Suddenly Back in the Real World…Sort of
The dreadedcandiru2 remarked in yesterday’s comments:
If this sequence ends with him advising Meredith not to make the mistakes he made because of the damage he has yet to undo, I'd be willing to forgive Mike his stroll down Memory Lane.
Ironically, not only does it not end that way, it ends with Michael encouraging Meredith to emulate him, leaving Deanna to play the heavy roll of the disciplinarian. Even when confronted with more Super Teddy destruction, Michael is still unrepentant and instead remarks he was impressed with Meredith’s great toss. I am beginning to wonder if Michael is capable of showing remorse.
Yesterday, in April’s Real Blog, I addressed Michael and remorse, because the classic example of remorseful Michael was when he took the pictures of Deanna in her car accident. That story was significantly featured in a podcast interview with Lynn Johnston done by Steve Friess of USA today.
In the podcast, she told two stories which were quite gruesome. One had to do with a homosexual comedian who killed himself. The other had to do with a pregnant woman hanging herself, who turned out to be the girlfriend of a friend of Aaron Johnston, Lynn’s son. This last story was remarkable because, in the podcast, Lynn Johnston told this story about how Aaron had been hired to shoot sunsets for a television station and found himself with the unique opportunity to shoot a sunset which swept across into a picture of this girl hanging from the tree. Lynn said she turned this story into the Deanna car crash story, but in prior publications, she said Aaron’s story was actually a car crash. I thought that was quite an alteration to the story. Not only that, but suicides by hanging in public places is…shall we say…extremely rare.
I have to digress for a moment. My step father is a notorious liar. He tells whoppers. He has told stories about his activities in the Vietnam War, that if they occurred, he would have been a bigger hero than Audie Murphy. The family has learned not to call him on his lies, because he gets very upset. We usually just listen to him, and that’s about as far as it goes. I have gotten to the point where I can usually tell when he is lying. His story takes a certain tone, with the way some details are put in, and some are pulled out.
While I was listening to Lynn Johnston on this podcast, telling the story about the suicide, the same feeling crept over me. Initially I felt she was telling this horrible story, and it was interesting how she turned that into Mike and Deanna’s car crash. Then, I started thinking, “The dead girl is wearing a white sweater. Now that’s an odd detail to remember about a video clip you didn’t see. The police won’t let Aaron near the scene, and yet he gets the picture.” Then I started to think she was lying. I have no proof, one way or the other. I remember getting the same feelings I get when I listen to my stepfather tell one of his whoppers.
The other thing which concerned me was that each of the gruesome stories Lynn Johnston told in the podcast involved suicide. I am thinking good thoughts for you, Lynn Johnston. I hope you have good people up with you in Corbeil who are looking out for you.
If this sequence ends with him advising Meredith not to make the mistakes he made because of the damage he has yet to undo, I'd be willing to forgive Mike his stroll down Memory Lane.
Ironically, not only does it not end that way, it ends with Michael encouraging Meredith to emulate him, leaving Deanna to play the heavy roll of the disciplinarian. Even when confronted with more Super Teddy destruction, Michael is still unrepentant and instead remarks he was impressed with Meredith’s great toss. I am beginning to wonder if Michael is capable of showing remorse.
Yesterday, in April’s Real Blog, I addressed Michael and remorse, because the classic example of remorseful Michael was when he took the pictures of Deanna in her car accident. That story was significantly featured in a podcast interview with Lynn Johnston done by Steve Friess of USA today.
In the podcast, she told two stories which were quite gruesome. One had to do with a homosexual comedian who killed himself. The other had to do with a pregnant woman hanging herself, who turned out to be the girlfriend of a friend of Aaron Johnston, Lynn’s son. This last story was remarkable because, in the podcast, Lynn Johnston told this story about how Aaron had been hired to shoot sunsets for a television station and found himself with the unique opportunity to shoot a sunset which swept across into a picture of this girl hanging from the tree. Lynn said she turned this story into the Deanna car crash story, but in prior publications, she said Aaron’s story was actually a car crash. I thought that was quite an alteration to the story. Not only that, but suicides by hanging in public places is…shall we say…extremely rare.
I have to digress for a moment. My step father is a notorious liar. He tells whoppers. He has told stories about his activities in the Vietnam War, that if they occurred, he would have been a bigger hero than Audie Murphy. The family has learned not to call him on his lies, because he gets very upset. We usually just listen to him, and that’s about as far as it goes. I have gotten to the point where I can usually tell when he is lying. His story takes a certain tone, with the way some details are put in, and some are pulled out.
