Bruno?
š
Taffy
The failure to understand the comic would have been tolerable if the person had ever explained how these bizarre conclusions were being reached. Instead, we got “Well, ackshyually, I read the entire comic for the first time just this week, so I’m the only one who understands it. You’re all a bunch of benighted extremists who can’t count to 2.” and “Have heard the good news about our Lord and Savior Penis Monster????”. The least fun version of what we could a had.
Bryy
Besides what Yumi summed up, he would actively attack commenters with shit like “you all think in black and white and don’t know” and other lovely aggressive as fuck comments.
AmĆ³s Batista
I’m sad I didn’t send a “tl;dr” to them.
spriteless aunty
One thing that waiting for a lull in work to check in here helps with, is assinine comments are modded away before I can read them.
Sirksome
I no nothing about immigration laws or visas. What can Leslie do about this. Jason does have a job right? Is something more than that needed?
Sirksome
No idea why my phone decided “know” was actually “no” in that comment.
Yeet
presumably it’s supposed to be related to education, given he’s there for education reasons
Doctor_Who
Leslie: I suppose I could try to get him a job as a sub.
Ruth: Oh, he’s a sub alright.
Nono
Jason likely has requirements on his visa on what kind of job he’s allowed to be on to satisfy them. In this case, it’s likely skilled work pertaining to his field – so TAing would work, bartending doesn’t.
Ruth might be hoping that, being an educator, Leslie might have connections to help Jason get skilled work again.
Thag Simmons
That’s probably the best Ruth can do to help fix his visa problems, but Jason is frankly a way better bartender than he was a teacher
Sirksome
Maybe he could teach about bartending.
Needfuldoer
His skills would average out, so he’d simply be okay at that.
UrsulaDavina
Jason could apply for a student visa but it can take 21 days to 8 months to get approved depending on an interview process, he also would have to travel to British consulate in Chicago.
BBCC
He has a student visa. You can’t work off campus on a student visa in the US without explicit approval that only counts for emergent circumstances. I dunno if Jason would be eligible for such permission but he clearly doesn’t believe so.
UrsulaDavina
He probably hasn’t which means technically he is documented but he needs to stop working. I am guessing what little I remember about the walkyverse as a whole (I have mostly read DoA and shortpacked ) Jason’s dad is a supervillan which in this universe is probably some posh executive a British firm so he has means but his dad is probably a jerk. Hence why he wants to keep working as a bartender?
BBCC
He has to keep working to afford to stay in the US, yes, but I was incorrect about the student visa, at least last we heard.
spriteless aunty
Alternately, since Leslie is an Adult (TM) who hasn’t betrayed Becky, she can point Ruth and Jason in the right direction without hurting them. Certainly common for people used to adults like Sir to not believe other adults can help, or else they might think passing the buck to the proper authority, EG ratting one out to Sir, is help.
Dr. T
Technically Jason would be here on a student visa. Different departments at IU handle their grad students, so I am uncertain the situation a math student would have been in. Biology and Chemistry majors actually get paid decent on top of having tuition paid for while other departments are far less generous. Iād say the thing Jason most misses out on is he probably used to have his tuition reimbursed. He should have still been able to attend classes, though heād be full on the hook for them unless his home country paid anything for his education (some do, but I have no idea about the UK).
UrsulaDavina
If he was on a student visa then technically is he isn’t undocumented but he can’t work outside the school which could have his student visa revoked. Which i don’t know if that has been the case
BBCC
Bingo. He can’t afford to stay without his job, but he got fired from his on-campus, student visa friendly job. So now he works in a ‘against the terms of his visa’ off-campus job and hopes he’s not caught. He’s hoping to get some help so he can afford to stay but preferably in a more visa-friendly option.
Proxiehunter
It’s a work visa, that’s been directly stated in the comic.
BBCC
Do you have a link, by any chance? The last time I recall it being brought up, it was Sal asking how his new job affected his student visa, to which he responded ‘By me not thinking about it really hard’ or something along those lines, rather than ‘I’m on a work visa’ or anything of the like.
BBCC
Never mind, someone showed me a link below. You are correct as we last heard.
