358

Aspirations
Posted on September 14, 2015 by David M Willis

358 thoughts on “Aspirations”

  1. Nightsbridge

    Making pancakes would also be acceptable.

    1. Keroshino

      Especially if they are bacon pancakes!

      1. Smashwidget

        bacon pancakes: surprisingly good?

        1. Flipz

          Any chain restaurants that make them competently? I’d try to make them myself, but I’d prefer NOT to set things on fire again.

        2. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          I’m guessing she wouldn’t be at all interested in working at the International House of Sausage, amirite? 😛

          “Do you want fries with that?”

          Oooh, maybe Becky could get a job at Galasso’s? I hope so. 🙂

        3. Deanatay

          Nah, then Becky’d get the hots for Conquest (because, c’mon, who wouldn’t?), and Dina’d get jealous, and then you’d have this whole ‘love triangle’ thing going on.

          (By which, of course, I mean ‘threesome’.)

        4. Disloyal Subject

          Who wouldn’t get the hots for Conquest? Ethan, for starters.

        5. Palamdrone

          I’m pretty sure in this universe Conquest is like 7 or 8 years old.

        6. John

          She’s an early bloomer, then.

        7. Kamino Neko

          16.

        8. Viking

          Made pancakes while on vacation with friends… Bought baking soda instead of powder (divide amount needed by 4) and also the place didn’t have oil or butter so we cooked up some bacon and used the fat of it, then cooked the pancakes in the pan with some of the grease. Do again? Yes. ALLL OF THE BACON? No.. But a nice add of flavours that didn’t fail completely.

      2. Portmanteaust

        ♪ That’s what she’s gonna make; bacon pancakes~ ♪

      3. vic

        but wath about tacos with french frys as a filling?

    2. Bagge

      But what if she’s more into waffles?

      1. Nightsbridge

        Whatever the case, Dina can find things to enjoy in both pancakes and waffles.

  2. Ana Chronistic

    or you could shove fish in p… no

    1. inqntrol

      Or BUTT-tacos.

    2. DarkoNeko

      <_<

      Sorry, but you're going to the corner now.

    3. Willoughby Chase

      They don’t serve beaver in Canada?

      1. Disloyal Subject

        Not in stores.

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          Beaver tails, yes. 😉

  3. DarkoNeko

    Serious talk now 😐

    1. Rodrigo

      Don’t USA have some sort of free superior education with financial support for the poor? The best universities are free here in Argentina and Brazil.

      1. Ss

        HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA *gasps* HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

        Ah…. free university in the us. That’s a good one!

        (No. College costs an insane amount and even people who qualify for financial aid often find themselves with 5 figures of debt. My partner and I had a combined 30k and that’s GOOD by US standards.

        Becky won’t qualify for financial aid if her parents are well off, even if they don’t support her, until she’s like 25 or gets married. I know a 22 year old whose lived on her own for 3 years, parents won’t cover college costs, but she can’t get a dime in financial aid because her parents are rich. Nevermind that Becky would have to transfer, which will take at least a few months, and explain why she just dropped out of her own university mid semester. It’ll be an emotionally difficult process and she STILL needs a job and home until it goes through.)

        1. gears

          Ss nailed exactly the problem with US higher education. I’m in my 3rd to last semester of an engineering program at a public university in California. 40k of debt and counting…

        2. Erwl

          Really? I mean, I know education in the us isn’t free, but I never expected it to be that expensive.

        3. ruhrow

          It’s actually worse…the above posters seem to have made smart financial decisions (props!) and/or had good situations. If your 18-yr-old self decides to gamble on a name brand college it can run you upwards of $50-60k per year. Add med school or law school or another graduate program (other than doctoral science, you get paid to be grunt labor during that) and you can double that burden before you even start your career!!

        4. DudeMyDadOwnsADealership

          Lifelong Academics who continue to look for a way out of stepping out of The Ivory Tower for a sec gotta fund their lifestyle, regardless of how it effects the integrity of their institutions, I suppose…

        5. neeks

          Don’t even get us started on health care expenses, especially mental health stuff.

        6. Opus the Poet

          Doctors can graduate with upwards of a quarter-million in debt at 4 times the interest rate of a house mortgage. And people wonder why they can’t find medical help in poor rural areas, the simple truth is doctors can’t afford to work there and still pay off student debt.

        7. Halloween Jack

          It used to not be that way; tuition at state universities was largely subsidized for residents of that state, and with the right combination of financial aid and work-study programs, students could conceivably graduate without incurring debt (I did). For a variety of economic reasons, states have been cutting back on the degree to which they subsidize higher education, and this has led to more and more students taking out student loans, which, unlike almost any other kind of debt, is not dischargeable through bankruptcy proceedings.

        8. Halloween Jack

          Becky may be eligible for financial aid if she can prove that she’s homeless. From the Federal student financial aid page:

          An individual is considered homeless if he or she lacks fixed, regular and adequate housing. You may be homeless if you are living in a shelter, park, motel or car, or temporarily living with other people because you have nowhere else to go. Also, if you are living in any of these situations and fleeing an abusive parent you may be considered homeless when completing your FAFSA even if your parent would provide support and a place to live.

          So a lot of it hinges on her proving that Toedad is abusive.

        9. Halloween Jack

          Stupid non-editable comments–the last para above shouldn’t be in blockquote.

      2. Jerden

        Here in the British Empire (I can still call it that if I want to, it’s a free country now) you get loans that you only have to pay off if you earn over a certain amount.
        So you only pay for college/university if you actually do anything with your degree, otherwise it’s free.
        That’s basically how all of British society works, if anyone’s wondering.

  4. otusasio451

    I see what you did there, Willis. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE.

    1. gkheyf

      yes, becky’s preferences are well documented.

      dina clearly has a canadian palate

    2. Cephalo the Pod

      Man, Becky’s like a mirror counterpart to Joyce.
      Makes you wonder if she had her own version of Walky at Anderson.

      1. DarkoNeko

        For all we know whe made out with it.

    3. Matthew Davis

      I was in Toronto for a meeting and killed some time by going to a mall. They had a taco bell, and I ordered a small fries (on top of the poutine I’d ordered for an actual meal) because of Willis’ mention of them in It’s Walky. I’m glad to see the obsession carries through to this day.

    4. MichaelHaneline

      Do they have Rubio’s in Indiana?

  5. AHR

    Is that a usual correlation for folks of that area? Major in education so you can better homeschool your kids?

    1. Cody

      It’s a running joke. I was talking with a friend who was Mormon, he said that most of the girls who go to BYU go for to reasons. To find a husband and to get a major while they are at it.

      Course, Mormons =/= Midwestern homeschoolers

      1. brionl

        They used to call it the MRS degree.

    2. Opus the Poet

      Not just that area, most fundy women with aspirations towards large families and homeschooling go for education degrees to make getting the permit to homeschool easier.

    3. Smiling Cat

      There are certain fundamentalist sects that insist women are for marriage and child rearing, and will even go so far as to insist that deviating from this path is an affront to the Lord.

      1. DarkoNeko

        Heaven forbid people get some effing freedom.

        1. Doctor_Who

          According to them, it does.

        2. DarkoNeko

          hah

        3. Smiling Cat

          Why would they need freedom? They’re practically an appliance. Nobody gives their stove the right to pursue its own hopes and dreams, especially when those hopes and dreams might lie outside its divinely designated function.

          (If it isn’t obvious I reserve a special brand of hatred for this sort of philosophy.)

        4. Blackbird

          My stove does whatever the fuck it wants, you fascist!

        5. sjmcc13

          Ya, mine loves burning or undercooking my food.
          Which is why I use my toaster oven so much, that and heating an over is wasteful when you are cooking for 1.

        6. Smiling Cat

          God ordained that proper cooking is one stove one apple pie you degenerate!

        7. Cerberus

          Yup, and it’s why there’s a baffled sort of dismay when women in these roles state some form of resistance or complaint about it all or worse refuse a request of the “master of the house”. The toaster doesn’t refuse to toast, the washer doesn’t aspire to someday be a television or a telephone, and the spoons don’t want to run away somewhere where spoons can get married to each other. So why should the malfunctioning unit named wife be allowed to pull such “disrespect” and “rejection” of “God’s chosen role for her”?

        8. Smiling Cat

          The sad part is that it’s systemic. It’s not just a question of getting one person to accept a different way, it’s about breaking down a fundamental cultural precept that stretches back at least a few generations.