While I was listening to Lynn Johnston on this podcast, telling the story about the suicide, the same feeling crept over me. Initially I felt she was telling this horrible story, and it was interesting how she turned that into Mike and Deanna’s car crash. Then, I started thinking, “The dead girl is wearing a white sweater. Now that’s an odd detail to remember about a video clip you didn’t see. The police won’t let Aaron near the scene, and yet he gets the picture.” Then I started to think she was lying. I have no proof, one way or the other. I remember getting the same feelings I get when I listen to my stepfather tell one of his whoppers.
The other thing which concerned me was that each of the gruesome stories Lynn Johnston told in the podcast involved suicide. I am thinking good thoughts for you, Lynn Johnston. I hope you have good people up with you in Corbeil who are looking out for you.
posted by howard at 12:26 AM
14 Comments:
I forgot who I was talking about for a second, there. I confused the Noble Scribe for a human being instead of the posturing pile of poo we know and loathe. All he knows about 'remorse' is how to spell it. That being said, I'm glad you brought up parents today. The way Mike was standing around brought to mind two rater colorful analogies my Dad made when people shuffled their feet instead of doing something. The target of his spleen was either standing around like a 'shivering pillar of sh*t' or a 'wooden Jesus in a country graveyard'. Instead of telling Meredith that flinging her bear around was a bad idea, he not only encourages her to imitate him but stands around looking for 'Not Me' to show up when Deanna takes him to task. How Lynn transmutes that into responsible parenting is beyond me. As for her story about Aaron, I too think she invented most of it. Not that she was good at it though. She doesn't even know what the phrase 'police scanner' means.
Howard, I believe that Lynn said her comedian friend was murdered.
Her changes in the back-story of Deanna really have me thinking she's not only a liar, but she might just be the type of liar who convinces herself that her lies are true. You'd think that she'd remember having told the earlier version of the story already--in print. As it stands, I'm left wondering whether she lied telling one of the versions, or both.
No blasted wonder she can't see what's wrong with the strip, then. It's not so much a matter of inability than sullen refusal to see what she's doing is wrong. As for her not getting negative feedback, she most likely simply ignores it. That is, assuming, people don't tell her she's full of it because they know she won't listen anyway.
DreadedCandiru2,
As Mike as a father goes, I think I can understand the situation. He doesn't think there is anything wrong with picking up Super Teddy and hurling it as high or as far as you want inside a house because he was never truly taught there was anything wrong with it when he was younger. Ergo, there is nothing wrong with showing little Meredith how to do it exactly as he did when he was younger.
As for negative feedback, it was clear from the podcast, Lynn doesn't ignore it because she mentioned specific examples. The bit where April sings at the mall for television and no one from her family is there. Lynn mentioned all the people who complained and responded by saying she didn't have room to draw all of them. My response would have been, "But you had enough room to draw every single one of those special needs kids in the audience." However, her response showed she had (1) read the criticisms and (2) thought of what she would have had to have done to correct it and (3) didn't criticize the basic aspect of it (i.e. a Patterson family member should have been there). I can't say "ignore", but I can say "did not respond gracefully." She could have said, "Oh, I realized I should have put in at least one Patterson family member, but I was so focussed on the special needs kids I forgot, and now I can't go back and do anything about it."
aprilp_katje,
Howard, I believe that Lynn said her comedian friend was murdered.
OK. I was a little distracted listening to the podcast yesterday. Thanks for the correction.
Her changes in the back-story of Deanna really have me thinking she's not only a liar, but she might just be the type of liar who convinces herself that her lies are true.
It is one thing to lie, and another thing to tell a lie in an extremely public venue. Even my step father would not tell his whoppers to anyone he thought would be able to call him a liar, i.e. he never tells those stories in front of other Vietnam veterans, I know from seeing him around my wife's step-dad. Aaron Johnston could easily tell the press which story is correct, but I wonder if he has gotten in the habit of not doing that, since he has 20+ years of saying, "Michael Patterson did that, but I didn't."
I concede the point about Mike and Super Teddy. The Pattersons never really told him what he was doing was wrong just as they never flat out said he should stop picking on his kid sister. It never dawned on them that he'd have to be told specifically what to do because they were making it up as they went along. As for the criticism, I can deal with her angle on it, if not her tone. It shows she knows we care enough to say when something bothers us.
