Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 26, 2015

I feel astonished.

Wow! Personally, this reminds me of some of the “motifs” in “1984” (“DoubleThink”, for one…) – Okay, maybe in some ways, also "Farenheit 451?

“Contradictionary”“Fruit Of The Loon”“To The Beat Of Your Own Conundrum”“An Irregular Pattern”“The Sound Of Silence” (♫)“Same Difference”“You’re A Whole Half, Luann DeGroot!”“Creative Destruction”“Torn Of Duty”“The Darkest Light”“Strong As An Oxymoron”or“2 Tickets To Paradox” (♫)

Sounds very 1984-ish to me.

Me thinks Luann should look the teach in the eye and say " I can’t believe your getting paid to teach this class..I am out of here.."

Problem it’s probably past the time one can drop the class..not sure how many classes she is taking either..but this one , teacher, is a Kook in my book…

I really don’t see destruction as creating. Of course I’m not an artist.

Natalie Imbrulia-Torn

Song of the day.

This “Art Instructor” is a Nut-Case. Does this guy have a teaching degree from a University or did he get one out of a Box of Cracker Jack? I was hoping that Luann would have said “NO!” to dropping her stuff in the shredder and found herself another teacher. Really all that work wasted she might as well handed in blank paper.

it feels like a black pot is saying I am excellent and I need you not to be black to a kettle , or would that be “cracked pot” telling the kettle I am good and I don’t want you to be a cracked kettle??

She has some shreds of regret.

Actually, in “Nineteen Eighty Four” it did destroy….it reworked, rewrote, and destroyed….those in Oceania who became “unpersons” were removed, even from pictures. There was torture, and the elimination of words, to the point of the invented language, “Newspeak”…that part, in itself, was a form of destruction (of language)…– For “….451”, The “?”was to indicate a “loose association”. The theme of destroying books, as used in the story, for some “grand purpose”…

Plus, the specific term “Memory Hole”was coined in the book, and was an incinerator…

What a jerk.

I like this guy.

This is retarded. Is this what he thinks Community college is like? Having gone myself, I’m insulted.

Why is Luann, or rather her parents paying for this tripe?

The original assignment wasn’t to create art, it was to produce 17 self-portraits, each using a different style of art. So now he’s telling her that completing an assignment – doing what you’re told – is confining? That’s news to a teen-ager and full-time student?

Has anyone seen the TV show, The Paper Chase? The professor told the class that their heads were full of mush, and it was his job to turn them into lawyers. This is what Zebo is doing.

Off your meds much, Zebo?

is part of Zebo’s evil plan, the students lose all “self” and thus create art that Zebo can claim it was him ………. the piece shown in the “find wedding venue week” was not by Zebo, was by Ann eiffel when she was a student, and that is why she hates men

if we go by going for 2 years degree, u correct, but lot of kids going to 2 years colleges use it as stepping stones, and those classes becomes equivalent to 1.5 to 2 years of university, and than do 2 more years of study at university to get a 4 years degree, and the 4 years degree would be measured by where they go those 2 last years

and BTW, just like generic products and brand names products, what one studies in University of Texas at San Antonio would be same as what one studies in Standford or even same degrees done in Yale ………… just that people get more “AWED” if someone is graduate of Yale over one from UTSA

some people go to colleges because of “economics”, is not accurate, but just to show the image of how it is ………………. 2 people from same school, one goes to University of “ANYCITY” for 4 years paying a total of 100,000 (25K per year) while the other decides to go 2 years in Saint Exupery College and last 2 years in University of ANYCITY paying 70,000 ( 2 years of college for 10K per year and 2 years of university for 25K per year)

Yarbles! Great bolshy yarblockos to you, Zebo.

Is this teacher French? His lines are written in a way that makes me think his is French. Does anyone know?

Well, Professor, you have ordered the destruction of the effort of possibly the only student to take the assignment seriously. Perhaps, you have imparted a great philosophical point, but you have probably destroyed motivation. Bravo.

Like you’re a flippin’ looney…

Luckily I submitted photocopies.

Zero is a charlatan, and a booger-eating moron.

Well, Luann THAT’S “Outcome Based Education.” for You.

And It SUCKS.

