The Education of Lynn Johnston
As much as Lynn Johnston may have said she does not mess with the internet, it is clear that she does pay attention to the things being written on her Coffee Talk column on her website and she makes adjustments based on the comments presented there.
As a proof, today’s For Better or For Worse strip concludes April’s weeklong visit with Iris and Grandpa Jim, and when you compare it to last year’s visit, the contrasts are startling. In last year’s visit, it was all about April spending time with Grandpa Jim. Iris was basically ignored until the last few panels, where Iris lavishes praise on April for coming to visit. April’s visit was usual one of the nicer ones to Iris. When Liz came to visit, she and Grandpa Jim took the opportunity to mentally mock Iris.
After that time, and considerable kvetching among the snarkers of the strip how retired Elly never seemed to help Iris out with Jim, the worm began to turn.
In August, 2007, Elly visited Iris bearing the gift of tuna, noodles, and grease; and she and Iris bonded together by comparing Grandpa Jim’s behaviour to that of a child. By the end, Elly realized that Iris is unhappy, since she was crying. Elly doesn’t do anything about it, but she does notice for a change. That’s an improvement.
In October, 2007, during Elly and Connie Poirier’s visit with Grandpa Jim in the hospital, Elly makes a point of saying she wants to help out Iris. Of course, her method was to have Connie Poirier regale her with stories about her dating life back in 1979, an idea which I still find hilarious. Nevertheless, the intent was there. Lynn may have not known how to help; but her heart was in the right place. That’s an improvement.
Now in today’s strip, after a week of Iris-oriented story-telling, April tells Iris that Elly is coming over the next day with the complete dinner (and not just a side dish). I see another improvement.
I think Lynn Johnston has read the Coffee Talk comments, realized that Iris needs comfort, and has responded. She can be taught. If we simply keep up the efforts, I can see a day when Elly Patterson may come over to Iris and Jim’s place and help out with something difficult for Iris to do, and has nothing whatsoever to do with food.
What am I saying? I must have been mad to write that. These are the Pattersons. Food is their life. OK. How about “in addition to bringing food, Elly helps Iris out with something difficult for Iris to do”? That might work.
As a proof, today’s For Better or For Worse strip concludes April’s weeklong visit with Iris and Grandpa Jim, and when you compare it to last year’s visit, the contrasts are startling. In last year’s visit, it was all about April spending time with Grandpa Jim. Iris was basically ignored until the last few panels, where Iris lavishes praise on April for coming to visit. April’s visit was usual one of the nicer ones to Iris. When Liz came to visit, she and Grandpa Jim took the opportunity to mentally mock Iris.
After that time, and considerable kvetching among the snarkers of the strip how retired Elly never seemed to help Iris out with Jim, the worm began to turn.
In August, 2007, Elly visited Iris bearing the gift of tuna, noodles, and grease; and she and Iris bonded together by comparing Grandpa Jim’s behaviour to that of a child. By the end, Elly realized that Iris is unhappy, since she was crying. Elly doesn’t do anything about it, but she does notice for a change. That’s an improvement.
In October, 2007, during Elly and Connie Poirier’s visit with Grandpa Jim in the hospital, Elly makes a point of saying she wants to help out Iris. Of course, her method was to have Connie Poirier regale her with stories about her dating life back in 1979, an idea which I still find hilarious. Nevertheless, the intent was there. Lynn may have not known how to help; but her heart was in the right place. That’s an improvement.
Now in today’s strip, after a week of Iris-oriented story-telling, April tells Iris that Elly is coming over the next day with the complete dinner (and not just a side dish). I see another improvement.
I think Lynn Johnston has read the Coffee Talk comments, realized that Iris needs comfort, and has responded. She can be taught. If we simply keep up the efforts, I can see a day when Elly Patterson may come over to Iris and Jim’s place and help out with something difficult for Iris to do, and has nothing whatsoever to do with food.
