“Are you suggesting Sal didn’t get in on her OWN MERITS?!?!”
/prolly got in bc it felt like they accepted LITERALLY ANYBODY and also Dad was a prof (in a completely different area of study, like absolute polar opposite)
But it’s the ones who can’t handle themselves in a fight that are the ones you need to watch out for, because there is no one more to be feared than someone who has lost – or never had – any sense of consequences, rules, technique, or control. Like all good legends, myths, and stereotypes, there’s more than just a germ of truth behind “The Berserker”. It’s not just a kick-ass trope.
That can be true but the most likely response to going into a fight without knowing what you’re doing – even if you’re pissed off – is getting your ass kicked. I wouldn’t recommend it to Walky.
Not if she’s not there and doesn’t know about it. Her being able to defend herself is not mutually exclusive with defending her when she’s not around and folks are talking about her behind her back.
Seriously, that was heinous and not terribly founded in reality, from what we know. Sal seems to be doing fine, aside from math, with which we’ve seen several people struggling because it’s kind of a hard class. Asher is a total bongo for that and I hope Walky calls it quits right now, maybe after telling these pretentious jackholes that hey, Asher is mobbed up.
Exactly, if he’s trying to gage the amount of influence Linda has that’s a particularly bad way to go about it especially in front of other people and makes me wonder what Asher has to personally gain from knowing that. Also makes me seriously reconsider the possibility that Asher deliberately wore the same outfit as Walky to have a “bro” hoping it would let him ask that without getting slugged in the face again.
Jennifer apparently knows about Asher’s grandfather. Raidah was there when Sal brought it up, though without details. If she didn’t already know, she had enough then to start asking.
And really, this is a “friend” group openly based around networking and family connections. What does Asher bring to the table except his mob connection?
I mean, it’s not like the mob has Mob Stores that openly advertise themselves. More than likely his family is involved in front organizations and legitimate businesses.
Asher actually looks… kind of uncomfortable with that question, to me? Like he swaps from a grin to a vaguely unsettled look. And I don’t mean like righteous indignation, but instead almost worried. Suffice to say we need to see more to get whether he’s intentionally being a dick in bringing it up or maybe is doing a poor job of demonstrating some concern for Sal.
Didn’t occur to me at first, but there’s one other possibility to account for that shift in mood–I could see Raidah having deliberately set up this line of questioning. She does strike me as the sort to manipulate events like that, with a veneer of plausible deniability at being the one responsible for the attack on Sal.
The only question would be, if Asher is disturbed at taking on this role, why would he? So it’s not a strong theory, but there might be some backstory reason for him taking Raidah’s marching orders that we don’t know about yet.
Could be he’s feeling some guilt over past mistakes. Especially since his own conscience isn’t exactly clean at this point.
Remember he’s got his own issues with his family connections; he likely assumed Sal got in on her own merits but now he’s wondering if she did. (Or more specifically, if she needed the parents she hates to get her in. The two of them do have disliking powerful family members in common)
Speaking of faces… do the past couple of comics seem weirdly zoomed in to anyone else?
Cause if it is an intentional technique used to help the reader feel uncomfortable with the uncomfortable conversations, then boy howdy is it working on me.
Like, I just read through the entire set of comments looking for others who were as weirded out as I was, and saw no comments, so either it’s just me or no one is talking about it.
Nooooo You Belong Here With Us ….
There issss no code here, Wellerman, only comicssss
Come back into the dark
Be one of us
One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us
Multiple projects in fact. I’m tutoring someone so they can program their own RTS game, designing and coding an audio system for a metroidvania game with an LBGTQ+ cast and setting similar to Adventure Time, and still trying to come up with DoA fan game ideas.
For that last one, gonna load up on Mac and Cheese and Pumpkin Spice Lattes and 1984 Transformers in the background one of these days in the hopes that I can somehow channel Willis’s autism. XD
Ugh, Booo daylight savings
I hate all you temperate countries for it
Just got used to having only a 6 hour time difference with my boyfriend instead of 7
I’m not sure he is being a jerk on purpose, I think it is possible that he assumed that Walky had already come to that conclusion and was worried about it. I think Asher might have been trying to be sensitive and supportive – and just failing miserably.
depends if we get to hear some inner thoughts later because it feels like it can be 50/50 on him being like “yeah i’ve moved past it/feel bad about sal”/”still wanna fish for info that might be useful for later”
Yeahhh… Makes me think this is part of Raidah’s larger plan:
-Isolate Jennifer from Joyce and Sarah.
-Integrate Walky into their friend group, at the expense of Jennifer if need be.
-Cut Lucy and Walky off from Joyce’s friend group.
-Gain intel from Walky on Sal. (“Come on, we’re all friends here. You can confide in us.”)
-Trash Sal’s reputation, possibly bullying her to drop out if possible, while finding corruption/nepotism intel to squeeze the Dean at the same time.
-Joyce loses another close friend and personal hero.
…I just feel like she’s picking off Joyce’s friends, one by one.
I’d argue that it *would* be a thing that Linda would do. She has a HELLA LOT of faults but she apparently has (What she considers to be) their best interests in mind (but also *fuck* their opinions on what those bests interests are.)
Who is going to realize that Raidah and her friends are awful first? Will it be Walky? Lucy? …Jennifer??? Let’s all find out together!
Walky may have already figured it out. But he’s passive and won’t act on that anytime soon. And, as seen in that last panel, he suddenly has a lot of other things on his mind.
I just read yesterday’s comments in there entirety and suddenly realized that all the people making those true but missing the point comments about how Walky did nothing wrong somehow thought we were criticizing Walky for winding Jennifer up instead of admiring him.
I think Walky already knows, they just haven’t done anything bad enough to walk out on yet. Right now they are just in “lets get through this and never talk to them again” phase, other than maybe getting Jennifer out.
A girl I went to high school with got into the same state university as me, with the lowest total SAT scores I’d ever heard of. These schools will take anyone with a pulse, honestly, so long as they get their pound of flesh
For a lot of in-state schools, you need *either* a decent GPA, decent SAT scores, or decent ACT scores. You really don’t need more than one. I didn’t take the ACT, had a pretty bad GPA, but scored in like the 96th percentile for the SAT and immediately got into my preferred in-state school.
What I’m saying is Asher is a massive prick for even questioning that.
It really depends on the school. There are some state schools with very strict requirements.
… and then there’s the one I work at which will literally take anyone regardless of scores. We have a zero requirement policy. Which is good, because my job only exists because of that policy – when I started, we had a whole department that specifically existed to help the students who did not have the skills to be in college to catch up with their peers. I teach the ‘so we accepted your into college with zero writing or grammar skills – time to pound those into you real fast’ class.
He may not be able to help it. I mean he seems to get up early, has a spiky plume on his head and stuff on his chin the girls seem to like, lives in Indiana, and enriched those around him via (at least the threat of) violence. He may actually be a cock.
She went to private school (why doesn’t really matter) and seemed to do well in everything except math without any help. Like I don’t doubt their mom would have done that, since she pulled the motorcycle strings, but I doubt she had to.
I don’t think the college would know about that, since she didn’t go to juvie and stuff you did as a minor doesn’t generally go on a criminal record. I also don’t know that they care if that happened when you were 13.
Sal does indeed have a criminal record from that incident and those juvenile records aren’t automatically sealed in Indiana. She was offered her boarding school as an alternative to juvie, which isn’t unheard of with first time offending minors.
Juvenile records are often (always? I’m not sure) sealed, or she may have been offered a deal to have them expunged if she stayed out of trouble. The college wouldn’t necessarily know about why she was at private school, I don’t think.
Not all private schools are created equal. A school heavily implied to be a reform school isn’t going to have the same reputation as a fancy college prep school. Might actually be the opposite.
Generally public universities can’t legally discriminate on such a basis as criminal record for admittance. Provided Sal met all the general admittance requirements of IU and met (or, at least, meets by the time they officially accept her) the requirements of her specific degree program and has the means to pay (through scholarships, loans, et al) admittance would never be an issue for her. That said, it would have been technically possible had it been a difference between admitting her and equally qualified candidates without a criminal record.
Public universities can discriminate on such a basis for on campus housing. Typically that is less common for juvenile offenses and especially ones that occurred well before applying for admittance unless a documented ongoing pattern of criminalized behaviors has persisted until recently (say within the last two or three years) which legally establishes her as a danger to other on campus residents. It’s quite a common issue for young adult applicants with adult criminal records who have to live on campus due to school requirements or wish/need to for other reasons.
All in all, it’s unlikely but possible Linda intervened in some manner on this specific issue the way she did regarding Sal’s bike and parking.
It is interesting to take note in these three strips that while the Dean isn’t aware of Walky, he is aware of Sal, asking about “the other one.” Like, maybe he knew she had twins, but why would assume Sal would be there at all if he wasn’t aware she was a student of the school to begin with? Seems like a big assumption for a Dean to make.
Not necessarily “isn’t aware”, just hasn’t met. They obviously are still in touch, since he got her into the fancy-pants lounge, so it’s likely she’d at least mentioned that both her kids went there and he was wondering why only one showed up with her.
I’m recalling some sitcom back in the 60s or 70s where a character had gotten married and divorced in 30 minutes down in Mexico on a dare (which means they never had sex, though this is not explicitly stated because you couldn’t mention sex explicity on TV back then).
