Wallace the Brave by Will Henry for June 22, 2024

I love how their expressions are basically the same in the last panel.

The joys of a small school, small class size means you get to really know your students. As a kid I was always in a class of over 30 kids. I didn’t even know some of their names.

I always did activities the first day so students would learn about each other. I was shocked one day when I wnet to a student’s teacher from last year for information, and she did not know a think about the student.

Rose, Rose, yes, you, Rose!

Separation of work and recreation. Don’t recreate at my place.

Spud is in a staring contest with a bunny?

What constitutes a report card emergency?!

Enjoy your summer Mrs. Macintosh! No more watching over crazy kids!

Two of my early grade school teachers lived in our neighbourhood. Surprisingly, I never saw either during the Summer. Much later I learned that they shared a cottage at the shore and spent the entire season there.

The teacher’s last comment made me chuckle.

I remember the strip where the kids ran into Mrs. MacIntosh at the beach. They were in shock.

Accurate metrics are important to Rose.

I never seemed to cross paths with them while still in their classes, but I have encountered a couple of my teachers “in the wild” after finishing their class and moving on to the next grade. My fifth grade teacher I’ve encountered a few times over the years, actually. Crossed paths with her again just earlier this year, while walking back home after having gone to the nearby elementary school to vote in a primary election. I didn’t recognize her initially because she’d since gone fully grey-haired since I last saw her, but I was surprised that she readily still recognized me, despite me now being a full-grown adult in his thirties.

I wonder who Will Henry based the platinum blond girl with a blue ribbon / Mennonite / headscarf girl upon

That poor little girl with the pig tails looks like a sitting dog from this perspective!!

…or at juvie.

Dang it, Rose!!

Good job, Will, morphing the clouds from one panel to the next.

No sea gull?

A report card emergency I could care less about a grade as long as I pass

I remember the sweet and fleeting last days of school like they were yesterday. Everyone in a good mood, fun outdoor activities once the schoolwork was all done (I grew up in a place where the weather was just turning warm enough for those activities to be outside in early June).

The way we kids passed around yearbooks for signatures and little messages of well-wishes, our eyes sparkling with excitement (and relief) that this day was finally here.

The way I approached last-day-of-school festivities and the very final bell of the school year with almost breathless anticipation.

Those days were so carefree and full of boundless optimism for what Summer might have in store for us.

I am glad I have such clear and specific recall of those times, because I’ve not felt anything like them since and doubt I ever will again.

Thanks for following me down this spur road off Memory Lane!