What am I saying? I must have been mad to write that. These are the Pattersons. Food is their life. OK. How about “in addition to bringing food, Elly helps Iris out with something difficult for Iris to do”? That might work.
posted by howard at 11:30 PM
17 Comments:
Ah, yes. Food and lots of it. To the Patterson family, to offer another person greasy food in pile high helpings is the perfect way to show how deeply you about them. The more artery-clogging the grub, the more sincerely one cares.
"Deeply you LOVE them", I meant. What we need is a way of editing posts that doesn't involve deleting them.
Gah, the obligatory praise of Elly's supposed culinary skills? Girl, please. Elly's cooking consists of grease-encased fat.
As for Lynn reading the Coffee Talk entries, I imagine her approach is like that of my boss's boss, a man in his late 60s. He does not deal with computers at all, but his secretary prints out his e-mails. If he wants to respond to a message that came from a colleague in our office, he handwrites on the printout and gives it to the person who sent it. If he wants to respond to someone from outside, he stands over his secretary's shoulder and dictates his response as she types it out for him.
I love how John can't be bothered to even come up to see Jim and Iris.
John: April, I want you standing at the entrance waiting for me when I roll up. Ain't no way I'm spending one second in that death house.
Isn't it amazing, in a sad way, that Lynn doesn't even realize that her inability to write a three-way conversation makes the missing person look like a jerk? Once upon a time, she put the silent party in frame so it looked as if we were seeing a slice of a multi-party chat but not any more. Since she didn't write dialogue for John, she didn't put him in the strip. Does she know that even her supporters might think he looks like an unsympathetic foob who doesn't want old people germs? Nope. Nothing I've seen tells me that she puts too much thought into what the audience might take away from her work.
What is so ludicrous is that Jim almost certainly couldn't eat any of the foods Elly has brought him.
Prime rib: when my grandfather was 80+, he had trouble chewing red meat (dentures) and large quantities gave him digestive problems.
Tuna casserole: grease = indigestion for old people
My grandparents ate bland, low-fat foods. Plain chicken breast, peas, plain boiled potato, that sort of thing. They liked other foods but would not/could not eat them anymore without physical agony. From what I've seen of 80+ folks, this is almost universally true.
I think Elly is trying to kill him deliberately.
Also--every time we see Elly cooking, it's a casserole. That's 1970s budget cookery. It's a new millenium, Lynn! Wake up!
aprilp_katje
As for Lynn reading the Coffee Talk entries, I imagine her approach is like that of my boss's boss, a man in his late 60s. He does not deal with computers at all, but his secretary prints out his e-mails.
Well, it’s good to know the office dinosaur still exists. I remember back in the 1980s, this was the norm for most of my bosses who relied heavily on secretaries for any kind of communication to anyone. I have no problem believing Lynn is still this way. If the woman can’t be bothered to pick up an eraser to correct her own drawing, there’s no way she’s going to handle her own e-mail.
DreadedCandiru2,
Since she didn't write dialogue for John, she didn't put him in the strip. Does she know that even her supporters might think he looks like an unsympathetic foob who doesn't want old people germs?
Considering the character is John, I am not so sure this bias is accidental. Aside from large group settings like Christmas Dinner and outdoor picnic, John has not been in the Jim and Iris picture at all since Jim first had his stroke.
qnjones,
What is so ludicrous is that Jim almost certainly couldn't eat any of the foods Elly has brought him.
My grandparents ate bland, low-fat foods. Plain chicken breast, peas, plain boiled potato, that sort of thing. They liked other foods but would not/could not eat them anymore without physical agony. From what I've seen of 80+ folks, this is almost universally true.
The oddest part about this is that Lynn Johnston knows this. During the “Iris has Jim on a diet and he is complaining about it” strips, there was clear evidence that Lynn knew Jim couldn’t eat everything he wanted. Now, she’s bringing him prime rib, homemade pudding in hospital, tuna casserole, etc. I wonder if the idea of eating bland food is in Lynn’s mind not so much healthy, but a sign that Iris was dominating Jim.
qnjones:
I wonder if the idea of eating bland food is in Lynn’s mind not so much healthy, but a sign that Iris was dominating Jim.
