Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for September 14, 2017

so much for R.A. things to tend to in the third panel

One is the loneliest number that you ever heard…

exactly Borenice! like sit around like a lonely nag! catch up quickly or get left behind! you wont be missed!

that’s a nice smile u have on panel#2 – you look like a hag!

Bern reminds me of someone I am.

for some reason misery is lonely this time.

A corner room with a couch? Wow. Luxury on campus.

If Tara gets a tattoo, Luann may get an identical one.

And that would likely make Pru jealous!

PLEASE ! NO TRASH STAMP FOR LUANN

The last frame is touching. I hope most of us are able to shed at least half a tear for Bern.

While Luann barely knows Tara, Dez is a whole different story. She may have had some association with her during the dormitory life, but more importantly, Dez has been portrayed as the sort of woman who is able to divine other people’s needs and emotions. If Evans does this right, then it will be Dez who reveals the true Tara.

Not sure I am buying the Bernice act… she went for this loser Piro instead of Gunther. So, she’s definitely got her own “I want to be wild, not smart!” thing going on or she’d be on the phone to G about now…

At this moment I am hoping that Bernice will decide to find a way to go to the event – and when she is there – decide to get that tattoo on her derriere. Then the new Bernice could compete with Tara.

Greg, when you wrote your name on the wall, were you trying to take a peak under the door?

Wow. The caracters are so real to you, you can’t cheat and draw them au natural.

Ugh, are we in for yet another go-round of the “Bernice learns to live a little and be less uptight” storyarc? It wouldn’t be so bad if the lessons ever stuck, but she always resets back to her previous stick-in-the-mud personality immediately after every arc (or at least by the next time we see her). Why bother even pretending to give her character development if there’s never going to be any lasting change? And the fact that every other major character has evolved over time just makes Bernice stand out even more.

It’s touching to see that Bernice so much enjoyed her favorite meals at Weenie World that she has framed the place mats and hung them on her walls.

Well, Bern – at least you have your books and some free time to study. If you have a deck of cards, you can play Old Maid…

Bern spends more time on “RA duties” in a week than I remember our RAs’ doing during 4 years. Moony Uni must be a miserable place to go to school if you have to live in the dorms with these overlords.

I think my prediction about what will happen at the Body Art Show was a bit reversed. Instead of Bernice going to Tara from going, and meeting Tara at the Show anyway, I think Bernice will go, and will definitely meet Tara there. It is all set-up. But I doubt if the arc will finish by Saturday. What will happen when they meet in person there? And will Bernice end up with a tat, and nose ring? If she does will that change her at all? Will there be a problem between BFFs? So many possibilities!

Bernice is getting payback for being such a stick-in-the-mud party pooper.

Pickup. Do we see Tara’s parents if at home, or roommates if in an apartment. Or if in a single apartment, fancy and well furnished, then why steal candy?

Will it take two days?

And then a full week at the fat cat tat sat on the mat show?

And is it still the same day that Eiffel signed that contract?

And when is Eiffel’s event?

If Bernice stole a TV at least she would have something to watch.

If Bernice would have snagged Piro or Gunther, at least she would have something to play with.

Yup. That, Bernice. That’s your life. Go call Gunther and hash it out along with him.

Yup. That, Bernice. That’s your life. Go call Gunther and hash it out along with him.

Missing speech balloon for the last panel: “Anáil nathrach, ortha bháis bheatha, do thuar dhéanamh”.

Panel 3: And now we hear the obligatory sound of crickets chirping…

Here’s an interesting picture of a lower-back tattoo:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower-back_tattoo

I think she’s learning. Live it or lose it.

Who’ll get the tramp stamp at the expo? “There have been sociological studies done by the American Psychological Association, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and other demographic researchers showing strong correlative evidence associating tattoos with high risk behavior, illegal substance abuse and sexual promiscuity.”

what’s it gonna take, Bernice? What’s it gonna take? …..

Is body art the same thing as body painting? I’d definitely go to that.

You Know, NOW would be a really good time for Star Head to show up at Bernice’s doorstep looking for a place to crash.

Heh, Heh. Wait, WAIT! I’ve got an even BETTER Idea: Let’s put Bernice with Les Knox! Afterall, Bern loves “Edgy Guys,” and They DON’T get any Edgier than Old Needle Nose! And with any Luck, the two Them together, would result in an Explosion, not unlike a Warp Core Breach….

