For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 27, 2024

Well, everybody has an intriguing story, that is except possibly Weed!

Wow, Michael is really growing up fast!

There was a janitor at the US Air force academy who was a Medal of Honor awardee. He certainly had a story!

The spark started a fire, and Michael is off and running..

Well not everyone will have as interesting of a story as this janitor but it is fun to learn about others’ experiences.

Can Weed actually see out of those shades he wears 24/7?

Is he trying to look “cool” or is he really blind? ;-D

I have fun taking my enemies, making them into characters, and killing them off in mysteries.

Every human has a story and some are amazing. I look back on my own and some experiences were so reckless I’m surprised I’m still alive! As the Grateful Dead once said, “What a long strange trip it’s been!”

My husband tells me I have lived three lifetimes already with the amount of actions and events in it. Maybe that is why I was silver haired by 40 and white by 50?

I bet he’ll get an A on this paper.

This brings to mind memories of my late uncle, who, as a child, I initially found a bit intimidating due to his deep, resonant voice. However, as I grew older, I came to know him better. One day, while he was driving me to the airport, he shared his experiences from World War II in the Pacific. I felt privileged that he chose to share his wartime stories with me, especially considering I had another uncle who, traumatized by his experiences in the European Theater, could never bring himself to talk about the war. I later learned that he was present at the liberation of a concentration camp, and I can only begin to comprehend the atrocities he witnessed, a stark reminder of the depths of human cruelty.

I have met some of the most famous people on earth and the garbage men….I like the garbage men better….

That is until the newspapers and magazines undergo their contractions and layoffs.

… and often, you don’t even have to ask…

Life rarely turns out the way you planet.

Yes, everyone has a story to tell… and some of them you can’t get them to STOP talking..

I think the crucial part of the story the Mike is missing is how did Mr. Bergner move from being a theater man to being a janitor in Western? Also, why does Weed know the name of the janitor in the building where Mike takes his writing classes? I think the only janitor’s name I knew was the person who cleaned the dormitory.

True enough, Mike. But one has to be a little choosy. Some are pretty mundane.

Weed doesn’t look impressed, but I am impressed by Mike’s enthusiasm. May he never lose it!

If Mr. Bergner ended up in Montreal, wouldn’t he have had to learn French instead of English?

I remember the few opportunities I had to speak for a crowd, I would first acknowledge my parents by say “I have to thank my parents who couldn’t be here today. Without them, I would not be here today” (existentially, of course) ;-p

Back in the 1950s there was an early New York cop series on TV called “The Naked City.” The intro went, in part, “There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This is one of them.”

We all are living our story.

Yep…. Mike is onto something.

My wife has insisted that I need to write an autobiography of my life. I dunno.

Now Journalist just pick and choose or make it up to fit their narrative…

Wonderful short arc.

Mike is getting into journalism at a good time, by the time we get to 2024 it is a declining profession as many print news organization are unable to successfully make the transition to digital.

One of my high school classmates did a two week internship at a local radio station and she was really interested in being a DJ. But the station manager had other plans for her and for the first week, instead of the DJ booth, she was assigned to work the newsroom, pulling items off the newswire and stringing stories for broadcast. The second week she was sent to the DJ booth and her first question was “Can I go back to the news room?” That led to a 25 year distinguished award winning career as a producer for CNN International.

I thought I had a good life story but now I feel like an underachiever after hearing the janitor’s story.

Wearing sun glasses inside…..I’m pretty sure “weed” is done.

Well, ask the right questions, anyway.

E.T. also learned English from TV movies. I guess that’s a thing, then.

Wise, that one is……

Most people need leading questions to get to a story that will interest others. Ask me for my life story and the first thing I say will be “What do you want to know?”

If he settled in Montreal, wouldn’t he have done better to teach himself French? Though he did say he “worked his way to France” so maybe he’d already gotten a handle on that.

And so much cheaper than drinking the night away in a bar Micheal.

And I love to ask people to tell me their story!!!

Hope he gets an A++

But as a “journalist”, don’t just make stuff up.

My Granddaughter gave my wife and I books of telling our family history. It can be a real “eye opener” but I am still working on it.

last panel makes it look like Mike’s addressing the readers directly. A nice touch.

Mr. Bergner could have gone to college for free in East Germany. Can’t do that in Canada with their system of for-profit schools.

This is an excellent attitude, Michael!!!

Please, Mike…either lose the facial hair or become “The Fifth Beatle”