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Regarding the Feb. 21st strip, I'd like to add one more voice disappointed with your commentary on women's bodies. I feel there is too much emphasis in this world about becoming something we are not and not enough emphasis on taking joy in our individuality.

I'm also speaking as one of the "busty, wasp-waisted, thin-legged ... deformed" girls, who is that way due to a chronic health condition and high metabolism, rather than anorexia or a need to look like television superstars. I cannot say how many times I have been derided because of my weight by others who comment, apparently out of jealousy, without any knowledge of who I am or what struggles I face with my physical condition on a daily basis. At the same time, I cannot retort in turn, because I don't hate them because they look different than me -- I'm sad because they are intolerant, and because if they truly knew why I weighed what I do, they would not be jealous of me or want to be diagnosed with the digestive condition I have.

I realise that your strip is designed to mimic reality and that does not mean you share in Elly's views. However, by focusing solely on one particular side of the "argument," you are effectively strengthening the deafening shouts of a society that simultaneously demands thin models, and yet subjects those who are thin (some, like me, understandably so) to social ridicule and criticism in order to place the blame of the creation of such a society onto a scapegoat. If I had a dime for everytime a self-described "overweight" person derided me or was jealous of me for my weight, and if I had a dollar for everytime one of them called me something similar to "deformed," I would be a very rich woman. As it is now, I am just a sad one.

J.M., Canada

Dear Elly,
That was quite a vivid description of Farley and Elizabeth and the mess that resulted. If you had been able to fit in that creative writing class you had to drop out of,
I think the prof. would have loved reading it.
As for the immediate situation, Farley is six months old now. If you didn't include Thelma Baird in your round robin letter you should fill her in. She could certainly help you with training Farley to lie quietly in the kitchen even when bacon is frying. (But you'll probably have to reward him with regular treats).
She took care of her sisters kids during the war, and she gets on real well with Elizabeth & Michael. I'm sure she'd be happy to help you having kids & dog together a mutual benefit instead of a pot boiling over. As Farley's "human Grandma" she will want to be sure he is growing up happy and reasonably well behaved. Probably you thought about getting her help even before we got your letter. Keep us posted.
Regards,
Amy
(Thelma's bio is in the Who's
Who section under the Explore
More Tab. Rereading it at this
time definitely makes sense,
whether she actually shows up
in the strip or not)

Amy D, Vienna VA

I grew up reading this strip in my paper. I then moved to a small fishing village along the Oregon coast. There is a paper twice a week, unfortunately, they only print 5 strips and this is not one of them. I am so glad to be able to log on and get my daily dose of Elly and the kids. It is fun to see the old strips after knowing how the kids turn out. Thanks for the many years of enjoyment.

Gaylene

When Elly's Dad had his stroke and was going through his recovery, his life was so similar to my husband's own stroke recovery. My husband had a big stroke at age 55. He is now 73 and has never regained a lot of his speech. Many times the strip featured Grandpa Jim and what was in his head and it made me cry. I have always wanted to tell Lynn that she got the essence of a stroke victim pretty close. Thank you for the most wonderful and true to life strip in the newspaper today.

Katie I, Carthage MO USA

Must be weird having young feminists psychoanalyze you. Reading their comments, I re-read the strips in question, trying to "see" them from a modern perspective. Certain things are timeless, but, yes, some things have changed. In the early '80s, off-the-rack maternity clothes were FINALLY available that didn't portray a pregnant woman as a little girl who couldn't possibly know how she got that way. But the stylin' clothes weren't available everywhere yet, and they were somewhat expensive. I had to sew my own, for the most part, altering the Jaclyn Smith collection from KMart. Most maternity clothes were still NOT designed to make a woman feel powerful at the office--the blouses had Peter-Pan collars and lots of ruffles and frills. Come to think of it, nearly all work blouses for office women, back then, had ridiculous shoulder pads, and ruffles and frills. In the early '80s, there were not yet many options for fulfillment to a young mother. She couldn't "!
go online"--PCs were in their infancy and very expensive, and only us engineering geeks were chatting online, via UUCP; TCP/IP didn't go worldwide until 1982, AOL didn't begin until 1983, and search engines Archie, Gopher, and the like weren't available until beginning in 1990. It's a dilemma, Lynn: Do you re-run the strips as they "played" back then, keeping the story set in the past? or do you re-tell it as if it's spooling now? *I* thought you were doing the former, and I have no problem with it. And P.S. to that "offended" gent: you may have been a rare one, but in the early '80s, the vast majority of men did NOT change poopy diapers. Also, the vast majority of births were still in hospitals, in regular operating rooms, with women on their backs in the worst position for giving birth, treated like an acute medical emergency instead of a beautiful natural thing. Thought my family would flip when I had a home birth, assisted by a certified nurse-midwife.

Tia D, Ohio

I LOVE that I am getting to see strips that I missed or forgot about.. THANK YOU THANK YOU..

I get to meet the Pattersons all over again and fall in love with all of them.

Also we get to spend more time with Farley.

Ranay, Louisiana