Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for February 12, 2015

Wow, Gunther, can’t believe you’re saying that!

This seems made for a moment where they cue the TV Dad to bust out the “Monopoly Money” and teach a kid a lesson…….. – If Moony has the same mascot as the U. of Wisconsin, then she could say: “I don’t need no stinkin’ Badgers!”

I love how organically the characters are evolving this year. No quick tie-ups, just in-depth characterization.

And yeah, Tiff belongs in Hollywood. She’s at least capable of doing something over the top enough to get a reality show from whatever it is she winds up doing. (RHOBH ’24?)

“Going Forward In Reverse”“It’s A Small World, After Y’all….”“Debbie Taunt Goes To School”“The Stars Above Me, The Earth Beneath”“Too Much Class For Class” “Ground Control To Major Tiff” (♫)“A Diamond Among Coals”“The Third Arm Of The Student Body”“Too Big To Fail”“Can’t Lose For Winning”“Wrong Place At The Right Time”or“Was It Something I Said?”

College is not for everyone.

She could also become an Agent, a Scout, a P.A., an Acting Coach, run a modeling/talent agency, etc….

Gunther is correct. Letting Tiff around a center of higher learning is an insult to college.

Gunther is suddenly going to become a suave savant?Only in the comics.

Well, at least Tiffany is in t the Drama program at Moony. It’s probably the one set of classes she puts herself into….

Gunther has had some drama lately himself.

In the last frame Gunther is actually looking at Tiffany as they talk. Quite a contrast to how he acted on his date with Rosa & at the prom.

Worked for Paris Hilton. I believe she gets a fee for just appearing at parties and being seen.

If the strip stays on a reality kick I simply see poor Tiff flunking out by the end of her first year…Can’t see her ever opening a book..do well in a test..turning in a paper on time or done to College standards…She could always work at that Hot Dog place…

about Tiff……………most of us do not hate her and those who dislike her is not because she is the “enemy of Luann”……… she is actually a person who can be smart IF SHE WANTS TO, but she is lazy in learning, she proved many times when she took the time to learn about cosmetics during the ancient Egyptian times… I am sure that if one or more famous persons went to Rosa’s uncle clinic, Tiff would know about that place and not put Peru as Paris……. and is admirable that she is tenacious in reaching her dreams of stardom(note, her goal is stardom, not being the new Meryl Streep ) but at same time she tends not to be realistic, she does not concede that she lost her Miss chamber and her cheer-leading spot(BTW, I thought most schools needed a minimum grade average for them which is usually 2.0) and that her role in the Zeye movie was HIGHLY minimum, and not sure if she survived the cut room………. and don’t know if it is truly the case, but she seems to many people(specially Delta, Lue, Bern an Rosa) as someone who sees herself as superior to other people. while in truth we have seen many times she looking in jealousy the true friendship of others…………and I think she MIGHT be very insecure about how others feel about her, thinks everyone do not truly care about her so why bother caring about them, is better not to make herself vulnerable, thus she has never let go in order to maybe gain. ……………………………………….……………………………….About Rosa, most of us when she went to Peru, were eager because we thought she was part of a GROUP who would help poor people, and we found that OKAY, and hated seeing that she ended up working in a plastic surgery place but when she went to the mountain, even those who were partially OK switched to not support for her, and see her as a silly girl who can only see a few feet ahead of her but not the big picture, she has become another mouth to feed at the village, she is not really helping them.

Tiff’s working towards her Mrs. degree.

… not a chance!He learned his lesson!Better to help her get to Hollywood, by making her clothes, to knock ‘em dead. And he’ll win, along with her, as he has a flair for that stuff.Imagine how thankful she’ll be. She seems to have the drive.Life’s lessons after HS, can be pretty bad. Consider all the jocks, and cheer leaders, going into the world, with only their assets to help with success. Or, the ones with no assets, or guidance (carrots) to get there.Do what you can, with what you’ve got.But, find out what you want to do, or find folks to help you.I think a foreign country (Peru) is not a good place to start.But, right now, Hollywood is laying off. Get any job that gets you in there, and as you see chances, try them. But, continue with an education that helps with what you want.After a time, you’ll ether succeed, or get close enough to where you want to be, or change.I know too many, who have done just that!

