Recent Comments

1. about 2 years ago on Gil Thorp

   I will apologize to everyone reading my previous comment in that I misspelled Thorp (adding an e). I have a friend with Thorpe as the last name, so I automatically misspelled it. Unfortunately, someone took offense at my misspelling as if I was lying about my statement that I had read for almost 60 years.

   Another offense taken was that the replying comment gave reference to a social issue that was addressed by the strip at some time in the past – implying that I was wrong in my supposition. At no time did I mean to imply that the strip NEVER addressed social issues, as I said that the strip “largely skirted” such issues in the past. I do not think that could be disputed – it certainly was not a comic strip that addressed all of the many social issues that existed. But that does not mean that it never addressed some issues. Mr. Barajas is trying to change the approach relative to dealing with social issues.

   All of that being said, all I was trying to do was point out in a rational/non-confrontational manner (as so many others have done) that the comic strip is now too confusing, it is dealing with too many issues at one time and not in a straight-forward manner, and also that the writer needs to have someone with knowledge of high school sports review the strip before publication so that it becomes a little more believable. If the writer does not address these issues, he will potentially lose all readership.

2. about 2 years ago on Gil Thorp

   This is directed to Henry Barajas. I have been reading Gil Thorpe religiously since the mid-1960’s. It is unfortunate that you are the target of a lot of negativism because you are trying to bring about some change. It would be correct to say that the strip largely skirted many of the social issues that existed over the past many decades. And I fully understand you trying to bring some of these issues forward. Unfortunately, though, I believe that the tact you are taking is doing nothing but turning people off – so rather than educating people, which I believe you are trying to do, you are instead turning people off. I am one of those people – I may quit reading the strip after about 55 years.Why is it? It is not because of the subject matter. The problem is that you appear to forget that this is a comic strip. You really should have only two story lines going at a time — one of which has to be sports-related. Instead, you have countless lines going at one time. And because the characters look alike, or because we may not remember who is who, the average reader is not going to truly follow what is going on. Further, because you have so many story lines going at the same time, some never come to a conclusion or the reader may not understand the conclusion — which is really important to a comic strip.

   Please understand that you should be in this for the long-term – so you do not need to address every type of social issue at once. Deal with them one at a time over a long time. This will make the strip more palatable.

   I feel for you in that many of those replying are just trying to be hurtful in their comments. I do agree that you probably need to have someone more familiar with high school sports proof your column periodically for viability. But at the same time, I will say that many of the comments made by readers about these issues actually show a lack of understanding of high school sports on the parts of the readers.