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

Mama’s got you there, Luann. Admit it: you’ll be bored out of your mind while Quill interns.

Is the glass half empty? Or half full?Is it the parental gift (which Nancy does have) ? Or more so that Luann seems to lob a few easy “pop outs”every so often? – As usual, she can see herself “having fun with/being with” Quill, but forgets to focus on both the “bigger picture”, and the “small details”… especially in terms about things that don’t have to involve Quill (since he’ll be busy working/learning/teaching in the program… – So if they drive, they’ll definitely be trading off money for time. Columbus, 5th, 42nd… they’d better plan for “tie ups”, for sure! But then again, garage rates are also crazy!! – They seemed to have “snuck in” the fact that the “possible” internship has now become “a gotten” ….

Funny that Luann has a “save me” poster there, on her wall- with a globe…. “Welcome to Planet Luann”, indeed, Lol! – And aren’t things like these the things Bernice was trying to help Luann see?

In case you missed it, there’s a new poll up.

“The Best Mislaid Plans…”“The Irony Of Wrinkles”“One Fell Swoon "“Crossed Eyes And Dotted Tease”“You Better Think…” (♪)“Parental Radar”“Pop In The Name Of Love”“Cart Before The Horse”“Hole In One Bucket”“Back To The Drawing Board”“Paraders Of The Lost Arc”or“It Always Rains In Southeastern New York” (♫)

Her mom asks a good question, and a second one is where do you find a hostel in New York—or even along the way?

What to do during the day? Answered that a few strips ago. Just get a summer teaching job in NY. Inner city teaching is a completely different situation and would be a valuable learning experience for her.

Sightseeing?

Broadway doesn’t come alive until nighttime. Quill will be attended drama workshops and rehearsals all day and performances all night. This internship will leave zero time for anything else. That’s one big reason why it’s foolish for Luann to go along on the trip.

When did Quill actually get accepted? Did this happen just now? Also, how is it cheaper to drive from Southern California to NYC than to fly? Given how much longer the trip will take (with meals and lodging along the way, to say nothing of gasoline and automobile expenses), a cheap flight sounds like a better alternative. The best alternative, of course, is for Luann just to stay in Pitt and wait for Quill to get back, in 10 days.

Luann…you can’t go to New York. Not now!! You have this internship that could lead to a career!!

What a dumb dilemma. I would have no trouble amusing myself in NY. Neither would Lu

Quill will spend this summer working in a program that may lead to his getting a job after he graduates. Luann has been offered the same sort of opportunity, but she is willing to decline it in favor of 10 days in NYC with Quill. How short-sighted is that? Quill has his eye on the prize; Luann has her eye on Quill. You’re not thinking clearly here, Lu!

Wait until Frank finds out about Luann’s plans about going to NYC.

Again…..Haven’t they heard of Skype????

Why is Nancy so surprised? Quill told her and Frank back at the end of March he was applying for the internship (while they were waiting for Luann to finish showering and fixing her hair … just to do papier-mache …)

The days will be long and boring without Quill, but the nights should more than make up for that.

Score one for Nancy. Unfortunately, Luann seems to be getting flightier as she get older but not wiser….

Duh, she plays house.

Now Lu LISTEN to Your Mom. She is About to Give You VERY Good Advice on What to do Next with Pretty Boy and this New York “Trip.”

And the Fact That Several of Mom’s Old Boyfriends ended up DEAD, Should Have NO Bearing on Your FINAL Decision.

Luann’s old enough to make an adult decision or two.

Lots to see and do in NYC….if you have the Money.Best take the daycare job and go spend a week with Quill as vacation.

Parental gift = 30 years of experience that you don’t have, Luann. A degree from the college of hard knocks.

Quoting @JPuzzleWhiz from Yesterday:

I tried the copy-and-paste hint that you mentioned late yesterday, but it still didn’t work for me.

Guess I’ll have to settle for only being able to do it on Disqus…

J – A couple of questions –

1) On which type of computer are you trying this (WINTEL vs. Mac)?

2) When you save the file, are you saving it as “unicode” or “ANSI”?

What I’m about to say assumes a WINTEL machine using the “notepad” text editor.

Step1: Having opened the text file in notepad, begin to type your alt codes into the file. Use the numeric pad on the right of the keyboard to enter the numbers. You can also enter a description and put one character on each line.

Step2: When finished, click on “File —> Save As —>”. A window will pop up. You can enter the file name and select the directory in which to save it. I’d save it to the “desktop” for easy access.

Step3: On the lower right, is the “Encoding” Drop down.

Encoding

Be sure that drop down is set to “Unicode” (as seen above) instead of the default “ANSI”.

Step4: Click Save. The file should appear as a text file icon with the name you gave it on the desktop.