I wonder whether the art that Luann produces from here on out will be any different, now that she has “liberated” herself from her sense of “self”. I wonder whether that will carry over into the rest of her life – will she be less self-centered?-Anyway, for those folks who were predicting yesterday that the shredder really wouldn’t work or that Zebo really wanted the students to refuse to carry out the shredding – that is not how he does things. The water balloon incident made that clear. So get ready for more of the same, during the rest of the semester.

The opposite of what I thought would happen. So much for my opinion.

Love the bonus material!!

This guy is pretentious and arrogant. He doesn’t get to decide what is art. Everybody decides that for themselves.

You called it – if they really have a problem with what this guy is trying to teach them in this course, then in future years they can use their art skills to become cartoonists and create ridiculous characters in syndicated comic strips just to mock him.

STUPID!!

what happens when it becomes the other student’s turn – does the ‘jock’ put the teach through the shredder? does the ‘goth’ throw a look of disinterest and say nothing?stay tuned for another dramatic strip tomorrow when luann bursts into tears(word purposely chosen for its double definition) and does an emotional scene complete with a 2 minute over dramatized, dying soliloquy and tells the prof “now that’s art”

I knew I.ve seen him before. Vincent Price as Egghead.

And what about the highly prized “self portraits” done early in various artists’ careers, probably because they couldn’t afford to hire an actual model? Everyone from Adolf Hitler to Pablo Picasso.

Oh the art world mourns it’s loss.

Dunno. My general feeling is to pelt the guy with a cream pie. Maybe that’s why I’m not an “arts” person.

Perhaps the other two students have taken (and failed) this class already and knew this was going to happen. Or perhaps they heard from other students who have already taken the class. News like this spreads very quickly. Because Luann is a newcomer she didn’t know.

I, too, am torn by this art teacher. One part of art is technique. It needs to be learned – the light and shadow, the perspective, the color – (speaking of the graphic arts, not sculpture or other areas which have their own essentials) – these are the building blocks. Over time, anyone can learn these and improve their skills.

The other part is learning to reach inside oneself and bring out the passion and feeling that goes into creating art which is not only aesthetically pleasing but which has meaning for the artist and for the viewer. These are more difficult to teach and to learn. (Things that are deliberately unpleasant can still be “good art,” but that’s a “whole ’nother subject.”)

If Zebo is trying to get this lesson across, he gets points in the plus column, but I question his methods. Cruelty or emotional abuse is never the right way to teach a lesson. From what I’ve seen so far, he could swing either way. His physical manifestation as Greg has drawn him tends to push him toward the shallow and pretentious side, but under the foppish exterior he could have a sincere heart that no one sees yet.

Time will tell.

He didn’t even look at the pictures to be certain she did do 17. I would feel I wasted my time.

All the people who are complaining about this strip just need to be “liberated” from their hang-ups about Luann’s great art. Here are the strips where she showed us her masterpieces:--Print out these strips, and then shred them (or at least rip them up). Now, don’t you feel better? Enjoy your “liberation”, and don’t fret about this incident any more!

I agree with you. Any student who sticks with ‘Professor’ Zero will be a zero when the class is finished…

Modern and abstract artists aren’t really selling you art, they are selling their image to you. Successful ones have excellent personalities and are very charismatic, people buy just to say, “I have a So in So” work of art.

Colonel Zebo’s art assignment was…mentally challenged.

I’m not certain that this ‘Professor Zero’ is saying anything at all about community colleges.- I think he’s set up to represent Greg Evans’s idea of what most college profs teaching art are like. So you would find this ‘professor’ at 4 year colleges as well as 2 year colleges, if Evans is correct.

“Couldn’t he have made the same point by having them do only ONE self-portrait?” ^I believe the reason for “17” portraits was to tie in the fact that the Strip celebrated 30 years on the 17th of March…

I agree with you that the action of this alleged professor is sadistic, and I believe it’s an abuse of authority. But I doubt that he’s aiming at Luann in particular; he seems to be so full of himself that he has no room to distinguish individual students. They are all just lumps of clay to him.

OK. Now that is complete BS from any point of view. Very nihilistic. But I am still waiting for his praise of the Goth with the all black self-image. The art worls has seen all-black and all-white before but never black as a self image.

“Unless he alters it or does something to Luann herself, it’s not 1984”.^Actually, I originally was referring to the “doublespeak” (creative/destructive). I did say motifs . But you brought the other stuff up, saying that 1984 didn’t destroy, which I then addressed.

Ya think so? Then why not volunteer to be his next project!!

Forgot to say that I wasn’t even referring to the “shredding” as being similar to 1984….