Why does he have a backpack, & she does not?

I guess Gunther’s growing up! But Tiffany—she wouldn’t be the first kid who was “successful” (by her standard) in high school and bombed out in college.

There’s not personal growth with Tiffany. Everybody else has had personal growth within the series—even TJ—but Tiffany is still the same old Tiffany. Its time for Tiffany to have her personal growth arc so everybody can stop hating her 24/7

A mind is a terrible thing to waste,stop trying to fill it.

Gunther is not literally agreeing with Tiff— he’s stating it with irony— if she can’t see the point of haviing an education, it’s kind of wasted on her.

new Gunther is snidy too!

waste not want not

Wait, Wait, WAIT.

She was Barely in a Movie that Hardly Anybody Saw.She was De-Crowned As Miss Chamber of Commerce of a some Dinky Little Town. She was Head Cheer Leader for a Losing High School Football Team. And What the Hel…, er HECK, is a “Picture Frame Model”???

Right.

Gunther? The “WASTE” Is YOUR Time with THIS Babe.

(recited, “dragnet” style)

“the situations are different, but the problem is the same”

they don’t know how to grow up.

If one looks at how people develop psychologically, one sort of wonders why we go directly to college. Maybe launching students into low earth orbit for 3-4 years might be an answer.

Tiff tying to get a degree – Sort of like trying to teach a pig to sing. It will only hurt you ears and it also annoys the pig. If Tiffany cannot understand the value of education, she cannot benefit from it.

@38lowellWhy does Tiffany not have a backpack? Tiffany would be carrying a duh-signer tote bag, a la Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, if anything. Get it? If she even worried about books and such. She is so shallow, but then there are lots of that type around. Tiff’s measures of success are vastly different than Gunther’s.

So now she is finally realizing…

Tiffany thinking her work on a degree is a waste is sad…. but a sign that she is still immature. I hope that as she progresses she will realize the value in what she is doing at Moony and will thank her father.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I interpret Gunther’s comment as snarky, and even though he is apparently saying it in a joking fashion, I don’t really care for it. He, more than most of the characters, should have a better understanding of the value of pursuing a college education. Apparently he too may be at Moony just to float around…. until he gets some other monetary windfall and then jumps ship to travel with a female companion wherever she wants to go. He seems to have no goals for himself at the moment.

Gunther is correct. Tiffany’s attempt to get a college education is a waste. She’s going to amount to nothing at all, if that much.

I feel sorry for Tiffany. She needs some kind of slap in the face from Reality to get her motivated. She has potential, but she is unwilling to develop it in any way except towards her improbable goal of Hollywood stardom. Baby-steps first, Tiffany.

Rosa is not helping anyone in Peru, unless the problem of uncollected sticks and unraked gravel in that country is much more serious than we in the USA had been led to believe.

She was head cheerleader…until she posted the infamous “Luann” video.She was Miss Chamber of Commerce…until she aided in the “Feeding the Firefighters” scam.Eyes of Zeye… A microscopic role in an epic failure of a movie.The picture frames…was about the frames, not so much the face inside them.The Prom Committee…was a one-time only position.…Tiffany is not ready for college. She still has some growing up to do.

Some good insights here, but I’d like to say that I hope Gunther is speaking about both Tiffany and himself. After all, he was successful in Peru without a degree. Perhaps he sees that he doesn’t need to travel the path of millions.

Someone mentioned Rosa possibly being in over her head. Wouldn’t it be romantic if Gunther shows up right when she realizes this?

If Greg Evans had wanted to show us that Gunther and Rosa were actually being helpful to the community in the village (as the clinic workers are being), he could have shown us that. He didn’t, so all we saw was a couple of complete dilettantes simply being another burden that the villagers have to endure.

I suspect Gunther is hatching a plan to get Tiffany to drop out of Moony U., so that she can devote her efforts to luring Mr. Gray away from Mrs. Berger.