Step5: When you need to use a character in the file, open the file, then select the character by dragging/highlighting the character and select “Copy” or press “CTRL-C”.

Step6: On the site where you need it, place your cursor where you want the character to go and press “CTRL-V” The character should appear.

If the above doesn’t work, please let us know.

good lord, doesn’t anyone use “character map” anymore?? (in Windows)…. you can copy and paste any special character supported by your computer.

You have to “scan” for the character you’re looking for, each time with each character, with “Character Map.” When using a text file, you can order the characters any way you choose, and put the most used characters up front, etc. etc. etc….

She’ll be in New York. She can do cattle calls or fall in with The Wrong Crowd…

It makes no sense that Luann is concerned about what to do while Quill is busy all day with his internship. She should instead worry about what she’ll do while he’s busy all evening, working behind the scenes at drama performances. Quill will simply have no free time during this 10-day internship. There is no point in her going with him to NYC.

you confusing Lue with Bern(one with Dez as roommate)

It’s nice to see Luann again in her own strip. The supporting “cast” was beginning to take over.

How & when did Dez get into this NYC excursion?

How & when did Dez get into this NYC excursion?

Nancy is just being subtle, She knows that if she lays down the law and says Luann can’t take a vacation with Quill, Lu will just tune her out, She’s therefore trying to convince Luann that this trip really wouldn’t be a good idea for practical reasons, and she hopes that Luann will then decide on her own not to go to NYC. That will make it unnecessary for Nancy to tell Luann that she simply forbids her going.

The trip will cost over $1K, Luann will have to turn down her summer job and make no money for college, and she will barely see Quill at all during their 10 days in NYC. Sounds like a win-win-win situation, doesn’t it!

I try not to drive in NYC, no parking, bridge tolls are high, the only plus is the other drivers are so courteous…

My first question would be “how long is the internship, how long will the trip take?”

Can’t she find a lot of activities in NYC? There must be a lot to do that wouldn’t cost too much.

I was just answering the part about being bored in NYC. Of course she should stay home and work if money is the main concern.

What will she be doing during the day? Good one Nancy. I mean its not like she will be in one of the most vibrant cities in the world with an active public transportation system that is full of museums (I went to the Met and was only able to see a small portion of it in one day and that not counting MOMA, Guggenheim, History, etc) and attractions (Statue Of Liberty, Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Central Park, etc.), not to mention all the stores to window shop in. Yep she better take War and Peace to read because she’ll be so bored.

“What would you do in NYC while Quill is working at his intern program?”“I thought I could make myself useful in a program of community service. You know, go to a park and collect sticks and rake rocks.”

(Enjoying an after lunch bowl of vanilla tinctured burley before I head off to class again.)It is really difficult to say how much cost would be affordable by Luann. It would depend upon many factors we know little or nothing about…. such as tuition costs, parental support, inheritance from Luann’s dead benefactors, etc. I personally think the trip is foolish for Luann given the amount of time she would likely be able to spend exploring the city with bland Quill (virtually none). I tend to think the Skype and Teaching Summer sounds the most appealing. Let bland Quill have his internship experience without being pestering him all the time. Unfortunately, RB2, I am suspicious that you may have hit the nail on the head for the NYC background for Dez. I hope not, though

geez louise, strip morphed to Glee, but w/o pop songs.

Good thing Quill is not in the service.She could be getting shot art, during the day (if they were married).Otherwise, STAY HOME!This gal is a nut case!

Without the structure of high school, the strip is flip-flopping around looking for some kind of unity. The new characters are dull replacements for the old characters. Its like an old “Our Gang” movie without most of the gang.

Argy3 -*I just raed your comment from yesterday about Mayo Clinic. I too have been seen there, and there is bus service if you don’t drive. Please check it out— the Mayo Clinic has excellent doctors.

Argy 3 -*And in Rochester, you can get arouond using RPT. For info (schedules and routes) to make a plan call 507-328-RIDE. Or call a cab.

Anyone want to bet that Nancy is gonna invite herself along, to keep Luann company while Quill is busy with his internship?

The whole reason Luann wants to go is to have sexy alone time with Quill. How is she going to do to that with her mom there?

I believe that’s the very objective – she won’t.

And, given that eventual outcome, I think Lu will nix the trip… which in turn satisfies Nancy’s objectives.

“Mayo has a huge direct facility in the Jacksonville, Fl. area and another one in Scottsdale, AZ”

Torad -Could be. Had a family member who worked at the Rochester location then relocated to Jacksonville. Imagine both Jacksonville and Scottsdale are accessible by Greyhound as well. Bet the Social Work office at the Mayo could give Argy suggestions.

