Recent Comments

1. about 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   And from people of good will: Thank you.

2. about 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   Look on the bright side: at least when Paul talks, he isn’t talking soccer field “trash talk”.

3. about 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   No matter how the comic strip writers choose to handle such a desperate fictional situation (lost job, lost appartment, or any other tribulation), you should tell anybody in such a despondent situation in real life not to let go.

   Whether they know it or not, the cavalry is trying, trying, to enter the fray in his/her (your) favor. (Think of the 1812 Oveture.) Any other notion. that nobody is racing to try to make things better, is a screwtape-generated lie, and don’t you believe it. ”

   The Charterhouse of Parma” is probably way too advanced literature for me, but the visually-told, children’s version of, “The Three Pigs” makes a good point: Tell any distressed person to “think outside the book”, that is, don’t believe in pre-written plot endings.

   There comes a point when it’s time to “stick it to the archetypes” and walk away, metaphorically speaking, from “Omelas” and from fatalistic scripts. Like the characters in the children’s book, we can claim the power to reach into the scrabble box and write, “..and they all lived happily ever after.”

4. about 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   That’s why an artist should pair off with a professional who loves the person as an individual, not a meal ticket, loves the art, and who would be honored and fulfilled to support the art and the artist financially and emotionally when/if that were needed.

5. about 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   The cost isn’t so much in money paid out. It’s in time, sleep, and in lost wages, promotions, and retirement benefits for whoever cares for the baby. e.g., the lyrics to a song by Mary Chapin Carpenter, “For fifteen years she had a job and not one raise in pay/ Now she’s in the typing pool at minimum wage.” That song used to send me back to my professional studies vowing, “Not me! I’ve met too many women in my own family who were miserable in that very scenario–at the least, I should be able to find some newly charted, progressive, and creative version of misery!””

   “The powers that be” let us think we have made “choices” about our lives and opportunities, but that’s not really true, except for the “choice” to try to survive financially.

   Somebody has to earn the money, and somebody has to care for the kids. We’d probably all be better off if we were flexible about who does what, gave massive tax breaks and benefits to stay-at-home parents, and respected stay-at-home Dads.

   (My own dad, a musician, was one for a while–that’s probably why I turned out to be such a smartnose…. “OK Daddy, I’ll sit through ONE chapter on DNA in exchange for TWO chapters of ‘The Witch of Blackbird Pond’…”)

6. about 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   Same concept, though, as the “lose weight” snake oil ads directed at women.

   One worries that, at best, these things would lead to a “Gift of the Magi” scenario, with, (as a hypothetical example), Claire trying to regain her skinniest-ever weight when Paul actually likes her a little on the cuddly side.

7. about 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   Claire is right to steer clear of “enhancement” ads I think. She’s beautiful as is. Those ads and knifewielders who profit from human insecurity and misunderstanding are awful. Claire (and anyone, really) should know that people are loved for who they are, not their “attributes”, And if “society” has a problem with that, tough. That’s their problem, not yours. Never never, never listen to the yahoos, Claire! (It would break Paul’s heart for you even to consider such a thing.)

8. about 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   Those people might be findable, if you had good intentions. If you did find them, however, you might be disappointed to discover that they are quite ordinary, imperfect folk, not much different from anyone else, really, and perhaps not nearly as romantic or ideal as the fantasy people.

9. over 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

   Surely someone has though of starting an online store where customers could design and purchase their own daily e-newspaper subscriptions?

   Such a site would offer more than a list of comics–it would offer a selection of all the sections a “real” newspaper has.

   With no recycling hassle, no damp newsprint on rainy days, & no telltale signs for thieves if you go out of town.

10. over 14 years ago on On A Claire Day

    I’m not sure exactly who “Bobby” or “Freddie” would be in my own life, but if I were to have a conversation like this with my old friend, “Tristan”, I’d say, in a cool, nonchalant, non-committal voice so ladylike as to make Dorothy Parker proud, “Guts are smart, aren’t they….Why don’t you speak for yourself, Tristan?”