    4. Romanticide

      It happens among some of the quiverfull (when they can afford it) and some similar fundamentalists, the idea is not only being able to homeschool your kids but to have something in case your husband has an accident of something.

    5. Julez

      Depends on the sect/family. I know my ex’s niece has been expressly forbidden from going to college to become a vet by her fundie mom, who insists that she’s going into the ministry. Sigh… fundie mom is the worst.

    6. Betty Anne

      There’s also a small subset of fundies who cling to the belief that teaching is the only acceptable job for young women, and that once they marry, they stop teaching and focus on raising their kids. (The irony being that public education in this country started out with the belief that only men were qualified to teach, and that it only switched over to “women’s work” when community leaders discovered they could pay women even less than the very little male school teachers got for the same work, because it was just “pocket money” until they married and stopped teaching to raise their family. The ‘value’ Americans put on school teachers is long-ingrained in this country.)

  6. liahansen

    ok now I have to get a job before Becky does in-comic. thanks for the incentive, willis

    1. JessWitt

      Yeah, I need to get my aspirations in order before Becky does.

    2. Seerow

      You’ve got plenty of time. Even if she gets hired in record time (and for the record I hope she gets a job at Galasso’s Pizza, so we can see more of him) and starts her new job tonight at 6pm, you’ve still got 4 months to beat her to it.

      1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

        Yeah, I’m another one who has to get their ass into a job before Becky does. I’ve only been at it (jobhunting) since….oh, about 2007. xD

        (Is now BACK at college studying accountancy)
        (Has another interview this afternoon)

        And for the record, I hope she gets hired at Galasso’s too. Shovelling pizza in mouth would probably be a little easier than shovelling tacos, and all her friends frequent the place already! 🙂

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          Cool; good luck with it! Let us know how it went!

  7. Someone

    It would be good if she got a job at a toy store.

    1. gkheyf

      inceptioooooon!!!

      don’t do it. recursion will break the matrix

    2. Blue

      Your grav makes that perfect.

      1. -Sentinel-

        Hah, hadn’t noticed. I think it WOULD be nice if Becky ended up working at Galasso’s Pizza (and Subs).

        1. -Sentinel-

          (Oh, silly me, Mada already said so earlier, just below. I should read everything before I comment.)

    3. Someone

      Either that or she could get a job at the comic book store that Danny, Ethan and Amber frequent.

      1. sjmcc13

        That might be amusing. Though I have always wondered would being a Lesbian be helpful or a hinderance at a nerd store? On one hand the customers know she will not date them, on the other girls kissing…

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          “If you buy this entire back series of ‘J’emm, Son of Saturn,’ I will make out with my girlfriend for five minutes right here at the counter.”

          She’d be the best salesman ever.

        2. neeks

          I feel like that happened in el goonish shive early on but I’m too lazy to dig up a link

        3. sjmcc13

          Link
          Quick google search found the storyline, first page at the store in it.

      2. nightsbridge

        I doubt it because the person who runs that store is based on an actual dude.

    4. Fairyth

      That sounds good to me. But who would Manage it, since Galasso is running the Pizza Parlor? Or would the Pizzeria be converted into a toy-store?

      1. Tacos

        The obvious answer is to convert the place into Galasso’s Pizza (and Subs) (and Toys).

        1. Deanatay

          It’s called a ‘gift shop’.

  8. Mada

    Every now and then it’s good to reiterate that Becky prefers tacos 🙂

    In all seriousness, fingers crossed that she gets a job at Galasso’s.

    1. Dana

      After she sees the sushi place they went to is hiring and puts a pin in it for later.

    2. Viktoria

      Becky working around Connie could be hilarious, and more Galasso is always a good thing.

      1. Bagge

        Heh, Connie and Becky will talk about giblets and noodling of caboodles and stuff, and Galasso will desperately try to follow the conversation.

        1. Cerberus

          “Child and FOOOL, what is the difference between a noodle and a giblet?”

        2. nightsbridge

          “Please explain the difference I am definitely aware of to this man.”

    3. DarkoNeko

      I like what you did there.

  9. Hoboturtle

    Huh, it brings it back to what Joyce and Walky were just talking about.

    1. Bagge

      Today is apparently career day. Who knew?

    2. Julez

      It does put Joyce’s choice of major in… frightening new context.

      1. Cerberus

        Yup, that was always the point of her being in “education”. She’s expected to keep the holy ways for the next generation.

        1. Airyu

          And she’s so dang happy about it :'(

        2. No Name

          Not for long, if that’s any consolation.

  10. Shrugs

    Look on the bright side, Becky! That’s what EVERYBODY’s choices are nowadays no matter what they major in!

    1. CrazyJ

      Don’t be ridiculous. There are a wide range of poorly paid jobs out there.

      1. spriteless

        Why, just yesterday I had a job unboxing and installing electronics! It… was my only job this week. Yay temping!

        1. Disloyal Subject

          I’ll take mucking out livestock pens over fiddling with technological gubbins any day… assuming similar pay.
          Ironically, drudge labor seems to pay better than office work or retail. Supply and demand, I guess.

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          That, and, often, better unions and danger pay.

          Danger pay is the best. Unions (from a worker’s point of view) are also the best.

        3. Paul

          “Rimmer, the only reason they don’t give this job to the service robots is they’ve got a better union than us.”

  11. Doctor_Who

    Please say she ends up selling Pizza (and Subs). This comic needs more Galasso.

    Also, I think it’s amazing that Galasso is arguably one of the better parents we’ve met. So far he hasn’t tried to force his daughter to produce an heir with anyone. Seeing that that’s basically just a more direct version of what Toedad thinks HIS daughter is for, Galasso has him beat at least.

    1. Kyle Voltti

      oh that would be delightful.. then Toe Dad shows up and Galasso smacks him down and “adopts” Becky

      1. JessWitt

        Yes to you and yes to Doc Who.

      2. DarkoNeko

        Galasso distributing Justice would be nice.

        Also, he’s taller than Toedad. He has to.
        Galasso only has one side : taller than you.

        1. Doctor_Who

          Hahaha, sort of like…waitaminnit.

          Let’s see…add about 25 years or so and you’d get…

          Well that just blew my mind.

        2. Disloyal Subject

          …
          AAAAAHHH!

          I believe KLK is set in a post-apocalyptic world, though. That said, Gamagori is half-American, so they could conceivably be related.

        3. Doctor_Who

          Did they ever say what made it post-apocalyptic? Could it be…Soggies?!

        4. Muspel

          Distributing Justice (and subs).

      3. TSB

        Even better than that – Pamela is still alive in this continuity, right? I’d love to see Mr. and Mrs. Galasso deliver double the smackdown. No one comes into their domain and starts shit with their employees, especially not asshole dads!

  12. Stephen R. Bierce

    Alas, she’s doomed to work at the Chik-Fil-A that Willis put so much work into drawing. Doomed.
    Moo.

    1. Badtux

      Not very likely. Chik-Fil-A is run by Christianist whackadoodles and the holy vibe in the hiring process would likely send Becky running for cover.

      1. Random832

        Eh, that’s true at the corporate level, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s show through in an obvious way unless the local manager shares those views.

  13. chris73

    Panel 4 is making me incredibly sad but at least the last panel gives me some hope

  14. Andr3wtime

    Because Canada doesn’t have tacos?

    1. Benvincible

      No, because Canada has menus with both tacos and fries on them at the same time. They get it.

    2. nobodybasically

      I know Taco Bells in the UK sell “Mexican Fries” so maybe Canadian Taco Bells do as well.

      1. Tacos

        The heck are Mexican Fries? Cuz I know for a fact we never invented any new kind of french fries.

        1. Someone

          If I’m right about this, we call them curly fries.

    3. Mollyscribbles

      Canadian here; we have Fries Supreme. It’s fries with nacho cheese and sour cream and ground beef and tomatoes and chives.

      1. Badtux

        Like Poutine except with nacho stuff. Cool! I’m going to have to try that next time I’m in Canuckistan :).

      2. Joseph

        … I’ve never wanted something so much.

        1. neeks

          If you’re anywhere near a filiberto’s (or any of their umpteen Mexican-family-restaurant clones whose name usually involves an -erto), their carne asada fries are basically that. I call it “Mexican poutine” (well not when I order it cuz they wouldn’t know what I’m talking about): fries topped with diced grilled steak, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. (Granted I’m not a huge guac fan so I get it without, but still. So frigging good.)

      3. Disloyal Subject

        So basically potato skins, but with nacho cheese instead of real cheese and fries instead of potato skins. Nifty.

