Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for August 18, 2015

Hey Joanie, show a little tact.

And, next on the haute couture runway…

I found this happens often when a child’s friend comes over for frequent sleepovers. With one it was after getting a new step parent.

In about 1969, a friend of mine brought over a homeless man one afternoon. I played classical music for him; he was moved to tears and so grateful.

standards of Hospitality MUST be observed.

I wonder how many homeless folks have been given sanctuary at the Trudeau residence….

I wonder how many homeless people have been given sanctuary at your house. Remember the old saying, People in glass houses should not be throwing stones

Lady J should be sympatico. I recall a 40ish homeless runaway not too long ago who got a new start with a little help from her friends (she just met). Anyone recall who it was??!!

We are obviously missing the lead-in from the prior strip here, as evidenced by Joanie’s otherwise inexplicable opening line about keys. I don’t see Joanie’s reaction as rude or tactless at all. Her husband just brought home a homeless person who Joanie has never met and may not even have heard of. What is she supposed to say: “How’re the kids?”?If you’re homeless, you never surrender control of any of your belongings, for fear you will never see them again. It’s a learned response to your circumstances. Both are trying to be polite within the constraints of their respective social milieu.

This is weird – last night everything that my daughter put on her Instant Messager repeated itself. Is there a doppelgänger hacker loose in the land? (It’s doing it with comments on other GoComics strips, too.) It’ll be interesting to see whether this post repeats itself.

Yep, it did.

The strips are not in chronological order. This strip ran before Alice ended up in the hospital. Here is the previous strip:

.http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1984/12/24

First, keep in mind that I don’t have a national platform with which to make a fuss about homelessness… but to answer your question, I’ve sheltered homeless folks in my humble abode three times over the years… I know, not enough. But I will also tell you why I don’t do it any longer. The dysfunction is deeply disruptive to anything like a normal life. And can be dangerous.