Which create a false alarm thing when her ex-husband shows meets her husband and recognizes her picture.
I mean, I was always aware both my parents had been married before. Given my dad had a daughter from his first marriage and she loved there, so that would have been difficult keep secret. But my mom never showed away from telling us that she got married at 19 and it didn’t last.
Just don’t ask where he was when Mike died. (Okay, the real question is more involved, like what business he was doing with Blaine’s friends when he ended up killing Mike and then also where Asher was when Blaine died, but let’s be melodramatic.)
Though Mike’s murder is the only one nobody in the cast will thank him for enabling, and Blaine is the one he’s most directly involved in and that was probably just keeping a lookout, being connected to three murders I think is enough to make Asher the worst remaining person and definitely the most dangerous one to be around
I would only very very loosely connect Asher to Ross’s murder. That feels like more of a “lawyer is trying to stack additional charges” thing, given Asher and Ross never interacted, and I would assume Asher would only know of him as the dude who brought a gun to IU.
Same as Mike, they’re both mere collateral damage to whatever organized criminals Blaine and Asher had in common. But I’m thinking that connection is enough to sink Asher’s stock with the kids who have been affected by Mike’s death no matter how indirect it is.
“Boycott, disinvestment, sanctions” is a 3-word view i fully endorse. Or how about: “colonization is bad”?
There’s of course (much much) more to say, but those seem like good starting points. Sometimes the centrist stance that “oh it’s such a very very complicated situation” (which is obviously true) tends to be used to end, rather than introduce the discussion. There’s something to be said for slogans.
I’ve also heard:
“Right of return.”
“Two-state solution.”
“Binational secular state.”
You can jam a lot of thought into a pithy, three-word slogan.
Like “tax and regulate” or “Abolition now”. (Different topics.)
For five words, I’ve heard, “Free East Jerusalem for all.” A touch ambiguous, but the best slogans allow some flexibility of adoption for different purposes.
I wonder if Walky ever realizes the only reason he’s there is to connect them to the dean … Even better if Billie is the one to point it out, and they both get rid of the snobs.
Bingo. How transparent can they be about their social climbing and naked ambition? Surely even Walky can see this group is poison? His sister probably got into uni because she’s just as smart as he is and just as good at getting the grades without effort. Walky’s mom would probably pull strings to get her REJECTED.
It’s not the only reason that he’s there. Raidah noted that Sarah had made friends and is now systematically trying to remove them. First Jennifer and now Walky. She already had made the attempt with Dorothy, but Dorothy wasn’t buying.
Walky is only there for his girlfriend in the first place (and also for food).
He may have already come to some conclusions about this group of people. But he’s not going to leave or say anything until, at bare minimum, he has a chance to check in with Lucy privately and see if she’s on the same page.
He’s unlikely to have that opportunity. And even if he did, I don’t think he’s eager to bring it up with her, because he tends to be passive.
The more interesting question for me is when will Lucy figure it out?
We just do. College and University are interchangable words here. After high school you go to college, even if you’re actually attending a university. Consider it a colloquialism.
Back in the middle ages universities were the school, and a college was a sort club/common house which helped you get through the university. Later on colleges had mission creep until they ended up schools in their own right.
Yeah, so in American English, a college is a third-degree school, but the big ones are also called universities. And a college can also be a university department.
In British English, third-degree schools are all called universities, and not colleges. While “college” can still refer to a university department in British English, I gather that it also refers to prep school for getting into university, or something similar? (Which is probably what Slartibeast’s comment is talking about.)
Anyway, refined with a quick google search: basically, Brits finish compulsory education at 16 and then they can optionally take 2 years at college to prepare for university entrance exams.
Dorms is another term that can have a whole bunch of different meanings. It can refer to the building, the group of students under a dorm leader (like Ruth), and I think there is at least one more definition out there.
Americans tend to take British words and the change the meaning, with Canadians being split in between the two and doing something completely different themselves. Like the British slang term “wicked” is used by itself, but in New England it was combined together in forms like “wicked good” (sort of like very) rather than being on its own.
What I generally knew of colleges in the US is that they tended to offer 2 year associate’s degrees rather than a 4 year bachelor’s degree, but I am not sure that is fully the case anymore.
Here, we would often call a school offering only 2-year degree programs something like a “community college,” or a “trade school” or “junior college”. However, some 4-year colleges also offer 2-year programs. Plus, you can finish a 4-year degree in 3 years, if you earn enough class credits.
My understanding was always that a university was a college with a postgraduate (master’s, doctoral…) degree program, or a complex of multiple colleges (often with differing specializations) in consortium together.
However, if the graduate degree program is small enough, it’s still a college. For example, nobody says “Bryn Mawr University,” even though some of the student of Bryn Mawr College are postgraduate or even postdoctoral students.
So for example, Columbia College and Barnard College are both colleges of Columbia University. However, Juilliard, which offers classes in consortium (sharing credits) with Barnard College, is not part of the university.
In Canada, I would consider a tertiary school which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees to be a university. Colleges usually offer specialized 2 year programs, often that directly connect to a degree or are very niche (jazz performance).
Generally, a college is a school that grants bachelor’s degrees. A university is a larger institution that is made up of multiple colleges and grants post-graduate degrees as well.
At least in Canada I think a university is a fancy college you can only get degrees at, whereas a college college you can get degrees and diplomas. I know people who went for just 3-9 months for a trade or who did 1-2 years before switching to a university. I don’t actually personally know anyone who got a bachelor’s or higher at a college. I’m assuming that’s a coincidence rather than a limitation of colleges tho 🤔
Kinda. A Canadian college is more similar to what a lot of Americans might call a vocational school – they have a lot of specific jobs their certificates/diplomas/etc. are aimed at and they tend to involve working with your hands. Some have degrees. Universities have more degrees.
Colleges can’t give undergraduate degrees in Canada. When they get accredited to do so (see previously Mount Royal College and Red Deer College), they become universities (Mount Royal University, Red Deer University). Unfortunately, a lot of these former colleges then scrap the unique and niche programs they built their reputations on.
That’s not always strictly true. Some colleges have a couple degrees and remain colleges (like Conestoga), but they’re again built towards specific careers.
It’s a pretty common thing in America to use college and university to mean the same thing, when talking about after-high school education. I’m not entirely sure what college means in other countries to be honest.
Mildly odd, to me. I would have said “connections”.
Egad, as a former electronics hobbyist I’m now imagining the odd looks I’d get today if I mentioned “hookup wire”. Words should not be allowed to change.
well, even as a minor charged with a crime, other than if she had like killed someone, i don’t think most ppl would’ve considered her still unsafe/ppl would think she’d be a danger to others on campus
Well her performance, but also the quality of the school. If it’s really a reform school known for just warehousing bad kids and not providing much real education, it wouldn’t count for much.
At least if she was trying to get into an elite university. Getting into the even flagship state university isn’t so exclusive.
I do wonder if Asher’s trying to be a dick here, or what. We know he’s got his own family connections he has mixed feelings on.
That said, he may not be entirely off-base. We already know that Linda pulled strings about Sal using her motorcycle on-campus, which is why Sal switched to the bike. I don’t think she’d drop out of school over this, but if Linda *did* pull strings to get her in, she’d be mega-pissed to find that out.
Nooo Asher you were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Snobs not join them! Bring balance to the networking, not leave it in darkness!
The weirdest part of that would be Linda Walkerton using up favors for Sal, I think Walky is thinking. Actually, we’ve heard multiple times the parents like Jennifer more than Sal, and Jennifer was the one with a DUI and a poster passed around warning the faculty of her alcoholism. . .wouldn’t it be a hilarious twist if she’s the one who doesn’t deserve to be here?
Well, also a terrible blow to her shaky confidence. But she’s such a butt right now I think it would be pretty funny.
Right. Maybe this is what Walky is thinking because we know Sal is just as smart and good at school as he is. The only subject they struggle with is math, and that’s just recently. Sounds like Sal really stayed out of trouble at her fancy boarding school, and I’m sure private school looks good on that application.
Yeah, it’s a weird idea on several levels. Just felt that would be the weirdest, based on Walky’s recently discovered feelings towards his parents’ relationship to his sister.
(More notes: Isn’t Sal’s criminal record sealed on account of being a minor at the time, Asher should know that if so, and isn’t U of I the most average and not particularly hard to get into college in the state?)
Like what even is Asher’s game, people have guessed he wants to be punched some more, and it sounds likely, but I got another idea just now, maybe he’s just grenade fishing for connections, checking how openly the Dean might bend the rules for his pals. That’s the sort of thing Raidah would train her pals to do I think.
Linda’s in a weird middle ground of neglectful towards Sal. She’s not completely hands off, but she isn’t very supportive. I don’t find it hard to believe she’d pull strings to get her in college while also not really doing much else in terms of reintegrating her into the family unit. “You’re my daughter and my love for you is implicit. Why else would I do this nice stuff for you?” sorta thing.
Linda at least used a favor to get Sal permission to have a motorcycle on campus. Sal gave up the bike so as not to owe anything to her pulling strings.
Right, she has already interfered on Sal’s behalf, even if David is still the favored kid, and even if his parents favor Jennifer, like giving her a larger and more thoughtful care package.