Pity Luann didn’t go into the school of business, music, chemistry, biology, math, engineering, teaching, or some HARD field.

The kid in class who only made a cover and left the rest of the portfolio blank would have been the smartest kid in class today.

Few if any commenters had the experience of Freshman Foundation at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1955.

RISD had a great reputation based upon how well graduates did in a competitive professional world of design.

RISD graduates in every specialization such as advertising design,architecture, industrial design, apparel design, illustrator,& many others had a firm understanding of form & function in any application.

Luann’s response to a design problem was worth more being seen by the entire class, in how Luann’s response to an assignment met the assignments requirements, which were not made clear by the teacher.

To have every student’s work shredded before teacher & class comments would never happen in any accredited design school that gained a sold reputation, based on howwell every graduate did in real world employment.

”Can I have my tuition back?”

This is what I said:

“Actually, I originally was referring to the “doublespeak” (creative/destructive). I did say motifs . But you brought the other stuff up, saying that 1984 didn’t destroy, which I then addressed.”

“Forgot to say that I wasn’t even referring to the “shredding” as being similar to 1984…” – This is what you said:

“Well I’m trying to piece together what’s applicable in this story to 1984. …

“…Zebo is free to destroy something he owns. The only way this could be 1984…” – (Jane, stop this crazy thing!!!!! [the treadmill])

“Torn. Because I put all that hard work and effort into coming up with several different versions of my face and you never even once bothered to look at them.”

I’d feel like going to the head of the university and reporting this jerk.

We saw one other class that Luann is taking: it was something like “Introduction to the Digital Age” and it was taught by Mr. Rain (?), who called the role and then dismissed the class. We never saw anything more of that class, so Greg Evans probably couldn’t think of anything interesting to do with it. It was the Pitt CC equivalent of TJ’s food truck. KA-BLOOIE!!!!

how will Bernice feel when she finds out her clown Luann picture has been destroyed-Since it was meant as a criticism of Luann, Bernice will probably be heart broken. The physical evidence of her disdain for an alleged friend is gone. But she will always have her sarcastic verbalizations; those will live forever in her mind.

this seems like a ‘psychology of art’ class , certainly not studio art. yes.. I will try to continue to read this strip and see where it goes…….

-fun and interesting-College isn’t about being fun and interesting, especially these days. It’s supposed to be about helping students acquire skills that they can use to become productive members of society, in an increasingly competitive international workplace.-One of the best ways to learn a skill is to see it demonstrated or to participate in performing a task, which is why many of the tech programs at 2 year schools are successful in placing their grads. There is a lot of hands-on work involved in learning skills that range from computer-assisted design to medical lab specimen processing.-One of the least successful methods of learning a skill is to have whatever you produced discarded, with no comments whatsoever on any mistakes made or progress shown. To be told that you have to discard the ‘self’ in order to be creative, when creativity involves the reaction of ‘self’ to surroundings, can only compound the lack of guidance provided here.

Well, we’re certainly not in an “Art Appreciation” class.

I think Luann needs to discover that Zebo is suffering from an advanced case of Anal-Cranial Inversion.

One of the reasons that Luann is torn is that she’s in fact relieved that Mr. Zebo didn’t get to see some of her brilliant creations, such as the 3-dots face.

Count me as one of those who consider this the most thought-provoking teacher Luann has ever had. Good that he makes readers squirm! He’s teaching us, too, as a good character should. To just say “Get yourself out of the way” would get nods of agreement and no real change. To actually get her to commit her “self” into an assignment and then bid her rip it up (not doing so himself, having HER do it) gets a visceral reaction that brings the lesson home.

Since cartoonists are artists, I wonder if this is how Evans would teach?

It also drops the notion that this is an “easy” class.

One more comment. I also like that Mr. Zebo appears to be multiracial (speaking as a multiracial person, myself) with African features and light skin. It’s a nice symbol for “I don’t fit your categories.”

The “true intentions” of Luann’s work were to hand in an assignment and satisfy the teacher. So, mission accomplished on both fronts. On to something new next week.

