48 Years Ago Today

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I was sitting in class in Demarest Elementary School. My teacher was called out of the room and we sat quietly waiting for her return. We heard her voice in the hallway, talking to the Principal. I wondered who was in trouble. Then the teacher walked back in and, looking utterly shaken, she informed us that President Kennedy had been shot and killed. I was terrified, not because of the notion that JFK was shot–I was seven years old and somehow the concept seemed very far away–but because our teacher was fighting back tears and wasn’t entirely succeeding. I had never in my life seen an adult cry. I thought that was something that only kids did; that when you grew up, you outgrew crying somehow.

I learned otherwise that day. When I came home, my mother was crying, and when my father got back in that evening, even his eyes looked red rimmed.

Adults cried. Who knew?

PAD

A new poll about Congress pegs approval rating at nine percent

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

That sounds pretty bad. Only nine percent of Americans believe in Congress.

I think that’s worth putting in perspective, though. It should be noted that, in various polls:

Thirty-four percent of Americans believe in ghosts. Forty eight believe in ESP. About one third believe in UFOs, and nineteen percent believe in the existence of witchcraft and spell casting.

Is there anything that people believe in LESS than Congress? Fortunately, yes. Only seven percent believe that Elvis is still alive (down from eleven percent in 2002). And five percent (all adults) swore that they saw a monster in their closet. There’s no available data as to how many believed they saw Elvis, or Congress, in their closet.

PAD

The Dave Sim Anecdote That Even Dave Didn’t Know

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published April 26, 1996, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1171

People love to become outraged about Dave Sim… and it is my opinion that Dave loves to outrage them.

He challenged the Friends of Lulu to publicly support the comics seized in the Planet Comics raid, despite the violent images of women portrayed therein. Defying Friends of Lulu to endorse Verotik Comics is kind of like daring Andrea Dworkin to French kiss Andrew Dice Clay.

He adopted a thinly veiled fake-author guise and put together a mysoginist rant blurring the line between personal and fictional opinion.

The thing with Dave is, I learned long ago that what Dave presents to the public is sometimes just for show.  He’s built up a reputation and will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to support it.

What puts me in mind of this is something to which I referred several years ago, and have since gotten a number of queries on. And that is the Dave Sim Anecdote That Even Dave Doesn’t Know.

Continue Reading “The Dave Sim Anecdote That Even Dave Didn’t Know” →