It’s ironic, come to think of it, that Jennifer’s not really any blinder to some of the crap Linda (and to an extent, her husband, too) have pulled, like outright saying she thinks Linda likes her more because she’s more white-passing than Sal. I doubt she’s ever vocalized any of that to Linda, obviously, though.
Well, I don’t think it’d actually be weird for Linda to do this as a “favor for Sal” (not that Sal would have necessarily needed it, but). The simple explanation for why Linda might do that is that it “looks better” to have two kids in college than to have a kid who didn’t go to college.
…so is the implication that Sal’s grades were just that bad, or is it that her arrest record would count against her? This was definitely not an angle I had considered.
I’m kinda surprised that Asher is the one that’s saying this, honestly. I expected something like this from Raidah, but he seemed to be in this group because he genuinely enjoyed it. Unless Raidah actually let him into her circle because she wanted to take advantage of his mob ties.
As far as her grades go, keep in mind that neither Asher nor Raidah have access to that or are close enough to know about her grades. So far, we only know she had difficulty with math which, same Sal. Same… Anyways, I think it’s probably that Raidah and Asher could be assuming she has bad grades based on her demeanor and in Raidah’s case, probably other unsavory assumptions.
As for her arrest record, that does bring up an interesting question. After all, from what we know, Sal’s punishment when she was arrested wasn’t going to Juvvie, but was her parents shuffling her off to another state for a while. Whether that was an agreement based on the Legal system, or strings were pulled there, I don’t think we know. From what little I could see through googling, there is potential for a record getting in the way of college admission, but I also think it depends on the severity of the record. She tried to rob two convenience stores, one of which we saw play out where it was a rather limp-wristed attempt overall, but did involve threatening a peer with a knife.
Of the two I would definitely peg the arrest record as being the one to keep her from being admitted, and even then I don’t think Linda had any sway in that. Granted, that’s mostly because, if we’ve learned anything from the whole motorcycle thing, it’s that Linda doesn’t ever do anything without pulling it out to guilt someone with later. The fact that she hasn’t gotten all “You wouldn’t even be in this college if it wasn’t for me!!!” at Sal, tells me she had nothing to do with it.
I do kind of doubt Asher’s let Raidah know anything about his family, and that he’s probably just around because he’s very attractive. I imagine the last thing he’d be doing after what happened last semester would be advertising his familial ties, given he was potentially an accessory to murder.
Of course, it’s not impossible his family has some level of notoriety, but I sort of doubt an aspiring law student necessarily wants to make that kind of a connection unless she’d be gunning for some sort of Tom Hagen-esque position in her future.
Sal alluded to his grandfather in front of that crew and Jennifer said he’d already told her. Raidah was there, so if she didn’t already know, after that she knew there was something to know.
And given that the entire point of this group is networking and family connections, it’s hard to imagine Raidah just ignoring that in Asher’s case, even if he is hot.
True, but Asher’s family probably has a public business as a cover for their mob activities. That could still be the connection she wants from Asher. Or he might be going into a promising field, she likes those too.
WRT the age gap Walky brings up, it occurs to me that the Dean does look quite a bit grayer than his counterpart did in It’s Walky!, and this universe’s Linda Walkerton looks significantly younger than her alternate self. In Linda’s case I always just assumed it was because Willis doesn’t draw face lines anymore, but the Dean is harder to explain.
I’m wondering why Raidah would think that a 2 degrees of separation connection to some college dean at the university she’s already in would be particularly useful. And she (and Asher) said “the” dean, like there’s only one, but a quick Google search shows at least 17 (perhaps more), not including all the associate and assistant deans – and the indication is that she doesn’t know which one. All this implies she just wants (or Willis writes her to want) just any connection, without any clue if it would be useful to her – for whatever She thinks she’s trying to accomplish. If it’s just to get into law school, a recommendation from a dean might be helpful if she wants to get into the UI law school, but I doubt it would mean too much anywhere higher in the law school food chain.
It doesn’t, since there isn’t a “head” dean. I counted 17 academic deans (1 for each school plus the college of Arts and Sciences) all reporting to the Provost. There are other deans (not heading academic departments) and many associate and assistant deans. Willis could have obviously made up a hierarchy to make Linda’s ex seem (or be) more important for story reasons.
Fair. For some reason I thought Provost was often short for Dean Provost but that is not a thing so I’m guessing either dean of the college that does gender studies (which makes Roz his problem) or Dean of students. Either could be given the assignment of ‘The DeSanto girl made porn on campus, fix it.’
I don’t know if Sal was ever prosecuted for her crimes also on acceptance to IU she may have sucked at Math but so I did to and got accepted IU and Purdue as an out of state student so i choose to beleive Sal would have been accepted on her own merits.
Raidah is playing “networking for rich people,” but she isn’t very good at it. She knows she’s supposed to build “friendly” relationships with strategic individuals to hopefully lean on later, but it seems no one has told her that a big part of building those friendly relationships is not being blatantly obvious that all you want is to use them for your own personal gain, oh my god. She’s lucky most people tend not to think the way she does and often don’t pick up on that kind of thing, because holy crap.
She may also be playing some kind of long game to ultimately mess with Joyce and Sarah, but I don’t know about that one.
Walky had good grades and no trouble before college.
Even now, he still has good grades without trying except for math.
There’s nothing to pull strings for unless you assume his food budget is larger than normal to handle all the fast food he eats.
I don’t think mom had to pull strings to get Sal into college, but she definitely didn’t have to do so for Walky unless there’s backstory we don’t know about.
If he required string pulling, his favorite child status probably wouldn’t be so pronounced.
So I’m assuming the Walkerton parents are early to mid 40s, which makes the dean early to mid 50s.
The twins are around 18, maybe a little younger or a little older (I don’t think they’ve had a birthday, yet).
Which means the parents got together at least 19 years ago, either casually or seriously, putting them in their early to mid 20s at the time.
The dean’s son (Tony?) is probably a year or two older than Sal and Walky, which means deanie was together with Tony’s mother and Tony was at least on the way around the same time the Walkertons started messing around.
The most likely time mom and dean were married were before the twins were born – they could have gotten married and then divorced after she had the twins, then getting back with dad, and they’re just too young to remember, but I don’t think that’s probable.
So, if these multiple assumptions are true, I’m now wondering if there was any cheating involved with either side, and if so, who.
Now that I realize the dean is a decade older than mom, I’m now assuming they had a more romantic version of what Sal and Jason had and that dean left his wife for mom and they even got married before realizing their relationship was a lot less exciting without the taboo of a lurid affair which lead to the divorce (but I’m probably being too unfair to the dean).
Probably an even more scandalous version given Jason is still in his early 20s. He’s max 5 years older than sal. Idk how IU courses are set up but here he could easily be teaching/lecturing independently at 30, so he could’ve been Linda’s professor straight up
Or less scandalous if it happened when Linda was older and possibly even off campus entirely. Or the Dean wasn’t yet attached to the campus. Administration doesn’t always come up through the teaching ranks.
I always figured they were a little older than that, like early 50s min. But that just might be my own bias, since my mom and dad had me at 31 and 40 respectively, and were older than a number of my peers’ parents lol.
The Walkerton twins are at least 18.
The dean and Linda’s ages aren’t specified, but we can probably assume Linda is about 40-50, let’s say 45 then.
It means that she had the twins in her 20s, which means she was likely mid-late 20s, let’s say 26 at conception.
If the relationship between her and the dean had a large dramatic event behind it, they likely wouldn’t be on good terms.
Which means it ended amicably. So that implies, based on the ages a short marriage, my guess is about one year. Add in about a couple other assumptions on when she met their father and we can say that she was probably 24-ish when she and Charles got more serious.
Meaning that Linda and the dean likely got married directly after college.
Was this a reply to me?
Because, if so, thanks, but also you made it a separate comment instead of a reply.
If it is not a reply to me, then HEY, we’re having similar thoughts.
Asher noooo, I generally like your presence in the strips. What a weird fucked up thing to ask someone. Also Raidah’s being gross, Jennifer’s been an ass this whole breakfast, Walky should just take his burger and leave. Lucy is generally a Good Person, surely she’s going to say something about that comment being uncalled for.
Idk, someone in this breakfast needs to go, and it should be Walky deciding that he doesn’t need to deal with this noise.
Honestly considering both his facial expression and general history with both Sal and crime, i don’t think Asher is asking this question outta any kind of malice as much as it might be ill-intended sympathy. Like a “Oh, this is something i might be able to share some personal insight on considering my unique background” line of questioning, y’know.
I didn’t get any sense of malice either but I did feel like it was a lack of taste and filter. I can understand Asher wanting to try and relate to Sal and I was doing a good job at making myself forget he helped introduce her to the crime lifestyle and then helped get her busted until now thanks to him indirectly bringing it up.
Honestly my interpretation of Asher’s whole deal vis a vie Sal is that he’s never like, processed the full extent of what he did to Sal. Which makes sense, even though Sal has semi-forgiven him they’re not exactly the best of friends, so i feel like he’s always muddles his similarities with Sal with an equilibrium that simply isn’t there. From what we know he’s more active when it comes to how he segments his overall character pre/post his juvenile delinquent era, which is why his new college friend group are all a bunch of self-congratulatory better than thou dweebs, whereas in Sal’s case, a lot of those subtle, negative assumptions about her character and demeanor growing up (regardless of what informed her actions half the time) has led to her always putting her walls up around people, even when she knows that it’s putting strain on the very few interpersonal connections she cherishes.