    4. Andr3wtime

      All this talk about mexican fries, but that sounds more like nachos. There are potato tacos though, a savory taco with a spicy/meaty potato filling, but I wouldn’t call those french fries either.

    5. Willoughby Chase

      Do Canadians have gravy or curry sauce with their chips?

      1. Kryss LaBryn

        Gravy, usually. Ideally with cheese curds too, and that’s poutine.

  15. Blue

    *imagines the hovertext being said by Ruth*

  16. Nonagon

    I’m Canadian and I don’t understand the alt-text. But I also rarely eat fast food, so.

    1. Opus the Poet

      Canadian Taco Bells have french fries, unlike their US counterparts.

      1. DwarfsFTW

        Wait, Yanks don’t have fries at Taco Bell? Taco Bells Fries are the shit though!

        1. toddtr

          They’re the same kind of fries you get at KFC

          But the Fries Supreme with the ground beef, sour cream, cheese, onions and tomatoes are the food I demand they serve at my funeral

        2. Random832

          What kind of fries do you get at KFC? Because the ones we get at KFC are barely worthy of the name. In fact, KFC’s website even says “don’t call them fries”, though I’d imagine it’s because they somehow misguidedly think they’re better than fries.

      2. DSL

        There’s Del Taco, which serves tacos and a side of fries. Overall, IMO, it makes Taco Hell look four-star by comparison.

  17. Darwin

    If she became an autodidact, she could learn new skills that would trump anything a college-educated person could claim to have.

    1. Dean

      And she would still be limited to food service jobs, as she’d have no qualifications.

      1. drs

        Or programming.

      2. Joseph

        For some jobs, you can build a portfolio and get a job that way. Not only art/design jobs though, there’s a bunch of theoretically underqualified academics who are actually at the top of their fields – Kripke apparently still doesn’t have a PhD, despite having been a Professor for most of his career, and Wittgenstein never completed his BA in philosophy, because he had a tantrum over citations and referencing. Admittedly, they are Kripke and Wittgenstein, but I know of staff in the English department at UCD in Ireland who never got a degree, but just started writing and ended up shifting over into teaching. Don’t ASSUME you can do this, of course – but remember, just a degree wasn’t ever actually enough to get you a job in the field of that degree.

    2. Matthew Davis

      Emphasis on “could.” True autodidacts are rare, part of the cult of the “self-made man” we play up in the US.

      1. DarkoNeko

        Well, there’s the difference between “Dropping of Harvard” (Steve Jobs or Bill Gates) and “dropped of your random high school”

  18. Skizz

    Those can’t seriously be the only job options for someone with a GED in the US.

    1. Leorale

      Well, since she’s not a huge dude who looks built for manual labour, and since she has no capital to start her own business, that’s pretty much it, yeah.

    2. MrZombieScordo

      You can be a server at a cheap restaurant, and eventually work your way to better restaurants. You might get to be a cashier at a walmart, if they are desperate.

    3. Viktoria

      There’s a variety of jobs she can get, but none of them will pay significantly above minimum wage, and she’ll be lucky if she finds something that’s not part-time. Plus, forget about putting yourself through college, even if you could find the money, where would you find the time? So yeah, she’ll be working 2 30 hour a week jobs from now until she dies. Ain’t capitalism grand?

    4. Anonymous

      Foodservice and retail positions are the 21st century replacement for manufacturing jobs.

      1. etybolik

        With no unions, shit pay and lame benefits thrown in for good measure.

    5. Nightsbridge

      I’m struggling to find a part time job and I have a bachelors degree.

    6. Shadlyn Wolfe

      Don’t forget telemarketing and bill collecting! Those American dream jobs!

    7. Cricket

      If she gets a job as a cashier at a grocery store, after a few years she may be able to gradually work her way up into a managerial role (depending on the store). She could also do heavy physical labor that pays primarily in room and board, like farmhands in WWOOF programs – though I don’t think there are a ton of those in Indiana – and eventually qualify for slightly better paid heavy physical labor.

  19. Triniking1234

    So… Canada has some weird taco/french fry fusion monstrosity?

    1. DarkoNeko

      I assumed poutine.

    2. Catullus

      The Taco Bells have French fries there.

    3. newllend(henryvolt)

      apparently taco bell sells French fries up there according to a “ItsWalky” comichange strip I read.

    4. Mollyscribbles

      Fries Supreme — fries with nacho cheese and sour cream and ground beef and tomatoes and chives.

    5. timemonkey

      Taco Bell and KFC, and Pizza Hutt apparently, are all owned by the same company so we have fusion stores.

  20. Just Karen

    Those aren’t her only limits. You can do a lot of things without training, or with limited training. Depending on the region, there’s industrial work, call centers, food service… probably others that I don’t know. And even with a modicum of training she could probably manage to do something.

    Frankly, the better option might be to see about applying to schools, either community college level or university. Unfortunately, her parents’ financials would be necessary for financial aid, but it’s still not a bad idea to start applying.

    And I recommend spending part of the $200 to establish a mailing address.

    … Went on a tangent. But my point is, if you’re determined enough – and skilled enough, with a small touch of luck – you can still do pretty well.

    1. Seerow

      Applying to schools is something to look into, but a job to be able to live without relying on her friends’ continued generosity is a higher priority with a faster payoff (since she wouldn’t get in anywhere until the Spring semester regardless)

      1. insomniac

        And for plenty of people, school is the difference between “live on service wage” vs “live on service wage with student loans…”

    2. Norah

      Could she work in some kind of store? Or maybe some kind of delivery job? Though I’m not sure if she has a driver’s license. And even though she looks small and thin, she may be stronger physically than she looks.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        I’m assuming she’s stronger than she looks, both because I want it to be true and because she’s Joyce’s best friend, and Joyce is no pushover herself.

  21. EvergreenFir

    Wait what? You can get fries with tacos in Canada? You’re shitting me.

    1. AlienCowThatMoos

      We have KFC/Taco Bell combined. You can drive through and order a bucket of chicken and they’ll ask if you want to add 5 tacos to the bucket for 5 dollars. Legit.

      1. MrZombieScordo

        hell yeah. that sounds amazing.

      2. Norah

        We have at least one combined KFC/Taco Bell in Seattle.

        1. merbrat

          KFC/TacoBell (plus PizzaHut) are owned by the same parent company,
          and are paired, frequently, in Austin. We also have a couple of LongJohnSilver/AWRootBeer combo places.

        2. Vx

          We do? I’m in Seattle (Capitol Hill), and I’ve seen virtually zero chain fast food places. There’s a Subway, a Dominos and…that’s it that I’ve seen that are places I recognize.

        3. Quinctia

          There was a KenTacoHut on my college campus. It was literally on the same block as the O, though, so it eventually folded.

      3. Opus the Poet

        We have those in Dallas as well. I never go to any, because I live in Garland and don’t drive and they can’t tell my bike is in the drive through. Only places that can detect my bike are the Wendy’s about a mile and a half to the north, and the Sonic about the same distance to the south. That’s because the Sonic has a button you can push for service.

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          In Canada they won’t serve you in the drive-through if you’re on a bike, even if they know you’re they’re. They’re not allowed to. Some rule to stop someone from leaning through the window, grabbing cash out of the till, and taking off, from what they tell me.

          So here I am, in a vehicle that has to use roads and not sidewalks until I reach their parking lots, and then I’m a pedestrian. >< (This is extra annoying to me because I firmly believe any bicycle that can't maintain 50 km/h (30 Mph) should be on the sidewalks where it's (a) safer for all concerned because (b) they have more in common with people on roller-blades and skateboards than people driving multi-tonne metal vehicles. If they won't let snowmobiles, ATVs, or dirt bikes on the roads, why make cyclist use then? But that's my own little pet peeve. Drive-throughs here just reinforce it).

        2. Marie

          Also because they don’t want to be liable if you get hit by a car.

    2. Tunasammich

      You can in the U.S.! At Del Taco. Which apparently is an obscure place

      1. Khrene

        Was just about to say the same!

      2. neeks

        Good, I was hoping someone would mention del taco. Must be a west coast/southwest chain, I’ve only ever seen them in California or Arizona. So good news, Becky! You don’t have to leave the country to serve tacos and fries in the same order, you just have to go to the other side of it! Somehow. Or, you know, not, cuz that’s a kind of weird reason to go cross-country.

  22. IJ

    I kind of hate how this strip shits all over any woman who’s actual goal is to be a stay at home mom and homeschool their kids. Like I get Becky was only doing that because of her upbringing, but for plenty of people that’s a valid path/life choice.

