Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for August 23, 2011

The ultimate biological clock

It’s not as though Mark Slackmeyer’s never been in relationship. His beef could be the beef of a divorced person. Or is his issue that he never had an officially recognized marriage? Is he losing it?

Mike can’t understand what Mark wants from marriage because Mark doesn’t know himself. Certainly Mark doesn’t want to be “united to his wife [so] they will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). But he does seem to have grasped that “Love is as strong as death” (Song of Solomon 8:6).

@leftwingpatriot, I’d then deduce that women have TWO biological clocks.

Could it be that up until now Mark had an emotional “excuse” for not having found his “one true” — and now that gay marriage is increasingly legal, that excuse isn’t holding up to his own scrutiny?

Why is Mark displaying to Mike what yesterday someone so perspicaciously described as gay angst? Got gay angst? Then here’s your shot: .Move to NY, answer the ads in the many gay-les publications available there. Go to gay bars? Go to Gay-Lesbian Alliance meetings. Go to church-sponsored retreats for Gays/Lesbians (such as the one Seventh-day Adventists run under the name Kinship; yes, you have to be an SDA to attend, and the full-week cost is high), etc., etc., etc..Mark doesn’t really need Mike or Kim or O’donnell, or Bachman’s husband. He’s smart and creative and possessing of sufficient $$$$ to move about in society. .I lived down-peninsula from San Francisco or 30+ years had a number of gay churches, and visited my gay brother in West Hollywood (a few blocks from Rodeo Drive). The Episcopalian church of Beverly Hills, easy walking distance from Radeo Drive, had for-gay/les services offering communion and free afterward. They held discussion groups galore, etc. I attended services with my gay brother, although I’m straight. Many gay members were wealthy or at least very well positioned to “ride out” this long recession. Many had highly skilled, highly paid jobs. At this particular party one guy was a high exec in a bank. Another guy owned a highly successful flower shop in Bev Hills. Another had inherited millions from his father. They were nice people — all at this one party, tailor-made for Mark..My brother and his partner, Paul, also held large private parties, mainly for gay guys (not for les). I was invited because I was my brother’s brother. I’m not bad looking, but once they learned that I was straight from my brother, not one of them ever “came on” to me. They were quite polite, and I always felt comfortable..Mark could also be hooked up by friends of friends of friends of friends. Since the need is near universal, his problem of finding a life partner is greatly enhanced..My brother became the life-partner of a man I’ll here call Paul. Paul owned a home near Bev Hills, another home in Palm Springs, and a wearhouse in LA. The wearhouse contained basically “period furniture”. If for example, you were making a movie of Napoleon’s Russian campaign [you remember the Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture finale with the (mini) cannon going off] . THAT campaign. Well, my brother’s partner Paul ran a wearhouse that supplied “campaign furniture” or any other kind of “period furniture” to that as to any a movie location or sound-stage play/TV production that wanted it. It was a huge operation worth many millions. He hired only gays / lesbians trying to counteract some of the job hiring prejudice against them. Problem was, after many years Paul died (OF HEART FAILURE, not HIV infection, all you gay vultures out there). My brother had to go through a death-of-spouse type of bereavement..Then he moved to Brasil where he almost immediately met Raul, whom he had known previously while still “married” to Paul. My brother’s gay “marriage” to Paul lasted 20+ years, and as far as I know they were always faithful to each other. While Paul was alive, they toured the world together once every year..Bottom line: as soon as Mark’s grievance period is over, he should move to NY, find another man, get married, and live happily till his bio-clock stops tick-tocking.

Heck, first time I’ve ever seen Mike look his age. Great first panel.

To quote George Costanza (sp?) “But there is nothing wrong with that.”I am a little bit more worried about what happens after my biological clock stops, but my liberal friends tell me that’s a fairy tale. Hope they’re not wrong.

on solitaries: “some are born that way, some become that way, & some choose that way (for the Kingdom)” How to love before one dies, being the essential question. married/unmarried, gay/straight. ain’t?

