Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell Aug. 5, 2008

Last week I wrote on lazy Sunday afternoons the other great thing about Sunday’s was the comic. We love the comics. At home we got our Sunday paper on Monday. This meant we received two papers on Mondays. I think that the comics helped us learn to laugh at ourselves. Poor old Dagwood was always in trouble. We were in the Viet Nam conflict so Beetle Bailey gave us something to amuse us. Those that were in the World Wars might it a little more humorous than the rest of us or maybe not. I am sure some of them could identify with one to the characters in that strip. Mothers and Grandmothers enjoyed Dennis the Menace quite often, along with Family Circus. Mom and Grandma always read the serials- Brenda Starr- and Rex Morgan. I never got into Gasoline Alley or Dogpatch- I liked Nancy and one of our top favorites was Peanuts. Then there more different comic strips that the Hutchinson News carried- Hi and Lois quickly became a favorite- We did not get the Wichita Eagle so when we went to Uncle David’s they had a whole new set of comics. There was Pogo, Shue, and BC, those were alright but they did not have some of the ones I liked the best. I thought that Uncle David and Aunt Theo must have been very intelligent as I thought that some of the ‘funnies’ were hard to comprehend. Those that were political I never did get and most of the time, I still do not understand.
Through the years humor changed. Some of the comics became more vulgar, that might be little harsh, maybe lewd is the word. I love the Lockhorns and I learned to like the Far Side. Baby Blues and Zits are entertaining along with For Better or Worse. It is kind of sad once in a while, but sometimes life is sad. I think that our music reflects our lives and I think that the comic strips are the same way.
If it had not been for the comics I am not sure that Jeff would have ever learned to read. Jeff went to summer school and Rocky Stewart told the kids that they could read anything that they wanted to read. He wanted them to understand that reading could be enjoyable and it was not always something that they would be tested on later. Jeff loved Calvin and Hobbs. Calvin was the only thing that he liked to read. The worst thing was that he liked to become Calvin. This was not always such a good idea- As I told him time and time again- Calvin is fun to read about not so much fun to live with.

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