Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for January 13, 2010

Under cover of darkness, if necessary.

Something to do with money for his care I bet….He goes so goes the money.

Why is it that trailer-park residents are like this?

Leo’s mom should be happy that SOMEONE cares about him. But white trash are jusr mean nasty people.

@Josh: why is it that trailer-park residents are like WHAT?

@Bell3rose: Agreed, until further clues are presented. Mr. Trudeau’s characters are a bit more complicated than a Starr & Spelling cardboard cutout. It might (just MIGHT) be that despite the faults Joe-Allen pointed out, she’s afraid of losing her “baby.”

Also, even with those faults, it might be that she doesn’t know HOW to cope with, much less help Toggle deal with PTSD in the first place. I seem to remember reading or hearing that part of the difficulty returning vets with PTSD encounter is their loved ones’ ignorance and inexperience with dealing with PTSD.

so glad she’s got the grit to persevere despite the opposition: ain’t love grand?

PSTD?? Please correct me, but isn’t that psychological?

I’m sure there’s that too, but I thought his speech and other problems came from his brain leaking out of his skull from the IED hit.

How did the mother get labeled as the scheming gold digger? She was broke in a trailer before he came back, she’s still broke in a trailer, and when he leaves she’ll still be broke in a trailer.

Parents don’t need to like the girlfriends (I make it a personal policy to hate every boyfriend my daughters’ll ever have), that doesn’t make them bad people.

Is today “Expose Your Prejudice Day?” It’s not on any of my calendars. Looks to me like a mother that’s a bit jealous of her son”s first serious girlfriend.

Having spent my share of time around trailer parks, I can say that not all trailer residents are like Leo’s mom. She is not a sympathetic character for several reasons, one of them being her own morals. Another is that she isn’t merely cold to Alex, she’s contemtuous and mean. Meanwhile, Alex is caring and good to Leo. Whether or not she wants to keep Leo’s money at home is irrelevant. She’s just not a nice person from what we’ve seen of her.

I think the old gal is loaded. She is just afraid Alex will take her little boy away from her. If I remember correctly, she bought the RV to be close to Toggle when he was in the hospital. That is a pile of money. New -$150,000 to $500,000. The people you meet in an RV park are generally richer and nicer than your average Joe. Who hasn’t dreamed of traveling the country in an RV? Wife’s cousin and husband bought two so they could do their own thing. Still have nice home too and loan RVs to kids.

What’s all this stereotyping of TRAILER TRASH!? I’ve never met anyone who lives(d) in a trailer, not that I know of, but I have a strong suspicion that they would all turn out to be different kinds of people, some I would like and some I wouldn’t like, individually, for their own selves.

What’s the matter, it’s not PC now to make such remarks about people whose skins are various shades of non-pink, so now you can dump the same prejudices on people who live in trailers? Do trailers perhaps give off a special chemical that poisons people’s personalities?!

Am I MAD? Growwwwlllll….

What do YOU think?

I’ve lived in a travel trailer a couple of times in my life while I was having to go where the work was, and during some rough times. I live in a house in a nice neighborhood right now, but if everything went south on me I could find myself once more in a small trailer trying to make ends meet. Goes without saying that there are plenty of tacky, rude rednecks living in nice big houses, and there are plenty of really nice, highly educated folks who for whatever reason have to live in less comfortable circumstances.

But Leo’s mom is a tacky byotch and Leo needs to get the heck out of her clutches.

HECk Joe! We had a redneck in the White-house the last decade! Wasn’t that gas-station attendant accent corny enough?

@Wildcard…

WTF are you doing in this forum??? Common sense and logical thinking are NOT allowed in here!!!!

Love the blind prejudice against “white trash” who live in trailer parks.

People gotta have someone to look down on don’t they?

Why not keep the comments on the actual characters and not generalize the antipathy for them to include anyone living in a similar situation?

After all, Leo himself could be regarded as “trailer trash.”

Wow. Just… wow. I hope some of the folks commenting here realize that if they stick their noses any higher, they might be in danger of drowning come the next hard rain.

Most people who live in trailer parks do so because they cannot afford to live elsewhere. It’s a matter of economics, not morals or quality of character.

@ NashvilleMac:

I hope they can stick their noses higher, and the rain comes pouring, therefore, the folks that can only afford trailers or mobile homes, will get their bleeep houses!

Its a sad thing to hate!

She’s white trash whether she lives in a trailer or not. The trailer part doesn’t have to be literal; the stereotype, which Trudeau is portraying, has to do with lack of education and taste, lack of any goals or aspirations. There are poor white people, even poor white people who live in trailers, who are not white trash. It’s a specific type of ignorant slob with no upward mobility.

@justice2=will your wife’s cousin adopt me?

Mrs DeLuca is waiting for child-of-privilege Alex (nice family, exclusive college, etc, etc) to lose interest in Toggle and break his heart.

I’m not saying that Alex is going to do this; but this is what Mrs De Luca believes. The lady is no role model, but she loves her son.

@PiratePTG: My bad. ;-)