Numbers and Printing and Listening. Oh my!
Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse is the last strip in this sequence of the parent-teacher conference and the one to which I can relate the most. My Asperger syndrome boy has had this problem forever. Conversations, especially lectures from parents, send his mind into a whole different place. If something is not interesting to him, his mind leaves the room and wanders about on vacation. Unlike other kids who might be able to force themselves to concentrate on things they are not interested in, my son finds that to be very difficult. My catchphrase I use with my wife when talking about my son is, “I have to tell him something 3 times for him to hear it one time.” And yes, my son has had his hearing tested to make sure those ears work, in case you were interested.
The oddest part of today's strip is Panel 3, where it looks like Elly is holding Mike’s jaw to make sure he is looking at her. I would never do that when delivering a lecture, because then the kid’s mind goes to, “Why is she holding my jaw?” and not on what she is saying. Even though the joke of the strip is Mike’s response, “Huh?” to indicate he was not listening, that reaction seems like a good response to that jaw-lifting motion to me. My favourite strip of this "ignoring the lecture" sort is this one.
Elly mentions numbers and printing are comments from Miss Campbell. We didn’t see any numbers in yesterday’s strip, but we did see one example of printing. I guess the giant A was supposed to be an example of “help with printing.” My son had a great deal of trouble learning to write and was in physical therapy for years in order for him to get the coordination to hold a pencil to paper and write without snapping the pencil lead. Thankfully he can do it now. However, Mike’s work with the giant A doesn’t look like a printing problem. It looks more like a problem with spatial recognition.
Elly does not bring up the non-linear thinker thing. The implication from her lecture to Mike is that all those areas where Michael’s work did not conform to the other students were the result of “not listening.” Since we did not see Miss Campbell talk about not listening, we don’t know if this is something she said, or if it is Elly’s interpretation of Michael’s work. She may be thinking, “My son is not going to intentionally do something different; therefore he must not have paid attention to the instructions.” However, with the new-run Miss Campbell, who seems to be obsessed with paying attention, that would be exactly what she said. After all, the new-run Miss Campbell is the teacher who tells the parents to pay attention, who calls down Mike for writing M while she is talking, and who does a board presentation on how to put together a cut-out snowman. She is all about being listened to.
I am in great anticipation of tomorrow’s strip. Will it be new-runs to fill out the week? Will Lynn Johnston go to the next strip in the sequence -- a 13-strip epic which starts with a broken can opener? Will Lynn Johnston jump back to March, 1981 and get some of the original strips she has not reprinted yet? My guess is that we will probably see some new-runs. In Elly’s Coffee Talk, Lynn Johnston mentioned “Some new stuff is on the way”, and it would be appropriate to do that now, before she launched into a long reprint storyline. My new theory is that March 1 will be the starting point for the straight reprints. Usually Lynn's contracts with her syndicate ran starting from September 1, and March 1 is the 6-month point from that.
The oddest part of today's strip is Panel 3, where it looks like Elly is holding Mike’s jaw to make sure he is looking at her. I would never do that when delivering a lecture, because then the kid’s mind goes to, “Why is she holding my jaw?” and not on what she is saying. Even though the joke of the strip is Mike’s response, “Huh?” to indicate he was not listening, that reaction seems like a good response to that jaw-lifting motion to me. My favourite strip of this "ignoring the lecture" sort is this one.
Elly mentions numbers and printing are comments from Miss Campbell. We didn’t see any numbers in yesterday’s strip, but we did see one example of printing. I guess the giant A was supposed to be an example of “help with printing.” My son had a great deal of trouble learning to write and was in physical therapy for years in order for him to get the coordination to hold a pencil to paper and write without snapping the pencil lead. Thankfully he can do it now. However, Mike’s work with the giant A doesn’t look like a printing problem. It looks more like a problem with spatial recognition.
Elly does not bring up the non-linear thinker thing. The implication from her lecture to Mike is that all those areas where Michael’s work did not conform to the other students were the result of “not listening.” Since we did not see Miss Campbell talk about not listening, we don’t know if this is something she said, or if it is Elly’s interpretation of Michael’s work. She may be thinking, “My son is not going to intentionally do something different; therefore he must not have paid attention to the instructions.” However, with the new-run Miss Campbell, who seems to be obsessed with paying attention, that would be exactly what she said. After all, the new-run Miss Campbell is the teacher who tells the parents to pay attention, who calls down Mike for writing M while she is talking, and who does a board presentation on how to put together a cut-out snowman. She is all about being listened to.
I am in great anticipation of tomorrow’s strip. Will it be new-runs to fill out the week? Will Lynn Johnston go to the next strip in the sequence -- a 13-strip epic which starts with a broken can opener? Will Lynn Johnston jump back to March, 1981 and get some of the original strips she has not reprinted yet? My guess is that we will probably see some new-runs. In Elly’s Coffee Talk, Lynn Johnston mentioned “Some new stuff is on the way”, and it would be appropriate to do that now, before she launched into a long reprint storyline. My new theory is that March 1 will be the starting point for the straight reprints. Usually Lynn's contracts with her syndicate ran starting from September 1, and March 1 is the 6-month point from that.
posted by howard at 4:16 PM
4 Comments:
So this probably means that we're in for a phone call from Phil about the woman who picks up his mail while he's on the road and her encounter with a blond woman with glasses who said nothing at all and then ran off crying.
If that much. My guess is an Elly / Connie conversation where Elly gives the answer in one speech balloon.
My guess is that we never hear ANY MORE AT ALL about the Connie / 'Allo woman issue. Nada.
Lynn Johnston specifically said that the "'Allo?" woman would be identified in an upcoming strip and that was about it. It won't be nada, but close to nada.
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