Some more references, about the “Deforestation/Improvements via Cookstoves/Initiatives”: – http://www.myclimate.org/carbon-offset-projects/projekt/efficient-cookers-in-peru-31/ – http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2014/06/improved-cookstoves-in-peru-a-peace-corps-volunteers-story/ – http://sharingdreamscusco.org/?page_id=44

“To be fair, that was pretty much all TJ.” ^While TJ was the main culprit and initiator, Tiffany wasn’t just “towed along unawares”. She got greedy and extorted the con for a bigger share, lest she “spilled the beans”. She didn’t come up with it, and she didn’t press for the charging of the meals, and maybe she would have not gone through with it, but at the time, she was greedy enough to be a “cohort”, and was greedy enough to try to get a bigger cut…

Tiffany also took it on herself to organize and stage the retirement party for Mr. Fogarty. No one else thought of that, or put in the effort to make it happen.

as I said, Rosa has never been shown to be part of any program, nor has she been shown teaching the village(BY HERSELF) about that project, we don’t even know if she has that knowledge, I will be happy if she did ANYTHING that actually saved even one person, I will be happy that someone is choking in the village and she does the Heimlich maneuver and they see her as an heroine

Interestingly from those times, there was just a “touch” of Middle School in their actions/ways, as they were " just a shade or two" inside of HS. But now that they are in college, they may still be working to get those “HS traits” out of their system. I’m sure that in looking back, they may decide that they would have done things differently. That is, unless one of their first names were “Lance” …..

according to part 3, she claims a chamber of commerce crown that is not part of the official record, like Armstrong claiming he won tour de France, or Bush claiming he won the Heisman when playing for USC

Thanks, Iam, I missed that arc. .Anyway, don’t worry, Tiff, it’s only another three and three quarter years to go!You won’t even notice them.

That’s the truest ‘truth’ uttered in ages! Tiff simply does not ‘get it’. Seems Dad doesn’t either. I hope she has the gumption to talk to him so they both see the light!

Tiffany wants to be a princess, but needs a keeper to prevent her from getting in over her head. She could be an easy prey for bad guys offering her fame for porno movies or “escort” services. Does college offer courses in reality?

“Why would she threaten to spill the beans if she was part of it?”^The strips themselves explain. She was in “rule or ruin” stage. If she didn’t get half, she was going to tell Luann and them that it wasn’t a charity (though it was their belief that it ws, it was a belief that TJ convenienlty let them believe). She wanted 50/50 share, or else she would let TJ get “bumrushed”. If she got it, she’d profit, and let them believe it. (in the strips, she did gloat about how she could fool Luann into believing things). As long as she got her “cut”, she would “ride” with the scheme. That was her part. If she were more aware of how this would have hurt her M.C.of C. title, she probably would have thought twice. But in circumstances like this, she only thought “once”. – The strips also explain TJs punishment. He had to pay all the money back. They didn’t “turn him in”, they just cared about compensating the FFs he took advantage of…also noted by Frank, as he said: “Some people don’t learn, just learn not to get caught”. That’s all that became of it.

That’s what I was thinking about, as well. She did join Luann, Bernice and Delta (via telelink) for a “mutual laughter/comfort session” as they settled in for their new college lives, and she did spend time with Bernice when Piro was in her room overnight, and they didn’t fight. She also joined in with the class to say goodbye to Fogarty. It would seem that she is now more so the “deuteragonist”, rather than “antagonist”. Time will tell how his pen moves, though….

yeah, what point is there to such prime “peaked in highschool” material going to college?

> But becoming something of a “sugar-baby”? hmmmmm .>As I suggested, Maybe Gunther is having those same thoughts about Tiffany’s future. He would like Mr. Gray to become Tiff’’s sugar daddy and leave Momma alone.

A real world Gunther who wants to go into tech might well be better off going to work, and getting certifications. He could get an online degree while he’s working and making money. For someone like that, the Liberal Arts education is the most valuable part of a university degree. It endures. Tech changes fast in computer science.

Well put.

