My Christmas list always included books, yet I don’t remember being read to. My substitute for a printed page was sitting on my daddy’s lap and having him read and explain the panels of comic strips. I chuckled when he did, even if I missed the point. The Katzenjammer Kids and Li’l Abner have moved on. Prince Valiant has married, had children and three different creators and still appears every Sunday in his 82nd year. Each day I turn the pages of disturbing news to snuggle into a time with old friends. Dagwood comes in with his funny haircut and a need to snack. Peanuts is a reminder of the gentleness of Charles Schulz, and the Phantom lasts to yet another generation.
I have a green folder with a collection of my favorites. An unfulfilled dream is to teach a class, give a lecture, or guide a roundtable discussion on perceiving humor. What makes it hit and why does it miss? The most understood ones are those that touch where we live. (If you don’t subscribe to a paper, you can check the most recent of these on line.) The family in Baby Blues is to the point. It has a mother for whom disaster looms dealing with a bossy older girl, a loud and troublesome younger son, and the baby just old enough to draw on the walls. A colleague of mine would come to work some mornings still chuckling over ZITS for the day. He is a teenage boy who eats all the groceries he is unloading on the way to the kitchen. Luann has survived high school and unrequited love to now deal with college demands.
At times, I have used a few strips to help teach 8th graders literary terms. On of the most difficult for them is allusion. First, we have to get past illusion to the idea of unive
rsal knowledge – generally. This very morning ZIGGY was looking at elevator buttons labeled Up, Down, Hogwarts. They would know Harry Potter and a magical way to get to his school. Mother Goose gave a two for one understanding. The animals are following a man in uniform asking if he has Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, or Scrabble. His answer is Nope, Nope, Nope. Their final reply is “Some game warden he is!” Step 1 – board activities. Step 2 – protector of animals.
The upper levels are those sophisticated, sometimes caustic ones that look at politics and modern attitudes. Doonesbury has held the top spot for many years, either poking fun or being too close to the truth. No one or action is sacred. Lately, I’ve been reading Pearls Before Swine, mainly because I like lisping alligators. Check out the offering for October 14. Potato casserole is offended because it is called left-overs instead of pre-eaten. We are changing phrases every day to avoid appearing uncaring. Sometimes we are caught in an offensive backlash when we had good intentions. My person problem is a geographical word that used to mean not from here. Now it is a derogatory term for those seeking asylum, safety, hope. The word they want to hear is, “Welcome.”
Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know who it feels to be aliens.
Exodus 23:9
Let Me Tell Ya 