Re: Foobville options

On Apr 14, 11:42 am, Parto the P
<brokenpencilpo...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, we didn't *see* her brought up; big difference. We're only seeing
tiny snippets of the characters' lives. Assuming no one has thought
about her is like overhearing a conversation on a bus and assuming
you've got the full picture. Not so.

If they'd been talking about her, do you really think that April would
have had to interrupt and raise her voice in order to bring herself
into the discussion? They did not even say, "April, come in here;
we're going to have a family meeting." And please don't say "But it
wasn't a family meeting." They were discussing the matter of housing,
and these things have a way of getting settled through repetition.
John says enough times that he wants the train house, and Mike says
enough times that he wants the family home, and it becomes accepted.
April was right to want to be part of the equation.


True, a pretty sucky situation. But sometimes you do sucky stuff to help
family; family whose lost home and possessions. Not that April should be
all smiles and giggles, but it's not going to last forever; you just
carry on and grumble through making the best of it. And yes, it is past
time Michael got his family the hell out of Dodge.

Sucky stuff like having a three-year-old damage your brand new,
expensive drums? Read the letters: that's what April got for her
birthday, and Merrie has been "banging away" on them. If someone has
lost all their stuff, sure, they can use mine. But not if they're too
young not to wreck it, and they don't need to be fooling with it
anyway. "Lost our home" does not trump "Hands off your aunt's
possessions."

Sometimes one of the best things friends can do is give you a
perspective on your problems that let's you say, 'Okay, this blows, but
on the grand scale of things it's not much. I can deal.' "Really
bothering her"? Why make her out to be a china doll? I give the
character credit for being able to deal with her fairly run of the mill
problems without the world having to sing in unison, "Awwwww, poooor
April"

But they don't even agree that it blows. They tell her she doesn't
HAVE problems. Luis is apparently a refugee. Shannon gets called
retarded. Therefore, April has the life of Riley.

It's a balancing act. Sometimes people screw it up. This is how life
works sometimes.

Sorry, too many negatives and not enough positives. This is not a few
well-intentioned mistakes; this is a disturbing lack of concern. How
many times have John and Elly gone on vacation and left April at home?
And don't say "She wouldn't want to go anyway." When she was four
years old, and it was less than a year since You Know What, John and
Elly drove to Florida. Drove, mind you, which means they were not in a
hurry to catch a plane. John's response to April's wail of "I don't
want you to GO!" was to walk steadfastly away from her, while she
clung to his leg with her feet dragging in the snow. Yeah, I know:
kids have to deal with these things. But what's more important:
getting on the road at precisely six-o-five in the ay-em, or
reassuring your four year old child before you leave that you love
them and you'll miss them and you'll be back?

And the 'punishing her for Farley' thing is a bit too "meta" and I'm not
even sure who's supposed to be "punishing" April, exactly.

The family may have resented her for a while after that happened. And
stuff like that can take root. Before you know it, you don't remember
*why* you dislike this person; you just know that you do, and it's not
going to change.

April certainly isn't fawned over, but at the same time I don't see her
being kicked to the curb either. She's got teen angst, sure, but it
seems like some readers really work overtime at parsing every event in
the strip as yet another dastardly assault against the despised and
downtrodden April. Realistically (for a comic strip), I can see her
moving past this, and soon enough getting absorbed in proms and prepping
for college and all the other parts of latter teen life.

It's all been said already, about how long she's been disregarded. As
for proms and prepping and so forth, you really think she's going to
be able to concentrate on any of that? I mean, Mike and Dee REALLY
need a babysitter tonight. (It doesn't matter which house she lives
in; they'll still work her like a rented mule.) And she doesn't really
need a place to practice with the band, does she? The kids need a
playroom, and John has his trains. If she doesn't take a stand, her
family will nibble away at everything she has, while they carry on
doing just exactly what they want to do.

Sometimes you just have to write off a period in your life. I don't
think this can be salvaged. And she's still only a sophomore, so two
years until college. Unless she graduates early, which I would
recommend. But that'll be difficult after Merrie downloads a virus
onto April's computer.

The whole episode sounds more like fodder for a beer enhanced
conversation around some a pic-nic table in a few years. "Boy was I
pissed at you guys when we were all crammed into that house that Spring!
You know, Gerald and I were *this* close to doing the nasty the night
you had that book party. I had to shove him out the backdoor and call a
cab when the 'rents showed up early. And don't think I've forgotten you
never paid me for babysitting that night, Mr. Tightwad Author. C'mon,
pony up!" :-)

I don't see too many family picnics in April's future. Sometimes you
also have to write your family off.

Wouldn't I love to see April hurl in Elly's face, "You never got over
my being a mistake, did you?"

Well, that sounds like the kind of overwrought, needless attempt at
cruelty a typically (as in "par for the course at that age", but not
overly much) self-absorbed teenager might come up with when they're
really P.O.ed.

Perhaps. But I'd still like to see Elly's reaction.

(Oh, and aem? Are you sure that was in the strip? I remember DJ asking
that on Roseanne, but the "surprise" comment was heartfelt, not a lame
excuse. I don't recall April ever asking that of either parent.)

.

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