Can you say, “Peaked in high school?”

as long as Tiff forgets about getting the “glory”, she actually could be a great event organizer or a lady that does makeovers, and about “getting into porn”, many ladies smarter than her were led into it, as the producers got them to believe that it was a door that would open opportunities in more conventional roles, and after they got in, it became hard to get out of it, only 1 of hundreds that dream of “transitioning from porn to regular roles” are able to do it……………. here are some Hollywood stars who went into porn first, Stallone, Cameron Diaz(soft porn), Matt leblanc(soft porn), Duchovy(Soft), Sasha Grey(an actual porn star that went mainstream), Sibel Kekilli(German porn star), Traci Lords, Shu Qi……………… as some have noted, Greg has put hints lately that Tiff is not so happy, that she is envious of the friendship of Bern, Luann and Delta, and just a few years ago she kind of admitted she never had an actual BF, most guys see her as a pretty body but maybe thankfully she never got someone “powerful” that wanted her that way(just imagine if Elwood had the same interest for Tiff than one he had for Luann)

What is frustrating about following this strip, particularly the Peru/Rosa situation, is that the strip’s creators have left too many blanks. We have people on here filling those blanks in. Some of the ideas are pretty good- based on realistic situations. It would make sense for Rosa to hang around, and observe, and participate in life around her in the village, if she is welcome, and at least carrying her own weight. It would be good for the strip to show something more concrete about what she is doing.

Repeating to myself

It’s a comic strip… A comic strip…Cleansing breath…LOL

about TJ and the firemen, he was lucky that he was friend of a fireman, and that he gave money back, and never had an award or anything like that, or it would have been taken away. sadly for Tiff, she did what she did while she was chamber of commerce representative, and most contests have rules for the winner until at least the time that she puts crown on a new winner, rules like “not getting married”, actions unbecoming of a queen(which would have come under the firemen saga), doing unauthorized use of the tiara (like if she had done an ad for the hotdog place dressed as Miss Chamber of Commerce without asking permission), if she robbed a bank, posted something racist in her facebook page, etc…….she was lucky neither TJ or her were formally charged and taken to court

I wonder if Gunther is referring to his own efforts.

“I don’t think anyone is calling Tiffany perfect, but for the past few years she’s been relatively harmless. All part of growing up.”

You’re right! One time in fifth grade a girl made a mean remark to my daughter. A little while after that, I think she apologized and they became besties and have been for years now. Sometimes it’s just part of growing up to change for the better, in this case.

It’s true that what Rosa is doing could be of little apparent value. She could also be learning a lot about herself, the people in the village, what they really need. The villagers could appreciate her presence. We don’t know. She could also be discovering quite quickly that she could return to school, gain knowledge, and return to help much more completely. Again, we aren’t being shown. The value of her mere presence and companionship and willingness to work alongside shouldn’t be dismissed . If she is working alongside, she is earning her keep. If she is seeing firsthand how the people in this Peruvian village live, and she is willing to stay there for a while, and they want her there(which, again, we are not being given any details on by our Guides on this Comic Adventure), no problem.

Me, personally? Since I live in a fixer-upper that really needs fixed, and I’m partly disabled but can cook up a storm, I’d love to have a good laborer repair the broken tiles near my leaky fridge and backdoor, or repaint the stains on my ceiling where the roof leaked (I can’t balance on a ladder with the arthritis I’ve got), or replace the corroded mirrors in my bathroom, fix the broken flooring in my fireplace, etcetera.-Just feeding a worker in exchange for all this stuff I can’t do would be priceless.