Asher being this well meaning but tactless dude trying to live up to his self-imposed role as “someone who’s better now, i promise”, while also being the unknowing catalyst of like, major trauma for 3-4 different members of the main cast is what makes him an interesting addition to a story like this. All in all I’m definitely excited to see how his character plays out in the long run, that’s for sure!
The question is incredibly offensive but I also note that I fully believe the system is incredibly biased and unfair so that there’s no merit to acceptance in the first place.
Meritocracy is a lie so why do people take pride on making it on merit?
Because everybody knows the game is a construct, until they start winning at it. Then, it must become immutable, or else you’ve been personally insulted by everybody who recognizes the truth.
Sadly, Walky’s most honest response would be, “No, I don’t believe Sal got in because of the Dean because that would mean my mom gave a shit about her.”
Believing you did well because of your merit is more comfortable than examining ways in which you might be privileged. Some people get uncomfortable with the mere idea of privilege.
Walky having a guilt. I wonder how this will go over.
Also, Raidah and Asher are some of the people i dislike the most in this strip (and I don’t think I’m alone here), but dang, they’re both looking kinda fine in these close-ups -_-
I am guessing probably not. If memory serves it was stated earlier on that Walky did good grade wise in high school, even if he did just coats along. That is why his poor math grades last semester hit him so hard. And I don’t recall anything about and disciplinary problems with him either that would potentially keep him out of school.
wow what an extremely weird question to ask in mixed company, asher !!!
poor dumb walky can’t put two and two together after the SECOND time someone brings up his connection with the dean T-T
Fun fact: That “math lady meme” is a somewhat renowed brazilian actress mostly known for the notorious characters she played and (still?) plays in many broadcast network night-time (cause that’s when they’re exhbited in these necks of the wood) soap-operas over the last four or five decades.
Asher, washed of all sin through the murder of Blaine to keep him from snitching. But fallen from grace by making awkward conversation about how using connections isn’t just something other people do.
If it was, Sal wouldn’t be here
She’d peace out, hard.
She’s incredibly keen on doing things without her being spoon fed
Let’s just hope walky remembers that
Loading ...
“Are you suggesting Sal didn’t get in on her OWN MERITS?!?!”
/prolly got in bc it felt like they accepted LITERALLY ANYBODY and also Dad was a prof (in a completely different area of study, like absolute polar opposite)
Walky, the correct answer to that question is:
“What, the first time I slugged you wasn’t enough? Well, try talking smack about my sister again if you need more.”
Alternate reply:
“Asher, at this point you might want to consider taking my sister’s name out of your filthy mouth.”
Other alternate reply:
“Asher, I’m sure you’d like to take a moment to reconsider that question. Take your time. I’ll wait.”
Seriously! Nobody trash-talks my badasse superhero sis but *me*.
“Wow, y’all aren’t just a little off, but you’re actually horrible people. Peace. I’m out.”
Far and away the most likely answer given that Walky canonically cannot handle Asher at all in a fight and they both know that.
But it’s the ones who can’t handle themselves in a fight that are the ones you need to watch out for, because there is no one more to be feared than someone who has lost – or never had – any sense of consequences, rules, technique, or control. Like all good legends, myths, and stereotypes, there’s more than just a germ of truth behind “The Berserker”. It’s not just a kick-ass trope.
That can be true but the most likely response to going into a fight without knowing what you’re doing – even if you’re pissed off – is getting your ass kicked. I wouldn’t recommend it to Walky.
Yeah, it’s mostly really a thing in sparring or other training.
Nonsense. She can defend herself.
Of course she can. But that doesn’t mean Walky’s gotta sit there and participate politely in the conversation when Asher trash-talks her.
Not when she isn’t there?
Not if she’s not there and doesn’t know about it. Her being able to defend herself is not mutually exclusive with defending her when she’s not around and folks are talking about her behind her back.
Alternate reply:
“No, did your mob boss grandfather pull string to get you in?”
Does Walky know about Asher’s mob connections?
Pretty sure only Mike knew, and maybe Amber
Those were Blaine’s mob connections. Don’t think Mike ever knew Asher.
Sal certainly knew about Asher’s.
“Joke’s on you, mom HATES Sal.”
Ah. That explains a lot.
Asher angling for a second punch in the face
Seriously, that was heinous and not terribly founded in reality, from what we know. Sal seems to be doing fine, aside from math, with which we’ve seen several people struggling because it’s kind of a hard class. Asher is a total bongo for that and I hope Walky calls it quits right now, maybe after telling these pretentious jackholes that hey, Asher is mobbed up.
he might be going at the “had a criminal record angle”, though this is Asher, noted jerk
Which takes some friggin CHUTZPAH seeing as Asher is the REASON she has a criminal record
Exactly, if he’s trying to gage the amount of influence Linda has that’s a particularly bad way to go about it especially in front of other people and makes me wonder what Asher has to personally gain from knowing that. Also makes me seriously reconsider the possibility that Asher deliberately wore the same outfit as Walky to have a “bro” hoping it would let him ask that without getting slugged in the face again.
Do you think Raidah would care? She might view the mob as a useful connection
They always need attorneys!
Jennifer apparently knows about Asher’s grandfather. Raidah was there when Sal brought it up, though without details. If she didn’t already know, she had enough then to start asking.
And really, this is a “friend” group openly based around networking and family connections. What does Asher bring to the table except his mob connection?
I mean, it’s not like the mob has Mob Stores that openly advertise themselves. More than likely his family is involved in front organizations and legitimate businesses.
I would not be surprised that she already knows and that is why he is here to begin with.
Asher actually looks… kind of uncomfortable with that question, to me? Like he swaps from a grin to a vaguely unsettled look. And I don’t mean like righteous indignation, but instead almost worried. Suffice to say we need to see more to get whether he’s intentionally being a dick in bringing it up or maybe is doing a poor job of demonstrating some concern for Sal.
Or it could be that Raidah the Bongo Queen said “Asher, you will ask David about this, or I will let them know you had something to do with .”
Didn’t occur to me at first, but there’s one other possibility to account for that shift in mood–I could see Raidah having deliberately set up this line of questioning. She does strike me as the sort to manipulate events like that, with a veneer of plausible deniability at being the one responsible for the attack on Sal.
The only question would be, if Asher is disturbed at taking on this role, why would he? So it’s not a strong theory, but there might be some backstory reason for him taking Raidah’s marching orders that we don’t know about yet.
Yes.
But why?
Could be he’s feeling some guilt over past mistakes. Especially since his own conscience isn’t exactly clean at this point.
Remember he’s got his own issues with his family connections; he likely assumed Sal got in on her own merits but now he’s wondering if she did. (Or more specifically, if she needed the parents she hates to get her in. The two of them do have disliking powerful family members in common)
Speaking of faces… do the past couple of comics seem weirdly zoomed in to anyone else?
Cause if it is an intentional technique used to help the reader feel uncomfortable with the uncomfortable conversations, then boy howdy is it working on me.
Like, I just read through the entire set of comments looking for others who were as weirded out as I was, and saw no comments, so either it’s just me or no one is talking about it.
It is noticeable to me and I 100% took it as an intentional technique, so here’s a +1
I see server time is shifted like an iceberg again.
🙁 Also yeah, I’m gonna try engaging with the below discussions as little as possible, I got games with diverse casts to code.
Nooooo You Belong Here With Us ….
There issss no code here, Wellerman, only comicssss
Come back into the dark
Be one of us
One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us One of us
I’m already in the dark. I mean look at my avatar. The way I see it WE can do whatever WE want. 😈
Hey, the darkside is the best side – it has cookies. Good luck with your project, unless you want to tell us about it.
Multiple projects in fact. I’m tutoring someone so they can program their own RTS game, designing and coding an audio system for a metroidvania game with an LBGTQ+ cast and setting similar to Adventure Time, and still trying to come up with DoA fan game ideas.
For that last one, gonna load up on Mac and Cheese and Pumpkin Spice Lattes and 1984 Transformers in the background one of these days in the hopes that I can somehow channel Willis’s autism. XD
Ugh, Booo daylight savings
I hate all you temperate countries for it
Just got used to having only a 6 hour time difference with my boyfriend instead of 7
Nothing important to contribute except to say that my cat Danny (named after the character) turned 6 this Monday! ^_^
Happy birthday to cat!Danny 😀 what flavor of cat are they?
Awww! Happy birthday to the kitty!
A gray short-haired chaos boy who thinks he’s a toddler and follows me EVERYWHERE XD
Congratulations to you and Danny! Many happy returns!
you can’t tell us that without a cat tax, man ;P but congrats! lol
I wish I could share pictures here! He is very cute. He’s a rescue but he looks JUST LIKE a fancy chartreux. I love him dearly ♡
Tell him he is a pretty cat. And a good cat.
I shall!
I’ve lived with cats for over 60 years, and I still don’t know what they like for their birthdays.
His favorite food, lots of attention, and a new toy in his favorite color (yes, my cat has a favorite color and it’s green)
Happy birthday to Danny! 🐈 😻 🎂🥳
Press X to doubt.
