So, I had something else in mind for today, but recent events inspired me to write about something else – particularly something somewhat formative from my past – my time spent volunteering in my local library.

When I was in Middle School (Grades 6-8) and High School (9-12) off and on I’d volunteer at my local library. This caused me to become familiar with the library’s layout, and much of the Dewey Decimal System, caused me to get to know much of the library staff, and caused me to discover various works of fiction and nonfiction. During this time, one of the books I ended up shelving was the first of Mick Foley’s biographies, where the back cover of the book, which listed all of the myriad injuries Mick had experienced over his career to date, inspired me to give the book a read, and ultimately caused me to re-appraise professional wrestling, and a new appreciation for the craft of it that endures to this day.

Other sections of the library that I ended up spending time in was the crime section (which lead to me reading various books on organized crime), the sex and sexuality section (because I was a horny teenager – and also probably lead to me being one of the few guys in my friend circle who knew what the clitoris was, where to find it, and why that was important, even if I never made practical use of that knowledge in school), the film studies section (which again lead into my appreciation of film) – and finally the section which had various collections of comic strips.

Like many people in the late ’90s, I ended up reading Dilbert collections because I didn’t see the hints of Scott Adams regressive politics and instead latched on to the absurdity. I also read Calvin and Hobbes collections because I loved Bill Waterson’s craft as an artist and a writer – his mix of slapstick and philosophy, and his excellent dialog (he also helped lead me to my appreciation of Film Noir). And finally, there was Doonesbury.

I’d had some exposure before – my parents had the first Doonesbury collection, published in the ’70s as a small pocket paperback book, titled “Even Revolutionaries Love Chocolate Chip Cookies.” They’d also had a collection of Wizard of Id and Hagar the Horrible strips, but those didn’t quite grab me the way that Doonesbury did. Some of it was the art, and some of it was the sense that while all three had bits of their humor that were of their moment, Doonesbury lived in that moment – it actively sought to be topical in ways that the other two weren’t, even if their topicality wasn’t something I fully appreciated.

So, when I saw all these other Doonesbury collections, with the larger format pages with multiple strips per page, and the color strips actually in color – I voraciously read them. I went through all of them in sequence – looked up what volumes were published in what order using the publication dates in the library’s electronic card catalog, and put books on hold from other libraries. Through this, while I didn’t get a full appreciation of the policies of Nixon, Ford, Regan, and Clinton, I got a sense of the times of their presidencies – and particularly their scandals. This was especially the case through Nixon and Watergate, and Regan and the Iran-Contra scandal.

Through all of this, I followed all of these characters throughout their lives and careers, as they grew up, married, had kids, and in some cases (like with title character Mike Doonesbury) divorced. One of the characters I particularly latched on to was introduced in that first collection I read – Mark Slackmeyer. I connect my having become a podcaster to reading about his campus radio show, and on to his transition to NPR (along with stuff like Leo Laporte’s transition to podcasting as well.) So, I also always had fondness for the running gags that would carry on for decades based around his show – whether interviewing Jimmy Thudpucker or, whenever a political scandal came up with some really scummy political wrongdoing, with it would come one little panel throughout the years…

I look forward to the latest iteration of this bit from Garry Trudeau.

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