Aaron Johnston could easily tell the press which story is correct, but I wonder if he has gotten in the habit of not doing that, since he has 20+ years of saying, "Michael Patterson did that, but I didn't."
True--I have a feeling that Aaron mostly ignores the goings-on in the strip. I've seen him comment (both in usenet and in his Suddenly Silver essay) that he does not follow the strip in the daily papers, but rather catches up when Lynn sends him the collections.
I think it's likely that he does not read the articles on her nor listens to audio interviews. I WOULD be very curious to see what he had to say.
DreadedCandiru2
It never dawned on them that he'd have to be told specifically what to do because they were making it up as they went along.
Some kids go through the stage where you to spell out everything specifically, like “You told me to take a bath. You didn’t tell me to wash my feet.” I have the feeling Michael Patterson never got out of that stage. “You told me not to fly Super Teddy in the house. You never told me not to teach my daughter not to fly Super Teddy in the house.”
As for the criticism, I can deal with her angle on it, if not her tone. It shows she knows we care enough to say when something bothers us.
Yes, the tone. “Get a life!” “It’s only a comic strip!”
aprilp_katje,
I think it's likely that he does not read the articles on her nor listens to audio interviews. I WOULD be very curious to see what he had to say.
I would also be very interested in hearing the Aaron Johnston perspective. However, if I were Aaron Johnston, I think I would ignore the strip and the articles too. After all, one or both of those stories about the car crash / hanging suicide is a lie; and what is Aaron going to do? No matter which one he says is the true one, he ends up having to say his mom is a liar.
Howard, I'm really glad you got the same vibe from Lynn's interview. Hearing her speak, I started to get those feelings of "aw, are you sure about that?" that occur when something just doesn't seem quite right.
I have been rather cynical about Lynn's announcement of Rod cheating, because well...it's her version and it sure is something she uses so much...I don't know, there is something going on, but I don't think it is what we are being led to believe.
Just a question, also. Lynn has said (I haven't seen it, but seen it on the blogs) that she worked as a translator for a medical team. Last I recall, she wanted to "improve" her Spanish, but now she seems to be fluent. Does that story check out?
Also, I never knew that she had been on welfare--has that been mentioned previously?
Sorry, everyone is so amazed at your ability to check things out that I'm pretty much expecting you to know everything off the top of your head!
Thanks, by the way, for your great posts and comments. I always look forward to them.
DJ
I have more than a feeling that he never outgrew the spell-everything-out stage. That's because, as we've seen over the years, he ain't too bright and thinks everyone is out to get him. Most of the trouble he got into over the years is a direct result of his idiot fear that Liz would totally replace him in his parents' hearts, a fear Elly refused to dignify with a response.
DJ,
When it comes to the early life of Lynn Johnston, I am not nearly the expert aprilp_katje or cookie77 are. However, I will try to answer your questions.
Last I recall, she wanted to "improve" her Spanish, but now she seems to be fluent. Does that story check out?
It seems unlikely she could become fluent so quickly, but I have never heard Lynn Johnston speak Spanish, so I cannot judge. It is possible for the trip she described she does not have to be that fluent. The impression I had gotten was that Rod Johnston liked to go on these excursions providing dental care to impoverished areas, and Lynn went along with him, and now she plans a similar trip without him.
Also, I never knew that she had been on welfare--has that been mentioned previously?
I believe she said she used welfare to pay for her child care. I had never heard the reference before, but maybe aprilp_katje has. She was already working as an illustrator and did the modestly, successful David, We’re Pregnant book as a result of her pregnancy with son Aaron in her pre-Rod days. Rod was living the life of a flying dentist when they met, so I can’t imagine why she would need to do it.
From the 1993 Hogan's Alley interview:
I did that freelance at home, and I started a little freelance commercial art studio where I branched out and developed a huge clientele. When I had my son, I was thinking I would be able to stay at home and do my freelance work. Then my husband left. Aaron was six months old. I was left with the baby, the house and my freelance work. I was making $7,000 a year in 1973.
At the time, you could survive on $7,000 a year. If I spent any more than $20 a week on groceries, I was over budget, but I was managing on $7,000 a year as long as welfare was paying for Aaron's daycare. I was so proud of myself that I could survive as a cartoonist, and I could support myself and my baby and pay my mortgage and my groceries.
aprilp_katje,
Thanks. I knew you would know where to look.
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