Whatanass
I’m not sure he is being a jerk on purpose, I think it is possible that he assumed that Walky had already come to that conclusion and was worried about it. I think Asher might have been trying to be sensitive and supportive – and just failing miserably.
depends if we get to hear some inner thoughts later because it feels like it can be 50/50 on him being like “yeah i’ve moved past it/feel bad about sal”/”still wanna fish for info that might be useful for later”
Yeahhh… Makes me think this is part of Raidah’s larger plan:
-Isolate Jennifer from Joyce and Sarah.
-Integrate Walky into their friend group, at the expense of Jennifer if need be.
-Cut Lucy and Walky off from Joyce’s friend group.
-Gain intel from Walky on Sal. (“Come on, we’re all friends here. You can confide in us.”)
-Trash Sal’s reputation, possibly bullying her to drop out if possible, while finding corruption/nepotism intel to squeeze the Dean at the same time.
-Joyce loses another close friend and personal hero.
…I just feel like she’s picking off Joyce’s friends, one by one.
I feel like Mr. Burns: “Excellent..”
I thought maybe she wanted to break up Walky and Lucy so she can be introduced to the Dean.
Like Dorothy was.
But i think it might be more complex.
I dunno…
Raidah sucks but i don’t think she’s a cartoon villain
I think Asher feels like he derailed Sal’s life.
Oh, Asher, you clearly do not know Linda well. The only reasons she would EVER do a thing like that are
A) As fuel for future emotional blackmail and guilt trips.
Or
B) If it’s an image thing, like Walkertons go to university and they attend THESE classes and get GOOD GRADES dammit.
I mean… those are two pretty big reasons though. So it’s definitely possible.
That it is, but not for the more altruistic if nepotistic reasons Raidah and co. might think.
Linda’s too racist to do A.
Not necessarily. She got Sal permission to keep her motorcycle on campus.
Do you think Jennifer going to Linda about Asher’s motorcycle is why he has it?
She’s also paying for sale tuition afaik. Emotionally abusive parents love doing things for their kids so they can hold it against them later
I’d argue that it *would* be a thing that Linda would do. She has a HELLA LOT of faults but she apparently has (What she considers to be) their best interests in mind (but also *fuck* their opinions on what those bests interests are.)
Hence B and A, because their best interests always wrap around to A.
OK I’m with Walky I don’t want to think to hard on this.
“H-hey Jennifer, What else about me is annoying, huh? Let’s do that bit again haha”
Itd be kinda sweet if Jennifer actually stood up to Asher on this one. I doubt she will but I live in hope.
Who is going to realize that Raidah and her friends are awful first? Will it be Walky? Lucy? …Jennifer??? Let’s all find out together!
Walky may have already figured it out. But he’s passive and won’t act on that anytime soon. And, as seen in that last panel, he suddenly has a lot of other things on his mind.
I just read yesterday’s comments in there entirety and suddenly realized that all the people making those true but missing the point comments about how Walky did nothing wrong somehow thought we were criticizing Walky for winding Jennifer up instead of admiring him.
I think Walky already knows, they just haven’t done anything bad enough to walk out on yet. Right now they are just in “lets get through this and never talk to them again” phase, other than maybe getting Jennifer out.
A girl I went to high school with got into the same state university as me, with the lowest total SAT scores I’d ever heard of. These schools will take anyone with a pulse, honestly, so long as they get their pound of flesh
For a lot of in-state schools, you need *either* a decent GPA, decent SAT scores, or decent ACT scores. You really don’t need more than one. I didn’t take the ACT, had a pretty bad GPA, but scored in like the 96th percentile for the SAT and immediately got into my preferred in-state school.
What I’m saying is Asher is a massive prick for even questioning that.
It really depends on the school. There are some state schools with very strict requirements.
… and then there’s the one I work at which will literally take anyone regardless of scores. We have a zero requirement policy. Which is good, because my job only exists because of that policy – when I started, we had a whole department that specifically existed to help the students who did not have the skills to be in college to catch up with their peers. I teach the ‘so we accepted your into college with zero writing or grammar skills – time to pound those into you real fast’ class.
Like really, is Indiana University such a prestigious institution that competition for admissions is THAT fierce?
Don’t be such a cock, Asher.
He may not be able to help it. I mean he seems to get up early, has a spiky plume on his head and stuff on his chin the girls seem to like, lives in Indiana, and enriched those around him via (at least the threat of) violence. He may actually be a cock.
Thread won.
She went to private school (why doesn’t really matter) and seemed to do well in everything except math without any help. Like I don’t doubt their mom would have done that, since she pulled the motorcycle strings, but I doubt she had to.
however, if I don’t have my timeline wrong she had robbed a store with a knife at that point, which I don’t think colleges look kindly upon
I don’t think the college would know about that, since she didn’t go to juvie and stuff you did as a minor doesn’t generally go on a criminal record. I also don’t know that they care if that happened when you were 13.
Sal does indeed have a criminal record from that incident and those juvenile records aren’t automatically sealed in Indiana. She was offered her boarding school as an alternative to juvie, which isn’t unheard of with first time offending minors.
too bad about indiana
Juvenile records are often (always? I’m not sure) sealed, or she may have been offered a deal to have them expunged if she stayed out of trouble. The college wouldn’t necessarily know about why she was at private school, I don’t think.
Nope, Sal still has an unsealed record. They’re not automatically sealed in Indiana and she mentioned having a record as one reason to avoid cops.
Not all private schools are created equal. A school heavily implied to be a reform school isn’t going to have the same reputation as a fancy college prep school. Might actually be the opposite.
Generally public universities can’t legally discriminate on such a basis as criminal record for admittance. Provided Sal met all the general admittance requirements of IU and met (or, at least, meets by the time they officially accept her) the requirements of her specific degree program and has the means to pay (through scholarships, loans, et al) admittance would never be an issue for her. That said, it would have been technically possible had it been a difference between admitting her and equally qualified candidates without a criminal record.
Public universities can discriminate on such a basis for on campus housing. Typically that is less common for juvenile offenses and especially ones that occurred well before applying for admittance unless a documented ongoing pattern of criminalized behaviors has persisted until recently (say within the last two or three years) which legally establishes her as a danger to other on campus residents. It’s quite a common issue for young adult applicants with adult criminal records who have to live on campus due to school requirements or wish/need to for other reasons.
All in all, it’s unlikely but possible Linda intervened in some manner on this specific issue the way she did regarding Sal’s bike and parking.
Sal doesn’t have an adult criminal record, just the juvenile one.
That burger can’t come soon enough.
Oh boy, starting to think there’s some damn good reason his Mom doesn’t bring up her previous marriage.
Like Dean Ex-husband having been her professor at the time.
Relevant strip is this one and the two following:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/fancypantslounge/
It is interesting to take note in these three strips that while the Dean isn’t aware of Walky, he is aware of Sal, asking about “the other one.” Like, maybe he knew she had twins, but why would assume Sal would be there at all if he wasn’t aware she was a student of the school to begin with? Seems like a big assumption for a Dean to make.
Not necessarily “isn’t aware”, just hasn’t met. They obviously are still in touch, since he got her into the fancy-pants lounge, so it’s likely she’d at least mentioned that both her kids went there and he was wondering why only one showed up with her.
I’m recalling some sitcom back in the 60s or 70s where a character had gotten married and divorced in 30 minutes down in Mexico on a dare (which means they never had sex, though this is not explicitly stated because you couldn’t mention sex explicity on TV back then).
Which create a false alarm thing when her ex-husband shows meets her husband and recognizes her picture.
…Did it have Betty White in it?
would it be that common to talk about exes to children? i doubt walky ever really asked about anyone’s romantic past
I mean, I was always aware both my parents had been married before. Given my dad had a daughter from his first marriage and she loved there, so that would have been difficult keep secret. But my mom never showed away from telling us that she got married at 19 and it didn’t last.
Maybe, but they seem to be on relatively good terms. Doesn’t make it impossible, but less likely.
Also I’m not sure Asher has room to assume anything Mr. Mob money. I just remembered why I don’t trust him.
#neverforget
Just don’t ask where he was when Mike died. (Okay, the real question is more involved, like what business he was doing with Blaine’s friends when he ended up killing Mike and then also where Asher was when Blaine died, but let’s be melodramatic.)
Oh, so Asher can be connected to two of the worst people in the cast dying, cool.
Becky’s dad too.
Though Mike’s murder is the only one nobody in the cast will thank him for enabling, and Blaine is the one he’s most directly involved in and that was probably just keeping a lookout, being connected to three murders I think is enough to make Asher the worst remaining person and definitely the most dangerous one to be around
I would only very very loosely connect Asher to Ross’s murder. That feels like more of a “lawyer is trying to stack additional charges” thing, given Asher and Ross never interacted, and I would assume Asher would only know of him as the dude who brought a gun to IU.
Same as Mike, they’re both mere collateral damage to whatever organized criminals Blaine and Asher had in common. But I’m thinking that connection is enough to sink Asher’s stock with the kids who have been affected by Mike’s death no matter how indirect it is.
*organized criminal connections
jesus. none of these people know how to make casual conversation.
No but really though. Next up it’s gonna be “Hey, what are your views on Palestine, in 150 words or less?”
That’s exactly how I assumed this would go, deep critical political talk that leaves everyone with a bad taste in the mouth afterwards.
It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
The perfect reply!