-It’s just a beginner course where you cover the very basics.-Beginner courses where basics are taught are often part of a required ‘basic curriculum’ for all entry level students, rather than a straight elective class. A ‘core curriculum’ is offered at the beginning of most college programs to provide a base for students, to help them determine their ultimate area of concentration. And that’s another reason why feedback is needed. If a professor sees that a student lacks skill in an area that the student hopes to major in, guidance is needed at that point.-I continue to be concerned over the destruction of submitted material for another reason. I’m not a lawyer, but have to be familiar with laws in Florida that govern public records due to my work. And state-subsidized and state related schools are arms of the state, so they are subject to those same laws.-Materials submitted to a ‘general purpose government’ (a city or a county, both of which provide a full range of services) in support of or opposition to such things as rezoning of property, approval of development, spending public money on roads, etc, are considered ‘public records’ and have to be retained for a given time period.-Schools, including colleges, are ‘limited purpose governments’, providing only one or two services. But they are also subject to public records retention acts. There have been several cases in recent years revolving around the fact that assaults and crimes against students were reported to campus police, but such records were neither shared with local police nor made available for public requests.-Given that background, and the fact that professors at universities such as Florida Atlantic U (as I cited yesterday) are instructed to keep backup files of online tests and such, I still find any destruction of submitted materials to be problematic.

Yeah, Nero tried that “destruction is creation” stuff in Rome… it didn’t end well.

Here is a hypothesis that may be valuable to consider:+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++What if (keep in mind I do not know of where to read all the comments many of you refer to about Greg hating his art teacher and holding a grudge)…. what if Professor Zebo is NOT the professor he has a grudge about (maybe Professor “Grudge” is the one that Quill has been working with at Moony?)…. maybe Professor Zebo is an homage to the strangest, yet also most meaningful art professor that Greg experienced while in college? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++For me, the antics and ideas of Zebo are becoming more interesting and appealing. I think he REALLY may be teaching Luann (and perhaps even US) some valuable ideas concerning art and self. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Finally, before any of you may squawk and suggest that I have something else in the bowl of my pipe other than tobacco…. nope…. it is a simple vanilla tinctured burley. My idea may sound wacko…. but…. think about it…. it may be a good explanation.

Suppose Mr. Zebo had announced, “DId everyone construct 17 self-portraits? Good. Keep up the practice. No, you don’t need to turn them in.” What would be everyone’s reaction then? The effect would be the same as shredding them, since I can’t imagine why Luann would learn anything more from them if she had kept them.

Nah… the guy’s a putz, using shock-value to drive his point home. Art is simply self-expression, fueled by an urge to create, whether the artist intends to share their creation or not. The teacher is smart, but smug and mean.The art teacher’s message seems to be “Move on – evolve. Keep expressing yourself, but don’t let the past dictate future creativity.”After all, life is an ever-changing story….

I have to be honest, sometimes your posts drive me nuts. On this however you are 100% correct. When I was in college the most popular profs were the crazy ones. When Luann was water bombed the whole class would have been in their seats next class day waiting to see what was going to happen. They might not have agreed with Zebo but they would have been listening to him. Boring profs make class cutting easy.

Exploding a water balloon on someone is also assault. He should have been asked to leave at that point.

Dave.53…. good call! At the moment it IS indeed Borkum Riff! I have all manner of different forms of the pipe tobacco leaf scattered about at home at work, etc. And they run the gambit from old-school pharmacy brands, to mid-range tobacconist’s blends, to even a few exotic, rather-too-pricey blends I probably should not have purchased.

I don’t like this art teacher….maybe because I majored in art history.

_ So I was trying to figure out if you had meant something else._^(slapping hand to forehead)- Uhhh… I’ve already said from the “get go” … Several times…actually. There was no need to “figure it out”, as I kept “spelling it out”…and typed it, too…

“…like the way Klink dressed…”^Wonder if you could switch Zebo’s glasses with a monocle…

Actually, the name Zebo (or even Zébo… or Zamboni…or Zuchini) sounds like some sort of giant thingy on a kids show…..

Sounds kind of like “destroying the village to save it.”

Come to think of it, Erich von Stroheim made movies in pretty much the same way that Mr. Zebo teaches art.

one time long ago, I had a female co-worker, she said something she went through that made her sad, so I patted her back and said “is Okay” ……….she went and complained to HR for sexual harassment

I agree with you. Self animates. It is ‘self’ and the recognition of it (“I think, therefore I am”) that differentiates humans from other mammals.

Remember the episode of House, M.D. where Dr. House was addressing a group of 30 doctors applying for a job to work for him: “I will test you in ways that you will often consider unfair, demeaning, and illegal. And you will often be right. Look to your left. Now look to your right. By the end of six weeks, one of you will be gone. As will 28 more of you. Wear a cup.”