Ravenswing said, “Heck, first time I’ve ever seen Mike look his age. Great first panel.”.Friend, everyone looks their age when awakened in the middle of the night. :)

What’s with the Guy Fierri look?

Biological clock [rolling my eyes]

Bingo. Nicely stated, Susan.

Did I miss something? When did Mark’s hair go all white?

@ Pi,

I’m sure that Mark, just like your brother, wants a lifelong, committed relationship. And homosexual intimacy at its most exquisite, no less than heterosexual, can achieve the “Love [that] is as strong as death”; such love overcomes our biological clocks.

But marriage, in its origin and its definition, is heterosexual: the actual union of opposites. This union is natural and mystical, not “symbolic” as you assert. Marriage will always be distinguished from gay marriage; even gay partners refuse to call themselves husband and wife, because they want everyone to know that theirs is not a union of heterosexual opposites. It’s a union of same-sex partners.

It’s silly to pretend that “marriage” can be divorced from heterosexual coitus (which without the civilized blessing of wedlock becomes mere fornication). Homosexuals can get a state like New York to bless their union and the union may (although not in Mark’s case) achieve the Love Strong as Death, but it will always be given a name to distinguish it from marriage: “same-sex marriage,” “lifelong partnership,” “legally wed”—all unisex terms obscuring the natural and essential link between marriage and sexuality.

You know your biological clock is ticking when you hear this in your dreams..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3lLYOGDsts

I’m using the 1999 Tanakh translation from the Jewish Publication Society. God has just taken a rib from the man’s side and fashioned it into a woman. This is obviously symbolic language. Genesis 2:23-24: “Then the man said, ‘This one at last / Is bone of my bones / And flesh of my flesh. / This one shall be called Woman, / For from man she was taken.’ ¶ Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.”.The context is symbolic, and there is no exegetical reason to suppose that it shifts into literal language from verse 23 to verse 24. .Hence the term “one flesh” is symbolic as I assert. It is not literal. If it were, then the man and the wife would become one literal biological unit, which constitutes an absurdity..But a symbolic understanding is definitely not an absurdity. The newlyweds are symbolically united by God at the marriage ceremony. And they do become a new family unit. They do not, however, become a chimera..Nor is there any textual evidence to support the assertion that the man was created sexless. He was created whole. And the woman was created whole as well, albeit out of the man’s rib. .No amount of argumentation will subvert this exegesis. It is correct, as any Hebrew scholar will tell you.

Here’s the poem again in neater form:

Drink deep to Uncle Uglug,That early, heroic human—The first to eat an oyster,The first to marry a woman.

God’s curse on him who muttersAs the banquet waxes moister“If only he’d eaten the woman!If only he’d married the oyster!”

in my hippie days, the only reason for marriage was a strong unit for the children. The IRS frowned on high equal incomes. As marriages broke down and the need for Zerp Population Growth became apparent, we who believed got cut. Thereafter, there was no need even to consider marriage.Remember, if you live till 80, you have two, they have two, and they have two is 8. Not exactly Zero Population growth would you say Don’t worry, we will grow only 2 billion in the next 10 years and God will probably help us with a plague or war. Better than your grandkid in a food riot.

I was thinking the same thing evil_, until I read about the Carmichael v Connecticut case. Now there’s nothing any one can do. It’s Drama Queen City from here on out.

This is what folks were saying about Kaddafi in March. Wonder what they’re thinking now?

Yes, it was. I read the “9 paragraphs too much” and found them interesting.

I thought Jack had been a bit dismissive. He’s a smart guy, and listens. I like him. It was worth my time.

Biological clock? PLease! Last time I checked two men having sex with each other cannot produce a child. THis edition of Doonesbury is disgusting, two men having sex (homosexuality) is un-natural and a sin. I have a suggestion for Mark: Remain celibate, and many people do, or go find a WOMAN! There are many former gays out there who, through counseling, religion, etc. have overcome their temptations and desires for same sex and have gone on to marry. Just as many other people overcome other hangups, sins they have (such as porn, alchohol addiction, etc..)

I wonder if GT checks Gocomics to see how many comments are posted in response to his strip.

Who said mythologies couldn’t be fun?