    1. Leorale

      I don’t think that it shits over women who decide, of their own free will, that motherhood/homeschooling will fit them best. This path was definitely not gonna fit Becky best.

      We haven’t met any women in-comic who think they might be a fantastic fit for motherhood/homeschooling, except for Joyce, and Joyce needs to examine that assumption and figure out whether it’s really for her. It might be! But she’ll have to decide in time.

    2. MrZombieScordo

      The problem isn’t the home schooling, or being a mom. It’s the not having a choice in the matter.

      1. Norah

        Exactly. If Becky and/or Joyce were taught that they could aspire to be whatever they wanted to be, and one or both of them decided she wanted to be a homeschooling SAHM after examining all the choices, it would be fine. But they both were pretty much brainwashed to believe that was the only right thing to do. Becky knows she doesn’t want that. Joyce, once she realizes she has a choice, might still decide she wants to do that, or she may want to do something else. But at least she’d be making a choice based on the available facts, not being brainwashed into something.

    3. Rabid Rabbit

      As the others have said — the key line is “extent of my allowed aspirations” (emphasis mine).

      1. Cerberus

        This. Having your future limited to only one possible end regardless of what you want is a problem even if that limitation is vaguely positive (controlling parents who will accept nothing less than pre-med track and medical school for instance). When it’s a role that allows little else in aspiration even if you break away, that’s even worse.

        Freely chosen stay at home parents (who are not under intense social or partner pressure to make the choice) or freely chosen 24/7 homeschool teachers (ditto), are not the issue. Being allowed to do nothing else and being trained to do nothing else are the issue.

        And when that homeschooling is chosen so as to intentionally leave a child in ignorance so they won’t “doubt the word” of living one’s entire life as the unpaid servant of some man who is often chosen for you by the parents, it’s even worse.

        There’s good homeschooling that can protect marginalized students from abusive school environments and which leaves kids even better prepared and educated, because a student who can receive tailor-made 1-on-1 instruction from a heavily knowledgable individual who has the economic privilege to work for free doing so can be a genuine positive.

        And then there is what Becky grew up with.

        And it’s heartbreaking to witness, whether it be in fiction or in real-life.

      2. IJ

        I actually missed the word allowed. Changing it to “the extent of my aspirations” makes it sound more demeaning to SAHMs than what it actually says. My bad.

    4. Norah

      Iif someone says they’d never want to do such-and-such in the way that Becky said it, it’s not demeaning to someone who really wants to do such-and-such. She’s not saying homeschooling SAHMs are wrong or silly, she’s just saying it’s not for her.

      1. IJ

        It may fit with the character, but it still gives a pretty clear picture of what Willis thinks of SAHMs

        1. Airyu

          I don’t think DW thinks that at all. He thinks forcing kid to grow up to be a SAHM is a bad thing, which it is, because forcing a kid to grow up without choices IS a bad thing.

    5. 3oranges

      A lesbian woman is talking about being forced into marrying a man and being a stay-at-home mom. She doesn’t like the idea.

      This is no more an insult to people who want to be stay-at-home moms than yesterday’s strip was to people who like math.

      1. Cricket

        Yeah, it seems like compulsory heterosexuality is a big element of what makes that whole set of expectations gross for Becky. Also, I don’t think she’s talking about anything inherent in the nature of homeschooling or being a stay-at-home parent. For her, homeschooling as a SAHM would specifically meaning raising a large number of kids to believe that being gay is an evil disease and that dinosaurs (among other awesome stuff) didn’t exist, or at least weren’t a product of evolution.

        Right now, the contrast between her dad’s expectations and her current life on the IU campus is extra high, and homeschooling and stay-at-home parenting are two concepts that fall in the Toedad camp. I expect her sense of what both parenting and homeschooling can look like will expand as her life experience expands and she is no longer living in imminent fear of being dragged to a gay reeducation camp by her dad.

    6. takashid

      This strip does not “shit” all over women who have that goal. This strip is Becky saying “i was ONLY allowed to have this goal and nothing else, and that really wasn’t OK.” There’s a difference.

  23. Dean

    Minimum-wage jobs are probably going to be thin on the ground in a college town, just sayin’.

    1. Mollyscribbles

      Her main advantage is in not having to work around a class schedule.

      1. Badtux

        Actually, even in college towns the workforce for minimum wage jobs is no longer college students. Who would want to hire an unreliable college student when there are a kajillion reliable college graduates in their mid to late 20’s to hire? The liberal arts graduate’s mantra might as well be “do you want fries with that order?”. Plus college is so expensive today that a minimum wage job is a waste of time that could be spent taking more semester hours so you can graduate early rather than after 5 years like the typical undergrad. IU is one of the cheapest undergrad universities around but even IU will set you back $25K/year, or $125K if you do the 5 year plan like most students. Working 15 hours a week minimum wage you’d make less than $5K/year, meaning it’s cheaper to instead use those hours to graduate in 4 years, which will save you $5K over taking fewer hours to take a minimum wage job. At more expensive universities the math is even more stark.

        So anyhow, Becky might find a minimum wage job, but it won’t be college students she’s competing with. It’s college-educated liberal arts grads she’ll be competing with. Sorry, that’s just how our modern economy works :(.

        1. Anonymous

          The biggest problem employers have with hiring recent college grads is the potentially high turnover rate. Someone with a degree is more likely to take a no-experience-necessary job as a temporary stopgap until they find a better-paying job in a field related to their major. At best they might stick with it long enough to pad their resume before jumping ship.

          I remember being turned down for multiple jobs after college, because apparently an expensive piece of paper with my name on it meant I was “overqualified”. At the same time I was “underqualified” for entry level jobs in my field, because I didn’t have superpowers and 5 years of experience right out of the gate.

        2. Cerberus

          “Would you like fries with that” is the mantra of even the STEM students. In America, at least, in this economy, there are few and far options for recent graduates and those without 3-5 years experience working a paid (non-internship) job for a rival company in the industry of your choice. Plus there has been an inflation of qualifications. A number of minimum wage retail jobs straight up require a Bachelor’s these days and a number of jobs that would have previously required a Bachelor’s require a Master’s or above.

          Becky’s not wrong that her GED leaves her with a very hard row to hoe. Not to mention the lack of savings leaves her even limited in her ability to take the time to do community college for a few years (because she would still need some form of employment to be able to eat and so on without consistently having to live on her friends’ charity).

          Did I mention that the American system is kind of messed up with regards to its capitalism?

        3. Badtux

          That’s because the American system hasn’t been capitalism for a while yet. It’s corporatism, a form of oligarchy where a small number of giant corporations own the vast majority of the infrastructure of business. You can’t even start a restaurant nowadays without being beholden either to a franchiser or to Sysco (the only food service supply company that services most of the USA, very few cities have a competing food service company), both of which will strip you of any profits you manage to earn (owners of franchise restaurants often end up working for less than minimum wage). Yeah, we’re screwed, but it’s not capitalism that’s doing it, it’s corporatism that’s doing it…

  24. Ian

    “if it were canada you wouldn’t have to choose between the two”

    I suppose that’s true, in Canada you have the choice of coffee or oil, two black liquids that in the long run aren’t a reliable source of energy.

    1. DarkoNeko

      they… grow coffee beans in Canada ? I think it’s too far from the equator for this.

      1. Mollyscribbles

        Coffee shops are a big employer, I think Ian’s saying. We’ve got more Tim Horton’s than McDonalds here.

        1. sjmcc13

          My experience agrees with this assumption.

          One time me and some friends were driving to the closest Wendy’s and passed something like 3 Tim’s on the way there. also a Subway, a McD’s, and a Mary Brown’s …

  25. AgentKeen

    For a sweet, brief period of time, the Taco Bell in my hometown had fries, and they were crinkle fries, and it was glorious.

    Now I live within a 10 minute walk of a Taco Bell, and it has no fries (and there’s not place on the way with fries, so no Drive-Thru Buffet, but walking) and it disappoints me regularly.

  26. DarkoNeko

    I just stumbled on this banner atop the website.

    It… looks like Becky ? With a kind of red witchblade mask ?! Uuuh has anyone any idea what it could mean ? XD

    1. AgentKeen

      It’s Walky’s cup.

      First panel:
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/ruthless/

      1. DarkoNeko

        OH !
        It’s not her hair, it’s Walky’s fingers ^^;

        got it, thanks.

  27. Edupoet81

    Heh, there are people who major in education with the intention of doing actual work in the education field. Just saying.

