215

Courses
Posted on May 12, 2024 by David M Willis
I'm at TCAF in Toronto today!  Again!!!  BUT FOR THE LAST TIME.  (until the next time)  Table 105, in the first floor roundy windows!  Also I had Pizza Pizza!  It's just as good as Chuck E Cheese!

215 thoughts on “Courses”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “Tall and dense?”

    …Joyce’s arm candy? =D

    1. Dara

      I feel like “Joyce’s arm candy” would’ve elicited some blush lines xD

  2. DailyBrad

    More like undie-clared, amirite

    1. Decidedly Orthogonal

      ?

    2. Makkabee

      More like undie-clad.

  3. IntangibleMatter

    Never compare someone who identifies themselves by their competence and intelligence with someone who decidedly doesn’t embrace any of that.

    It’ll be okay, Dorothy.

    1. Jamie

      Should tell Dorothy to switch to telecommunications. Be like Walky instead.

      1. FlamestAndLight

        wait that’s his major? Telecom?
        Walky . . . Talky?

        1. someone

          He claimed he thought it was about watching television.

        2. Needfuldoer

          That or it was actually Linda’s idea.

        3. someone

          Here’s the strip:
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/03-trystin-in-the-wind/pity/

        4. thejeff

          Linda’s idea

        5. someone

          The way I read that strip, Linda’s idea is to make him change his major to medical…

        6. thejeff

          Yeah, it was intended as “here’s what Linda’s idea was”, not “no, telecom was Linda’s idea”

    2. CC

      – fury at being compared to joe
      – train wreck of “she’s not wrong”
      – self disgust at step 1
      – reinforcement of “I shouldn’t be president”
      – more depression
      wheeee!

    3. ValdVin

      We don’t see much of Joe and class. (Leslie’s aside.) He must be doing alright.

      Hey, as a not-young without kids, I forgot that not declaring a major as a frosh was a thing

    4. Mturtle7

      Look, in fairness, Joe DOES pride himself on his competence and intelligence (or, at least, he used to). He was always extremely passionate in one particular field, so much so that he considered himself a peerless expert in that field, with a highly complex system that couldn’t possibly fail.

      If it weren’t for Dorothy’s (justifiably) complete lack of respect for that field, she might notice that she and Joe have actually always had way more in common than either of them would like.

  4. Kyrik Michalowski

    Joyce of all the people you could have said, I think that was the worst choice.

    1. Thag Simmons

      Like, you could have said Sal. I don’t know if Dorothy and Sal are friends but at least Sal is cool and doesn’t have years of bad history with Dorothy.

      1. Coatl

        In fact, it is very rare that they interacted (the last interaction was karaoke) and it is true that there was never any conflict.

        I don’t know, but I would like to see more interaction between the two.

      2. Dante

        Sal is declared. She enrolled as a Music major this semester :33

      3. HueSatLight

        Sal is a music major.

        1. Thag Simmons

          She wasn’t in the first semester

      4. anon

        i’m not sure how much she’s talked to others but i assume she just said ‘be like joe’ because he brought it up too

        Tho is it better or worse if he would’ve been like “Oh i’m majoring in science” or something and feeling more rushed versus on the same ‘level’

      5. butting

        Sal is right now banging Dorothy’s ex. So, not so much a history as a present?

    2. Nono

      She could have said Ross.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Yeah, probably some other pretty bad choices. Most politicians, if not every politician ever.

    3. Coatl

      I guess Joyce was trying to joke about it, but at least it’s good to see that he realized the mistake with that choice of words.

    4. pope suburban

      But it has the most comedy potential, since Joe is in a relationship with Joyce, and there are solid arguments to be made that Dorothy would enjoy that.

      1. Thing2

        Yeah, that was what popped into my head. Be more like Joe, go out with Joyce.

    5. Tan

      This is literally worse than what Raidah said.

    6. Mark

      If that doesn’t jolt Dorothy back on track, nothing will.

  5. NGPZ

    Happy International Nurses day to all who celebrate

    1. True Survivor

      We refuse to give you respect or pay,
      but here have a minor holiday!
      By the way,
      can you work a third shift today?

