Michael: Browse The Strips

Thursday March 22, 2018

Lynn's Comments: This is true. There was a coffee house on Davie Street in Vancouver where I tried to be a folk singer! Many of us did. In the 60s, music and entertainment were everywhere. If you could sing and strum a guitar, there was always a place where you could play—for free. One night at The Bunkhouse, I opened for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. I was awful and they were very kind. My career, thankfully, went in another direction!

Saturday March 24, 2018

Lynn's Comments: Strolling across the parking lot at Canadian Tire today, my partner Paul and I were talking about our past and how much fun we'd had. We wondered about the new generation of kids, and it occurred to us that right now, is THEIR "good old days!"

Sunday April 8, 2018

Lynn's Comments: I bought a pair of good scissors one day because I couldn't find my sewing shears anywhere. I told Kate that these were not to be removed from my sewing box. Several days later, they were gone. The two of us did a massive clean up of the house and we found 9 pairs of scissors. Like socks, scissors sometimes disappear from the face of the earth…never to be found again.

Monday April 9, 2018

Lynn's Comments: I was good at this…both range and direction. When I was in school, the boys weren't the only ones getting detentions for causing trouble!

Tuesday April 10, 2018

Lynn's Comments: Drawings like the one in panel 3 made my day. If I could come up with an idea that required expressions like these, I was in heaven.

Wednesday April 11, 2018

Lynn's Comments: I couldn't wait to be 13 for this very reason. I could add the word "teen" to my age. I could also babysit and make some cash. This was the beginning of independence.

Monday April 16, 2018

Lynn's Comments: The first boy-girl party I ever went to was at my friend Carolyn’s house. We were all about 13. It was an easy mix until the lights went down and we tried slow dancing. We had been taught how to waltz in gym class, but in a real basement with real couples, it was awkward.

Tuesday April 17, 2018

Lynn's Comments: There were about a dozen of us at the party, all dressed up and giggling. What I remember most, besides being hot and sweaty and dancing cheek to cheek, was a burping contest. Pop was expensive. None of us had it at home very often and Carolyn’s mom had bought us a real variety.

Wednesday April 18, 2018

Lynn's Comments: Somebody (might have been me) suggested we shake up the bottles of pop, drink them and see who could burp the loudest. The guys thought this was a good idea, so they and I got the contest underway. Carolyn and the rest of the girls didn't want to get involved, but they didn't want to tell on us either–in case it was a cool scene.

Thursday April 19, 2018

Lynn's Comments: It wasn't a cool scene. The pop went down and came right back up again. It came out our mouths and out of our noses. I’d chosen cream soda and I was covered in it. My dress was soaked up the front, the guys were also wet and embarrassed, but we laughed anyway. The audience was silent, and I had learned something: It’s of utmost importance to practice a gag before you try to pull it off. When a gag goes wrong, the troops are called and the night ends quickly. I wasn't invited back.

Tuesday April 24, 2018

Lynn's Comments: Behind the scenes, I knew that Gordon Mayes’ family life was very difficult. His dad drank and was abusive, his mom was too tolerant and too fearful to defend Gordon from blows and belittling. I rarely talked about this in the strip. Just alluding to it gave Gordon an extra element of reality. It made him someone for whom I felt compassion and concern. His character grew after this.

Sunday April 29, 2018

Lynn's Comments: I rarely used processed cheese in the kids’ lunches, but when I did, I thought this would be a funny prank to pull.

Tuesday May 8, 2018

Lynn's Comments: This is the beginning of a true story: something that happened to our little black Spaniel, Willy.

Tuesday May 15, 2018

Lynn's Comments: In my mind, I was thinking of the so-called x-rated things kids said in the 80s. Who would have guessed they would be talking the way they do now! I sincerely hope that the NEXT generation will think this is a waste of an education and start using our wonderful, descriptive language again.

Wednesday May 16, 2018

Lynn's Comments: Syndicated cartoonists were discouraged from using our comic strips as a "platform" for anything. But, here I am doing just that.