Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for January 11, 2009

Bless you, BD.

BD is developing. He is becoming a decent human being. Suddenly, he can relate.

People are complex, they can be jerks one moment and decent human beings the next. Also, where IS her purple heart?

“Someone’sgot my back again, ma’am” What a great feeling. she’s gonna make it.

So touching. B.D. 3 cheers.

This is one of my favorite strips. I’ve been following BD’s evolution as a human. True, he sometimes reverts to his previous self. But there is a definite, maturing process.

TDMerrittPE

I hope we see alot more of this character. She definately deserves her own story, more fully developed.

I couldnt find a clue to her name. She’s not listed on Wikipedia or anywhere I could find on the official Doonesbury site. Any clues? A Marval no-prize to the winner.

In the story line of Doonesbury, as it has developed over the years, she absolutely does deserve a Purple Heart! Unfortunately, yesterday, in the real world, it was ruled that soldiers suffering from war time PTS, and similar type injuries (I would certainly count sexual assualt amongst those), could not be awarded a Purple Heart. Ridiculous - I hope this ruling is quickly revisited\reversed during the early days of the Obama administration.

PTSD is a real threat and a real injury. The problem comes from the criteria for awarding the Purple Heart. The injury has to be received as a result of enemy action, usually in direct contact with the enemy. Many people with PTSD have never actually come in contact with enemy combatants. A good example would be the emergancy room nurse who is under tremendous stress but only sees and treats the wounds of those who have been in combat. She has a serious disorder and can receive disability but hasnt earned a Purple Heart.

During Operation Just Because, when we invaded Panama in 1st Bush administration many Soldiers were awarded Purple Hearts for heat stroke. In the Army heat stroke is treated like sunburn and is considered the Soldiers fault. Yet some few were awarded a Purple Heart becuase it occured while they were in contact with enemy combatants.

It’s often impossible to decide whats fair in this case. Made worse because so few of our people in government have actually served in the military these days. They just don’t understand.

Thanks for the info, Dypak. You know, in situations like those in the comic strip above, and the situations you described, it’s just as Pogo said once upon a time log, long ago… “We has met the enemy, and they is us!”.

This comic, as usual, gets right to the heart of the issue.

Dypak says:

I hope we see alot more of this character. She definately deserves her own story, more fully developed.

I couldnt find a clue to her name. She’s not listed on Wikipedia or anywhere I could find on the official Doonesbury site. Any clues? A Marval no-prize to the winner.

DY, If I remember correctly her name is Melissa and indeed she does have quite a story.

I reiterate (from Calvin & Hobbes comments of Jan. 8), the quotation is: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

http://www.igopogo.com/final_authority.htm

Please excuse the persnickitude.

In re BD and Boopsie: BD was pretty two-dimensional, the default foil for Mike & co., until the Iraq war. Then Trudeau, casting about for a way to take his storyline to the front, obviously decided that BD was his man. Wanting to treat the topic seriously, he led BD to become a serious character more or less for the first time in the history of the strip. BD endured some serious plot development, and it should not come as a surprise to anyone that he is exhibiting some serious character development as a result. After all, this is what happens to us all in real life: we endure plot events, and either grow up or break under the pressure. Some of us just take longer to mature than others, that’s all. BD is one such late bloomer.

So is Boopsie. Way, way back in dinosaur times, children, when Doonesbury’s only venue was still Trudeau’s college newspaper (I think), there was one strip in which Boopsie emitted a particularly egregious piece of airheadedness, to which BD replied, “Don’t ever change, Boopsie.” (The line was later used as the title for a collection, which I don’t own so can’t check my accuracy.) She said “Okay!” And for many years, she didn’t. But for some time now, she has been growing quietly into an adult with opinions. BD, like some viewers, failed to notice for a while.

How many here are current or former SCA-folk? My hand is raised.

How many here are current or former taxi-dancers? My hand is raised. Not kidding.

Lady Arixa

TDMerrittPE - are you the TDMerritt who’s a structural engineer? Hey from Oklahoma City (but no longer at Tinker)

Lord Roger St. Neot de Blaise here, of Ansteorra. (inactive just now but might resurrect soon)

Oh give me a break.

Does Trudeau talk about the brave men who actually do the raping?

Did Melissa get raped by natural causes?