Actually, I’ve found many people’s view on the conflict can be summed up in 3-5 words.
“Boycott, disinvestment, sanctions” is a 3-word view i fully endorse. Or how about: “colonization is bad”?
There’s of course (much much) more to say, but those seem like good starting points. Sometimes the centrist stance that “oh it’s such a very very complicated situation” (which is obviously true) tends to be used to end, rather than introduce the discussion. There’s something to be said for slogans.
I can do ya even better with two
Apartheid bad
Or if you don’t wanna get into a whole thing just
Shits fucked up, aye?
Very true.
I’ve also heard:
“Right of return.”
“Two-state solution.”
“Binational secular state.”
You can jam a lot of thought into a pithy, three-word slogan.
Like “tax and regulate” or “Abolition now”. (Different topics.)
For five words, I’ve heard, “Free East Jerusalem for all.” A touch ambiguous, but the best slogans allow some flexibility of adoption for different purposes.
On another topic, I’ve heard: “Safe, Sane & Consensual” and “Silence = Death”. Lotta power in the phrases full of pith and vinegar.
I wonder if Walky ever realizes the only reason he’s there is to connect them to the dean … Even better if Billie is the one to point it out, and they both get rid of the snobs.
He may have in this moment.
Bingo. How transparent can they be about their social climbing and naked ambition? Surely even Walky can see this group is poison? His sister probably got into uni because she’s just as smart as he is and just as good at getting the grades without effort. Walky’s mom would probably pull strings to get her REJECTED.
It’s not the only reason that he’s there. Raidah noted that Sarah had made friends and is now systematically trying to remove them. First Jennifer and now Walky. She already had made the attempt with Dorothy, but Dorothy wasn’t buying.
Walky is only there for his girlfriend in the first place (and also for food).
He may have already come to some conclusions about this group of people. But he’s not going to leave or say anything until, at bare minimum, he has a chance to check in with Lucy privately and see if she’s on the same page.
He’s unlikely to have that opportunity. And even if he did, I don’t think he’s eager to bring it up with her, because he tends to be passive.
The more interesting question for me is when will Lucy figure it out?
well dorothy did call raidah a ‘social climber’ so he’d know overall if not about hte dean specifically
Aren’t they enrolled in Indiana UNIVERSITY? why would he call it a college?
it’s very common for american students to refer to university as college, regardless of the actual title of the school!
Why?
We just do. College and University are interchangable words here. After high school you go to college, even if you’re actually attending a university. Consider it a colloquialism.
Americans (and Canadians, though less commonly in my experience) refer to post-secondary as college, even if its a university.
I get the impression that maybe, like me, you aren’t American? College and University are synonymous in this instance.
You’re correct, I’m not from USA
“College” has more specific meanings, yes, but it’s also just the general word used by most Americans for post-secondary education
Okay, as an ugly American, I will ask: what *is* the difference between the two? (other than one sounding more pretentious than the other)
Back in the middle ages universities were the school, and a college was a sort club/common house which helped you get through the university. Later on colleges had mission creep until they ended up schools in their own right.
A university might need to have a graduate program, and a college doesn’t? Not sure of that.
But also a university can contain colleges, like “the college of arts and sciences”.
Yeah, so in American English, a college is a third-degree school, but the big ones are also called universities. And a college can also be a university department.
In British English, third-degree schools are all called universities, and not colleges. While “college” can still refer to a university department in British English, I gather that it also refers to prep school for getting into university, or something similar? (Which is probably what Slartibeast’s comment is talking about.)
i said third-degree but i meant tertiary so actually first-degree
(or rather degree school in general, since obviously universities give higher degrees. this is why i shouldn’t write comments at 1:30 in the morning)
Anyway, refined with a quick google search: basically, Brits finish compulsory education at 16 and then they can optionally take 2 years at college to prepare for university entrance exams.
So, Brit college = American prep-school. Got it. Thanks, everyone for the replies!
Just to make things even more interesting, my alma mater has “University College” which is where freshmen and undeclared-majors are considered to be.
Someone once defined a University as a group of Colleges united by a central heating system.
Where I am (Queensland, Australia) college is the place where students live while attending University. Like, the dorms on/near campus
Dorms is another term that can have a whole bunch of different meanings. It can refer to the building, the group of students under a dorm leader (like Ruth), and I think there is at least one more definition out there.
Americans tend to take British words and the change the meaning, with Canadians being split in between the two and doing something completely different themselves. Like the British slang term “wicked” is used by itself, but in New England it was combined together in forms like “wicked good” (sort of like very) rather than being on its own.
What I generally knew of colleges in the US is that they tended to offer 2 year associate’s degrees rather than a 4 year bachelor’s degree, but I am not sure that is fully the case anymore.
Here, we would often call a school offering only 2-year degree programs something like a “community college,” or a “trade school” or “junior college”. However, some 4-year colleges also offer 2-year programs. Plus, you can finish a 4-year degree in 3 years, if you earn enough class credits.
My understanding was always that a university was a college with a postgraduate (master’s, doctoral…) degree program, or a complex of multiple colleges (often with differing specializations) in consortium together.
However, if the graduate degree program is small enough, it’s still a college. For example, nobody says “Bryn Mawr University,” even though some of the student of Bryn Mawr College are postgraduate or even postdoctoral students.
So for example, Columbia College and Barnard College are both colleges of Columbia University. However, Juilliard, which offers classes in consortium (sharing credits) with Barnard College, is not part of the university.
In Canada, I would consider a tertiary school which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees to be a university. Colleges usually offer specialized 2 year programs, often that directly connect to a degree or are very niche (jazz performance).
Universities are a type of college. They’re pretty interchangable words to most people.
In the US, in that sentence, we’d say college.
oops, everyone replying the same thing at the same time.
Yep. :/ Sorry, Derek
What’s the difference between a University and a College?
Generally, a college is a school that grants bachelor’s degrees. A university is a larger institution that is made up of multiple colleges and grants post-graduate degrees as well.
This, plus I believe “college” in British/Commonwealth English is used for preparatory school?
At least in Canada I think a university is a fancy college you can only get degrees at, whereas a college college you can get degrees and diplomas. I know people who went for just 3-9 months for a trade or who did 1-2 years before switching to a university. I don’t actually personally know anyone who got a bachelor’s or higher at a college. I’m assuming that’s a coincidence rather than a limitation of colleges tho 🤔
Kinda. A Canadian college is more similar to what a lot of Americans might call a vocational school – they have a lot of specific jobs their certificates/diplomas/etc. are aimed at and they tend to involve working with your hands. Some have degrees. Universities have more degrees.
Colleges can’t give undergraduate degrees in Canada. When they get accredited to do so (see previously Mount Royal College and Red Deer College), they become universities (Mount Royal University, Red Deer University). Unfortunately, a lot of these former colleges then scrap the unique and niche programs they built their reputations on.
That’s not always strictly true. Some colleges have a couple degrees and remain colleges (like Conestoga), but they’re again built towards specific careers.
It’s a pretty common thing in America to use college and university to mean the same thing, when talking about after-high school education. I’m not entirely sure what college means in other countries to be honest.
They’re the same thing aaaaaa why are foreigners so weird about it!
I’m imaging this scene later.
Sal; “Lucy tell me again how Walky broke his hand breaking Asher’s face, because that’s never getting old.”
Raidah didn’t mean the “hook ups” in the recent pervy sense.
I hope not, anyway.
Does anyone else use this phrasing because I find it extremely odd.
A regionalism perhaps? “Making connections” or “having connections” seem more appropriate.
Or “networking.”
Mildly odd, to me. I would have said “connections”.
Egad, as a former electronics hobbyist I’m now imagining the odd looks I’d get today if I mentioned “hookup wire”. Words should not be allowed to change.
Yeah, I thought that usage was curious, too.
Next they’re going to use ‘intercourse’ in the old 18th century style, to refer to one’s social intermingling with another person.
“A four letter would, ending in ‘k’ meaning ‘intercourse’.”
(talk)
I was wondering if Raidah was trying to suggest something to Walky with that.
i mean other than the catholic boarding school and the math tutor, did sal rly struggle with subjects that much?
Not that we’ve been told.
Because of the armed robbery.
well, even as a minor charged with a crime, other than if she had like killed someone, i don’t think most ppl would’ve considered her still unsafe/ppl would think she’d be a danger to others on campus
One would presume her performance at the catholic boarding school is what would determine her acceptance into IU, no? I think?
Well her performance, but also the quality of the school. If it’s really a reform school known for just warehousing bad kids and not providing much real education, it wouldn’t count for much.
At least if she was trying to get into an elite university. Getting into the even flagship state university isn’t so exclusive.
well apparently their other group member also got into Yale but i imagine they had even more connections
I do wonder if Asher’s trying to be a dick here, or what. We know he’s got his own family connections he has mixed feelings on.
That said, he may not be entirely off-base. We already know that Linda pulled strings about Sal using her motorcycle on-campus, which is why Sal switched to the bike. I don’t think she’d drop out of school over this, but if Linda *did* pull strings to get her in, she’d be mega-pissed to find that out.
Subtle
Nooo Asher you were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Snobs not join them! Bring balance to the networking, not leave it in darkness!
I choose to believe he asked at least partly out of guilt over leaving her to take the fall at the gas station.