      1. Taffy

        Not like “third shift” third shift (although it is that also), but like, an additional shift after the two you’ve already finished.

      2. NGPZ

        “Make sure you and your Pokemon’s vaccinations are up to date!”

      3. anon

        tbf most of those ‘days’ are kinda bs, rather than something that’d give you benefits, although i suppose it’d be harder for a nurse to take a ‘day off’ without someone else covering for them, unless it’s like a doctor’s private/family clinic that has a smaller/limited amount of patients to where they wouldn’t need to worry

    2. Just_idd

      Couldn’t they have picked a day that wasn’t a major holiday for something similar?

      1. NGPZ

        Except that’s only for this year LOL.

        Some holidays in the United States are determined based on like “second sunday of this month” instead of exact dates, ya know?

  6. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Major in SocioEcoPsychoBongoBullshit?

    1. anon

      at this point i’d assume she’d avoid politics to not be in classes with roz or have robin for a teacher

  7. Nick Piers

    Joyce inadvertently rolled a natural 20 to inflict psychic damage.

    1. cbwroses

      “Emotional damage!”

      1. David DeLaney

        *verbal slipper flies in slow motion*

    2. Mturtle7

      Or, perhaps more accurately, she rolled a nat 1 to heal Dorothy’s psychic damage.

  8. quark

    the dorothy and joe venn diagram has more overlap than dorothy thinks.
    -uncertain future
    -romantic tension with joyce
    -regularly exercises
    -jewish
    -probably more i cant think of yet

    1. quark

      …..wait so what IS she dressed up for??

      1. Thag Simmons

        “It’s after six, what am I? A farmer?”

      2. True Survivor

        Probably something, but maybe nothing. Sometimes when I am feeling bad I dress up, in sort of a fake it till you make sort of way.

        (Also, the irrational part of my brain sometimes starts whispering about how certain fancy shirts are convey good fortune in certain fields. Shh, its a shameful secret).

      3. Mark

        Dorothy made an effort to look well because she’s Dorothy. It’s one part of her self-image that isn’t currently in flames.

        1. Needfuldoer

          A façade of normalcy to hide her inner turmoil.

    2. Nono

      I bet Joe does laundry too.

      1. David DeLaney

        i would watch that

        he’d be drawn bending over to put things in the dryer SO MANY TIMES
        and using his full wingspan as part of the folding process
        and, because college / non-planning, he’d be in his underwear

        … excuse me

    3. Kyrik Michalowski

      How do Joe and Dorothy have being Jewish in common? Dorothy is an atheist last time I checked.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Joe isn’t particularly religious either but they both come from Jewish families

      2. NGPZ

        *ethnically Jewish.

      3. Taffy

        ❤️E?T?H?N?I?C?I?T?Y?

      4. Otl1973

        Those are not necessarily contradictory. Jewish is also a heritage and culture that people can adhere to even if they aren’t religious. That saiid, I don’t know if we’ve seen any signs that it applies to Dorothy.

        1. jflb96

          She did say during Roz’ visit to Leslie’s class that she’s ‘only white until right-wing trolls discover her background and flood her Twitter feed with pictures of ovens’, which makes it sound like even if she doesn’t particularly adhere to Jewish culture it’s still recent enough in her family history that she’s well-aware of it

      5. Uly

        There’s no conflict between Jewish and being atheist. You can absolutely be both.

      6. drs

        https://twitter.com/damnyouwillis/status/1719520562278502723

        Dorothy has Jewish ancestry from her dad’s parents.

      7. Wereg

        Of Jewish Descent, not necessarily of belief.

      8. Kyrik Michalowski

        Thank you all for the explanations. As a kid I was told that the ethnicity was “Hebrew” and “Jewish” referred exclusively to the religion. Apparently this is not the case?

        You would think I know this stuff since I have Jewish/Hebrew ancestry and it was explained to me as a kid. However it rarely comes up so I am unclear whether I should be using “Jewish” or “Hebrew.”