    That said, Becky’s right that she should look into earning some income. Fast food work wouldn’t be the most stimulating, or well-paying work around, but it beats earning no income at all. As long as she doesn’t get stuck working at a hot dog stand. I don’t think Becky would go for that. She doesn’t need experience with hot dogs to know what she likes. Becky’s all about the tacos, and she knows it.

    Is there a Taco Bell near where they are? I feel like this has come up, but I can’t remember what was said about it.

    1. Seerow

      I have a friend who majored in accounting to go into teaching math. Don’t ask me how that worked out.

      1. Rabid Rabbit

        Well, at least it provides an answer to the “Why is any of this useful/When will I ever use any of this?” question.

  28. Kris

    It’s kind of hard to tell what with the subtle changes that come with a comic that updates everyday but I think the art’s getting better. I just find myself really liking that Becky profile from panel 2.

  29. DarkoNeko

    Holy fuck I just realised that someone in my extended family married a girl that… litterally did education, and dropped everything when marrying.
    … it… it make so much sense now. it’s awfully similar. I never realized O_o;

    1. DarkoNeko

      She’s definitly the closest thing french people got of fundies, too <_<
      fuck that hit kinda close to home.

  30. Zaidyer

    This makes me mad.

    Because it’s real.

    Real people do this to their kids every day and the problem is only growing. The program is so drilled, so perfectly fine-tuned that it’s self-sustaining. The only way out is to have just enough wit to see through it all before it’s too late.

    Because what too often happens is once you realize your life has never been your own and you’ve been had, it’s too late. You’re locked in. Five kids to look after and an itinerant congregation watching your every move, waiting to jump on the next untrue Scotsman like a pack of hungry wolves.

    No escape.
    Don’t talk back.
    Or the Lord’ll know.

    1. TheLurkerAbove

      Reading about Becky’s situation and knowing it’s real makes me mad. It’s so awful.

    2. Gamaran Sepudomyn

      I know. It just makes me so angry. It makes me want to rip people in half.

      1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        I just can’t stand that no one is doing something about it, at least not something that’ll help those who are suffering because of it right now. And what I hate even more is that there isn’t a way to do that.

      2. fizzywafflezsuperstore

        Have you ever actually tried ripping people in half?

        It really does relieve stress!

        Especially if you rip apart the root of your problems.

    3. Cerberus

      Yup, and those flavor of congregations make sure that the sum total of all your support network (friends, partners, family) are all in the congregation and leave the threat of total loss of said support network you’ve been taught to rely on your entire life as a passive and active threat to individuals who question the narrative or are unhappy with it.

      What? You don’t like being the unpaid and undervalued “help-meet” of some douchey guy you married at 18, because it was the only way to experience sex without going to Hell? Well, good luck starting from literal nothing except a vague inherited mistrust of secular aid because of religious dogma. Oh what’s that? You’ve reconsidered? Good.

      1. Cerberus

        And addendum to note that kids that end up some flavor of queer are often cut off from said support network at best including the love of their family (who are encouraged to remain stalwart and forget they ever had the child because to do otherwise is the express train to Hell and how Satan undermines God’s devoted servants). And this is even more pressing if said parents believe in the Rapture, because the Judgment Day could literally be tomorrow and certainly is extremely soon, so holding out against Satan is critical even if you’ve “lost your child to him”.

        And capitalism in America tends to bolster this, because lacking even minimal forms of a safety net (most safety nets in America are family based in that family is expected to step in when a crisis occurs) is a strong threat that a lot of middle-class and above queer kids in these environments have to keep in mind when they are figuring out if they should come out.

        A large number don’t. The lucky ones love in secret, never daring to bring their loved ones home.

  31. Tacos

    I didn’t know Canada had french fries and tacos. Not like I would’ve known anyways, it’s been like a bajillion years since I’ve gone to a Taco Bell.

  32. Romanticide

    Finally! this was a moment I was waiting for! She will probably either get a shitty job at retail, a decent one at retail, or as many are pointing she could try to become a minion for Galasso. But still it will still be kind of scary to her, but it is something that must be done if she wants independence.

    1. BenRG

      Becky and Conquest to become best friends forever! I think that the two of them would have a lot to talk about (specifically, fathers that they love to hate)!

  33. YggiDee

    US Taco Bells don’t have fries? Wha? What do you even eat with your tacos. Like, I hope you aren’t forced to have the weird brittle ‘chips’.

    1. Just Me

      Nachos Supreme! Goes great with Tacos, Burritos, and even Fried Chicken.

      If Education isn’t your thing, some colleges offer Home Economics.

      1. No Name

        We have also have Fiesta Potatoes, cubed fried potatoes in cheese and sour cream that come in individual servings. They are delicious, if a little boring (at least compared to this Fries Supreme I keep hearing about).

    2. Ellegos

      Wait. . . You DO!?! What else has been kept from us?

    3. Jason

      No, see, here the TACOS are the side dish. The main dish is a quesadilla or burrito or gordita or any number of other things. Who needs another damn order of fries? I can get that anywhere else, I’m fucking tired of fries.

  34. Ashley

    all of the hugs for Becky.

  35. Bagge

    Becky rebelled against more than a life without giblets. Good on you, Becky, leave that bullshit behind.

    I love that Becky feels comfortable enough around Dina not to hide these things.

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      She already knows her most Dangerous secret everything else just seems trivial.

      1. nightsbridge

        Maybe, but it’s one thing to let someone know you have problems. It’s another to flip and show them that you can be vulnerable.

        1. nightsbridge

          Plus, this is something Becky volunteers, rather than Dina finds out and she HAS to acknowledge.

        2. Cerberus

          Yeah, this is Becky showing a large amount of vulnerability and it’s largely because of the trust built between them in a relatively short amount of time. Becky doesn’t feel the need to be on 100% of the time, which is actually a really healthy thing as keeping up a persona 24/7 is exhausting and likely to build resentment.

          It’s a beautifully healthy young relationship and hopefully the stress of Becky’s situation doesn’t end up putting more on their plate than they can handle (contrary to popular opinion, “you and me against the world” isn’t a great model for an infinitely sustainable relationship).

  36. newllend(henryvolt)

    So did Becky plan on that herself or did her Dad think that through for her?

    1. Viktoria

      Considering that is Joyce’s exact plan for her future, I’m betting their priest drilled it into them every Wednesday.

      1. Bagge

        Priests, parents, neighbors, friends, children’ TV programs…. EVERYONE had that expectation on Becky and Joyce

      2. newllend(henryvolt)

        OK it’s official there more of a cult to me than a church.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Welcome to the USA.

        2. Anorak

          I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God , indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

        3. Anorak

          Ok, I am kind of glad that the html worked because i wasnt
          sure i remembered how to use it. Also, in case it was not clear,
          I was using italics to point out the flaws and the really creepy
          parts of the US pledge.

        4. sjmcc13

          Keep in mind that “under God” was not there originally. it was added in the early-mid 50’s

        5. Kryss LaBryn

          Canada’s national anthem was changed from “Oh Canada, glorious and free,” to “God keep our land, glorious and free” when we went from being the Dominion of Canada to our own independent Commonwealth nation in I think 1981. Still have my little bible from that grade I went to Catholic school that has the old lyrics in the front somewhere; it’s the only reason I keep it.

          When I sing it, I sing “gods,” not “God.” Because I am not actually a Christian anymore, ffs. A whole lot of us aren’t. They should change it back, but changing the National Anthem + changing it to take God out again isn’t going to fly very well. We don’t have fundies the way the States has fundies, thankfully; but they’re still around. Bah.

        6. fizzywafflezsuperstore

          That’s why I only pretend to say it when peer pressure forces everyone else to do so.

          Half of it makes no sense!

        7. Cerberus

          And sadly that church model may still be slightly better than the churches that straight up start shopping the kids around for “eternal help-meet role” in high school or even middle school (yes, really, my best friend who has clawed his way out of Fundiehood had his first relationship ended because the girl he was dating at the time said she needed to stop dating in 8th grade because she needed to start preparing for settling down and meeting with the men her parents had started to choose for her (presumably when she was 18) and sadly I wish I was using men more euphemistically than I am because a lot of them really were grown men).

        8. Kryss LaBryn

          That shit should be illegal. Hey, you, as a free-thinking adult, want that life for yourself, have at it. “An it harm none, do as thou wilt,” and all of that.