Everyone keeps saying that she’d have tons to do in NYC. But out of her own mouth, Luann is talking about finding ways to save money . This won’t be a “;pleasure trip” where she gets to go sightseeing, and experience museums, etc. Those things cost money ….. – If there are things to do for free (such as walking along Coney Island boardwalk in nearby Brooklyn, and maybe having a lunch outing there, or something along those lines), then those would be the things she could do- but not the other things that cost…. – Whidh is at the heart of her telling Nancy her “economical” solution", and also why Nancy was asking: “What would you do”?

And for those that are thinking that she means driving to NY, it also wouldn’t seem to go along with her “plan” for saving money. (In my best Spock impersonation:) It would be highly illogical to want to save money, and consider driving there (which would obvioulsy eat up any monies saved for the trip, leaving them with nothing once they get there, compared to flying Coach,or on a discount airline). More likely, she’s referring to driving around (though that is not always efficient, in terms of time and money, but perhaps more practical for someone who doesn’t plan to be there a long time)….

If money is a big consideration here (and apparently it is), then Frank and Nancy are completely justified in telling Luann to stay in Pitt and take the paying job in the Lincoln Elementary Summer Camp. If she refuses, they can (and should!) tell her that she will have to pay for the NYC vacation herself, and then next years PCC tuition – and room and board. The days of “Master Dad” are over!

“The question came AFTER Nancy brought up that Quill will be busy. Therefore, this part of the conversation isn’t about money.”^Panel 2, Luann’s dialogue; “I know. Expensive!….” So, about money. At least for the “appeasement” of any of her mother’s “qualms” about the “solidness” of this trip (or perhaps out of real concern).

RB2, I can see what you are suggesting, but I seriously think that there is more to the NYC trip than Luann wanting “sexy alone time” with bland Quill. Jeez-o-pete… if two young kids are so hell bent on copulating, then it does not take a trip to NYC to get alone time. I think that Luann is more interested in a “Romantic” trip with bland Quill…. and intercourse may or may not be a part of her vision of a “Romantic” trip at this moment. The problem though, is that Nancy is right… the trip is pretty much assured to be mostly a “bust” in terms of romance as bland Quill will be busy and tired most of the time.At best, I think the NYC trip for Luann could be a time where she does some solo exploring and potentially finds some interests of her own. But that is perhaps what she could also do with the teaching job.

Don’t forget the two minorities (Rosa, Delta), Evans shipped them off as well. I think Evans is so afraid of offending cultures he doesn’t understand that it’s just safer not to bother. As soon as the Sun controversy hit I think he freaked out and said “ok, not taking any more risks”. . . . . " -—————————Yet the Evans team blatantly stereotypes the sub-clade of blonde female women in the form of Tiffany. .Decades ago Dagwood had to give his blonde some common sense: Now she runs her own catering service! During many decades earlier she was stereotyped and the “typical dumb blonde.”

Tiffany should not be run too far into the dirt just because of her ethnicity and skin/hair tint.

We may not have much hope, however since Miss Evans is a brunette and may have lost a BF or two to blondes.

I think it’s more about her being concerned about her daughter giving up her own life to live someone else’s.

in most shows, specially sitcoms……the writers take “liberties” in order to minimize needed personal, just like for example Girl meets world, where it seems all classes(except maybe PE) are handled by Cory Mathews and always with the “main core” of actors as part of the class( Maya, Lucas, Farkle and Riley) with showing “not important extras” for the most part(some exceptions like one time showing the bully that puts down Farkle and another time in same seat BTW the always go to detention cool guy with black jacket) at least until this new season where they seem to have put 3 new “regulars” in Lucas’ old best friend, and the tall girl and short younger guy who are BF/GF, in real life the “core four” might have MOST classes in common(3 or 4), but some classes would have only 1 or 2 of them in it, and there would have to be 1 or 2 classes without Maya and Riley together and Farkle would have special academic classes (advanced calculus and things like that)

a question, since I in general only go here, what exactly were the major complains about Sun? just physical look? how she was portrayed? something else?

in today’s environment, that is the hard part(unless you are part of said group, like a black artist portraying blacks, or someone from china doing Chinese characters, or someone from Mexico doing Latino illegals in south Texas), I think Evans intent was not “caricaturing Far East” but showing she was always joyful, and went a little too exaggerated for some……….. I can easily see some complaining if she was done “super-smart” and saying “he thinks all of us are brainiacs” or if he had put her parents own a laundromat, and if we get black characters, some would complain if family was very affluent, or character was not downtown enough (they don’t want Carltons or Wills written by someone who is not black) ………….. as some have written or implied, we already got some lamenting that Tiff is the classical comic blonde and that Ox is typical “Fernando the bull personality” linebacker moron of the football team

Wiselad said,a question, since I in general only go here, what exactly were the major complains about Sun? just physical look? how she was portrayed? something else? . . . "-—————————————-Well some thought Sun maybe looked like a stereotype. Does this look like one (it’s by Chinese of course)? Note the yellowish complexion, note the almond eyes. Are the Chinese insulting themselves?I think not.

