Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Just Your Basic Question



What a timely discovery of this old comic strip with the recent publication of Charles Schulz’s biography Schulz and Peanuts. (And what a fascinating, brilliant man.)

This comic strip held a place of honour above my desk at university. Hence, the tape marks.

(And, no, I don’t save absolutely everything. Just the essentials.)

Peppermint Patty’s expressions capture perfectly the incredulity I experienced when presented with such all-encompassing questions on history exams.

“Use both sides of the paper if necessary” was just icing on the cake.

I still smile when I look at it.


20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beth,
I am so glad you saved this comic strip all those years!! How funny, and your right about Peppermint Patty's expression...WOW! He was such an amazing man. I just bought his new book. I have not started reading it yet, but I am so looking foward to it. Melanie took it down to her room, but I am going to sneak it back up here. Thanks for the smile this am.
XOXO

Anonymous said...

That's why I never did so well in school. I went about most of my days with that expression on my face.

Anonymous said...

I always loved Schulz's strips with Peppermint Patty and her utter confusion with the school system. She was always one of my favourite characters. And I love that Cippy sometimes calls me 'Peppermint P'.

That new book on Schulz's life sounds interesting, but did you know that his family is very upset about it, and has come forward with many complaints about the veracity of the book? On one cartoon blog, Schulz's son Monte wrote point-by-point refutations of what he considered to be complete inaccuracies regarding his father.

The Guy Who Writes This said...

American Masters on Public Broadcasting showed him as a very troubled person. His kids seemed to agree.

Gary said...

Nice.

I have a single panel from the early 80s (by cartoonist Piraro).

A man is pointing at his dog, saying "THINK!" and his wife is standing by watching, saying "That's amazing."

Not sure why I love it so much but it's been taped in my daytimer for about 20 years.

Mrs. G. said...

Good grief. This is perfect. I love that you have dragging it around all this time.

Sherry said...

LOVE this!!! If you don't mind, I'm sending the link to this to oldest son..timely indeed..he's writing a history paper and a book review for US history and as always says to himself..."what am I going to write about"...he'll love this!!

Shari said...

I am familiar with that kind of expression on my face.

I had a comic strip I cut out and put on the refrigerator for years, but it got ripped up. The youngest liked to play with the magnets on the frige all the time. Grrr.

This was from "Between Friends". The wife was looking through one drawer, the husband was looking another. The cabinet doors were open. The wife says. "I can't help it that I can't remember where I put the gas bill. Do you want a cluttered house or a tidy house?" And the husband only had a fizzle of black steam on top of his head. LOL. (Gotta find a replacement...)

Shari said...

Oops. That one sentence should read "...and the husband was looking THROUGH another."

I hate that when I skip a word in there because I say it in my head but it doesn't type it. Arrghh.

Xavier Macia said...

Those sorts of questions are just killers aren't they....I love that one...

Beth said...

eileen:
I know I've saved way too much stuff (it's all little!) but this one is a treasure. Enjoy the book.

trish:
That was a permanent expression on my face in chemistry class.

patricia:
I read about that. Also read a great piece in Vanity Fair (?) which dealt with Snoopy's evolving role.

guy:
Yes, he seemed troubled and apparently used the comic strip to express his frustrations and problems through the characters.

gary:
My dog obeys the command "Think" extremely well. It is amazing...

mrs.g:
There's a hell of a lot of stuff being dragged in my wake. How can you throw something like that away?

sherry:
I'm thrilled you're going to send it to your son - it's university students who can thoroughly appreciate it.

shari:
I have many places I store important pieces of paper. And every time I go searching for one of them I wonder why I don't store them all in ONE place!

c:
Definite killers. The amount of time and number of pages you're given to provide the answers are killers too!

Princess Pointful said...

Cute :)
My problem is that I will take such an question seriously... and ramble on with writing flying up the margins in an attempt to get an extra sentence in.

Unknown said...

As a kid I read just about every single Charlie Brown strip ever written. I love Charlie Brown.

Beth said...

princess pointful:
I always pitied the person who had to mark my exams - like you, all my pages were filled to the max...

dorky dad:
Why does that not surprise me? You kind of remind of Charlie Brown - but you're a hell of a lot smarter and possess a wicked sense of humour.

Angel said...

Beth, I'm so glad that you're a pack-rat and save "only the essentials"...I miss reading the comics! and I remember, like it was yesterday, feeling that exact same way when faced with a test I didn't study for...study? what's that? ;)

Beth said...

beth:
Or worse - you did study but nothing you studied ended up being asked on the exam...

Karen Jensen said...

Brilliant!

Dan said...

Wait a second! Wait a second! You can't leave me hanging here.

Explain World War II dammit! I gots to know.

Beth said...

professor j:
I thought so, too!
(Are we talking about me or the cartoon?)

dan:
Well, I'd have to go way back and give a brief overview of World War I (starting with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, etc.) in order to provide a thorough explanation as to the origins of World War II - and I ain't gonna do it! Even for you...

Unknown said...

nice cartoon, I like it