          But raising kids to believe they simply have no other options available to them at all, and threatening them with eternal damnation (that is going to be scarily real to them, when all the adults around them apparently firmly believe in it) and the utter loss of their entire families, communities, and support structure if they don’t comply, in order to make them into an unpaid servant and baby-maker for some dude their parents and church have set up for them is nothing less than slavery with invisible chains. The worst part is you aren’t even letting them see the chains are there; you aren’t even allowing them to know that anything else is even possible for them.

          So, because they aren’t born with a dick, they get to grow up to be slaves. Slaves who then raise their own offspring to also be good little slaves. Bah.

          It isn’t a choice if there aren’t any other options. Choose that life? Great! More power to you. But otherwise? No. Just no.

  37. Victor Riley

    “allowed aspirations”… that just says so much. Damn.

  38. Fairyth

    Well, she does have some other options…..she could do Sales….work at Safeway, or Bartell’s, or Bed Bath and Beyond, those kinds of places…

    1. Kryss LaBryn

      For minimum wage… 🙁

  39. Professor Fate

    In my town, we have a KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo restaurant. Chicken, tacos and pizza together … yum, yum. The food’s good and the servers are friendly. Any place Becky applies for a job, they’re gonna need her address, phone number, SSN and so forth. That may pose a problem for her.

    1. Tacos

      Galasso could hire her. He doesn’t strike me as the type overly stringent about things like addresses, phone numbers, or SSNs when it comes to the hiring process.

    2. Cerberus

      Yep. And it’s not even a guarantee that she even has a GED.

      Basically, Becky’s options may be mostly under the table type jobs or employers who are willing to risk breaking state and federal law by not checking employment records (there are these around. I’ve known some friends who were undocumented who worked these. Some are just genuinely trying to help and treat them like a regular worker, others exploited this situation to demand extra favors (chillingly in one case, the request was for sexual favors) or pay a sub-minimum wage or even no wage at all just the threat of deportation.

      1. Random832

        It’s not illegal to hire a US citizen who hasn’t got a diploma/GED though.

      2. Random832

        The main issue is that you technically have to have a photo ID and social security card. Which are probably at her father’s house.

        1. Cerberus

          That’s actually what I meant with regards to missing paperwork. Without her SS card, she’s going to be relying on under-the-table jobs.

  40. BonniePride

    PREACH!!! Oh my gosh, this was the story of my life… I’m sooo glad that I finally figured out I was lesbian, my future looked really bad until then… (I mean, yeah, I got kicked out for it, but hey, I’m in a much happier and healthie place now!)

    1. DarkoNeko

      Hopefully, so will Becky

    2. BenRG

      FWIW, I’m pretty sure that hetro women can aspire to be more than home-makers too.

      1. chiscii

        i thought the point was how failing fundamentally to fit into your own ideals for the future can be the trigger for you to realize how those ideals are wrong.

        imagine you’re told all your life you’ll fall in love with a christian man, then all you’ll try for would be to fall for a christian man. if you fall for man of different faith, then you’ll take all the broken expectation’s blame and responsibility for yourself, that you made a mistake somewhere and you’re being punished for it. but if you fall for a girl then there’s too much blame and responsibility, you can’t just take it all in, it’s like a multiple strike offense; it forces you to realize that you don’t have to take all that blame, that you’re better off trashing the expectations themselves and developing new ones. of course it doesn’t have to be a queer thing that triggers it, and the queer thing can be the most traumatic experience for you to go through the cycle, but if there’s no trigger at all, if your hardships are always something you can avoid saying “my faith can get me through this”, then the façade never gets broken and you end up a homemaker. Or an absent overworked husband, conversely, but we were talking about the girls, so yeah.

        sorry for writing so much i keep forgetting idk what i’m talking about lol

  41. Ellegos

    These depressing circumstances are brought to you by: reality.

    Reality! Consistently disappointing everyone since 13,820,000,000 B.C.!

    1. fizzywafflezsuperstore

      OK, so I’ve just posted a jerkpost twice and it didn’t work (on my end), so:

      I’ll just post the good parts!

      Close your eyes and listen to the following:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEjutUbgpH8
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Am-BF7ObCI

      Then search up: “FLOOD Album”

    2. Aletheia

      And now a look at the Community Calendar.

      /reference

      Seriously, though, if someone could develop some way to change reality consistently, clearly, and instantly for the better, that’d be greeeaaaat. Thanks.

  42. Idon'tcarenomore

    Kids coming into the job market at this point in time in the US are pretty much screwed, compared to 20 years ago and beyond.
    You can get hired for a 30 – 35 hour week. This means that you do not get any benefits at all, including insurance, vacation etc.
    Quality colleges, ie England’s Cambridge at $9,000, costs about what a Jr. College here in the US cost. Harvard was $60,000 a semester last year? I think I read.
    Germany has excellent Universities and cost very little.
    So, a kid in the US now can go into debt the rest of his life to pay off student loans – even supplementing them with Scholarships and grants won’t cover everything.
    A good 2 year tech school or trade school is the a good way to earn a very good living.
    The thing about this is: the middle class is relegated to trades, the rich go to university, and the poor work 2 jobs for a half a decent paycheck.
    And the gap between the poor and the middle class is getting smaller every year.

    Becky has a long road ahead of her, and she’s scared. But, she is ready to go for it. Great character development Mr. W. I really didn’t much like her at all: but she is growing into an real person.

    1. Carefreewill

      Cambridge is actually around $14000 (£9000), though that’s for UK and EU nationals. Foreign student pay a fair bit more, up to $55000 (£36000) for one course I saw.

  43. Idon'tcarenomore

    No, I’m not knocking trades. I have both college and trade school under my belt. But I had the opportunity to work my way through college at a time when it was a bit easier than it is now.
    I had the choices.
    Kids today are having those choices chopped out from under them.

    (Vote guys, only way you will stop the trend).

    1. Badtux

      When I was in college in the early 80’s, you could pay your entire college bill at IU by working a minimum wage job in the summer. Mine was cleaning pools during the day and bussing tables at a restaurant in the evening. Now you can’t even pay for 1/5th of tuition at IU by working a minimum wage job, you end up with a $125K student loan bill instead. Yeah, kids today are fscked big time.

  44. BenRG

    Yeah, I sort of guessed that this is why Joyce has he major she has and the college goals she has too. I’m thinking that we’re seeing a pretty insular and self-sustaining subculture at work here.

    I wonder how much pressure Carol put Joyce under and to what degree Joyce was programmed to have these goals from a young age?

    1. Cerberus

      Probably all the pressure and all the programming.

      I personally have a suspicion/hope that when the MRS programming breaks and Joyce is forced to evaluate what she genuinely wants to learn about, she’s going to end up going gender studies or the like.

  45. 0kami

    The last panel just seems to speak volumes to me. Both of them are walking into the dark, unknown shadows of the future, not knowing what awaits them, especially with Becky’s shrug, but at the very least, they do have some assurance that whatever challenges they face, they’ll face them together.

    1. Bagge

      …I’m a bit misty eyed now.

    2. Cerberus

      Yeah, and that’s not neutral. Even if Becky doesn’t want it to, her situation is going to add extra strain to their budding relationship, so the challenges will be many, but she’s got a girlfriend whose willing to give it her best effort and who trusts that no matter what her family has got her back.

      They have some tools, so its just a question of whether or not that will be enough to save them.

  46. Raibean

    Okay, I STILL keep mistaking the Jason/Sal Slipshine ad for a Mike/Walky one AND IT HAS CONDITIONED ME TO SHIP THEM. Willis, where is my Mike/Walky fix??

    1. achallenger

      So thts not just me then imagining walky shoving his frenchfry at our lady of eternal darkness?

    2. Disloyal Subject

      Try paheal.

  47. Kitschensyngk

    You mean shoving French Fries or tacos into people’s FAAAACEs.

  48. Precious Roy

    As an underachieving denizen of The Internet, this hits way too close too home. More like directly strikes and obliterates home.

    I’m much older than Becky, but I’m really starting to feel how familial and societal pressure dropped me somewhere I never really wanted to be.

    I’ve been considering something more fulfilling, and I think Becky helped me cement my decision. Thanks Willis!

    …I mean, damn you Willis!

    1. Cerberus

      Good luck, *appropriate gesture of support*

    2. fizzywafflezsuperstore

      Conglaturation!

  49. hikaru

    is it considered acceptable for me to link to my own comic here cause it just started a couple weeks ago and i was wondering if anyone hered want to check it out

    http://lines-comic.tumblr.com/

    1. TheGrammarLegionary

      Well, I’m reserving judgement until there’s more, but I think it’s got a lot of potential depending on where it goes. Keep it up, I’ll be reading.