        1. NGPZ

          Hebrew is a language.

          Jewish is the ethnicities / culture.

          Judaism is a religion.

        2. Aslan

          Generally, when people say “Jewish” as an ethnicity, they’re referring to the Ashkenazim and their descendants, since it’s the largest and most widespread Jewish ethnic group. It’s not really correct, and there is an issue of the other ethnic groups being disregarded (e.g. the Sephardim, Maghrebim, and the Yashriqim) but it’s generally colloquially understood that when someone is “ethnically Jewish,” they’re part/a descendant of the Ashkenazim and the ethnic distinctions in question are typically Ashkenazi traditions

        3. thejeff

          Kind of, though that has nothing to do with what’s being talked about here and probably varies depending on the area.
          Statistically Dorothy is likely of Askenazi descent, as is Joe, but the real difference is that Joe’s ties are closer, even he’s not particularly religious. He was raised Jewish, while she has one Jewish grandparent.
          As she said way back, enough for the online trolls to swarm her feed with images of furnaces, but not enough for her to think of herself that way.

        4. NGPZ

          Wait, did we ever get confirmation on the specific Jewish diaspora for either Joe or Dorothy’s families?

        5. NGPZ

          Like Joe’s and Dorothy’s might be Ashkenazi specifically, but was it ever stated anywhere?

        6. thejeff

          I don’t think so. Just going off of likelihood.
          “Rosenthal” has German roots, so almost certainly Ashkenazi

        7. Dday

          The notion that “ethnically Jewish” specifically refers to Ashkenazim sounds off to my ears. In my family, there are branches of Jewish diaspora that are Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrachi, even Indian. All of the communities they hail from would very much consider themselves to be ethnically Jewish going back thousands of years.

        8. NGPZ

          Yee true. (Mizrahi Jewish myself, big spattering of Middle Eastern, North African and Oriental including Egyptian, Arabic, Greek and Turkish ^^)

        9. Dday

          Oversimplified version: In very ancient times, the Hebrews were a group of people united by kinship, language and religion. They were divided into a number of tribes, the largest of which was the tribe of Yehuda, (Anglicized as Judah). Over time, the other tribes weakened and basically coalesced around Judah in Judea. They still spoke Hebrew, at least for ceremonial purposes, but came to simply be known as the Yehudim, or Jews. Still the same people, slightly different branding.

    4. jeffepp

      What they really need is a room where the three of them can form a venn diagram. I don’t think Joyces bed will be big enough for them to spoon stack, though.

      1. David DeLaney

        technically they’re forming a Venn diagram RIGHT NOW
        iykwim
        aityd

    5. Dante

      Holy shit you’re def onto something here 0.0

      1. NGPZ

        The other slipshine we getting gonna be a three-way ain’t it?

        1. Sajuuk-Khar

          Some of us are clinging to that hope by our teeth, yes (I’m some of us)

    6. Drain

      – Pretty ☺️

    7. anon

      joe’s prolly not as concerned about his ‘uncertain future’ (i don’t think anyone on the cast is half as ambitious as dorothy, maybe raidah)

    8. HueSatLight

      They both have a creepy list of everyone in Clark wing.

  9. shadowcell

    Dumbing of Age Book 14: I Have Said a Bad

    1. Reltzik

      Too short.

      Dumbing of Age Book 14: I can’t see her face from this angle, but I’m like 80% sure she’s gagging.

  10. Suet

    “No… endpoint…? Joyce…?”

    Be like Joe, hah, what a crude statement

  11. True Survivor

    Does that mean Dorothy has a viable future career ranking people by hotness for vapid gossip magazines?

  12. EpochFlame

    dotty’s having a mini breakdown

  13. jeffepp

    Alright, if Amber is Joe’s sibling (kinda), and Joe is Gil, that makes Amber Zeetha. That makes Mike Higgs. And we’ve already established Sal as Bang’s analog. Which works, because of the friend/enemy(/lover?) dynamic lines up for both comics.

    Further, Becky is a spunky short haired rogue, that analogs with Violetta, with the roommate filling in for cousin.