I mean, the guy is also a murderer, so, in comparison this doesn’t seem so bad.
This breakfast sucks. Hope Walky’s burger tastes fantastic, at least
he should order a 2nd burger to go at the end and leave them with the bill lol
It’s gonna have caramelized onions and brie at the very least, should be a damn good one.
But also potato salad.
At this point let’s just hope it doesn’t give him a complex hue hue hue
The weirdest part of that would be Linda Walkerton using up favors for Sal, I think Walky is thinking. Actually, we’ve heard multiple times the parents like Jennifer more than Sal, and Jennifer was the one with a DUI and a poster passed around warning the faculty of her alcoholism. . .wouldn’t it be a hilarious twist if she’s the one who doesn’t deserve to be here?
Well, also a terrible blow to her shaky confidence. But she’s such a butt right now I think it would be pretty funny.
imagine if walky did hit his mom up for a ‘favor’ or so, and it ended up exposing an semi ongoing casual affair too
Right. Maybe this is what Walky is thinking because we know Sal is just as smart and good at school as he is. The only subject they struggle with is math, and that’s just recently. Sounds like Sal really stayed out of trouble at her fancy boarding school, and I’m sure private school looks good on that application.
Yeah, it’s a weird idea on several levels. Just felt that would be the weirdest, based on Walky’s recently discovered feelings towards his parents’ relationship to his sister.
(More notes: Isn’t Sal’s criminal record sealed on account of being a minor at the time, Asher should know that if so, and isn’t U of I the most average and not particularly hard to get into college in the state?)
Like what even is Asher’s game, people have guessed he wants to be punched some more, and it sounds likely, but I got another idea just now, maybe he’s just grenade fishing for connections, checking how openly the Dean might bend the rules for his pals. That’s the sort of thing Raidah would train her pals to do I think.
Walky tried suckered punching Asher before and it hardly phased Asher so I don’t think he has anything to worry about if Walky did try it again
Linda’s in a weird middle ground of neglectful towards Sal. She’s not completely hands off, but she isn’t very supportive. I don’t find it hard to believe she’d pull strings to get her in college while also not really doing much else in terms of reintegrating her into the family unit. “You’re my daughter and my love for you is implicit. Why else would I do this nice stuff for you?” sorta thing.
This nice stuff I can throw in your face later.
Linda at least used a favor to get Sal permission to have a motorcycle on campus. Sal gave up the bike so as not to owe anything to her pulling strings.
Because Linda held that over her head after a fight during the time skip.
As you do.
Right, she has already interfered on Sal’s behalf, even if David is still the favored kid, and even if his parents favor Jennifer, like giving her a larger and more thoughtful care package.
It’s ironic, come to think of it, that Jennifer’s not really any blinder to some of the crap Linda (and to an extent, her husband, too) have pulled, like outright saying she thinks Linda likes her more because she’s more white-passing than Sal. I doubt she’s ever vocalized any of that to Linda, obviously, though.
Well, I don’t think it’d actually be weird for Linda to do this as a “favor for Sal” (not that Sal would have necessarily needed it, but). The simple explanation for why Linda might do that is that it “looks better” to have two kids in college than to have a kid who didn’t go to college.
…so is the implication that Sal’s grades were just that bad, or is it that her arrest record would count against her? This was definitely not an angle I had considered.
I’m kinda surprised that Asher is the one that’s saying this, honestly. I expected something like this from Raidah, but he seemed to be in this group because he genuinely enjoyed it. Unless Raidah actually let him into her circle because she wanted to take advantage of his mob ties.
Head Mean Girl only lets people hang around her that she finds useful… so she must find Asher useful somehow….
Maybe if she wants a steady stream of clientele in the future.
As far as her grades go, keep in mind that neither Asher nor Raidah have access to that or are close enough to know about her grades. So far, we only know she had difficulty with math which, same Sal. Same… Anyways, I think it’s probably that Raidah and Asher could be assuming she has bad grades based on her demeanor and in Raidah’s case, probably other unsavory assumptions.
As for her arrest record, that does bring up an interesting question. After all, from what we know, Sal’s punishment when she was arrested wasn’t going to Juvvie, but was her parents shuffling her off to another state for a while. Whether that was an agreement based on the Legal system, or strings were pulled there, I don’t think we know. From what little I could see through googling, there is potential for a record getting in the way of college admission, but I also think it depends on the severity of the record. She tried to rob two convenience stores, one of which we saw play out where it was a rather limp-wristed attempt overall, but did involve threatening a peer with a knife.
Of the two I would definitely peg the arrest record as being the one to keep her from being admitted, and even then I don’t think Linda had any sway in that. Granted, that’s mostly because, if we’ve learned anything from the whole motorcycle thing, it’s that Linda doesn’t ever do anything without pulling it out to guilt someone with later. The fact that she hasn’t gotten all “You wouldn’t even be in this college if it wasn’t for me!!!” at Sal, tells me she had nothing to do with it.
I do kind of doubt Asher’s let Raidah know anything about his family, and that he’s probably just around because he’s very attractive. I imagine the last thing he’d be doing after what happened last semester would be advertising his familial ties, given he was potentially an accessory to murder.
Of course, it’s not impossible his family has some level of notoriety, but I sort of doubt an aspiring law student necessarily wants to make that kind of a connection unless she’d be gunning for some sort of Tom Hagen-esque position in her future.
Sal alluded to his grandfather in front of that crew and Jennifer said he’d already told her. Raidah was there, so if she didn’t already know, after that she knew there was something to know.
And given that the entire point of this group is networking and family connections, it’s hard to imagine Raidah just ignoring that in Asher’s case, even if he is hot.
True, but Asher’s family probably has a public business as a cover for their mob activities. That could still be the connection she wants from Asher. Or he might be going into a promising field, she likes those too.
Congrats Raidah you are officially not the most terrible person in today’s strip. I don’t know how good this streak will last.
“You’re all terrible in your own special way”
I think Asher is by default the most terrible person in most strips because of the killing.
Haha, of course not. That would require their mom to care about her enough to ask
WRT the age gap Walky brings up, it occurs to me that the Dean does look quite a bit grayer than his counterpart did in It’s Walky!, and this universe’s Linda Walkerton looks significantly younger than her alternate self. In Linda’s case I always just assumed it was because Willis doesn’t draw face lines anymore, but the Dean is harder to explain.
The Dumbiverse versions, for comparison. (Anything over two links gets sent to “waiting in moderation” limbo)
Icky people
I’m wondering why Raidah would think that a 2 degrees of separation connection to some college dean at the university she’s already in would be particularly useful. And she (and Asher) said “the” dean, like there’s only one, but a quick Google search shows at least 17 (perhaps more), not including all the associate and assistant deans – and the indication is that she doesn’t know which one. All this implies she just wants (or Willis writes her to want) just any connection, without any clue if it would be useful to her – for whatever She thinks she’s trying to accomplish. If it’s just to get into law school, a recommendation from a dean might be helpful if she wants to get into the UI law school, but I doubt it would mean too much anywhere higher in the law school food chain.
Specifically, Dean McHenry is the head dean. I dunno if that means anything.
It doesn’t, since there isn’t a “head” dean. I counted 17 academic deans (1 for each school plus the college of Arts and Sciences) all reporting to the Provost. There are other deans (not heading academic departments) and many associate and assistant deans. Willis could have obviously made up a hierarchy to make Linda’s ex seem (or be) more important for story reasons.
From my poking around Indiana University’s website, my best guess is that it corresponds to Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Students.
Fair. For some reason I thought Provost was often short for Dean Provost but that is not a thing so I’m guessing either dean of the college that does gender studies (which makes Roz his problem) or Dean of students. Either could be given the assignment of ‘The DeSanto girl made porn on campus, fix it.’
I don’t know if Sal was ever prosecuted for her crimes also on acceptance to IU she may have sucked at Math but so I did to and got accepted IU and Purdue as an out of state student so i choose to beleive Sal would have been accepted on her own merits.
Also I don’t think Linda would have helped Sal.
Wtf head game are Raidah and Asher trying to play here?
social climbing, I’d wager
Raidah’s being pretty overt, I think.
Raidah is playing “networking for rich people,” but she isn’t very good at it. She knows she’s supposed to build “friendly” relationships with strategic individuals to hopefully lean on later, but it seems no one has told her that a big part of building those friendly relationships is not being blatantly obvious that all you want is to use them for your own personal gain, oh my god. She’s lucky most people tend not to think the way she does and often don’t pick up on that kind of thing, because holy crap.
She may also be playing some kind of long game to ultimately mess with Joyce and Sarah, but I don’t know about that one.
No idea about Asher.
if she pulled strings for a kid, I know which kid I’d have money on
Walky had good grades and no trouble before college.
Even now, he still has good grades without trying except for math.
There’s nothing to pull strings for unless you assume his food budget is larger than normal to handle all the fast food he eats.
I don’t think mom had to pull strings to get Sal into college, but she definitely didn’t have to do so for Walky unless there’s backstory we don’t know about.
If he required string pulling, his favorite child status probably wouldn’t be so pronounced.
“Well, my parents hate my sister, so that’s highly unlikely. They’d probablt prefer to send her to a convent.”
So I’m assuming the Walkerton parents are early to mid 40s, which makes the dean early to mid 50s.