Think about this….. if Zebo had simply said to the class…. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++“Hello Class: Today we will begin the next step in our process of learning about and in creating art. Today we will begin to examine the value of deconstruction. Please take your 17 self-portraits, and using the provided scissors at your station, please cut each image into small squares each approximately one centimeter in width. When you are finished with this process, please look back at me again so that I know you have finished.”+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Now… in my imaginary quote for Zebo above, with the rather pedantic and didactic speech pattern, I think most folks here would say that he was indeed instructing and guiding his class in deconstructionist art (a philosophical and critical movement, starting in the 1960s applied to the study of art (and also literature), that questions all traditional assumptions about the ability of art (and also language) to represent reality).+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I think a lot of folks who are so riled up about Zebo, are mostly riled up by his somewhat bombastic nature, and his over-the-top appearance and mannerisms. It is my opinion that he REALLY is teaching, and doing so in an interesting (albeit bombastic) fashion. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Overall, I think he is a great addition to “Luann.” Luann’s college experiences in this class have quickly become my most favored story arc occurring currently!

Have you ever seen someone who has been bullied, and is in a crowd of people who are strangers? It is rare for someone in that circumstance to stand up to the bully alone. That was the expression I saw on Luann’s face. Since I was bullied as a kid because I was the ‘wrong’ religion and too skinny, and my younger bro was bullied because he wasn’t good at sports, I recognized that expression. It’s a sheepish smile that says ‘yeah, I’m a jerk, you’re right, now please leave me alone’…

I believe there should not be any sexual harassment, and ones which are OBVIOUS should be punished ASAP, but some are based on assumptions and without the victim telling the “supposedly perpetrator” that what he or she did or said was perceived as a sex harassment to allow that person to stop that action on their own or stop the misunderstanding

Oh, Luann, you’ve got to learn to say “NO”.*An adult is constantly given choices, and she must say “NO” to most of them.*An artist is given many opportunities to corrups her work. An artist must be able to say “NO” to most of them.

On the whole, I’d rather shred Zebo.

Zebo talking about letting go of Self is like Miley Cyrus talking to girls in high school about how important is to stay pure and have high virtues and to get away from drugs

I can’t see clearly on my monitor. Has our esteemed colorist today made the shirt sleeve/cuffs match the rest of his slime-green sweater?

At least I managed to save this: my full body rendering of Luann’s ‘Disney Princess’ look. http://markfanboy.deviantart.com/#/art/Luann-DeGroot-519764539?_sid=173d50b3

This is unbelievable.

lot of the comments were “between us” and not directly about the strip itself LOL

Agreed!!!

How I always look at it:

A strip may have more than one thing going on in it (sometimes there’s more than one “punch line”, too!).

Even if there’s “back and forth”, it’s usually on one of the points generated (like today, assault, harassment [Zebo’s Balloon Lesson], creative vs. destructive [shredder], and probably a few other things)…sometimes it may get into further subsets, but if one were to peek in on some other strips, it goes on like that, and sometimes even more! That’s why when other people “pop in” from time to time to say things about “all the comments”, I try to refer them to some of the other strips. Human beings communicate. Human beings easily identify with (Lol, for the most part!) and relate to other human beings. Things are not always so “cut and dry” and automatic as some may want to make it, (as far as some “protocol” is concerned), even when commenting on a forum…

Over 200 comments? Must be a slow news day, or everybody’s brackets are busted beyond hope.

Interesting that no one on this site posted anything about Luann’s response to ‘Professor’ Zero (‘torn’), which is kind of a good punchline. A poster on ArcaMax picked up on that pretty quickly…

SPOILERS ALERT!!!-Sharing the deconstruction. And what have we learned, kids? Apparently, not so much…

welcome to college, Luann. it’s opposite day every day.

(O.C.J. Category:) LOL, and that’s pretty hard to do! (X^D)

In this, she’s not alone. Maybe all of these first year kids just don’t know what to do when someone is bullying them, or they think that this is what college is about. -To me, I’m just looking at ‘going along to get along’ behavior. Not ‘I like this treatment’, or ‘This doesn’t matter to me at all’ behavior.-If any of these kids have tuition paid by their parents and tell those parents what goes on in the class, Professor Zero might be zeroed out…

I’d be punching that #^$@ in the face!!