    2. Emperor Norton

      And if you want to link to it more discreetly in the future as you comment normally* here, remember that you can linkify your username by putting that link in the “Website URL” line.

      *Nobody ever comments normally here. I, for example, always comment by slapping small fish on the keyboard until something coherent is made.

    3. Kryss LaBryn

      Pretty neat beginning! The one criticism I would give is that the lighter text is hard to read, especially the yellow. I like the way you’ve indicated who is saying what with the colour of the balloons, but I think if you want to do paler colours, maybe give the letters an outline so it can be seen better; when the letters get smaller the yellow fades into the white.

      Your plot is intriguing, so far! 🙂

      1. Roborat

        I second that, the yellow on white is very hard to read. Interesting start however, and I like the art style.

    4. fizzywafflezsuperstore

      ‘Tis a good so far!

    5. hikaru

      thanks you guys! im glad to hear it.
      and yeah, i plan to change up the colors that are too pale for text. i hadnt tested the colors well enough i guess.

  50. SailorCakes

    I can’t help but wonder why nobody has gone to Leslie about Becky? I mean she is a lesbian teacher whose last lesson was on run away LGBT youth in danger. One would think she would be the perfect adult figure to go to for help. She also would be the most understanding if anything especially about Becky bigot Dad.

    1. wynne

      Yeah, Leslie is the logical person to go to here, I’m kind of surprised no one’s thought of her yet.

    2. Mada

      Well, according to the DOA class schedule someone posted yesterday…

      Joyce has Gender Studies 101 this afternoon 🙂

    3. Lin

      I am a Leslie in my college (out queer instructor, teach Women’s and Gender Studies – this semester, Intro to Queer Studies). SOME of my students have come to me with crises like these, but a lot of students really don’t think of us as people who give a damn about them. And, to be fair, some of us aren’t. But I understand why some students wouldn’t even think of asking me if I knew of any resources.

  51. Cizak

    Panel 4 is… pretty disgusting, actually. Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever realised that this could be a thing. God damnit.

    1. Thor

      French fries are just deep-fat-fried potatoes. No one is actually trying to fry French people. You are being far too literal.

      1. Thor

        Whoops, I counted the panels wrong.

        Yes, panel 4 is pretty revolting . . . and just 50 years or so ago, it was extremely typical. Those of us who clearly remember the last 30+ years are pretty amazed (and pretty satisfied) how far we have come socially on many many fronts.

        Of course we couldn’t go back to those ways now–not when two incomes are needed just to keep food on the table. But don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time to regress when the robots take all the jobs and 90% of the populace spends their days on a Basic Living Stipend, wondering what to do with all their free time. So we have that to look forward to.

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          Back in the Eighties when I was in school, I wasn’t allowed to take Wood Working or Metal Working. I took Home Ec/Sewing (the girl “equivalents”); but I really think ALL students should take Home Ec and Sewing (so, what, only girls will ever need to know how to follow a damned recipe? Guys who move out without immediately getting married won’t ever need to know how to do up a shopping list, or use coupons, or read How To Wash labels? ><); but if I have an interest in woodworking and/or other shop classes (which I do, and which I now indulge, because fuck you of course I do), then I don't get why having a penis was a requirement for taking it. Pretty sure that skill saw trigger is operated by fingers, not dicks.

      2. RedFloyd

        Mmm, fried French.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Careful; you are what you eat.

    2. sjmcc13

      The Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are all pretty much all about control, with the man of the house controlling everyone else. this is just an extension of that.

      Though considering this viewpoint, I kind of wonder how ToeDad and the Brown’s can even afford to send any of their children to college, since it is so hard to get by on a single income now a days.

  52. Some Brewer Guy

    The panel about being a home-schooling homemaker being her highest “allowed” aspiration is saddening. My wife is getting ready to join the armed forces after years of me being the one to do so, and I encourage this because I know she aspires to more than being mom and wife. I refuse to place some “allowance” on her aspirations and it saddens me deeply to see that there are so many that do precisely that. “Allowed” to aspire to motherhood. Isn’t placing such limits on one’s aspirations kind of a contradiction in terms? Then there’s the manipulation involved with that. Guilt, threat of divine retribution for “deviating” from a life mapped out for you from birth, dreams denied because not filling that role is an “affront” to God, and the refusal of those in said authority refusing to see anything but their “divinely” inspired life planning as the way to go. Sorry about the rant. Grew up agnostic and am trying to fit this sort of backwards thinking into my secular mindset.

    1. Cerberus

      I grew up around people stuck in that model and it even incenses me. I dislike seeing kids who’ve already given up on so many dreams because their faith or their family prohibits it. It’s a really frustrating situation to passively watch and its probably why I work so hard to encourage dream making and options for the students I have in my classes.

      1. Nightsbridge

        You are a gem.

      2. Disloyal Subject

        The world needs more people like you. Thanks for helping those that need it and for educating those of us lucky enough to have avoided exposure to such poison.

      3. Spencer

        You consistently leave me in awe of your strength.

      4. fizzywafflezsuperstore

        One time I read a review of Willis’s comics, and it said that only people with the exact same point of view could possibly like them…

        If that’s true, Willis is an amazing person–because I’ve only seen amazing people (so far) on these comments!

        1. Spencer

          If you want a real laugh, check out Shortpacked’s entry on the badwebcomics wiki.

          Includes spectacular highlights such as “the False Equivalence strip is wrong because there are sexy shirtless men on romance covers”, “Robin and Leslie having kids was clearly because Willis thinks dysfunctional relationships are solved by having children”, and “homoromantic transgender asexual isn’t a real term.”

        2. Nightsbridge

          Wow. Woooooooooow.

        3. Cerberus

          “Homoromantic transgender asexual isn’t a real term”

          (Glance down) Huh, never knew I was actually fictional. Learn something new everyday.

        4. Spencer

          The whole page is just filled with deliberate misinterpretation and outright fabrication, but that one there is just ridiculously disgusting.

        5. fizzywafflezsuperstore

          That’s the review I’m talking about!

          Isn’t it a bad review?

  53. Willoughby Chase

    *mentally replaces fries with chips*

    Chips are definitely the better deal – chunkier, dipped in red, HP, curry or gravy, with vinegar and salt.

    Go continental with mayo!

    Chips go with everything, even deep fried burgers in batter or deep fried pizzas in batter.

    Yum!

    1. BenRG

      Please, I’m trying to diet! Have mercy on me!

  54. Shadow12000

    Subtext may be reason #4 as to why I’m moving to Canada next month shhhh >.>

    1. RedFloyd

      Welcome then! We’re prepared for American’s more than normal this year, as we’ve finally introduced Boo-Berry Cereal.

    2. sjmcc13

      What province?

  55. Xakthul

    Give me French fry tacos, Canadian meatbags!

  56. HiiroArana79

    Heh, heh she said tacos,

  57. Les

    There’s always “Welcome to Wal-Mart!”

  58. Julez

    Kentacohut means even in America you don’t HAVE to choose between fries and tacos. Or in the south specifically I have seen what I refer to as Silver Bell’s… aka Long John Silver / Taco Bell

    1. Just Me

      So, in the North we have Kentucky Fried Bell? Cool.

      1. Just Me

        Or maybe that should be Kentucky Fried Taco….

  59. DarkoNeko

    I wonder which of the cast actually job-ed before, actually.

    Sal did, since she paid for her bike (or robbed another store and did get caught this time).
    Probably Sarah and Ruth, too.

    Noope : David, Joyce, Amber, Dina

    1. DarkoNeko

      didn’t*

    2. Aletheia

      Ruth’s job is her position as an RA. She likely gets a stipend, plus her room in the dorm hall, for holding the position while being enrolled at the school.

      The TAs have a similar deal, I’d guess (minus the room… maybe?), so they’d count amongst the job’d even if they’re not main characters.

  60. Arianod

    Tacos all the way.

  61. Triniking1234

    What Becky says in the 5th panel isn’t true, right?

    So much for female empowerment in that community.

    1. Nightsbridge

      Getting even a min wage, part-time job at an entry level position is, kind hard for even very qualified people.

      1. Triniking1234

        No. Not that.

        The part where she says they only sent her to college to get a degree that would only help her in home-schooling her future kids.

        1. Spencer

          Becky’s character page mentions that toedad sent her to Anderson because he was worried a secular institution would corrupt her.

          He’s more fundie than Joyce’s parents.