I think what I just sent is a picture of a remarkably beautiful young lady. .Tiffany is a far more stereotyped person than Sun was. .Of course we saw little of Sun. About all we knew of her was her pet ferret and a big grin. Were those things something racially stereotyped? Not that I can see.

I guess if everyone’s going to do a GIS for ‘racist asian depictions’ then post them in comments every time Sun appears, it’s just as well that she hasn’t shown up in a while.-—————————————Let’s be reasonable, cartoons are about caricatures. Things are typically exaggerated. .Look at the bulb noses in Drabble, Pickles, or (wow!) in The Duplex. Chinese often refer to Europeans rather routinely as “Dà-bízi” ; “Big-noses.”

On the basis of just what do you “estimate” that no Asians / Asian Americans were offended? You weren’t offended, so you think they shouldn’t have been, either?

Sun’s visual depiction reminded me a lot of the virulent and racist propaganda cartoons that abounded in comic strips during World War II, depicting the Japanese as having enormous grins and closed, sharply slanted slits for eyes. Evans’s art instructor in college would be justified in failing any student who turned in something like that as part of a homework assignment.

> But it is politically incorrect to clamp down on the freedom of artistic expression, especially when no harm is intended.>Greg Evans is perfectly free to draw anything he wants to draw in Luann, and newspapers across the country are perfectly free to stop carrying the strip if they don’t like what he draws. That would be the inevitable result of letters to the editor written by people who took offense at “Sun”.

Bruce Lee wanted to break such limiting racial stereotyping of Asians wide open and to some extent did, though he died way too young.

Yes, he did.

Bring Sun back ! Please bring her back, ferret and all!

I tried to send: http://www.gocomics.com/ziggy/2015/05/20

> And my estimate that the commenting board here (and my guess about the Luann fan base overall) does not seem very ‘diverse’. >If the commenting board isn’t very diverse, then of course you won’t have Asians or Asian Americans posting protests herein! Your second “estimation” makes your first one meaningless.

I only have the numbers at the top of my laptop’s keyboard.

I’ll try it on my laptop and get back to you.

in the old west we used to have basically a 2 front “oriental people”, ones who were almost always in the Chinese neighborhoods, with great variety, and ones who lived in the middle of an anglosaxon neighborhood, most of them were either in laundry as they were very effective and most people expected them to be much better than anyone else(they became the Mcdonalds while everyone else were the “other fast food franchises”) or were cooks, so in bonanza his jobwas not unusual for the old west. but they did go a little overboard on his personality

We can only hope to celebrate the diversity of ethnicities, not subject them to ridicule. . . . "-—————————Sun was never ridiculed. Think how often Brad has been ridiculed, or Tiff, or Gunther, or Mr. Fogarty. There was only a ferret (not necessarily illegal) and a wide grin — and a story begun but as yet untold.

around 2 billion people in the world have epicanthal fold(commonly called slanted, but many see it as derogatory term) or about 1/3, of that, 98% of china have it, 75% of Singapore, 20% of Japan, (most are faintly slanted, almost round) and ALL BABIES have it until their 2nd or 3rd month

What some people think is ‘politically correct’ is not at all the same as others may think. There is no real meaning to the term.

Reality sucks!

I think this is the thread where Luann is faced with an important choice… a growth point…does she choose the opportunity that could relate to career and future job opportunities or does she sacrifice that in order to follow Quill for a week in NYC? Hopefully Nancy will lay the argument that Quill might have new-found respect for her if she selects the teaching opportunity.

All Evans had to do was make the smile less comical and give her some actual eyes instead of slanted ones. I think in the end he chose to avoid the character completely. . . . . "-———————————-That seems what happened. Sad. Greg did make Rosa look less “hispanic or whatever.” She was rather different at first.

Or she could use the tech skills she showed. Take some doing, but……..

Bring Sun back !

Please bring her back, ferret and all!

no comment

(Sigh:) Again, I say in return : It’s still in the dialogue balloon. You aren’t saying anything that isn’t a part of it. Nor anything that isn’t being discussed by the rest of us. But you originally tried to say that it’s not about money (at least in response to me). But today , it’s about (1) money and (2) Nancy (just as Bernice did) “Checkmating” Luann, and also playing the part of an observant parent….

I think Luann sticking “the finger” to Quill also makes her a jerk too, IMO.