Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for June 27, 2021

Did Stephan return to Berkeley every few years? He did not attend Cal at the same time as Kidd and Rodgers.

Story of my life too.

Maybe Stephan is a little confused about periods or has been studying for many more years.

Rough, ain’t it?

College was indeed the best of times.

Just how long was Stephen going to Cal to see both JKidd and AA Ron suit up for the Golden Bears, cuz those two played a decade apart?

Steph, maybe you could cheer her up by talking about rotary phones; she’ll find them so incredible, she’ll laugh her head off.

If you’re in your room staring at a computer screen, you could consider it a sit-in.

Next up: Climate lockdowns. Strap in.

The covid generation! That’s sad, if that ends up being what they’re called. In my town, a bunch of college football players kept getting covid from each other at the start of the pandemic. Glad the college had their priorities straight (not).

Rough year for the high school kids too ! So much uncertainty!

Oops. Even without the things of this past year, it’s never quite the same as it was or as you remember it.

He did not once mention studying.

So comic Pastis was in college for at least 10 or so years?

It was the best of times ….. It was the worst of times …..

Too bad Stephan did not remember learning anything in college. How did he graduate if he spent most of his time eating, drinking, and getting involved in extracurricular activities?

Whatever you say, it’s been a great time for us solitary creatures.

Today’s reality is cruel.

My grandson graduated this month at the school stadium, parents, etc sat in the bleachers…….it was great…they sat in rows of chairs on the field and speakers did their thing…better than being stuck in an auditorium ……

COVID ruined everything.

Adding insult to injury, they’re now known as The Covid Generation.

My daughter got her master’s degree last year. We were going to have a big celebration…

She is still alive isn’t she. She should get over herself.

Oh, for f%^k sake. It was a year. Stop wallowing, straighten up, and move on.

I never went to Cal but I worked in Berkeley just north of campus in the late 1970s and early 80s. I have fond memories of living and working there, but none of those.

I’m glad to see ‘Top Dog’ still in business.

That’s what I did at college, twenty years before COVID was invented.

I have had some delicious hot dogs at the Top Dog! I wish I could have one today.

Is it Stephan or Baron Munchausen?

Rats. I was hoping that was a massive set up to a dreadful pun. Blast you, COVID!

Even before COVID I would have just sat in my room front of my computer, or with a book

What – no mention of Blondie’s Pizza? Which alternative universe Cal did Pastis go to?

Also, replace “in my bedroom” with “in whatever room in (choose: Evans, Cory – for those of you familiar with Cal, Soda Hall didn’t exist back then) Hall the computer terminals were located,” and this describes my, and pretty much every other Cal computer science major in the 1980s, time there. And at least Julia’s computer screen had colors.

#gobears

Could this be in reference to Pastis’s daughter Julia graduating from Berkeley?

Stephan made her story his story.

Pastis is from Berkeley? You’d never know it by the tone of his cartoons. Doubt they’d ask him to be a guest speaker! (Kudos to you, Mr. Pastis!)

This information explains a lot…

Sha-Zoom!

Top Dog was my favorite restaurant for many years. Saag’s sausages. A friend of mine lived two doors down from the south campus store.

At least she was able to tell the truth. Some have cracked and are making things up… or fantasizing big time.

There aren’t “generations.” Being college aged during an event does not define an historical epoch, lol. There are baby boomers because there was a baby boom.

Popular references to generations are, and have been, marketing (Covid-Generation) and propaganda multi-tools.

Just remember. One day these will be the Good Ol’ Times.

Cal State Hayward? Pretty campus.

My time as a graduate student at Cal (1964-1968) was memorable in many ways, including taking part in the Free Speech Movement—my then-wife and I left just before the cops started killing protestors—but I think that my generation was a little before some of the events or places mentioned. I have no memory of Henry’s; the popular lunch eatery at the time was The Mediterranean, and the Mexican place at Telegraph and Haste? Dwight? I do have a great memory of Top Dog, that anarcho-liberterian stand, then just one location at Southside. (They venerated The Prisoner—you can guess their motto, starting with “I am not a number…”) I remember Cody’s books, and Moe’s (formerly The Rambam), the Cinema / Studio / Guild / theatres. In my day, I think that graduations were held in the Greek Theater, not in Zellerbach Hall—but we were discouraged from attending—“You can come if you want to, but why don’t you just come to Window 37 at the Registrar’s Office to pick up your diploma?” Exciting times, full of hope—some of those hopes were realized, but many not.

Life is simply a set of doors, when one door closes, another opens. Or you can open the closed door. That’s how life works. It will never be perfect. Make it work.

Yo, Berkeley-Boy (and Sometime-Cartoonist)! Why are you so mean to the victims of Pandemic Lockdown Fever? It’s no wonder she’s still crying….

He forgot LaVal’s Pizza!

Well, bears do hibernate in caves so…

She must have graduated very, very fast if Covid is the reason.

Stephan has said in his treasuries he has a daughter named Julia. Perhaps this is his daughter in the strip?

Our daughter took five years to finally graduate from Oregon State University. The letter to parents stated the graduation ceremony in May, and would be held regardless of weather with no umbrellas allowed, plan accordingly. The letter was mailed out February 2020. Our daughter along with the rest of the class of 2020 were mailed their diplomas. They didn’t have any kind of celebration, let alone a virtual ceremony.

Class of 2021 had a very limited ceremony for graduates only. Family and friends had to celebrate separately, on their own.

Most of class 2020 moved on with their lives. What a bittersweet way to end one’s collegiate days. Fortunately, our daughter met a very nice and sweet man her last year at OSU, they are getting married this September. We’re very happy and proud of her fortitude and faith to get through all life’s challenges she’s faced.

Go Bears!