Brenda vs. Charlene
Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse comes from Wednesday, April 1, 1981. I had wondered if the strip from Saturday mentioning Brenda would be lead-in to this strip and it is. I consider this to be confirmation that Lynn Johnston has decided not to reprint any more of the March, 1981 strips, thus eliminating any difficulty with strips she had reprinted from March, 1981 back in 2009. It also appears that Lynn Johnston has no plans to draw enough new-runs to synchronize the 1981 and 2010 strips by month, in order to avoid headaches with holiday strips landing on the wrong dates when she goes to straight reprints. For all I know, Lynn might have the strip in straight reprints right now. Without any official announcement from Lynn, the only way to tell for certain is by the appearance (or lack of an appearance) of a new-run strip, like the number of days since the last new-run as an indicator. By the way, that number would 1 for today.
As for today’s strip, little Michael Patterson gets on his knees and begs his mom not to use Brenda as a babysitter. Drama queen. Apparently one main criterion for Mike to enjoy a babysitter is the lack of a strict bedtime. Now my kids were a little different. They preferred the babysitters who would play with them. The fight over a strict bedtime was a battle they reserved for their parents only. Anyone else could effortlessly get my kids to bed on time; but with us they fought it tooth and nail. Even once you got them to bed, if they woke up in the middle of the night for anything, they were down the hall in our bedroom wanting to sleep with mommy and daddy. My daughter, being a little petite girl, found she could slip into our bed without even waking us up. Sometimes it was a shock when I woke up to see who was in bed with me.
The parent-teacher conference strips were originally published April 1 – 4, 1981. That leaves 2 more days this week to fill. I hope Lynn does a few new-runs on Miss Campbell, because she has done so well with the new-runs she has already done with Miss Campbell, to make her out as a much worse teacher than she appeared in the original strips. Lynn already skipped over the strip originally printed before this one which makes the Grade 1 teachers look good. I think she has it out for Miss Campbell.
As for today’s strip, little Michael Patterson gets on his knees and begs his mom not to use Brenda as a babysitter. Drama queen. Apparently one main criterion for Mike to enjoy a babysitter is the lack of a strict bedtime. Now my kids were a little different. They preferred the babysitters who would play with them. The fight over a strict bedtime was a battle they reserved for their parents only. Anyone else could effortlessly get my kids to bed on time; but with us they fought it tooth and nail. Even once you got them to bed, if they woke up in the middle of the night for anything, they were down the hall in our bedroom wanting to sleep with mommy and daddy. My daughter, being a little petite girl, found she could slip into our bed without even waking us up. Sometimes it was a shock when I woke up to see who was in bed with me.
The parent-teacher conference strips were originally published April 1 – 4, 1981. That leaves 2 more days this week to fill. I hope Lynn does a few new-runs on Miss Campbell, because she has done so well with the new-runs she has already done with Miss Campbell, to make her out as a much worse teacher than she appeared in the original strips. Lynn already skipped over the strip originally printed before this one which makes the Grade 1 teachers look good. I think she has it out for Miss Campbell.
posted by howard at 10:02 PM
10 Comments:
They preferred the babysitters who would play with them.
I guess Mike is assuming that babysitters are like younger, temporary versions of his parents. Strict bedtimes rather than any interaction: he's basing this on his experiences with John and Elly.
Lynn already skipped over the strip originally printed before this one which makes the Grade 1 teachers look good.
I've puzzled over that many times in the collection. Is it supposed to be Miss Campbell? It really looks an awful lot like her, and yet...how is it that Elly doesn't recognize her? The school year had been going for nearly eight months by that point: surely the Pattersons would have met their son's teacher by then. Perhaps at orientation day (as was inserted in the newruins, so Elly really must not have been paying attention), or the school Christmas concert, or, considering that the teacher is worried about Mike, maybe even a parent-teacher conference before the school year was 3/4 finished.
I hope Lynn does a few new-runs on Miss Campbell, because she has done so well with the new-runs she has already done with Miss Campbell, to make her out as a much worse teacher than she appeared in the original strips. Lynn already skipped over the strip originally printed before this one which makes the Grade 1 teachers look good. I think she has it out for Miss Campbell.
Since she seems to be channeling the Liz of the Declining Years and we were all told how great and inspirational the Breath was when all we saw was a vapid twit who was less mature than her students, I should think that Lynn sincerely believes that Miss Campbell is the Best Teacher EVAH!!
forworse, I don't think that's supposed to be Miss Campbell--her hair is different. And since Lynn drew her with a headband on, she probably wears a headband alllll the time (as she has in the new-ruins).
dc2--I suspect that you're right and Lynn wasn't trying to make Miss Campbell appear to be a bad teacher. She probably thought that "snowman" lesson was made of win.
forworse,
Strict bedtimes rather than any interaction: he's basing this on his experiences with John and Elly.