UrsulaDavina
Well he then has to apply for a student visa which it’s weird he was TA on a work visa beacuse when I worked as a TA all my international colleagues were here on student visas and paid and funded by the University. But I was not in Indiana so maybe it’s different.
Dinajoyce
Can somebody refresh my memory what Jason’s status on campus WAS prior to the accusations? My memory says PhD student, but work visa sounds more like Post-Doc. PhD students are pretty powerless with regard to… well, everything. But a post-doc would mean he has a PhD and marketable skills in math stuff and can probably get a job that doesn’t care about vague accusations of possible relationships with adult students. Even if he already has an MS in math stuff, he can probably get some kind of math job somewhere if he actually tries.
Slartibeast Button, BIA
“I came here from England for graduate school.”
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/twist/
Slartibeast Button, BIA
I don’t know from visa issues, but I wonder if getting a job as a bartender on campus would count as education related. If IU has on-campus bars (no idea).
I finished college working as a full time-dishwasher in a bar on my private college campus. The neat part was that as a full-time college employee I got to take one course per term for free, which let me get the extra credits I needed to make up for the stuff I’d bombed in the first four years.
My last course was “Women and America” with a professor who Leslie keeps giving me flashbacks to.
Dr. T
IU does have an events staff that does hire bartenders, but thatās it. The bar Jason works at is literally across the street from everyoneās walk from dorm to class.
Mark
She may not be looking for someone with power or pull, but rather just someone who has more experience with advocacy/ally-ship and navigating The System in the US.
Some Ed
Jason needs a visa that will work for his situation and someone to sponsor it.
Right now, he has a work visa that is good for work in the education sector, but no sponsor. Getting a job with the school as a TA would fix that, but it’s not the only way he could legally stay.
Someone who has more experience navigating The System is definitely going to be helpful. It’s my impression Jason’s under the impression that he’s just SOL, which is a horrible impression to have if you want to fix anything. Ruth knows that working the system is possible, but as a Canadian, she’s not had enough experience with ours to really know what to do – but as a college student from the US, I would not have really known either, other than the obvious step of need to find someone who does know and is willing to help. A lawyer would probably be better than Leslie, so long as that lawyer wasn’t as flaky as, say, Robin. But Leslie’s probably the most prominent character in the story with notable experience navigating The System. (Robin was way more prominent in Shortpacked!, but I think Leslie’s significantly more prominent here.)
Other options would include getting Jason a job that would sponsor him for a different work visa. Getting that different work visa would be difficult, because he’d be expected to be in England for that part. That he’s here already and not compliant with his current visa would make that awkward at best. But at least he has a get out of jail with the smallest amount of hassle possible skin tone, which probably would make changing visas go over a bit more smoothly than it would for other characters, were they in a similar situation.
As others mentioned, having a student visa would work, except his job still needs to be compatible with that. But a student visa would work with him having a job as university staff, while his current work visa wouldn’t (because work visas specify the type of work, and the difference between faculty and staff is the specific sort of distinction that those specifications cover.)
Marriage used to be an option that would work. I don’t know if it would anymore. Republicans keep putting more and more restrictions on it, because first generation immigrants tend to be Democrats. Democrats somehow haven’t picked up the plot that suggests they should counter those moves and I don’t understand why.
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, but I blather online a lot about stuff that’s at least legal adjacent. Sometimes I even do some research to support those posts.
Alex
Having a job might be the problem, if he’s there on a student visa. But he needs the job to pay rent and other expenses.
Mikey
I am the very model of an English major general!
I’m good at spelling “animal,” “vegetable” and “mineral”!
My suplexes, I’m very skilled at using to communicate!
But right now I am having certain troubles when I cogitate!
Cholma
+1
Schpoonman
Excuse me, need to go look up if “Scientist Salarian” ever got full lyrics or a cover.
Taffy
“Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.”
Love that guy.
davidbreslin101
I’m very well acquainted too with fascism grammatical
I shatter fewer femurs since I took a short sabbatical
cmasta1992
It’s times like these I’m reminded (yes I know like ten years later) that these characters aren’t all peers like in Shortpacked
Thomas
The head tilt and perspective are necessary to remind us that Ruth to Leslie is just barely not-a-child, instead of an adult authority as perceived by her peers.