  14. NGPZ

    embracing her new adult self aint no barf mitzvah

    1. David DeLaney

      underupvoted comment

  15. William

    Either Dorothy and Walky need each other, or need to get over each other. I’m not exactly sure which.

    1. Coatl

      I love the ship, but I admit that the matter is complicated.

      Now they are both in their own problems to say that they need each other to progress, their problems must be solved individually, and once it is solved, all that remains is to wait for what happens next.

      Of course, although I want them to return, it is good that there is still trust between them despite the previous inconveniences.

      Dreaming is free

    2. thejeff

      We don’t really have a good read on what Walky’s thinking since his relationship with Lucy blew up. He’s spent time with Amber, but it’s not at all clear he (or she) is trying to rekindle that relationship, rather than just looking for a place he can play games and not confront his problems.

  16. Otl1973

    I still find it odd that freshmen have much choice in their courses (even though well over 10 years ago my kids had to start with some major courses as freshmen). Back in my day, the standard freshman load was pretty much a standard set of core courses (modulated a bit if you had AP or similar credits to get out of some). And get off my lawn!

    1. brute

      my middle school had us choosing potential college majors and career paths, and my high school classes were set up with “academies” that were supposed to mirror college majors. they also pushed AP classes and tests and i think there were courses centered around prepping for AP and SAT tests. this was 20 years ago.

      and no, it didn’t help us succeed.

    2. Sol

      I find it depends on if you’re in college or university (yes, they are actually different things). In my experience, College tends to have set courses that you have to take (maybe you’ll have wiggle room with when you take them and how many at a time, but the course load is fairly set). University tends to be more malleable, where you need to meet a certain amount of credits in certain criteria depending on your major.

      1. Mark

        My experience was that the University has some requirements of its own, to make Well-Rounded Graduates, and the schools (you can call them Colleges if you wish) have other, more focused requirements.

        I tested out of freshman English, did computer homework in the back of psych. lecture, spent most of the semester in economics wishing the prof. would go deeper into some of the topics, and then I was done with University requirements and could spend more time in the computer lab. The school requirements were more fun. I guess I failed Well-Rounded….

    3. Thing2

      If 1973 was your birth year, you can get off my lawn! You are but a baby!

    4. Needfuldoer

      They can buy a little extra decision-making time by knocking out more of the gen ed classes they’d have to take regardless of their major.

    5. VicMortimer

      About 35 years ago I picked all my classes as an undeclared freshman. As I recall, it was a philosophy class, a political science class, a geology class, and a theatre scenery class that first semester. I had enough AP credits that I was only a freshman for a semester. I never took an English class, never took a math class, and ended up graduating with a theatre technology major and minors in history and political science.
      I work in IT.

    6. zee

      Yeahh in my first year they gave us a lil thingy at my majors orientation that had all my courses laid out for both semesters. Technically didn’t have to follow it exactly but it was helpful. Only really choices I has was which foundation courses to take in which semester and a single free elective. Being “undeclared” is only a thing in one specific faculty here though, I think. So idk what it’s like in those cases

  17. C.T. Phipps

    Dorothy hates Joe.

    Never forget this, Joyce!

  18. Shakes

    You could always get swole Dorothy, think about it.

    1. anon

      LOL that makes me think of chris from parks & rec “if i’m in constant motion i won’t have to be thinking /in a pit of despair”

  19. MisterJinKC

    Honestly Dorothy needs to get over her hatred of Joe. It’s gone far beyond what is reasonable. He’s treated her with far more respect and politeness than some of her other “friends” have. As far as I remember he’s never said an unkind word to her. He’s a himbo and has made mistakes like the list. But he never maliciously or intentionally hurt anyone that I know of. Even the list wasn’t born of intentional disrespect. Just him being young and stupid enough that he didn’t get it.

