street: Browse The Strips

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I was on the periphery of hippiedom during the '60s. Never too far out or too far in, just one of the middle masses who liked the concept of "make love, not war"--but I also wanted to make a living. I had the long hair, the tattered sweaters, the jeans, and the vocabulary, and with this, I fit in. I often hung out with people who did drugs. I talked like they did so they'd think I'd "et" (the in-word for having taken drugs), and accept me as just another "head." I liked being an outcast without the risks! Art school connected me with some very smart, creative, and outrageous people--most of whom remained under cover; people didn't identify themselves the way they do now. The youth of today are more openly different. They advertise their eccentricities. They know how to be cool!

If I were 16 right now, I would dye my hair blue, wear mostly black, have a small tat, and turn my tunes up loud! I'd have a few piercings. I'd do subversive cartoons and improv comedy while secretly planning a career in music and medicine. I'd hang out with the Goths, go to churches, mosques, and synagogues looking for truth and enlightenment. And I'd be a vegan--just 'cause it would bug my mother. I'd backpack in Europe, play my guitar on street corners, write poetry, and ponder the meaning of life. I'd be into the Internet: animating, chatting, and exploring it all. If I were 16 right now, I'd be hanging out with the girls in this cartoon--I like to think they are simply a much younger me.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Lynn's Comments: This idea came from a situation in which a friend's house was broken into, and she was upset that the police had seen her unwashed dishes and her unmade bed. I remember thinking: Like wearing good underwear in case of an emergency, you should keep your house tidy in case it's robbed!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Lynn's Comments: My dad had the gift of the gab and he made friends everywhere. Mom was much more reserved, and never wanted to attract attention to herself. One night, guess it was about 11:00 pm, we had all gone to bed when a loud police siren was heard outside our house. Right outside. Dad got up, put on his dressing gown, and looked out the window. Two police officers were standing on our front porch--hammering on the door. "Ridgway? Ridgway! Open up!" We were all up by then, and watched as Dad tentatively opened the door. Standing there were two guys he had been chatting up that day. "You got the coffee on?" one said. "We just got off work!" Dad laughed out loud, went to the kitchen and put on the coffee. He had a great time talking to these funny, easy-going guys, and figured it was one of the best nights he'd had in ages. Mom didn't speak to him for a week.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Lynn's Comments: In Lynn Lake, we would walk the kids to school. When we moved to rural Ontario, even though Kate's school was close by, the bus would pick her up and drop her off at our mailbox everyday. Aaron, too, caught the school bus, and because he went to a different school, he had to transfer to another bus in town. For both of them, it was a whole new experience, in a very different place.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Lynn's Comments: This strip received some nice mail. Folks expected to read a sarcastic punch line. Growing up in North Vancouver, we were always playing with and studying next to kids from China, Japan, and other Asian countries. In fact, it was hard to learn French as a second language when we were more familiar with Mandarin and Japanese. I wanted to draw an Asian family, and the Enjos stepped in.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Lynn's Comments: The name "Enjo" was for my grade six home economics teacher. Miss Enjo was a sweet and lovely lady and must have been in her twenties at the time. My dad guessed that her last name had been longer and had been shortened when her family immigrated to Canada. The family I made up was based on the Masuda family--who had known my in-laws in Lynn Lake, Manitoba. They had also moved to North Bay, which was a nice coincidence: We had friends here to make us feel at home.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I did get complaints about this one. People said I was stereotyping Asians as being intellectuals. Ironically, none of the complaints came from Asians.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Growing up in North Vancouver meant we lived on "the rain coast," where it was rumoured that some of us had webbed feet. Despite the fact that rain was inevitable, I was well into my teens before I agreed to use an umbrella!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Lynn's Comments: When I was a kid, my friends would come to my house to talk to my mother. She and I didn't always see eye to eye, so it surprised me when my friends considered her advice worth seeking. I accepted her relationship with them with admiration and jealousy: admiration for her, jealousy because I couldn't confide in her the way they did.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Yes, this happened--and with all the theatrical sarcasm seen here. This was what made our marriage so much fun. We were both able to laugh and make jokes out of just about anything.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I think I was in grade three when I was cast in a school Christmas pageant as a wise person. I was told to wear my bathrobe as a costume, but my mom was so upset by its frayed condition that she hurriedly made me a new one out of striped material--much like the robes worn in Christian-Hollywood flicks. Though my behaviour wasn't particularly saintly, I wore my pageant bathrobe for years, pretending I was right out of the Bible!

Monday, January 5, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I tried to imagine what it would be like for Lawrence to stand outside his old house in a neighbourhood that he loved. He must have felt a sense of loss and confusion. Children have no choice when it comes to enormous decisions like moving, so I assumed he would stand there, wondering why he was now living somewhere else!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Having someone new come into a family is an enormous adjustment. Aaron and I had been a team before I married Rod--and even though Rod adopted Aaron and gave him his last name, their personalities were never really compatible. I wanted Lawrence and Connie's story to be a happy one--one in which everyone adapted and the relationships worked. Having this kind of control over their lives was like playing God!