The twins are around 18, maybe a little younger or a little older (I don’t think they’ve had a birthday, yet).
Which means the parents got together at least 19 years ago, either casually or seriously, putting them in their early to mid 20s at the time.
The dean’s son (Tony?) is probably a year or two older than Sal and Walky, which means deanie was together with Tony’s mother and Tony was at least on the way around the same time the Walkertons started messing around.
The most likely time mom and dean were married were before the twins were born – they could have gotten married and then divorced after she had the twins, then getting back with dad, and they’re just too young to remember, but I don’t think that’s probable.
So, if these multiple assumptions are true, I’m now wondering if there was any cheating involved with either side, and if so, who.
Now that I realize the dean is a decade older than mom, I’m now assuming they had a more romantic version of what Sal and Jason had and that dean left his wife for mom and they even got married before realizing their relationship was a lot less exciting without the taboo of a lurid affair which lead to the divorce (but I’m probably being too unfair to the dean).
Probably an even more scandalous version given Jason is still in his early 20s. He’s max 5 years older than sal. Idk how IU courses are set up but here he could easily be teaching/lecturing independently at 30, so he could’ve been Linda’s professor straight up
Or less scandalous if it happened when Linda was older and possibly even off campus entirely. Or the Dean wasn’t yet attached to the campus. Administration doesn’t always come up through the teaching ranks.
I always figured they were a little older than that, like early 50s min. But that just might be my own bias, since my mom and dad had me at 31 and 40 respectively, and were older than a number of my peers’ parents lol.
The Walkerton twins are at least 18.
The dean and Linda’s ages aren’t specified, but we can probably assume Linda is about 40-50, let’s say 45 then.
It means that she had the twins in her 20s, which means she was likely mid-late 20s, let’s say 26 at conception.
If the relationship between her and the dean had a large dramatic event behind it, they likely wouldn’t be on good terms.
Which means it ended amicably. So that implies, based on the ages a short marriage, my guess is about one year. Add in about a couple other assumptions on when she met their father and we can say that she was probably 24-ish when she and Charles got more serious.
Meaning that Linda and the dean likely got married directly after college.
Was this a reply to me?
Because, if so, thanks, but also you made it a separate comment instead of a reply.
If it is not a reply to me, then HEY, we’re having similar thoughts.
Oh hey, complete coincidence. Yours wasn’t even posted when I started typing it!
Asher noooo, I generally like your presence in the strips. What a weird fucked up thing to ask someone. Also Raidah’s being gross, Jennifer’s been an ass this whole breakfast, Walky should just take his burger and leave. Lucy is generally a Good Person, surely she’s going to say something about that comment being uncalled for.
Idk, someone in this breakfast needs to go, and it should be Walky deciding that he doesn’t need to deal with this noise.
Raidah’s non-toxic friend group sure looks increasingly non-toxic in these last strips, doesn’t it?
(sarcasm)
I understood that reference.
(I wasn’t deliberately making one. ^^; But now I’m curious!)
“… good feeling’s gone.” –
MarlinWalkyHonestly considering both his facial expression and general history with both Sal and crime, i don’t think Asher is asking this question outta any kind of malice as much as it might be ill-intended sympathy. Like a “Oh, this is something i might be able to share some personal insight on considering my unique background” line of questioning, y’know.
I didn’t get any sense of malice either but I did feel like it was a lack of taste and filter. I can understand Asher wanting to try and relate to Sal and I was doing a good job at making myself forget he helped introduce her to the crime lifestyle and then helped get her busted until now thanks to him indirectly bringing it up.
Honestly my interpretation of Asher’s whole deal vis a vie Sal is that he’s never like, processed the full extent of what he did to Sal. Which makes sense, even though Sal has semi-forgiven him they’re not exactly the best of friends, so i feel like he’s always muddles his similarities with Sal with an equilibrium that simply isn’t there. From what we know he’s more active when it comes to how he segments his overall character pre/post his juvenile delinquent era, which is why his new college friend group are all a bunch of self-congratulatory better than thou dweebs, whereas in Sal’s case, a lot of those subtle, negative assumptions about her character and demeanor growing up (regardless of what informed her actions half the time) has led to her always putting her walls up around people, even when she knows that it’s putting strain on the very few interpersonal connections she cherishes.
Asher being this well meaning but tactless dude trying to live up to his self-imposed role as “someone who’s better now, i promise”, while also being the unknowing catalyst of like, major trauma for 3-4 different members of the main cast is what makes him an interesting addition to a story like this. All in all I’m definitely excited to see how his character plays out in the long run, that’s for sure!
Oh no his smile is gone D:
The question is incredibly offensive but I also note that I fully believe the system is incredibly biased and unfair so that there’s no merit to acceptance in the first place.
Meritocracy is a lie so why do people take pride on making it on merit?
Because everybody knows the game is a construct, until they start winning at it. Then, it must become immutable, or else you’ve been personally insulted by everybody who recognizes the truth.
Because they want to believe the lie, and that The System Works (for them).
Sadly, Walky’s most honest response would be, “No, I don’t believe Sal got in because of the Dean because that would mean my mom gave a shit about her.”
Agreed.
If anything, it’s so she could say “both of her kids went to college”.
Believing you did well because of your merit is more comfortable than examining ways in which you might be privileged. Some people get uncomfortable with the mere idea of privilege.
Just because you match doesn’t mean you get to say whatever shit you want, Asher.
Walky looks torn between “no, she wouldn’t do that” and “no, she wouldn’t do that *for her*.” Which is, as they say, a Big Oof.
Ballsy move to bring up sal at this super relaxed get to know each other better hangout
Walky having a guilt. I wonder how this will go over.
Also, Raidah and Asher are some of the people i dislike the most in this strip (and I don’t think I’m alone here), but dang, they’re both looking kinda fine in these close-ups -_-
If I liked Asher, I’d say, “You’re saying this because you feel guilty about ruining her life. Right?”
It irritates me perhaps more than it should that Raidah insists on calling him “David”.
There’s the shoe we all should have seen.
Asher, Walky already punched you once.
A suckered punch which barely phased Asher
There’s a math lady meme?
Nobody tells me anything.
Pretty sure accusing siblings of only being allowed into college because of nepotism files under something else than “light breakfast conversation”.
Also, bold words from someone with mob ties.
So how about you bro. Do you think you got here thanks to your mafia boss dad ?
But I like that math lady meme…
Walky, don’t be sad. IIRC some of the cast got accepted wholly or in part of having something to do with the college (relation, donation, etc,).
Uh oh now he’s wondering if that’s how he got in
I am guessing probably not. If memory serves it was stated earlier on that Walky did good grade wise in high school, even if he did just coats along. That is why his poor math grades last semester hit him so hard. And I don’t recall anything about and disciplinary problems with him either that would potentially keep him out of school.
So THIS is what it is all been about. Jennifer has only been a pawn in the long-con game being pulled here by Raidah and Asher.
I don’t quite see your point—could you elaborate?
Walky, you have a right to not divulge any more personal information
This reminds me of a live-action Disney movie in the 60s with Bob Crane as the dad.
Walky’s regretting his outfit now
I’m wondering if Asher’s projecting a bit. He could easily identify with Sal to some extent. Maybe he’s actually not there entirely on his own merits?
Interesting twist!
“Hook-ups? Raidah, you know he’s taken”
Between this and the “is he though?”, Willis, don’t sell yourself short in inserting memes, however slidingly outdated they may be
Don’t they draw the strips six months in advance?
At most, but it doesn’t mean anybody should know how long the memes have been popular before they draw ’em.
I liked Asher for a hot minute when he went along with Walky’s matching bit, and now I’m back to disliking him.
Easy come easy go I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Always strange to see the great villain Nazaré Tedesco reduced to “Math Lady Meme”
Jennifer sure knows how to make friends with very nice people.
Oh this got uncomfortable real fast.
wow what an extremely weird question to ask in mixed company, asher !!!
poor dumb walky can’t put two and two together after the SECOND time someone brings up his connection with the dean T-T
Fun fact: That “math lady meme” is a somewhat renowed brazilian actress mostly known for the notorious characters she played and (still?) plays in many broadcast network night-time (cause that’s when they’re exhbited in these necks of the wood) soap-operas over the last four or five decades.
waiting for Walky to introduce Asher to the dean as “one of the guys who used to rob convenience stores with my sister”
If strings were pulled for Sal it wasn’t likely to have been for her actual benefit. It still would have been about their mom.
Hey Walky I think you should punch Asher directly in the face.
idk why people are reading Asher as being deliberately inflammatory here, it’s clear he’s not. Tactless, yeah, but this isn’t him being an asshole.
It’s kind of weird watching a back-and-forth conversation between two people wearing the same clothes.
Asher, washed of all sin through the murder of Blaine to keep him from snitching. But fallen from grace by making awkward conversation about how using connections isn’t just something other people do.
Glorious.
Asher is the anti-Walky.
Hg
Okay, Walky, tell him that’s not acceptable.
I kind of currently want everyone at this table except for Lucy and Walky to explode
he’s like walky, but without he humor and charm.
If it was, Sal wouldn’t be here
She’d peace out, hard.
She’s incredibly keen on doing things without her being spoon fed
Let’s just hope walky remembers that
damn, I can’t wait for the beating Asher’s gonna get when Walky tells Sal buut this