    1. shrub

      Some people need to look down on others to make themselves feel better (Sarah), hopefully this isn’t the case here

    2. brute

      he has made fun of her before, and he’s said a lot of incredibly shallow and misogynistic things in front of her and other women (which I guess you’re willing to write off as youthful ignorance, even though i knew all that shit was messed up when my age was in the single digits, but the people doing the hurting are allowed to be ignorant in your mind apparently)

      this is also just what we’ve seen. remember, they went to high school together and joe was danny’s bff when danny was dating dorothy, so she knows him better than yall want to believe.

      and I cannot stress enough that years of misogyny can and will affect how women see and react to a person, and if you think that makes us snooty or narcissistic then you’re just making excuses for bigotry ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

      1. Nymph

        I want an upvote button specifically for this. Perfect explanation.

      2. Amós Batista

        damn, that was perfect!

    3. Taffy

      “far beyond what’s reasonable” she didn’t fucking say anything

      1. HueSatLight

        ever notice when someone gets banned apparently for misogyny, sometimes they come back later?

    4. Needfuldoer

      She witnessed so much of Old Joe that she’s unwilling to give New Joe a chance, never mind benefit of the doubt.

      1. Taffy

        And y’know what? Fair.

      2. thejeff

        And also, she is giving him a chance. She’s not fond of him, but she’s accepted him and Joyce being together, which means she’s at least tentatively accepted that he’s changed.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Accepted it, or resigned herself to the fact that Joyce won’t listen to her?

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/hotchick/
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/destigmatizing/

        2. Bash

          She overheard them having a heart-to-heart when Joyce was in the tree, and after that she stopped trying to actively prevent them from dating. Maybe she’s not exactly happy about it, but it’s a start.

        3. shrub

          Thats one of her major issues right there:

          “why won’t people listen to me?”

  20. shrub

    Joe has progressed further than Dorothy, not that Dorothy would care to admit it

    1. Coatl

      Those obvious gestures of displeasure seem to say it.

    2. DashWallkick

      That’s why she’s bricking so hard in those last panels. “Joe not knowing what he wants is a virtue because he allows himself to try new things” is utterly paralyzing to her.

    3. Amelie Wikström

      Nobody knows about Joe’s progress except Joyce, and when she tries to tell Sarah it comes out “he’s told me he’s trying to change”.

    4. thejeff

      What Amelie said, though I think Dorothy’s realized it from what she’s now seen of them interacting.

      But also, Joe may have made more progress, he started in a much worse place

      1. shrub

        Well to be fair to Joe he never, well not to our knowledge, got so angry that he made his best friend masturbate, in a public setting

  21. Sajuuk-Khar

    Oh I see how it is, Willis, I tag it canon compliant and you go and do THIS, you fucker! You actual fucker! Well I’m not gonna stand for this! Me and my complete ignorance of how a buffer works are gonna FIND you! And when I find you I will be ANGRY! And then

    1. thejeff

      Nah, it can still be compliant. Just a little further down the road. Give Dorothy a little longer to mellow about Joe.

    2. David DeLaney

      i am grateful to have been in attendance at your TED talk

  22. BBCC

    Joyce has made an awkward.

  23. HueSatLight

    Has Dorothy noticed there are other people in her classes? Does she think they’re all future presidents? Somebody ask this woman why she wanted to be president, because she’s never going to figure out to ask it herself.

    1. Coatl

      *Damn, it’s true.
      There are many things about Dorothy that we still don’t know, and I feel that it is necessary to know a little more about her past.*

      1. Da Boy

        She seems to have a natural tendency to want to help people, solve their problems and organize their lives. I feel like she saw the Presidential position as the ultimate source of power to do just that, help people.

        1. Needfuldoer

          She’s expended so much energy on helping others, that she forgot to help herself.

        2. Sajuuk-Khar

          Have you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

        3. Da Boy

          Oh yeah the dumb weakling who got killed in his sleep by his cowardly weakling of a student. Yeah I heard about it, why do you ask?