SAVE BERNICE !!!!! Before it’s too late

When personalities this restrictive finally crack, they often go way overboard the other direction. May not be a pretty sight.

When she reaches middle age, Bernice will be R.A. to a dorm full of cats.

Bernice is a good example of how people are their own problem.

She doesn’t have to do anything, but she could do something if she wished.

OK… yoga could be a good use of time…..I hope this thread becomes about Bernice and her overly analytical and judgmental self who is finding that these traits (within) are leading to a life with few friends. For someone who was kissed by the person she had been pining over for a year, her response should not have been to analyze it but to work towards a situation where there might be another.

We apparently need people like Bernice or evolution would have expunged their genomes long ago.

The personality police are too harsh with Bernice, who, like all of us, is a work in progress. I see her being effective and caring one day.

The worst thing that ever happened to Bernice, hands down: being made an RA.

At her HS graduation ceremony, she was looking forward to trying new things… but the RA appointment put a stop to all that with a screech. It became a status trap/ego trip that is just far more powerful than anything else in her fledgling self-definition quest.

Does she really need the benefits that much? Her best course might be to resign the position. There may be no other way for her to set herself free to learn who she really could be.

8

I feel very sad for Bernice. Her “RA duties call me.” statement from earlier was (of course) just an excuse for her to not go to the Tattoo-Piercing Event. She truly looks forlorn. Now on top of that she feels expendable in terms of her friendship with Luann.

She did not want to go to the Tattoo-Piercing Event…. but why?

1. Was it disgust and dislike of tattoos and piercings? I do not buy that was the reason she refused to go. I could easily have seen her (even if she dislikes them) going to see other folks who had them just out of curiosity.

2. Was it fear that she might get a tattoo or piercing? This could be part of it. A person as tightly wound as Bernice could easily be so tightly wound up out of fear. Fear of what? Probably fear of the unknown, or fear of change, or fear of not being what she believes some others may expect of her.

3. Was it a way to try to bolster her ego…. stating she wasn’t going…. so that Luann would then say she wasn’t going too? Perhaps…. I think Bernice tends to like being a big influence on Luann. But, that was now turned on its ear in an exponential way by the double whammy…. Luann is going…. and Luann is going with a person Bernice is not fond of.

A couch as crossroads, perhaps?

Bernice’s expressions: starting with Panel 1 is an “Oh, they’re really going!”, near dumbstruck look – in Panel 2 she’s got the defiant (and jealous of Tara) look – and in Panel 3 is the “Hmmm” look, with the possibility of some introspection.

I’m not hating on Bernice – there are plenty of things she COULD get into to learn new stuff, even if it doesn’t involve ‘going along with the group’. But she has to, at some point, make some changes – or she will find herself stuck!

My guess is that Tara and Luann will be good for each other. Luann needs a little more excitement in her life. Tara needs new friends that won’t get her into stupid situations.

I’m so tired of this being the Bernice strip. It seems like since college started years ago all the focus has been on her, and the majority of the storylines have revolved around her.

She’s getting into meditation. You get into the lotus position and empty your mind of thought. To quote Tiny Tim, “It might not sound like much, but it beats sitting around doing nothing.”

Shifting gears, but does Delta even exist anymore?

Panels 2 & 3: As Nikita Khrushchev said about Charles de Gaulle many years ago: He looks like a man that has swallowed a stick!

Bernice clearly has no interest in a body art show, so there’s no reason she should attend. What’s got her upset is that Luann has found a new friend that she apparently likes better. Bernice, that’s called “growing up”. Very few people (except at Pitts, apparently) spend the rest of their lives hanging out with their same small group of pals from high school. You’re in college now, so it’s time to move on. Make some new friends yourself. Moony is a big school, so there’s probably a crowd that’s into “bossy, sullen, and sarcastic”.

Here I sit, broken hearted, they’re having fun, but I can’t get started.

Uh-huh. And you’re doing them, I see. Bernie, Bernie….

You are well on your way to becoming the all-too-frequent Discarded H.S. BFF of the College Girl.

tomorrow: rumination, or ?

maybe this time some ‘real’ brownies…