I wish too she actually did something more than just get sticks(which I imagine is for the room she is staying at, for the heating), but Greg has never shown that……………… get sticks and rake leaves……………………. ?? ………….??? ……………………………. nothing else Greg? she has never been shown at least helping the clinic dispense and administer the medicine, and she has never been shown to have taken even basic nursing classes, we have never been shown that she signed to be part of a program, we never been shown people besides Gunther and her doing anything, even if it is just get sticks and rake leaves, I will be happy even seeing her help the village put seeds or help in the harvest, or even babysit some babies while the moms go to the cultivations or go to the kitchen to produce the meals of the day

“…how is he going to learn if he always gets off the hook? He is immediately forgiven instead of going to jail for charity fraud.” ^That’s exactly Frank’s point. He figures TJ isn’t going to learn, and he probably just decided to “show mercy”, figuring that he may never learn, either in jail or not. Also, since it’s Pitts, whose ZIP is in the “Luanniverse”, which, in turn, resides in a fictional realm on the other side of the panels (still have yet to figure out how “Aha” the band was able to get out from their comic, though, into “our real world”…) and therefore, it ends like a sitcom, sometimes. Or perhaps “Pitts Municipal Laws #337 paragraph 2, sub-paragraph b (breaking the trust of co-workers/friends/comic strip-mates)”: “Do not go to jail. But loose 35 cool points, hang your head in shame for 5 minutes, and walk away. Passing go is optional”. – The only other thing I can think of, is that Mr. Evans was short on staff that week, and decided to let TJ get “one more chance”, so that Miss Horner could get her lawn mowed, that week. Brad was busy doing Ann Eiffel’s errands at the time…

Although, on a more serious note, perhaps that was the punishment meted out: The loss of trust . It certainly didn’t help TJ’s case later on, and as we see, even Toni (who, though can have a “sharp moment or two”, is not the most cynical person and can be very motherly) knows, as she told Shannon: “TJ makes up things, sometimes”….– So maybe that “loss of trust” from friends (which is the “inner self” version of jail) was the stiffest penalty that Greg imposed on him. – Plus, one has to “press charges”, and perhaps the firefighters and the DeGroot family et al just didn’t want to…perhaps the jurisdictional authorities they lived in also decided not to… – As you can also see, he is a “charmer”. He got a settlement check, and many readers chose to believe he didn’t blow that truck up, though some readers did. And of course, even Brad suspects something…

Or how about “Celebrity Appendage”?

“Total Eclipse of the Smart” ?" ^Another good one!!!!

Gunther usually feels flustered around girls for whom he has romantic interest, before deciding for Rosa, he kept being flustered around Luann, but after Rosa, he talked at ease with Luann……..during the time he was interested in Tiff, he was rather flustered when talking to her, and he was that way too when talking to Bernice at the time that he was considering her………..in other words “AT THIS CURRENT TIME, Gunther has no romantic interest in Tiffany”

Waste of time (for Tiff)ORWaste of a degree (for Moony)?

Or-“School is a waste of time (for G-man now)?*He decides to go back to Peru, thinking Rosa is more important than education. At the airport, he meets Rosa who has returned after realizing she can’t do much without having learned some skills and having financial backers.

In wondering how their voices sound, here is a “blast from the past” (or more like a “screech from the past”)… –

And, Tiff— true, you were successful in many ways in high school. But that was a little pond compared to the Great Lake named Moony U. If you can win a tiara at Moony U, you can win a tiara anywhere!

> She had at least a few days of helping out at the clinic before her uncle ordered her to return to Lima – and she refused – so surely they’ve found other ways to keep her occupied, and her responsibilities could be increasing still.>That may be the case, but it also may not be. The strip tells us nothing about it. For all we know, the folks at the clinic tell Rosa to dig holes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and they tell her to fill them back up on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The only thing we know about is her stick-gathering and gravel-raking activities, which she somehow believes is her mission in life.

right now AFAIK, the only one “doing something” FOR SURE is Luis(he periodically comes in his truck and brings medicine to the village clinic or pharmacy) we never seen Gunther and Rosa reporting to an actual place or at least a tent where a few people distribute the medicine as needed

She obviously thinks she’ll be young and attractive forever.

SPOILER ALERT!_

Is this going where it looks like it’s going?

The pron industry has moved on to Las Vegas, unfortunately so has AIDS.

“Oh and FYI, that is insulting since we know that already. If you have nothing good to say then say nothing at all.”.We aren’t all Thumper’s mother, so why should we limit ourselves?(admittedly, some live for negativity, but it’s their only semblance of a life)