        4. Taffy

          Darth Plagueis the Dumb Stupid Idiot

        5. Sajuuk-Khar

          Huge slam on ancient Sith healer out of nowhere

        6. Da Boy

          I just REALLY want Anakin to say that to Palpatine’s face with this “What are you gonna now?” shit eating grin XD

        7. Mark

          +1

    2. Mturtle7

      My guess: Dorothy wanted to be president because she thought it was the most responsible way for her to use her abilities. Probably one of her early teachers called her a “gifted child” and said she was so smart and organized that she could probably be president someday. And she not only took that to heart, but also decided that if she COULD be president, and CHOSE not to, then that would be a waste of her potential. And Dorothy really, really, doesn’t want to waste her potential.
      With this kind of perspective, she could easily notice that other political science students don’t want to be president, and just as easily dismiss the idea that this should in any way reflect upon her own ambitions. Of COURSE they don’t want to be president, because they aren’t special like she is! If they had her natural gifts and aptitudes, they’d obviously want to be president, but they don’t have those, so they don’t want that. If anything, their lack of ambition just makes it all the more urgent for her to double down on her own, because now she’s the only one can do this Very Important Job for the world.
      This also would help explain why she was so very devastated by Raidah’s “war criminal” quip. Her entire mission hinged on the idea that being president was her moral responsibility, which in turn hinged upon the childish idea that it’s possible for the POTUS to be morally flawless and innocent of wrongdoing. Once Raidah forced her to actually confront that as an adult, the entire thing just fell apart instantly and beyond repair.

  24. Coatl

    Damn, it’s true.

    There are many things about Dorothy that we still don’t know, and I feel that it is necessary to know a little more about her past.

  25. Plaaaaaa

    What is it about Joe Dorothy hates so much?

    1. anon

      prolly just still seeing him as the ‘old joe’ from their high school days lol

      tho idk what would be required to be declared as a major to become the president, i’d assume some political stuff but with robin being a teacher idk if that’d be all that helpful

    2. Taffy

      Did you read the pages with him in them? A lot of those used to feature him sucking immensely.

    3. Bash

      At the start of the comic he really was the worst kind of womanizer, and he was performative about it too. He would ask anyone if they wanted to see his “do” list. He would make everything about sex. He was probably even more insufferable in high school, if that’s possible. Dorothy had to spend a lot of time with him because she was dating his “best friend”, even though that friendship mostly seemed like a holdover from childhood and Joe was often a jerk to Danny. Basically we’ve seen Joe at his best, but Dorothy saw him at his worst for years.

      1. Mark

        I suspect that, as much as this is true, there’s also something personal that we’ve not been told. I wonder if that last face is her winding up to be angry enough to talk about it at long last.

      2. Just_idd

        This is why I’ve always said if you want to change yourself you need to change yourself and then move so that all the people you meet see the new you and not the old you.

        1. shrub

          Theres some truth to that, how many of the cast still treat Joyce like she has no agency

    4. Da Boy

      Honestly I don’t think it’s about Joe specifically this time but what he represents, an average/non-ambitious college experience.

      Dotty had her whole life planned out, she was aiming for the position of the most powerful person in the world. You really couldn’t aim higher than that.

      To go from that to “Oh I haven’t decided on my major yet” would be such a massive downgrade that it probably sends her head for a spin. She is seeing all her plans and dream crumbling all around her.

      1. Mark

        Could also be a bit of “I’ve dedicated myself 100% to a goal for years, and you hold up some slacker to me as an example??? You dare!”

        1. Da Boy

          Definitely part of the reason why she is annoyed.

    5. Needfuldoer

      She spent years around Do List Joe, and she doesn’t think he can come back from that.

      I think at least part of her also suspects he’s playing some kind of long con with Joyce, and thinks he’ll just flip a switch and become Do List Joe again after he adds a triangle-smile-shaped notch in his bedpost.

      1. thejeff

        I think she’s still worried about that, but it’s a lot lower level than it was at first. She’s seen them interact more and while she’s still not fond of him, she’s dropped her objections.

    6. Amós Batista

      He stole Joyce from her.

      1. HueSatLight

        Yup. She did not despise him like this early on, when he was more actively obnoxious.

  26. Ophidiophile

    Et tu, Joyce?