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          Sadly, yes. Yes, where she says that she was allowed to go to college to get a degree that would help her homeschool her inevitable children, and that’s all her life was allowed to be, yes; that’s a thing.

          It’s the exact same lifegoal and situation Joyce is in/has, except Joyce is down with it. For now.

          But yeah. That’s still a thing. 🙁

        3. Amtelope

          Why would you think that’s not true? I mean, I think we’ve gotten a pretty good picture of the kind of extreme fundamentalist background Becky comes from. Of course she’s supposed to be a wife and mother, period, and to homeschool her future kids so that they won’t have to go to secular schools.

  62. Aaron Bourque

    How dare you homeschool your kids!

    I may have misunderstood today’s comic.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Yup, you misunderstood. Read the responses to IJ’s comment above.

      Homeschooling is a valid option, but restricting someone’s options to a single choice is no choice at all. Besides which, Becky’s the one talking, and I think she’s proven before that she’s not always right.
      In this case, though, I’m inclined to agree that “allowed aspirations” is a horrifying concept. Becky’s not bongoing about homeschooling, she’s bongoing about being raised in a community that funnels everyone down a preordained path and tries to bully any that stray back into line. She’s not going to take that abuse, but a lot of people don’t have her fighting spirit, and when challenged just fall in line with the chattel that never questioned the role they were forced into. Becky has Joyce, and now Dina and the rest of their friends, backing her up. Lots of people don’t, and not knowing what to do or having anyone to tell you it’s okay to be who you are rather than who you’ve been told to be doesn’t make it any easier to avoid assimilation.

    2. Spencer

      It’s more like, “how dare you use homeschooling to indoctrinate your children into harmful lifestyles and try to dictate the entire course of their lives without their consent.”

      So, yeah, you did. You absolutely did.

    3. Amtelope

      Er, no, more like “how dare you insist that your kids are only allowed to study education because you have decided for them that their future is to homeschool THEIR kids, whether or not that’s what they want.” Surely we can all get on board with the idea that women ought to have the option of pursuing a career outside the home if they want to?

    4. Lord Stoneheart

      This comment has a surprising amount of gravatar/content synergy. I could totally see Mary having that reaction to this comment.

  63. Palamdrone

    …But she’d only shovel tacos into the faces of female customers.

  64. wynne

    I really hope that this leads to Becky finding enough LGBT resources to help her stay away from dad and maybe attend college on her own terms, and that she’s able to study paleontology with Dina, and then they go off to dig up dinosaurs together for the rest of their lives.

    That may be wishful thinking though.

    1. Seerow

      As cute as Dina and Becky are, I think that’d be really unhealthy. Becky needs to find her own interests.

      1. Gaiash

        There’s nothing unhealthy about being introduced to interests through other people. The entire reason I’m reading this comic is because one of my friends suggested it. Becky had a genuine interest in dinosaurs when Dina was talking about them to her, she might not love them as much as Dina does but she still thinks they’re cool.

      2. Bagge

        I think she just did…

      3. fizzywafflezsuperstore

        But her own interests are dinosaurs!

  65. Reptileus

    Hmmmm… Me thinks a certain Red haired girl might be getting a job at a certain Pizza joint. store.

  66. Lulu

    Is taco token lesbian food?

    She should also buy a subaru.

    1. Kryss LaBryn

      I thought that was sushi. 😉

  67. scholarist

    Becky’s going to get a job at Galaso’s pizza, right? Tell me she’s going to work for Galaso.

  68. SeanNOLA

    You don’t have to choose between the two in America either.

    Lemme tell you about a little place called “Jack in the Box”

    1. Schpoonman

      Every time someone tells me they don’t like Jack In The Box I give them a look and say “You haven’t had their curly fries, have you?”

      1. timemonkey

        Curly fries are disgusting.

  69. Zan Thrax

    Okay Willis. I take back my comments about Becky from before. I frequently have a difficult time grasping just how intentionally badly some people’s parents raise them.

    1. Spencer

      If there’s one consistent truth in this series it’s that if there’s ever a point where you see Joyce and Becky and think “that can’t be real”, it always is.

      1. fizzywafflezsuperstore

        Now I’m sad!

      2. fizzywafflezsuperstore

        Click on my name if you want to be happy again!

        (Well, it works for me)

        1. Tenn

          I was expecting Rick Astley. 🙁

          😉

        2. fizzywafflezsuperstore

          Well, did it work for you?

          Are you happy now?

  70. Kathleen

    What she really needs to do is find an underground robot fighting ring.

    1. Bagge

      “The existence of such a thing can neither be denied nor confirm…”

      “This fucking town!”

    2. tim gueguen

      Faye could have been a straight version of Becky if her mom was the member of the right church.

      1. Bagge

        Nah, where Becky’s defense mechanism is to goof, Faye’s is to snark and punch. Her childhood would have been very different indeed…

  71. Bagge

    Oh yeah, I know there was a comment I forgot to add about today’s comic.

    FUDGE YOU ROSS, FUDGE YOU EVERY SINGLE POOP-HEAD IN BECKY’S AND JOYCE’S COMMUNITY WHO THINK PARENTAL LOVE IS BEST EXPRESSED WITH A LOCKED DOOR (metaphorical… or not).

    Becky shouldn’t have to deal with this shit. She should be able to spend the day at John Silver’s or the museum or something with her new and awesome girlfriend and argue about what dinosaur themed cereal mascot is the best and how fast Chris Pratt would be able to run in high heels.

    But no, she has to run the gauntlet looking for a job and basic support and worry about every single thing that may go horribly wrong at any moment and all the time be fully aware that even that is more freedom than she was ever intended to have in her life because YOU SUCK DINOSAUR CABOODLE, ROSS, YOU TOESHAPED FUDGING BUTTOPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. Bicycle Bill

      ” … she has to run the gauntlet looking for a job and basic support and worry about every single thing that may go horribly wrong at any moment …”
      ——————
      Hey, Bagge — welcome to the magical land of grown-ups.  Unless you’ve recently picked the correct six numbers out of 54 plus the Powerball that’s the way the real world is for the vast majority of Americans.

      1. Bagge

        Oooops! Did I forget to correctly enumerate all of the hardship in Becky’s situation in my post? Then I suppose I can’t expect readers of this comic to remember them or realize that my comment about Becky’s situation should be understood in context of Becky’s situation. My bad, Bicycle Bill, my bad.

        1. Bagge

          Wait, no shit, I got it wrong. The vast majority of Americans are actually homeless, on the run and hunted by toeshaped poop-holes, saved from the horrors of correction camp only by the goodwill of friends and the love of dinosaur girls.

          God bless America

        2. Bicycle Bill

          A large number of Americans are quite literally one paycheck — or a significant repair expense — away from poverty and homelessness; many others would run through their meager savings and find themselves out in the cold within six months to a year.  Becky (as are the rest of the DoA cast) is 18 years old and a legal adult.  So, Toedad or not, self-esteem issues notwithstanding, she does have to “look for a job and basic support and worry about every single thing that may go horribly wrong”.  *THAT’S* the point I was trying to make.

          I understand what you’re saying — besides this she also has Toedad, her self-esteem issues, and her sexual identity to come to grips with, and in a perfect world she wouldn’t have to — but you might have said it better.

        3. Spencer

          Most people in America aren’t denied their education, kicked out of their homes for their orientation, and end up being sheltered at great personal risk by their friends. Most people have some form of support network they can rely on: Becky is one phone call away from having her life ruined.

          Lots of people have serious problems and we should work to correct them, but don’t ever try and dismiss someone’s hardship because someone else has it bad.

        4. Spencer

          Oh, by the way, this bootstraps logic argument about how being 18 automatically means you are foisted with all the responsibilities of an adult, let alone when you’re stuck with the same restrictive upbringing as Becky that was only to prep for a life shackled to an oven, is absolute bullshit, and you should feel bad about trying to enforce it in any capacity.

  72. MadBlayne

    Now I want some tacos.

  73. maxlines

    Enlist.

  74. fizzywafflezsuperstore

    Did the link-thing work?

    1. Jason

      Yep! Thanks!

      1. fizzywafflezsuperstore

        You’re welcome!

  75. Silka

    Oh! And you can also get french fries with your tacos at Del Taco (great chain that does burgers alongside their Tex-Mex). XD

  76. Charles Phipps

    Now, now, Becky can get Student Loans and put herself in debt for decades. Which, really, is the best option she has right now.

  77. Cole

    Dina’s parents are rad omg.

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