Comic strip?

My contribution to the realm of questionably funny comics. Click on the image to see full size. This is a work in progress...

Design Within Reach

My wife and I have a running argument about Design Within Reach. Design Within Reach is a furniture store that features stylish modern furniture. We are both fans of this particular style and always look through the new catalogue when it comes in the mail. The argument pretty much always goes the same way, I start ranting and raving about the "within reach" part of the name. $1,900 chairs and $18,000 couches are hardly "within reach" for most people. Her argument, which sounds remarkably like their company line, is that pieces from the great designers of our times are virtually inaccessible for most people because one would have to know someone to even be able to get an appointment with them. Even if this is true, it begs the question, what does "within reach" really mean. I think that you have to be rich no matter what to own the majority of the stuff they sell. Two designers featured in the catalogue, Charles/Ray Eames and Isamu Noguchi did in fact make affordable furniture for the masses when they were alive. I don't know, it just seems ridiculous to sell a chair that costs a third of the average person's yearly salary and that is hardly "within reach"

Sunday Funnies

Are the sunday comics supposed to be funny? For the life of me, I don't see much humor. Granted, my sense of humor may not be the best, but half of the comic strips don't seem to even have a punchline. You know it's a problem when Doonesbury makes the most sense in all of the sunday funnies. Perhaps it's generational but I think there has to be more to it than that. This stuff isn't even corny.

It's too bad Boondocks is gone. That, I got. And I do like La Cucaracha by Lalo Alcaraz.

I was talking to a friend of mine a few weeks ago about NBA basketball and in passing I made the comment that "chippy" must be the Whitest word in the English language. For those of you who have better things to do than watch basketball all day, "chippy" is an expression used by announcers when the players look like they may fight. A few weeks after this conversation with my friend, he asked me, "well, if 'chippy' is 'White' then what is the 'Black' version of this word." I had no immediate answer. I offered "heated" and "testy" but neither seemed to be a perfect fit. The conversation amused me because I grew up in the suburbs, what do I really know about the "hood" and what is "street".

Afterwards, I got to thinking about White words and Black words because clearly there are some differences. I don't know a single Black guy who refers to his friends as Bro, as in"Hey Bro, how's it going?". That one definitely goes on the chippy side. By the same token, there is no explaining the collective dyslexia of Blacks who say "aks" instead of "ask". That one may result more from class and education than race though. On the colorblind level, I love to hear people on court shows "proceeding", as in "then I proceeded to go to the laundromat, your honor" Who in their daily life uses the word proceeded? It's one of those words that is so specific, like you only use the word reputed when referring to mobsters. Anyway, I'd love to know if anyone can think of any more "White" words or "Black" words. Hit the comment button and let me know if you come up with any?

The Big Wheel

Oscar Brown Jr. penned these lyrics for the song Dat Dere. For me, the Big Wheel symbolizes freedom. Well, not freedom exactly, but a taste of independence for a boy of my generation. The Big Wheel offered the first chance to truly venture out a bit and explore the block where you lived, which later gives way to the bicycle and a little more range before the ultimate rite of passage, the driver's license and driving a car.


Tomorrow is tax day I'm sorry to say, although President Jackass is going to try and appease everyone by giving us back some chump change. More importantly, it is also Jackie Robinson Day commemorating the 61 year anniversary of his breaking of the color barrier in major league baseball. It is only day when any pro baseball player can wear number 42, which was officially retired for all teams except for this one day every year. It's too bad that very few Blacks are drawn to baseball anymore. Such is life.