  27. morhek

    Joyce: “You can be like Joe”

    Dorothy: *don’t ask if you can sleep in your underwear with her too*

    1. anon

      i mean they already shared a washing machine session lol

  28. Axel

    My HOPE is:

    Panel 4: Oh god they compared me to JOE and all those disorganized people woth undeclared majors

    Panel 5: Oh god that’s the elitist thinking I’m supposed to be escaping and which kept me from going to Joyce’s birth control appointment

    1. Jeremiah

      I am pretty sure it is entirely her dislike of Joe.

      1. Axel

        yeah, that’s why I lead with ‘hope,’ and I only have that because the fifth looks like she might have realized something. Also why I capsed Joe, though based on past stuff I do think she’s also probably been looking down on undeclareds in general

  29. anon

    Do you /have/ to declare a major if you wanna graduate or to get like a masters in a specific job, idk how many community colleges have majors (tho i assume the one they’re going to is ‘nicer’ than a community college), but other than it being a formality i’d hope dorothy would be alright and not spiral

    1. Doopyboop

      Honestly I feel like the first year is mostly basic classes that can be applied to most any major, such as higher math/science/history sort of classes. There might be a couple of classes that are connected to your major, but if you were undeclared I’m sure they could just be whatever intro level stuff someone might be interested in dabbling into. Dorothy is also a big nerd so I’m sure she did do some extra courses in high school that’d place her in an advance position for college courses related to her major, but I’d be surprised if all of her classes were poli-sci related. I think it was only into the third year and beyond where my classes were almost all related to my major.

    2. Bash

      In a four-year university you get a degree *in* something. That is called a major. Usually in the first year you have at least decided on a department, and by the end of the second year you are expected to choose your major.

    3. BBCC

      They’re not at a community college, they’re at a state university.

    4. Mr D

      Man, american university/college is so weird to me. The idea that you can be in college without actually knowing what you’re studying for is bananas.

      1. Taffy

        You’re studying for excessive and needless debt by default.

      2. David DeLaney

        also see Zelazny’s _Doorways in the Sand_

    5. HueSatLight

      Yes. But there’s a “General Studies” degree.

  30. v.gay.person

    Dangit, Joyce.

    But really, Joe’s comment is on point. My first attempt at uni resulted in a Dorothy-like crisis (with more panic attacks, agoraphobia and hospitalisations). Went back to study whatever looked interesting through an arts degree before I discovered a profession that really resonated.

  31. Acebender

    Now you’ve done it, Joyce

  32. wilddeath

    anyone notice that every single one of dorothy’s exes upgrade from her in a following relationship? I bet she has noticed.

    1. Bash

      Is Amber an upgrade?

      1. Council

        If we add ‘In bed’ to the end, I’m confident she is

        1. Da Boy

          I mean, severe mental and emotional problems aside, she is great with tech, very physically fit and can fight no problem, very protective of her friends and loved ones and… generally a pretty nice person.

        2. Bash

          I wasn’t trying to be down on Amber. Dorothy and Amber are both great people with their own strengths and weaknesses. I’m not sure that one is an upgrade of the other.

        3. Da Boy

          I imagine the main “upgrade” component here is that Amber actually wants/maintains a relationship. With Dotty it was, at least until recently, all temporary. She’d be off to… Yale or Harvard or wherever so she tried not to tie herself down.

    2. thejeff

      Not sure what “upgrade” means, but both of them going to Amber is a bit weird.

    3. Wraithy2773

      “Upgrade” is the wrong word, but it is interesting that the men that she’s broken up with have progressed to healthy relationships on their own.

  33. Taffy

    Joe: [Cums in a horse on live television]
    Dorothy: “That’s not a very good thing to do.”
    Comments Section™: Idk what her problem is with him

    1. Anon A Mouse

      This is a bit of extreme hyperbole just to disagree with a few comments. You can hate Joe but he’s done nothing nearly as bad as that.

      1. Taffy

        Who said I hated Joe? You made that part up.

        1. RedCat

          Yeah no idea how someone would get that idea lmao

        2. Taffy

          It’s a very silly leap to make.

        3. Daibhid C

          Who said you hated Joe? Anon A. Mouse said you can hate Joe, which is true; everyone is completely free to do that.