That's a damned good question. Too bad it's most likely to be answered in the affirmative. Despite what she's been told, I don't think Lynn really understands that octogenarians can't enjoy the foods they used to love without paying a steep price. To us, Iris is trying her best to do what the nutritionist tells her and is thus is a passible nursemaid. In Lynn's eyes, she's a ignorant busybody trying to keep Jim from something 'everyone' knows to be harmless.
howtheduck:
John has not been in the Jim and Iris picture at all since Jim first had his stroke.
Well, not exactly. He did show up in one of the Sunday strips wherein he sat in the background while Elly looked through the album with Jim and Iris. Other than that, you're right. He seems to not want to remind himself that that could be him someday.
I wonder if Elly is going to use the visit to suggest the Happy Home for Jim? (or whatever that nursing home was called.)
Instead of Lynn "wrapping up" the stories, she seems to be making a bigger mess every day.
debjyn,
I wonder if Elly is going to use the visit to suggest the Happy Home for Jim? (or whatever that nursing home was called.)
Sunset Manor is the name. I am not so sure Elly will make the suggestion. Typically, she is the one to provide encouragement to someone making the tough decision, like when Deanna decided to return to work after Meredith was born.
james
I love how John can't be bothered to even come up to see Jim and Iris.
I’m with you on this one. And I hold Elly equally responsible for John’s self-centered behavior because she should insist that he extend the proper respect to her side of the family--and also to his. Oblivious men and children need to be trained. And some mothers too.
Anon NYC
Anon NYC:
I have to completely disagree with your attitude that women are responsible for the way that the men in their lives behave. Men are adults. They are responsible for themselves. I think equating men with dogs and children that need to be trained does them a grave disservice. I can't imagine that any man could read these comments without being insulted.
If a grown man is an insensitive lout, it is no one's fault but his own.
Of course, in the case of John the cartoon, we CAN blame Lynn, who draws him. And I suspect Lynn just doesn't much enjoy drawing John. He's been a nonentity for many years now. I think that's the real reason he's not coming upstairs for a visit. I think Lynn's opinion of men is just as low as Anon NYC's.
qnjones
I have to completely disagree with your attitude that women are responsible for the way that the men in their lives behave. Men are adults. They are responsible for themselves.
Well, the problem is that there are different standards of behaviour. I know at my work, the big shocking statistic that came up many years ago, was that behaviour considered to be acceptable in the old timey, male-oriented and dominated workplace was not acceptable to the women. I remember very clearly, the jolt that occurred with the upper management where I worked when some study somewhere showed that women were much more likely to be offended by something than these poor hapless male managers had ever imagined and moreover, their lawyers were saying, “keep it up and you’ll get your pockets emptied with lawsuits.” I remember sensitivity training that said, “Never, ever give a woman any kind of compliment, or it could be misinterpreted as sexual harassment. There will be no more cursing or swearing in business meetings. There will be no more dirty jokes told in the office, even if the woman says she likes dirty jokes, because secretly inside, she may just be saying that to get along with the guys.” I have seen the workplace change in response to all this, but people had to be made aware of the situation, and every year we have a repeat of sensitivity training as a reminder.
It is a similar thing with husbands. If the husband’s standard of behaviour, whether it came from his family or his background, does not match that of his wife’s; she has to tell him, “I do not find your behaviour to be acceptable.” You cannot assume that he knows better, particularly if he keeps doing it the other way.
If a grown man is an insensitive lout, it is no one's fault but his own.
I would caveat this with “and he knows better”.
Anon NYC,
And I hold Elly equally responsible for John’s self-centered behavior because she should insist that he extend the proper respect to her side of the family--and also to his.
Your opinion about proper behaviour here may not match Elly (or Lynn Johnston’s). Elly has not been shy about correcting John’s behaviour in the past for things like laundry-folding or loading dishwashers, so it is unlikely she would not correct John if she thought not visiting Jim and Iris was improper. Not only that, but John accepted Elly’s correction pretty freely in those cases, so if she had corrected him, he probably would have gone to visit. Given that, I would have to presume that Elly doesn’t think there is anything wrong with what John is doing.
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