Friday, February 13, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I had assisted Rod when he was in dental school. There was a free clinic in the evenings, and students got extra experience if they volunteered to work on patients after class for free. Spouses often accompanied the students--just so they could spend some time together. University took a toll on relationships. With this bit of training under my belt, I believed I could fill in for a while in our new clinic.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I wanted Brian to be someone who felt a bit alienated by his intelligence. He would rather work on a school project than join in team sports or hang out at the corner with"the guys." Gordon was on the "outside"because he was mechanical. Academic subjects were a waste of time for someone who preferred to be under a car or taking apart a machine in his mother's kitchen. Michael was frustrated by his inability to concentrate. Even though he was a bright kid, he never achieved top marks in class--he was a dreamer! These three boys all felt inadequate for different reasons, and yet, they all had something in common: they lived in the same neighbourhood, and they got along with each other. Friendship ultimately overshadowed their differences.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Lynn's Comments: There was a song: "June is busting out all over" and I think it came from a big Broadway musical. Someone out there will tell me! Anyway--a neighbour of ours (whose name was June) had told my mom, in secret, that she was expecting. Mom was asked to keep it quiet until June knew for sure. In a weak moment, mom told my dad--who was always thinking of puns, gags and ways to crack people up. When dad came upon my mom and her friend talking over the fence, he started to sing "June is busting out all over" and the look on the ladies' faces was a cartoon waiting to be drawn. Both had their mouths open in that tense little "O" of surprise. Dad was in the doghouse until June was sure of her condition. All was forgiven and baby Alex busted out--red and healthy six months later.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Lynn's Comments: After this strip ran, I received dozens of letters from readers who wanted to know what the heck was Michael doing with a bag of milk! Everyone knows that milk comes in waxed paper cartons or in plastic jugs, so what was this all about anyway?!

All an artist has to draw from is what she sees around her, and in my place of residence, milk comes in cartons, but also in strong plastic bags with a set of three bags of milk inside. Each smaller bag contains a litre of milk and we use special plastic or pottery jugs to keep them upright in the fridge. This way of packaging milk is as familiar in Canada as Coke in a can, so I assumed my readers everywhere would get the gag! Not so. The thing that struck me about the questioning letters was that some of them were as cruel and derisive as the trolls on the internet are today. They spoke with indignant authority, demanding to know what the **** I was talking about! Didn't I KNOW that milk doesn't come in bags?

Fortunately, this was when mean messages came with return addresses and we had a lot of fun sending photos and copies of milk advertisements to those who needed to see it for themselves. The impression I got from this was that not enough people travel, and they should!--Especially to Canada.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I will soon be going to my high school reunion. We were a close-knit bunch, and several dedicated organizers make it possible for us to have a reunion every five years. It's great to see everyone once more. We all talk openly about how we teased each other, and how mean we sometimes were.

As kids growing up in "wartime housing" during the 50s, we all thought other families were better off than we were. Last reunion, in a moment of wine-fuelled honesty, I told my friend Ruby that I had been especially nice to her when I discovered she had a television set. At the time, few families could afford to buy a television and I told her how jealous I was. I said, "You were the envy of every kid from Fifth Street to Eighth!" Ruby smiled and said, "Lynn, my dad worked in a furniture store and the owner allowed him to borrow a television from time to time because he was such a good employee. We didn't own a television either!"

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I was told by a number of readers that I was stereotyping Brian (whose family background is Japanese) by making him a smart kid. The funny thing was that none of the complaints came from Japanese families! Is there such a thing as a complimentary insult?

Friday, August 28, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Wordplay is something I really love. The trouble is that gags like this will not translate easily into other languages. I have spoken to translators who must change the gag completely so that a punch line will make sense to their readers. A translator of comic art must therefore be a humourist and a wordsmith as well.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Lynn's Comments: There was a very funny variety show on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) called "Madly Off In All Directions." The host was Lorne Elliott. When he asked me to do a 10-minute comedy spot on the show. I agreed and then discovered how hard it is to do stand-up comedy! This adventure resulted in a friendship between myself and Lorne, and --(here's the reason for this story)--he told me about a band he once played in. The name of the band was "Free Beer." He said they would put a sandwich board on the street in front of the bar they were playing in. The sign would say, "Tonight, from 9:00 until midnight, Free Beer!" People would pile into the bar waiting for 9:00, and when they discovered that "Free Beer" was the name of the band, they'd be really ticked off--but would already be sitting at a table with a beer in hand and looking forward to a show. The band now had a good sized but angry audience. "This," he said, "forced us to be a really good band!"

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Lynn's Comments: For awhile, I organized the schedules for performers interested in touring northern Manitoba. I would go to an event in Winnipeg called "Contact," where performers would showcase their work and arrange with people, like myself, to go to remote communities. By scheduling them into several towns at a time, we were able to get some wonderful shows into the north; dance, magic, bands and theatre delighted everyone, and selfishly, I got to meet and get to know some of the people we hosted.