Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for December 11, 2024

Memories of our youth aren’t always pleasant. Snakes in a pile of old railroad ties is one of mine. Janis, as usual, is there with solid advice.

Did he grow up in Sarasota?

I had one, too!

I got a punching bag for Christmas one year. It was a bag on top of a piece of metal that was springy. One of my older sisters friends broke it with one punch.

Albert Bandura comes up in the comics more often than I might have expected back in college days.

Hilarious?

Pretend it’s your least favorite politician.

I had something like that as a kid! It was fun;) Thanks for reminding me!

What is the joke? Don’t get it.

Janis is 100% right let it go.

I also had one when I was a small boy and loved it. When my son was the right age, I bought one for him, and he loved it, too. However, he never punched or hurt any living thing. Today, he has three little girls, and he is a gentle, loving dad.

Boxing the clown?

Stress reliever. Take that, you bully!

Ah. The oversized jeans with the cuffs rolled up so you could grow into them.

Arlo’s memories are from back when Hollywood hadn’t ruined the reputation of clowns everywhere. Clowns were just a lot of fun when I was a kid.

does he need Dr. Rick (people that are turning into their parents shrink)

I also had a Punching Clown. And, over the years, a Red Felt Cowboy Hat, a “Vibrating” Football Game, a View-Master, Tinker Toys, an Erector Set, Lincoln Logs, Mr. Potato-Head, Silly Putty, a Super-Ball, various board games like Clue, Chutes and Ladders, Stratego, Backgammon, Candy Land, Risk!, Sorry!, and Yahtzee. One year I got a Hockey Game with those “men” that could be moved forward and backward and twisted with handles, that could be played with a Puck or a Marble (the Marble was way more fun). That first night, I didn’t get to play a single game on it because my Dad and a friend of his, whose family was spending Xmas with us, monopolized it until long after I’d gone to bed… ☺

That there is where my deep rooted dislike for clowns originated for me…….….

And when I bring up the idea that violence is baked into American culture from the cradle to the grave, people always look at me as if I had three heads—and they want to punch one of them.

Never had a generic clown, I had Popeye to punch.

I’m hearing the Comic Strip Censor trying to bust out of the Pearls Before Swine strip…

What?

Yeah, why do we remember the bad gifts and not the magical ones?