        4. Taffy

          Yeah but I can also drink a gallon of kerosene, and I don’t do that either.

        5. Wereg

          Imagine how many calories that’d be tho

        6. Taffy

          I don’t actually understand how calories work, I just know they’re the Scary Health Unit that everything has too many of. A gallon of anything has a few hundred at least, so I guess kerosene probably has that too?

        7. Mark

          The amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a liter of water by 1⁰C. For food, that’s the amount of energy you’d get by completely burning some amount thereof.

          So: 1gal kerosene yields 131,890 BTU = 33257.9 kcal = about ten days’ worth of energy for an adult human.

        8. Taffy

          Oh fuck yeah, time for me to chug like a freshman! Thanks for the nutritional advice!

        9. shrub

          Thats only like 2 or 3 bucks for 10 days, cheap eats for the win!

        10. David DeLaney

          remember that a food calorie is a thousand chemistry calories

          don’t want to have a Mars-rover-like conversion error

        11. Taffy

          No, not this time. You’re not gonna trick me into eating the Mars Rover, not again.

      2. Dday

        Yeah but its really funny so it a-ok in my book

    2. GholaHalleck

      Roz looks nothing like a horse…

  34. Rabisch

    End of the friendship between Joyce and Dorothy.

  35. Da Boy

    That’s gotta be like 20 different daggers stabbed into her heart.

  36. CJ

    Did she tell anyone she declined Havard?

    1. Needfuldoer

      Yale.

      Maybe she could apply to Hahvahd!

      1. Da Boy

        Yer a Brit Dotty

  37. DarkoNeko

    …Joyce, no

  38. Matrix

    Considering that Joe is canonically an engineering savant I mean does it really matter?

    1. Taffy

      Wasn’t that the other Joe? This one has engineered nothing, aside from that little downfall he had with his dumbass lost being spread around.

      1. staszu13

        Yes, Walkyverse Joe – except that portion of it where the Drama Tag remained in place. He was undeclared there as well.

        1. Yeet

          I doubt that one is this universe because there’s no way the drama tag remains in place here

      2. thejeff

        And even the list’s security was put together by Danny.

        In middle school, iirc

    2. John Campbell

      That was literally an Alien-granted superpower, and even the Joe from the universe where he was an alien abductee with literal superpowers hadn’t figured them out yet at this point in his life.

      1. Dday

        Yeah, I think it’s like how Walkyverse Amber can’t do a backflip off a wall and how Dumbiverse Carla can’t make a gloved hand holding a pie explode out of her chest.

        1. David DeLaney

          Carla’s WORKING on it

          Rutt-tech is vast, it contains multitudes of research & design

  39. staszu13

    Next collection: Joyce Says a Bad

  40. Amós Batista

    Joyce, for God’s sake!

    There’s no rock bottom for Dorothy. And I have said it in so many other storylines.

  41. Schpoonman

    Dorothy is a few visits to Ethan and Bloodrose away from fully embracing being a pizza cutter.

  42. Straydog

    Knowing which suggestions you react poorly too is a good sign that your heart knows what it wants, but your brain just hasn’t pinned it down yet

  43. Yeet

    I reckon Dorothy is gonna end up helping Joe get some direction to live up to some kind of standard for Joyce… and so she can quietly explore other avenues herself at the same time

  44. Lysbeth

    There are a couple book titles in that strip, really.

  45. John Campbell

    Dumbing of Age Book 14: I Can’t See Her Face From This Angle, But I’m Like 80% Sure She’s Gagging.

    By strange coincidence, that’s also Joe’s dialogue from today’s strip in the alternate universe where Dorothy is teaching Joyce how to do a sex.

    1. Sajuuk-Khar

      and Joe would know best in that alternate universe ?

    2. Sajuuk-Khar

      (well, besides Dorothy, since she’s the one doing the—*DRAGGED OFFSTAGE BY VAUDEVILLE CANE*)

      1. TrueVCU

        Hello yes I understand your username’s reference and I LOVE IT!

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