Non-linear Thinker or The Beginning of the End
The non-linear thinker strip was originally published on April 3, 1981, a date which leaps in time over all the previously-reprinted daily strips originally published from mid to late March, 1981. I have long considered the moment when Lynn Johnston reprinted the first strip chronologically after those strips to be the moment where Lynn Johnston could move to straight reprints.
The idea that Mike is a non-linear thinker is clearly presented in this strip. Miss Campbell cannot make it more obvious what she wants and explains it very thoroughly to the readers. She's seems so pedantic, I have to admit if I were in her Grade 1 class, I would be thinking about different ways of doing the snowman for no other reason than to thwart Miss Campbell. Drawing the shapes making the cut-out snowman on the board? Honestly!
As further proof we are headed to the non-linear thinker strip, the outfit Miss Campbell wears in that strip is identical to the one she is wearing in today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse. More importantly, we see Lawrence in today’s strip and you will note that there are no crutches with him under those arms. There are some perfectly fine strips involving Lawrence and his broken leg from March, 1981 which now fall into the category of “cannot reprint.”
Can it be that Lynn Johnston is getting ready to leap past all those daily strips to April, 1981? Are we on the verge of going to straight reprints? Will we not get to see the one and only strip featuring the lisping Deanna Sobinski? Will we not get to see the “Egg breath” strip?
My hope is that this is just one of those situations where Lynn is setting up a joke to come more than a month in advance. We might have a whole series of situations where Miss Campbell explains exactly what to do, and Michael completely ignores it. As for the situation, does Miss Campbell really need to explain all the parts of and how to put together a cut-out snow man? Are her students really that stupid? Is Miss Campbell really that terrible a teacher?
The idea that Mike is a non-linear thinker is clearly presented in this strip. Miss Campbell cannot make it more obvious what she wants and explains it very thoroughly to the readers. She's seems so pedantic, I have to admit if I were in her Grade 1 class, I would be thinking about different ways of doing the snowman for no other reason than to thwart Miss Campbell. Drawing the shapes making the cut-out snowman on the board? Honestly!
As further proof we are headed to the non-linear thinker strip, the outfit Miss Campbell wears in that strip is identical to the one she is wearing in today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse. More importantly, we see Lawrence in today’s strip and you will note that there are no crutches with him under those arms. There are some perfectly fine strips involving Lawrence and his broken leg from March, 1981 which now fall into the category of “cannot reprint.”
Can it be that Lynn Johnston is getting ready to leap past all those daily strips to April, 1981? Are we on the verge of going to straight reprints? Will we not get to see the one and only strip featuring the lisping Deanna Sobinski? Will we not get to see the “Egg breath” strip?
My hope is that this is just one of those situations where Lynn is setting up a joke to come more than a month in advance. We might have a whole series of situations where Miss Campbell explains exactly what to do, and Michael completely ignores it. As for the situation, does Miss Campbell really need to explain all the parts of and how to put together a cut-out snow man? Are her students really that stupid? Is Miss Campbell really that terrible a teacher?
posted by howard at 11:10 PM
11 Comments:
My hope is that this is just one of those situations where Lynn is setting up a joke to come more than a month in advance. We might have a whole series of situations where Miss Campbell explains exactly what to do, and Michael completely ignores it.
We might also see him in math class being obstructive not for the sake of being obstructive but because he's not good with numbers. Even today, the poor slob cannot count past ten without taking off his shoes.
I think we might well get multiple strips showing how "non-linear" Michael's thinking is. Miss Campbell wearing the same outfit may just be a function of Lynn just having that one reference picture of Miss Campbell.
As for Lawrence and the crutches, I suspect that Lynn thinks she's okay because she only shows Lawrence's head and shoulders. She'll argue that those crutches are still in his armpits. So I think those follow-up strips on Lawrence and his cast will still show up.
I agree about Miss Campbell coming across as a lousy teacher in this strip. Poor Miss Campbell--her creator doesn't know how to show good teaching. I can imagine my son being given this project and wanting to come up with a different arrangement with the shapes, but he would have come up with something really cool. :)
Lynn Johnston: "Eh? Good teaching? That's easy! You just write up, um, lesson plans! Oh, and you single one student out of all your classes to blatantly lavish attention on, reward him for misbehavior, then bask in the warm glow when he comes to worship you as his new goddess! Just thinking about makes me feel so warm and morally smug that I need to squeeze my eyes tightly shut while smiling slightly!"
DreadedCandiru2,
We might also see him in math class being obstructive not for the sake of being obstructive but because he's not good with numbers.
Maybe, but given Lynn’s own personal history, as she has recounted in her post-divorce interviews, she is also not very good with numbers. I expect she will stick with the “Mike is very creative” stuff, to show his future career in writing.
aprilp_katje,
She'll argue that those crutches are still in his armpits. So I think those follow-up strips on Lawrence and his cast will still show up.
I expect you are correct, although Lawrence’s shoulders with crutches under them would look different. My guess is that Lynn forgot about it.
I agree about Miss Campbell coming across as a lousy teacher in this strip. Poor Miss Campbell--her creator doesn't know how to show good teaching.
Fortunately for us, we have seen enough “Liz is a lousy teacher” strips to expect nothing less from the mind of Lynn Johnston when it comes to teaching.
Anonymous,
Oh, and you single one student out of all your classes to blatantly lavish attention on, reward him for misbehavior, then bask in the warm glow when he comes to worship you as his new goddess!
Let’s not forget the teaching style of yelling questions at your overly-enthusiastic students, who answer the questions with unison shouting.
Let’s not forget the teaching style of yelling questions at your overly-enthusiastic students, who answer the questions with unison shouting.
That sounds like something out of A Wrinkle in Time.
Clio,
That sounds like something out of A Wrinkle in Time.
Hum! Maybe this is Lynn's source material for teaching styles.
We might have a whole series of situations where Miss Campbell explains exactly what to do, and Michael completely ignores it.
Let's see...to judge from the "Non-linear thinker" strip, there's seeing Mike make a snake and his classmates make cats, watching Mike draw a dead bird, and observing Mike use up too much of the page with a giant A and having to squish the rest of the alphabet in the little space that's left. Maybe even a look at Mike making his pottery, even though we saw him making something very similar already during the newruins (but I can't find the strip and don't have the energy to read everything since September 2008). Add two more strips -- John and Elly getting ready for parent-teacher night and then the 'non-linear thinker' strip, and there's a week's worth of dailies, taking little to no effort as the majority are just variations on the theme of Mikey doing something different, plus two re-runs.
forworse,
Maybe even a look at Mike making his pottery, even though we saw him making something very similar already during the newruins (but I can't find the strip and don't have the energy to read everything since September 2008).
Is this the strip you are thinking of?
That's the one: thanks! Now that I see it was at (sigh) craft camp, or possibly Kraft Kamp, the scupture he made at school wasn't very original at all, just an attempt to copy something he'd done before which garnered some attention from the teacher and possibly his parents.
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