That could very well be the case. Uncle Phil was chastized for playing with the kids; so if the babysitter played with the kids, she would fall into the same category as Uncle Phil.
I've puzzled over that many times in the collection. Is it supposed to be Miss Campbell?
I think it could very well be, not that it matters one way or the other.
The school year had been going for nearly eight months by that point: surely the Pattersons would have met their son's teacher by then.
You would think so, but back in 1981, Lynn had just introduced the idea of having a Patterson kid in school, so she might not have been thinking that way. As near as I can tell, the concept of the Grade 1 teacher being Miss Campbell did not occur until this not reprinted strip, which was originally printed a few weeks earlier on March 10, 1981. Miss Campbell’s first physical appearance in the original run does not occur until the “non-linear” thinker strip. Even though aprilp_katje makes a good point about the headband, because Miss Campbell had not shown up yet, the concept of drawing the headband on Miss Campbell may not have occurred to Lynn yet.
For example, I didn’t realize until this time around that Dr. Norman Plett was Lawrence’s doctor for his broken leg, because he was not introduced by that name until some time later. Lynn may have been thinking he was Dr. Norman Plett in her head, OR she may have simply decided to go back to a previous strip featuring a pediatrician and use the same character. The same thinking could have been applied to Miss Campbell and this earlier unnamed teacher strip.
DreadedCandiru2,
Since she seems to be channeling the Liz of the Declining Years and we were all told how great and inspirational the Breath was when all we saw was a vapid twit who was less mature than her students, I should think that Lynn sincerely believes that Miss Campbell is the Best Teacher EVAH!!
You are right, of course. Even with Liz, it was fascinating to me that what Lynn presented as “good teacher”, I regularly considered to be “bad teacher.”
aprilp_katje,
forworse, I don't think that's supposed to be Miss Campbell--her hair is different. And since Lynn drew her with a headband on, she probably wears a headband alllll the time (as she has in the new-ruins).
The new-runs have featured Miss Campbell with the headband and pretty much the exact same outfit every time. Modern Lynn has a mindset about character recognition that causes her to put people in the same hairstyle and clothing. 1981’s Lynn had more art variation, considering how often Connie Poirier and Deanna Sobinski changed their appearance. I can’t say that the teacher is or is not Miss Campbell based on a 1981 drawing, because Lynn didn’t think the same way back then. If it was 2010 Lynn drawing it, then it is absolutely not the same person.
So--why is Elly shopping at "this time of day"? Apparently it's late afternoon--when people with outside jobs stop off at the grocery store on their way home from work. What kept Elly from shopping in the morning--when stores are usually less crowded?
Oh--and, since school's out--where's Mike?
(stupid strip)
--Maggie tx
Maggie tx,
So--why is Elly shopping at "this time of day"?
So she can complain about shopping at "this time of day." Martyr syndrome in full force.
Oh--and, since school's out--where's Mike?
Home by himself, playing in the ravine, the usual. Actually, if Lynn Johnston intended this Grade 1 teacher to be Miss Campbell, not having Mike there would be a requirement, as Mike would recognize his teacher, even if Elly and Lizzie did not. In the original run, where we were not shown Elly meeting Miss Campbell before, this strip would make more sense, if it were Miss Campbell.
dc2
I should think that Lynn sincerely believes that Miss Campbell is the Best Teacher EVAH!!
Don't forget, Miss Campbell was such a memorable teacher that Mike named Sheilagh Shaughnessy in her honour. In the 20-some years since he was in her class, her brilliance was never surpassed.
forworse,
Don't forget, Miss Campbell was such a memorable teacher that Mike named Sheilagh Shaughnessy in her honour.
Certainly the younger Miss Campbell is a contrast teacher for Margaret Hardacre in Grade 2, who is played as a strict disciplinarian. In the end Mike apologizes to Miss Campbell for being rotten, whereas he considered Mrs. Hardacre as a teacher who was mean to him. The new-runs have made Miss Campbell quite a bit tougher than she was originally, where she seemed to be overwhelmed by Michael's lack of conformity.
As for "Sheilagh" that name seems to be completely hidden. We know it is Miss Campbell's name thanks to the biography, and we know it is the book character name thanks to the old monthly letters. There's nothing in the strip with Sheilagh in it. That may be Lynn Johnston's personal preference. As far as strips featuring the teachers, Mrs. Hardacre has many more strips than Miss Campbell; so you might think she favoured the disciplinarian.
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