Frazz by Jef Mallett for February 27, 2025

Four words: Something other than homework

Homework suggestions for Caulfield?

Time for an essay on how much he LOVES asking her questions in class.

Now he’s going to be real popular at recess.

Start writing Shakespeare. And stay in your cell – it will be safer than in general population today.

Kid spoke true. That works. The grind comes when trying to find something to fit the subject.

Pushing a dust mop for dollars could indeed be something to get enthused about! It’s the cleaning up after a kid gets sick that would drag you down…

I remember our elementary janitor, Roscoe Fleming in Lyons, OH, that always had a smile on his face, no matter what he was doing.

“Enthusiastic” comes from the ancient Greek for “possessed by the gods.” Perhaps that’s not as extreme as “obsessive” or “ecstatic” (from the Greek for “outside oneself”), but it implies a loss of control and/or surrender to outside forces. It can also make you really annoying to those who don’t share your enthusiasms (such as for etymology and metaphysics).

Still, we’re never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy,* which was Hamlet’s central motivation in the earliest versions of his story.

*Seal

I get the feeling Caulfield was aiming at that all along. Beats the usual essay assignments.