Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for July 08, 2009

Polite families don’t discuss the hippo in the living room.

She was married to Mike when she started mucking about with Zeke.

This is pretty bleeep cruel on JJ. Oh well, she’s Garrry’s creation, he can torture her if he wants…

For a while, I actually hoped Mike and JJ would get back together (that was before he remarried of course) – but this story line seems worth the wait.

JJ came in cruel and she’s always been cruel and clueless. When we first met her, it was as Joanie’s daughter – and of course, Joanie walked out of her first marriage. Mike and BJ went by on their shared motorcycle and Joanie the bored housewife jumped onboard. Like mother like daughter indeed!

JJ was Zeke’s girlfriend then for some weird reason she married Mike. After some years, she took off with Zeke again, leaving Alex with her dad There’s the adultery and the like mother like daughter thing again.

I take Alex’s comment as being rather matter-of-fact. Everyone knows you committed adultery, Mom, why are you acting surprised? I’ve seen that same kind of “matter-of-factedness” in my nieces reacting to other family incidents.

difference in Alex’ case is she got a guy with integrity

Tact, not a technique known to most young folk.

Matter-of-fact does catch some of us off guard. Especially when the topic is our dirt from the past. And it is not neccisarily judgemental. Alex isn’t judging JJ as much as JJ might have already judged herself for her sins. There is an element of numbness about right and wrong as a matter-of-fact.

Re:diggitt It’s BD not BJ, but it wasn’t him in that storyline. It was Mark’s motorcycle with Mike in the sidecar.

baslimthebegger said, about 16 hours ago

Zeke and another woman? You’ve got to be kidding! She’s got to be even more of a head case than JJ.

Way to stir things up Alex!

No, JJ stepped out on Mike twenty-five years ago.

Something occurred to me, way after the fact, about yeaterdays discussion. Is Toggle like Zeke? Well think about this.

Zeke, Zonker, Zipper, Toggle one of these things is not like the others….

Toggle just doesn’t fit the pattern, for all the reasons everyone gave, but I couldn’t help it when i noticed a pattern. Grin

jj is a slut, zeke is a leech/loser, Toggle is trying to find a life. No comparison!!!

sigh…

I was trying to point out that all three of the characters we can euphemistically call “Work Phobic,” the ones who will never amount to anything in Doonesbury, have names beginning with Z. Granted they are different characters but all three have the same work ethic. All three of them will never amount to anything. (grumbles, a joke’s not funny if you have to explain it.)

I’m with the matter-of-fact crowd – mom is a loser, Zeke is beyond loser & grandma dumped the whole family too (tho she may have had good reason).